The Depot: Rangers-A’s Live Game Blog, News, Notes and Free Award-Winning Cheese Samples

Sorry for the lack of homer pool tonight. We had a little emergency in the Cornerian world. All is OK now, but the Corner had to help out SideDish tonight. Don’t worry, we got some really good cheese and wine for helping out. Bells and whistles coming up.

9:12: In case, you weren’t reading earlier, I suggested there are still some interesting things worth watching over the final 12 games of the season.

9:22: According to Reuters, three groups have emerged as the front-runners to purchase the Rangers. I know very little about two of them, but would still hazard a guess that the group represented by Chuck Greenberg is worth watching. Why? Greenberg helped negotiate the deal that allowed Mario Lemieux to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins. Might Greenberg team up with Nolan Ryan in a deal that would annually earn Ryan some “sweat equity” in the team.  Here is a little background on Greenberg when he first got into the sports ownership business.

9:31: I am starting to like this Greenberg fellow. Love the promotions.

10:26: Elvis Andrus now has 30 steals. Leads team. Ian Kinsler, who is off tonight, is at 29.

12:11: Rangers go to their best defensive alignment for the bottom of the ninth. They have to learn to make that move for the ninth inning  at home, too.

12:20: Well, the Rangers are 6.5 back and I’m gassed from serving cheese and sipping wine (life is sooooooooo rough) at the SideDish event tonight, that I’m calling it a night. Who knows, maybe Jack Daddy is ahead of us all. If the Rangers can cut the lead by another 1.5 games by the end of the weekend, at least the first night of the final week of the season will be important. And then maybe the night after that. And so on and so on.

Evan is on His Way

Hi Ranger fans! Evan is running a little late tonight. I, like Eric Nadel, suffered a torn retina and Evan, being the great guy that he is, pinch hit for me at a D Magazine event this evening. Meanwhile, carry on. Open the Home Run Pool and tread water until he arrives. He’s a peach.

Linkin’ Park: Lurking Around The Web For You

Sure, the Angels’ magic number down to five with 11 games still left on their schedule and the Rangers’ shot at making the postseason is essentially gone at this point. And true, Michael Young is still out indefinitely and Ian Kinsler is growing frustrated by dwindling crowds at the ballpark. But the Rangers still have 12 games to play, and with Josh Hamilton looking ready to return, a solid run at a 90 win season isn’t out of the question.

Realistically, however, it’s not too early to start looking ahead to 2010 and beyond, especially for a team that can boast as much young talent as the Rangers can. One of Texas’ biggest bullpen bolsters, flame throwing Neftali Feliz, might move away from his current relief role next year, at least according to Rob Neyer. Neyer doesn’t see how the Rangers rotation can be successful without Feliz in it, especially in light of Derek Holland’s struggles throughout his rookie campaign. But, as Joey Matschulat points out, there’s still a lot to like about Holland despite his unsavory statistics.

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Dirty Dozen: There are Still Things to Settle in Remaining 12 Games of Texas Rangers’ Season

The Rangers have reached the 150-game mark in the season and technically they are still alive in both the AL West and the AL wild card races. Technically, yes. Realistically? Not so much.

Despite all that, there are still things worth paying attention to over the final 12 games. Here’s a dozen things worth paying attention to over these final dozen games:

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Football Muse You Can Use

For our Wednesday NFL Reset column this week, I wanted to get something for you to examine that I have been meaning to publish for a few weeks. It is a trend that I love to follow because September is always the month everyone projects their own personal playoff predictions.

I am no different, and this year I predicted (before the season started) that the Eagles, Cowboys, Packers, Saints, Seahawks, and Falcons would make the NFC Playoffs, and the Patriots, Colts, Bengals, Steelers, Chargers, and Titans would make the AFC Playoffs. I had the Saints-Chargers in the Super Bowl, with the Saints winning it all.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to print it here (rather than just say it on the radio) was to show you a very interesting trend that one should consider before guessing who is going to be in the 2009 playoffs. And, I should have shown you this 3 weeks ago so you could have known this before you made your own predictions. Sorry. I have been really busy with all of this Football 301 stuff.

The Trend is this – Since 1991, when the NFL Expanded its playoffs to 12 teams, each year has averaged 5.8 new teams each year. To say it slightly differently, only 6 teams make it back to the playoffs the next year – and the other 6 teams are brand new.

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