Live From Frisco, It’s The Depot/Homer Pool Combo Live Blog, News, Notes And Other Assorted Stuff

We’ll make one concession: We are going to combine the home run pool and The Depot for tonight’s home opener at the beautiful Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco. If you want to play, give me the hitter, inning and number of men on base. If we have multiple winners, we’ll happily make arrangements for you. If you take Justin Smoak, you also have to give me the count. Sorry, my game, my rules.

Here’s your RoughRiders lineup against Springfield: CF Craig Gentry, 2B Jose Vallejo, 1B Justin Smoak, DH Chad Tracy, LF Dustin Majewski, 3B Adam Fox, RF Steve Murphy, C Manny Pina, SS Marcus Lemon and pitching for Frisco. … LHP Kasey Kiker.

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Rangers Off, We’re Not: The Depot Does Frisco Tonight

We’ll be with you all game and we’ll even play a special RoughRiders edition of HR Pool. The water may be a bit more shallow in the minors, so wade on in instead of diving.

Fun With YouTube

I was sent this today as I am all giddy about Mavs-Spurs. This might get you in the mood for Saturday Night:

And then, this might give you a great laugh. It is from the same game when Avery hits Josh Howard where it counts.

Good Times

Administrative Reminder: Newsletter Sign-Up, Questions And Topics For Brandon McCarthy Debut

Since today is an off-day we can do some InsideCorner house cleaning. So, here are a couple of administrative reminders:

You can sign up for the Rangers Newsletter below:

Name:

Email:

You can submit questions for the newsletter here.
You can submit suggested topics/questions for Brandon McCarthy’s first diary entry by sending emails here.

Let’s hear from you.

Texas Ranger Marlon Byrd Talks To InsideCorner, Gets Five Hits

Coincidence? We think not.

Hey, if you like these videos, do us a favor and let us know, both by watching and commenting. Trying to figure out how regular a feature we should make these. We’ve got more interviews scheduled with Jason Jennings and Brandon McCarthy for the next couple of days. But we want feedback. We think Ted Price of Rangers Podcast in Arlington is a great director, producer and screenwriter

It’s Playoff Time (Hello, Old Friend)

Fabulous action once again at the American Airlines Center as the Dallas Mavericks handled the Houston Rockets in the 2nd half and bagged win #50. They have become the first team in the history of the NBA (I am told; there is no way I would do the amount of research it would take to confirm this) that a team has started 2-7 and still found their way to 50 wins by the end of the season. Absolutely remarkable work to finish your season on a 48-25 trend that suggests they belong in the conversation of potential sleepers in the Western Conference Playoffs.

With all sorts of playoff scenarios floating around Wednesday Night, the Mavericks clearly had no real agenda other than to end the season with that same level of confidence that they have built up in the last few weeks. Winning 7 of 9 to finish the regular season may have no impact whatsoever on what they do in the 2009 NBA Playoffs, but for the first time in a couple years, it appears confidence is not a big issue at the moment with this team. Without the Lakers in the discussion anymore, I get the feeling the Mavericks were not too worried who they played in Round 1. Not to say that they were preparing for an easy Round 1, because honestly, any opponent will be favored against them you would think. But, I truly believed the Mavs would fancy their chances whether it was Houston, Denver, or San Antonio in the playoffs.

And, so do I.

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (4/16)

Wilfredo Boscan (Photo courtesy of Jason Cole)

People all over baseball predicted it was going to be bad news for the Sally League when the Rangers’ posse of kid pitchers hit the circuit, but even those with the rosiest of lenses could not have foreseen anything like this from the Hickory pitching staff.

Through their first seven games, Hickory’s staff –which features 18 year olds Martin Perez, Joseph Ortiz and Wilmer Font, 19 year olds Wilfredo Boscan and Carlos Pimentel and 20 year old Jake Brigham — has a team ERA of 1.41 and — as a staff, mind you — they’ve held the league to a .174 batting average.

Yeah, the Sally League tends towards “pitcher friendly,” but this is just ridiculous. You know about Martin Perez’s charisma and three plus pitches. You know about the pure, unadaulterated heat of Wilmer Font. But you should keep a close eye on a kid who could be the best pure pitcher in the bunch because I think you’ll realize at some point in the future that you could use some Wilfredo Boscan.

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Jonesing: Respect For Andruw Jones Opens Door To Big Inning, Big Win As Texas Rangers Throttle Baltimore

D-tails: Boxscore; MLB standings; The Depot live game blog; Post-Game Show comment thread; Kinsler’s big night; Benson survives

ARLINGTON – Sprawled about the Rangers clubhouse Wednesday night, a handful of players dissected the career nights they all just contributed to a 19-6 thrashing of Baltimore.

Ian Kinsler, his uniform smeared from collar to knee with infield dirt, held court on hitting for the cycle and setting the franchise record for hits (six) in a nine-inning game. A few lockers over, Nelson Cruz answered questions about his grand slam, his six RBIs and the near-miss he had for a second grand slam. Against another wall, both knees wrapped in ice, Marlon Byrd discussed his five-hit, which would have matched the Rangers nine-inning record had Kinsler not broken it.

They were all amazing single-game performances, but they were just that: Single-game performances. If there was potential long-lasting impact to the Rangers ending their five-game losing streak the way they did Wednesday, it was to be found in, of all things, an intentional walk.

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This Cycle Has Six Gears: Ian Kinsler Motors His Way To Fourth Cycle In Rangers History In Beating Balitmore 19-6

ARLINGTON – As baseball’s greatest feats go, hitting for the cycle is usually more about coincidence than about skill.

Get three different kinds of base hits and, yeah, it would be kind of cool to pick up the fourth and round out the set. For most of baseball, that is. For guys like Ian Kinsler, the cycle is a standard. It speaks of a complete offensive game.

Kinsler’s cycle Wednesday – the fourth in Rangers history – was part of a complete offensive game. Perhaps the most complete offensive game in Rangers history. By going 6-for-6 with five runs and four RBIs, he nearly single-handedly took Baltimore apart in a 19-6 win. Oh and did we mention, that he stole third, too?

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From Rangers’ Clubhouse: Benson Pitches In At Right Time

ARLINGTON _ Little known record set during the Rangers’ 19-6 drubbing of Baltimore on Wednesday night: Josh Rupe started warming up in the top of the second inning and finally made it to the mound more than two and half hours later.

Rupe was hustled up when it appeared starter Kris Benson might not make it through the second inning. Benson had walked Adam Jones with two outs to force in a run to increase the Orioles’ early lead to 3-1, going over 50 pitches in no time. Then he went 3-1 on lefthanded hitting Nick Markakis.

But Benson got Markakis to fly out to left. After throwing 57 pitches in the first innings, he threw only 54 over the next four innings as the Rangers provided a massive cushion. It all resulted in Benson’s first major league win since 2006.

“It’s a huge monkey off my back,” said Benson, who only officially joined the roster on Feb. 21 and earned a starting spot in March. “Trust me. I’ll be able to relax a lot more now that I have this one.”

On to some of the hows and whys of Benson battling off the ropes.

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2009 NFL DRAFT: What Will The Cowboys Do?

The NFL Draft is a little more than a week away (Saturday & Sunday, April 25-26) and we know about as much about the Cowboys’ draft plans as we did back in January. While this blog post will focus on the Cowboys, over the next week and a half, we’ll also feature some hometown prospects and do a full seven round mock draft next Friday.

With only one pick on the first day (2^nd round – 51^st overall selection), Dallas has some added pressure to get this one right. However, without any glaring weaknesses, the ‘Boys also have the luxury of taking one of the best players available or possibly packaging picks to trade up. Owner/GM/Master of his Universe Jerry Jones currently holds 11 draft selections in his hands (#51, 69, 101, 117, 156, 166, 172, 197, 208, 210, 227), but we all know that Jerry will wheel and deal whatever picks necessary until he comes away happy on draft day.

Jerry & gang are traditionally unpredictable when it comes to draft weekend, but let’s take a stab at five positions that will be of close interest to the Cowboys on April 25 and 26.

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