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Post-Game Show: Angels 5, Rangers 2

Three Up and Three Down from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where the Rangers dropped their third straight game

Three Up
• CF Marlon Byrd had a fantastic game, going 3-for-4 with a homer and a running catch at his shoe-tops. Most impressive: He did it all on a bruised left knee. He fouled a ball off the inside of the knee cap in the second inning – one pitch before hitting a homer.
• RHP Doug Mathis got only one out, but it was in a situation where he had to keep the game close – an unusual scenario for him. He did just fine, getting Juan Rivera to ground out to second.
• Another of the Rangers’ top prospects reached the major as Julio Borbon made his big league debut.

Three Down
• The Rangers have now lost three straight, eight of their last 11 and have lost seven games in the AL West standings in a matter of 17 days. They now trail Los Angeles by 2.5 games and lead Seattle by only one. The Rangers cannot re-capture first place in the West in this series.
• The bottom four hitters in the Rangers lineup – Julio Borbon, Taylor Teagarden, Chris Davis and Elvis Andrus – went 1-for-16 and got only two balls out of the infield, fly outs by Teagarden and Andrus (which ended the game). The lone hit was an infield single.
• Borbon went 0-for-3 in his debut with a pair of strikeouts and a pop out to the third baseman in foul territory.

Seventh Inning Stretch: Watch Evan Grant Judge a Food Competition

Earlier today, Evan was a celebrity judge at the Southwest Foodservice Expo in Dallas. The Celebrity Chef Smack-down was a showdown between Dallas boy Tre “Top Chef” Wilcox vs Rory “Next Food Network Star” Schepisi. I know it was a tough gig for Evan because he basically likes everything and the chefs cooked all of his favorite things: steak, Gouda mac and cheese, salmon, and shrimp etouffee. Stand up and stretch your legs and mind–there is no cooking in this video, only eating and really bad jokes by emcee, Gary Cogill. Way to go, Evan.

AL West Showdown Depot: Live Rangers Game Blog, News And Notes

6:28: My pool is your pool.

6:30: Lots of pre-game coverage. Jeff Miller writes about Julio Borbon’s arrival in the majors and resurgence of the Angels. I hacked out a column about the significance of Borbon’s arrival.

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Panic Or Patience? Perception of Rangers Moves Can Go Either Way

ARLINGTON - I spent the morning trying to work on a column on the state of the Rangers heading into the Angels series. The headline said: “Is the most urgent message the Rangers could send no message at all?”

The idea: Stay the course; don’t let slumps create a panic and certainly don’t let the Angels smell that panic in the air.  Fortunately, I ran out of time before a previous engagement called. Otherwise, I’d have been judging a celebrity chef cookoff when all kinds of turmoil took place in the Rangers’ lineup.

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Angels Looking Different Since Last We Saw Them In Town

ARLINGTON - The following one-question quiz was presented to proud Prosper resident Torii Hunter: Is this series more important for the Rangers, who have seen a 5.5-game lead turn into a 1.5-game deficit over 15 days?

“I really don’t care about nobody else but the Angels, so I think it’s more important for me anytime we play anybody,” Hunter said before going out for stretching. “Especially the Rangers because they’re playing so well – well, they were playing well – but they’re still fighting us for first place. Trying to beat them at their place is tough. They have the swings for this stadium.”

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Souvenir Julio Borbon Major League Debut Home Run Pool

Here is your Rangers lineup card for the opener of the series against the Los Angeles Angels, in which Julio Borbon will make his major league debut as the DH:

2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Michael Young, LF David Murphy, CF Marlon Byrd, RF Nelson Cruz, DH Julio Borbon, C Taylor Teagarden, 1B Chris Davis, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Vicente Padilla.

There you have it.

DHing And Batting Sixth, No. 29, Julio Borbon

ARLINGTON - Julio Borbon usually doesn’t miss calls to his cell phone. But he missed three during dinner last night in Nashville, Tenn., with his family. Then he noticed they were from Oklahoma RedHawks manager Bobby Jones.

“Which is not a common thing, so I knew something was up,” he said. Up, indeed. Called up to the Rangers and hitting sixth tonight against the Angels as the DH.

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Big Orange: OF Julio Borbon Called Up By Rangers

ARLINGTON - Will be checking shortly on reported call-up of OF Julio Borbon, who chatted with alma mater University of Tennessee web site.

Borbon In Arlington

Center Fielder Julio Borbon has been summoned to Arlington, though no official announcement has been made as to his activiation on the 25- man roster. He is already on the 40-man roster.

Series Preview: Rangers vs. Angels

When the Rangers and Angels last squared off in Arlington, Texas had a 1.5 game lead in the AL West heading into the series. After a three-game sweep, the Rangers expanded their lead to 4.5 games. Josh Hamilton was healthy and Vlad Guerrero was not. The offense was hitting. That seems like so long ago.

Now, the Angels take a 1.5 game lead into a three-game set at the Ballpark. Josh Hamilton isn’t healthy and Vlad Guerrero, however ineffective, is at least back in the lineup for Los Angeles. The offense was one-hit on Sunday by Chad Gaudin, who entered the game with a 5.60 ERA. And despite the fact that it’s not even July, it might be time for a statement series

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Rambling About Soccer

Me: My Name is Bob, and I love soccer.

All of You together: Hi, Bob.

No, not the soccer that you think you know. Not the soccer that your 6 year old plays because you don’t want them to get hurt in “real sports”. Not the soccer you roll your eyes at when someone tells you for the millionth time it “is the next big thing”.

I am talking about the soccer that every freaking country in the entire world lives for. The sport that is so consuming that most other countries do not require other sports to fill the off-season.

Soccer, when done properly – which our country has never really done with one of its domestic leagues – is as intoxicating an athletic endevour as you will find. And don’t tell me its boring. “It’s boring” is what your wife told you about baseball, and you knew that she might never know what she was missing.

And yesterday, was one of those moments when I thought that just for a brief moment, soccer might become mainstream.

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (6/29)

Triple-A: Oklahoma City 12 @ Nashville 1

The RedHawks jumped on recently demoted Brewer Manny Parra for seven runs on five hits and five walks through the first 4.2 innings and coasted home to an easy win as RHP Luis Mendoza (4.79) pitched four scoreless on four hits and two walks before giving way to the bullpen which allowed just one run the rest of the way.

CF Julio Borbon (.298 / .365 / .387) homered and walked in six trips, driving in two while SS Joaquin Arias (.259 / .286 / .299 overall, .337 / .352 / .385 in June) had a three-run double in the fifth for his only hit in six at-bats.

Il Duque (1-0; 3.00) earned the victory in spite of allowing a run on one hit — a solo shot — in one inning of relief. The 40-something Hernandez gave way to 21 year old Neftali Feliz, who allowed a hit and a walk while fanning one in 1.2 shutout innings.

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