Wednesday Morning Links

Well, if you've been worrying about the Rangers' offense, last night would have been a great time to watch The New Normal and then have a gab session with the girls over ice cream.

Anthony Andro has a post mortem focusing on the Rangers' sickly offense, with Ron Washington saying, "This certainly hasn't been a season long thing, because those guys, they've been driving in runs." Except Hamilton's brutal July, or Kinsler on the road, or... well, let's not think about that. Like Wash says, let's just count on regression to the mean and get some massage therapists working Yu Darvish's neck in shifts. Said Mark Lowe about his abysmal September (5 appearances, 3.1 innings pitched, 0 strikeouts, 2 HR's, 7 ER's), "I'm going about my business the same way I have my whole career... I'll get to the point where I bounce back and be on track." The article did not specify if Lowe then asked Jon Daniels to tell him about the rabbits.

Jeff Wilson also recaps the game, saying that Lowe continuing to suck shouldn't steal the spotlight of shame from where it rightly belongs: the Ranger offense, which couldn't score Josh Hamilton from third with no outs in the first and then mostly took the rest of the night off (when it wasn't running into outs on the basepaths). At least it wasn't Josh Reddick this time. Jeff Wilson also has an update in yesterday's pregame notes for those of you that can't get enough Roy Oswalt news, along with a note that Mike Olt took batting practice for the first time since leaving the game on September 12.

T.R. Sullivan's notes column includes Josh Hamilton's thoughts on Miguel Cabrera chasing the triple crown, Roy Oswalt impressing Ron Washington in relief and the news that the Rangers are saving the "real" celebration for clinching the AL West title, not a playoff spot. Josh says about Cabrera, "I enjoy watching guys succeed at what I do," which I think is an interesting way to put it. I, personally, enjoy watching guys succeed at what they do, but I don't want to watch guys succeeding at what I do, because screw those guys, that's why.

Sullivan also spotted the buzzards circling the offense last night, though he also spends a fair amount of time describing why Mark Lowe will probably be offered "best wishes in your future endeavors" rather than arbitration this offseason. Feldman says that he did not have 30 beers Monday night, even though he didn't know he was going to pitch, while Lowe says "it's not an excuse, but it does make it harder when you're not in there consistently..." which is a non-denial denial of drinking 30 beers Monday night if I've ever heard one.

Evan Grant has a post about the race for homefield advantage in the playoffs, along with various playoff and play-in scenarios for the different teams in the event of tie records. Evan also says that Josh Hamilton calibrated his new ocular implants in a fielding session with Gary Pettis before yesterday's game, and tells us in a chat session how he'd structure a Hamilton 5 year / $150 million deal (assuming, I guess, that Josh Hamilton does not start believing he is made of glass before a contract is signed).

Richard Durrett notes that the Rangers are the fourth worst team in the AL at bringing home runners from third with less than two outs, but at least that's better than our throwing out of potential basestealers, which is second worst. Durrett's also has his rapid reactions to the game, and I would give you my rapid reactions but it consists of only two words, one of which Adam has told me I'm not allowed to use on the front page. Durrett says that Mark Lowe hopes to get some chances in the final eight games to get back on track and potentially secure a spot on the playoff roster. Lowe, however, is probably a situational guy at this point, those situations mostly consisting of "never" or "the rest of the bullpen plus Craig Gentry all dead."

Finally, here's a TedTalks speech entitled "Why I Chose the Gun," which is a very well articulated and effective presentation of the "si vis pacem, para bellum" school of thought.