Rangers Hot & Cold, Recall Chris Davis From Triple-A

After splitting a 4-game series at home with the Minnesota Twins (a series many feel Texas should have swept) and dropping two of three in Tampa, Texas is making a move to improve an area of their team which, up until the last 5 or 6 games, has been a huge improvement over last season: their defense.

The much-maligned Chris Davis has been called back up from Triple-A Oklahoma City and will be in the starting lineup tonight in New York against the Yankees.

Hank Blalock had been the regular first baseman since Davis was sent down on July 5th, but is mired in a prolonged slump has seen his average dip to .238 for the year and .190 over his last 30 games. Blalock has only had just 3 walks against 43 strikeouts over the last 38 games.

"This is a situation where the organization has made a decision," Blalock said. "They think we have a better chance to win with other guys in the lineup; as a player, I have to deal with it."



During his time with Oklahoma City, Davis hit .327 (54-165) with six home runs, 12 doubles, and 30 RBIs in 44 games. He also had a .418 on-base percentage, a .521 slugging percentage and was hitting a robust .356 with runners in scoring position.

"He's staying inside the ball and using all fields," Washington said. "He's not trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark. And we all know how impeccable his defense is. We felt he was ready to come back."

Davis has made a couple of small adjustments to his batting stance. He's opened up his stance towards the pitcher. Davis said the changes have helped keep his head steady during the at-bats which has helped with his pitch recognition.

"I don't think it was anything drastic," Davis said. "But I'm seeing pitches better, and I'm laying off pitches out of the strike zone. Before, I was just setting up myself for failure."

To make room for Davis, Andruw Jones has been pout on the 15-day disable list for a strained hamstring. Jones reaggravated the injury Sunday in Tampa and is hitting just .189 in his past 59 games.

"We felt it was better to have some time off now, and get him ready for the stretch run," general manager Jon Daniels.

Ivan Rodriguez could end up with Jones at-bats as the everyday DH. Since being traded from Houston, Pudge is hitting .667 (4-for-6) with 2 doubles, 3 RBI and a walk.

Kinsler, Bullpen Come Up Big Against Minnesota

Hopefully, last nights game for Ian Kinsler was a microcosm of how his entire season will go.

Mired in a huge slump, Kinsler led the game off with a solo homerun, giving Texas the early 1-0 advantage.

Derek Holland gave the lead away in the top of the 3rd, allowing a solo homerun to Nick Punto, his first homerun of the entire season. Holland's struggles continued in the 4th inning, as he allowed two more run to cross the plate, thanks in part to a fielding error he committed. He went just 4+ innings and seemingly never regained his composure post-error.

"In the first two innings, he was mixing his pitches very well," manager Ron Washington said. "Then he didn't catch the ground ball. He was erratic after that. When he left, we were in the ballgame."

Down 3-1, the Rangers bullpen stepped up big time, shutting the Twins out the rest of the way, giving the offense a change to scratch and claw their way back. to a 3-3 tie.

"The bullpen came in and they continued to grind tonight," Washington said. "[Doug]Mathis saved us. [Dustin]Nippert saved us. Nippert was on fumes. He was the last guy standing."

The game went extra innings with both teams getting quality pitching from their bullpens. In the bottom of the 12th, Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled and was sacrificed to 2nd base by Elvins Andrus, setting up Ian Kinsler's heroics.



With former Ranger pitcher R.A. Dickey on the mound for Minnesota, Kinsler took a fastball out to left field for a 2-run, walk-off homerun.

"Ultimately the pitch rests in my hand, and I threw the wrong pitch," Dickey said. "That's all there really is to say about this one. I cost us this one, no doubt about it."

"It was a fastball that he tried to get by me," Kinsler said. "He had a good fastball before. He's tough with that knuckleball floating in there. If I was surprised, I wouldn't have hit it over."

With the late-inning win, Texas managed to prevent the Twins from leaving town with a sweep. However, despite the feel good moment, the Rangers continue to struggle at the plate and are now just 1 for their last 20 with runners in scoring position.

Regardless, Ron Washington and Co. are just happy to get themselves a win.

"What a win," said Washington. "They never quit, and tonight was an example of it. It was great. We needed it."

Offensive Struggles Continue As Texas Drops Another Game To Minnesota

Texas is off to a sluggish start here in the 2nd half of the season and is on the verge of finding themselves in 3rd place in the AL West.

The Rangers dropped another game to the Minnesota Twins, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and striking out a ridiculous 10 times.

"I hope this is not the case, but this might be how our offense is this year, and pitching will have to take us to the promised land," outfielder Marlon Byrd said. "Hopefully, our offense will come around, but if not, we'll have to win it with pitching and defense. That's what good teams do in September anyway."

Nelson Cruz accounted for the lone Texas run, hammering his 23rd homer of the season. Cruz added a double and a single but recieved little help from the rest of the offense.



The Rangers have now lost 6 of 7 games, hitting just .192 during that stretch.

"We haven't done as well hitting as we did last year," outfielder Josh Hamilton said. "This would be a good time to pick it up and hit the way we did last year. We'll just see what happens. We just have to keep working hard and hope it comes around soon."

Scott Feldman did what he could to keep the offense close, giving Texas 6 innings, allowing 3 earned runs while striking out five. Feldman continues to give his team quality start after quality start. It's a shame many of his efforts are being wasted due to inconsistency on the part of his offense.

Regardless of the struggles, Texas' manager remains confident.

"We're not going any place," manager Ron Washington said. "We're still in it. We'll come back tomorrow. We know we're better than that. We're not going to drop our heads or make excuses. The name of the game is scoring runs and we're not doing it."

Hamilton Gets Hot, Padilla Implodes

Vicente Padilla likes to come at hitters. It's an admirable quality when his location is on. However, when his off-speed stuff isn't up to par, Padilla has a tendency to rely too heavily on his fastball. Friday night against the Twins, Padilla was rocked for 5 earned runs on 11 hits in 7 innings of work.

"Everything was fine, I only threw two bad pitches," Padilla said.

The two pitches Padilla is referring to resulted in a 2-run triple by Twins centerfielder Carlos Gomez in the 2nd and a 3-run homerun by Jason Kubel in the 3rd.

All five runs were allowed after Josh Hamilton blasted a 2-run homer into the right field seats in the bottom of the 1st. Hamilton added 2 more base hits and another RBI, delivering all the offense Texas would manage for the night.



"The day before the All-Star Game, I had a good batting practice," Hamilton said. "I just had that, 'I belong here' kind of a feeling."

"It is nice to see Ham swinging the bat," manager Ron Washington said.

Despite the offensive display, Hamilton wasn't able to dig Texas out of the hole by himself as the Rangers dropped the first game of the series 5-3.

"That's baseball," Hamilton said. "Sometimes you get it done, sometimes you don't. You keep working and when the situation arises, hopefully you will get the job done."

Kirby Puckett's Ass Housed A Motor That Never Quit

The first live baseball game I ever had the pleasure of seeing was the fightin' Texas Rangers against the future 1987 World Champions, the Minnesota Twins. The greatness that was the Twins was led by Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett and he was one of my favorite players (along with Andre Dawson, Tony Gwynn & Tim Raines).

We made it the game pretty late, getting there just a bit before the first pitch but I had zero concept of time and wanted to get some autographs. So, my dad walked with me down to the Rangers sugout to see if I could grab a few. Just as an usher was telling us to go back to our seats, the greatness of then Rangers Manager, Bobby Valentine popped his head out of the dugout. Now, despite the fact that Bobby never had any clue how to manage a pitching staff, he was a really good guy and a great ambassador of the game. My dad called out to him saying, "Bobby, can my son get an autograph? It's his first baseball game." Bobby walked out of the dugout, came over and started talking to me, asking me my favorite Rangers player, what position I played, etc. He signed my ball and I thanked him, but before I could grab my ball he told me to stay put. Bobby walked back down the dugout steps and a few moments later a line of former Ranger greats walked out, said hello, & signed my ball. Scott Fletcher, Oddibe McDowell, Pete O'Brien (who was a baseball god in Arlington at the time), Steve Buechele, Darrell Porter, Geno Petralli, & even Ruben Sierra came out and gave me their autographs. They'd hooked a Rangers fan for life (no matter how brutal they play). Many of my families closest baseball friends were met on that very night.



So, I won't bother bogging things down by going on a rant about the fact that Minnesota drummed Texas that night. Nevermind that the likes of Kirby Puckett, Gary Gaetti & Kent Hrbek looked like men among boys. Texas was & remains my team and I've watched them suck and fail and look terrible for over 20 years. But, like a nasty heroin habit, I always come back for more. More pain, more misery, more letdown.

Baseball season is upon us, boys and make no mistake about it, Texas will be out of the race by July. But I won't focus on that now. It's Spring Training and during Spring Training, everyone is still in the hunt.

Play ball, kids.