Post-Game Show: Rangers 5, Orioles 1

D-tails
• Boxscore, AL West standings, AL wild card standings

Story of the Game
At some point, RHP Scott Feldman is going to have to enter the Cy Young Award conversation, isn’t he?

In Baltimore, where he made his first start of the season, Feldman won his sixth consecutive decision Friday by allowing four hits in 6.2 innings. The only “downside” was that his scoreless innings streak was stopped at 17.2 by a sixth-inning run.

He did, however, add to his resume to be the Rangers Game 1 starter if the team makes the post-season and if they open on the road. Feldman has won six consecutive road decisions and is now 11-1 on the road this season. That ties the club record, set by Rick Helling, who did it on the way to 20 wins in 1998. Feldman, who is now the first Ranger to reach 15 wins since Kevin Millwood in 2006, should have three more road starts remaining this season and five more starts overall. If he wins them all the road starts he’d become the first pitcher in 25 years to have as many as 14 road wins. If he wins all five of his starts, he’d become only the fourth Ranger to ever win 20 games in a season.

Feldman is now using a very diversified repertoire to attack hitters. In the last two weeks, he’s shown a sharp curveball to go with his “cut” fastball, his solid changeup and his two-seam fastball. The results have been dramatic. In his last three starts, all of which have been on the road, Feldman has allowed just one run on 12 hits and eight walks in 19.1 innings.

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The Depot: Rangers-Orioles Live Game Blog, News, Notes and College Football Kickoff Countdown

5:00: The home run pool is open for Labor Day lazing, barbecuing and home run-predicting. Also, I’ll be on Fox Sports Southwest breaking down the game before and after. Rangers Live! starts at 5:30 CDT with Dana Larson as host.

6:30: Rangers will start RHP Brandon McCarthy Monday against Cleveland and move RHP Dustin Nippert back to the bullpen. This makes some sense. First, McCarthy has started exclusively for the last three years. Second, he’s much more a creature of habit than Nippert. Nippert gives the Rangers a second quality long man and will make it easier for Ron Washington to pull a starter before significant trouble develops.

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Pre-Labor Day Weekend Home Run Pool

As we mentioned earlier, OF Josh Hamilton is not in Baltimore. An epidural injection to his lower back has not resulted in alleviating the symptoms of a pinched nerve. So the Rangers will be playing without Hamilton or 3B Michael Young tonight. Since Young started his first game for the club on May 27, 2001, the Rangers have played only 57 games without him in the starting lineup. They have, however, battled through fairly well. They are 28-29 in those games.

So, here is the odd-looking lineup that will face Baltimore RHP Chris Tillman:  DH Julio Borbon, SS Elvis Andrus, 2B Ian Kinsler, CF Marlon Byrd, LF David Murphy, RF Nelson Cruz, C Ivan Rodriguez, 1B Chris Davis, 3B Omar Vizquel and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Scott Feldman.

Josh Hamilton Is Not in Baltimore

Rangers OF Josh Hamilton is not in Baltimore today. He received an epidural injection of anti-inflammtory drugs in his lower back on Thursday and is still waiting for it to take effect. Usually anti-inflammatory injections take 24-48 hours to take hold and offer some relief. It’s possible Hamilton could fly Saturday morning and be with the team for the 3 pm game against Baltimore, but that remains uncertain.

The Rangers will face the Orioles tonight missing both Hamilton and 3B Michael Young.

Here’s the Rangers lineup, which will also be available on the home run pool: DH Julio Borbon, SS Elvis Andrus, 2B Ian Kinsler, CF Marlon Byrd, LF David Murphy, RF Nelson Cruz, C Ivan Rodriguez, 1B Chris Davis, 3B Omar Vizquel and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Scott Feldman.

Texas Rangers Recall Willie Eyre

Straight from an award-winning press release written by the great John Blake comes the news that RHP Willie Eyre has been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma to join the very crowded Rangers bullpen:

“Eyre, 31, has posted no record with a 3.48 ERA (4 ER/10.1 IP) in 8 relief appearances over 4 stints with Texas this season.  He was also with the Rangers from April 15-22, June 26-28, July 20-27, and Aug. 19-21.  Eyre has a 1.29 ERA (1 ER/7.0 IP) over his last 6 outings in the big leagues, last pitching for Texas on consecutive days Aug. 20-21.  He was on the disabled list both at the start of the season until April 14 and also from April 23-June 25, both times with a right groin strain.

Eyre has compiled no record with 2 saves and a 2.10 ERA (8 ER/34.1 IP) over 19 games/2 starts with Oklahoma City this season, holding opponents to a .205 (24-117) average with 12 walks and 25 strikeouts.  Some of his Triple-A appearances have come as part of rehabilitation assignments.  He has 8.1 shutout innings over his last 4 appearances with the RedHawks, the last of which came Monday vs. New Orleans (Save, 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 23 pitches/15 strikes).”

Thomas Diamond To Cubs

Rangers officials have confirmed the Chicago Cubs have claimed RHP Thomas Diamond, whom the Rangers designated for assignment earlier this week. Diamond, the Rangers top pick in 2004, was the last remaining member of the “DVD” trio of pitching prospects. He had never seemed to get back on track after Tommy John surgery in 2007.

Diamond turns 27 next April so he’s getting past the age of prospect status, but in going to Chicago, he will be reunited with his former University of New Orleans coach Randy Bush. Bush is now the Cubs assistant general manager and has followed Diamond’s pro career closely. The Rangers removed Diamond from the 40-man roster on Tuesday in order to make room for a couple of players purchased from the minors, C Kevin Richardson and OF Craig Gentry.

Diamond spent most of this season at Double-A Frisco, where he was pitching in relief after transitioning from being a starter.

Race Day: A Look at the AL Playoff Races

About the Wild Card Race
Boston: By winning two of three against Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, the Red Sox left the Rays’ playoff hopes in critical condition. The teams play three more times, at Fenway Park, next weekend. In the meantime, the Red Sox, having won eight of their last 10, head to Chicago to finish off their road trip. RHP Paul Byrd, who came pitched six shutout innings on three hits against Toronto in his first start of the season last week, pitches for Boston.

Since losing two of three to the Rangers in Arlington in mid-August, the Red Sox are 12-4. Only the Yankees have a better record (12-3) in that time span. And the only reason the Yankees have that half-game edge is because they won two of three between  the teams during the last three weeks. The Red Sox aren’t doing it with pitching, though. They have a 5.16 ERA in that 16-game span. But OF J.D. Drew (.362), 1B-3B Kevin Youkilis (.344) and C-1B Victor Martinez (.322) have made the Red Sox offense all but unstoppable. Martinez, acquired from Cleveland right before the July 31 trade deadline was in the middle of Boston two-run rallies in both the first and the seventh.

Tampa Bay: Playing from behind is enough of a challenge for the Rays, but their path seems to get tougher and togher. From the Red Sox Series they go into three with AL Central-leading Detroit. After that, they kick off an 11-game road trip with a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium and also visit Fenway for the final time this season. Oh, and, if the schedule doesn’t present enough challenges, the Detroit series kicks off with Tigers RHP Justin Verlander, a Cy Young frontrunner, facing RHP Randy Nieman.

Nieman’s strong summer, however, has been on e of the reasons the Rays were able to deal LHP Scott Kazmir. Since June 1, Nieman is 8-1 with a 3.47 ERA. He received a hard-luck no decision in his last start, which just happened to be at Detroit agianst Verlander. Nieman went seven innings and allowed a pair of runs on five hits. He left with a 2-0 lead after allowing a leadoff double to start the eighth, but the bullpen could not stop the Tigers. RHP Grant Balfour allowed a two-out walk to Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco homered on a 2-and-0 count.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Orioles

When former Ranger 1B Mark Teixeira was mulling his options as a free agent last winter, the Maryland native supposedly considered the Orioles as a possible destination. Chances are he doesn’t regret his decision to pick New York, especially not after the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Orioles on Wednesday, pushed their lead to 32 games over Baltimore in the AL East, and will most assuredly be in the playoffs.

The Orioles, meanwhile, don’t have much left to play for these days, except maybe avoiding their first 100 loss season in 21 years. After starting the year 6-2, things got ugly quickly for Baltimore, who limped into the All-Star break with a 40-48 record and have gone 14-32 since. They lost their ninth straight contest to the Yankees a few days ago, star CF Adam Jones could miss the rest of the season, and Dave Trembley might be ready to snap.

So what’s the biggest issue for the Orioles? A pitching staff that owns a cumulative 5.05 ERA, good for dead last in MLB. The Rangers will face two starters, LHP Brian Matusz and RHP Chris Tillman, that have a total 71 innings between them, while the third starter, veteran Jeremy Guthrie, has the fourth worst ERA among qualified ML pitchers. Add that to the fact that the bullpen will be filled with recent callups after having been a mess all year, and the Rangers would seem to have an easy three-game series in Baltimore on their hands.

But there might be a few problems…

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Farm Report (9/4)

Triple-A: @Oklahoma City 4, New Orleans 3  F/10

RHP Luis Mendoza (6-7; 4.53) was a bit wild, walking four and giving up seven hits in 6.2 innings, but he was effective in the end, allowing only three runs and fanning six. LHP A.J. Murray (2-2; 3.28) and RHP Josh Rupe (5-7; 6.78) combined for 3.1 innings of hitless relief, with Rupe earning the win.

CF Greg Golson, SS Casey Benjamin, and 1B Royce Huffman each smacked a single from the top three spots in the lineup, with Benjamin and Huffman walking as well. C Max Ramirez (.235/.322/.340) homered in the second and knocked in another run with an 8th inning sac fly to tie the game. Ramirez drew an intentional walk with one out in the 10th and Casey Benjamin at second, and 3B Travis Metcalf (.235/.333/.441) brought Benjamin home with his second single of the night.

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