Andre Agassi's fareware to tennis began Monday night in Flushing Meadows. Agassi's probably the best American tennis player ever. Sure many people will say Samprass won more majors, but when you think of American tennis, Agassi is the name that comes to mind. He transcends the sport. He's won the career Grand Slam and led the US Davis Cup to victory on 3 separate ocassions. Samprass never won the French, never even came close really, and he wasn't a Davis Cup player. Agassi is more than just a great tennis player, he's an ambassador for the sport.
Agassi's match Monday vs Andre Pavel was a great match to watch, a lot of high quality tennis until Agassi finally wore down his opponent, recovering from down 0-4 in the third set to take that set and cruise to a four set victory. Tomorrow he takes on Marcos Baghdatis, the 8 seed. Most will give Baghdatis the edge as he's been playing well and has youth on his side. But Agassi will again be playing under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium and will have the whole croud behind him, pumping him up. I think Agassi wins in 4 sets.
A few other US Open notes... Maria Sharapova looked very sharp and quite fashionable tonight dispatching of Michaella Krajicek (Richard Krajicek's younger sister) in just under an hour, 6-3 6-0. Serena Williams looked... well she just looks fat to me.
Columbus, GA won the Little League World Series today in Williamsport, PA. Only 1 Texas team has ever won the LLWS when Houston defeated Japan 6-0, back in 1966. Only 6 Texas teams have made it to the LLWS championship game in the 59 years it has been played. The most recent appearance by a Texas team in the championship game was 2000 when Bellaire lost 3-2 to Venezuela. Check out all the LLWS Champions here.
Southlake Carroll starts the year right where they ended it last fall, as the No. 1 team in the state in Class 5A. See the complete state polls here. It marks the 23rd consecutive AP poll in which Carroll was ranked No. 1, a streak that began with the 2004 preseason poll.
The Rangers done. Even after Vicente Padilla's great effort last night (which I attended 3 rows up in section 14 - almost right behind "net guy"), its too little, too late. The Rangers are 8 games behind the A's, 3rd place in the AL West. With 30 games left, barring an Oakland collapse coupled with a Rangers 15 game winning streak, Texas has no chance. Not that we didn't know the day was coming, but after Friday night's loss, it was time to officially count the Rangers out... unless a miracle occurs, I'm done blogging about the Rangers.
The Mets have a 15.5 game lead in the NL East and with 33 games left, have a magic number of just 18. With all the injuries to their pitching staff, the Mets have had an awesome season.
Members of the class of 2010, entering college this fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead. See other interesting facts about the class of 2010 here.
Southlake Carroll reloads By Tim MacMahon of The Dallas Morning News
Good news for the rest of Class 5A: Southlake Carroll returns only one offensive starter. Bad news: A bunch of talented juniors will be lighting up scoreboards together for Carroll the next two seasons.
Tailback Tre' Newton, perhaps the state's top junior, is the lone returning starter after rushing for 1,345 yards and 13 touchdowns for the mythical national champions. Newton and quarterback Riley Dodge headline the junior class. Coach Todd Dodge's son is a run-pass threat with the talent and moxie to extend Carroll quarterbacks' streak of four consecutive 5A offensive player of the year awards.
Coach Dodge said as many as six other juniors could start for Carroll, which is 63-1 as a 5A program. "I've always felt there were a lot of good football players in this bunch," he said. One more was added when receiver Blake Cantu, the District 6-5A sophomore of the year last season, transferred from Hurst L.D. Bell during the spring semester. Cantu impressed his new coaches with his big, soft hands and tackle-breaking ability.
Juniors Ethan Cunningham and Chris Brainard are also competing for reps in Carroll's receiver rotation after the school had four wideouts sign with Division I-A schools last year.
Carroll is counting on three junior offensive linemen who are I-A prospects to give Dodge time to throw and Newton room to run. Center Nick Leppo (6-2, 250), guard Jake Jackson (6-4, 270) and tackle Sam Schwartztein (6-3, 250) will line up side by side. "It's going to be a lot of fun," Newton said. "We're going to have two years to play together and grow that bond. I'm looking forward to it." The rest of 5A certainly isn't.
Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller transfers to Nebraska - From the AP, 23 August, 2006
Former Arizona State starting quarterback Sam Keller is now a Nebraska Cornhusker.
"He's excited to be here, and we're excited to have him," Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said Wednesday. Callahan spoke following his team's practice, which ended a few hours after Keller arrived in Lincoln.
Keller decided to leave Arizona State after Sun Devils coach Dirk Koetter demoted him to the second string on Sunday. Koetter announced Friday that Keller would be the Sun Devils' starting quarterback. On Sunday, he reversed course, picking Rudy Carpenter as his starter. Keller then asked to be released from his scholarship.
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Keller started seven games for Arizona State last season. He completed 58 percent of his passes for 2,165 yards and 17 touchdowns before breaking his thumb.
According to NCAA rules, Keller will have to sit out the upcoming season at Nebraska. The senior would then be able to use his last year of remaining eligibility in 2007 when the Cornhuskers will be looking to replace quarterback Zac Taylor.
"(Keller) looks at Nebraska as an opportunity, and he's certainly deserving of that," Callahan said. "He's going to come in here and compete, just like everybody else. He wants to earn his stripes and earn his role." Callahan said Keller will be on scholarship both this year and next year.
It's about time to officially call the Rangers out of the AL West race. They've lost 2 in a row to Tampa Bay and are down 3-0 in the 6th tonight with Oakland up 5-0 vs Toronto. A Rangers loss will all but assure that Texas is out of contention.
Curtosy of the DMN Cowboys Blog and Jean-Jacques Taylor
The Drew Henson experiment is over.
“Drew Henson is not going to be on roster this year,” coach Bill Parcells said Wednesday.
“I just didn’t see enough. We tried very diligently with this guy."
Henson, signed three years ago, was supposed to eventually be the Cowboys quarterback of the future. But he started only one game – Thanksgiving Day against Chicago in 2003 – and was benched at halftime.
Tony Romo distanced himself from Henson last year, claiming the backup job. And Romo has been even more impressive in training camp and preseason games the past month as Henson fell more out of favor.
In the past two weeks, Henson lost practice repetitions to undrafted free agent Matt Baker. Henson did not play in either of the Cowboys’ first two preseason games.
He will count about $3 million against the club’s salary cap, though he’s no longer on the team.
“I don’t keep players that I don’t think can play for us,” Parcells said.
Parcells declined to talk about whether Dallas is trying to trade him.
“I’m really not at liberty to discuss the situation because I’m not privy to that information,” Parcells said. “He’s not going to be on our roster. That’s all you need to know. This is a little bit of a limbo situation. There are a couple of moving parts.”
Parcells said the Cowboys aren’t sure who will be their third quarterback when the season starts. They could keep Baker or attempt to acquire an experienced veteran.
Dallas acquired the 6-4, 235-pound Henson from Houston for a third-round pick in 2003.
At Michigan, Henson was considered one of the league’s top prospects after passing for more than 2,100 yards with 18 touchdowns and four interceptions as a junior. Then he took big money and signed with the New York Yankees, where he spent three seasons trying to hit curveballs.
In NFL Europe this spring, Henson completed 53.6 percent of his passes with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions and played well enough at the team’s off-season mini-camps that the Cowboys thought he might challenge Romo for the backup job.
It never came.
“I think he has a little trouble relaxing,” Parcells said of Henson last week. “I think he’s pretty smart and his mind races a little bit. I think one of the most beneficial things you can do for a player – I’ve tried to do this with hundreds of players – is to teach them a mechanism whereby in the battle they can learn to relax.
“They can employ some kind of tactic that allows their mind and body to take a 10-second vacation between plays.”
Owner Jerry Jones was encouraged by Henson's NFL Europe performance as well as his arm strength, mobility and ability to manage a game and limit mistakes. But that wasn’t enough to keep him on the roster.
“It really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says as long as you have confidence in yourself and keep pushing forward, keep working and keep the big picture in mind,” Henson said last week. “That’s kind of how I figured out how its best for me to go about my business.
“…I can control only the things I can control. It has taken a while to develop that mentality. As I’m getting older, patience is a virtue. Instead of getting frustrated and trying to figure things out I just want to focus on the things that I do so I’m prepared when an opportunity comes.”
Apparently, it will have to come wearing another team’s uniform.
The Cowboys-Saints game in Shreveport was the first preseason game in played there since 1970.
Reggie Bush didn't have much of an impact tonight against what has shown to be a very good Cowboys defense.
I dont want to hear any more talk about Tony Romo potentially being the Cowboys starting quarterback. The job is Bledsoe's and tonight's game showed just why.
Mike Tirico was horrible tonight. Within a 2 minute span in the 3rd quarter, Tirico called Terrance Copper, Terrance Cooper and then referred to kicker Shaun Suisham as Shaun Squezum.
Until tonight's 4-3 loss to the Devil Rays, the Rangers had swept all 5 games with Tampa Bay thus far this season. The Rangers are currently in 3rd in the AL West, 6.5 games behind the A's. Sweeping the remaining 3 games against Tampa Bay is a must for the upcoming weekend series with Oakland to have any impact.
The announced paid attendance at Tropicanna Field for tonight's Rangers/Devil Rays game was a whopping.... 7820.
Not really sports related but... how often do you see a flying dog?
The Rangers were pumped after scoring seven unanswered runs to come back from a 6-0 deficit in Detroit on Sunday. Now the question is how big a win will it be? That all depends on the Tampa Bay series. If the Rangers go down and win at least three out of four in Tampa, they would likely return to Arlington with still a shot at catching Oakland, making the three-game series one that really matters. But if they dont get the job done in Tampa, all that work against the Tigers will have gone for naught.
John Koronka has to be on his way back down to the minors after his aweful inning and a thrid today in Detroit.
Former Ranger Laynce Nix was called up from AAA to join the Brewers on Saturday. That means Nix, Francisco Cordero and Kevin Mench -- the three key pieces in the trade that brought Carlos Lee and Nelson Cruz to Texas -- are all now on the Milwaukee roster.
Nix was hitting .412 with 13 RBIs in 18 games for Triple-A Nashville. Francisco Cordero is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 12 innings for the Brewers and is a perfect 9-for-9 in save opportunities. Kevin Mench has slowed a bit after a quick start and is batting .250 for Milwaukee with one homer and 12 RBIs.
(UPDATE: John Koronka was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday. RHP Nick Masset was called up to take his spot and will joint the Rangers bullpen.)
Clijsters officially out of U.S. Open with wrist injury -from The Associated Press, 20 August 2006
NEW YORK -- Defending champion Kim Clijsters officially pulled out of the U.S. Open on Sunday because of a left wrist injury.
The WTA Tour notified tournament director Jim Curley that Clijsters won't be able to compete.
The No. 2-ranked Clijsters was forced to quit a match Wednesday at the hard-court tournament in Montreal after falling on the surgically repaired wrist. The next day, a posting on her Web site said an MRI exam and X-ray showed the problem was worse than originally thought and that the Belgian probably would be sidelined for two months.
The U.S. Open starts Aug. 28.
Clijsters missed most of the 2004 season with the wrist injury. She has dealt with assorted ankle, knee and back problems, too, and points to her health problems as a reason she plans to retire in 2007, even though she's only 23.
She is 36-9 this year with two titles, plus semifinal appearances at the past two Grand Slam events, the French Open and Wimbledon.
Mets fan, 18, charged with impersonating reporter from The Assocaited Press
NEW YORK -- Ryan Leli loves the New York Mets.
The Suffolk County teenager loved the Mets so much that authorities say he posed as a reporter to get into Shea Stadium and talk with players.
Police arrested Leli, 18, on Friday night at Shea just before the start of the Mets' game against the Colorado Rockies game and charged him with impersonating a journalist, the Queens district attorney announced Saturday.
Prosecutors say Leli told Mets officials he worked for NBC Universal and showed a fake NBC employee identification card so he could get press credentials.
Leli first used the press pass to attend an Aug. 10 game between the Mets and the San Diego Padres. Authorities said Leli used the pass to approach and chat with players including Mike Piazza before and after that game.
Leli used the fake NBC identification again Friday to get another press pass for the Mets-Rockies game.
Mets management apparently became suspicious and contacted authorities.
Leli was also charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records, larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal impersonation and criminal trespass.
He was arraigned Saturday in Queens Criminal Court and released.
Leli was scheduled to return to court Sept. 27. He faces up to seven years in prison if he is convicted.
Leli's attorney John Rapaway did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The wild bunch returns By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports - August 18, 2006
Adultery! Teenage mistresses! Gambling! Oh, what lurid tabloid fodder New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca has provided the last two weeks. And how he must ever wish he could page Doc Brown, crank up the DeLorean and send himself back 20 years.
“Had Lo Duca played with us, it wouldn’t have even been a footnote,” says Bobby Ojeda, and by “us” he means the 1986 Mets, baseball’s boozers, users and, according to legend, feline abusers. Ojeda is talking from his New Jersey home about an hour from Shea Stadium, where Saturday the Mets will celebrate the 20-year anniversary of their World Series victory. And while he admits time inflates all good stories, he knows the years haven’t exactly been kind to the ’86 Mets’.
In those two decades, the headlines have trumpeted drugs, drink, steroids, rape, spousal abuse, suicidal thoughts, prison, bankruptcy, sexism, sexual harassment, DWI, battery, animal cruelty and, yes, gambling. The most famous stemmed from Dwight Gooden, unable to make the reunion because he is imprisoned in Florida, and Darryl Strawberry, who just Thursday sent his RSVP after the Mets prepared for a no-show because of a money dispute. To think the issues stop with them would be to think the Watergate scandal ended with G. Gordon Liddy.
“We’ve stayed in the public eye, and not always for good reasons, either,” says Davey Johnson, the Mets’ manager in ’86 and a regretful absentee this weekend because he’s managing Team USA in its Olympic-qualifying games. “That’s the bad thing. It was a very special time. New York embraced this team. We were arguably more popular than the Yankees.”
There was no argument. The ’86 Mets were, and in many ways still are, New York’s team. Full of characters, teeming with energy, playing harder than they worked and still working harder than anyone else, winning 108 games, crushing the NL East by 21 1/2 games and winning a dramatic World Series over the Boston Red Sox in seven games, the Mets embodied the city and the city embraced the Mets.
And not necessarily in spite of their flaws but because of them. The Yankees were staid, their pinstripes like button-down collars. The Mets were arrogant. They recorded “Get Metsmerized,” a cheesy rap song boasting their greatness, in the season’s first month. They were boorish. Veterans Danny Heep, Jesse Orosco and Doug Sisk nicknamed themselves the Scum Bunch, and their job was to indoctrinate the young players with diets of booze. They were miscreants. Ojeda, Ron Darling, Tim Teufel and Rick Aguilera were arrested outside of a Houston club called Cooter’s for beefing with off-duty cops working as bouncers.
What happened during the ’86 season was innocent enough for New Yorkers to stomach – and embrace.
“People are still interested in the ’86 Mets,” Ojeda says. “We’re going to be popping up in headlines until we’re on Social Security.”
Gooden has seen his share for cocaine and alcohol addictions, alleged domestic violence, thoughts of suicide and jail. Strawberry’s got all of those, too, plus tax evasion and bouts with colon cancer.
Lenny Dykstra seems to pop up every so often, whether for allegations that he groped one of his female car-wash employees, used steroids while with Philadelphia or gambled heavily.
Wally Backman lost a job managing the Arizona Diamondbacks because of his past, which included a DWI and bankruptcy. He had held the position for all of four days.
Keith Hernandez, one of the elders on the ’86 Mets and familiar to a later generation for his “Seinfeld” appearance and Just For Men commercials, caused a stir earlier this season when, as a broadcaster for the Mets’ SportsNet New York television station, he spotted massage therapist Kelly Calabrese in the San Diego Padres dugout and said, “I won’t say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don’t belong in the dugout.”
And who can forget Kevin Mitchell? He allegedly beat up his girlfriend in 1989, was arrested in 1991 on suspicion of rape (charges were dropped), was arrested in 1999 for punching his father because he didn’t pay rent, was kicked out of the Western Baseball League in 2000 for punching Solano Steelheads owner Bruce Portner and, according to Gooden’s autobiography, once beheaded his girlfriend’s cat.
Well, then.
It is good to know things have calmed down, as Ojeda says they have, at least as much as things can calm down for the ’86 Mets
“These guys are boring as hell,” Ojeda says. “I talked with Keith Hernandez and Teufel and Darling. And I told them, ‘Quite honestly, I don’t want to go to dinner with you. You’re old, fat, ugly. You have two beers and want to go to sleep.’ ”
After Friday’s dinner, Ojeda will step outside for a cigar with Howard Johnson – now a coach at the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, Norfolk – who, true to ’86 form, just completed a 10-game suspension.
Johnson wanted to watch his son play in a baseball tournament, the Mets said no and Johnson left anyway. Twenty years later, authority still doesn’t matter.
Which is why when the ’86 Mets step onto the field Saturday night, one by one, they will hear cheers as loud as any of the ’06 Mets have. They cared about winning, and that was it. They were the epitome of a team, 25 men who were better together than they were individually, a fortune that eventually played out for the world to see in big, bold letters: champions in 1986, tragedies thereafter, unforgettable always.
“It happened only once,” Ojeda says. “But I think some of the greatest things in life are meant to happen only once.”
KEY PLAYERS, 1986 NEW YORK METS (108-54) Lineup CF Lenny Dykstra .295 8 HR 45 RBI 31 SB 2B Wally Backman .320 1 HR 27 RBI 13 SB 1B Keith Hernandez .310 13 HR 83 RBI 94 R C Gary Carter .255 24 HR 105 RBI 81 R RF Darryl Strawberry .259 27 HR 93 RBI 28 SB 3B Ray Knight .298 11 HR 76 RBI 24 2B LF Mookie Wilson .289 9 HR 45 RBI 25 SB SS Rafael Santana .218 1 HR 28 RBI 36 BB
Rotation P Dwight Gooden 17-6 2.84 ERA 200 K P Bob Ojeda 18-5 2.57 ERA 148 K P Sid Fernandez 16-6 3.52 ERA 200 K P Ron Darling 15-6 3.52 ERA 184 K P Rick Aguilera 10-7 3.88 ERA
Bullpen P Jesse Orosco 8-6 2.33 ERA 21 SV P Roger McDowell 14-9 3.02 ERA 22 SV P Doug Sisk 4-2 3.06 ERA 1 SV
Reserves OF/IF Kevin Mitchell .277 12 HR 43 RBI 22 2B 2B Tim Teufel .247 4 HR 31 RBI 32 BB 3B Howard Johnson .245 10 HR 39 RBI 30 R
For the first time since 1998, Ohio State is the preseason No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25. The Buckeyes received 35 of a possible 65 first-place votes from a panel of media members in the poll released Friday, the clear-cut #1 team in the nation. Southern California, preseason No. 1 the past two years, was No. 6.
AP Top 25 odds and ends • Ohio State received its seventh preseason No. 1 ranking. Only Oklahoma with nine has had more preseason No. 1 rankings.
• Ohio State has never won the national title in a season in which it was preseason No. 1. Oklahoma has won the national title four times when it started No. 1. The Buckeyes finished second in 1998 after being preseason No. 1.
• Ohio State has been ranked in 53 of 57 preseason polls, the most of any school. Notre Dame and Oklahoma have been ranked 48 times.
• California has its highest preseason ranking, No. 9, since 1952 (No. 8).
• Six teams received first-place votes in the preseason Top 25. The most teams to receive first-place votes in the preseason poll is 11 in 1984.
• The SEC has the most teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 with five. The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-10 each have four. The Big East has two, the Mountain West has one and there is one independent.
The Rangers season is virtually over. They're in 3rd place in the AL West, 7 games behind Oakland with just 40 games remaining. The A's aren't exactly a juggernaut, but they're one thing the Rangers are not... they're consistent. The A's aren't going to go into the tank at the end of the season so unless the Rangers put on a consistent winning display that they haven't been able to obtain all season, it's time to start making plans for the off-season. The Rangers cannot lose games like they did on Tuesday night and expect to make the playoffs. Yeah, Padilla got tossed early in a crucial game, but the Rangers still had a good chance to win until the bullpen once again imploded, turning an 8th inning 1-run lead into a 2-run deficit.
Tonight the Rangers didn't get a particularly good outing from Edison Volquez but had the bases loaded in the 6th inning with no outs only to be shut down with three straight strikeouts. All told, the Rangers could only manage to push two runs across against their former ace, Kenny Rogers tonight. Sure would be nice to have Kenny in Rangers blue this season instead of Loe or Koronka or Rheinecker or Wasdin.
The Rangers got some more bad news today when Vicente Padilla was suspended for 5 games and Scott Feldman for 6 games for their involvement in hitting batters the last two nights against Anaheim. So while Padilla will miss his next start, Kip Wells is on the DL with an ankle injury, the bullpen is without Feldman until next week. This all sums up to the Rangers falling father behind the A's.
• Tony Kornheiser made his Monday Night Football debut tonight on ESPN... granted it was his first game, but I wasn't impressed. Hopefully he improves between now and the first regular season MNF games on Sept 11.
• Speaking of MNF, I can handle Michele Tafoya on the sidelines, but Suzy Kolber? Not only does not know the game, but she isn't much to look at either.
• Tim MacMahon of The DMN has a good article on some of the dual-threat high school quarterbacks in the area. Keep in eye on Riley Dodge of Southlake Carroll. He's been groomed to play QB his whole life.
• I'd be surprised if Southlake isn't the preseason #1 in both the Area and State in 5A when the rankings come out soon.
• The late-starting Cowboys/Seahawks exhibition game pulled a ridiculously high 14.2 rating on Saturday night. It rated higher than Game 2 of the Mavericks/Suns playoff series, which pulled a 13.7... all that with no T.O. or Bledsoe.
• Highlights from the Rangers 10-6 win over Seattle Sunday: Michael Young had another hit with RISP with a 1-out triple, a category he still leads the majors in. Carlos Lee (not the most fleet of foot) stole 3rd base, advancing to home on the bad throw from catcher Kenji Johjima which went off into left field.
• Mark Teixeira's 36 game reached base safely streak ended Sunday with an 0-5 night, including 3 strikeouts.
• The Rangers have won 21 of their last 29 games against Seattle.
• After routing the Royals 13-0 Sunday, the Cleveland Indians are currently the hottest team in the majors with a 6-game win streak. Travis Hafner hit his 6th grand slam of the year, tying Don Mattingly's single-season record with about 40 games left in the season.
Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News wrote a good article on A&M quarterback Stephen McGee.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In the game that established Stephen McGee's style as well as substance, Dennis Franchione offered congratulations and a bit of advice.
Toughness is an admirable quality in quarterbacks, son, but maybe you could quit stepping off curbs into oncoming buses.
Seemed like good, sound counsel until the kid snapped.
"COACH, I CAN TAKE 'EM ALL. DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME. I CAN TAKE WHATEVER THEY'VE GOT. I CAN TAKE IT ALL DAY . . ."
• With an 8-2 win tonight over Seattle, the Rangers pull back to .500 on the year, 5 games back of the A's in the West.
• The only team in the AL with a worse home record than the Rangers are the lowly Royals who are the worst team in baseball. Only the Cubs and Atlanta have worse home records in the NL.
• Michael Young leads the majors in batting average with RISP at .398.
• The Redsox have now lost 5 in a row and could fall 4 games behind the Yankees in the AL East tonight, pending the outcome of the NY/Chisox game. Chicago is up 4-2 in the top of the 6th.
• Not sure how they came up with this, but the San Diego Padres introduced a new mascot recently... Franken Friar. Watch the video below and you'll be saying wtf?
Southlake Carroll is ranked No. 8 in the preseason National Prep Football Poll. Carroll finished the last two seasons No. 1 in the poll after winning Class 5A Division II titles to became only the sixth school in 79 years of national rankings to repeat as mythical national champions. Carroll is 63-1 in the last four seasons (its only seasons in Class 5A) and has won 32 consecutive games.
Edinson Volquez makes his season debut for the Rangers tonight after being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma. The right-hander is filling in for Kip Wells, who was sent back to Texas to have his sore shoulder examined, forcing him to miss his scheduled start. Volquez was 0-4 with a 14.21 ERA in six appearances for the Rangers last season, including three starts. He is 6-6 with a 3.21 ERA in 21 starts for Oklahoma this season, but has been on the disabled list with a calf injury.
Volquez vs. the A's is troubling on a number of fronts: First, there is simply that Volquez did not pitch well while he was in the majors briefly last season... factor in health (he hasn't pitched in more than a week because of elbow and calf soreness)... add in the unfavorable matchup of a pitcher who leads his league in walks allowed (72) against a team that loves the excitemnet of the walk (Oakland ranks third in the AL in walks and second in pitches seen per plate appearance) and the matchup gets potentially uglier for Texas... then there's the sweatshop known as the Rangers bullpen, they sure could use some time off, considering they have worked an average of four-plus innings per game over the last week.
If Volquez could put in 5 innings, the Rangers should be ecstatic.
(UPDATE: The Rangers optioned John Koronka to Triple-A Oklahoma to make room on the roster for Edinson Volquez.)
Chase Utley singled in the first inning of tonight's game against the Cardinals, extending his hitting streak to 35 games. Utley's streak is tied for the sixth-longest ever in the National League with Fred Clarke (1895) and Luis Castillo (2002). It also tied Castillo's major league record for a second baseman.
Speaking of hitting streaks, Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels has a 42 game hitting streak against the Rangers... and who do the Rangers play in a 4-game series starting tonight? Vlad's Angels. Guerrero has hit safely in all 42 games he has played versus Texas, batting .440 (73-for-166) with 14 homers, 33 RBIs and 35 runs. Update: Vlad homered in the bottom of the 4th to extend the hit streak to 43 games against the Rangers.
The Rangers tried to give this one away tonight, giving up a 4 run lead with two outs in the bottom of the 8th, ruining a great performance by Kevin Milwood. Fortunately Mark Teixeira bailed the Rangers out with a game-winning homerun in the top of the 12th.
A great play and possibly the biggest play of the game was by GMJ in the bottom of the 6th, throwing out Cabrera at the plate who was trying to score from second on a single by Garret Anderson.
Interesting Rangers stats of the night: The Rangers out-hit the Angels 16-9 while having to win 7-6 in extra innings. Runners LOB: Rangers - 9, Angels - 4; RISP LOB, 2-out: Rangers - 5, Angels - 1. Ian Kinsler stole 3 bases, almost half of his total of 7 for the year. The Rangers outfield leads the AL in assists with 27. Garret Anderson has more RBI against the Rangers than any active player... 124.
Chase Utley is currently 0-4 in the Phily/STL game tonight. He'll get one more chance in the top of the 9th to extend his hitting streak to 34 games. Update: Utley singled in the 8th inning and again in the ninth to extend his hitting streak. Utley is tied with Benito Santiago (1987) for the eighth-longest streak in NL history.
Extending Roy William's contract was the second best move the by the Cowboys this off-season... The best starts with a T and ends with an O.
The Rangers drop 2 of 3 to the Royals only to then take the last 2 (of 3) from the Twins... what a Jeckyl and Hyde team this is. The Rangers climb out of the AL West cellar with the win and move back to playing .500 ball, 3 games back of Oakland.
Getting paid not to work is a pretty good gig if you can get it... unfortunately it cost Rhett Bomar his spot on the OU football team. He and his roommate, offensive lineman J.D. Quinn, were dismissed from the team today for violating NCAA rules by "taking payment over an extended period of time in excess of time actually worked."
The Buckeyes Troy Smith
