The Depot: Patriotic Rangers-Rays Live Game Blog, News, Notes And Other Stuff

7:01: Last few minutes to get in the pool.

7:02: Since I can’t let an argument go, let’s at least compares apples-to-apples in the “Is-Kevin-Millwood-Lucky-Or-Good” debate. Let’s compare where hewas after 17 starts in 2007. At that point, he was 6-8 with a 5.50 ERA, had allowed 155 baserunners in 93 innings, a .291 opponents batting average and 3.66 walks per nine innings. This season, he’s 8-5 with a 2.80 ERA, has also allowed 155 baserunners in 119 innings, a .242 opponents batting average and perhaps, most significantly, 2.95 walks per nine innings. So, Millwood is actually walking fewer batters and allowing fewer baserunners per nine innings whe compared to where he was in 2007 at the same point. Have no idea what his stranded runners percentage was, but it’s pretty clear to me, he’s allowing fewer hits and walking fewer batters, so there is reason to believe that it’s not simply defense and luck, but also quality of pitches and an aggressive mentality.

7:09: To this point, reports about any of the Rangers’ Latin American signings have been attributed to “word around baseball” and nothing more. I can tell you now that club sources have indicated the team did indeed sign RHP-SS Jurickson Profar of Curacao. He will play shortstop in the minors. Also, OF Guillermo Pimentel, long rumored to be hidden by the Rangers, will not be signing with the team. According to numerous internet reports, he has signed with Seattle for $2 million. The Rangers won’t officially announce their Latin American signing class until all players have passed physicals and until Major League Baseball approves all the immigration and age information.

7:13: Great deek by Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler to double up Carl Crawford, who was running, head down, on Evan Longoria’s fly ball to center.

7:13: While Rangers officials won’t comment on reports Hicks Sports Group was given a multi-million dollar infusion of cash by Major League Baseball, club president Nolan Ryan said the ongoing search for a buyer is no impacting day-to-day operations on the field.

“I haven’t heard anything indicating we’re going to do anything differently,” Ryan said. “We’ve looked at our budgets, but we haven’t changed anything in terms of baseball operations of player development.”

The club laid off a little less than 10 percent of its front office staff last month, but limited cuts to business and administrative positions.

7:19: Just got word that Rafael Palmeiro, being inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame tonight in Lubbock, did a video interview with ESPN about steroids. I wouldn’t expect any new ground to be broken, but it might be worth a look on either SportsCenter or Baseball Tonight or both. I’ve treid to reach out to Palmeiro on numerous occasions over the last couple of years to get him to tell his story, but he’s maintained an extremely low profile.

7:52: From my Twitter page to you, my latest tweet: “Just wondering: Is Sarah Palin resigning as Alaska Gov. to make a bid for the Rangers on way to White House? Hey, it worked for George W.”

7:55: Really nice first trip through the lineup for Tommy Hunter. It was punctuated by a second consecutive strikeout of June AL Player of the Month B.J. Upton. It’s always more interesting to me to see how opponents fare against a pitcher a second and third trip through the order. Hunter certainly was effective the first time through, alloing a single to Carl Crawford (who was doubled off).

8:03: Michael Young has now taken nine walks in the club’s last 12 games. Young had walks ahead of Marlon Byrd’s two homers on Tuesday. The more he walks in that No. 2 hole, the more and more dangerous the offense will become. Eventually Ian Kinsler will cut down on the uppercut swings and go back to being a very dangerous hitter. And if when Josh Hamilton comes back, he’s got two guys on base ahead of him fairly regularly, he’s going to put up some crazy numbers.

8:19: Hank Blalock hits third homer in five at-bats. The guy is, and always has been, streaky. The significance of this is that Blalock seems to be in a hot streak after being out of the lineup for consecutive days earlier this week. The Rangers might be wise to ride him everyday whether vs. lefties or righties until he cools down. By the way, it was Blalock’s first career hit in eight at-bats against Kazmir. And it was his 88th home run in Rangers Ballpark, the fifth most all-time. More on what I think the Rangers should do with Blalock for an explosive Fourth July special tomorrow.

8:29: Holding out on you. Jeff Miller reported that Ron Washington indicated Josh Hamilton would have to show something more to be activated for Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay. GM Jon Daniels said before the game it would be Sunday at the earliest. If the Rangers aren’t satisfied with Saturday’s performance, it could push things back to Monday also. Hamilton grounded out sharply in the first inning for Oklahoma City at Iowa tonight. The game is only in the second inning after a rain delay.

8:33: B.J. Upton starts third trip the order with a lined single to left field on the first pitch of the at-bat. Andruw Jones threw home uneccessarily, which allowed Upton, the go-ahead runner, to move up to second.

8:53: Considering Marlon Byrd just made his second outstanding catch of the week to go with three homers, I think he gets a slight edge over Hank Blalock, who also has three homers this week, but hasn’t played the field for Rangers Player of the Week.

9:14: Hank Blalock’s second stolen base of the season is the Rangers’ 68th in 80 attempts, giving them a very impressive 85.0 success rate, which is now best in the AL. New York entered the day with an 84.2 percent success rate in 70 attempts.

9:17: Here is the link to ESPN print story on Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro maintains he received a tainted B-12 vitamin shot from a teammate.

9:19: Chris Davis’ strikeout for the second out of the inning – with a runner on third – is a critical issue. Davis now has 201 career strikeouts in 549 career at-bats over 155 games. The Rangers really needed that extra run. Davis is back down to .201. With Blalock swinging the bat well and Davis still struggling to show any long-term signs of progress, I’d suggest one other possibility for when Josh Hamilton returns: The Rangers could put Hamilton at DH for a while, move Blalock to first and send Davis down to work on making better contact. Still doesn’t leave a real reason for Julio Borbon to stay up here, unless it’s as an extra outfielder. But I’d say the time to make a decision on Davis that would allow him to potentially return and help the club sometime this year is fast approaching.

9:24: The Rangers have C.J. Wilson warming up and it looks like they are considering having him pitch in the seventh tonight. Just so long as everybody in the bullpen knows their roles.

9:27: Brandon Boggs has left Triple-A Oklahoma City’s game after catching a routine fly ball. According to an email, “it appeared Boggs was in extreme pain with something in his left arm.” No word on what happened, just that he crumpled to the ground after the catch. We will get you an update if we can.

9:37: Ian Kinsler has three fly ball outs tonight, a pop up to the first baseman and two fly balls to center. His batting average has now fallen below .260 to .259. More significant, his groundball-to-flyball percentage is .59-to-1 behind only Carlos Pena and David Ortiz. Those are supposed to be big power/big strikeout hitters. Kinsler is not. While he has good power, he’s a leadoff guy. Latest theory on Kinsler’s struggle at the plate is that his uppercut swing – as many have noted – has gotten more severe this year. Also, it appears he’s basically falling backwards with each swing. Doesn’t look like great weight distribution to me. Kinsler is better than this. A lot better. It appears Marlon Byrd and Hank Blalock are negotiating their ways out of long slumps. Now, the Rangers really need Kinsler to find his way out of one.

9:41: Another bank of lights has failed at Rangers Ballpark; this one is in the left field corner. It’s dark out in left, but the umpires are calling for the teams to play on.