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.

The Rangers managed to win their series by taking two of three from the Red Sox despite having to put their biggest power threat on the DL. And just when the news that Ian Kinsler would no longer be out — or in the leadoff spot — after a hamstring injury had hampered him, the disabled list claimed another Ranger, as catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia will miss at least two weeks with shoulder problems.

The Rangers endured another tough blow when Frankie Francisco imploded in the 9th inning on Friday night and the Rangers lost a winnable game 8-4. But 24 hours later, Kinsler homered in his first at bat back and took a fastball off the ear in the 8th inning with the game already out of hand. Although he was the third player of the day to take a ball on the head, he popped up quickly and even stayed in the game, and the incident seemed to fire up the team enough to finish off the series with a win Sunday afternoon.

The Rangers could finish off a productive weekend by coming to terms with 1st rounder Matt Purke, who is still unsigned. Purke would add to an already impressive stable of young arms that includes Derek Holland, Tommy Hunter, Martin Perez, and Neftali Feliz, and if he gets a contract by 11 p.m. tonight, Mike Hindman might be even more giggly than he already is.

It was a bad weekend for Hammys as well. Andruw Jones acknowledged that his is not at 100 percent after he was thrown out Thursday in Oakland trying to stretch a 360-foot RBI single into a double. He went 0-8 over the weekend against the Angels. Josh Hamilton admitted that photos taken of him in a bar in January were real. He managed a 2-4 outing after verifying the pictures, but the Rangers lost the game and he was the only Texas player not to record a base hit Sunday.

Then came the news that Vicente Padilla was released and C.J. Wilson was demoted to 8th inning duty in favor of Frank Francisco. All of this seemed to come at just the wrong time for Texas, who was in need of at least two wins in L.A. to stay close in the division race.

But none of it mattered, at least not yesterday, because Derek Holland is pretty good.

So, with a win and a Yankees comeback Sunday, the Rangers find themselves 3.5 back in the West and tied with Boston for the wild card as they prepare for an away series with a hot Cleveland team that is four games over .500 since the All-Star Break.

But enough about the Rangers, because at InsideCorner, we’re more than just a baseball blog. Or at least Bob Sturm is.

While the rest of us spent the weekend chasing after every Ranger-centric stat we could get our hands on, Sturm was recapping Week 12, Week 13, and Week 14 of the ’08 Cowboys season, and even spent some time answering your Cowboys questions. Then he capped it off by previewing UFC 101 and recapping Tiger’s win and Chelsea vs. Man U.

He’s a veritable sports encyclopedia, but he’s still a baseball stat nerd at heart.

The buzz was surrounding Roy Halladay, and whether or not he’d be in a Rangers uniform by Friday afternoon. The answer, as it turned out, was not, but it wasn’t because the cash-strapped Rangers couldn’t afford him. Rather, Halladay didn’t seem all that interested in a move south, and when formally asked by GM J.P. Ricciardi, he invoked his no-trade clause and said he wouldn’t accept a trade to Texas. Just to add insult to injury, Rangers fans had to endure 30 minutes with their hearts in their throats when it looked like the Angels might be finalizing a deal to snag him for themselves.

When the deadline finally passed, a lot of big names changed teams, but Roy Halladay was not one of them. And even though the Rangers missed a chance to add an actual ace to their rotation, they weren’t necessary big deadline losers. In the long run, the Rangers just might be better off by holding onto prized prospects like Neftali Feliz and Justin Smoak. The current rotation has done an admirable job without a true number one starter, and veterans like Michael Young and Marlon Byrd know that the Rangers have won a lot of games this year with the team as it is and they’ve still got plenty of baseball left.

So the Rangers took the field against Seattle and managed to win three of four for their fourth straight series win.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia provided a big 2-run homer in the seventh along with more of his signature defense last night, Frank Francisco made his return with an impressive 1-2-3 inning in which he fanned two Mariners and threw only 11 pitches, and Neftali Feliz is finally a Ranger. Scott Feldman earned his 10th win of the year after stepping in for injured Kevin Millwood, going seven strong innings. And Derek Holland can ease a lot of people’s minds if he can just go ahead and become a left-handed Halladay. He’ll have his next chance tomorrow night.

Kevin Millwood leaves due to glute tightness? Matt Harrison needs a rib removed? Vicente Padilla out with swine flu??

The injuries that have started to pile up on the Ranger pitching staff are getting so ridiculous it’s almost funny. Almost. But the Rangers have managed to persevere so far, holding their lowest team ERA since 1992. They’ve allowed 422 runs through the season’s first 96 games, a number lower or equal to any Ranger team since 1976. And while the starters have been excellent, limiting damage and pitching deep into games, the bullpen has been the key the last few months. So Evan convinced the two huge waiver-wire additions, Jason Grilli and Darren O’Day, to sit down and discuss the keys to Texas’ success in relief, and then questioned Nolan Ryan on how a new approach to pitching has helped the Rangers keep late leads.

But late leads aren’t easy to keep when you can’t get them in the first place, which is what makes the performance of Tommy Hunter and the rest of the Ranger’s starters all the more important. It’s also what makes Evan so eager to continue to improve the rotation, even if it costs a few elite prospects.

There are, however, a few points to nitpick. Although they gained a game on L.A. in the AL West yesterday, the Rangers are still 3.5 games back in the division and the Angels are the hottest team in baseball. The offense has continued to struggle by averaging just 4.8 runs per game, their lowest since 1995. Let’s just say now’s not the time to hit up Mike Hindman for donations to your Rudy Jaramillo fan club. And after a frustrating loss to Luke Hochevar on Saturday and an uninspired performance against Sidney Ponson on Sunday, it’s easy to commiserate. Ponson was 1-6 with a 7.63 ERA heading into yesterday’s finale in Kansas City before he blanked the Rangers for six innings. Hochevar recorded 18 strikeouts over eight starts in the months of May and June combined. He got 13 on Saturday alone. But the Rangers are off to their best start since 2004, and with the trade deadline looming on Friday and a flurry of prospects figuring to find their way to Arlington in August and September, help could well be on the way.

Besides, at least they aren’t the Mets.

Another name the Rangers would love to see producing in Texas soon is Chris Davis. It’s hard to project exactly how long the Rangers plan to keep Davis in triple-A, but so long as he maintains a 1.200+ OPS in the minors, he’s probably never far from being sent back up.

Top prospect Neftali Feliz is another name that has made its rounds through to the rumor mill over the past month as a potential bullpen arm. And when the Rangers cut ties with the ageless Orlando Hernandez last week, it seemed like the last hurdle to Feliz’s arrival had been cleared. But if there’s one thing Texas doesn’t seem to need at the moment, it’s help out of the pen, as Ranger relievers combined for 13 innings of work against the Twins, allowing just five hits and one run. Feliz is likely still the first guy to be called upon when the Rangers need another arm in Arlington, but his arrival might be more eventual than imminent.

Another young Ranger pitcher, Derek Holland, was inserted back into the rotation for Sunday’s series finale with Minnesota. Vicente Padilla, just a month and a half removed from being placed on waivers, looks like a new pitcher.

Now all that’s left for the Rangers in the next three days is to beat a future Hall of Famer, a former World Series MVP, and a knuckleballer who wins 65 percent of the time he starts, all backed by the fifth best offense in baseball. Should be easy.

Oh, and the AL’s only 11-game winner the Rangers won’t see by Wednesday also happens to be the one that’s on the trade market. And the one that Ranger scouts watched shut down the Sox yesterday.

And in case you missed it, Ian Kinsler still isn’t an All-Star. After narrowly missing being voted in as the AL’s starting second baseman, then narrowly missing being voted in as the AL’s final member, Kinsler not-so-narrowly missed being added to the roster by manager Joe Maddon after Dustin Pedroia pulled out to be with his pregnant wife. See, Kinsler never had a chance to make the team when Pedroia decided he wouldn’t head to St. Louis because Maddon picked his own player to replace Pedroia. It’s not that it’s a move most managers wouldn’t make or that Carlos Pena wasn’t deserving of a spot, it just leaves the AL with an awkward roster that features four 1Bs and only Aaron Hill at 2B.

But another Ranger did get some good news when Torii Hunter pulled out of the festivities with an injury. Nelson Cruz will make his first All-Star appearance with only the request to return to Arlington with his swing intact after he announced he’d participate in the home run derby. Then Nelly got his power swing started early on Friday with an 8th-inning, two-run homer off Shawn Kelley that proved to be the difference in a 6-4 game.

Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend wasn’t so successful. The Ranges lost three of four to the Mariners, including a disappointing opener that got away after a botched double-steal and a late-inning Franklin Gutierrez homer. So for those that were left with a lust for blood after frustrating series that put the Rangers 1.5 games back in the division, you can read Bob Sturm’s live blog of UFC 100.

And for those that just missed breakfast this morning, we’ve got you covered too.

The biggest story most Ranger fans were anticipating entering the weekend wasn’t whether Josh Hamilton was elected a starter in the All-Star game (he was), or Ian Kinsler was selected at all (he wasn’t), or top prospect Justin Smoak would finally get the call up to triple-A (he did), but whether or not Hamilton would make his return after a monthlong stint on the DL (he didn’t). And though it appears that Hamilton is finally ready to debut for the Rangers tonight in Anaheim, the story of his arrival took an unexpected turn late last night when instead of sending Julio Borbon back to the minors as expected, the Rangers optioned Chris Davis to Oklahoma City to make room for Hamilton on the active roster.

Truth be told, Evan had been campaigning for Hank Blalock to get the gig at first base anyway, but the move certainly rasies questions. Like whether keeping Borbon on the bench as a pinch runner and occasional bunter will stunt his development. Or whether Hank Blalock’s .146 edge over Davis in OPS will overcome his inferior defense at 1st. Or how exactly Davis and Smoak will co-exist in Oklahoma City. And better yet, for how long?

But in all liklihood, these are questions that wouldn’t even be relevant were it not for the fact that the Rangers find themselves in a tie with the Angels for first in the AL West. And the Rangers surely wouldn’t be in such a pleasant predicament had they not finished a three-game sweep of the defending AL champion Rays on national TV Sunday night. Or if the starting rotation hadn’t been solid throughout the June swoon, as Bob Sturm illustrates.

So the Rangers look to reclaim sole possesion of first place in Angel stadium tonight riding a five-game winning streak and sending their recently snubbed ace Kevin Millwood to the mound. And as if it weren’t enough that Millwood wasn’t named to the All-Star team despite ranking 5th in the AL in ERA and 3rd in innings pitched, ESPN stat guru Rob Neyer decided to scratch, claw, and salt the wound by claiming Millwood has been more lucky than good during the first half of the season. Evan gave Neyer a big piece of his mind. That piece was then promptly returned by Adam J. Morris of Lone Star Ball. Touché, Mr. Morris.

The prize of Texas’ 2008 draft, Frisco 1B Justin Smoak, has an OPS of .947 in AA this year. Combine that with Chris Davis’ well-documented struggles at the plate, and you get an awful lot of speculation as to when Smoak will get the call-up to Arlington and if the Rangers even have room for both sluggers in the long-term. But Smoak says he’s confident that he and Davis can coexist in the same lineup.

And with the 2009 MLB Draft just about a week away, Rangers president Nolan Ryan spent some time scouting Brownwood righty and projected 1st-rounder Shelby Miller recently. There are a few hurdles to clear before Texas even has a shot at Miller (most notably a scholarship to Texas A&M and the 13 teams set to pick before the Rangers in the 1st round), but a native Texan who’s been clocked as high as 98 mph wouldn’t be a bad encore to their selection of Smoak in ’08, says Jim Callis of Baseball America.

Ryan, meanwhile, is mulling the possibility of buying a baseball team, but probably not the one you’re thinking of.

As far as the results on the field go, the Rangers managed to sweep a double-header against the Oakland A’s on Friday thanks in part to a blue collar effort from emergency starter Tommy Hunter and another quality outing from Scott Feldman, who quietly boasts the second-best ERA among Rangers starting pitchers. Then a 14-1 pounding of Oakland Saturday combined with a little help from Jose Lopez gave the Rangers their largest lead in the AL West in a decade.

And despite a comeback effort that came up just short on Sunday afternoon, great pitching and a lot of winning made for a pretty good month of Rangers baseball.