D

Post-Game(s) Show: Rangers 5-5, Blue Jays 2-2

D-tails
Game 1 Box; Game 2 Box, AL West Standings, AL Wild Card Standings

Story of the Day
RHPs Dustin Nippert and Brandon McCarthy, both fighting for the final spot in the Rangers rotation, each gave the club an impressive quality start to allow the Rangers to sweep a doubleheader from Toronto and gain ground in both the AL West and wild card races. The Rangers won both games against left-handed starters after going 4-8 against lefties since the first of August.

Nippert kept the Blue Jays off balance for six innings in Game 1 while the Rangers built a slim lead. In Game 2, McCarthy unveiled new smoother mechanics after missing most of the last three months while recovering from a stress fracture in his right scapula. He lasted 6.1 innings and got the benefit of a pair of homers from CF Josh Hamilton to stake him to a 5-0 lead. In both games, RHP Frank Francisco came on to close out the game.

(more…)

Texas Rangers Third Baseman Michael Young on Hamstring Injury: “Obviously, this is Pretty Tough”

ARLINGTON - The Rangers swept a doubleheader from Toronto on Tuesday, insuring they’d gain at least a smidgeon of ground in the playoff races, but the clubhouse still felt like it the team had just encountered another one of those gut-check moments.

Or maybe that was just a slightly sickening feeling at the thought of jumping into the heart of the pennant race without 3B Michael Young.

(more…)

Nippert Wins; McCarthy Goes for Rangers Sweep

ARLINGTON - Dustin Nippert stated his case for retaining the No. 5 slot in the Rangers’ starting rotation in Texas’ 5-2 victory over Toronto in the first half of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Next up, Brandon McCarthy, making his first start since leaving the rotation in early June for the disabled list.

(more…)

The Depot: Rangers-Blue Jays Live Game Blog, News, Notes and Two Times the Fun

Game 2

Game 1

2:58: The homer pool is open and we’ve tweaked for the doubleheader. And to get you up to date, here’s Jeff Miller’s first installment of Race Day, a look at the playoff races.

4:10: In case you missed the Rangers roster moves for today, there were a slew of them. The club added seven players and DFA’d RHP Thomas Diamond to make room on the 40-man roster. There will likely be a couple more forthcoming in the upcoming week. DH Andruw Jones can be activated from the DL on Tuesday and RHP Willie Eyre is eligible to be recalled tomorrow.  Interesting thing about the moves: The Rangers had a speedy outfielder (Greg Golson) and an extra catcher (Max Ramirez) on the 40-man roster, but chose to bypass both for Craig Gentry, who is considered a better baserunner and superior defender, and Kevin Richardson. Apparently, the Rangers wanted to send a message to Ramirez that his .232 batting average this season was not worthy of a callup.

4:36: Apparently Golson has a left wrist strain. He is not on the DL, however. He left an August 27 game early and didn’t return until last night when he was 0-for-3 for Oklahoma City.

(more…)

Daily Double at the Home Run Pool

First, we are having some blog access problems, so be patient. Apparently, a man bought a house for $12,500 and it’s grinded us to a halt. Or something like that. Anyway, if we get up and running smoothly, let’s play the Home Run pool this way today: Just like a Daily Double at the old race track.

I’ve got a beautiful Dr Pepper retro hoody to give to somebody if you can give me the correct homer hitters for both games, the hoodie is yours. The catch is you gotta play the second game blind because entry forms must be in before the first game. We will award a prize for Game 1 and if somebody wins the Double, they will get the hoodie (which, seriously, is really nice). If we can get a lineup quickly enough before Game 2, we’ll post a separate game for it. But, I’m not optimistic because the turnaround is so quick.

Your entry form should look this way, today, if you are playing the Double.

Game 1: Player, inning, men on, distance, count

Game 2: Ditto.

Here’s your Game 1 lineup against Toronto LHP Marc Rzepczynski: 2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Michael Young, CF Josh Hamilton, LF Marlon Byrd, RF Nelson Cruz, DH Ivan Rodriguez, C Taylor Teagarden, 1B Chris Davis, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Dustin Nippert. Best of luck.

Rangers Roster Moves for September 1

ARLINGTON - The Rangers have added seven players to the roster today since said rosters can be expanded to 40 players. Perhaps the biggest news, however, was one of the players they removed: Former first-round pick RHP Thomas Diamond. Diamond, the 10th overall pick in 2004, was designated for assignment.

The seven roster additions comes from three pools:

Players activated from the DL: RHP Brandon McCarthy, who will start the second game of today’s doubleheader, LHP Eddie Guardado and INF Esteban German.

Players recalled from minor league assignments: RHP Warner Madrigal and RHP Guillermo Moscoso.

Players purchased from the minor leagues, thus adding them to the 40-man roster: OF Craig Gentry and C Kevin Richardson.

(more…)

Question of the Day: Should Inside Corner “Adopt” an Area High School Football Team to Cover?

Here’s your chance to help dictate the direction of Inside Corner’s fall coverage. While we will be covering all things baseball (and in depth, I might add), we want to provide something of interest during the other seasons, too. Obviously, Bob Sturm will offer tons of Cowboys analysis and I’ll chime in there occasionally and also offer some college morsels. But, what about high school football? Since the season is upon us – I completely zeroed out over Zero Week – I offer up this question:

Should the Corner “adopt” a local team to offer up some weekly coverage this season? So, respond to these queries:

1. Yes or no?

2. If yes, please nominate a school and a compelling reason why multiple stories about said school might be interesting to a wider audience than just alums and students.

Race Day: A Look at the AL Playoff Races

About the Wild Card Race

Boston: The Red Sox on Tuesday night begin a seven-game trip to St. Pete and Chicago with three at Tropicana Field, where they are 2-13 since the beginning of last season. They held LHP Jon Lester out of Sunday’s game against Toronto to send him against the Rays, followed by RHPs Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz. Lester has allowed more than three runs only once in his last 16 outings. He has a 4.66 ERA in 10 career starts against Tampa Bay.

The Red Sox hit 50 home runs in August, a club record for the month. RF J.D. Drew, who only played once in Boston’s last appearance in Arlington, hit .329 in August – only the fourth time in his 17 months with the Red Sox that he has hit at least .300. SS Alex Gonzalez, acquired primarily for his fielding, is hitting .367 in his last nine games. RHP Tim Wakefield was scheduled to receive a cortisone shot on Monday for his ailing back with the hope that he can return to the starting rotation within a week.

Tampa Bay: In Monday afternoon’s 11-7 win at Detroit, the Rays became the first team in six years to score each of its first six batters. (They did it in Arlington seven years ago.) 1B Carlos Pena’s 3-for-5 day improved his batting average to .224, the highest for the A.L.’s home run leader since July 22.

RHP Andy Sonnanstine on Tuesday night will begin his audition to replace LHP Scott Kazmir in the rotation. A 13-game winner last season, Sonnanstine was 6-7 with a 6.61 ERA and a .370 batting average against righties when sent to Triple-A in late June. With Durham, he had a 4.40 ERA in nine starts, overall batting average of .323. In his only start this season against Boston, he got the win in a 6-2 victory on May 1 during which he gave up two earned runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings.

(more…)

Who is Kevin Ogletree?

Given that there is a story every training camp about a player who everyone is buzzing about (Beau Morgan, Danny Amendola, Richmond Flowers,  Lynn Scott – I guess usually the guy is white) I usually wait before I spend too much time getting to know the guy. The fact is, every year there is a guy – and usually he is gone as soon as he arrives. It is just too tough to emerge from nowhere to the roster in the NFL. For every time it is done, there are 50 times it is not done.

But, I think it is time we get to know Kevin Ogletree. Ogletree was a name that was no bigger than Jesse Holley on August 1, but here on September 1 it would seem he is a very strong finalist for the Cowboys roster. In fact, some have already said he is on the final 53.

So, how does a guy come out of nowhere and make his way on to the team?

(more…)

Road To Arlington: Rangers Farm Report (9/1)

Triple-A: @Oklahoma City 9, New Orleans 4

Despite four strong innings in a spot start, RHP Brian Gordon (7-2; 3.07) didn’t get a win because he didn’t pitch the necessary five innings to qualify. He left with a 3-0 lead after going four innings of scoreless two hit baseball. RHP Josh Rupe (4-7; 6.93) was the winning pitcher despite allowing a pair of runs on two hits and three walks in 2.2 innings. RHP Willie Eyre (0-0; 2.10) got a save after two perfect innings, striking out three.

C Max Ramirez (.237/.327/.335) had two singles and two walks with an RBI, while LF Casey Benjamin (.215/.336/.321) reached base five times with a double and four walks. 1B Royce Huffman (.295/.377/.414) was the only starter to not drive in a run, but he still managed a 2-4 effort, walking and doubling in the process.

(more…)