Not what we were hoping for yesterday, as far as the Rangers game goes, but at least the Mariners managed to rally late and defeat the hated Anaheim Angels, and thus keep the Rangers' lead in the West at 3.5 games.
The next week could (and probably should) see that lead drop -- Texas has Tampa at home, then three games in Boston and three more in Tampa, while Anaheim finishes their series in Seattle today, then has Minnesota and the M's for three games apiece at home.
After that, though, the schedules are pretty close to even -- if anything, Texas probably has an easier road once the series at Tampa is done.
Jeff Wilson's game story has quotes from Alexi Ogando, saying that his arm feels fine, but his mechanics are out of whack, and that's affecting his command.
Anthony Andro's game story focuses on the Ogando situation, and whether he's going to end up bumped from the rotation because of his recent struggles.
Behind the paywall, Evan Grant writes that Scott Feldman needs to step up with Ogando struggling.
Ogando's issues were also the focus of Louie Horvath's game story at the Rangers' website.
Randy Jennings has his reactions to last night's game at ESPN Dallas.
The Ogando situation is obviously item one today, and while Ron Washington said after the game yesterday that he still planned on Ogando starting as scheduled on Monday, I wouldn't put a lot of weight on that. That's what you expect Wash to say after the game.
The reality is that I suspect he'll meet with Mike Maddux, and perhaps the front office, today, and discuss what the best way to proceed is going to be.
And given Ogando's comments about having a mechanical issue right now that he hasn't been able to fix, I expect we'll learn at some point soon that Ogando is going to be skipped so that he can do some side sessions and work on his mechanics.
And with Ogando being skipped, the Rangers will have Scott Feldman, instead of Matt Harrison, start on Sunday, so that Harrison, who pitched two innings yesterday. Harrison was originally slated to start against the Red Sox on Sunday, but that would mean going on three days rest. He didn't throw a ton of pitches, but it seems to make the most sense for Harrison to slide back to Monday and pitch on four days rest, which would allow Feldman to go against Boston (and would also mean that Feldman wouldn't be pitching against the same Tampa team that saw him earlier this week).
Wilson has a piece on the acquisitions of Matt Treanor and Mike Gonzalez yesterday.
The S-T's notes talk about Adrian Beltre's return to the lineup today, Matt Harrison's skipped start, and Nelson Cruz's rehabilitation schedule.
Horvath's notes have stuff on Treanor's return, Beltre's rehab, and Mark Hamburger's major league debut.