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Good morning. This season is now mercifully almost halfway finished.
MLB.com's Earl Bloom recaps a Rangers' 5-2 loss to the Angels that all but officially put an end to any thoughts of us having an enjoyable summer.
Drew Davison notes that with the loss yesterday the Rangers have their worst record since the 2008 season which, to give context, was Josh Hamilton's first season with the Rangers.
Evan Grant succinctly writes that Yu Darvish wasn't very good and then Rangers lost. He then wrote several other words as well.
In other news, as T.R. Sullivan reports, since no one is (rightfully) voting for Rangers, Texas is basically that team that's going to have one representative on the All-Star team because Bud Selig mandates it. We're pretty much the Mark Redman Royals now.
Kate Morrison continues to re-rank her top 15 Ranger prospects over at WFAA.com with prospects No. 10 through No. 6. Spoiler alert!!: Joey Gallo isn't listed.
Speaking of Gallo, the DMN has a slideshow with 10 things you might not know about Joey Gallo including the note that Gallo once performed the Heimlich maneuver by hitting a baseball at a choking man's sternum. Probably.
Bloom has notes over at the MLB.com Notebook on Jason Frasor's strong season, Ron Washington givin' the umpires the business, and many more notes on the 2014 Texas Rangers.
Davison's notes cover Wash calling umpire Vic Carapazza a bum, Adrian Beltre nearing a hitting milestone, and some fresh info on Neftali Feliz.
Lastly, please excuse my selfish need for catharsis but I've been having a hard time with this whole baseball fan thing since Richard Durrett's death. This is the first morning update I've done since he passed away. The fact that there wasn't a Rapid Reaction for me to lead things off with -- as I have for the last three years -- personally renewed an already strong sense of sadness.
It's such a little thing. On the list of impact that the world will feel from the loss of Richard Durrett, it's in the billions and billions. But for me, it's why my heart sank this morning -- a feeling too familiar these last few days.
I think Scott Lucas expressed why this hurts more than maybe anyone could have expected:
"Rest in peace" is an easy epitaph for people who die at a ripe old age. It's not sufficient in Richard's case.
On a professional level Richard appeared to take joy in making sure we were informed and enjoyed ourselves as Texas Rangers baseball fans. It hard to rectify the notion of him having to rest from that or the many friends and loved ones left in his absence.
With that in mind, NBC 5 Sports did a nice piece titled "Remembering Richard Durrett" and you should watch it. He was one of us. He was an essential member of this online Rangers fan community that we share. I will do my best to keep writing about the Rangers because I know it's the least I can do when I think about how Richard would have published a thousand words about an otherwise meaningless 5-2 Sunday loss in Anaheim moments after the game ended.
