M's 10, Rangers 3

• What in the world was Joe Nathan doing pitching the 9th inning with the Rangers down 7 runs, after having pitched the night before? That was his third outing in four games. I don't know what was going on there. I'm confused.
• Scott Feldman didn't pitch poorly. The relievers didn't really pitch poorly. Mike Adams got dinged for three runs in 0 innings pitched, though he faced four batters and gave up three not terribly well hit grounders and a line drive to right field Nelson Cruz should have caught. It was just one of those games.
• When Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre both make awful, run-allowing errors in the same game, you know its just not your night.

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Jon Heyman with a tweet on the details of the Roy Oswalt deal with the Rangers:

oswalt got $5M guaranteed (not pro-rated) plus $1M incentives, as @ScottMCBS reported. @gfraley had agreement 1st

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) May 29, 2012

Oswalt says he'll be ready in a month, which means that the Rangers will be paying him $5-6 million for a half-season's worth of pitching.

There was some talk that the Rangers were already over budget and that they had to get ownership approval for the additional dollars that are going to Oswalt, but it may be that the sellout crowds we've been seeing so far this season means that the anticipated gate revenues have been revised upwards, allowing the Rangers to increase what they are spending this year.

Or it could be that the Rangers figure the Jairo Beras contract isn't going to get approved, and are re-allocating his $4.5 million towards Oswalt.

With the 2012 major league draft kicking off on Monday, I want to highlight in the next few days a few of the players that the Texas Rangers could be looking at with their picks at #29, #39, and #52. As I said last year when doing this drill, this would be a lot easier if the Rangers were picking higher, and neither of the Rangers' first couple picks were guys we'd ever talked about before the draft. Still, we'll take a look at a few of the intriguing names that could be in the mix for the Rangers, and see who might be out there...

First up in our review is the player Keith Law projects going to the Rangers at #29 overall, RHP Duane Underwood from Pope High School in Marietta, Georgia.

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According to Gerry Fraley, "an individual familiar with the process" is saying that the Rangers have signed free agent righthanded pitcher Roy Oswalt.

If this is true, you can disregard everything I wrote earlier today about Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke...the Rangers aren't going to add Oswalt's salary and give him a rotation spot, and then also go out and trade for one of those guys, pick up their salary, and bump yet another pitcher from the rotation.

Barring an injury to another Rangers' pitcher, the addition of Oswalt seemingly spells the end of Neftali Feliz in the Rangers' rotation, and it may very well mean Feliz's permanent return to the bullpen, since I don't know if the Rangers are going to want to put him back in the bullpen for the rest of 2012, and then try re-inserting him into the rotation for 2013.

I've said before I don't think Oswalt makes a ton of sense for Texas. Nevertheless, it appears that he's here. Here's hoping he's the top-of-the-rotation caliber pitcher he was a few years ago.

UPDATE -- Rosenthal confirms Oswalt to Texas:

Confirmed: Oswalt to #Rangers. First reported by Dallas Morning News.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 29, 2012

With Neftali Feliz on the shelf and Scott Feldman having struggled in his appearances so far this season as a starter, the Roy Oswalt bandwagon that was having trouble gaining momentum this winter is starting to crank up in full force.

Oswalt, for those who aren't familiar, has a lengthy history with team president Nolan Ryan and pitching coach Mike Maddux, and its widely reported that his preference is to pitch for either the Texas Rangers or the St. Louis Cardinals. Neither team had an opening in the rotation this winter, but with Feliz now out for the time being and Feldman not inspiring a lot of confidence, there seems to be a lot of sentiment that Oswalt and the Rangers are a perfect match for each other, even with Oswalt's hefty price tag, expected to be at least $5 million for a partial season.

I'm just not sure Oswalt is the best fit here, or that signing him makes the most sense for Texas.

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NFL Players Ready To Welcome A Gay Teammate (via sbnation)

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Congratulations to Elvis Andrus, the #51 player in the LSB Top 100 list. For a full list of who has been voted in so far, check out the sidebar on the left, once I get around to updating it.

We continue our series where we have the LSB community pick the top 100 players in MLB. Today, we are at #52.

Here are the rules:

1) Each weekday at 10 a.m. Central, a new poll will open, which will stay open until midnight Central that night.

2) Unless there is a tie, there will be no runoffs.

3) Pitchers are eligible.

4) You vote for who you think the best player is right now. Who you would want if you were building a team for just the next season or so. Don't vote Mike Trout unless you think that, right now, he's better than anyone else on the list. Don't vote Matt Moore because you think he'll be the best pitcher over the next 10 years.

5) Caveat for #4, above: Injuries only matter in terms of how it impacts the player long-term. If you think Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball, and he suffers an injury with no long-term implications that will sideline him for two months, don't not vote for him because, well, this is who is the best right now/over the next season and he's not the best now because he's on the disabled list.

6) Contracts don't matter. If you think Albert Pujols is empirically better than Evan Longoria, don't pick Longoria because his contract is more team-friendly. Don't pick Jered Weaver over Zack Greinke because Greinke is about to be a free agent and Weaver is under contract for five more years.

NEW RULE 7) There will be 10 players on each day's ballot. The highest vote getter wins, the two lowest vote getters are dropped for the time being, and I add three different players to the ballot the next day. The three players added will be strictly at my discretion, although I'll take suggestions. A player who is dropped can (and probably will) be added back on in the future.

Rangers 4, Mariners 2

• You don't really want the Rangers to score a whole, whole bunch of runs every game, or else it would get boring.
• Very quietly effective game for Matt Harrison, who went 8 innings, struck out 5, walked no one, and gave up 7 hits, needing just 98 pitches. After a stretch of two awful outings followed by three mediocre outings, Harrison has allowed 3 runs in his last 15 innings, lowering his ERA on the year to 4.29.
• Joe Nathan looked really good, yet again. Since allowing 3 runs in blowing a save at home against Seattle on April 11, Nathan has allowed 2 runs (just one earned) in 16.2 innings. On the season, he has a 24:2 K:BB ratio.

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The Ranger game isn't until 7 p.m. tonight, but there are a lot of day games today, so I figured I'd open up a post to discuss all the afternoon games.

Talk it up, guys...

The complete leaderboard for all LSB participants is after the jump

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Congratulations to Paul Konerko, the #50 player in the LSB Top 100 list. For a full list of who has been voted in so far, check out the sidebar on the left, once I get around to updating it.

We continue our series where we have the LSB community pick the top 100 players in MLB. Today, we are at #51.

Here are the rules:

1) Each weekday at 10 a.m. Central, a new poll will open, which will stay open until midnight Central that night.

2) Unless there is a tie, there will be no runoffs.

3) Pitchers are eligible.

4) You vote for who you think the best player is right now. Who you would want if you were building a team for just the next season or so. Don't vote Mike Trout unless you think that, right now, he's better than anyone else on the list. Don't vote Matt Moore because you think he'll be the best pitcher over the next 10 years.

5) Caveat for #4, above: Injuries only matter in terms of how it impacts the player long-term. If you think Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball, and he suffers an injury with no long-term implications that will sideline him for two months, don't not vote for him because, well, this is who is the best right now/over the next season and he's not the best now because he's on the disabled list.

6) Contracts don't matter. If you think Albert Pujols is empirically better than Evan Longoria, don't pick Longoria because his contract is more team-friendly. Don't pick Jered Weaver over Zack Greinke because Greinke is about to be a free agent and Weaver is under contract for five more years.

NEW RULE 7) There will be 10 players on each day's ballot. The highest vote getter wins, the two lowest vote getters are dropped for the time being, and I add three different players to the ballot the next day. The three players added will be strictly at my discretion, although I'll take suggestions. A player who is dropped can (and probably will) be added back on in the future.

Complete leaderboard for all LSB participants from yesterday is after the jump...

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Jeff Wilson's game story talks about Josh Hamilton saving the Rangers after the offense missed out on opportunity after opportunity.

The game story on the Rangers' website talks about Hamilton being light-headed during yesterday's game, as he was dealing with a head cold.

Anthony Andro writes in his game story that Hamilton saved the Rangers from what would have been one of the most frustrating losses of the season.

The incessant bunting yesterday late in the game drew a lot of criticism during the game, particularly when the Jays walked Josh Hamilton after Elvis Andrus bunted Ian Kinsler to second in the 9th. If you thought seeing Hamilton walked would change Washington's mind about bunting in that situation, think again:

``I'm not worried about them putting Hamilton on the bag. I've got (Adrian) Beltre and Michael Young coming,'' Washington said. ``They're quality hitters. They drive in runs and they drive in big runs, so if you want to walk Hamilton, go ahead. I did what I had to do to get a runner closer to home plate.''

Elvis feels that, if he gets the chance to swing away in those situations rather than bunt, he can come throw with a big hit -- much like he did in the 13th inning yesterday.

Drew Davison writes that, although Mitch Moreland has been hot for the past month, he's still not getting the opportunity to hit against lefties.

Behind the paywall, the DMN has a story about the possibility of the Rangers drawing 3 million fans this year.

The S-T has a piece on Jurickson Profar, who is being fast-tracked and has the Rangers excited about his progress and potential.

Richard Justice has a column on the memories that those who are close to Hamilton have of him.

Wilson has a story about the fallout of the Jairo Beras investigation that is worth checking out...he says MLB is now looking at whether Beras is really 18, rather than 16 or 17, and that the Rangers' reputation in Latin America is taking a hit as a result of the investigation, with the team running the risk of being shut out on top July 2 signees this summer, as top prospects are making deals with other teams rather than waiting for the Rangers to resolve the Beras situation.

The S-T's notes talk about Yu Darvish pitching in the heat, a couple of viruses that are going around the Ranger clubhouse, and Scott Feldman pitching batting practice in an effort to work on his command.

The Rangers' website notes have items on Ron Washington saying he could never use a position player as a pitcher, Darvish and the heat, Hamilton and Napoli and the bugs, and Nelson Cruz going the other way.

Blue Jays 7, Rangers 5 Rangers 8, Blue Jays 7

• I love this team.
• What the Showalter, man. A couple of times a season you have a game that seems to make you run through every sports emotion you can feel within the span of just a few hours. Joe Posnanski had a blog post on September 28, 2011 (if you're a real baseball fan, you remember what night that was) in which he had a line that encapsulates this: "I never argue with people who say baseball is boring, because baseball is boring. And then, suddenly, it isn't. And that's what makes it great."
• Its almost an afterthought, but Colby Lewis started for the Rangers today. I saw a few people on Twitter talking about a Colby Lewis "meltdown" after he got pulled. Colby pitched well today, though, better than the 5.1 IP, 4 ER marks in the box score would reflect. The 6th inning "meltdown" that resulted in him being pulled and replaced by Alexi Ogando started off with a ground out to first base. Eric Thames then hit a ball very well to center field that went for a double. Josh Hamilton got turned around on the ball, but I'm not sure he would have had a play on it either way...Craig Gentry might have, but even that's questionable. Brett Lawrie then hit a hard grounder to shortstop, and Thames broke for third. Elvis threw to third, but Thames beat the throw, putting runners at first and third. David Cooper then hit a tailor-made double play ball to shortstop...but it was on a hit-and-run, with Elvis breaking to cover the bag, which meant that the ball rolled into the hole vacated by Elvis, resulting in an RBI single. Instead of being out of the inning, as would be the case if Elvis had thrown to first instead of third on the Lawrie grounder, Lewis had runners on the corners, a run in, and just one out. Omar Vizquel then placed a bunt perfectly down the first base line, resulting in a bunt single, another run in, and the end of Colby's day. Colby Lewis pitched well today, striking out 6, walking no one, and allowing a Colby Rasmus home run that hit the foul pole in right field. He deserved a better fate than his line indicates.

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Complete leaderboard for all LSB entries is after the jump...

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Returning from a day off after 20 games in 20 days, the Rangers looked yesterday like that day off did them quite a bit of good. And it was a bad day not just for Toronto starter Brandon Morrow, but also for Seattle closer Brandon League, who Toronto traded to the M's for Morrow....League blew the save against the Angels and picked up the loss last night in a 6-4 Seattle loss to Anaheim.

Jeff Wilson's game story highlights the performances of Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler in helping lead the Rangers to 14 runs scored last night...

Anthony Andro says in his game story that the Rangers may owe their 14 run explosion to Kinsler for drawing a 13 pitch walk to start the Rangers half of the first.

The Rangers' website game story focuses on Cruz, Josh Hamilton, and Yorvit Torrealba, all of whom homered last night.

Behind the paywall, Gerry Fraley talks about the importance of Ian Kinsler's leadoff walk to start the bottom of the first.

Neftali Feliz wants to return to the rotation when he's healthy again, although Jon Daniels and Ron Washington aren't saying that he'll definitely go back in there...

Andro has a story on the Rangers' new $26, 2 foot long bratwurst called "The Great Bratbino."

The S-T's notes talk about Colby Lewis on extra rest, Yu Darvish's bullpen session, and Scott Feldman in the rotation.

The Rangers' website notes have Ron Washington talking about the importance of pitching and defense,

Rangers 14, Toronto 3

• When Derek Holland is on, he's as good as any pitcher in baseball. Tonight, Holland was on from the get-go, striking out the side in the first inning on 13 pitches, and continuing to click through 7.1 innings, striking out 9, walking 1, and allowing five hits, with the lone run he allowed while in the game scoring on an Edwin Encarnacion home run (the second run allowed by Holland came when Mark Lowe allowed an inherited runner to score). Tonight we saw the Holland that can take over a game, and while the Ranger offense made sure Texas didn't need a dominant performance from its starter, it was nice to see nonetheless.
• Mark Lowe could have pitched better. But hey, it was a 14-1 game when he came in. Yoshinori Tateyama, who pitched the 9th, was solid.
• Brandon Morrow came into tonight's game with a 2.63 ERA. After .2 inning and 6 runs allowed, he is now sporting a 3.47 ERA.
• Exhibit 1382 in "why errors and fielding percentage are misleading"...in the top of the fourth, J.P. Arencibia scorched a ball down the third base line for what appeared to be a sure double. Adrian Beltre made a great play going towards the line to flag the ball down, but when he threw to first, his throw pulled Michael Young off the bag, and Arencibia was safe. Beltre was given an error on the play. Now, in reality, Beltre made a play most third basemen don't make, and ended up saving his team an extra base on the play...but as far as errors and fielding percentage go, Beltre's play was a black mark on his record.
• Speaking of fielding, Nelson Cruz ended the second inning by making an incredible catch in right, sticking up his glove while running straight back towards the fence and snagging the ball out of the air...definitively the defensive play of the night.
• The Blue Jays pitchers were at 182 pitches through 7 innings, with Ryota Igarashi needing 41 pitches to get through 1 inning and Jason Frasor 31 pitches to get through an inning. Toronto may have to make a roster move to get a fresh arm in the pen for tomorrow, thus letting the Rangers pad their major league leading "most roster moves opponents were forced to make to get fresh arms in the bullpen" total.
• Oh, and Jeff Mathis pitched. Sadly, Mike Napoli, who was under the weather, didn't get to face him.

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Eight Years Around Saturn

Ben Rogers tweeted this a few minutes ago:

Idea that Rangers are 15-16 over their last 31 because they are "bored" is not a sound baseball take in my opinion

— Ben Rogers (@BenRogers) May 25, 2012

I agree with Ben -- that argument doesn't make sense. However, that's something that's been suggested as an explanation as to why a team touted as the best in baseball has a losing record through their last 31 games.

Others have gone the other way, saying that this team isn't really that good, that they're overrated, that they may be the best in the A.L. West but they aren't really the best team in baseball, much less deserving of being mentioned in the same breath as the '98 Yankees.

Here's the thing about that 31 game stretch, though...the team has really played pretty well.

While going 15-16, the Rangers have outscored their opponents, 153-126. A Pythagorean won/loss expectancy for a team that outscores its opponents 153-126 is a .596 winning percentage. In other words, even during the last 31 games, the Rangers are basically playing .600 ball -- a 96 win pace over 162 games.

The Rangers have, in a nutshell, been unfortunate in terms of the distribution of runs over the last month, resulting in losing more close games than would be expected. Based on run differential, they'd be expected to have gone 18-13 over the last 31 games.

The 2012 Rangers...so good that, even when they're playing bad, they're playing good.

Happy 35th birthday to Star Wars, which was released 35 years ago today. Just reading that makes me feel old.

I still remember going to see Star Wars in the theater in 1977, and coming out of there thinking it was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my (admittedly very short) life. I can remember six year old me being sad at the end because it was over, and wanting to immediately watch it again.

And of course, I ended up having to have the various and sundry Star Wars toys, including the incredibly novel and high-tech Luke Skywalker figure with the lightsaber (a plastic stick) that extended from his hand by pushing a handle and sliding it up from a recess in Luke's arm.

One of the childhood memories that particularly sticks in my mind was being at school right when Empire Strikes Back was released (Empire came out on my brother Sam's sixth birthday), and having Swen Richter tell us in our third grade class that Han Solo dies in the end as a result of being frozen in carbonite. It was my first experience with the "spoiler" phenomenon, even though the spoiler wasn't exactly accurate.

Anyway, the first Star Wars trilogy was something I thought was awesome as a kid and still enjoy seeing now, and even the suckiness of the second "prequel" trilogy can't change that for me.

The full standings from yesterday (all 102 LSB players) after the jump...

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Congratulations to Matt Holliday, the #49 player in the LSB Top 100 list. For a full list of who has been voted in so far, check out the sidebar on the left, once I get around to updating it.

We continue our series where we have the LSB community pick the top 100 players in MLB. Today, we are at #50.

Here are the rules:

1) Each weekday at 10 a.m. Central, a new poll will open, which will stay open until midnight Central that night.

2) Unless there is a tie, there will be no runoffs.

3) Pitchers are eligible.

4) You vote for who you think the best player is right now. Who you would want if you were building a team for just the next season or so. Don't vote Mike Trout unless you think that, right now, he's better than anyone else on the list. Don't vote Matt Moore because you think he'll be the best pitcher over the next 10 years.

5) Caveat for #4, above: Injuries only matter in terms of how it impacts the player long-term. If you think Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball, and he suffers an injury with no long-term implications that will sideline him for two months, don't not vote for him because, well, this is who is the best right now/over the next season and he's not the best now because he's on the disabled list.

6) Contracts don't matter. If you think Albert Pujols is empirically better than Evan Longoria, don't pick Longoria because his contract is more team-friendly. Don't pick Jered Weaver over Zack Greinke because Greinke is about to be a free agent and Weaver is under contract for five more years.

NEW RULE 7) There will be 10 players on each day's ballot. The highest vote getter wins, the two lowest vote getters are dropped for the time being, and I add three different players to the ballot the next day. The three players added will be strictly at my discretion, although I'll take suggestions. A player who is dropped can (and probably will) be added back on in the future.

Behind the paywall, Evan Grant says the Rangers need another starting pitcher, and that Roy Oswalt needs to decide now that he wants to be a Ranger. I disagree with both premises, of course, and I also find it interesting that at least one national writer tweeted yesterday that there are those in the Rangers' front office who don't really want Oswalt, despite the fact that Nolan Ryan clearly does want him.

Randy Galloway, who in spring training said the Rangers should offer Josh Hamilton no more than 3 years, $60 million to stay in Texas, now says the Rangers should offer Hamilton whatever it takes to keep him here, even if that means $180 million. Galloway's justification?

You don't let immense talent walk. Immense talent always stays. Even if you overpay, immense talent, the best talent in baseball, stays -- warts, demons and all.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/05/24/3985550/lets-reiterate-re-sign-josh-hamiltn.html#storylink=cpy

I guess, under the "you don't let immense talent walk" theory, the Cardinals were fools for not topping what Anaheim offered Albert Pujols. There comes a time where you let immense talent walk, and that's when the number to keep immense talent -- particularly immense talent in its 30s, with a troublesome injury history and an approach that isn't likely to age well -- doesn't make sense.

The column is worth reading though, as Galloway also acknowledges Hamilton and his agent seem intent on getting the biggest dollar amount possible -- something that's been reported for a while, even though the Pollyannas seem intent on ignoring in, thinking Hamilton will take a significant discount to stay in Texas -- and talking about how Hamilton having a babysitter and getting special treatment didn't go over well in the Cincinnati clubhouse, and particularly with Ken Griffey, Jr., and Adam Dunn.

Richard Durrett has a "stock report" at the ESPN Dallas blog.

The Rangers' website notes talk about the waiver claim of John Gaub and Kevin Matthews being sent to Hickory.

T.R. Sullivan has a new Inbox column up...

Questions on why Alexi Ogando isn't replacing Neftali Feliz in the rotation, Mike Adams' pitch selection, why Brandon Snyder pinch hit for Mitch Moreland, and why Ron Washington doesn't bench Nelson Cruz until his "technique" improves, among other things...

Check it out...