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Weekend In Review

Posted on September 14th, 2009 12:24pm by Ryan Jones
Filed under Baseball, Links, Texas Rangers, Weekend Review

The Rangers’ long, wet weekend finally came to an end with a disheartening 5-0 loss at the hands of Felix Hernandez last night. And after spending more time waiting out rain delays than actually playing baseball, the M’s departed Arlington having taken two of three from Texas and pushing the Rangers from two back to four back in the wild card standings. The inclement weather not only meant the Rangers had to get creative with rescheduling and rearrange the rotation, but it also left us with plenty of time to contemplate Ron Washington’s decision making.

The weekend also provided quite a bit of injury news, especially regarding Josh Hamilton’s problematic back. After seeing specialist in California and receiving his third shot in a matter of weeks, it was announced that Hamilton would likely miss another week of action and wouldn’t return until Friday’s opening with the Angels at the earliest. While that still seems to be the case, the good news is the most recent treatment appears to have helped significantly, and Hamilton — as well as Michael Young — could be back sooner rather than later.

A few names that could become inconspicuous over the next few weeks, however, are Teagarden and Saltalamacchia. When the Rangers acquired Pudge Rodriguez just after the trade deadline, he was meant to spell the Rangers’ two young catchers and provide more leadership on a very inexperienced team. But since coming over from Houston, his .823 OPS and veteran approach behind the plate has essentially installed him as the starting catcher, and Ron Washington doesn’t expect that to change any time soon.