The Depot: Rangers-Angels Live Game Blog, News, Notes and Teary Farewell Thoughts

Well, that’s that. Rangers eliminated from playoff contention.

9:13: In case you missed my announcement from earlier in the day, here is the link. In case you missed our story about Josh Hamilton not playing today and perhaps not again this year, it’s here.

9:22: Michael Young admitted that even though he’s in the lineup, he is not 100 percent. You know what might be the best thing for the Rangers at this point? It might be best if Los Angeles did what seems inevitable and clinched quickly. That way, maybe some Ranger core players could just rest over the final week of the season. Not saying that’s what I’d like to see happen, but I’d hate to see Young or Josh Hamilton try to do something this week and suffer an injury that lingers into 2010. Young doubled in his first at-bat, but he is basically jogging on the bases.

9:31: After Kendry Morales homer, the Angels take a 3-0 lead with two outs in the first. In the time the Rangers have recorded their last six outs, they have allowed 10 runs.

9:53: Dustin Nippert is up in the second inning. It’s the third time he’s been up and throwing in the last 30 hours.

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Late Lineup Post

Oops. Lame-duckitis strikes. Thought I had posted the home run pool earlier. Alas, it was but a figment of my imagination.

Let’s not do a flat-out homer pool today, but feel free to play just for grins if you want. Here is the Rangers’ lineup:

LF Julio Borbon, 3B Michael Young, RF David Murphy, CF Marlon Byrd, DH Hank Blalock, 2B Ian Kinsler, 1B Chris Davis, C Ivan Rodriguez, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Tommy Hunter, bidding to win his 10th game.

Josh Hamilton out of Lineup; Done for Year?

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Out of the lineup for a second consecutive day, OF Josh Hamilton summed up his situation for the final week of the season this way:

“I’m playing when I’m able to play,” he said of his injured back Monday afternoon. “It hasn’t stopped hurting. The three injections I got helped, and for a while, it didn’t get worse, but once I got out there and ran, it started up again. [Sunday] I couldn’t go. Today, I feel a little better. I can probably pinch hit, but if I got on base, they’d have to run for me.”

The Rangers lineup on Monday did include the return of Michael Young, who will be at third base. Young will bat second after missing all but one at bat of the last 27 days with a severely strained hamstring.

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Huddle Up: Cowboys-Carolina MNF In-Game Blog

The local populace is in a lather because the Cowboys followed a dominating win over a bad team on the road with a loss at home on the final play to the defending NFC East champs. It’s all in the timing, especially when showing off your new $1.15 billion living room.

Beating Carolina should be routine. While the Cowboys will probably play it safe and sit RB Marion Barber, the Panthers have a slew of starters out through no choice of their own. OLB Na’il Diggs has bruised ribs, S Chris Harris a bad knee, FB Brad Hoover a bad back, DE Everette Brown a bum ankle. The Panthers, among the NFC elite last season, have probably heard everyone recite this week that an 0-3 start ends your season. Not sure they can do much to avoid it.

7:09: On ESPN’s pre-game show, Keyshawn Johnson said his impression of Tony Romo having played with him for two years was Romo “did enough to get by” day in and day out.

Series Preview: Rangers at Angels

There was about a ten minute period Sunday afternoon when it looked as though the upcoming four-game series between the Rangers and Angels might have playoff implications after all. The Oakland A’s had run off four straight runs in the late innings against the Angels to pull within one, while Texas needed to maintain a 6-3 lead for just three outs to complete a sweep of the Rays. A Rangers win combined with an Angels loss would’ve pulled Texas to within 4.0 games in the A.L. West and effectively given them control of their playoff destiny.

But the A’s rally fell short, and the Rangers’ bullpen imploded. Darren O’Day, C.J. Wilson, and Frank Francisco faced 11 batters and recorded only two outs, while the Angels picked up a pair of insurance runs and turned to Brian Fuentes, who locked down his 45th save of the season.

So here we are. The Rangers are six games back with seven to play, and they absolutely have to sweep the Angels to keep their playoff hopes alive.  And it’s not one of those, “They need a sweep or it’ll be tough to get in,” kind of things. It’s more like this: if the Rangers don’t take all four in L.A., they’re mathematically eliminated.

But there’s a sliver of hope. Though the Angels are on the cusp of setting franchise records for offensive prowess led by Kendry Morales’ breakout season and Howie Kendrick’s excellent September, the bats are struggling at the moment. And when a team which has relied on offense all year stops hitting, they stop winning. So at least the Rangers have that going for them.

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Marlon Byrd is AL Player of the Week

Here is the press release from MLB, because we know how much you guys love press release writing. Some of the best writing there is.

Texas Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd has been named the American League Player of the Week presented by Bank of America for the period ending Sunday.

In seven games last week, Marlon hit .320 (8-25) with two doubles and seven runs scored while tying for the A.L.-high with three home runs and posting an A.L.-best 11 RBI. Byrd also posted a .760 slugging percentage and a .433 on-base percentage. On September 26^th, the right-handed slugger hit his sixth career grand slam, sparking an 11-run fifth inning and helping carry the Rangers to a 15-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The 10^th-round selection in the 1999 First-Year Player Draft knocked two home runs and collected five RBI, marking his fourth career multi-homer game and his third this season as he reached his career-high RBI total for the fifth time. With 59 career home runs through that grand slam, Byrd became the only player in Major League history to compile six-or-more grand slams with fewer than 60 career home runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The 32-year-old is currently hitting .283 with career highs in doubles (43), home runs (20) and RBI (89). This marks Marlon’s second career weekly award (previous: 8/11/08).

Big 12 Conference Question of the Week: Does the League Need a New Football Travel Agent?

I realize we might not be having this discussion if Mike Leach’s whiz-bang offense could move straight ahead for one yard when necessary. But Texas Tech’s 29-28 loss at Houston on Saturday night was just the latest example of what can happen when BCS schools visit non-BCS campuses. Especially Big 12 teams. Wins often don’t mean much, losses too much.

Tech at Houston (loss). Kansas State at Louisiana-Lafayette (loss). Colorado at Toledo (loss). Texas at Wyoming (more difficult for a half than it should have been).

The Big 12 will play more games at non-BCS schools this season than any other BCS league. More than the Pac-10 and Big Ten will play combined. You tell me whether the Big 12 is to be congratulated or criticized in its non-conference scheduling.

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Yes, It’s Been Quite a Summer

It’s been an amazing run, folks.

I could be talking about the Rangers season, which could be, for all intents and purposes, over late tonight with a loss at Los Angeles. But, no, that’s not the subject for this moment. I’m talking about my run here at InsideCorner. Don’t know how to say this any other way, but come Monday (the headline is a Buffett lyric, might as well use a Buffett song title or two in the text) I’ll be back at the Dallas Morning News. The paper, which I proudly called home for more than 12 years, called last week, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse to write baseball columns and features and, of course, to blog about the Rangers. Though I couldn’t refuse it, I still had to think long and hard. D Magazine has instantly become a home to me and I love the people, the product and the community we created. I’m so extremely fortunate to have worked in two places in the same city for nearly 13 years and to have had so many good experiences and interactions.

And, of course, I’m fortunate to have gotten to know you that much better.

InsideCorner, which, by the way, was named the best overall blog in the city last week by the Dallas Observer, isn’t going away, mind you. Only I am. Bob Sturm will still be here to break down every facet of the Cowboys. Jeff Miller, the great one, will have hockey insights. Zac Crain and Eric Celeste will come off the bench to play a two-man game on the Mavs and a little of everything else. And I wouldn’t want to go two-on-two with them. They are good. And, of course, Sturm is such a sports nerd (mean it as the ultimate compliment) that he’ll weigh in on various topics.

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Game Plan Friday (on Monday) – Carolina

After a long week of the sky falling, another chance arises to knock out that first home victory in the new stadium along with a chance for another broadcast crew to run the new stadium’s fun facts right into the ground.

Welcome to Week 3: Cowboys and Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football. Both teams desperately need wins, as the Panthers certainly don’t want to join the Tennessee Titans as another playoff team from 2008 that starts 0-3 and is left for dead (although they have already been left for dead by most) and the Cowboys face a 2 week roadtrip to two difficult stadiums (albeit not the toughest teams in the league) before their bye week. You could only imagine the mass hysteria if this Cowboys team has to wait until October 25th for another chance at getting its first win in Arlington. They don’t want that hanging over them.

We looked closely at the Panthers on Thursday, so if you would like to review that, Click Here and read until your heart is content .

So, how do we get to 2-1? If you do get to 2-1, the sun rises tomorrow with renewed optimism for the 2009 season, and the idea that if you can beat Denver and Kansas City going into the bye week that this team will be right where it needs to be the next time they play a home game. If they don’t get a win tonight, the usual implosion warnings will be sounded.

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