Thursday Morning Links

So Elvis Andrus broke open the tie last night in the seventh with a two run double off of "good trade that still hurts" Koji Uehara last night. T.R. Sullivan's game story focuses on Ogando's good outing and Andrus' game-winning heroics. Jeff "The Glass is Half Empty and Has an Injured Hamstring" Wilson chooses to focus on the gloomy side of last night's win. Todd Wills wanted to push the Mitch Moreland news out of sight down the ESPN blog feed, and has three postgame stories: rapid reactions, a story about how Ogando was almost as good as David Murphy, and another about how David Murphy stranding Elvis Andrus was the pivotal play that clinched a Ranger win because of the butterfly effect or something.

And, of course, Mitch Moreland left the game yesterday with a gimpy hamstring and is going to undergo an MRI. Evan Grant notes that Moreland hopes to be on the bench for the season finale in Boston tomorrow night and that the Rangers do not have another first baseman on the 40 man roster (hope you weren't expecting a Christmas card from Jeff Baker this year, Evan). Jeff Wilson goes through our potential options at first, which include question marks (Mike Olt), probable terribleness (Chris McGuiness), and Lance Berkman, who would need a Rascal scooter to reach even Blalockian levels of mobility.

T.R. Sullivan's notes column discusses the Moreland injury, the Cruz situation, and David Murphy saying his arm feels fine after dominating Mike Carp the night before last. Additionally, Michael Kirkman is trying to stay positive during his execrable start to the season by watching this Sunday's Game of Thrones.

According to Jeff Wilson, Leonys Martin would gain the windfall of playing time were Nelson Cruz forced to serve out a suspension.

Tim Cowlishaw thinks that losing Cruz to a 50 game suspension could cost the Rangers the AL West, though Evan Grant thinks that with all this poop in here there has to be a pony somehwere.

One thing to be happy about, Evan Grant points out that even after having their walls toppled, houses burned, and fields sown with salt Tuesday the Rangers' pitching staff still sport the league's best ERA.

Richard Durrett also goes over the potential in-house Cruz replacements should Cruz have to sit out a suspension.

Finally, enjoy this tale of what can be done with a monomaniacal fixation on a single task and 400 hours of your free time.