Fire in the Sky: Justin Smoak approaches The Show

As September draws nearer, the future promise for all 30 Major League teams comes in the form of the expansion of the roster from 25 to 40 players. When the rosters expand on September 1, “franchise saviors” and “organizational soldiers” get a small taste of the majors, or as it’s also known, “The Show.”

For the Texas Rangers, the hope is that the playoffs are still realistic on September 1. As of this writing on August 6, the team stood only 3 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the Wild Card berth in the playoffs. While the Rangers have already seen a couple of the jewels of their farm system, Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz, one gem still remains at AAA – Justin Smoak.

So who exactly is Justin Smoak, and why is he seen as one of the best players in the Rangers minor league system? Read more

Links of the Day: Power through!

With none of the four major sports going today, it is officially the slowest sports day of the year. A good chance for sports fans to catch our breath however, because starting tomorrow, things will get ramped up in a hurry. The Open Championship kicks off tomorrow from Turnberry, and Tiger Woods is still in search of that 15th major after two top-ten finishes in the majors this year. We’ll have more on the British later today, but first, here are some links for your perusal:

Baseball Time in Arlington’s Top 25 Prospect Rankings – (Baseball Time in Arlington)

Mike Hindman’s prospect rankings (split into three parts) – (InsideCorner)

B.J. Ryan’s job interview – (Food Court Lunch)

The Showdown: Whitlock vs. Bennett – (Deadspin)

A defense of the Mavs front office – (dallasbasketball.com)

Why the 2009 Dallas Cowboys feel different – (Blogging the Boys)

Minor League baseball game surpasses 50 total runs

33-18. This was the score of a professional baseball game yesterday (that didn’t even involve the Rangers!). No, not a major league game, but a professional game nonetheless. Yesterday (June 28) the Lake Elsinore Storm defeated the High Desert Mavericks 33-18 in a nine-inning game that lasted more than four hours. The inning-by-inning score (screen shot courtesy of milb.com) is shown below.

A rundown of the Cal League accomplishments in this game:

Record for total runs scored in a game (51)

Record for most hits by one team in a game (32)

Longest game by time (4 hrs, 10 min)

Record for team RBI in one game (31)

Longest hitting streak (36 games, set by High Desert’s James McOwen, breaking the previous record shared by the Rangers’ Chris Davis)

Tied record for most runs scored by one player in a game (7, by Lake Elsinore’s Matt Clark)

In all, six records were either broken or tied, but believe it or not, Lake Elsinore did not set the league record for most runs by one team in a game. They were one short.

Other highlights:

Clark went 5-6, hitting two homers and driving in five runs, falling a double short of the cycle.

Seven Storm players had at least three RBI’s, and every Storm player who batted scored at least once.

High Desert was forced to give up their designated hitter when their starting catcher was inserted as a pitcher in the 9th.

Incredible.