Post-Game Show: Rangers 5, Mariners 4

Three Up:

• The Rangers must have been encouraged by Vicente Padilla’s return from swine flu. He lasted 77 pitched and picked up his first win since July 8 in Anaheim.

• Taylor Teagarden came in hitless in 16 at-bats, 1-for-21 in his last six games. He delivered a long sac fly to score the Rangers’ first run and homered in the fifth. That was his first since, well, July 8 in Anaheim.

• Hank Blalock continues to look better against lefties. On Thursday night, he homered on the first pitch that he saw from lefty starter Garrett Olson. On Friday night, he opened against lefty Jason Vargas with a single and scored Texas’ first run. And he continues to improve in the field.

Three Down:

• The Red Sox won to remain 1.5 ahead in the wild card race.

• The Angels won to remain three ahead in the A.L. West.

• Not a good finish for two energetic fans who felt compelled to head onto the field during the rain delay.

Harrah to Sierra: The Texas Rangers Alumni Legacy Luncheon

When a baseball made its way around the horn after an out, Toby Harrah was usually the last guy to touch it. Making 1,050 of his 2,024 career starts at third base, it was often Harrah’s job to flip the ball back to the pitcher, but the guy on the mound always knew to expect a little delay when it got to the hot corner. That’s because Harrah would rub the ball with his thumb for a few seconds to try to push the seams up a bit.

“Everybody can play hard, but you’ve got to play smart,” said Harrah.

Sounds about right. In 17 big league seasons, Harrah never hit 30 home runs, never had 100 RBI, never managed 200 hits, never cracked a .500 slugging percentage.  His lone season with a batting average over .300 came in 1982, long after he had departed Arlington for the Cleveland Indians. But Harrah played hard. And he always played smart. Steve Busby, who pitched for Kansas City while Harrah was with the Rangers, said scouting meetings for Texas would usually end with one common conclusion: don’t let Toby Harrah beat you.

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Passed Deadline: Rangers Move Forward After Potential Roy Halladay Trade Falls Apart

ARLINGTON – At the very outset of the Roy Halladay affair, there appeared to be three significant hurdles to clear for the Rangers to strike a deal. In descending order, they were:

• Halladay’s blanket no-trade clause.

• The Rangers shaky finances.

• The Rangers desire to hold on to the franchise’s superstar prospects.

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Post-Deadline Depot: In-Game Rangers Blog While Evan Wraps Up What Did And Didn’t Happen

ARLINGTON - Vicente Padilla goes for his first win since July 8 at the Big A. (Hey, he had back-to-back one-hit efforts in May – on the road!) He’ll go against Seattle’s Jason Vargas, in his second start after being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma. He allowed eight base runners and six runs in four innings last Sunday against Cleveland.

Evan will spend most of the evening in conference with various Rangers big-wigs.

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Chatting With Derek Holland On Day After, With Elvis Andrus About Deadline Day ’07

ARLINGTON - Derek Holland remembers his roots. He ran the steps at Rangers Ballpark early Friday afternoon in his “Wolfpack” bullpen shirt. Given Thursday night’s performance, he’s now really a ‘Pack graduate who could be hounded for contributions and invited to reunions.

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Friday Afternoon Homer Pool

Now that trade deadline hysteria has passed, we can start focusing on the really important things, like finding more winners for the home run pool. Don’t have a lineup yet, so you will have to feel your way through until I get one, but the pool is officially open if you would like.

The Rangers lineup vs. LHP Jason Vargas: 2B Omar Vizquel, 3B Michael Young, LF Marlon Byrd, RF Nelson Cruz, 1B Hank Blalock, DH Andruw Jones, CF Josh Hamilton, C Taylor Teagarden, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Vicente Padilla.

Are Angels Landing Roy Halladay?

The Angels made some strange roster moves earlier in the day and now comes the OC Register blog item, citing ESPN’s Jayson Stark, that the Angels were very close at the deadline to pulling off a Roy Halladay deal. I had heard the possibility existed of Los Angeles dealing Joe Saunders and set of young players for Halladay or possibly expanding the trade to include some other Toronto parts earlier this week.

UPDATE, 3:27: Many commentors saying ESPN now reporting that Halladay to Angels DID NOT HAPPEN. Reporting that there were some last-minute talks, but no action. That is also what is indicated on the OC Register site.

Deadline Passes: Rangers Stand Pat

Just received official confirmation from Rangers front office: “All clear. No trades.”

No Word From Rangers As Clock Strikes Three

ARLINGTON - Still no word from Rangers personnel on whether they are awaiting a deal to be approved by MLB or if they have simply let the deadline pass. Don’t exhale just yet.

Trade Deadline Countdown Under 30 Minutes

DISCLAIMER: Just because the deadline may pass at 3 p.m. without an actual announcement from the Rangers does not mean that a deal for somebody hasn’t been struck. The club didn’t actually announce the Mark Teixeira trade until after the deadline had passed. That said, if GM Jon Daniels says the club has ended its trade talks with all teams, that would be something else.

On that front, there has been no response to an email sent several hours ago asking if the club was still in discussions with Toronto or any other team regarding a trade.

Viral Video: A Little Something Salty To Help Kill The Time While Waiting For Trade Deadline News

As always, we owe a great deal of thanks to Ted Price, the creative genius behind producing Viral Video. He’s a regular techno-whiz. And you can always catch him at Rangers Podcast in Arlington. In this episode, we talk with Jarrod Saltalamacchia about the defensive improvement he’s made over the past year and wrap up with a little catching fashion accessory talk at the end.

Dutch Treat: Derek Holland Plans On Long-Term Relationship With Texas Rangers Fans

Derek Holland had reason to stick his chest out after taking a 10-strikeout, one-hit shutout to the ninth Thursday. (Photo: R.P. Washburne)

ARLINGTON - Back on that mid-April Saturday morning when Jon Daniels summoned LHP Derek Holland to the majors via cell call, Holland didn’t pick up because he didn’t recognize the number. Holland left Rangers Ballpark on Thursday night following his signature outing in a 7-1 victory over Seattle not anticipating seeing the GM’s number pop up before Friday afternoon’s non-waiver trading deadline.

“He’s not calling me … unless it’s to tell me good job,” the 22-year-old said. “The way I see it, my home is in Texas.”

Holland made his big-league debut in Toronto a few days after the call-up from Triple-A Oklahoma, not there long enough to do his laundry. (How much have things changed since then? Holland was brought on in the sixth inning back then against the Blue Jays after middle reliever Scott Feldman threw 1.2 innings.)

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Holland Ace Sauce

That’s it, I suppose.

The Rangers never would have traded Derek Holland (and if they had, I would have unleashed a criminal flurry of expletives directed at people I actually like).

The only chance Texas had to land Roy Halladay was to convince the Blue Jays that Neftali Feliz was as good, or better. The Rangers know better, but maybe, just maybe, they could convince J.P. Riccardi and his scouting team that Feliz was the bigger talent with the brighter future as many outside of the organization — including both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus– believe (but not me).

Now, there’s no way.

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Cowboys ’08: Week 4 Vs. Washington

OK. Obviously if a 9-7 teams starts 3-0, then the final 13 games are not going to go as smoothly. As we hit Day 4 in our 16 day retelling of the 2008 season, we will see how things start to come apart. Of course, you will also see me point out it is just “1 loss” and that the confidence should not be shaken too much.

I actually stand behind that claim, but in this game against the Redskins, we see that Newman is hurt, that Jason Garrett lost the plot (no work for Felix), and that injuries are starting to pile up.

Week 4 against the Redskins, From September 28, 2008:

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Farm Report (7/31)

Seeds? Check.

Powerbars? Check.

Gum? Check.

Magazines? Check.

Giant can of Whupass?

Check

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