Lost in the drama last night is that Brandon McCarthy had his best start of the season, walking no one and allowing no homers for the first time this year, and needing just 68 pitches to go five innings. If there's no rain, he probably goes 7 or 8, and we're not freaking out today about the bullpen.
Todd Wills says that McCarthy showed yesterday why the Rangers wanted him badly enough to deal John Danks to get him. And Jeff Miller talks to McCarthy and Danks about facing the teams that traded them.
Anthony Andro's game story focuses on the offense finally producing with runners in scoring position, after not seeming to be able to come through the last several games.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia was back in the lineup yesterday, and Ron Washington says the team will probably call up a backup outfielder and send Max Ramirez back down in the next few days. Kris Benson is also set to make a rehab start for Frisco today.
Taylor Teagarden, meanwhile, is adjusting to the role of backup catcher this season.
Randy Galloway has a story about Alex Rodriguez and pitch-tipping, with Michael Young defending Rodriguez, and Galloway also sharing more details of the brouhaha surrounding ARod calling pitches while he was here:
In Alex’s Texas days, the closest thing associated with any of this involved a controversy that swirled around him in 2003. But it was pitch calling, not pitch tipping. Without informing manager Buck Showalter or pitching coach Orel Hershiser, Rodriguez told new catcher Einar Diaz he would call the pitches for him.
"Buck and Orel caught on in a hurry, and a big blowup happened, particularly between Alex and Orel," said one person. "That story hit the papers, but it was bigger than even reported. Buck and Alex totally split because Alex wanted Buck to fire Orel and Buck didn’t."
Young: "I backed Alex on that. Heck, yes, I did. We had a catcher who was struggling. Alex was trying to help the team. He knew more about it than the catcher. If the pitching coach didn’t like it, he should have been on top of it."
Z takes a look at the upcoming amateur draft on the DMN blog.