Post-Game Show: Rangers 5, Astros 4

Three Up and Three Down from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where the Rangers won in 10 innings Wednesday:

Three Up
• David Murphy did an excellent job of bat-handling to go the opposite way and lash a walk-off single past third base in the 10th.
• On the day former Ranger Ivan Rodriguez became the all-time leader in games caught, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia outshined him with a pair of strong ninth-inning throws.
• Let bygones be bygones, it was for Pudge and for the crowd 32,425 to have him break the record where he has caught the majority of his games – Arlington.

Three Down
• The Rangers inability to advance Marlon Byrd two bases after he led off the bottom of the ninth with a double was poor strategy and worse execution.
• LHP Eddie Guardado couldn’t keep a one-run lead, surrendering a jet-stream aided homer to Hunter Pence in the eighth.
• A girl apparently wore a hot dog costume in the Upper Deck. People should never wear meat costumes. Fruits or vegetables are fine, but never meat.

The Depot: Texas Rangers-Houston Astros Live Game Blog, News And Notes

5:05: Jump in the pool. Now!

5:07: To the surprise of no one, RHP Warner Madrigal has been optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to make room for LHP Matt Harrison, who is being activated from the DL. This is the third time this season he has been optioned.

5:36: Couple of interesting lineup-related notes. C Jarrod Saltalamacchia is catching Harrison tonight, although Taylor Teagarden had been Harrison’s personal catcher for his last six starts. Teagarden will catch Vicente Padilla Thursday. The two have worked together in each of Padilla’s last two starts. But, manager Ron Washington said, he isn’t teaming the duo up. He called it coincidence that Thursday will make three straight starts together for the battery. … Also on the lineup front, DH Andruw Jones is yielding to Hank Blalock although Jones is 10-for-24 in his career against Russ Ortiz.

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President George W. Bush To Speak Thursday; Rangers Ballpark Owner’s Suite Named For Him

From an official Rangers press release:

Arlington, Texas–The Texas Rangers today announced that the Owner’s Suite at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington will be renamed in honor of the 43^rd President of the United States and the team’s former Managing General Partner George W. Bush.

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Floating Away In The Home Run Pool

Ian Kinsler’s leadoff homer got him out of his slump last night and us out of ours. Big win for Mattio.

Now, let’s see if we can extend this to a two-day streak. Here’s the lineup that will face Houston RHP Russ Ortiz (against whom no Rangers have ever homered):

2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Michael Young, DH Hank Blalock, RF Nelson Cruz, LF David Murphy, CF Marlon Byrd, 1B Chris Davis, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Omar Vizquel and pitching for the Rangers … LHP Matt Harrison.

Viral Video: Josh Hamilton On His Recovery

On Tuesday, Josh Hamilton took some time away from his rehab work following abdominal surgery to visit with InsideCorner, my belly, and director of video and graphics Ted Price.

Rangers Clubhouse Is No Longer CandyLand

[NOTE: I wrote the following entry for the Rangers June program. I am fascinated by the trend throughout baseball to healthify clubhouse food service. It wasn't so long ago that a clubhouse spread consisted of loaves of bread and green sandwich meat and then the trend shifted towards restaurant-catered meal. Now, it's all about being organic and being healthy. You won't find a Snickers bar in the Rangers clubhouse, unless you dig through the pockets of a sportswriter.]

UPDATE: The jump now includes a video interview with strength and conditioning coach Jose Vazquez.

ARLINGTON - Major League clubs have declared war on some of the most dangerous substances known to the human body.

Junk food.

In an attempt to enhance performance and improve durability in the legal, organic (and might we add, tasty) way, clubs are adding a whole new set of staffers to their payrolls.

They are bringing aboard nutritionists and chefs. Yes, chefs. But don’t look for a guy like Eric Tonips, the star of the Rangers’ clubhouse kitchen, to be on the Food Network anytime soon. His mission is to make it healthy first and to taste delicious second.

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (6/17)

Tim Smith with Clinton in 2008

Back in the early 90′s Rusty Greer came up through the Rangers system with a bunch of high-ceiling toolsy athletes like Terrell Lowery, Benji Gil, Desi Wilson, and Donald Harris. Nobody thought that Greer — whose arm was so suspect that they hid him at first base — would be the one guy in that group who would become a star in the majors.

Frisco LF Tim Smith reminds me a great deal of Greer. Aside from being a guy who outperforms ostensibly more talented players, he is a guy with an outstanding approach at the plate from the left side, enough power to hurt you, decent speed and a suspect arm (the result of a forearm injury in college that he didn’t rehab properly).

It’s clear now that Smith is going to hit against anybody, anywhere. He hit .459 in two years at Midland College and .333 in his one season at Arizona State. Last year with Clinton, he hit .300 / .359 / .450, ranking among the Midwest League’s top-10 in each category and finishing the season as the Midwest League’s hottest hitter in August, going .330 / .361 / .571.

This year, Smith picked up right were he left off in 2008. The Canadian hit .333 / .413 / .475 in 120 at-bats for Bakersfield before earning a promotion to Frisco two weeks ago. Since arriving in the Texas League, it’s been more of the same. After last night’s 2-for-4 outing that included a couple of walks, Smith is hitting .333 / .375 / .429 in 11 games for the RoughRiders.

In most systems, Smith’s production would make him a top-15 or 20 prospect, but here he’s mostly overlooked. He shouldn’t be.

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Busting Out: Texas Rangers’ Ian Kinsler Emerges From Long Slump In Win Over Houston

D-tails: Rangers 6, Astros 1
• Boxscore, Standings, Depot live game blog
• Miller: All-Star consideration for Millwood?

ARLINGTON - The how and why a player breaks out of a slump are as much a mystery as how and why he ends up in one in the first place.

The cure could come in the form of a day off to relax the mind and refresh the body. Or it could take the form of a mechanical adjustment. Or it might be something as serendipitous as facing a pitcher the player knows he owns.

It was certainly possible that a dash of all three contributed to Ian Kinsler’s big night Tuesday as the Texas Rangers beat Houston 6-1.

What was far more definitive, though, was the tie-in Kinsler’s big night – he went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and a walk – had to the Rangers win. When he scores, the Rangers win; it’s that simple. They entered the week 22-6 when Kinsler scores a run and the fact he hadn’t scored in his last eight games, including the first six of the season’s longest homestand, stood out like a swollen thumb.

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