Saturday morning Rangers stuff

Nice win for Texas last night. Great outing by Martin Perez. Rangers are still in first place, a half-game up on the A's.

Anthony Andro writes in his game story that, for the second outing in a row, Martin Perez looked like a pitcher who belongs in a major league rotation.

Drew Davison's game story talks about two of the prizes of the Ranger farm system, Perez and Jurickson Profar, playing major roles in last night's 4-0 win.

Master Tesfatsion has quotes in the game story at the Ranger website from Perez, talking about attacking the zone and maintaining a good tempo on the mound.

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

Gerry Fraley writes that yesterday, for the first time, someone from outside the Rangers' organization suggested that the 2013 Rangers could be a World Series team. Fraley said on Sports Day on Fox Sports Southwest earlier this week that he would have considered pulling Darvish from the game on Tuesday and "chewing him out" for his bad body language in that start...I, for one, question whether publicly embarrassing the guy who is supposed to be your ace is the best way to get the best out of him.

Wills praises the work of Perez last night, saying that he performed like a major league starter, not a 22 year old rookie.

Richard Justice has a column about how the Rangers are winning with players from in the farm system who have been pressed into roles this year that they weren't expected to have to fill.

Todd Wills has a story about Yu Darvish, with Darvish saying that he didn't need to make major adjustments, and dismissing issues regarding his body language in his last start.

Gerry Fraley has a blog post about Darvish, as well, calling him either "coy or stubborn" for saying he wasn't making adjustments.

Derek Holland complained about being thrown out of a Counting Crows concert earlier this week. The concert venue has responded, basically saying that Holland was acting like a jerk and annoying the people around him.

The S-T's notes talk about Lance Berkman missing last night's game with a sore knee he hurt stepping out of the airplane on Thursday, Nick Tepesch's solid start against St. Louis, and the status of Colby Lewis (who hopes to return in late July), Matt Harrison (who hopes to return in August), Alexi Ogando, and Neftali Feliz.

The Rangers' website notes talk about Berkman, Ogando, Lewis, and the fact that Ross Wolf hasn't pitched in two weeks.

Finally, people throw the word "hero" around way too casually when it comes to sports figures. However, I'd encourage you to read this piece from Frank Deford on the life and death of Joe Delaney, the former Kansas City Chiefs running back who died 30 years ago today while trying to save two young boys who were drowning, which puts into perspective what a hero really is.