After today, there will only be 40 games left. This season has flown by.
Anthony Andro notes that this was the fifth straight game the Rangers starter has failed to go six innings, putting a lot of strain on the bullpen. This would have been par for the course last season, but this season, it is a noteworthy event.
Evan Grant writes that Ron Washington had put up the "stop" sign in the eighth inning last night, but pinch-runner Julio Borbon missed it when he took off with two outs and Josh Hamilton at the plate, getting thrown out.
There are a lot of folks who were bent out of shape when Julio Borbon sat yesterday and Andruw Jones played, with the basic argument being that Borbon is hot, has energized the offense, and makes things happen on the bases with his speed, while Andruw Jones is old, slow, and sucks.
I think starting Jones was reasonable, though. Jones, while not crushing lefties, had put an OPS against them this year that is over 100 points higher than Borbon's OPS against lefties in AAA this year. And I suspect that part of the team's thinking is that they want to put Borbon in situations where he's most likely to succeed, in order to keep him playing well and keep his confidence up in his first real taste of the majors, and the (not unreasonable) feeling is that having him sit against lefties, particularly guys like Scott Kazmir, is the best way to maximize his skills and keep him from being overwhelmed.
I don't know that I would have started Jones instead of Borbon, but I think it is a very defensible move.
And Anthony Andro has some notes on Derek Holland, Neftali Feliz, Julio Borbon, and Jason Grilli today.