The Depot: Rangers-Athletics Live Game Blog, News And Notes All In A Fresh Sourdough Bread Bowl

8:00: To all, please shower before entering the home run pool. Also, we proudly present some early Rangers notes for you. And we want to let you know that we know where you can get CHEAP TICKETS!

8:47: On this date in history. …

9:06: Because of Nelson Cruz’s ankle sprain, the Rangers are forced to start three left-handed hitters against Oakland’s LHP Gio Gonzalez. That shouldn’t be considered a big disadvantage. Gonzalez is allowing lefties a .474 batting average and .565 on-base percentage in 46 plate appearances this year. Last year, though, he held lefties to .194/.302 in 42 plate appearances.

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Another Late Rangers Game; More Early Notes

OAKLAND, Calif. – When you’ve got a 100 mph fastball in your arsenal, it’s hard for any other pitch to stand out, but if there was one thing that made RHP Neftali Feliz’s stunning major league debut so spectacular, it was, of all things, his changeup.

Of course when Feliz takes a little off, it’s still traveling at 90 mph, but thanks to Triple-A Oklahoma City pitching coach Terry Clark, it’s now traveling down in the strike zone instead of coming at hitters like a fat fastball.

“When we sent him down at the end of spring, we asked the minor league staff to do some things to help get him ready,” manager Ron Washington said. “We made it known his secondary stuff had to get better. And he had to command the fastball. They did a great job on both fronts, getting him to harness his fastball and making his secondary stuff more effective. We’ve got a lot to look forward to if his delivery can stay that compact, that easy.”

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Home Run Pool Is Open For Business

I’m still trying to sort through all those folks who want to get involved with Special Opps. Can’t make any promises yet on how many folks will be accepted. Working on it.

But, everybody can play the home run pool and anybody can win. That’s the beauty of the home run pool. On any given day, any one swing of the bat can make you a winner. So, here’s your preliminary entry form. I will post the Rangers lineup as soon as possible.

UPDATED, 6:56 pm CDT: 2B Joaquin Arias, 3B Michael Young, CF Marlon Byrd, DH Andruw Jones, 1B Hank Blalock, RF Josh Hamilton; LF David Murphy; C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … LHP Derek Holland.

Special Opps: Act Now On A Special Invitation

All I can tell you is this: It’s next Monday (August 10). It involves the Frisco RoughRiders. Space is limited.

Here is what you need to do.

1. Email me for further instructions.

2. Fill out this form. It’s a must.

3. Act quickly. Like I say space is very limited.

Wanna Get Away? Rangers, Southwest Offering Discounts On Weekday Game Tickets

Straight from the bundle of PR releases that land in my mailbox every day, comes this:

The Texas Rangers today announced a new ticket discount that will enable fans to save up to 75% on Monday through Thursday games in August and September.

Southwest Airlines Weekday Values will be in effect for all Monday through Thursday home games beginning with the Minnesota contest on Monday, August 17.

Fans can enter DINGER as the coupon code on texasrangers.com to purchase Upper Box, Upper Reserved, and Grandstand Reserved tickets for $5 or Lexus Club Terrace, Lower Reserved, or Bleachers seats for $10. That’s a savings of up to 75%.

Southwest Airlines Weekday Values will be available for the following games:

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Chatting Cowboys with Rafael Vela

One thing we want to do here at Inside Corner as the Dallas Cowboy season goes on is quite a few chats with other people around the Cowboys World who can add plenty of wisdom to the conversation.

Hopefully, you are familiar with the guys at BloggingtheBoys.com . They have some of the very best Cowboys analysis available, and I check it out all of the time. In fact, this year, those guys have put together an entire Cowboys annual that is on newstands now . I have my own copy, and I would love for you to check it out.

Anyway, Rafael Vela is a writer who I have followed for several years. He is one of my favorites because he uses evidence rather than emotion to craft his opinions.  I always prefer that type of mind over the “fly off the handle” emotional writers.  His writings dive deep, and I generally enjoy what he offers.   Anyway, he was kind enough to give me 60 minutes and we have about 3,000 words for you to consider this morning as we prepare for the 2009 season.

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Cowboys ’08 Redux: Week 8 Vs. Tampa Bay

Here is Week 8 in our 16 week journey through the 2008 Dallas Cowboys season. At this point, the Cowboys are trying to recover from their silly loss to St. Louis, and they want to deperately keep from falling back to 4-4 after a 3-0 start where they looked like world beaters.

But, now, they play with Brad Johnson under center, and it is obvious the Cowboys front office over-estimated his ability, because now that they needed him to be able to make a play, it was clear he couldn’t. The Wide Receivers were merely props, as he just couldn’t make those throws.

So, in comes Tampa Bay, and this is clearly a must win game for the Cowboys with trips to New York and Washington in the next 2 games.

From October 25, 2008, here are my “morning after” game notes from the home game with the Bucs:

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The Feliz Report: Rookie Hits 101 MPH In Debut

OAKLAND, Calif. – A few quick notes and quotes on RHP Neftali Feliz’s major league debut Monday night, which will go down as perhaps the most electrifying debut by a Rangers rookie since, well, ever. In two perfect innings of a game that will unfortunately also be remembered as the first time the Rangers blew a ninth-inning lead this season, Feliz became the first Rangers pitcher to strike out the first four major league hitters he has ever faced.

A few other tidbits:

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Farm Report (8/4)

It’s been a rough year for Brandon Boggs. He gave every indication that he was a player with a fine big league future when pressed into duty last summer and did everything he could to earn a return trip to Arlington. But with the addition of Andruw Jones, he was cut out of the loop during spring training and relegated to Oklahoma City once again.

On top of that, Boggs has played the entire year with a left shoulder injury that he believes will require surgery.

Boggs spent a couple of weeks on the DL earlier this summer after he disclocated the shoulder that had been bothering him since spring training while diving for a routine fly ball. But since his return to action, he’s rediscovered his power stroke. In 51 at-bats since the PCL All-Star game break, Boggs has been one of the circuit’s most lethal hitters, with a .294 / .393 / .608 / 1.001 line.

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Post-Game Show: A’s 3, Rangers 2

D-tails
• Boxscore, standings

Three Up
• RHP Neftali Feliz struck out the side and four in a row in his major league debut, hitting 100 mph on about a half-dozen pitches. No Ranger pitcher had ever struck out four straight to start his career. Oh and he was perfect for a two-inning stint.
• By comparison, RHP Dustin Nippert, who can reach the mid-90s, looked like a junkballer. Nevertheless, he was able to get by on “guile” to pitch five shoutout innings of one-hit ball.
• OF Marlon Byrd, hitting .405 with two outs and runners in scoring position, had an eighth inning single with two-outs to score a runner from second in the eighth inning. It appeared to be a huge run.

Three Down
• LHP C.J. Wilson might have gotten a little too cute by trying to use his entire repertoire after the A’s spent the entire game demonstrating a profound lack of ability to hit the fastball. It resulted in the Rangers first loss of the season in game they led after eight innings. They had been 50-0.
• RF Nelson Cruz caught his spike in the dirt while trying to field Rajai Davis’ game-winning triple. As Cruz pivoted to block the caroming ball, his left ankle rolled, resulting in a sprain. The Rangers do not believe X-rays to rule out a break are necessary, but the ankle swelled significantly.
• The Rangers spent the first four innings hitting nothing but fly balls, but when C Jarrod Saltalamacchia came to the plate with the bases loaded in the fifth, he hit a perfect double play grounder. The Rangers ended up with only a run after having the bases loaded and nobody out.