Nice to finally win one at Fenway, for the first time in a while.
Evan Grant says that Eddie Guardado's contributions yesterday were huge, both with his performance in the 8th in relief of Kevin Millwood, after Millwood got into some trouble, and afterwards, talking to Frankie Francisco about dealing with the sore shoulder that kept Francisco out of last night's game.
Francisco couldn't get loose before yesterday's game, so the decision was made that he wouldn't pitch yesterday, even though he called the dugout in the 9th and said he wanted to pitch. The last time Frankie made that call, of course, he ended up on the d.l. after he was used, so it is just as well he wasn't pressed into service in a 4 run game.
Jeff Wilson also has praise for Guardado, as well as for Elvis Andrus, who had a great 2 out at bat against Brad Penny that ended in an RBI single, and set the stage for Ian Kinsler's 3 run homer that broke the game open.
Vicente Padilla cleared waivers, and will start for the Rangers against Boston this weekend. Andruw Jones and Brandon Boggs will also apparently start today, against lefty Jon Lester, in place of Hank Blalock (579 OPS against LHP this season) and David Murphy (262 OPS against LHP this season). Given Blalock and Murphy have struggled badly against lefties both this season and historically, this seems like a pretty obvious move, but I suspect there will still be complaining from that contingent who still think those two need to be every day players, rather than platoon players.
Evan Grant has some notes up, including Tom Hicks saying it will be business as usual for the Rangers in the draft this year, despite his rather well-known financial problems. Despite Hicks' comments, I'll be surprised if the Rangers take Matt Purke or Donovan Tate at #14, given their exorbinant bonus demands.
Chris Davis says going three days without playing, and using the time to work on his mechanics with Rudy Jaramillo, has helped him get straightened back out at the plate. Yesterday's game was only his second 3 hit game of the season.
Richard Durrett runs down the candidates for the team MVP over the first third of the season. To me, it would clearly be either Ian Kinsler or Nelson Cruz...both have hit very well while playing great defensively.
Barry Horn has a story on Eric Nadel's detached retina situation. Horn also mentions in his TV/radio notes that the Rangers ratings on FSSW have almost doubled this season from 2009. Amazing how much more interested folks are in watching a team that is winning...