I was waiting for the morning post, to make a comment with some facts and trivia, but I'm bored at work and want to get this out there.

Interesting Facts:

The New York Yankees, with the best record in all of baseball, only have a losing record against 2 AL teams: The Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels.  The two teams the Rangers could have used the Yankees help with the most!

The Texas Rangers are tied with the Boston Red Sox with the second toughest schedule so far this year, based on ESPN.com's Strength of Schedule calculations.  The Yankees and the Angels are tied for the 8th most difficult schedule (also tied with the Padres).

The Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays are all tied with the most games played against a starting LHPin the AL.  This equates to those three teams being on the bottom of the list of AL teams with games played against starting RHP.

Trivia:

1) The Texas Rangers have a losing record against 4 teams in the AL.  Name the 4 teams.

2) Take a stab at which team has the number 1 toughest schedule so far this year, based on the Strength of Schedule stat.  Think about teams that play a lot of games against difficult opponents, I guess.

3) Of the three teams that have played the most games against starting LHP in the AL, one has a losing record, one is at .500, and the other has a winning record.  Which teams fall into those categories?

4) And also, what is the Texas Rangers record in games against a starting LHP?

BONUS: The Rangers played 52 games against starting LHP in 2008.  What was the Rangers record in games against a starting LHP in that season?

Hey Blue Jays fans.  I'm a regular of the Texas Rangers blog, LoneStarBall.com.  I'm home in Dunedin for the weekend, and I'm hoping to do some baseball related activities on Sunday.  I'm not entirely sure about the Jays schedule for Sundays, but if you think they'll be working out, I'd be happy to go take some pictures, video (albeit off of my digital camera), and make some notes about what I saw.

I know a lot about the Rangers minor leaguers (so if I were in Surprise, AZ I'd be like a kid in a candy store), but I don't know too much about the Jays organization.  Let me know if there are players you'd like me to look at, get pictures of.  It might help if you know the numbers they're wearing.

If it turns out they're off on Sunday, this was all for nothing, but I'm itching for some baseball, so let's see how it plays out!

Troy I.

I know CJ has a lot of fans on here, especially those of us that were around LSB when he was.  But obviously something has to be done at this point.  There is going to be a lot of discussion about what should be done with CJ, so I just wanted to help the situation by making one thread that we can centralize the discussion.  On top of that, I'm curious what the community opinion is at the moment.  So go ahead and vote in the poll, about what you think needs to be done with CJ at this point.

In my relatively unknowledgeable opinion, he at least needs to be put on the DL, and used as a set-up man the rest of the way.  He won't be worse than Wright in that role.  I don't think there is one man on this team that can really handle full-time closer duties at this point, so I would suggest that you use a combination of Eddie and Frankie depending on the batters you're facing.  I also really want to see more discussion on stretching CJ out in the Arizona Fall League, ST next year, or in the minors early next year.

Based on the new information, with CJ being put on the DL with bone spurs.... I reworked the poll with new options.  Pick your answer based on what you think should happen with CJ keeping in mind that he might not be coming back until next year.

Jayson Stark has a really awesome piece up over at ESPN.com where he names Ian Kinsler his First Half AL-MVP!  Very deserving, and it is great to see that Kinsler is getting some recognition for how great he has been so far this year!  Here is what he has to say:

AL MVP of the half year: Ian Kinsler, Rangers

AP Photo/Gail Burton

If you're one of those folks who hasn't paid much attention to Ian Kinsler -- which at least puts you in a group that includes just about everyone in America except Mrs. Kinsler -- it would probably come as a shock to hear he's even the MVP of his own team. But while Josh Hamilton is a more charismatic story and Milton Bradley's 1.033 OPS makes him a sabermetric hero, it's Kinsler who has really been the centerpiece of one of the best offenses in baseball. You'll undoubtedly be stunned to learn that Kinsler leads the league in batting, hits, runs, total bases, extra-base hits and multihit games. He's in the top five in the league in nine major offensive categories. He has stolen 23 bases in 24 tries (with the only caught-stealing on a pickoff). He's hitting .397 with men in scoring position. Only three of his 14 homers have been hit in that Texas home run paradise. He has run off separate hitting streaks of 23 and 19 games just since mid-May. And he has reached base in every game but one since May 16. The only arguments against him come down to defense (16 errors) and the fact that his team hasn't been closer to first place than six games since June 1. But the Rangers actually have more wins since April 24 (42) than the White Sox (41), Angels (41) and Red Sox (40). So every number on Kinsler's stat sheet is relevant to his club's revival. And that's good enough for us.

Apologies to: Hamilton, Bradley, Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Quentin, Kevin Youkilis, Joe Mauer, J.D. Drew.

Kinsler is even the lead picture on the main MLB section over at ESPN.com, awesome!

He gives out some other awards, including AL Least Valuable Player of the First Half, Richie Sexson.  That award is probably more deserving than Kinslers!  A decent read, so check it out!

Check this out for more information about how each player got to the game.  I'll summarize it here though, too!

AL Starters:

C. Joe Mauer
1B. Kevin Youkilis
2B. Dustin Pedroia
SS. Derek Jeter
3B: Alex Rodriguez
OF: Josh Hamilton - 3.7 million votes
OF: Manny Ramirez
OF: Ichiro Suzuki - Lone Mariner
DH: David Ortiz

They announced Josh Hamilton first, so it will be interesting to see if he actually surpassed Manny, or if those were read off in alphabetical order, or what.

AL Pitchers:

SP. Scott Kazmir - Players pick
SP. Roy Halladay - Players pick - Lone Blue Jay
SP. Justin Duchsherer - Managers pick - Lone Athletic
SP. Cliff Lee - Players pick
SP. Ervin Santana - Players pick
SP. Joe Saunders - Players pick
CL. George Sherrill - Managers pick - Lone Oriole
CL. Mariano Rivera - Players pick
CL. Jonathan Papelbon - Players pick
CL. Joe Nathan - Managers pick
CL. Joakim Soria - Managers pick - Lone Royal
CL. Francisco Rodriguez - Players pick

A crap load of closers!

AL Reserves:

C. Dioner Navarro - Managers pick
C. Jason Varitek - Players pick
1B. Justin Morneau - Players pick
2B. Ian Kinsler - Players pick
SS. Michael Young - Players pick
3B. Joe Crede - Players pick
3B/1B. Carlos Guillen - Managers pick - Lone Tiger
OF. J.D. Drew - Players pick
OF. Carlos Quentin - Players pick
OF. Grady Sizemore - Players pick
DH. Milton Bradley - Players pick - On the show, Francona said Bradley will be starting at DH, in lieu of David Ortiz

Great news about Kinsler, Young and Bradley!

AL Final Vote:

1B. Jason Giambi
2B. Brian Roberts
3B. Evan Longoria
OF. Jermaine Dye
OF. Jose Guillen

####

And here is the link for the details about the NL selections.

NL Starters:

C. Geovany Soto - First Rookie to start at catcher in the NL
1B. Lance Berkman
2B. Chase Utley
SS. Hanley Ramirez
3B. Chipper Jones
OF: Ryan Bruan
OF: Alfonso Soriano
OF: Kosuke Fukudome

I could think of some more deserving NL players that should have been starters.

NL Pitchers:

SP. Aaron Cook - Managers pick
SP. Tim Lincecum
SP. Dan Haren - Managers pick
SP. Ben Sheets
SP. Carlos Zambrano - Managers pick
SP. Brandon Webb
SP. Ryan Dempster - Players pick
SP. Edison Volquez - Lone Red
CL. Brian Wilson
CL. Kerry Wood - Players pick
CL. Brad Lidge
CL. Billy Wagner - Managers pick - Lone Met

NL Reserves:

C. Brian McCann - Managers pick - Lone Dodger
C. Russell Martin - Players pick
1B. Albert Pujols - Managers pick
1B. Adrian Gonzalez - Lone Padre
2B. Dan Uggla
SS. Miguel Tejada - Players pick
SS. Cristian Guzman - Managers pick - Lone National
3B. Aramis Ramirez - Players pick
OF. Matt Holliday - Players pick
OF. Nate McLouth - Players pick - Lone Pirate
OF. Ryan Ludwick - Players pick

NL Final Vote:

3B. David Wright
OF. Pat Burrell
OF. Corey Hart
OF. Carlos Lee
OF. Aaron Rowand

The announcers didn't add the commentary on every player about if they were a players or managers pick, but if I don't have the commentary, you might be able to infer if the player is the only one from his team, like Guzman is (although they did say he was a managers pick).

Top Teams Represented:

Red Sox - 7
Cubs - 7
Rangers - 4
Angels - 3
Twins - 3
Yankees - 3
12 teams with 2
12 teams with 1