Saturday morning Rangers things

Wow.

The Rangers had gone 1 for their last 51 as of one point in yesterday's game.

Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, there was an offensive explosion, and the Rangers end up with a 10-3 blowout victory, lowering the magic number to 2, and putting Texas in a position to clinch by taking one of the next two games against Oakland.

Jeff Wilson's game story talks about Vladimir Guerrero and Jeff Francoeur leading the Rangers' offensive charge last night.  Wilson calls Guerrero the best free agent signing in the A.L. this season, and while I think Jim Thome and Colby Lewis would disagree with that label, Guerrero seems to be getting back into a groove just in time for the playoffs.

Evan Grant has his thoughts on yesterday's game, and suggests that Vladimir Guerrero has a viable claim for being the Rangers' MVP this year. 

Richard Durrett has some post-game quotes and comments from the Rangers clubhouse.  He says Ron Washington felt the 6th inning was the crucial point of the game, which is why he lifted Tommy Hunter, who had been pitching well, to bring in Clay Rapada to face Jack Cust, who represented the go-ahead run at the plate.

T.R. Sullivan says in his game story that the Rangers need to have the champagne on ice, because celebration time is close at hand.

Sullivan had a story go up before yesterday's game about the bats slumping, and the team being confident they'd snap out of it.  Hopefully, the Rangers will carry over this success to today's game.

Evan Grant writes that the Rangers will have to do a better job of performing on the road if they want to advance in the playoffs...he notes that Texas is 12-27 on the road against A.L. teams with a winning record this year.

The Rangers look to be clinching without Josh Hamilton, who did some activities yesterday and is making progress, but still isn't ready to return.  Hamilton can play through the pain, but his problem now is muscle spasms...if the muscle is spasming, he can't play.

Sullivan has updates on Hamilton and Frank Francisco, both of whom expect to be back by playoff time.

Anthony Andro writes that Sunday's Trevor Cahill v. Colby Lewis matchup will be the fifth time this season the two pitchers have faced each other, with Lewis being 0-3 so far despite a solid ERA.

Sullivan has a story up on Rich Harden and Scott Feldman, who started the season as the team's top two starting pitchers, and who will likely not be included on the team's playoff roster.

With the Rangers potentially clinching today, Durrett takes a look at the Rangers three previous division-clinching games.