Jeff Wilson writes that Josh Hamilton and Omar Vizquel going deep drove yesterday's win. I think there's reason to believe that Hamilton may be back, which would be huge going forward...
Frankie Francisco is back in the closer role, with C.J. Wilson going back to a setup role, with the Rangers saying that Wilson's versatility and ability to pitch multiple innings making him more valuable in that role.
Wilson also has a story about Vicente Padilla's being dropped from the 25 man roster, which highlights more of the issues that led to the Rangers cutting ties with him:
"I have a lot of good friends on the Yankees, and they were like, 'One of you guys is going to get hurt one day,’ " Young said. "No one wants to see that happen, obviously, but it’s the nature of the game. A lot of times we felt like we had a bull’s-eye on our back."
But Daniels stressed that the decision on Padilla had as much to do with what he did in the clubhouse as it did with his on-field antics. Teammates said Padilla was often late for meetings, or didn’t attend them at all, and he would escape to the clubhouse during games to check e-mail and surf the Internet.
Kevin Sherrington says the Rangers won't miss Padilla.
T.R. Sullivan gets Padilla's side of things, with Padilla disputing the allegations against him.
The Rangers are apparently looking around for possible starting pitchers who might clear waivers and be eligible to be traded, although Dustin Nippert is going to get a close look in the rotation for now.