Friday a.m. Rangers stuff

This is a frustrating stretch right now. Not scoring runs is more frustrating than not being able to stop the other team from scoring, I think.

Jeff Wilson's game story talks about how the Rangers are continuing not to score runs when Yu Darvish is on the mound of late.

T.R. Sullivan's game story talks about Yu Darvish being dominant in his last five starts, but not having a win to show for it. Of course, pitcher wins are an anachronistic leftover from a bygone age which we shouldn't focus on, but still, the bigger point is that the team isn't taking advantage of Darvish's performances of late.

Anthony Andro's game story has quotes from Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre about the team's struggles of late, as well as Darvish saying he hasn't been doing his job.

Todd Wills has his Rapid Reaction at the ESPN Dallas blog.

Evan Grant writes that a "malaise" has settled over the Rangers, resulting in them making mental mistakes and being two games back in the West for the first time since May, 2011.

Gil Lebreton says that, when Ian Kinsler returns, Ron Washington needs to play the "hot hands" put Jurickson Profar in left field. My issue with that is that I don't think Profar is likely to out-hit David Murphy going forward, and playing the "hot hands" means chasing very recent past performance, which isn't necessarily the best way to determine who is going to perform in the immediate future.

Andro has a story about Joakim Soria being eager to start facing hitters.

Grant writes that Jason Frasor's velocity has increased of late, and with that increase in velocity, he's having more success.

The S-T's notes talk about Joakim Soria being close to a rehab assignment, and Justin Grimm saying he's been rushing his delivery the past couple of games, a problem he's going to correct.

The Rangers' website notes talk about Soria's progress in returning from injury, Alexi Ogando's progress in returning from injury, and Mitch Moreland's progress in returning from injury, plus Lance Berkman saying that the Rangers are just having a stretch that every team goes through.