Jeff Wilson says the outfielders for the Rangers were pretty bored, as Scott Feldman and the relievers got ground ball after ground ball, with some infield flies mixed in, in shutting down the Yankees. Feldman looked shaky early on, but after a 5-3 GIDP with the bases loaded, he settled down and gave the Rangers yet another quality start.
Evan Grant says that Feldman and C.J. Wilson shutting down Alex Rodriguez in big situations was the key to the Rangers pulling this one out.
Vicente Padilla is expected to clear waivers, remain with the Rangers and make his next start in Boston on Sunday. Thad Levine and Mike Maddux met with Padilla yesterday to talk about the situation, and apparently cleared the air.
In the same item, it is mentioned that Doug Mathis was brought up because the Rangers felt they needed a fresh arm in the bullpen after Tuesday's game. It leads me to wonder, though, why Kris Benson -- supposedly here as the long man -- was only used for an inning, with Eddie Guardado and Warner Madrigal also being used. I'm also a bit baffled about why Derek Holland -- the guy who is supposedly being handled carefully and in situations where he can have success -- was put into Tuesday's game in a situation where you'd normally use your long man, and with runners on base, when he's scheduled to start Saturday, a start he's now going to have to make on short rest.
Evan Grant mentioned on his blog yesterday that he thought the Rangers might keep Holland on a limited pitch count on Saturday and use Benson as a tandem option, which again leads me to wonder why they wouldn't have thrown Benson out there in the long man role on Tuesday. Ron Washington's use of the bullpen Tuesday -- and of Holland in particular -- is baffling.
Kevin Sherrington says that the Rangers need to move Josh Hamilton to right field so they can try to keep him healthy.