The Depot: Rangers-Mariners Rained Out

UPDATE:
9:37: Tonight’s game has been rained out. Doubleheader on Sunday, begins at 12:35 p.m.. One game scheduled for tomorrow at 7:05 because weather forecast isn’t good.

6:30: The home run pool remains open for the time being. No lightning sighted around our pool.

7:23: Not playing before eight and probably not playing at eight. That, however, is the the next scheduled update on weather. Right now, a large cell is approaching The Ballpark from the East. So, if you are around here, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

7:25: In the meantime, if you haven’t read my take on Ron Washington: The Manager, you can do that. Or you can read this She Said/He Said account of a recent Hot Dog review. (Notice how Nancy turned into a She Said/He Said/She retorted review, but, hey, it’s her blog).

7:29: In other rain-delayed playoff race news, the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston have also been delayed. Here’s what is interesting: The game was delayed in the top of the first. Never seen that before. Boston’s Jon Lester threw 24 pitches, loaded the bases and retired just one batter before the rain delay. If the weather situation was that dubious, I wonder why the Red Sox sent Lester to the mound. I’m more curious why the game was started at all.

8:47: Been solving the world’s problems with some fellow geniuses in the press room. Kept thinking we’d have more of an update, kept thinking, kept thinking, and …. nothing. It’s still raining. We’re still waiting. They are going to try very, very hard to get at least five innings in, but there appears to be another cell swirling up from the Southeast. For the time being, we are in a holding pattern.

Texas Rangers’ Stretch-Drive Recipe Includes a Heapin’ Helping of Pudge

ARLINGTON – There was no formal point when Rangers manager Ron Washington told Pudge Rodriguez that the arrangement made when Rodriguez was acquired from Houston – that business about playing once or twice a week – was passé.

The Hall of Famer turned fill-in is the Rangers’ regular catcher again, trying to help the Rangers return to the playoffs – which they haven’t done since his first trip through Arlington.

Asked if he has been rejuvenated by his return to Arlington, Rodriguez said, “I’m glad to be back here. It’s nice to be with this team, young team. It’s nice to be back where I started my career. We’re playing very good, so I’m very pleased.”

(more…)

Rangers Playoff Tickets on Sale Saturday

And among all the headlines I thought I might write this season, I’m not sure that would have made the top three. Nonetheless, they will be available on the chance that the Rangers make the post-season. I’ve been asked about potential schedules for the Division Series games and I don’t have anything definitive. If the Rangers are the wild card, I’d think that Oct. 10-12 is likely. If they were to win the West, it’s still conceivable they could have home field advantage in the first round and the official dates for the ALDS series are Oct. 7-14. So, block out that week.

Here is the full release from the Rangers with prices and all that other information:

(more…)

Josh Hamilton Back Update: Another Week at Least

ARLINGTON – The Rangers don’t expect OF Josh Hamilton back in the lineup until the start of next weekend’s series against the Los Angeles Angels – if then.

Back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins of Los Angeles gave Hamilton a third epidural injection Friday to relieve pain associated with a pinched nerve. He also told Hamilton to rest the back for several more days. GM Jon Daniels said the Rangers intend to give Hamilton time to heal and called a return before the Angels series “unlikely.”

Asked if 3B Michael Young, who was doing some running on his strained left hamstring Friday afternoon, might beat Hamilton back to the lineup, Daniels said: “It wouldn’t surprise me.”

(more…)

Series Preview: Rangers vs. Mariners

The Mariners entered the final weekend of their miserable 2008 season with a 58-101 and a 1.5 game “lead” on the Nationals for the wost record in baseball. The finished the year with a three-game sweep of the Oakland A’s and, in the process, played their way out of the chance to draft super prospect Stephen Strasburg. But the winning streak, while untimely, might have foreshadowed Seattle’s much more successful ’09 campaign in which they’ve maintained a record above .500 and were still relevant in the playoff race until a five game skid that started Saturday against — who else — the Oakland A’s.

Seattle will finish up a ten game road trip with a weekend series in Arlington, where they’ve lost six of seven games this year, and despite the fact that it’s only been a month since the two teams met at Rangers Ballpark, quite a bit has changed for both teams. Vicente Padilla is no longer in Texas, and Michael Young and Josh Hamilton are both hurt. For Seattle, Brandon Morrow is back in the rotation, while Jason Vargas and Garrett Olson are out. Erik Bedard was moved to the 60-day DL in August and young lefty Luke French, who’s struggled since being acquired for Jarrod Washburn at the deadline, was moved to the bullpen to make room for Morrow.

Despite their ever-changing pitching staff, Seattle’s managed to maintain the best ERA in the A.L, but the offense ranks dead last in the league in runs scored and plated only five in three games against the Angels this week. Although their playoff chances are likely gone, M’s fans can take solace in the facts that Franklin Gutierrez has been terrific and, as usual, Ichiro is going for another 200 hit season. On the more unfortunate side, they’ve been haunted by Kenji and Kenny G.

And with the Red Sox and Angels facing shrinking magic numbers, the Rangers have to be sure this series won’t come back to haunt them at season’s end.

(more…)

TGIHRP: Thank Goodness it’s Home Run Pool

Here is your award-winning Home Run Pool lineup today as the Rangers face RHP Brandon Morrow, not to be confused with a Dallas Stars play of a similar name:

DH Julio Borbon, SS Elvis Andrus, 2B Ian Kinsler, CF Marlon Byrd, RF Nelson Cruz, LF David Murphy, C Ivan Rodriguez, 1B Chris Davis, 3B Esteban German and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Kevin Millwood.

As we reported earlier, OF Josh Hamilton is in California receiving a second opinion on treatments for the pinched nerve in his back, which apparently is still too painful to allow him to play.

Josh Hamilton Goes to California to See Specialist

Rangers OF Josh Hamilton will not be in the lineup tonight against Seattle and the rest of the weekend seems up in the air, too. Hamilton flew to Los Angeles on Thursday to see Dr. Robert Watkins to get a second opinion about the pinched nerve in his back. Assistant GM Thad Levine said Hamilton is scheduled to return to Dallas on Saturday. The Rangers will update with information as they receive it. Hamilton hasn’t played since leaving a game against Toronto on Sept. 2.

Losing Not an Option in Tampa

On Fridays, we will try to look at the key match-ups and the overall objectives for each Cowboys game.

When you start a season on the road against a team like Tampa Bay, you feel a fair amount of pressure to bring home a win by any means necessary. And you should. Simply put, if you closely examine the 2009 Dallas Cowboys schedule, there will not likely be a more favorable road match-up all season than this week 1 matchup against the Bucs. Kansas City is the other candidate for “easiest road matchup”, but with a decent QB in Matt Cassel, a loud stadium, and 5 weeks to learn their new offensive coordinator, I think the Chiefs should present a more difficult match-up than Sunday.

Things working against Tampa Bay on Sunday:

1) New Coach who has never run a football game as a head coach at any level.
2) QB who is only starting by default until the “next one” (Josh Freeman) is ready.
3) QB has not practiced with either starting WRs since winning the job due to health issues.
4) New OC, named last week, who has had less than 10 days to install his offense – without healthy WRs.
5) New DC and new scheme with 6 new starters on defense.

(more…)

Five Minutes With Dallas Stars’ Brenden Morrow

(si.cnn.com)

FRISCO – Hockey players define summer in terms of how long it has been since they last played. For Stars captain Brenden Morrow, summer “has been nine months.”

His 2008-09 season ended abruptly last November following only 18 games because of an ACL tear. He was hopeful of rejoining the team for another playoff run, but the extended absences of players like Morrow, Sergei Zubov and Brad Richards contributed to a 12th-place finish in the West.

Summer in Dallas saw Tom Hicks replace co-general managers Brett Hull and Les Jackson with former Stars favorite Joe Nieuwendyk, who in turn replaced coach Dave Tippett with Marc Crawford.

Morrow is back on the ice and ready to start his 10th season in Dallas. The following is from a brief visit with Morrow this week at StarsCenter in advance of training camp:

(more…)

The Wash Cycle: Looking at the Moves Made by Rangers Manager Ron Washington

Rangers manager Ron Washington has stood tall all season in the dugout and in the clubhouse (Photo: R.P. Washburne)

When pressed, even Rangers officials would probably admit the weakest part of Ron Washington’s managerial resume may be his in-game strategy.

But here’s the dirty little secret about in-game strategy in today’s modern baseball world: It ain’t that important.

In the areas that really count, like the quality of effort displayed all season and the record, Washington has been head-and-shoulders above just about every manager in baseball this season.

If you sliced and diced a modern manager’s job up, you woul’d find that the biggest responsibility is figuring out the best way to get the most out of a roster over the course of a 162-game season. That means managing the clubhouse, delegating authority, soothing egos, occasionally kicking someone in the butt and knowing when to lay low.

(more…)

Race Day: Looking at the A.L. Playoff Races

About the Wild Card Race

Boston: The Red Sox have 13 home games among their remaining 23 starting with Friday night’s series opener against Tampa Bay. LHP Jon Lester (12-7, 3.44) has a 21-5 career record at Fenway. After a 5-5 start this season, Lester has gone 7-2 with a 2.25 ERA since late May. He’ll face RHP James Shields (9-10, 4.02), who has allowed the most hits among A.L. starters and the second-most home runs (27). Boston has collected at least 10 hits in 15 of its last 22 games.

The Rays have lost eight straight games and a couple of starting position players recently. 1B Carlos Pena, the league’s top HR hitter, was lost for the season on Monday when he broke two fingers on his left hand in an at-bat against CC Sabathia. LF B.J. Upton was pulled from Wednesday night’s game in New York with a sore left knee, and manager Joe Maddon said after the game that he’ll probably rest Upton for a bit.

Boston RHP Josh Beckett (14-6, 3.87) will face rookie RHP Wade Davis (0-0, 1.29) on Saturday. On Sunday, RHP Clay Buchholz (5-3, 3.92) will oppose RHP Matt Garza (7-9, 2.85).

The Red Sox are expected to make a decision Friday on the return of RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka. He pitched 6.2 innings on Wednesday night in his final rehab start at Class A, striking out seven and topping out his fastball at 93. Boston won’t need a fifth starter until Sept. 19.

(more…)