Tuesday Morning Texas Rangers Update

In the midst of a disastrous September, one that saw the Rangers not only lose the division to the A's, but drop out of a playoff spot altogether, the Rangers came home and emphatically won their first of many must-win games last night. Now the Rangers are within a game of a Wild Card spot with six games remaining.

Todd Wills has the Rapid Reaction to the Rangers' 12-0 win over the Houston Astros in what was maybe the most balanced night of baseball from the Rangers all season.

T.R. Sullivan recaps a victory that was headlined by Alex Rios hitting for the cycle and Derek Holland tossing a complete game shutout.

Drew Davison's game story shines a light on Rios' big night at the plate as he became the seventh Texas Ranger to hit for the cycle.

Gerry Fraley writes that with their backs to the wall, the Rangers played as required against Houston last night. Now they just need some help from the rest of the American League.

Behind the DMN paywall, Tim Cowlishaw writes that the Rangers can save themselves the embarrassment of crawling back to Nelson Cruz by just missing the playoffs altogether. Though, I don't know. If it were me, I'd rather they just make the playoffs, get Nellie back, and then have him hit a dozen dongs on his way to the World Series MVP award.

Professional Internet antagonist Mac Engel writes that he doesn't think either Jon Daniels or Ron Washington should be fired if this season goes belly up even though he appeared in a video titled "Fire Jon Daniels" a week or so ago.

Remember when there was a blurb from Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports about how ownership pressured Jon Daniels to acquire Matt Garza? Well, Wills has quotes from JD where he denies any such meddling from the owners.

T.R. Sullivan and Master Testfasion share MLB.com Notebook duty and report on Alexi Ogando's season reflections, JD on Cruz's potential playoff status, the Wild Card race, and the note we've all been waiting for: Lance Berkman is basically done as a Texas Ranger.

Ahem.

The Star-Telegram's John Henry has notes on JD waiting until the Rangers are actually in the playoffs to make a decision on Cruz's status for the playoffs and Washington's Dikembe Mutombo impression, among other items.

MLB.com's Quinn Roberts previews tonight's Must Win Game Round 2 as Yu Darvish goes for the Rangers against Brad Peacock and the Houston Astros.

Finally, Keith Whitmire writes about some Rangers being good dudes and helping out a local youth baseball organization that was nearly forced to shut down because of financial troubles.