Another win. The Rangers are 4 up on Oakland in the West, 5.5 up on Anaheim.
Jeff Wilson's game story praises the greatness of small ball. T.R. Sullivan's game story also focuses on the controversial Josh Hamilton 4th inning bunt. Calvin Watkins called Hamilton's bunt "the play of the game."
What seems to be overlooked in the praise for Hamilton bunting, though, is that while the runner he moved over to third scored the winning run, he scored the winning run on a Nelson Cruz double. Even with the runner being Vladimir Guerrero, he would have scored from second on a double. Hamilton's bunt did nothing to help the Rangers win yesterday.
The Rangers scored the winning run, not because Hamilton bunted, but because two of their middle of the order power hitters got extra base hits.
And if the Rangers keep insisting on bunting early in games with their good hitters, they aren't going to score enough runs to be a very good team.
Evan Grant's post-game notes highlight how the Ranger bullpen is being ridden very hard right now...the Rangers either are going to have to get more innings from their starter, or key members of the bullpen are likely to be useless come September.
The notes on the Rangers' website mentions Rod Barajas as a possible trade target.
Jeff Wilson writes in the S-T's notes about the Rangers' improved plate discipline and