Post-Game Show: Rangers 6, Red Sox 3

Three Up & Three Down: Fenway Park/Logan Airport Edition: Turns out I made it to the airport in time and only missed an uneventful eighth and ninth inning, which, for the Rangers, was a very good thing. And while listening on the radio, got to hear about Detroit’s Clete Thomas hitting a Grand Slam in the eighth to lift the Tigers past the Angels. Rangers return home with a 4.5 game lead in the AL West.

Three Up
• Challenged like he never had been before, RHP Vicente Padilla with perhaps his best start as a Ranger. He didn’t overpowering stuff, but he competed in tough situations. That more than anything else will earn him the respect and trust of teammates.
• 3B Michael Young hit .360 for the road trip and got the Rangers off to an early lead with his first homer in a month.
• RHP Darren O’Day pitched an uneventful eighth inning and is quickly becoming one of the best in-season waiver wire pickups in Rangers history. He has a 1.20 ERA and a .163 opponents batting average as a Ranger.

Three Down
• Another day without RHP Frank Francisco at Ron Washington’s disposal. If the DL didn’t enter the discussion over the weekend, you can bet it will Monday. Rangers can’t afford to not know if the closer is available.
• Hank Blalock was hitless with three strikeouts against RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka. Blalock is hitting .272 with a .929 OPS vs. right-handers, not a huge advantage over DH platoon-mate Andruw Jones, who is hitting .272 with a .917 OPS vs. right-handers.
• Certain writers/bloggers did a poor job of travel planning and had to evacuate the Fenway Park Press Box in the middle of the seventh Sunday. Rookie mistake by a veteran

Depot: Live Game Blog, News, Notes

11:41: Some good great pre-game reading material available from the Mighty MJH looking back on the scouting of Ian Kinsler. We also break down last night’s performance by Derek Holland and look at the immediate futures of Holland, Kris Benson and Matt Harrison.

11:45: The home run pool is open. No rafts or beach balls, please.

12:42: Michael Young’s homer is his first since May 4th, a span of 27 games. Young needs a triple in his next at-bat to have a virtual cycle. He doubled and singled in his last two at-bats Saturday after taking early batting practice on Friday.

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Matt Harrison’s Return Could Push Derek Holland To Bullpen And Kris Benson Out Of Rangers Plans

BOSTON - The Kris Benson Experiment hasn’t worked out as the Rangers or the starter-turned-reliever hoped.

It may soon come time to decide whether to forge ahead or end the project altogether.

If Matt Harrison returns to the rotation this week after a sharp, but short rehab outing, the Rangers could have some shuffling to do in their bullpen. Derek Holland would likely move back to the bullpen, manager Ron Washington indicated. That would create a logjam among the long relievers.

Benson, meanwhile, acknowledged Sunday that he still feels weird in his new role, that he’d liked to return to a starting rotation and that, yeah, he’s thought about asking for a release so he could try and catch on as a starter elsewhere.

For now, though, Benson’s sole goal is to improve as a relief pitcher. It has been no easy transition for the former overall No. 1 pick in the draft, who had been exclusively a starter until May.

“I’m kind of learning on the job,” said Benson, who has a 7.94 ERA in six relief outings (it is 8.46 overall). “I haven’t had a spring training to make the transition. I’m more comfortable than I was when I took the mound the first time, but it still feels a little weird.”

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Let’s Swim: It’s Home Run Pool Time

Here is today’s Rangers lineup against Boston RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka:

2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Michael Young, DH Hank Blalock, RF Nelson Cruz, LF David Murphy, CF Marlon Byrd, 1B Chris Davis, C Taylor Teagarden, SS Omar Vizquel (who is three hits shy of becoming Venezuela’s all-time hits leader) and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Vicente Padilla.

Go!

About Last Night: Boston’s Mr. Lester Teaches Rangers Mr. Holland An Opus About Pitching

D-tails: Red Sox 8, Rangers 1
• Boxscore, Standings, Depot game blog
• Notes: Closing in on hits record, Vizquel to get start; Francisco still unavailable

BOSTON - Getting pulled in the fifth inning Saturday night wasn’t all bad news for Rangers starter Derek Holland.

For example, it offered him more opportunity to sit back and watch Jon Lester.

In a lot of ways Holland is currently a Lester starter kit. He is young, left-handed and throws hard. And while there are differences in their repertoires – most significantly Lester uses a cut fastball and Holland doesn’t – there are two important lessons that could be learned Saturday from Lester’s dominant 8-1 two-hit, complete game win over the Rangers.

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Grouse Hunt: The Inside Story Of How Ian Kinsler Became A Ranger

Six years ago, the Rangers amateur scouting department got together to merge their area draft boards into one big, comprehensive board as they do every year, including last week in preparation for the 2009 draft.

There were a couple of collegiate shortstops on the list who were being considered to fill out the Spokane roster for the 2003 season and when the meetings got started, Baylor’s Trey Webb looked like he’d probably be the guy who would get the job at the cost of a fourth or fifth round pick.

But one area scout spoke up during those meetings claiming that he’d been following a kid he knew was much better than Webb and could be had in the tenth round, probably much later than that. Though no one knew it at the time, it was a moment that would radically alter the future of the Texas Rangers.

The amateur draft takes place Tuesday and Wednesday. You’ll have no trouble finding stories about what happens in the first round or two, but what goes after that — and why, and how — is pretty murky. There’s no shortage of lists ranking the top-100 prospect lists (or top-50 high school hitters, or top-20 college left-handers, etc.), but the story of how and why a club decides to take a guy in the 10th, 17th or 30th round is rarely told.

With a focus on one of the greatest 17th round picks of all time and the scout who found him, Inside Corner takes you inside of the scouting and drafting process beyond the first few rounds.

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (6/7)

Julio Borbon in Surprise

My best guess is that whether or not he makes it back to the field this year, you’re never going to see Josh Hamilton play center field again.

It’s pretty obvious that nobody wants to see Andruw Jones in center field anymore. Marlon Byrd can hold the position down reasonably well. He’s probably not a great defensive center fielder at this point, but still pretty good. Brandon Boggs can play anywhere in the outfield and hold his own. But I don’t think any of those guys are the long-term solution.

The long-term solution is going to be Oklahoma City CF Julio Borbon, who after going 3-for-4 from the top of the RedHawks order last night is hitting .291 / .352 / .359 for the season. What is interesting about Borbon’s performance this year is this: after striking out a little more than twice as much as he walked in his two stops last year (Bakersfield and Frisco), he’s drawn 18 walks while striking out just 20 times so far this year.

That’s the sort of thing that always gets my attention. When a prospect attacks a weakness and succeeds, I’m impressed. The demonstrated ability to learn and adapt and adjust is, in my opinion, the sixth “tool.” That Borbon seems to excel in this department comes as no surprise. He’s a very bright young man and a hard worker.

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