Molina deal done

Didn't take long. According to Evan Grant, the Texas Rangers have acquired catcher Bengie Molina for reliever Chris Ray and a player to be named later.

Kinda surprised here.

Molina is about to be 36. He's hitting .250. He's old and slow. And he's only under contract for the rest of the season.

Why the Rangers had to give up a MLB-capable reliever, a guy that's kinda done well in high-pressure moments is odd.

Ray, however, hasn't exactly captured the trust of anyone. Despite his 3.41 ERA, he's struck out 16 and walked 16 in his 30-odd innings. Still. That's a 3.41 ERA out of the bullpen you just traded.

Trading Ray means one thing: The Rangers are overwhelming confident in Alexi Ogando and, potentially, Omar Beltre for the rest of the season. Frankly, I don't blame them.

How Mariano Rivera dominates hitters

Rangers seeking to trade for slowest man in MLB to attempt to steal second

Molina, you know this isn't me

A night after a Matt Treanor passed ball and a silly caught stealing helped compound mental errors in a 6-5 loss to the California Angels, the Texas Rangers may be looking to remedy its catching woes.

Talks are hot apparently between the two clubs for veteran backstop Bengie Molina. He's due $2.3 million that's left on his contract, which is affordable for even the broke Rangers.

The key: offense. Molina's no Joe Mauer, but he is hitting .357. Plus, I would consider him a better overall defensive catcher than Matt Treanor or Max Ramirez. Meanwhile, Jarrod Saltalamacchia's year is a wash and Taylor Teagarden continues to strike out a couple times a game in Double A.

I wouldn't expect the Rangers to give up too much. Molina's about to be 36, and the Rangers would be renting him through the end of the season. Of course, they hope it's later rather than sooner. I would think it'd require a mid-level prospect.

Dallas Sports Tweet of the Week

Shawn Marion:

"What it is called if ur sitting with somebody who's farting and they keep saying they not farting but they are lol"

Inopportunity

Feldman

The Rangers were sunk by two things last night in their 6-5 loss to the California Angels: Inopportune hitting and walks.

One I understand. The other I don't.

Not getting runners over in prime opportunities happens all the time. If it did, teams would go 162-0. But floundering against the Pirates versus floundering against the Angels are two different balls of wax.

Last night:

Third inning - Runners at corners - 1 out - 1 run
Third inning - Runners at corners - 2 out - 0 run
Fifth inning - Bases loaded - 0 out - 1 run
Eighth inning - Bases loaded - 2 out - 0 run

The biggest offenders were Nelson Cruz, Michael Young and Julio Borbon. Young with runners in scoring position, .284. Scoring position and two outs, .270. Clutch? Hardly.

And Cruz hasn't had a worthwhile hit since coming back. Singles with nobody on are worthless.

Secondly, walks. I hate walks. I don't understand walks. Strike that. I understand walking Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Mickey Mantle or Ted Williams. Them I get.

Darren Oliver's completely unnecessary walk to Howie Kendrick was probably the play of the game.

Somehow Scott Feldman had gotten two pretty quick outs before giving up a single to the No. 8 hitter Kevin freakin' Frandsen and then consecutive singles from Jeff Mathis and Erik Aybar scored a run. Thus, Oliver.

Howie Kendrick is a pretty nice young player. Seems he can play several positions. Hits for a decent average. Drives in runs. Again, a decent average. And he never, ever, ever walks. Count 'em 12 on the season ... in 308 at-bats.

Bottomline: He's always swinging. And 73 percent of the time he is recorded as any out.

Oliver walks him. Bobby Abreu tags a hanging curve into right field. Clears the bases. Rangers lose. All with two outs. Unacceptable.

Walks are evil.

Go Rangers

The big and the bad

Beware: Knee-jerks if the Rangers lose tonight.

Beware: A vengeful Vladimir Guerrero. Who seems like a guy that likes to hurt former teams.

Beware: A 4.95 ERA for Joel Pineiro against the Rangers.

By the way, were the Rangers supposed to just lose to the Pirates, Astros and Marlins? They'd almost be better off in terms of public opinion if they had.

Dallas sports loses two legends in one day?

Ouch. Dirk Nowitzki officially notified the Dallas Mavericks that he's opting out of his contract and will cannonball into the free agent market.

The funny thing about all of this free agent scuttlebutt starring Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh is that no one's talking about Nowitzki. No rumors of him going anywhere. As comforting as that seems, you wonder if teams just assume he'll be in Dallas or is this just Nowitzki showing the Mavs he's willing to walk away.

The other Dallas sports legend leaving is Mike Modano. GM Joe Niewendyk held a press conference today stating that the Dallas Stars will not tender Mike Modano, age 40, when free agency opens later this week.

Kudos to Nieuwendyk and Modano.

Nieuwendyk is doing what Jerry Jones couldn't do in the late-1990s and early-2000s. He's doing what the Rangers couldn't quit doing in the early-2000s. And he's doing what the Dallas Mavericks should've already done.

He's keeping this a business and not a retirement home. Dallas will always love Mike Modano. Always. He'll never have to pay for a drink in this city. He deserves it. He transcended the arena and the NHL. He's as synonymous with Dallas sports as Roger Staubach, Rusty Greer, Nolan Ryan, Bob Lilly, Troy Aikman or anyone else you can think of.

We love him. But he had to go. The Stars needed to move on. As Nieuwendyk noted, they're deep at center and there's youngsters also pushing to get their foot in the door.

For Modano, he could've been bitter. Although I think he still wants to play, he never blamed the Stars for wanting to move on and the Stars never begrudged him the desire to keep playing.

I hope Modano does what he wants. If not, I hope he eventually comes back to the Stars in some capacity and remains the face of this organization. We're a better city with Mo.

Trade Target: Kevin Millwood

Millwood, long ago

Because the time is now.

An alarming rumor floating out there is that the Texas Rangers are potentially looking at trading for Kevin Millwood.

As we all know, Millwood was a Texas Ranger up until this past winter when he was shipped to the hapless Baltimore Orioles with some cash for reliever Chris Ray.

Ray's been a pretty dependable seventh-inning guy for the Rangers. Millwood's been Millwood. Great to start. Falls off as the season progresses. This time for a team with no direction already undergoing a coaching change in a division that's almost impossible to win.

But I'm not blaming this on the Orioles. It's Millwood. I've had no ill will toward Millwood. I disliked his inconsistency. I disliked him being out of shape. I disliked him posting the lowest ERA in the American League and then getting a big five-year deal with the Rangers only to stink it up and go on and off the disable list during four of those years.

We hate Rich Harden for his sprain in the ass. Millwood, remember, sprained his ass twice.

In about 101 innings as an Oriole, he's allowed 19 home runs, a .299 BAA and a 5.22 ERA.

Granted, he carried a sub-4.00 ERA through two months while going 0-8. But that's slipped off. He sucks.

Bringing Millwood back wouldn't be a mistake like signing Mark Prior or Mike Hampton and putting him atop the rotation. This would totally demoralize the team. It would be a regression to the old way this team played baseball. Hate Rich Harden all you want, but he's one of the few that hasn't trudged through 15 years of futility with the organization.

Millwood represents all the Chan Ho Parks, Alex Rodriguezes, Ken Caminitis and Vicente Padillas that never melded and never did any winning.

Good luck to Kevin. But we want no part of his scene.

For the record, Millwood's due $12 million this season, thanks to completing 180 innings last season as a Ranger. I'm sure some of that is already paid, which I would guess is about 40+ percent.

Rumorville:
Dan Haren

Coming together

Im-Perezive ... zing!

Every so often every season, the stars align for pitchers in the Texas Rangers organization.

I can only imagine it happens to every franchise, but we don't care about every franchise. No, we turn our attention to the Rangers and their minor league affiliates, who all played despite the big-league club having the night off.

In three of the six games, Rangers farmhands contributed toward three shutouts. Here are the numbers:

Pitcher	Affiliate	IP	Hits	Runs	BBs	Ks
Tanner Scheppers	Oklahoma City	4	2	0	1	0
Martin Perez	Frisco	5	4	0	2	9
Wilfredo Boscan	Bakersfield	8	5	0	0	11
Matt Thompson	Hickory	8	7	0	0	9
Miguel De Los Santos	Spokane	5	2	0	1	5
Shawn Blackwell	Arizona	5.2	6	2	1	7
		35.2	25	2	5	41

Surprises: Tanner Scheppers recording no strikeouts in four innings. Blackwell is a 24th rounder from the 2009 draft. That was his fourth ever professional appearance.

Comebacks: Despite being one of the top 25 or so pitchers in the organization (hell, he's probably top 15) Boscan has struggled all season. His strikeout and walk rates are both up, and even after this game, his ERA sits at an ugly 4.66. Still, it's the California League where ERAs go to die. And despite being the No. 1 pitching prospect in the organization, Perez, too, has struggled all season. Since, however, going on the disable list for a time, he's pitched much better. He hasn't allowed a run in 12 innings walking only three during that same time.

Same ol', Same ol': Thompson's been brilliant all season tallying 85 strikeouts compared to 15 walks. De Los Santos is probably the most electrifying pitchers in the organization. Remember, he's the one that struck out 70 in 32 innings last year in the Dominican Summer League. Still raw, but very talented.

From the Beltre

The Texas Rangers made the unexpected decision today to call up Omar Beltre from the Oklahoma City RedHawks to start against the California Angels Wednesday night.

Although unexpected, I'm not surprised. The Rangers have put together a pretty good team by putting unproven guys on the field to prove themselves. And they've responded.

I would say "young" unproven guys, but Beltre isn't young. He's 28. He was -- along with Alexi Ogando -- one of the Dominican guys that caught up in the visa controversy and unable to enter the United States to play ball.

The Rangers can't wait for Beltre to be ready. He'll be 35. Plus, the Rangers don't wait. If they have the inkling that someone might be ready, they throw them out there. I love the Texas Rangers, and I love them most because the youngsters aren't mollycoddled. It's time to separate the cream from teh crop.

Is it really a risky move? Essentially, Beltre is taking the spot of Dustin Nippert. Nippert has gone three innings in his last two starts allowing 11 hits, five runs and five walks.

All Beltre has to do is match that effort.

Beltre's been pretty good. He's worked out of the bullpen for most of the season. He's 0-5 with a 2.39 ERA striking out 44 in 37 innings.

If he's not ready, the Rangers will know quickly. If he is, then good luck outpitching the Rangers for the rest of the season.

Rangers kicking the tires of some Orioles

Jeremy Guthrie needs a new home

According to ESPN's Buster Olney, two new names are on the Texas Rangers trade radar.

Two cheaper options for the Rangers appear to be on Baltimore Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie and utilityman Ty Wigginton.

Guthrie, 31, was once a hotshot prospect for the Orioles, slated to head up that rotation for the next decade. In 2007 and 2008, he posted career-best ERAS of 3.70 and 3.63.

This season he's just 3-9, but you might chalk the record up to an awful Baltimore offense, who has scored just 15 runs in the last six Guthrie starts (just over two runs per game). His ERA is a semi-respectable 4.30. Not a top of the rotation guy, but probably an upgrade over Rich Harden.

Guthrie's biggest attribute is his durability. He's 10th in the American League 102 innings averaging about six innings per start on a very consistent basis.

Wigginton is 32 and a savvy veteran always finding a spot on a team. He would serve the need of a right-handed bench bat and a guy who could fill in long-term if need be in the outfield, first-, second- and thirdbase.

Wigginton's been consistently mediocre at the plate. He's the typical .280 hitter good for 20 home runs and 25 doubles. He doesn't strikeout a bunch nor does he walk a whole bunch.

Then again, just as Guthrie would replace Harden in the rotation, Wigginton would take over Andres Blanco's role, except as a more viable bat.

For the record, Guthrie and Wigginton are due $6.5 million, combined.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Seattle Mariners are eager to get Cliff Lee out of the door. The Rangers, of course, called on him already.

Mavs eyeing Johnson, Bosh

JJ, esq.

Reports are out that the Dallas Mavericks are looking to pull a sign-and-trade with either the Toronto Raptors or Atlanta Hawks to somehow grab Chris Bosh or Joe Johnson.

I don't what the Mavericks have to trade. Erick Dampier's contract? Umm ... Caron Butler? Draft picks?

I don't know how this would work. I don't the ink the Mavs have enough. Do the Raptors and Hawks really need to cut payroll that much? Or do they realize that both are probably gone and it's best to get something rather than nothing.

Bosh, I like. Not as my top dog, however. I don't think he's an alpha. For that matter, I don't think Johnson is either. So, let's say the Mavs get Dirk Nowitzki to come off the ledge and pull a deal for one of those, aren't the Mavericks the all beta team -- a bunch of guys that put a good team over the edge (see: Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers)?

Nowitzki. Johnson. Bosh. Jason Kidd. Caron Butler. All second-team guys that won't win a championship.

I love the scuttlebutt, nonetheless.

Dirk goes to market

One German leaving the motherland

So-called "sources" came out last night to say that an extension with Dirk Nowitzki is unlikely before free agency starts on Wednesday.

Therefore, for the first time in his career, our lovable German will be a free agent.

I wonder several things:

1. How hard did Nowitzki's camp work to actually hammer out a deal?

2. How serious is Nowitzki about staying?

3. Does he even want to come back?

4. Are the Dallas Mavericks completely fucked?

If you blindly believe the rhetoric and bullshit coming from the Mavericks front office, you are dumb.

I am not saying that Nowitzki has played his last game as a Maverick. He could very well dip his Teutonic toes into the free agency waters and find things a bit more chilly than he'd like, step back and came back to Dallas.

However, I've noticed a number of things over the years. The body language. Yelling at teammates. Year after year of frustration seeing an ill-built team try to compete against teams that are better than they are.

It's probably frustrating seeing draft picks wasted or traded. Frustrated seeing free agents go elsewhere. Seeing the general apathy from the likes of Antoine Walker, Erick Dampier, DeSagana Diop and Josh Howard.

Maybe Nowitzki's not serious about leaving, but he's not afraid to show the Mavericks that he's not into taking any more shit during the peak of his career.

Either way, Nowitzki might very well have played his last game as a Dallas Maverick. Just saying. Don't be shocked if it is.

Trade Target: Dan Haren

Plus, his wife is hot

Because the time is now.

One name that I haven't seen attached to as the July 31 trade deadline approaches is Arizona's Dan Haren.

Haren is 29 years old, due to turn 30 in September. He's coming off his best season in 2009 when he toss 229 innings, striking out 223, walking just 38 and posting a salty 3.14 ERA.

He's thrown 200+ innings the past five seasons. He doesn't walk many and strikes out a lot.

But there's always been something amiss about the guy. Haren's managed to average just about 15 wins per season over the past five never going above 16 or below 14.

He serves up a lot of hits (almost one per inning on average) and quite a bit of home runs (although if you pitch 200 innings, you're bound to give up some dingers).

Maybe it's him playing on bad teams. Oakland and Arizona were never world beaters. On the Yankees, I suspect he'd collect 17 or 18 wins a year.

This season, he's fallen off a bit on a bad Arizona team going 7-6 with a 4.65 ERA.

Nevermind all that. Haren's a good pitcher. A top-of-the-rotation guy that would fit in the Rangers plans for this year and the years after.

Plus, Haren's cheap. At least for the present. He's due $8.25 million this season, which is less than Cliff Lee ($9 million).

However, Haren gets really expensive after this season. For 2011 and 2012, he's due $12.75 each season. Then he's due $15.5 million with a $3.5 million buyout in 2013.

But that's in the future. The time is now.

The Diamondbacks are looking to rebuild. They need upper-level prospects. I would imagine it'd take about three of them. The Rangers have them to spare. I would imagine the likes of Justin Smoak and Martin Perez are pretty untouchable.

Otherwise, the Rangers might be a match.

Hambone

Trot of tears

If you've stuck with Dallas-Fort Worth sports over the past 25 years, you've seen your fair share of brilliant, sick individual performances.

We've also seen some fantastic teams.

It's June 28, and I'm stating that we might have seen either the likes of Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers.

Josh Hamilton isn't catching lightning in the bottle. He's a superb athlete playing at or as close as you can get to the top of the game of baseball. Nobody's playing his position better or swinging a better bat in Major League Baseball.

And no one's pitching and hitting at the rate of the Texas Rangers.

I'm not saying it'll all continue. Anyone who's watched sports knows that slumps hit hard and fast.

But, fuck it. If you've loved the Rangers for any length of time, you have this coming to you. Sit back and enjoy it and if the other shoe drops, then so be it.

Hamilton ran his hit streak to 21 games and is now in the realm of one Gabe Kapler, who holds the franchise hit streak record at 28 games. Ian Kinsler and Michael Young have both hit 25 in the past two seasons.

Hamilton's 21st was a doozy. A mammoth 468-foot shot to the right-center upper deck. He should get extra points for style. You can find it here.

Hamilton also tied the franchise mark for hits in a month. He has 47 in June, tied with Mickey Rivers and Frank Catalanotto. Hamilton is also sitting at 30 RBI for June, which, I believe, is nine away from the franchise mark for a month. Rafael Palmeiro had 39. He'll need help there.

****
The other noteworthy topic from yesterday's thrashing of the Houston Astros, 10-1, is that of Roy Oswalt. The veteran hurler's been in the Rangers rumor mill for the past month. His audition did not go well.

He didn't make it out of the fifth inning, walking four, allowing seven hits and eight runs in the loss. He's 5-10 with a 3.55 ERA.

Clearly, he's better than his record and on the Rangers, New York Yankees or Tampa Bay Rays he's probably 10-4. But he's not. He's lost his edge, I think. I supported bringing him in, but I honestly feel there's better options out there ... and cheaper options.

I'm not opposed to spending Major League Baseball's money. But I am opposed to shipping four good prospects to Houston for a 32-year-old that's lost some off his fastball, who'd be moving to the American League and getting paid $12 million for the next two, thus potentially handicapping this team for the future.

Notes:
1. Quietly, Tommy "Big Game" Hunter's 4-0 in five starts with a 2.15 ERA. Rich Harden who? Most notably, Game's kept the ball in the park, allowing just one homer in 29.1 innings. Consider he allowed 13 homers in 112 innings last season.

2. Matty Harrison's allowed a .237 BAA as a reliever this season.

3. About 37,487 fans enjoyed last night's game at the Ballpark.

4. Rangers went 14-4 in interleague play. Love those Pirates and Astros.

5. Ian Kinsler has seven multi-hit games in his last 10. That includes six of his last seven.

6. Leading the Rangers in walks? Two of the youngest, of course: Elvis Andrus (38) and Justin Smoak (36).

7. Good riddance to Geoff Blum. Dude was a thorn in the side.

8. Rangers recorded an outfield assist in every game against the Astros.

9. Are the Rangers wary at all of Matt Treanor's innings? He's fastly approaching his season highs in at-bats and games, at least at the Major-League level. I wouldn't call his clutch, but the dude knows a big hit when they need one.

Sunday afternoon tidbits

The attendance for Friday night's series-opener against the Houston Astros was a very stout 43,457 for the Texas Rangers. Saturday afternoon's affair brought in 28,951. Still, a pretty good number considering it was about 110 degrees.

Why the Rangers continue to schedule afternoon games in June is a complete and utter mystery unless it's to fit some TV needs for a national game, which is wasn't.

Sunday's game: 7:05 p.m.

****
How much does Tim Cowlishaw get paid to not have any real opinions as a columnist for The Dallas Morning News?

I would imagine it's pretty good money. Today, he opined that soccer still isn't popular in the United States. It's also not as popular as football.

No fucking shit, Tim.

****
There's a good reason why bad teams are bad.

Yesterday, the Seattle Mariners traded two pretty good prospects to the Cleveland Indians for first baseman Russell Branyan.

Yes, the Mariners are still 14 games out of the division lead. Yes, they aren't getting any better.

It's one of about a dozen questionable moves by the Seattle front office including last year's trade to bring in Jack Wilson, like he's going to win you a division.

Seattle is loaded down with payroll. Some thing the Branyan deal was made to bring "legitimacy" to the front office in the clubhouse. All this despite the Mariners spending time and money to get Cliff Lee, Chone Figgins and a host of other veterans. And still sucking.

The Mariners will be bad for the next five years. Just watch.

The Silver Boot is ours

Kins sees red

Sure, sure. The Texas Rangers won the day after losing for the first time in 12 games.

More importantly, the coveted Silver Boot is staying put. The win gave the Rangers the season series against their in-state rivals, the Houston Astros, and, thus, rights to the Silver Boot.

I kinda hate Houston, so this makes me happy. It's a miserable city with too many bad memories. Plus, the I hate the Rockets with a fiery passion.

Beating Houston is nice. The Silver Boot is merely gravy.

Per Friday night's loss, breaking the win streak at 11, giving up seven runs ain't cool. But I'm not putting that loss at the feet of the pitching.

The Rangers left 24 runners on base. Nellie Cruz left six. Julio Borbon, Elvis Andrus, Max Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero left three each.

The Rangers hitters were 2-11 with runners in scoring position with three walks and a sac fly. Twice they loaded the bases and scored only one run each time.

Of the 13 Rangers hits, one was for extra bases, a Justin Smoak double.

Several questionably decisions. Ian Kinsler going apeshit on his strikeout in the third inning was probably not the wisest of decisions. Elvis Andrus and Nellie Cruz bunting down four and three runs, respectively, in the eighth and ninth innings were definite no-nos.

Things changed Saturday. Still, they stranded 25 base runners, another five from Cruz. At least two from everyone except Josh Hamilton (who somehow stranded none).

But they got key hits, including three doubles, a triple and home run (Ian Kinsler). Simply put, Cruz must start hitting when it matters. Lining singles here and there when no one's on board is nice. But when you're the fifth hitter, you're expected to get big hits with runners on.

Notes:
1. Twenty-game hit streak for Josh Hamilton. By the hair on his chinny chin chin.

2. Crazy to see Ian Kinsler go 51 games before hitting home run No. 2. If he's finding it, opponents are in trouble.

3. Elvis Andrus has four straight multi-hit games.

4. In his last five starts, C.J. Wilson's walked 20 guys after walking 14 in the six games before. I hate walks. They're the devil. Wilson must fix this.

5. Frank Francisco's control is a thing of marvel. He's walked just 13 batters in 33 innings this season. He walked 15 in 49 innings last season. At home in 2010, he's walked just three batters in about 19 innings. However, opponents are hitting .286 off of him at home and .280 on the road. For a guy putting no one on base that didn't earn it (and for a guy who strikes out more than a batter per inning), Francisco's finding it hard to get outs.

6. Did anyone else find Ron Washington's quotes about having to get the homeplate umpire "under control" after yesterday's dust-up in the ninth inning? I've never heard a manager or coach say that about an official.

Minor Threat IV

Carrie Underwood, anyone?

It's late June and all of the levels of the minors are up and running. With draft picks coming in, the Texas Rangers farm system is getting stacked again at the bottom end.

Notably, the Rangers signed the 49th player taken in the draft, Mike Olt. They also inked seventh-rounder Jimmy Reyes and 23rd rounder Andres Perez-Lobo. Which means wolf.

By my count, that's 26 picks signed (out of 53) and nine of the top 13 (top 10 plus compensatory).

Oklahoma City RedHawks
I know we're tired of the Chris Davis game, but something has to give. Maybe he's traded in one of the many rumored deals. Either way, he needs to be in the Majors. He's hitting .350 with a .404 OBP. If he is called up, where does he go? Do you pull the plug on Justin Smoak? Is he a lefty DH option to give Vlad Guerrero some days off? Back-up for Michael Young at third?

If you like Alexi Ogando in Rangers colors, get a look at Omar Beltre. Somehow, he's finagled a 0-5 record despite allowing just one home run and striking out 44 in 37 innings. His ERA is a very usable 2.39. He does induce more than two groundball outs compared to every flyball out, and if those get through it gets him into trouble. He will see Arlington this season.

Clay Rapada might see the Majors, too. His ERA at Triple A sits at 1.85.

Mitch Moreland has 20 doubles. That's him struggling.

Chad Tracy's struggled for most of 2010. He's hitting .249 with just 12 doubles, but 11 home runs. Still, his walk rate is up, already sitting at 32 free passes on pace to surpass by a mile anything he's done in previous years.

Frisco RoughRiders
Marcus Lemon's straightened things out a little. He has 15 hits and nine RBI in his last eight games.

Don't know for sure, but the RoughRiders probably have the best bullpen in Double-A and this after losing Zach Phillips and Tanner Scheppers, and not including Brennan Garr and Ben Snyder. Josh Lueke, Evan Reed, Aldaberto Flores, Cody Eppley and Beau Jones have combined for 108.2 innings, 31 walks and 114 strikeouts.

Martin Perez had his best start of the year: 7 IP - 0 runs - 3 hits - 1 walk - 6 strikeouts. Here's hoping the time on the DL did him some good.

Richard Bleier's put up just 38 strikeouts in 79 innings.

Bakersfield Blaze
Engle Beltre struck out 82 times in 91 games last season. In 63 games, he's struck out just 29 times. How's the hitting coach in Bakersfield? He needs a raise.

Nevermind the 21 errors, Davis Stoneburner's turned into one of the Rangers' best infield prospects. He's collected 20 doubles and a decent walk rate puts his OBP at .365.

Tommy Mendonca has 20 errors at third base. What's worse is that he hasn't hit for crap.

In just 19 innings, Shane Zegarac's struck out 17 and put up a 2.84 ERA. The lefty was a 42nd rounder in 2009.

Mark Hamburger -- the prospect had in the deal with Minnesota for Eddie Guardado two years ago -- has a 2.79 ERA.

Hickory Crawdads
Jamey Newberg in the Rangers program compared Miguel Velazquez to Nellie Cruz. He's certainly hitting like him.

The Crawdads have four starters with less than 20 walks and more than 50 strikeouts -- Robert Erlin, Robbie Ross, Joe Wieland and Matt Thompson. Meanwhile, Neil Ramirez has struck out 68 and walked 22. All five, I suspect, will be in Bakersfield sooner than later and Frisco by next season.

Spokane Indians
Jurickson Profar! In just six games, he's knocked two doubles and a home run.

Guillermo Pimentel -- another hotshot Latin American prospect -- is hitting .438.

Mike Olt -- just signed -- is hitting .375.

Ovispo and Miguel De Los Santos haven't allowed a run in six innings. A shitload of great talent in Spokane.

Austrailian import Tim Stanford's allowed just a hit in two innings.

Arizona Rangers
I thought Tomas Telis was out of the year. A miracle!

First-rounder Jake Skole's hitting .400 early in his pro career.

Braxton Lane's got five RBI and hitting .500 in six games.

The eyeball test

Keepin' it real

The Dallas Mavericks participated in the NBA Draft last night and acquired one player.

Are they good picks? I don't know. I never saw either player.

But do they pass my eyeball test for NBA prospects?

My standards:

1. They have to be black. I'm no racist. I love Dirk Nowitzki, Larry Bird, Pete Maravich and John Stockton. But I can't stand the Mavericks drafting white guys. You got lucky with Nowitzki a decade ago. Unless you know without a shadow of the doubt that you're taking the second coming of Bird, you pass.

2. They have to be American. Again, Nowitzki and Roddy Beaubois have been pleasant developments. However, look at the top 20 players in the NBA and how many didn't play high school or college in the United States and are black?

3. They have to athletes. Give me a raw athletic player over a polished, one-dimensional player. Steve Novak was never going to become some dynamic shooting guard. He was always going to plant himself behind the three-point line and shoot. But he could shoot.

How did the Mavericks do?

Dominique Jones
He's a 6-4 guard-combo from the University of South Florida. He averaged just over 21 points a game his final year. Despite his scoring prowess, he's not much of a shooter. Not particularly good from the three-point line and not much of a jump shooter of the pull-up or catch-and-shoot varieties. Instead, he's a slasher who got to the free-throw line 8.5 times a game.

I worry about several things. Everyone was high on Shan Foster (more of a shooter) and Mo Ager (kind of the Jones mold) and they are total burnouts. Secondly, where does Jones fit in? Is he a two-guard that you can play along with Roddy Beaubois? Where does Jason Terry fit in? Does this mean the end for J.J. Barea (hopefully!)? The Mavericks have a ton of guards most of whom can play both guard position. But none of them seemingly play either extremely well. It's either a blessing or a curse. I don't know which.

Jones was acquired for a mere $3 million from the Memphis Grizzlies, who had three first-round picks and were apparently eager to get rid of at least one. It's a pretty good move consider the Mavs were stuck with the 50th pick on a very old team.

But the Mavs did have that 50th pick. However, they sent that to Toronto for next year's second-rounder. The Rapters chose Solomon Abadi from Florida State University.

He's a 7-1 big black center. I realize the Mavs didn't realize he'd be there, but would he have been such an awful guy to have on your team?

Did the Mavs pass the eyeball test? Black? Yes! American? Yes! Athletic? Yes!

The fact that he has 20 tattoos including "Hustler" and "Survivor" on his forearms is just gravy.

11

See, the Pirates did score

Took in the game tonight at the ol' Ballpark. Throughly enjoyed it with the other 19K. An early storm hid the setting sun in the west and cooled it down about 10 degrees. Beautiful.

Ballpark thoughts:

1. Assholes: The game started at 7:05.

2. To the group of 30 youth group kids that decided to pass in front of me no less than two dozen times: You guys didn't just find each other to hang out and suddenly a game of baseball broke out. You were at a baseball game. Sit in your fucking seats and quit going up and down the stairs eight trillion times for a fucking ice-cream-in-a-helmet.

3. Booing Scott Feldman after a rocky four-run first inning was not cool at all. Listen up asshole Ranger bandwagoners. Where the fuck were you last season when Feldman was winning 17 games in front of 10,000 at the Ballpark. At home with your head so far up Tony Romo's ass that you couldn't tell it was July. Quit fucking acting like you've won 28 titles like the Yankees. Enjoy the ride or I'll punch you in your thorax.

Three straight series, three straight sweeps. Brilliant. Beating awful teams. It's how you make it to August with 95 wins and a division titles.

One point that I love that was said on the radio broadcast tonight as the Ranger erased the aforementioned 4-0 deficit to win 6-5, is what can't this team do. They can pitch, hit, catch and run. Until they stop being able to do that, they'll win more than they lose.

Notes:
1. Elvis Andrus has busted out of his slump. Six hits in Pirate series. He's hitting over .300 at home and .266 on the road. With the walks, he got on base nine times in three games.

2. Ian Kinsler's got seven multi-hit games in his last 10 and four straight. He's hitting about .330 at home and .245 on the road.

3. Josh Hamilton.

4. Julio Borbon went hitless tonight. But if we were giving awards for performance, he's a top three guy. His two catches patrolling centerfield tonight saved the game especially on Neil Walker's deep drive with two on in the ninth.

5. Andrew McCutchen can cover some ground too.

6. Mike Young, all-time Rangers triples leader.

7. Frank Francisco with six wins. Alexi Ogando, at this pace, will win 300 games in this 300th appearance.

8. We're closer than we think of it being Ogando in the eighth inning. If Francisco teeters a bit, I don't think it'll take them any time to pull that trigger.

9. Pirates series: 15 walks, 11 strikeouts for Rangers hitters.

10. Rangers 18-4 in June.

11. By my count: Rangers are 16-8-2 in their series with seven sweeps. My count might be off, a little.

Sweep in H-Town

Neftali Feliz: Ringleader of that understated bullpen

The Texas Rangers' next game is at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

There'd better be 30,000+ in attendance. I know I'm going to try.

Because the folks in Dallas-Fort Worth need to recognize that they host the hottest team in baseball featuring the hottest player (pitcher or position player) in the league.

That being Josh Hamilton.

Hambone singled in the tying run in the ninth inning and the winning run in the 10th inning today pushed the Rangers to a 5-4 win and their eighth straight ending the greatest road trip in Rangers history.

Hamilton went 5-6 with two important RBI. It pushed his burgeoning average to .337 with 52 RBI and his 19th double of his season. His first hit extended his hit streak to 16 games.

There are zones, and there are places where Josh Hamilton is competing. We haven't seen a professional athlete perform on this level of excellence in a long time. Maybe two years. Probably having to do with Tony Romo or Dirk Nowitzki.

This is simply phenomenal. So, while we're here, anyone have anything to say about the Edinson Volquez-Josh Hamilton trade? Even if Volquez were out for the year, he wouldn't the shaping the value of his team like Hamilton has been doing the last three weeks.

Hamilton's heroics capped off an 8-1 road trip and a 10-1 road record in June. Simply brilliant.

Notes:
1. Ian Kinsler's had a good trip. Not great. Hits in nine of 10, including two more today. The power numbers are not there. He gets on base, but you don't put a guy in the three-hole to score 100 runs.

2. Vlad Guerrero and Michael Young: 0-10, two walks, three strikeouts. Slackers.

3. Julio Borbon has seven walks. Four in the last six games.

4. Considering Elvis Andrus' noted struggles (which have been swept under the rug due to the ... you know ... winning), you wonder when and if Borbon will get that lead-off spot. He's hitting .294.

5. Justin Smoak has eight hits in four games.

6. C.J. Wilson was not good enough to win. But he was good enough. Like so many other times, hte walks kill him more than anything. Six hits and three walks. Six hits I can live with. The three walks suck.

7. Again, the Rangers bullpen is remarkably good. Chris Ray's having a career year.

Colby jacked

Smoaking

This is all getting pretty unreal. I e-mailed my bud Skidmark Steve, who moved to Odessa last year and told him that he was missing good baseball times in Dallas.

I've never written those words.

I shouldn't be shocked. Beating the Houston Astros has been the norm the last two months for about any team.

In consecutive nights, the Texas Rangers have beaten the Astros 9-3 behind Scooter Feldman and 5-1 behind Colby Lewis' two-hit complete game tonight.

I'm still in awe.

Lewis, by a mile, has been the most consistent starter for the Rangers. Of late, he's been astounding.

He's gone at least seven innings in three straight, winning all three. He's walked just four batters in those 24 innings and struck out 24.

His 1.02 WHIP tells the story. In eight of the past 10 starts, he's allowed five or fewer hits. When Lewis avoids the walks, he's practically unbeatable.

Despite walking a ton of batters, the Rangers pitchers have allowed a sensationally low amount of hits, just 553, good for fifth in MLB.

Nothing in the world beats winning.

Notes:
1. Is Justin Smoak figuring out or teasing us again? Last time he looked to be turning the corner, he struck out five times in a game. Last two games, he's collected five hits, seven RBI and two home runs.

2. The Rangers are 17-17 on the road. They're 7-1 on this trip and 9-1 on the road in June.

3. Jeff Keppinger and Hunter Pence are just obnoxious hitters.

4. Scooter Feldman deserves his due. Second straight good outing and fifth win. He could get any pitch he wanted for a strike last night.

5. Josh Hamilton's triple Friday was beautiful. Such an athlete. If he gained 20 pounds, he could play linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys with that speed and strength.

6. The Rangers have won all six June series since getting swept in Minnesota to end May. That's 14 of 18.

Then there was the Silver Boot

In all its glory

Forget the World Series, the one thing the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers have pined for the last 12 months is the opportunity to battle over the coveted Silver Boot.

The Rangers have ruled the Silver Boot. They've taken the trophy six of the nine years including winning five of six games last season.

Frankly, the Astros haven't been beating anyone the last couple of years. No reason it should change this season.

Your All-Star game voting guide

Why not Brandon Phillips?

It's June 18 and it's time to cast your vote for the MLB All-Star game.

This should not be taken lightly. I hate that each team tries to convince you to vote for a guy that's hitting .212 just because they wear a certain uniform.

I love the Texas Rangers, but Taylor Teagarden shouldn't even be considered.

So here's your guide toward intelligent voting:

First Base
Miguel Cabrera - Albert Pujols
Miggie Cabrera is unfairly third in the American League behind Mark Teixeira (who's having an atrocious year) and Justin Morneau (who's struggled of late). Cabrera's been consistently awesome all season for a surging Tigers team. Pujols is a no-brainer.

Second Base
Robinson Cano - Brandon Phillips
Why is everyone arguing Chase Utley or Martin Prado in the NL? Utley's struggled, and Phillips has had equal, if not better, numbers for a first-place Cincinnati team that highly deserves some representation. Cano's a top 5 MVP candidate as he leads the Yankees in every major statistical hitting category.

Shortstop
Derek Jeter - Troy Tulowitzki
Elvis Andrus was probably the pick three weeks ago. But he's slumped and Jeter's the emotional leader for the best team in the league. Jason Bartlett is a guy that should've been challenging Jeter, and he's stunk it up. Tulowitzki deserves it, but he won't jump Jimmy Rollins and that dope Hanley Ramirez.

Third Base
Evan Longoria - Ryan Zimmerman
Longoria's an MVP candidate and Ryan Zimmerman's had his most consistent year of his career so far. Voters idiots because Zimmerman's not top five. Asshole Washington fans.

Outfield
Alex Rios - Jayson Werth
Torii Hunter - Ryan Braun
Josh Hamilton - Marlon Byrd
Andre Ethier was the big omission here. Hamilton was a huge late addition. Rios finally rounding into the guy they thought he was. Hoping Byrd makes the team. He's had a really good season.

Catcher
Joe Mauer - Ivan Rodriguez
Have you seen the catchers in the National League? It's like a leper colony.

Designated Hitter
Vladimir Guerrero
It'll be delicious when he steps up to the plate in his old stadium in front of his old fans.

Buyers

Cliffs of Lee

For the first time in more than a decade, the Texas Rangers are "buyers."

Meaning, they think they can go to the playoffs and they need experienced, quality players and are willing to send less fortunate teams prospects for that talent.

Already, the rumors are flying for the cash-strapped Rangers.

According to T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers have inquired about the Seattle Mariners' Cliff Lee.

Lee's been a great pitcher on an awful team. Despite a 2.88 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and .227 BAA, he's just 4-3. And he hasn't walked a better since the Truman administration, allowing just four free passes in 68 innings.

Lee's due $9 million 2010 so the Rangers would need to either scrounge up the change for his paycheck, or offer up some package with Rich Harden ($6.5 million this season ... with a mutual option for 2011 and a $1 million buyout) and some prospects. However, Lee's a free agent after the season so the price -- prospect-wise -- shouldn't be too steep.

In a chat yesterday, the great Evan Grant said the Rangers are the frontrunners to get Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros.

Without saying it, Grant suggests the Astros would be willing to wait out the Rangers sale to late-July. Otherwise, if the sale goes through in early July, the Rangers are right there to spend some cash. Because Oswalt is due quite a bit.

Conference room

Cougars

Just when we thought college sports would simmer down.

Days after the Big XII -- as a conference -- was revived, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was reported as saying that he wanted his alma mater, Arkansas, and Notre Dame brought into the Big XII. This apparently is untrue.

Arkansas was one school I thought the Big XII should go after. Houston is another. Some Texas lawmakers feel the same and they wrote Dan Beebe and Co. a letter indicating as such.

Another report from "sources" stated that Arkansas actually called the Big XII after coming over.

Naturally, everyone's denying everything. No surprise there. But where there is smoke there is fire.


Beebe's taking the stance that the conference isn't looking to expand. I don't know (and I don't think Beebe knows) how adding two teams would effect the TV money.


However, the point here is that the Big XII needs to expand or die. Maybe it won't be next year or the next, but the Big XII is on life support and they're currently the laughingstock of college sports.

If they don't expand, they might as well just gone to the Pac-10 in the first place.

Bringing relief

Ian and out

Slowly, the Texas Rangers bullpen has put things together.

They have five pretty reliable guys at the moment with another in the brink of becoming one.

The Rangers bullpen helped pull out the broom against the Florida Marlins in a three-game sweep punctuated by a 6-4 win Thursday night.

The Rangers have the 10th-best bullpen in the Majors and fourth-best in the American League (ERA-wise). They have a collective 3.36 ERA. They are also first in the American League in innings pitched and second in strikeouts.

Over the three games:

3-0 - 16 IP - 7 hits - 3 runs - 6 walks - 12 strikeouts


Oddly, Darren Oliver didn't pitch an inning over the three games. I haven't read anything that stated he's injured. I guess Ron Washington gave him several days off.

The newest tool in the belt is Alexi Ogando. He won his second game in his second appearance. It was a scoreless 2.1 innings after starter Dustin Nippert could only complete three.


Ogando's stuff moves everywhere and the radar gun has been peaking in the upper 90s.

So far, he's a definite keeper and a guy that could work himself into late-inning situations. If Ogando works out, that gives the Rangers him, Neftali Feliz, Frank Francisco, Darren Oliver, Darren O'Day and Chris Ray as pretty reliable arms. Nippert and Matt Harrison are just butter.


Notes:
1. Rangers on June 18: 38-28. Ten games over .500. Unbelievable.

2. Still, the Rangers are tearing it up on the road. They finished the road trip 5-1 and upped their June mark on the road to 7-1. Overall, they're 15-17 away from the Ballpark.

3. Hit streaks: Josh Hamilton (13) and Vlad Guerrero (13).

4. Ian Kinsler shows some more life. Hits in seven straight. Two more plus three RBI last night. Average up to .275.


5. Vlad Guerrero caught off first base with two outs the hottest hitter in baseball (Hamilton) at the plate. Rangers do this a lot (stealing with a good hitter up) and it bothers the shit out of me.


6. Rangers are 12-4 in June.

Jealous

There's worse things in this world

There's a rumor that Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin is dating Kim Kardashian.

I'm not typically attracted to these no-talent, socialite types, but Kardashian is different. She's thick and dirty. Drives me bananas. And Austin gets to do all kinds of dirty stuff to her ... if this is all true.

Jocks get all the girls.

Mike Young, hit king

Kind of a big deal

I don't think I feel any better for any one player on the Texas Rangers with their winning ways than I do with Mike Young.

In 2004 when we all felt the future of this club was in place (Young, Kinsler, Teixeira, Blalock, Laird), we would not have imagined the current state of things.

It's upside down. Everyone's just about gone from that team. The one constant: Young.

Other than the flap about being moved from shortstop to make room for Elvis Andrus (a scene that Young probably regrets), Young's been the professional for this squad.

He's changed positions twice. He's been a constant in the line-up. He's solidified himself in the Mt. Rushmore of Rangers.

For him to break Ivan Rodriguez's franchise hit record with a two-RBI single in the eighth inning last night to extend a tenuous 3-2 lead was pretty fitting. The Rangers would win, 6-3.

At 33, Young's not slowing down. He's on pace to approach just about every major offensive mark he's set. He's fantastic. I couldn't be happier for any one player.

Young's probably happiest that the record-setting hit drove in two for the win.

****
Don't look now, but the lil' Texas Rangers are currently nine games over .500 after beating the Florida Marlins again.

For the billionth time this season, the Ranger will have a shot at the sweep today in south Florida and with the Houston Astros rolling into Arlington of the weekend, the Rangers could go a long way in separating themselves from third place in the division and maybe from second place in the division.

It's time to make hay.

Last night also served as another mark in the win column on the road, the Achille's heel of the team over the early part of the season.

They've gone 4-1, so far, on this road trip. In June, they're now 6-1 on the road with series wins in Florida, Chicago and Milwaukee. They're 14-17 on the road. Nearly respectability.

The concern now is with the pitching staff. Tommy "Big Game" Hunter left last night's start early with a hip problem. They think he'll miss the DL.

But with Rich Harden and Derek Holland out, they have to turn to Dustin Nippert tonight. This is not so bad. Nippert's come through before in spot starts. However, if more goes wrong, the Rangers will be forced to yank Matt Harrison into the rotation or dip into the minors for Mike Kirkman or Doug Mathis.

Notes:
1. Julio Borbon with that long-awaited first dinger of the year. He's hitting .285 and his turnaround this season has been remarkable, but not totally unexpected.

2. After Josh Hamilton nailed his 16th home run of the season (his fourth hit of the night), Tom Grieve said he was the best player in the league at the moment. It's tough to disagree. He's carried the Rangers over the past month or so. He's slugging .594, which is 64 points more than his 2008 output.

3. Despite the struggles, Ian Kinsler has hits in nine of the last 10 and six straight. Thanks to his walks and strikeouts being about even, his OBP is .375 and he's fifth on the team with 31 runs despite missing half the season.

4. Rangers bullpen combines for 6.2 innings of four-hit baseball allowing just two runs, one walk and five strikeouts after Hunter's departure.

Signs of the draftpocalypse

The Texas Rangers signed another group of their draft picks yesterday bringing their total to 23.

GM Jon Daniels and Co. have done a great job over the years of not only taking good talent, but also going out and signing a high percent of them.

So far, they've signed seven of their top 13 picks (all top 10 ... with compensatory picks) and 13 of their top 20.

Compare it to 2008 when they signed eight of the top 10 and 14 of the top 20 (this includes Justin Smoak, Robbie Ross, Joe Wieland, Rich Bleier and Mike Bianucci).

In 2009, they signed eight of the top 10 and 14 of their top 20 including Tanner Scheppers, Rob Erlin and Tommy Mendonca.

As a side note, of the 23 signed from the 2010 draft, 13 of them are listed as position players including the top two picks (outfielder Jake Skole and catcher Kellin Deglan) and third-rounder outfielder Jordan Akins and fourth-rounder shortstop Drew Robinson.

The shape of things

Hogs

The dust has settled a little on our Big XII Conference. Over the last 24-36 hours, a sea change has taken place on the general feel of things.

As Dan Beebe and The University of Texas entered into an unholy pact, thoughts have gone sour on the whole deal.

There's legit conspiracy theories that all of this was smoke and mirrors to hold the Big XII's feet to the fire to get their own network and more cash. It's insanely hard to dispute this.

Chip Brown is taking criticism (along with the university) for manipulating the media.

I do admit that for a state-funded institution, it feels like UT is running things like its a private company. And that doesn't seem right.

Another criticism I've heard is that the current Big XII looks pretty ordinary. Mind you, the two teams that left (Colorado, Nebraska) weren't exactly world beaters. Colorado had sucked for a while. Nebraska looks like it got its wheels back on with Bo Pelini, but never were they going to counter OU or UT with any real success in the near future.

So how did a conference somehow get rather ordinary despite not losing anyone of significance?

It hurts that Iowa State is still around. Bundle them with Baylor and Kansas as easy wins and the bottom half of the conference looks bad.

I also feel that Texas Tech is headed for dark times. No more Mike Leach with a team that had lost a ton of talent in the past year is not a good sign.

Here's the current line-up:

Texas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Oklahoma State
Texas A&M
Baylor
Texas Tech
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State

With the new conference, everything changes. Everyone will play everyone in a season with three or so non-conference. It's not as if the Big XII lost big-time, good teams, but every season OU and UT will have Iowa State on their schedule and that hurts.

This will force those teams vying for BCS supremacy to schedule tougher non-conference teams. No longer can they have Directional Lousiana University, Tulane and then Baylor, Iowa State, Tech and Kansas. Sked's too easy.

Also, no more conference championship. It's a huge moneymaker, but coaches hate it because you have a better shot at losing to Nebraska or Missouri than you do winning and jumping someone in the BCS.

Better? Maybe. But in five years the Big XII as it exists today will not even be close to this.

If I had my druthers and I could create my conference, I'd harken back to the Southwest Conference with a tear in my eye:

Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Baylor
Houston
TCU
Arkansas
Utah
Kansas
Kansas State

You'd get large to huge markets (Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Little Rock). Basically all of Texas, Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas.

More importantly, you'd get awesome football every week. You'd be adding three teams that annually flirt with or sex up the top 25 (Utah, TCU, Houston) and another storied program that can be good, but probably won't in its currently situation and could benefit from recruiting Texas kids (Arkansas).

Fake Big XII North
Kansas, Kansas State, Arkansas, Utah, TCU, Texas Tech

Fake Big XII South
Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Houston

An excellent balance of power. A little bit something different -- new blood mixed with old hands.

But I'm sure it doesn't make enough money, so screw it.

The odds of Matt Treanor winning this game

Do not throw this man a strike when he's in south Florida

In a total of 860 career Major League at-bats, Matt Treanor had hit just two triples.

Triples had totaled just 0.232 percent of Treanor's total at-bats.

Of his 198 career hits, only 1 percent were triples.

Now, the chances of Treanor hitting a go-ahead triple in the ninth as a pinch hitter with two outs down by one against the Florida Marlins seems extremely small.

But you have to look further.

Treanor's other two triples came in 2006 and 2007. As a member of the Florida Marlins.

Those other two triples came at Pro Player Stadium, the home of the Marlins. The same place that Treanor hit his go-ahead, two-run triple with two outs in the ninth for a 3-2 win for the Texas Rangers.

Of course, Matt Treanor was going to hit a triple.

Notes:
1. To say C.J. Wilson didn't have control is an understatement. Of his 111 pitches, just 60 were strikes. Just 54 percent. Still, to give him some credit, he didn't allow much in hits. Two, in fact. If Wilson didn't tighten the belt, the Rangers lose. Treanor or no.

2. Ron Washington loves throwing unproven guys into the lion's den. Kinda. It took him a week and a 12-run game to get Willie Moscoso in a game earlier in the season. It took a one-run game, on the road with the meat of the order for Alexi Ogando to get him. He allowed two baserunners but got out of the jam. Remember, Washington put Derek Holland in last season with runners on in a close game with Jim Thome in the game. I believe Thome doubled.

3. A nice way to get his first career win, though.

4. Josh Johnson is a man's man. I don't remember if the Rangers ever had a shot at him through a trade, but the last couple of season's as he found his way, it seems he could've been had.

5. Josh Hamilton still doing it and doing it very well. No reason why he shouldn't get All-Star votes.

6. Hit streaks: Josh Hamilton (11) and Vlad Guerrero (12). Mike Young and Julio Borbon, done.

7. The Rangers are now 13-17 on the road. They're 3-1 on this current road trip and they're 5-1 in June away from the Ballpark. Plenty of room to make even more noise.

While we were out

Ode to Roy

The lil' Texas Rangers got all tangled up in a pair of trade rumors yesterday. Just been itching to tackle these.

First and foremost, the Houston Astros and Rangers were apparently talking Roy Oswalt.

I think the deal's there. But the same problem that almost sunk the Big XII might sink this deal: Money.

The Rangers don't have any and Oswalt's due $27 million over the next two seasons. This ain't happening unless Chuck Greenberg and Co. get lucky and the sale of the team goes through, like, tomorrow.

T.R. Sullivan's already poo-pooed the rumor. Really, a bummer.

The other rumor has the Rangers talking to the Arizona Diamondback about 1B/OF Conor Jackson.

The impetus behind going after the likes of Jackson and Mike Lowell is for a right-handed bat off the bench. From my idiotic point of view, I think you can find a bat on the free agent market.

Why even give up a good prospect for a 28-year-old guy hitting .238 to get 50 at-bats off the bench? Even if the D-backs eat Jackson's $1.9 million? I'm not against sending Max Ramirez somewhere. I'm not against trading any prospects. I guess I'd rather pony up a bigger package to get a bigger bat. Again, that doesn't fit into the current situation with the Rangers.

But I hate trading for relief pitchers and guys that come off the bench (in any sport).

I do like Jackson, however, if he can be had for next to nothing. If he can get Darren O'Day for nothing, why not Jackson or someone else that can help you?

Minor Threat III

January Jones: There's worse people that can you can get in a car wreck with

Took in my first (long overdue) Frisco RoughRiders game last night, a sweet two-and-a-half-hour 4-1 win.

A beautiful night at a beautiful park. Love going there. Wish the offense was a little better, but I can't be too picky.

Nearly saw a cycle from Emerson Frostad. Most impressive was the pitching. Tanner Roark has something. I don't know what, and I don't know how it translates to the big-league team, but he has something.

He went six innings, striking out 10, walking two and allowing one run on three hits. He was dominant last night throwing just about everything for strikes and getting ahead in the count. Of course, it seems that the Midland Rockhounds will swing at just about anything.

Nonetheless, Roark's done well everywhere he's been and until he's stopped at some level, it's impossible to say he won't simply succeed.

Not to be entirely outdone, Ben Snyder came in relief and got six outs (five on strikeout) and Josh Lueke looked salty with an easy 1-2-3 ninth for his first Double-A save.

Oklahoma City RedHawks
I know everyone's sick of the guy, but Chris Davis will be back sooner than later. You don't hit .335 in Triple A without getting noticed.

Mike Kirkman makes his Major-League debut this season. He's been in the minors for five years, didn't get good until two years ago and his currently one of the few upper-level arms in the system that is finding success.

Evan Reed joined Tanner Scheppers and Zachary Phillips in Oklahoma City. He'd walked just five in 23 innings at Frisco. Reed was a third-round pick in that vaunted 2007 draft that included Blake Beavan, Tommy Hunter, Julio Borbon, Mitch Moreland, Ryan Tatusko, Neil Ramirez, Michael Main, Jon Greene, Matt Lawson, Josh Lueke, Kyle O'Campo, Jacob Kaase, Jared Hyatt, Michael Ortiz and Andrew Laughter. That, friends, is how you build a farm system.

Brandon Boggs is hitting .295 with an very nice .408 OBP thanks to his 37 walks.

Frisco RoughRiders
Mitch Hilligoss -- the booty from the Greg Golson trade with the Yankees -- got the bump to Double-A.

Emerson Frostad is hitting .320.

Martin Perez has gone relatively under the radar this season. He's struggled a bit, but still been able to strikeout one per inning (47 K, 45 IP). No rush on him.

Taylor Teagarden needs your prayers. He's hitting .264 and more than a third of his at-bats end in a strikeout.

Josh Lueke since his bump: 10 IP - 16 Ks - 1 BB.

Beau Jones -- the throw-in in the Mark Teixeira-Neftali Feliz (Elvis Andrus? Matty Harrison?) trade -- has come on strong. Striking out 23 in 16 innings at Frisco.

Bakersfield Blaze
If we had to rank the developments in the Rangers farm system, Engel Beltre's season has to be No. 1 or 2. He's now hitting .311 with just 28 strikeouts in 211 at-bats. That has to be a record for the guy. Now, he'll need to learn how to get on base a bit more considering his paltry 10 walks.

Screw it. Bakersfield got two legit centerfield prospects, the second being David Paisano -- the throw-in on the Brandon McCarthy-John Danks deal. He's hitting .298 with 10 doubles.

Mike Main's walked 12. And he's allowed 10 home runs.

Jose Felix has come on after a slow start. He's hitting .294 and his walk rate is way up (he's got 12 walks already ... he had 16 walks a year ago in twice the at-bats) and his strikeouts are down. With Teagarden and Salty above him, I don't know where he goes.

Mike Bianucci has plod along so far this season. But he has three home runs and seven RBI in his last five.

Tommy Mendonca 59 strikeouts and .227 average was expected. The one extra-base hit in his last 10 games wasn't. If the Blaze offense gets on the same page and the temperatures rise, they'll be hard to beat.

Tim Murphy's still walked 16 batters in 25 innings. But he's posted a .200 BAA allowing for a 2.13 ERA (6.80 in 2009).

Hickory Crawdads
The lil' Crawdads are a doubles machine: Cristian Santana (18), Jared Prince (17), Miguel Velazquez (15), Ed Koncel (14), Matt West (11) and Zach Zaneski (10).

Leury Garcia has a franchise-high 33 stolen bases in just 59 games.

Fav Robbie Ross has a 2.12 ERA and has allowed just one home run in 76.1 innings.

It's hard to believe that we've played half a season without Danny Gutierrez in the mix. He's back after a 50-game suspension.

Robert Erlin's allowed just six earned runs and eight walks in his past 41 innings. His ERA is down to 1.25.

How the Big XII was saved

Back together again

If you're an aspiring writer or investigative journalist, you now have your signature story. You just need to research and write it.

In the last of the last-ditch moves, the Big XII was saved only having lost two of their compatriots (Colorado, Nebraska) when it seemed that all hope was lost.

It was said that when Nebraska left, others would follow. Although their departure was significant, we tended to forget who the real swinging dicks were in this conference.

The real winner?

UT? Kansas and the rest? Dan Beebe? Fans? College football?

Nope.

Chip fuckin' Brown. The brain behind http://texas.rivals.com/ became a known name across the country as he got every scoop there was to scoop during this three-week long ordeal. His contacts in the UT world made a clear path for him to basically force every major sports media outlets to come crawling on their knees begging for information. Good for him.

I think winner No. 2 are the fans. Nothing against the Pac-10. Or 11, now. It's a fun conference and the move yesterday didn't stop the bigger change coming. All Luke Skywalker did was blow up the Death Star. It didn't prevent the Empire from coming back.

There will be four big conferences within the next 10 years, probably, and that will mean UT and Texas A&M and Oklahoma playing UCLA or Washington in their conferences.

But I'd like to think that the Big XII has established itself over the past decade as one of the top one or two conferences in college sports. It has an identity much like the Big 10 or SEC. It's seen success on the highest levels. It should be adopting other teams; not the other way around.

The kicker here is, still, money.

Big XII commish Beebe launched a hail mary with seconds left and UT came down with the ball. The conference set up a new TV deal which will pay UT, OU and A&M $20 million a year and the other teams (Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Iowa State, Missouri and Oklahoma State) $14 million per year. How long that will lost is unknown. It's worth noting that it doubles the cash those lesser schools were getting, so they're pigs in mud ... at the moment.

Furthermore, UT gets to have its own TV network -- this sticking point being the stickiest of points throughout this whole mess. UT didn't have one. They wanted one. Big XII wasn't offering. Neither was Pac-10, but at least they'd double their TV money.

UT, thusly, gets the network and more than doubles their TV money. That, friends, is negotiation at its best.

The other sticking point is A&M's apparent desire to get away from all these bullies that have been pushing them around the last eight years. The Aggies seemed set to go to the SEC and never look back.

Maybe it was the cash, but for whatever reason I got the unsaid impression that A&M just wanted to kinda start over with someone new. I don't know why. Finishing 6-6 in the SEC is no better than finishing 6-6 in the Big XII. And I honestly feel A&M has a better shot at catching UT or OU (or Tech or OSU) than Alabama, Florida or LSU.

The biggest winners may be the "other" schools. No matter what, OSU, OU, UT, Tech and A&M had a home. I don't know what happened with Mizzou and the Big 10 (whether they go for Notre Dame ... and whether Notre Dame accepts). KU and the others were about to be set down in hte Mountain West for crying out loud. They were sweating bullets and they rose from the ashes doubling their intake.

But A&M came around, UT bought in, everyone got paid, Beebe maybe saved his job and at least for another season we'll get Big XII football in its most purest sense.

The Big XII band back together?

Hook 'em

Despite the sports world's attention on World Cup soccer, a near no-hitter and the NBA Finals, more wheels turned in the college sports conference musical chairs.

It seems apparent that Texas A&M is cool with separating from the rest of the group. Notably, they want to go to the SEC.

Meanwhile, the Pac-10 crew was making the rounds in Norman, Austin, College Station, Stillwater and wherever trying to woo the Big XII South to join Colorado.

In a last ditch effort, Dan Beebe went to the rest of the Big XII with a plan: Strike a new TV deal, UT gets its own network, the remaining teams split the $32 million in fees from Colorado and Nebraska for leaving early.

For the TV deal, each school would get $17 million plus the fees from Nebraska and Colorado.

However, UT is stating it's all about a 10-team Big XII. But if A&M darts for the SEC, all of it is thrown out the window. The lil' ol' Aggies have the fate of a major college conference in the palm of their hands.

This about money. But how much will it take to keep it all together? Or do the schools realize that its already a sinking ship?

Colby Lewis can't lose

Raking

I thought the Texas Rangers were cooked.

I knew how good Yovani Gallardo is and I knew he was the type of guy that can cause the Rangers fits.

Unfortunately for Gallardo, Colby Lewis was hitting.

No Ranger ever has had such a stranglehold on the outcome of a game (outside of a perfect game and no hitter, I guess) like Lewis.

He went eight innings allowing just three hits and a walk, striking out 10 and driving in two runs on an RBI single. The Rangers won 7-2 to take the three-game set from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Lewis is seventh in the American League with 81 strikeouts. Better yet, he's first in the AL with a .197 BAA. Somehow, Lewis is just 6-4 despite being the Rangers best pitcher.

Anyone still think GM Jon Daniels doesn't know what he's doing?

Notes:

1. The Rangers are now 12-17 on the road and seven games over .500.

2. I buried Scott Feldman here. He had his best start of the year going six scoreless in a 4-3 win Saturday. Feldman had his cutter going and kept it down. He induced 12 groundball outs.

3. Josh Hamilton's the best hitter in baseball ... at the moment. League-leading 19 RBI in June. Average up to .309. Even working in some walks.

4. Hitting streaks: Josh Hamilton (10), Vlad Guerrero (11), Michael Young (8) and Julio Borbon (11). What's the record for most double-digit hit streaks on one team?

5. I'm especially pleased with Borbon. Hit two doubles in the two-hole yesterday. Average up to .285 (with the super-odd .299 OBP). If he works in some walks, he'll create massive destruction on the basepaths.

6. Justin Smoak: The platinum somberero Sunday with five strikeouts in five at-bats.

7. The Brew Crew's Corey Hart looks like Mose from The Office.

8. I think the stat line of three hits, two of them being home runs accounting for all of the Brewers offense is the weirdest ever.

We all can learn from Vince Young's mistake

Learning from our mistakes

Former The University of Texas quarterback and current Tennessee Titan Vince Young had a little trouble at a local strip club over the weekend.

I think we can learn from his mistakes.

Read the news story. It's rife with a ton of life lessons and, unfortunately for him, red flags.

1. Young was in an "altercation" with an employee of Club Onyx because the man apparently made the upside down "Hook 'em Horns" sign with his hands. As the story notes, police believe the man is from Oklahoma. What reporting!

Lesson: Fandom and allegiance is important in life. Without it, we do not have friendships and the other relationships that get us out of the bed in the morning. However, we need to take a step back and compose ourselves because it's rarely ever worth fighting for. Especially allegiances that you haven't been a part of for five years.

2. "... about 3:30 a.m."

Lesson: I'd like the general public to take a survey. The query: Of all the rotten things that have taken place in your life, what percentage of those have happened between 1-6 a.m. Sometimes, it's best just to go home and smoke a bowl.

3. "Police believe alcohol was a factor in the feud."

Lesson: I'm no teetotaler. But ... you've got to get a leash on life. Get drunk. Get someone to drive you home. Play some Xbox. Eat some Taco Bell. But you've got to understand that a vast majority of decisions made three sheets to the wind are poor ones.

4. "By the time Dallas police were called to the club in the 10500 block of Wire Way near West Northwest Highway after 4 a.m.,Young was gone."

Lesson: You're 6-7 and black. You play professional football. You're one of the greatest heroes in Texas football. You're not going off the grid. Stick around and face the music. They're not going to automatically strap you to the electric chair for punching a strip-club douchebag in the mouth.

5. "The surveillance video does not include any audio..."

Lesson: It's Big Brother. If you don't think someone's watching you, think again.

6. "Young starts to leave the office but then returns and goes after Kinchen, sparking a brief scuffle."

Lesson: The biggest of all lessons: Just leave. Young walks out of that strip club and he avoids all of this. What if all criminal athletes -- or just criminals -- abided by this rule. What if O.J. just kept walking? Lawrence Taylor? Lawrence Phillips? Rae Carruth? Pacman Jones? Ben Roethlisberger? Walking away is to crime what abstinence is to sex. It always works!

7. "Young had arrived at the club with a couple other people minutes prior to the fight. He was in the private office to speak to club managers about 'how he planned on spending his evening inside the club.'"

Lesson: You should not be arriving anywhere at 3:30 a.m. to "plan" on how you will "spend your evening."

Tidbits on a Saturday night

Mike Lowell: Certainly enjoying his Saturday night

The Texas Rangers have signed 19 more of their draft picks including their eighth-11th rounders. It brings them to 21 of their 51 picks signed.

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Rich Harden pulled his ass, so he's on the disabled list. The Rangers have called up Alexi Ogando to go into the bullpen. Ogando was one of the Dominicans stuck in his home country due to a visa scandal. Harden sucked ass last night. Which why it's so sore today. The Rangers won't need to replace him for a week. I suspect Matt Harrison, Willie Moscoso or Michael Kirkman might be called upon.

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The Rangers, apparently, are still somehow interested (or "in talks") in Mike Lowell. They don't need a DH or a third baseman. I guess Lowell could go to first base. But he's hitting .228 and Justin Smoak's hitting .221 and Chris Davis is pounding Triple A (again).

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Unable to come to a long-term deal, Miles Austin signed a one-year, $3.1 million deal. It's safe to assume they'd like to lock him up longer some time soon.