Texas Rangers

The Rangers have claimed 25 year old outfielder Joe Benson on waivers from the Minnesota Twins. Benson was a 2nd round draft pick in the 2006 draft by the Minnesota Twins (Texas didn't have a 2nd round pick that year, losing it after signing Kevin Millwood), and was #100 on the BA top 100 prospect list going into the 2011 season, and #99 going into last season. Benson, who primarily has played centerfield but who has played all three outfield spots in the minors, posted a sub-600 OPS in both AA and AAA in 2012, however, and has just a .192/.256/.285 line this year in AAA. Benson, who will be out of options after this season, will get a chance to try to get his career back on track with the Rangers, and will presumably be playing every day in Round Rock. To make room for Benson on the 40 man roster, the Rangers have transferred Matt Harrison to the 60 day d.l. UPDATE -- Evan Grant tweets Benson is going to Frisco, not Round Rock.

In the minds of baseball writers everywhere, the Texas Rangers were big losers in the past off-season. Failing to acquire the talent they set out for along with losing Josh Hamilton to the Angels, not many people believed they would compete in 2013. Showing all the of baseball world that you don't have win the off-season to win in the regular season, the Rangers are currently sporting the American Leagues best record at 31-17. The Rangers lead the AL West by 5 1/2 games over the Oakland Athletics and by 10 games over the divisions spring training favorite, Los Angeles Angels. While Josh Hamilton sits in Los Angeles with a .222 batting average and 6 homeruns. Texas is showing the fans that they don't need him to win. Instead they have four players with more homeruns than Hamilton and 12 players with a higher batting average. The biggest surprise to the Rangers success may be their pitching. Texas set out over the winter in hopes of acquiring a top of the rotation starter in that could help fill in with Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison. The Rangers came away empty handed in an attempt to acquire James Shields or Zack Greinke from the Rays. But as the stats show, the Rangers are just fine without them. Texas as a team ranks 1st in the American League in ERA and are 3rd in batting average against. Those numbers coming while Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, and Neftali Feliz are all on the DL with injuries. Even with the injuries to his supporting cast, Yu Darvish is having his best season since coming to America. Darvish is leading the league in strikeouts and is 7-2 with a 2.84 ERA. To think that the Rangers pitching is already surprisingly good and come June they're going to get back the likes of Colby Lewis back as he continues to recover from elbow surgery last July. The Rangers bullpen will receive a big boost to it when Joakim Soria and Neftali Feliz return sometime in July. Pitching was expected to be a weakness for the Rangers this season and as strong as it's been, it is expected to get better when the help arrives. Texas has never been known as a team to have an issue scoring runs and they still haven't held that title in 2013. With Mike Napoli, Michael Young, and Josh Hamilton all gone from last years team, the Rangers are still 7th in the league in runs scored. Ian Kinsler was placed on the DL a couple days ago with rib issues, and he takes his team leading .301 batting average with him. Kinsler has been a player on a slight decline over recent years and he's found his swing once again in 2013. The Rangers may have missed out of trading for Justin Upton from the D-Backs, who's having a power power season, but they're still getting production from Nelson Cruz, who leads the team in homeruns (11) and RBI's (34). Letting go of Michael Young was a risk that the Rangers had to take with the looming emergence of Jurickson Profar. Texas also gave Elvis Andrus a big contract extension this year to keep him in Texas for the long haul, as many people thought Andrus could be gone when Profar arrives. To replace Hamilton the Rangers signed Lance Berkman and brought in A.J. Pierzynski to take the place of Mike Napoli. Both players are having reasonably well seasons in Arlington. Just look at the Angles, Dodgers, and Blue Jays. They're prime example that show championships aren't won with the things that happen off the field. They're won with what happens on the field. And the Rangers are doing everything right on the diamond. We always talk about the teams that won or lost the off-season. And like I said, many people would say that the Texas Rangers lost the off-season. But did they really, because last time I checked the Rangers are in 1st place and the Los Angeles Angels under .500. In the minds of baseball writers everywhere, the Texas Rangers were big losers in the past off-season. Failing to acquire the talent they set out for along with losing Josh Hamilton to the Angels, not many people believed they w

Age 9 * ER / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played.Bold indicates lowest ERA using current statsGold means awarded ERA title at end of year." data-stat="earned_run_avg">ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO 9 x H / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" data-stat="hits_per_nine">H/9 9 x HR / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" data-stat="home_runs_per_nine">HR/9 9 x BB / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" data-stat="bases_on_balls_per_nine">BB/9 9 x SO / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" data-stat="strikeouts_per_nine">SO/9 SO/BBFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" data-stat="strikeouts_per_base_on_balls">SO/BB Alec Asher 21 2.70 9 8 46.2 34 19 14 5 12 41 6.6 1.0 2.3 7.9 3.42 Jon Edwards 25 3.38 10 0 16.0 11 7 6 0 19 17 6.2 0.0 10.7 9.6 0.89 Jerad Eickhoff 22 4.03 9 9 51.1 51 27 23 4 10 32 8.9 0.7 1.8 5.6 3.20 Ryan Harvey 22 1.31 15 0 20.2 14 7 3 1 13 27 6.1 0.4 5.7 11.8 2.08 Luke Jackson 21 2.61 9 9 41.1 36 13 12 3 20 46 7.8 0.7 4.4 10.0 2.30 Phil Klein 24 1.98 7 0 13.2 6 4 3 0 3 12 4.0 0.0 2.0 7.9 4.00 Will Lamb* 22 5.89 13 0 18.1 16 12 12 4 10 13 7.9 2.0 4.9 6.4 1.30 Nick Martinez 22 2.82 9 8 44.2 38 17 14 2 14 34 7.7 0.4 2.8 6.9 2.43 Arlett Mavare 23 2.38 7 0 11.1 7 5 3 1 3 12 5.6 0.8 2.4 9.5 4.00 Nick McBride 22 1.96 12 0 23.0 20 7 5 2 9 11 7.8 0.8 3.5 4.3 1.22 Francisco Mendoza 25 5.62 6 0 8.0 12 7 5 0 3 8 13.5 0.0 3.4 9.0 2.67 Jose Monegro 23 0.00 3 0 3.1 1 0 0 0 2 4 2.7 0.0 5.4 10.8 2.00 Victor Payano* 20 3.80 9 9 47.1 33 21 20 2 21 55 6.3 0.4 4.0 10.5 2.62 Randol Rojas 22 3.32 14 0 21.2 13 9 8 0 8 18 5.4 0.0 3.3 7.5 2.25 Paul Schwendel 23 2.84 5 0 6.1 4 2 2 0 5 4 5.7 0.0 7.1 5.7 0.80 Joe Van Meter 24 2.25 12 2 24.0 22 10 6 2 10 29 8.2 0.8 3.8 10.9 2.90 16 Players 22.3 3.08 45 45 397.2 318 167 136 26 162 363 7.2 0.6 3.7 8.2 2.24 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original TableGenerated 5/25/2013.

The Rangers have a rare scheduled doubleheader on Monday in Arizona. This is actually a neat idea, and I'm a little surprised more teams don't do it on holidays...I remember several years ago when the Rangers weren't even scheduled to play on Memorial Day, and now they're going to play a pair. In any case, Yu Darvish has been set to start one of the games, but the starter of the second game had been up in the air. Last night, however, the Rangers announced that Martin Perez would be starting the other game. As we have discussed, the new CBA includes a provision that allows teams to add a 26th man for most doubleheaders. The 26th player has to be active for both games. The roster has to go back down to 25 the following day. So Martin Perez will be recalled to start on Monday, although it isn't a given the Rangers will use Perez as the 26th man. For example...the Rangers could, theoretically, add Martin Perez and send someone else -- say, Ross Wolf or Joe Ortiz -- to the minors. They could then bring Cory Burns up as the 26th man, since the player brought back as the 26th man isn't subject to the 10 day waiting period after being optioned to be recalled. Then, if the Rangers wanted to keep Burns up, they could send Wolf or Ortiz -- whichever wasn't originally sent down -- to the minors the next day, getting the roster back to 25. Perez has pitched four games in the minors this year, all in May, after missing time with a broken arm in spring training that likely cost him the opportunity to be in the Opening Day rotation for the Rangers. While his first three outings weren't great, Perez went 7 innings against Reno on May 21, striking out 7, giving up 3 hits, and allowing no runs or walks. That outing apparently earned him the start on Monday over Josh Lindblom and Ross Wolf.

That was a weird game last night. T.R. Sullivan's game story is all about the "phantom double play," as he refers to it, where Justin Grimm caught a ball intended for Mitch Moreland, but the umpire thought Moreland caught it and called the runner out at first. Sullivan has quotes from Grimm and Moreland about the play. Jeff Wilson's game story also talks about the double play that really wasn't, which bailed out Grimm, who was struggling early in the game. Todd Wills has his Rapid Reaction at the ESPN Dallas blog. Evan Grant has a story about Justin Grimm relying on his sinking fastball to get ground balls when he gets into trouble. Wilson has a story on how minor league call-ups Ross Wolf and Neal Cotts have contributed this week to the Rangers' success. Sullivan's notes talk about Martin Perez starting on Monday in one of the games of the doubleheader, the status of Nick Tepesch and Alexi Ogando, Mitch Moreland hitting 2nd, Mike Olt resuming baseball activities, and Ross Wolf being the oldest starter the Rangers have had this season. The S-T's notes talk about Joe Saunders yesterday breaking a streak of righthanders starting against the Rangers and various issues relating to pitchers with Texas.

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It’s almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more. Anibal Sanchez’s bid for his second career no-hitter fell just two outs short on Friday night. After retiring Jamey Carroll on a somewhat questionable strike three call to begin the ninth inning, Minnesota Twins star Joe Mauer laced a 1-1 pitch right back up the middle for a clean single, which keeps Sanchez from joining Justin Verlander, Mark Buehrle and Roy Halladay as the only active pitchers with multiple no-hitters. At least temporarily. The way he’s throwing this season, another bid is probably around the corner. ”It’s not that I go to the mound and want to do something special, it’s just that I want to go nine innings, go deeper, get a good command, get a good game,” Sanchez said. ”When I come to the eighth inning, I think about it. But when I come to the ninth inning, it’s really tough with those guys.” Much like his Friday night start back on April 26 when he struck out 17 Atlanta Braves, Sanchez had everything working against Minnesota. That was especially true during a stretch from the second inning to the seventh inning where he retired 18 straight batters. He ended up going the distance for his fourth career one-hitter , striking out 12. The outing required 130 pitches, which is sure to make a few fans uneasy, but he’s been no worse for the wear after throwing 122 in the April start. As for how Mauer felt about his latest history-breaking hit, which by the way is his third career ninth inning knock to break up a no-no attempt. ”He’s nasty, and he had everything working tonight,” Mauer said. ”Obviously, you know exactly what is happening, and you don’t want to get no-hit. I’m just up there trying to put the bat on the ball. He threw me a really good cutter and I was just able to square it up.” View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Texas Rangers News

via vagary.tv Metal Gear Solid (Japanese: メタルギアソリッド Hepburn: Metaru Gia Soriddo?, commonly abbreviated as MGS) is an action-adventure stealth video game directed by Hideo Kojima.[4] The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStationvideo game console. It is the sequel to Kojima's MSX2 computer game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The game featured cinematic cutscenes rendered using the in-game engine and graphics, as well as voice acting in numerous codec sequences.[5] Metal Gear Solid follows Solid Snake, a soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit.[6] Snake must liberate two hostages, the head of DARPA and the president of a major arms manufacturer, confront the terrorists, and stop them from launching a nuclear strike.[7] Metal Gear Solid was very well received, shipping more than six million copies,[8] and scoring an average of 94/100 on the aggregate website Metacritic.[9] It is recognized by many critics as one of the best and most important games of all time,[10][11] and heralded as the game which made the stealth genre popular. The commercial success of the title prompted the release of an expanded version for the PlayStation and PC, titled Metal Gear Solid: Integral;[12] and a remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was later released for the Nintendo GameCube.[13][14] The game has also spawned numerous sequels, prequelsand spin-offs, including several games, a radio drama, comics, and novels. via vagary.tv Metal Gear Solid (Japanese: メタルギアソリッド Hepburn: Metaru Gia Soriddo?, commonly abbreviated as MGS) is an action-adventure stealth video game directed by Hideo Kojima.[4] The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStationvideo game console. It is the sequel to Kojima's MSX2 computer game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The game featured cinematic cutscenes rendered using the in-game engine and graphics, as well as voice acting in numerous codec sequences.[5] Metal Gear Solid follows Solid Snake, a soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit.[6] Snake must liberate two hostages, the head of DARPA and the president of a major arms manufacturer, confront the terrorists, and stop them from launching a nuclear strike.[7] Metal Gear Solid was very well received, shipping more than six million copies,[8] and scoring an average of 94/100 on the aggregate website Metacritic.[9] It is recognized by many critics as one of the best and most important games of all time,[10][11] and heralded as the game which made the stealth genre popular. The commercial success of the title prompted the release of an expanded version for the PlayStation and PC, titled Metal Gear Solid: Integral;[12] and a remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was later released for the Nintendo GameCube.[13][14] The game has also spawned numerous sequels, prequelsand spin-offs, including several games, a radio drama, comics, and novels.

The revolving door to the Rangers' injury-plagued starting rotation picked up another fill-in late Friday when manager Ron Washington announced that left-hander Martin Perez would start one of the two games Monday in a doubleheader at Arizona. Perez is likely to start the first game, with Yu Darvish starting the second. Perez was the choice over right-handers Josh Lindblom, who started Monday and lost to Oakland, and Ross Wolf, who beat Oakland on Wednesday. Major-league rules allow for teams to carry a 26th player for a doubleheader, so Wolf will be in the bullpen. Perez, 22, allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings Tuesday for Triple A Round Rock. He is the Rangers' top pitching prospect and was headed toward a spot in the season-opening rotation before being struck on the arm by a line drive during a spring game March 3. He suffered a broken ulna and missed the next eight weeks. He made his major-league debut last season, going 1-4 with a 5.45 ERA. He will become the ninth different pitcher to start a game for the Rangers this season. Matt Harrison (back) and Alexi Ogando (biceps tendinitis), and Wolf filled in for Nick Tepesch on Wednesday after he was scratched with a blister on his right finger. Tepesch is expected to start Sunday. -- Jeff Wilson

The 3-6-1 double play the Rangers turned for the first two outs of the second inning should have never happened, but first-base umpire Jeff Nelson wrongly thought Mitch Moreland had caught a throw from Elvis Andrus in time to put out Jesus Sucre. The problem for Nelson and the Mariners was that pitcher Justin Grimm, standing well off the base, caught the ball. Brendan Ryan followed with a game-tying RBI single, and Seattle should have had runners at second and third with one out. Instead, Michael Saunders looked at strike three to end the inning. Here's Grimm's take: "That happened so fast I didn’t realize the ump had called him out. Mitch came up to me and said, 'Well, he called him out, so walk with me.' "I just started walking back to the mound like, 'Dang it. What did I do?' They’ve got a tough job, and not many people realize how quick things happen out there. We caught a break, for sure." Moreland had stretched for the ball, and appeared to be limping as he walked toward the mound. "I think that's just more the way I walk," he said. "I kind of wondered where it went, and then I looked up and saw Grimm there and was like, 'Well, I guess he caught it.' Then, I heard, 'Out.' "I told him to walk with me because I figured there was going to be an argument. That's the way it works sometimes. Nobody's perfect, especially in this game. It went our way." Mariners manager Eric Wedge argued, but not because Grimm caught the ball. Wedge thought that Moreland's foot hadn't held the bag. "It would have been a much bigger argument if I had known that at the time," Wedge said. Rangers manager Ron Washington was asked if he had seen a replay of the disputed play. "I don't have to see the replay," he said. "We caught a break there." -- Jeff Wilson      

SEATTLE – On Friday, the Rangers pulled off perhaps the greatest trick play in the history of baseball: the unintentional hidden ball tick. Whatever. It worked. And it was also a key play in the Rangers’ eventual 9-5 win over Seattle that sent the Mariners to their seventh consecutive loss. Here’s what actually happened: With the Rangers leading 2-1 heading to the bottom of the second inning, Seattle put the first two runners on base against wobbly starter RHP … [visit site to read more]