Post-Game Show: Rangers 8, Angels 1

D-tails
• Boxscore, Standings

Three Up and Three Down from Angel Stadium where the weather was beautiful, I wish you were here and the Rangers stormed back into first place all by themselves in the AL West.

Three Up
• DH Andruw Jones homered in each of his first three at-bats, tying the club record and his own personal best. For the series, he was 4-for-13 with all four hits for homers. He drove in seven runs.
• RHP Vicente Padilla came back after a bout of shoulder soreness to stifle the Angels. His fastball was back up in the 94 mph range and he’d have likely gotten through the seventh had a Howie Kendrick bouncer not hit off the palm of his hand.
•Bullpen trio of RHP Jason Grilli, LHP Eddie Guardado and RHP Darren O’Day held Angels scoreless for final three innings. Since Grilli took the mound for the first time on June 9, the bullpen has a 2.28 ERA. Astounding numbers.

Three Down
• Padilla had to leave the game with an injury – the bruised palm. He’s not usually a quick healer, but he should have more than a week before his next start, which should come a week from Saturday against Minnesota.
• Josh Hamilton went hitless in five at-bats, but it didn’t really matter since Andruw Jones carried the offense.
• I’ve got a 4 a.m. wakeup call to make my flight. Yuck.

The Rangers And Roy Halladay: Is It Possible?

ANAHEIM, Calif. – It seems the height of irony. For years, the Rangers positioned themselves to have financial flexibility at the trade deadline only to find themselves with neither the record or the young talent to make a deal. This year, they have both the inventory of talent and the record for a deal to make sense, but the finances seem to be a mess.

And on top of it all, Toronto has announced to the world that Roy Halladay, one of the few true aces in the game, could be had in a trade for the right package. In those bygone years when the Rangers went to the playoffs, a true ace was really what separated the New York Yankees from the Rangers.

All that considered, with the team up for sale and the financial status so bleak Hicks Sports Group has defaulted on an interest payment on a $525 million loan, is there any way the Rangers can land Halladay?

A day ago, it’s a question I would have – and did – quickly dismiss. Now, I’m not so sure.

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Tom Hicks: Rangers Won’t Rule Out Pursuing Elite-Level Addition (Looking At You, Roy Halladay)

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Don’t necessarily rule out the Rangers getting involved in Roy Halladay trade talks just because of something like finances.

Owner Tom Hicks, making a field visit from his summer home in La Jolla, Calif., said he would consider a deal to add a front line player. Toronto has recently announced that it would be willing to listen to offers for RHP Roy Halladay.

“Any time you’ve got yourself a well-stocked farm system, you’ve got the opportunity to do something like that,” Hicks said of a trade that might add to the team’s payroll burden. “We’re going to be very careful about and only consider it if we think it helps be a winning team, a contending team over each of the next five years.”

“It’s obviously something [GM] Jon Daniels is working on,” Hicks added. “But we are going to be very judicious. We’ve worked too hard to put ourselves in this position to jeopardize it.”

-More to come-

AL West Showdown Depot, Take 3: Rangers-Angels Live Blog, News, Notes And Musings

7:09: The homer pool is open and the water is very comfortable.

7:11: In case you missed stuff from earlier in the day, you can check out why Derek Holland pitched and why he was pulled or you can thank your lucky stars that Josh Hamilton feels like he did in 2008.

7:15: No Vlad Guerrero or Torii Hunter in Ang0els lineup tonight. It goes: 3B Chone Figgins, 2B Maicer Izturis, RF Bobby Abreu, LF Juan Rivera, 1B Kendry Morales, CF Gary Matthews Jr., DH Howie Kendrick, C Jeff Mathis, SS Erick Aybar.

7:16: Tom Hicks says Rangers aren’t necessarily out of the picture for a big-time trade acquisition (yes, you Roy Halladay).

9:54: Um, Andruw Jones anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

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Home Run Pool: Breaking News Version

As we speculated last night, 2B Ian Kinsler is going to get the day off today. INF Omar Vizquel’s shoulder feels good enough to allow him back on the field. Kinsler is in a 3-for-31 slump and acknowledged some fatigue on Monday.

So, here is your Rangers lineup against RHP Ervin Santana as the Rangers try to take back sole possession of first place in the AL West:

2B Omar Vizquel, 3B Michael Young (16-for-41, 2 HRs vs. Santana), RF Josh Hamilton, DH Andruw Jones, 1B Hank Blalock (11-for-29, 3 HRs), CF Marlon Byrd (5-for-18, HR), LF David Murphy, C Taylor Teagarden, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Vicente Padilla.

On Hamilton moving to right field, manager Ron Washington said yesterday that he expected Hamilton to get some starts at both DH and corner outfield spots as he tries to limit wear and tear on his body.

More About Last Night: Why Derek Holland Pitched And Why He Came Out When He Did

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Rangers made two decisions in Tuesday’s come-from-behind 8-5 win over Los Angeles that seemed to caused lots of internet chatter. They were:

• The decision to pitch LHP Derek Holland in the first place.

• And then the decision to pull Holland out when he was pitching so well.

Turns out there was plenty of thought on both decisions and plenty of logic behind those thoughts.

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Ian Kinsler Falls Behind In All-Star Vote; Rangers Urge Yet More Voting

UPDATED with breaking news: Rangers Captain to stump for Kinsler on Thursday. Details after jump.

Listen, my email got bombarded during the 2008 primary season by the fine folks from the Clinton and Obama campaigns. I’d suggest to anybody planning on running for the 2012 nomination – looking at you, Sarah Palin – you might want to consider Rangers PR mastermind John Blake, who has peppered emails today with news that Detroit’s Brandon Inge has surpassed Ian Kinsler for the lead for the final spot on the AL All-Star roster.

There are 24 hours left in the voting. Here is the release from Major League Baseball:

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About Last Night: Rangers Josh Hamilton Says He’s Feeling Like It Is 2008 At The Plate

ANAHEIM, Calif. – It hasn’t been just the injuries that have hampered Rangers CF Josh Hamilton this season, it’s been the search for his swing.

He thinks he’s finally found it. And if the results from his first two games back from the DL are any indication, he has.

“I feel like I did last year,” Hamilton said after going 3-for-4 against the Angels in Tuesday’s 8-5 win. “That’s a good feeling. Believe me, it’s a good feeling.”

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Linkin’ Park: Lurking Around The Web For You

As little as a week ago, the Rangers’ offense was still in full-on slump mode. But they’ve scored 50 runs in their last seven games, with their lowest output being a three-run effort against former Cy Young candidate and perennial Ranger confounder Scott Kazmir. And if the Rangers can get another outburst against struggling Ervin Santana, who enters the game with a 6.46 career ERA against Texas, they might just have first place all to themselves.

The slump busting of the Rangers has been so powerful that Chris Davis, who was on pace to set all kinds of unfortunate records, is a .500 hitter (4-8) in two games at triple-A. Though the cold streak still has All-Star hopeful Ian Kinsler in its grasp, maybe all he needs is a little rest.

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Rangers Take The Fifth: Six-Run, Two-Out Rally Leads To Win Over Angels, Tie For West Lead

ANAHEIM, Calif. – His first two at-bats Tuesday looked like failed bits, a pair of strikeouts against John Lackey that made Andruw Jones 0-for-5 since taking over in the cleanup spot.

Rangers manager Ron Washington had another opinion. He called the first two at-bats “homework.” And by the third time around, it was Jones who was handing out the lessons.

He jumped all over a first-pitch curveball from Lackey, drove it into the fake rock formation behind center field, erased a three-run deficit and put the Rangers on the way to a six-run inning in an 8-5 win over the Angels. The big inning that led to the big win also helped the Rangers climb back into a first-place tie with the Angels.

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (7/8)

Today, we’d like to remind you that one can take the same road that heads north out of Arlington right back to RBiA.

Eventually.

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Post-Game Show: Rangers 8, Angels 5

D-tails
• Boxscore, Standings

Three Up and Three Down from Angel Stadium of Anaheim where the Rally Monkey was nowhere to be seen. As always, you are invited to toss in your own version, make suggestions about mine or whatever makes you feel most fulfilled.

Three Up
• Can you say “first place,” again?
• The Rangers put together their best inning of the season after 3B Michael Young singled with two outs in the fifth. Six more baters reached base in succession, accounting for six runs that erased a 3-0 Angels lead. Young’s hit started it, but DH Andruw Jones tied the game with a three-run homer and C Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a two-run single. Jones and Saltalamacchia each struck out in both of their first two at-bats before the fifth.
• With the bullpen running a little thin, LHP C.J. Wilson provided the extra planks in the bridge to the ninth. He got the last two outs of the seventh and pitched a perfect eighth.

Three Down
• RHP Dustin Nippert didn’t do anything promising in his first start. The Rangers were hoping they could get six innings out of him on 90 pitches. He didn’t finish the fourth.
• RHP Jason Jennings entered with a three-run lead, two outs and one in the sixth. He proceeded to walk two batters and hit one, forcing in a run.
•I don’t want Frank Francisco facing Juan Rivera in a key situation in the pennant race. He’s now hit two ninth inning homers off Francisco in the last 10 days.