Broxton was only the second reliever to play a major role Monday, as just hours before Yankee closer Mariano Rivera worked out of a tight spot in the bottom of the 10th of their game with Los Angeles to keep it going. After the Angels put runners on the corners with no outs, Rivera forced three straight ground outs to push the game into a second extra frame, and though the Angels ended up winning in 11 innings, Rivera’s performance is a testament to the value of having a dominant pitcher in the back of a bullpen.

To this point, the ’09 playoffs haven’t been kind to closers. Maligned Angel’s closer Brian Fuentes blew a save in the 11th inning Saturday after allowing a homer to Alex Rodriguez. One day earlier, former Ranger Chan Ho Park earned an 8th inning blown save after he gave up two runs to the Dodgers. In the postseason’s first round, Huston Street allowed a run in the 9th inning of a tied game three against the Phillies. One night later, he came into the 9th inning of game four with a 4-2 lead, and left two outs later with a 5-4 deficit. Boston’s Jonathan Pabelbon, Minnesota’s Joe Nathan, and St. Louis’ Ryan Franklin all blew two-run, 9th inning leads in their respective divisional series, leading their teams to early ousters. Through 62-9th inning outs, the equivalent of 21 innings, 15 runs scored in the ALDS and NLDS, and there have been nearly as many blown saves (9) as saves (10).

Which brings us to the Rangers. Although they didn’t quite qualify for the postseason this year, it’s hard to imagine that they wouldn’t have been contributing to the bullpen debacle had they made it in. The Rangers closer situation was an interesting one in 2009. It started about as well as anyone could have hoped — with 17.2 scoreless innings and 11 saves from Frank Francisco — but the remainder of the season was marked with injury, uncertainty, a lot of collar loosening, and plenty of brow wiping. It got so bad by season’s end that some fans were calling for rookie Neftali Feliz or soft-tossing sidearmer Darren O’Day to take over the final frame. But with Feliz likely moving back into the rotation next year, O’Day’s unproven track record, and the relative unpredictability of relievers from year to year, should the Rangers be looking to stabilize the back of their pen?

Frank Francisco and C.J. Wilson were Texas’ two closers in 2009 and, for the most part, they did a decent job. The pair combined for 39 saves, 23 holds, and eight blown saves while rotating back and forth between the closer and set-up roles. In all likelihood, they’ll be dueling it out for the same spots next year, barring some major acquisition or philosophical change.  So let’s break down the the candidates…

Frank Francisco

2009 Season

Francisco started the year on fire, rattling off 17.2 scoreless innings and converting his first 11 save opportunities before allowing an Adam Kennedy home run on May 31. He earned his 12th consecutive save on June 3 before making his second trip to the DL a week later. That’s when the wheels came off. From June 25 on, Francisco posted a 6.51 ERA and blew four saves while converting only 13. He finished the year with a 3.83 ERA and showed an unnerving tendency to implode.

The Good

Francisco has maintained excellent strikeout rates (9.95 K/9 for his career, 11.18 since 2008) and has steadily improved his control, walking a career-low 15 batters in 2009. He’s got a strong, mid-90s fastball to go with a hard curve and a good splitter, and he’s shown the confidence to throw any pitch in any count. He’s aggressive with hitters and seems to have the ability to forget about bad outings, a quality not all pitchers possess.

The Bad

Francisco is an extreme fly ball pitcher who plays in a park known to be a home run haven. For his career, his ground ball/fly ball ratio is 0.49, well below league average, and this year it reached 0.43, which was the lowest it’s been since his rookie season. Not surprisingly, this has caused a high HR/9 ratio for a closer of near 1.0, and it’s also led to a lot of extra base hits. In 2009 and 2008, Francisco allowed 40 percent and 43 percent of his total hits to go for extra bases, while the league average is 34 percent. His lack of grounders has also contributed to his forcing only one double play in 72 opportunities over the last two years. He’s not great at getting ahead of hitters and he seemed to have trouble stopping the bleeding when he struggled — in his four blown saves, Francisco allowed 15 runs in 2.2 innings.

C.J. Wilson

2009 Season

Coming off an awful 2008 campaign in which he allowed 35 runs in 46.1 innings, C.J. Wilson had a career year in ’09, setting personal bests in appearances, innings, ERA, strikeouts, and holds. Still, Wilson had his problems. Control issues led to a high walk rate and a 1.33 WHIP, which isn’t good for a reliever, and he was consistently inconsistent throughout the season.

The Good

Wilson’s got electric stuff. His fastball usually sits in the low- to mid-90s with plenty of life, though at times he cranked it up to 97 last year. His slider can disappear when he’s throwing it well, and he throws a solid changeup as well. Unlike Francisco, Wilson gets plenty of ground balls, leading to a low homer rate. He had a career high 10.26 K/9 ratio in 2009, and he dominated left-handed hitters to the tune of .206/.310/.237.

The Bad

Despite his arm, Wilson has a tendency to be too careful and not trust his stuff. Like Francisco, he struggled to get ahead in the count, and he especially struggled when facing the first batter of an outing. His walk totals, down slightly from the last two years, is still too high and put him in a lot of dangerous situations. Command is an issue, as it varies greatly from game to game, and righties can hit him fairly well. There have been questions about his maturity and whether he has the mental make up to be an effective closer.

Neftali Feliz

2009 Season

Feliz made his Major League debut in ’09, and did it in style — he struck out the first four batters he faced. Though he struggled a bit in September, he finished the season having allowed six runs in 31 innings while striking out 39. Truthfully, he’s not a closer candidate for the Rangers, at least not going into next year. But there some who think he doesn’t possess the secondary stuff to succeed as a starter, and that his ultimate role in the majors will be in the back of a bullpen.

The Good

The stuff. Feliz can hit 100 on a radar gun and make it look like a game of catch. And that’s not the best part. His fastball moves… a lot. His slurve and splitter were a pleasant surprises and he showed a fearlessness and cool that well exceed his young age. Opponents hit .124 off him with a .210 slugging percentage, and he held righties to an OPS of .274. Ridiculous.

The Bad

He’s young. He’ll turn 22 near the beginning of next season, and management didn’t seem to like the idea of pitching him more than a few times a week. His velocity was inconsistent, causing curiosity as to whether he was tiring out. Also, the Rangers seem intent on making him a starter, which is the right thing to do. With his stuff, Feliz could easily develop into a top-of-the-rotation pitcher, and getting 200 innings of Feliz annually would be much better than 60.

Outlook

There’s no doubt that the bullpen needs to be upgraded in the offseason, even if most of the changes happen internally. The middle innings became a major weak spot for the Rangers last year as Jason Jennings and Eddie Guardado showed an increasing inability to get outs and Neftali Feliz was kept on a short leash. Darren O’Day was spectacular in 2009, but it’s hard to know how he’ll perform next season. Relievers by nature are unpredictable from year to year, and pitchers with a gimmick, like O’Day’s sidearm delivery, seem especially prone to being figured out.

But the back of the bullpen shouldn’t be a major concern. Injuries really seemed to hamper what started as an excellent season for Francisco, but if he can get healthy he should be able to play out 2010 as the closer. Wilson’s inconsistency can be maddening at times, but three of his four blown saves came in the 8th inning or earlier, meaning he was 14 for 15 in 9th inning save chances. So long as he doesn’t have another year of regression like 2008, his stuff should play well in the 8th or 9th inning.

And with the price of big name closers commonly reaching eight digits a season, the Rangers simply can’t afford to chase after a Jose Valverde type this winter. Besides, the Mets, Angels, and Indians spent big money last offseason on Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, and Kerry Wood respectively in hopes that they would solve their late-inning issues, but they’ve turned out to be busts so far.

With so much at stake in Wednesday night’s series finale against Oakland, circumstances again dictate the Rangers hand the ball to maybe their least likely contributor this season. Dustin Nippert’s name isn’t included when discussing top of the rotation starters or closers or gems for the future. The 28-year-old didn’t pitch for the Rangers until July 7, activated from the 60-day disabled list following a back injury that doctors struggled to identify and cure. Since then, he has become the staff’s 6-foot-8 version of duct tape – eating innings when necessary, starting on a day’s notice if needed.

Wednesday night’s start figures to be his most important outing of the season. “I don’t really want to think about it like that,” Nippert said Tuesday. “They need a starter, and they think I can do the job.”

He’ll start Wednesday night because of Kevin Millwood’s absence. It will be Nippert’s 10^th start this season along with six relief appearances, four of those for multiple innings. He has a 4.43 ERA in the nine starts, 3.95 overall.

An eight-day span starting in mid-July highlights his work this season as a pitching decathlete:

• After mopping up in the ninth inning of a 4-1 loss to Minnesota on July 18, he was needed the next night when the game went into extra innings. He pitched the 11^th and 12^th and got his first win of the season thanks to Ian Kinsler’s walk-off home run.

• Three days later, he was needed for a spot start in place of the flu-ridden Vicente Padilla as the Rangers tried to grab the wild-card lead from the Red Sox. Nippert gave them 5.2 innings, allowing only one run as the Rangers became the first club this season to sweep Boston.

• Four days later, Millwood’s posterior went out of whack in the second inning of his start at Kansas City. Nippert warmed up quickly, pitched five innings, and won for the third time in eight days.

Nippert was groomed as a starter by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who drafted him in 2002 in the 15^th round following a year at West Virginia University. At Double-A in 2005, he was the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year. The following season at Triple-A, he tied for the Pacific Coast League lead in wins.

In spring 2007, he pitched for a spot in the D-Backs’ rotation but lost out to Micah Owings. He was slated to return to Triple-A as a starter but was soon summoned back to Phoenix to help shore up the bullpen for most of the season. He worked two scoreless innings in the NLCS against Colorado.

Spring training 2008 presented another “pitch off” of sorts for a big-league spot, this one won by Brandon Medders. During the final weekend of spring after the clubs broke camp – on the day that his daughter was born – Nippert was traded to the Rangers for Class A pitcher Jose Marte.

“I went to the field, and Bob Melvin called me into his office,” Nippert said. “I knew something was going on. He told me congratulations first then, well, to the bad news.”

The 2008 season was divided between Arlington and Oklahoma City and included a trip to the disabled list with a foot injury. Health issues have plagued Nippert throughout much of his pro career.

In 2003, a tumor the size of a golf ball was discovered in the back of his right shoulder. In 2004, he underwent Tommy John elbow surgery that ended his season in the Texas League.

Nippert has an identical twin brother, Derik, who also became a pro pitcher and was drafted by Arizona. Who also had a tumor removed from his back (his was described as the size of a lemon). Who also had Tommy John surgery.

“The same doctor did both of the [tumor] surgeries,” Nippert said. “The doctor never really said anything that, because we’re twins we share the same abnormalities. I never really got into that with him.”

Dustin and Derik were teammates in baseball, basketball and football at Beallsville (Ohio) High School. In football, Dustin was the quarterback and Derik his favorite receiver: “We were taller than everybody out there, so I’d just kind of throw it up and let him go get it.”

Derik’s physical problems led him to leave baseball. He’s back home working with their father. They talk or text every day.

Nippert was sidelined this spring with a back injury that confounded the club’s medical staff. “Nobody could put a finger on it, so I had to do a broad spectrum of rehab to get the whole back there better,” he said. “I got a few cortisone shots. The second one, done under x-ray supervision, ended up getting right on the spot and it cleared up.”

Nippert spent much of the first half of the season rehabbing, only seeing his teammates when the club was in town. Activated July 7, he wasted no time and started that night in Anaheim. He provided 3.2 innings, and the Rangers rallied late to win and move into a tie for the Western Division lead. Now they look to him again as the Rangers cling to post-season hope.

The short-term benefit was obvious as McCarthy and Dustin Nippert allowed the Rangers to use 10 runs to sweep Toronto (5-2, 5-2) a day after 10 runs wasn’t nearly enough in one game. McCarthy limited the Blue Jays to three hits and two walks over 6.1 innings and took a shutout into the seventh.

Long term, McCarthy is hopeful his efforts since early June to reshape his pitching mechanics can prevent another recurrence of shoulder problems that have plagued his time in Texas.

“It wasn’t bad luck that I had this injury twice,” he said. “Something mechanically was breaking me down. I had to start over.”

McCarthy sought answers wherever he could, starting and ending with his pitching coaches and including just about anyone else in between.

“Mike [Maddux] gave me the building blocks for it,” McCarthy said. “I was finding people on the internet, anybody I could that had insight on mechanics. Just to find out different things, take in as much information as I could. … Terry Clark at [Triple-A] Oklahoma was the guy who finished it all. He saw a couple things that he wanted me to fix. He fixed those, and everything came together.”

In Tuesday’s nightcap, McCarthy moved his fastball and commanded it and his breaking pitches. It was the same stuff that led to his first career shutout at Houston in late May and saw him roll along as the Rangers’ No. 3 starter behind Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla.

Back then, Pudge Rodriguez was an Astro (didn’t play in that game). Tuesday night, Rodriguez was a guiding force for McCarthy.

“I didn’t shake once tonight,” he said. “I’m going to trust his judgment. He’s seen these hitters. He’s seen these situations.”

McCarthy said he was confident his rehab starts adequately prepared him, but he still shook some early butterflies. He came out after 95 pitches, the last of his 22 batters faced (Lyle Overbay) knocking in the only run off him. Said he went into the game with no numerical goals.

“I didn’t sit and put numbers in my head,” he said. “I wanted to go out and do what I did tonight, which was attack the zone and get deep into the game.”

Either McCarthy or Nippert will get the ball next week in Cleveland. Each said he’s ready to accept whatever decision manager Ron Washington makes.

“If [going to the bullpen] is what this team needs in the middle of a playoff run, then that’s my job,” McCarthy said. “When someone lets me know what’s happening, move forward. Right now, the main thing is to keep working.”

In the 129 games that were played before the calendar turned to September, 9 pitchers have started games for the Rangers. Kevin Millwood (26), Scott Feldman (24), Derek Holland (16), Tommy Hunter (12), Matt Harrison (11), Brandon McCarthy (11), Dustin Nippert (7), Kris Benson (2), and Doug Mathis (2). This study will focus on the six pitchers who have made at least 10 starts. The other 3 run into sample size issues that might render verdicts a bit meaningless.

Proceed at your own risk – for stat nerds only:

Just so we are all up to speed with the different stats, IPS is Innings Per Start and PPS is Pitches Per Start. Everything else will be metrics that I am sure you are familiar with.

Before you start, we need to establish league averages for the stats so you understand what consitutes “league average”. So, here you go:

ERA – AL Average is 4.46
AVG – AL Average is .265
OBP – AL Average is .333
SLG – AL Average is .426
K/9 – AL Average is 6.87
BB/9 – AL Average is 3.37
HR/9 – AL Average is 1.13
WHIP – AL Average is 1.40

Kevin Millwood Splits

Table Tutorial

Is your Millwood cup half-full or half-empty? If you are a positive person, you can say that he has easily been the Rangers most durable and dependable starter. If you are a negative person, you can easily suggest that July and August have been his two weakest months – and the results are not even close. With just 3 Quality starts since July 1, and the league slugging .475 off him in those two months, it is fair to say Millwood has gone from dominating early, to “below average” late.

Still, all in all, 32 starts – 200+ innings, and an ERA under 4? I think 2009 for Kevin Millwood has been absolutely acceptable.

Scott Feldman Splits

Table Tutorial

You would lose a lot of money betting against Scott Feldman. He has been such a riduclous story of success that it is almost difficult to pour over the numbers. His Avg/OBP/Slug splits are all well below league averages. I cannot remember a Ranger pitcher that can say that in recent years. His WHIP has been low all season long and although his walks are slowly rising, they are still plenty low.

One curious point of Feldman is his K/9 rate in August. Given my obsession on the topic on July 29, it is amazing that he doubled his K rate in August. Is it a anamoly? Is it proof Feldman reads Inside Corner? Whatever the case, suddenly, he strikes guys out.

Since becoming a starter, Feldman has not had a month of fewer than 3 Quality Starts. Simply put, Scott Feldman has been unreal. All year.

Vicente Padilla Splits

Table Tutorial

And so, the Vicente Padilla era ends in Texas. Moments of brilliance early in the season, but like Millwood, it appears that as the season developed, Padilla’s best moments were fewer and further between. Only 24 innings since July 1, and in those games the league was hitting .320 off of him.

I believe they suggest that you can grow fungus on your shower shoes if you can win 20 in the show. But, if the league is hitting .320 off of you, you better be a good teammate.

Derek Holland As A Starter

Table Tutorial

Please keep in mind, all of these Holland numbers are as a starter-only. He has had a rough go of things, with 4 Quality Starts in 16 tries. His K/9 Rate is out of this world but so is his HR/9 Rate.

He clearly has learned some tough lessons this year. He has shown flashes, but to simply claim it is a young pitcher learning the ropes is partly true – but it also ignores Tommy Hunter’s year.

Tommy Hunter Splits

Table Tutorial

The Tommy Hunter numbers do not include his first 2 starts in June, but the numbers are shocking all around. Hunter has simply exceeded expectations on every level and every stat. He allows no runners, no home runs, no extra base hits, no nothing. He works into the 7th inning. He has given the Rangers 70 innings already and has almost no disaster starts.

If Feldman has been the biggest surprise, then Hunter is right behind him. As Holland and Feliz steal the headlines, Tommy Hunter is knocking them dead without a ton of fanfare. He has really been good.

Brandon McCarthy Splits

Table Tutorial

McCarthy’s start last night did not make the August sample, so check back next month to see how his return went.

Matt Harrison Splits

Table Tutorial

Harrison has been shut down for the year.  His 2009 will not be long remembered.

Starting Rotation Totals

Table Tutorial

In June, I wrote this:

Only 3 teams in the major leagues (Balt, Wash, Pitt) have fewer strikeouts from their rotations, but only 1 team is getting more pitches (Boston) per start from that same rotation. The Rangers starters are giving their team 6 innings and 99.3 pitcher per start and a Quality Start on 47% of their occasions. This is keeping the bullpen reasonably fresh, and the team is staying quite competitive.

The Rangers are ranked 12th in MLB and 6th in the American League right now in Innings Pitched by its Starting Rotation. The Rangers are getting Quality Starts on 45% of their opportunities. The Rangers are 21st in the MLB in this category. But, the most remarkable number on September 1st? With a Staff ERA of 4.40, only 3 American League teams have better starting rotation ERA; Seattle (4.04), Detroit (4.29), and Chicago (4.33). 4th in the American League? Believe it. It is true.

After a solid start, cracks started appearing in the game of the converted starter trying to reinvent himself as a middle reliever after two years of arm problems. Initially, he simply couldn’t pitch on back-to-back days. Then, there appeared problems with him inheriting another pitcher’s runners. He fell in the pecking order as rookie RHPs Doug Mathis and Neftali Feliz started establishing themselves as reliable options. And finally, on Wednesday, when it became apparent hitters were no longer chasing his slider and instead waiting for his average fastball and change, there simply wasn’t a place for him on the roster anymore.

Shortly after he made a fielding error Wednesday, then allowed three solid hits accounting for three runs of his own and two of starter Derek Holland, the Rangers decided they had no choice but to move on. So,  Thursday, four days before rosters could be expanded to 40 players, th e club purchased the contract of RHP Pedro Strop and placed Jennings on waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release.

“It was a tough decision,” GM Jon Daniels said. “He was a key piece for us in the first half, but we just felt like going down the stretch, we needed to give our bullpen another option. Things haven’t been very crisp lately. Maybe it hurt that he wasn’t being used as much, but the consistency and sharpness that were there at the beginning of the season weren’t there any more.”

Jennings had compiled a 7.07 ERA in the second half of the season after a 3.12 ERA at the All-Star break. Since the break, he had allowed hitters a .387 batting average. Because of it, his outings had become more and more rare. He went seven days between appearances earlier in August and six before his last one. Lots of rests is rarely the right recipe to get a sinkerball pitcher like Jennings sharp.

“I feel like I helped the team for the first four months of the season,” Jennings said. “My arm feels great, so it’s disappointing. There just haven’t been many opportunities to pitch and stay sharp. But I understand the business part.”

Jennings also refused to his usage as a reliever – ofren entering the game with runners on base – as an issue. Jennings allowed  17 of 29 inherited runners (58.6 percent) to score off him. Early in the season, he mentioned a level of concern about entering the game with runners on and the Rangers acknowledged the difficulty he had in adjusting to that aspect of the game, but it didn’t keep them from using him with runners on base.

“It wasn’t an issue, it’s just something I wasn’t used to,” Jennings said. “I had never been part of it from that side. Now I’ve been on both sides [as a starter and reliever] and I’d rather give up five of my own runs than one of somebody else’s. I’m part of the bullpen, they had to be able to bring me when they needed me. It’s not spring training; they can’t just create structured situations to bring me into.”

Strop, 24, was signed as a free agent last September after being released by Colorado following arm issues. He began the season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, was demoted to Double-A Frisco, and went back to Oklahoma City on August 17. Over his last 10 appearances, he had thrown 14.2 scoreless innings.

He will get a chance, along with Mathis and RHP Jason Grilli, to pitch middle relief when Feliz isn’t available. With the way the Rangers have been trying to protect Felizz, he’s been available about one of every three days. The team entered Thursday 6-3 when he pitched; 11-12 when he didn’t.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the Jennings move was the timing. It comes four days shy of September 1, when clubs can expand rosters. The Rangers actually had 39 players on the 40-man roster, so they had a spot for Strop, but still chose to waive Jennings. It’s likely the Rangers will add two or three players currently not on the 40-man roster 0n Sept. 1. Among those are RHP Brandon McCarthy (on 60-day DL with stress fracture in right scapula), a left-handed reliever and possibly C Kevin Richardson.

Jennings said he asked about the timing, but was told the decision was being made so he could try to catch on with another team before playoff roster musts be set at 11 p.m. CDT on August 31.

In theory, manager Ron Washington made the prudent – or safe – call in turning a five-run ninth-inning lead over to RHP Jason Grilli. It was not a save situation and Washington was trying to keep his bullpen in order to give him the best shot at winning more than just one game in the series.

That said, don’t expect to see anybody other than RHP Frank Francisco or LHP C.J. Wilson in to start the ninth unless the Rangers lead is double digits.

Washington’s mode of operation this year has been to go to his closers when there is a game to be won, regardless of score. It’s why Francisco got up with a six-run lead in Seattle back in May and entered the game with one out and a five-run lead – right before he went on the DL for the first time. And if he had it to do all over, Washington would have started the ninth with Francisco on the mound Tuesday.

“I was hoping I didn’t have to go to Francisco,” Washington said after the game. “But I learned a lesson tonight. I’m going to stick to my guns no matter what. I thought Grilli had had a chance to get us through the inning; he throw a good slider to [Johnny] Damon, but he got enough of it for a single and then he walked the next guy.”

What Tuesday’s game illuminates is a widening concern about the bullpen. The Rangers don’t appear to trust RHP Jason Jennings or Doug Mathis in close games. They did trust Grilli, but he hasn’t retired any of the five hitters he has faced since returning from the DL last week. There are guidelines for the care and usage of RHP Neftali Feliz. And Francisco hasn’t been great at bouncing back to pitch on consecutive days; he’s got an 11.88 ERA when pitching with no days of rest and all three of his blown saves have occurred in those situations.

For close games, the Rangers essentially have a four-man bullpen: Francisco, Wilson, RHP Darren O’Day and Feliz. If they are in a close game tonight or Thursday, the bullpen appears to be even thinner. Feliz, who threw a career-high 42 pitches Tuesday, is done for this series. Francisco threw 23 and, as we mentioned earlier, hasn’t been great on back-to-back nights. O’Day has pitched in each of the last four games, though the team was off on Monday.

The Rangers should get some bullpen reinforcements within the week when rosters can be expanded. Maybe two weeks of rest will give 38-year-old LHP Eddie Guardado just enough of a shot of energy for him to regain some sharpness. The middle of games might end up being in the hands of RHP Willie Eyre, RHP Dustin Nippert or RHP Brandon McCarthy.

And since Rangers starters are averaging about 5.2 innings over the last 10 games, the middle men may become key players down the stretch.

It makes for a scary situation.

You know what, though: It sure beats having nothing on the line.

Grinding Millwood: Are the Rangers asking more out of RHP Kevin Millwood than he is physically able to deliver?

He is averaging 106.4 pitches through 25 starts, which would be a career high pitches-per-game average. Millwood has only once before averaged 100 pitches per game – 102 in 1999 when he was 24. At 34, he tends to wear down quicker. All the work he piled up in the first half may now be catching up to him. His ERA has risen by a run since the All-Star break (2.64 to 3.63) and he’s lasted as long as six innings just once in the last 30 days.

I expected to see a reliever to start the sixth on Tuesday, but given the uncertainty among middle relievers right now, in hindsight, maybe sticking with Millwood is Washington’s most reliable option.

Elvis hits 21: On the eve of his 21st birthday, SS Elvis Andrus might have done more to help his Rookie of the Year candidacy then he may ever know. He had a pair of two-out, run-scoring hits to account for three RBIs. He grabbed  Melky Cabrera’s liner and sprinted to second base to complete the game-ending unassisted double-play. Those things, done in front of the New York (read: National) media, are only going to make his candidacy to become the youngest AL Rookie of the Year in 60 years more legit.

There have been only six 21-year-olds to win the AL award since it was separated from the NL in 1949. The last three of those all are at least decent comps to Andrus: Ozzie Guillen (1985), Alfredo Griffin (co-ROY in 1979) and Lou Whittaker (1978). Andrus will be younger than all of them were at the end of their first full season.

Andrus’ main competition now seems to be White Sox 3B Gordon Beckham (.284, .361 OBP, .460 slugging in 72 games); Detroit LHP RHP Rick Porcello (10-8, 4.39 ERA  in 23  starts) and Oakland LHP RHP Andrew Bailey (6-3, 18 saves, 1.99 ERA). (hat/tip to evan_knows_nada; which apparently is correct).

Andrus (.270, .332 OBP, .385 slugging) has played significantly more games than the others (108). He’s also batting .306/.366/.459 since the All-Star break. A very young rookie, playing a premium defensive position and getting better in the middle of a pennant race? That’s a pretty hard combination to top.

The bunt: Still not sure if the Rangers got a break when they most needed it courtesy of Yankees manager Joe Girardi or if smart managing simply back-fired.

Here was the situation: With the score 10-9 and the crowd going nuts, the Yankees had scored four runs, had two men on and no outs when Girardi asked OF Nick Swisher to bunt. Swisher missed the first attempt, then popped up to Michael Young in foul territory. Ostensibly, the bunt was being used to keep the Yankees out of a double play situation, to move the go-ahead run to scoring position and to insure that SS Derek Jeter would hit.

Swisher has three sac bunts this season and was 0-for-5 against Francisco coming into the at-bat, so it all seemed to make sense. I can’t help but think, though, that the at-bat slowed down the game and hushed the crowd just long enough for a shaky Francisco to regain enough composure to finish off the game.

Not exactly quotes of the day: If they are going to make a movie about this Rangers season, somebody better get an advisor to Arlington, stat. The Rangers just can’t seem to come up with the big quote at the right time.

Take these exchanges Tuesday night:

To Michael Young: “With everything that went on – the big early deficit, the two-out runs, the ninth inning drama – can you put this win into context?”

Young: “It’s a win. I’m not going to make it out bigger than any other. No win here in this stadium, against that lineup, with that crowd, is ever easy.”

Ho-hum.

To manager Ron Washington: “What was running through your mind when a four-run lead has melted to one and you’ve got two men on and one out?”

Washington: “Just get those last two outs.”

Yawn.

They are content to be boring in the clubhouse, as long as they remain exciting on the field.

Story of the Game
Who left the 2009 model of Texas Rangers baseball team parked back at the garage? For the second consecutive night, a big early lead against the Minnesota Twins was imperiled in the middle innings; this time, it was impaled. The Twins crawled from a 5-0 hole on Tuesday night to win 9-6, marking only the fourth time this season that the Rangers have scored six runs and lost; two of those games were played the first 14 games of the schedule.

Scott Feldman and Jason Jennings combined to allow eight earned runs on 13 hits. For Feldman (12-5), it was his third consecutive start of six innings or less allowing an average of eight hits.

“I might have been overthrowing a little bit,” he said. “I was probably a little too predictable in my pitches.” Manager Ron Washington chalked it up to: “When you take the ball as often as he’s taken the ball, there are going to be some times when that happens.”

Jennings has a 6.75 ERA in 11 outings since the All-Star break. He gave up home runs to Joe Mauer and Delmon Young on cutters, his first multi-homer outing since April 2008 when he was starting.

“That’s the first time in awhile it’s been hit hard,” he said of the pitch. “I actually felt good tonight mechanically, physically. But it’s not really clicking as well as it was a few months ago.”

Three Up:
• Another three hits and three stolen bases for Julio Borbon. He has hit safely in all five games on this latest recall, 11-for-20 with eight steals.
• Michael Young extended his Rangers Ballpark hitting streak to 20 games and had a two-hit night.
• Pudge Rodriguez received a rousing ovation, riding all the way from Houston and bringing out the lineup card upon his return to the Rangers’ roster. On Wednesday night, he’ll be catching Kevin Millwood unless Washington changes his plan.

Three Down:
• The Twins banged out 16 hits with a lineup missing Justin Morneau (ear infection) and Jason Kubel (left in the first inning with a knee contusion).
• As good as Borbon is on offense, his arm could be a problem in the outfield. And he committed his second fielding error, allowing Orlando Cabrera to take second base leading off Minnesota’s four-run sixth.
• David Murphy’s 0-for-4 night with three strikeouts leaves him 3-for-20 over his last six starts. He hasn’t homered since Aug. 5.

Stat o’ the Game:
Pick one from the Hank Blalock collection: 1.) His third-inning triple was his fourth of the season, setting a personal record. 2.) His sixth-inning walk was his first since July 10.

Star of the Game
Your candidates: 1B Hank Blalock (Triple, walk); LF Julio Borbon (3-for-4, 3 SB); 2B Ian Kinsler (3-run HR); 3B Michael Young (2-for-5). Vote here.

An apt description for a 7-2 Rangers victory over Boston in which Julio Borbon and Elvis Andrus raced around the bases like kids on a playground. (You can’t catch me!) Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz hit the target like the dunking booth at the fair. Quarterbacked by Taylor Teagarden, the greybeard of the Rangers rookies at 25, who will step in behind the plate for most of the next two weeks and maybe longer.

Thanks in great measure to the youngsters, the Rangers pulled back within one-half game of the Red Sox in the wild-card race. “We’re not afraid to bring our young kids up here and let ‘em play,” manager Ron Washington said. “I think the whole organization gets a pat on the back for that.”

Nominations are now open for a clever nickname for Borbon and Andrus, who hit “together” in a Texas lineup for the first time – Borbon leading off and Andrus as usual ninth. They combined for seven hits, five runs, two RBIs and seven of the club’s record eight steals.

Borbon and Andrus hit one-two for the better part of two months last season at Double-A Frisco. Saturday night was like dusting off their old game. The eight steals increased Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek’s major league leading total of thefts allowed this season to 92.

“I had an idea pretty much of the things we’d be able to accomplish once we’re hitting behind each other,” said Borbon, most recently recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma nine days ago to replace the injured Nelson Cruz. “It was definitely a special night for both of us.”

Borbon went 4-for-5 with four steals, skyrocketing his batting average in limited exposure from .231 to .389. His assignment to the leadoff spot bumped Ian Kinsler, who has led off all of this season and last, to No. 6 in his return from the disabled list. In his first at-bat, Kinsler led off (the second inning) with his second opposite field home run of the season. He also walked, hit an opposite field single and was nailed in the left ear flap by a fastball from reliever Fernando Cabrera in the eighth inning. Earlier, a high fastball sailed in near Kinsler’s head.

So when Neftali Feliz’s Arlington debut continued from the eighth inning into the ninth, he was first warned (in Spanish) by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez not to retaliate. Feliz earned his first save of the season at any level by retiring six of seven batters. (The RedHawks were just getting ready to put him in his first save situation when he was summoned.) Of the 29 batters that he has faced in two weeks as a Ranger, two have reached and 16 have fanned.

At 21 years and 105 days old, Feliz became the youngest Ranger to earn a save. Rick Waits (21 and 125) surrenders a mark that he held since September 1973.

It’s good to know Feliz said he’s a little surprised to be pitching this effectively this early in his big-league career. Said Teagarden: “His poise is way beyond what I expected. I don’t have to say much to him.”

Holland’s milestone for the evening was earning wins in consecutive starts for the first time as a Ranger. He limited Boston to two runs (on solo home runs) over 6.2 innings. This win followed his first major league shutout last Sunday in Anaheim and came against the club that chased him after 4.2 innings 10 weeks ago at Fenway.

“I didn’t really let too much get to me,” Holland said. “It was a big game for us. We’re chasing them, and we’re also chasing the Angels. So I just tried to stay focused.”

Teagarden on Holland: “They jumped on a couple heaters that got a little bit over the plate. Other than that, he was striking guys out when he needed to. Making pitches when guys were on base.”

Teagarden will probably come right back and start Sunday’s 1 p.m. series rubber game with Jarrod Saltalamacchia placed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday and possibly missing the rest of the season if surgery is needed to repair his ailing shoulder and arm.

Washington sat Teagarden down and emphasized what the club expects from him for at least the next two weeks. Teagarden anticipates a rotation of three games played followed by a day off. His back-up is currently Oklahoma call-up Kevin Richardson, who has never played a major league game.

“I’ve got to take care of my body, maybe rest a little more as far as what I’m doing outside the games,” said Teagarden, still a rookie with only 32 days of MLB service time from last season. “I’ve got to make sure that I don’t get thrown out of games, stay as healthy as I can. I’ve got to manage myself. These pitchers are relying on me.”

Washington has said Kinsler will return to the top spot against lefties and against righties after Cruz returns. Neither of those events will happen Sunday, when Dustin Nippert is scheduled to face 23-year-old righty Junichi Tazawa and the Rangers try to end the season series with seven wins in nine games. It has been 17 years since Texas has won that many games against Boston.

So, same lineup on Sunday?

Washington grinned: “I think so.”

Also: RHP Frank Francisco will return to closing duties immediately; LHP C.J. Wilson will go back to working the eighth inning and, when needed, at least part of the seventh.

“This gives us more versatility,” Washington said. “C.J. has done an outstanding job, but he’s more versatile. He can pitch two innings if we need him to. It just makes us more veratile all the way around.”

Francisco returned from the disabled list on Sunday and allowed one baserunner in 2.2 innings over three appearances. He still leads the team in saves with 15, one more than Wilson, but hasn’t had a save opportunity since July 10.  During the three stints that Francisco was out of the closer’s role due to the DL and some recovery time, Wilson was 2-1 with 13 saves in 15 chances and a 1.96 ERA.

Injury updates: It appears Sunday is the next possible day C Jarrod Saltalamacchia will catch. Manager Ron Washington said he does not expect Saltalamacchia to bounce back enough from his bout of arm fatigue in time to start Saturday. Saltalamacchia said he is feeling significantly better. … OF Nelson Cruz (sprained ankle) might be able to pinch hit by the end of the weekend, but it doesn’t appear he will be able to return to the starting lineup until the series at Cleveland that begins on Tuesday.  And that is not certain either.