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Good morning. It turns out, it's still fun to hate the Yankees. It's also still fun to beat them.
Calvin Watkins provided the Rapid Reaction to the Rangers' emotional 4-2 win over Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees.
T.R. Sullivan's game story notes that the Rangers were able to put four runs on the board in the 5th inning and that was enough for Yu Darvish. It was the biggest run output in a single inning for the Rangers' offense since July 5.
Anthony Andro writes that the Rangers scored all four of their runs with two outs while Yu Darvish survived two solo home runs from Brett Gardner.
Stefan Stevenson writes that J.P. Arencibia hit a go-ahead two-out two-run RBI single in the 5th to give his battery mate Darvish a lead he wouldn't relinquish.
With Gerry Fraley off for the night, Tim Cowlishaw takes the reins as the official DMN Darvish pooh-pooher. Despite a seven inning, eight strikeout quality start for a team that is absolutely dreadful, Yu Darvish wasn't perfect so Cowlishaw waves aside his effort as win padding (Win padding?! On my 2014 Texas Rangers?!) and discounts the win because the Yankees aren't as good as they used to be. Darvish literally can't win for winning around here.
Andro has a piece on Derek Jeter's final series at The Ballpark and it's the only sort of article I want to read about Jeter this week because it's one where he respects the Rangers teams he's faced in October in the past. That's the kind of thing I'd stand and applaud Jeter for.
After continuing his run of immediate success in the majors on Sunday, Landon Haaf ponders if we're seeing the real Roman Mendez or not.
Jeff Passan has an interesting tidbit in his "10 Degrees" column about the 2014 trade deadline (which includes some stuff about who might be available on the Rangers). Apparently the Rangers were really close to acquiring Jon Lester during the 2012 season.
So there's yet another "What If...?" that probably would have salvaged that 2012 season. Granted, 2012 was Lester's worst year by far but he would have been a helluva lot better than Ryan Dempster on a team that lost the West by a game. Of course, that's not the only time the Rangers almost acquired Lester and is now the second time halting a Lester trade to the Rangers has eventually helped the Red Sox win a World Series title. :-/
Sullivan and Grace Raynor share MLB.com Notebook duties and cover Robbie Ross' recent turnaround in Round Rock, more on Mendez, and some minor league awards for Texas farmhands.
John Henry and Kelly Ward have notes on the rotation heading into the weekend, Jeter's thoughts on Elvis Andrus, Mark Teixeira's connection to Mendez, and other items.
MLB.com's Jamal Collier previews tonight's match-up between the Rangers and Yankees with Brandon McCarthy and Nick Martinez scheduled to go against these teams for the second time in a week.
Lastly:
It never gets old watching Yu do work.
