That was a pretty good series, I have to say. Taking 3 of 4 from the Angels, getting the lead in the West to 7 games with 63 games to go, and now we have the Swingin' A's coming in for three games, at a time when they are vying to pass Anaheim for third place in the A.L. West.
Jeff Wilson says in his game story that the Rangers and Angels are closely matched, with only two runs separating the teams in the games they've played against each other so far this season.
T.R. Sullivan's game story talks about George W. Bush turning to Nolan Ryan to get him tickets for yesterday's game, with over 170,000 folks showing up in all over the four game series.
Evan Grant says the Rangers are playing more like the Angels right now than the Angels are.
Jeff Caplan has some post-game notes up at ESPN Dallas.
Chris Cox has some extensive notes up at the Rangers' website, with Ron Washington saying that he started David Murphy in place of Julio Borbon for the second time in four games to keep Murphy "engaged," while saying he isn't concerned about Vladimir Guerrero's recent slump.
Wash might not be concerned about Vlad, but I am a little concerned right now...in July, Vlad is hitting .200/.273/.313, including .129/.229/.161 in his last 8 games. You have to wonder if he isn't wearing down right now, and if he wouldn't be well served with some time off the next couple of months, so that he'll be rested come October.
Anthony Andro's notes in the S-T talk about Guerrero's slump, the Rangers' reaction to learning the Angels had landed Dan Haren, and Ron Washington saying there are no plans to drop Scott Feldman from the rotation.
Cox writes that the Rangers are saying they can't concern themselves with what the Angels do, or who they trade for.
While, as I mentioned yesterday, I think this deal is a steal for Anaheim, I am wondering if the D-Backs won't end up flipping Joe Saunders at some point in the next few weeks...if they can get a team needing cheap pitching to overpay for Saunders, it would help make that deal look a little better for Arizona, although they still got rolled.
Gil Lebreton writes that the Haren deal is about helping Anaheim in 2011 and beyond, rather than 2010.
Drew Davison has a story about Neftali Feliz, and his adjustment to taking over the closer role with the Rangers.
Richard Durrett has a story up looking at the possibility of Josh Hamilton winning the MVP this year. I think that, if the Rangers win the West, Hamilton will end up as the MVP...everything just fits together to well for Hamilton not to win it, I think.