Once again, the Rangers are in a position to sweep the A's. They've failed to win game 3 every time that opportunity has arisen against Oakland this season. We'll see if Eric Hurley can end that streak today.
Josh Hamilton is impressed with Chris Davis's power. Chris Davis is pretty good.
Gerald Laird has been activated and is going to take over the regular catching duties, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia apparently being relegated to a backup role. Evan Grant says the Rangers were about to stop the job-sharing arrangement and make Laird the starter when Laird went down with his hamstring injury.
The S-T says Laird got a big welcome from his teammates, and that Laird says he still isn't 100% yet, but he's good enough to play.
Also from the S-T, Brandon McCarthy is going to start for Oklahoma today and throw 75 pitches. Mark Connor says that McCarthy will need to have 2 90 pitches outings before he'll be considered for a major league start, which would mean at least two more starts after tonight's. Last season, though, the Rangers brought him back earlier than expected. Given that Kevin Millwood is on the d.l. and the team wants to limit Scott Feldman's innings, I wouldn't be shocked if the Rangers decided they might as well activate him, rather than have him pitch a 90 pitch stint or two in AAA.
The Cincinnati Inquirer suggests that Walt Jocketty should try use Bronson Arroyo to land one of the three Ranger catchers who are available (the author says landing Max Ramirez would require another Josh Hamilton, high praise for a guy who was acquired about a year ago for just Kenny Lofton). Arroyo has a terrible ERA this year, but his FIP and xFIP haven't really been much worse than they've been the previous couple of years. He's owed $20.5 million for 2009-10, with a 2011 option for $11 million that includes a $2 million club option.
Really, the issue with Arroyo is that he's a 31 year old innings eater, not a legit top of the rotation guy. He's a Millwood or a Padilla, and I don't know that we need another one of them.