Post-Game Show: Rays 5, Rangers 4 (10)

D-tails
•Boxscore, AL West Standings, AL Wild Card Standings

Story of the Game
The Rangers bullpen, perhaps the team’s biggest asset all season, couldn’t stop Tampa Bay in the late innings Saturday. Perhaps most distressing: The relievers couldn’t do it after getting themselves into counts that should have been pitcher friendly.

In the eighth inning of a tie game, LHP C.J. Wilson was brought in to face left-handed hitting 1B Carlos Pena. Wilson quickly got ahead by muscling two fastballs up and in against the AL’s strikeout leader. Then he tried to get Pena to chase his pitch over and over and over. Instead, Pena worked his way to a walk and then scored when DH Pat Burrell doubled off the wall in left field.

In the 10th, RHP Jason Grilli, activated from the DL two hours before the game, just had no command in his first outing back. He got ahead of the leadoff man in the 10th, 3B Evan Longoria, 0-and-2  before hitting him with a fastball that came too far inside. Grilli then walked Ben Zobrist to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Longogria scored when Pena lined a ball to center field for a single.

The loss was made all the more painful because the Rangers chief playoff rivals won. The Los Angeles Angels beat Toronto to extend their lead int he AL West to 6.5 games. But Boston also won, hammering the New York Yankees 14-1. The Rangers lost chance, in fact, puts them closer to third place (they lead Tampa Bay by one game) in the AL Wild Card hunt than first place (they trail Boston by two).

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The Depot: Rangers-Rays Live Game Blog, News, Notes and Country Music Jamboree

5:30: Still plenty of time to dive into the home run pool. Also, to pass the time until first pitch, you can either survey today’s Rangers notes or revisit the big issue from last night’s game.

6:14: So, I spent a little time with newest favorite hick-hop artist, Cowboy Troy, formerly of Skyline High and the University of Texas. The Cowboy was here to throw out the first pitch on “Country Night.” The night culminates with a Big & Rich concert after the game. I’ll be spiffying up the blog tonight with some of my interview with Cowboy Troy, who I’m thinking would be a great musical act for the first Cornerpalooza. Troy, also known as Troy Coleman, went to the top of the mound and looked like Fergie Jenkins up there. He brought the high heat for a strike. He’ll also perform after the game.

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Rangers Notes: Countdown to Chris Davis Return?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Are the Rangers putting 1B Hank Blalock on notice that he’s got 10 days left – max – to prove he should remain at the position for the playoff race’s September stretch drive?

It certainly appears so. On Saturday, manager Ron Washington said the club is looking at way it could bring 1B Chris Davis back from Triple-A Oklahoma City before rosters expand on Sept. 1. The club isn’t yet ready to move Davis back into the spot Blalock inherited when Davis was sent to the minors in July. But, Washington said, that when Davis does return, he will play first base.

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I Left the Hotel Pool just so You Could Get a Head Start on the Saturday Home Run Pool Spectacular

Don’t have any lineups yet. Don’t have much of anything except for a sun-burned back. Shortly after I donned the day’s blackened Grouper sandwich (remind me to write an ode to the blackened Grouper sandwich one day; the grouper is the perfect sandwich fish), the afternoon squalls moved in off the gulf and chased me back to the room. So, what was the first thing I thought of? You, of course. I figured I’d throw the preliminary homer pool post up and let you enter early if you’d like. I will be back later with the lineup. (Yes, angry mob, I expect Julio Borbon will be in there today.)

UPDATED, 2:52 pm CDT: Here is your lineup for tonight against Tampa Bay RHP Matt Garza: DH Julio Borbon, 3B Michael Young, LF David Murphy, CF Marlon Byrd, RF Josh Hamilton, 2B Ian Kinsler, 1B Hank Blalock, C Taylor Teagarden, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Tommy Hunter.

Cowboys-Titans Recap, aka The Scrub Report

I consider myself a pretty big football fan, albeit not an expert like this guy, for whom I’m subbing today while he does mission work in Guatemala. (Can’t you schedule your do-gooding during the off-season, Bob? Good grief.) But once watching a game becomes your job, I understand how sportswriters can get burned out pretty quickly. I started nodding off about the time I started calculating Keon Lattimore’s yards-per-carry average. Late in the second half, I started to ignore the game and concentrate on what jokes I could make (perhaps a low-hanging scoreboard song sung to this). I had no idea what was going on. I was yawning and irritated that I was forced to feign interest. I felt like Dale Hansen. So the scrub reporting this is me.

Still, I found things to entertain myself, though, right up to the final whistle. A nice pass from Stephan McGee to Rodney “Tellus Lite” Hannah. Vince Young nodding confidently on the sidelines, as if to say, “Look, I’m just hustling them, like Amos hustles Fast Eddie.” Wade Phillips exploring the art of fist-pumps. Counting the ways Fox could pimp Cowboys Stadium. (I stopped at 39, after they showed us Pam Oliver’s dressing room.)

But the real lessons from the Cowboys’ rather easy 30-10 victory were all found in the first half. Jump for it:

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Farm Report (8/22)

Neftali Feliz was the K machine in the Rangers’ farm system at the onset of the year, having racked up 250 strikeouts in 198.2 career minor league innings. While Feliz could still be called a “prospect” for the moment — his 17 strikeouts in 11.2 major league innings might beg to differ — if you look around, you’ll still find quite a few strikeout artists among the deep pool of young pitching talent the Rangers boast.

Robbie Ross has posted a K/9 ratio of 10.16 with 67 strikeouts in 59.1 innings at Spokane this year. Hickory’s Yoon-Hee Nam has 96 punchouts in 80 innings, good for a ratio of 10.8, while Jose Monegro’s 42 Ks in 27.2 innings has him at 13.66 K/9 in the Arizona League. Then, of course, there’s the completely ridiculous Miguel De Los Santos of the Dominican Summer League, who has 68 strikeouts (and only seven hits allowed) in 31 innings. His ratio is a stupid 19.74.

And now it looks as though 2009 3rd rounder Robbie Erlin could eventually end up joining the club after a pair relief appearances and a very impressive, albeit tiny, sample size. Through two innings, Erlin has fanned six for a K/9 of 27.00. So far, so good.

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