4 games back of the Angels, 2 1/2 back of Boston in the Wild Card race.
Jeff Wilson writes about Neftali Feliz's improved curveball, which he used to strike out Mike Cuddyer to extinguish the Twins' sixth inning threat last night.
In the game day thread comments last night, I mentioned that one of the things that is interesting to me about this team is that the Rangers are selectively aggressive on the basepaths, depending on matchups...against certain batteries, they don't run, but against certain batteries -- such as with Carl Pavano on the mound last night -- they run at every opportunity. Evan Grant points out that this selective aggressiveness has the Rangers on pace to have the best stolen base percentage of any A.L. team in history with at least 150 steal attempts.
Pedro Strop impressed in his major league debut on Friday.
Wilson's notes include some comments from the Rangers about the Angels adding Scott Kazmir, and the news that Brandon McCarthy will be starting one of the games for Tuesday's doubleheader.
I'm guessing that McCarthy will replace Dustin Nippert, who has shown some flashes but also had some issues throwing strikes, in the rotation. McCarthy's history with the Rangers is that he's been effective when he's been healthy, but he's just not stayed healthy...my guess is that, for the final month, the Rangers will roll with him in the rotation as long as his body holds up.
A story over at Fanhouse about expanding rosters in September includes some quotes from Jon Daniels and Michael Young about adding guys on September 1.
Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman thinks Round Rock could become a Ranger affiliate after next season, and thinks that would be a good thing for Austin baseball fans.