turn out the lights...

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.

Turn out the lights, Buck, this party is over.