Another report, which surfaced in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this weekend, stated that the Rangers have been taken over by Major League Baseball. Tom Hicks has continuously denied this point, although he might just be covering his tracks or in denial if that is, in fact, the awful truth. The last team to be under the operation of Major League Baseball was the Montreal Expos, who were operated by MLB from the winter of 2001 until the middle of 2006 – after they had moved to Washington and become the Nationals.

First of all, I don’t think the club is going to move. It’s highly unlikely, considering there doesn’t seem to be a market that could support the Rangers the way this market could. I believe that the D-FW market can be one of the best, but there are a variety of problems that need to be solved before that can happen.

But those problems are for a different column. This column is focused on what to do about the Rangers ownership right now. In that article by Jim Reeves, team president Nolan Ryan (who somehow doesn’t even actually have a contract!) said that a sale probably won’t be completed until April or May at the earliest, which means this team might be MLB-controlled until 2011 or even 2012.

A quick history lesson: In 2003, the MLB-controlled Montreal Expos (who played 22 “home” games in San Juan, Puerto Rico) were part of a five-way tie for the Wild Card lead on August 28. MLB, however, decided that it could not afford to call up any young players at the September 1 roster expansion date. Orlando Cabrera, the shortstop for Montreal who was traded to Boston the next season, said that the restriction imposed by Major League Baseball was one of the main reasons he wanted to leave the franchise.

MLB did not get that drastic this year. There are quite a few contracts coming off the books for the Rangers this year, but MLB was reportedly why the Rangers did not sign first-round draft pick Matt Purke, although Hicks has repeateadly denied this being the case as well. Fan favorite Marlon Byrd is among those players who don’t have contracts with the team next year, and it doesn’t look like there will be a chance to resign the popular player with the financial trouble the franchise is in right now.

Another hot topic has been the $12 million option Kevin Millwood is on the verge of vesting as he sputters towards the finish line. There have been rumors floating out there that it is possible that MLB could order the team to shut Millwood down the rest of the way in order to save that $12 million. (Of course, there is no way that that figure could be used any other way to help the team.)

Millwood, though, is reportedly going to be pushed back until at least next Tuesday (which could also see Dustin Nippert start on six days’ rest).

Clearly, the Rangers are in disarray. Is it affecting their play on the field? Hard to say, although the recent three of four slide has been maybe the most discouraging stretch of the season other than maybe games four through 11.

Perhaps if a candidate emerged with some deep pockets, this team could get some momentum going and make one last run.

Might I suggest a certain Mavs owner with a perchant for smart investments…?

Downtown ballpark, you say? Some space around where Reunion Arena used to be…

Expos info via Wikipedia

The Texas Rangers are in the thick of the wild card playoff race for the first time since the 90s. The Rangers success is surprisingly due to their great pitching and defense, Ron Washington has even said that if you can’t play defense you will not be playing for the Texas Rangers. This is comforting to hear considering all the teams the Rangers have fielded in the past that were built to hit home runs and because of this struck out a lot. As I am writing this the Texas Rangers trail the Boston Red Sox by 2 games for the Wild Card Playoff spot. Below you will find the updated AL Wild Card Standings for the 2009 playoffs.

2009 MLB Playoffs – American League | MLB Baseball Tickets!

Wild Card Standings

Besides the obvious reason why those games were so disheartening (the wearing down of the Rangers’ starters, which is a post for another day), the tough part about watching the Rangers settle for a split against an inferior opponent was the lack of response by the Rangers offense after the Twins mounted a challenge. To their credit, the Rangers did respond to the Twins’ threat Thursday, but they also still had a three-run lead when they responded with a rally in the 6th inning.

But on Tuesday and especially Wednesday, the Rangers looked shell-shocked against the Twins bullpen. For the series, the Rangers scored a total of 7 runs off of the Twins bullpen and 29 total. Twenty-two runs off of Twins starting pitching, but only 7 against relievers. And five of those were in one game!

Jamey Newberg mentioned a few telling stats in his report that explain this fact from the Twins series: Starting in the sixth inning, the Rangers’ team OPS gets progressively worse as the game goes on. (7th worse than 6th, 8th worse than 7th, 9th worst of all) What does this mean? The Rangers probably aren’t going to lead the league in come-from-behind victories.

This team plays much better when it has a lead. Not reinventing the wheel here; most teams probably play better with a lead. But anytime this team gets behind, it doesn’t seem like they have much of a chance to come back and win.

That’s what made the losses this month so much harder: the two games against the Twins, the meltdowns against the Athletics and Red Sox – they were all games the Rangers had a lead in and should have been able to win. But that’s baseball.

Probably odd to write such a post after a game in which the Rangers actually kind of did come back to make a game of things tonight in Tampa, but it just never seemed like they truly had a chance tonight once Ben Zobrist went deep. Even then, they made Scott Kazmir look amazing.

The answer to the question I posed above is pretty simple. Most anybody who watches the Rangers on a consistent basis know why the Rangers don’t have the ability to come back from deficits.

It comes in three parts:

1. The Rangers don’t hit well enough. Sure they hit a lot of home runs, and those can get you back in a game quick. But solo home runs don’t help too much when your team is down by three or four runs – and those solo shots are tougher to get off the aces of the bullpen. The point is, though, that the Rangers are only 11th in batting average in the American League, with a .260 mark for the season. And for all of their perceived struggles hitting with runners in scoring position, the Rangers are still batting .261 in those situations. Again, 11th in the AL. (Want to know why the Angels are so good? .310 with RISP, .290 normally.)

2. The Rangers don’t get on base enough. The average team on-base percentage in the AL is .338. The Rangers’ team OBP is .322. Only two teams in the AL – Kansas City and Seattle – have a worse OBP. Without the ability to get on base, the Rangers can’t have innings in which they have a bunch of baserunners get on base and create a rally.

3. The Rangers don’t take advantage of scoring chances. I mentioned above how much trouble the Rangers have hitting with runners in scoring position. Besides that trouble, however, the Rangers have problems scoring runners in situations when they don’t even need hits. Take, for example, the top of the 6th inning of tonight’s game: Elvis singles to left, Ian fails to move him over. Michael Young doubles (bad luck on the ground-rule part) him to third.

Second and third, one out. Rangers are down 5-0, but two runs gets them right back in the game. Still, even a fly ball scores Elvis from third. But Marlon and Andruw both strike out, game remains 5-0, missed runs end up being the difference in the game.

The Rangers have had far too many chances like that in the 6th – runner in scoring position, less than two outs, and can’t even get an out that could score the run.

Every loss hurts right now. While the Rangers didn’t fall any further out of a playoff spot, the Rays are a very beatable team. To have a day when both the Angels and Red Sox lost and not take advantage…the Rangers can’t afford to have too many games like that.

So if they’re going to make the playoffs this year, they’re going to have to do something they haven’t done much this year.

Come from behind.

But wow. I didn’t think he would be this bad.

A few stats just to give you an idea of how Josh has done since the All-Star Break: .158/.186/.228

That’s two extra-base hits (1 HR, 1 2B) in 15 games. Yikes.

Josh doesn’t even look good at the plate – he swings at way too many bad pitches and not enough good ones.

In his defense, there are a couple of reasons why Josh could be struggling with his numbers: 1. He’s still hurt. Josh did come back a lot quicker from his procedure than most players do. He could be in a significant amount of pain which could be contributing to his struggles. 2. His BABIP. Josh’s batting average on balls in play is a ridiculously low .262, which is bound to come up with more playing time, which means more hits. That does not, however, explain the complete lack of home runs, which don’t factor into BABIP.

This could just be a dreadful slump. If Josh could have a game where he had multiple hits, that might get him going mentally. I’m sure there’s also some form of pressing going on with Josh – he wants to be the thunder in the middle of the order so this team can win, so he is trying way too hard. I’m not sure why he’s been so bad at the plate (although his defense has been so good that he’s worth .5 wins above a replacement player), but maybe that has something to do with it.

So the question is this: What do you do with Josh?

Do you send him back down to the minors? Put him on the DL (because he just hasn’t recovered from that injury)? Or just ride it out?

Through the greatness of Fangraphs, we can see here just about everything you could possibly want to know about Josh Hamilton’s hitting statistics. Josh isn’t hitting as many line drives (19% vs. 21%), he’s striking out more (25% this year, 20% last year), he can’t seem to hit any type of off speed pitches (although he seems to be okay on fastballs), he’s swinging at a lot more pitches (59% this year vs. 55% last year) and making far less contact this year (70%) than last year (74%).

Lots of numbers there, but the point is that Josh has been worse this year in just about every conceivable way with the bat. Probably didn’t require all of those statistics to tell you that, as anyone who’s watched Josh play this year could tell you that he has been awful, but the question is why. Has he been awful because of injuries? Probably. Josh has really been banged up this year, although he says he’s healthy now. There was really only one week that Josh looked like himself, which was the week in which the Rangers won all of their games.

Beginning May 12, the Rangers ripped off six straight wins at home against Seattle and the Angels to post a seven-game win streak. Those six games (Josh exited the final one with an injury after crashing into the centerfield wall) were really the only games where Josh seemingly looked like himself. He went 5 for 21 with 3 HR, 9 RBI, 4 BB and 8 Ks. That was Josh’s best stretch of the season, which is good in terms of power, but not great in terms of average.

In the most recent series against the Mariners, Josh had two hits in 13 at-bats with a walk. He didn’t strike out once, and he had three line drives. Josh’s line drive rate isn’t really horrible, but it’s definitely not good. Only 12 players in the majors have line drive rates of 23% or better, so Josh is really not all that bad in that category.

The problem is the strikeouts. If Josh could find it within him to take a few more pitches – it’s not going to kill you to take a few pitches in the strike zone – and wait for his pitch, his stats would look a whole lot better.

Josh isn’t going anywhere unless an injury comes up. All that needs to happen is for Josh to take a few more pitches and swing at a few less pitcher’s pitches, or at least foul them off. If he does that, I’ve got a good feeling that Josh Hamilton will be able to help this offense tremendously. The Rangers don’t need the Josh Hamilton of 2008. Would they love it if he showed up? Sure. But they just need a guy who’s going to do better than the Josh Hamilton that’s in there now. If they get that, they might have a chance to catch the unconscious Angels.

And with that tragic fandom, this poor soul is convinced that Gordon Beckham is far superior to our own Elvis Andrus. He has gone so far as to say that Gordon Beckham is more of a franchise player than our beloved shortstop.

Personally, I don’t think this debate is worth even acknowledging. Gordon Beckham vs. Elvis Andrus is like Porky Pig vs. Bugs Bunny. Porky had some funny moments and was an overall good cartoon, but I mean, come on. Bugs is a national icon.

Same with Beckham/Andrus. Beckham is a nice player and can rake, but Elvis impacts the game positively in every aspect. He can run, hit, play AMAZING defense, and lead his team.

On Midwest Sports Fans, said White Sox fan defended his boy Gordon Beckham here. One of the points he made in support of Beckham was that he said one day he wanted to lead his team like Derek Jeter leads the Yankees. A noble goal, and one that I am not belittling in any way, shape, or form.

Elvis would never say that, though. He would never come out and say to the media that one day he hopes to lead his team like Jeter.

Elvis knows he’s going to lead his team like Jeter. Not to get all Chuck Norris-y on you here, but Elvis is probably going to lead his team unlike any player in Rangers history.

Is Elvis an outspoken guy? No. Not many 20-year-olds from outside of the United States are.

But is he a team leader? You bet your ass.

Rangers superduperfan Jamey Newberg has written quite a few things about Mr. Andrus, one of which talked about Elvis’ indefiniable charisma. How the ball just sounds different coming off his bat. As much as I’ve seen of Elvis, I have to agree. There’s a reason I got a shirt with his name on the back. I just know he’s going to be a star. Sometimes you’ve just got that feeling that a player’s going to be special. That’s how I feel when I watch Elvis play. I’m watching something special here.

All Rangers fans have seen his defensive plays and how spectacular they are. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Elvis has truly energized the defense to where it is this year.

Are Elvis’ offensive statistics spectacular? On the surface, they are not. But take a deeper look at how Elvis does not strike out very often (15% of PA) and walks at a relatively decent clip (8%) as a 20-year-old provides some real good hope for this team’s future.

Elvis is one of the most untradeable guys on this team. He’s a young player that has nowhere to go but up. His hitting stroke has improved tremendously since the All-Star Break, and he’s getting on base more too. And once he’s on the bases, look out. Elvis already has 20 steals this year while only having been caught twice. He could easily get 30-35 steals in this, his rookie season.

Nothing against Gordon Beckham, as I’m sure he’s a fine player. But for the whole package of youth, speed, defense and athleticism?

Well, there is a reason they call him the King.

Elvis pic: http://mopupduty.com/index.php/inside-a-dominican-academy/

But that’s what we saw last night in the Rangers impressive 7-3 win over Detroit; an attitude that has probably never been seen before by the fans at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Eddie Guardado was getting into it with Jim Leyland, Jason Grilli was defending himself, and the Tigers looked pretty foolish after Zach Miner threw behind Ian Kinsler.

Enough has been said about this offense (although it does seem the team is getting hot right now), but Jamey Newberg made the best point about this pitching staff – they have a swagger.

This staff goes out and expects to shut down the opposing offense every time out. Millwood, Padilla, Feldman, Hunter, Holland all bring their own unique talents, not to mention the Wolfpack.

Frankie will be back soon which will make this ‘pen even better. Right off the DL, Francisco ought to be the 8th inning guy with how well C.J. Wilson has pitched this year. But with Ceej, Frank and O’Day at the back end, I feel pretty good if our starter makes it to the 6th inning with the lead. And with the number of times that’s happened this year, that seems to be a pretty safe bet.

Nothing against Jason Jennings, but he makes me a little nervous whenever he’s out there. Nippert and Mathis have been great as long men out of the pen, although I think Mathis should stay there for good. Guillermo Moscoso has done very well this year at AAA as a starter, so I think he might be the next candidate to fill-in whenever one of our pitchers can’t go.

The next few days are going to be interesting for this staff. It would be very nice to see Padilla and Millwood gut out a couple of starts on Thursday and Friday, especially considering Mathis and Nippert both need some time to recover. If Padilla and Millwood could go, that would mean a rotation of Padilla-Millwood-Hunter-Holland for the four games against the Mariners this weekend. King Felix is slated to go Saturday with Washburn behind him on Sunday, but Washburn has been at the center of a ton of trade speculation, so he might be gone by then.

But if the more senior members of this starting staff can win the first two games of this series against the back-end of the M’s rotation, I feel pretty good about trotting Hunter and Holland out there this weekend.

It’s just amazing to watch the Rangers and know they have a chance to win every time out there because of their pitching staff.

Let’s hope that Jon Daniels does whatever is necessary to keep it that way.

In order to do this the Rangers will need to have several things happen:

• Bullpen: needs to stay strong.
• Rotation: get healthy. (the flu has sidelined several pitchers)
• Offense: needs to return to form.
• Josh Hamilton needs to resurface as the power hitter he is.

The Bullpen and Rotation have had exceptional this year so far, without this unexpected great play the Rangers would no doubt be under .500 due to the power outage they have been experiencing this season. Since a trade is very unlikely because Tom Hicks is broke, the teams best hope is for Josh Hamilton to re-emerge from the injury induced slump that he is trying to work out of.

All of the games on the Texas Ranger’s schedule for the month of August will be on Fox Sports Southwest, except for one lone game that will appear on FOX. My cable provider finally picked up Fox Sports HD so you know I will be watching the games, if I don’t buy Rangers tickets instead.

AL WEST STANDINGS

AL West Standings

Wild Card Standings

Rangers Record for August: 13 – 12
Texas Rangers Schedule August, 2009

Texas Rangers vs Seattle Mariners | Get Rangers Tickets
8/1/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 2 vs Seattle Mariners 7
8/2/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 4 vs Seattle Mariners 2
Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics | Get Rangers Tickets
8/3/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 2 at Oakland Athletics 3
8/4/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 0 at Oakland Athletics 6
8/5/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 5 at Oakland Athletics 7
8/6/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 6 at Oakland Athletics 4

Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Angels | Get Rangers Tickets
8/7/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 11 at Los Angeles Angels 6
8/8/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 2 at Los Angeles Angels 3
8/9/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 7 at Los Angeles Angels 0

Texas Rangers at Cleveland Indians | Get Rangers Tickets
8/11/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 0 at Cleveland Indians 5
8/12/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 5 at Cleveland Indians 0
8/13/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 4 at Cleveland Indians 1

Texas Rangers vs Boston Red SoxGet Rangers Tickets
8/14/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 4 vs Boston Red Sox 8
8/15/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 7 vs Boston Red Sox 2
8/16/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 4 vs Boston Red Sox 3

Texas Rangers vs Minnesota Twins | Get Rangers Tickets
8/17/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 8 vs Minnesota Twins 5
8/18/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 6 vs Minnesota Twins 9
8/19/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 4 vs Minnesota Twins 5
8/20/2009 | Home Game | Texas Rangers 11 vs Minnesota Twins 1

Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays | Get Rangers Tickets
8/21/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 3 at Tampa Bay Rays 5
8/22/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 4 at Tampa Bay Rays 5
8/23/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 4 at Tampa Bay Rays 0

Texas Rangers at New York Yankees | Get Rangers Tickets
8/25/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 10 at New York Yankees 9
8/26/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 2 at New York Yankees 9
8/27/2009 | Road Game | Texas Rangers 7 at New York Yankees 2

Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins | Get Rangers Tickets
8/28/2009 | Road Game | 7:10PM CT | Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins | Fox Sports SW
8/29/2009 | Road Game | 6:10PM CT | Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins | Fox Sports SW
8/30/2009 | Road Game | 1:10 PM CT | Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins | Fox Sports SW

Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays | Get Rangers Tickets
8/31/2009 | Home Game | 7:05PM CT | Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays | Fox Sports SW
**9/1/2009 | Home Game | 4:05PM CT | Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays | Fox Sports SW ** Double Header
9/2/2009 | Home Game | 7:05PM CT | Texas Rangers vs Toronto Blue Jays | Fox Sports SW

This post is sponsored by Mark Rubin & Associates – Dallas Bankruptcy Attorneys

The list of the 18 perfect games in Major League Baseball history:

Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox, July 23, 2009 vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks, May 18, 2004 vs. Atlanta Braves

David Cone, New York Yankees, July 18, 1999 vs. Montreal Expos

David Wells, New York Yankees, May 17, 1998 vs. Minnesota Twins

Kenny Rogers, Texas Rangers, July 28, 1994 vs. California Angels

Dennis Martinez, Montreal Expos, July 28, 1991 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Tom Browning, Cincinnati Reds, September 16, 1988 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Mike Witt, California Angels, September 30, 1984 vs. Texas Rangers

Len Barker, Cleveland Indians, May 15, 1981 vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Catfish Hunter, Oakland Athletics, May 8, 1968 vs. Minnesota Twins

Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers, September 9, 1965 vs. Chicago Cubs

Jim Bunning, Philadelphia Phillies, June 21, 1964 vs. New York Mets

Don Larsen, New York Yankees, October 8, 1956 vs. Brooklyn Dodgers

Charlie Robertson, Chicago White Sox, April 30, 1922 vs. Detroit Tigers

Addie Joss, Cleveland Naps, October 8, 1908 vs. Chicago White Sox

Cy Young, Boston Americans, May 5, 1904 vs. Philadelphia Athletics

John Montgomery Ward, Providence Grays, June 17, 1880 vs. Buffalo Bisons

Lee Richmond, Worcester Ruby Legs, June 12, 1880 vs. Cleveland Blues

That’s it. That’s the list. There have been many close misses (Harvey Haddix), but those 18 men stand alone in the annals of baseball.

In short, yes, life is good. But this weekend’s series should tell us a lot about this team. It is the Kansas City Royals, who just got shellacked in three games against the hated Angels, but Zack Greinke is on the mound Friday.

And the Rangers have struggled a little too much against subpar teams this season. Not to say the Rangers have been horrible against the bad teams, but there seems to be a contrast in their play against the lesser teams compared with their play against the big boys.

Take for example, earlier this month: the Rangers lost 3 of 4 in Seattle after winning 2 of 3 against the Angels. While Seattle is no slouch, the Rangers should have won the first game of that series.

Or just take last week: Minnesota comes in and wins 2 of 3. Again, the Twins are a decent team, but it should be the Rangers taking 2 of 3 at home. No team should come into Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and win a series.

Against teams who have a winning record right now, the Rangers are 34-26 on the season. That record is even better at home: the Rangers are 21-9 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington against teams with a winning record.

So against teams with losing records, the Rangers are 18-15. That’s not going to cut it.

Now what do those records mean? Not much, really. Five of the wins the Rangers have against teams with a winning record came against Houston, who wasn’t playing close to the level they’re at now. Same story for the Rangers against the White Sox – four wins from earlier in the season from when the Pale Hose weren’t clicking on all cylinders.

But the Rangers were also a little unfortunate with their early schedule, catching Baltimore and Kansas City when both teams were playing relatively well in the second week of the season.

That record is also dragged down because of a 2-4 record against the Blue Jays, who were over .500 both times the Rangers played them. Still, that record should be more like 21-12 instead of 18-15.

You want more stats? Sure. The Rangers are 9-12 against the first-place teams in the American League. Of course, Boston was in first until this week, so if you put them in that statistic instead of the Yankees, the Rangers are 12-9.

So what’s the point of these records? At the end of the day, nothing. It is fun to see how the Rangers are doing against the best competition, but in reality, all the Rangers can do is worry about themselves.

I don’t really have any answer for the question I posed at the top, though. Maybe the Rangers lose a little bit of focus, I don’t know.

The Rangers, on any given day, can go out and beat any team in the major leagues. Every major league team can. The difference between the good teams and the bad teams is that the good teams have a better chance to win more often than the bad teams do.

This weekend the Rangers have three games against one of the worst teams in baseball. Granted, Zack Greinke is starting for the Royals on Friday, but that can’t be an excuse.

Kansas City is struggling woefully right now, and the Rangers need to find a way to continue those struggles despite having a lot of players infected with the flu.

What did the Angels do against the Royals? They swept them. If the Rangers consider themselves to be in the same class as the Angels, they need to do the exact same thing.

They need to break out the brooms again against Kansas City.

Scott Feldman pic: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/mssJKDAeSSh/San+Diego+Padres+v+Texas+Rangers/UECgRpzFAYY/Scott+Feldman

Season record: 50-41
AL West ranking: 2
Offshore sportsbook odds to win World Series: 19 to 1

THE LINEUP

There’s plenty to report about the Texas lineup this week. First, Josh Hamilton is back in the middle of the order. While he’s not making noise just yet – he’s hitting .250 with one homer in 11 games since returning from the DL – he’s reportedly fully healthy. Meanwhile, David Murphy, who was only supposed to be an injury replacement, keeps swinging a hot stick. He’s hitting .412 this month and forcing his way into more playing time.

Congrats to Michael Young, who passed Juan Gonzalez Monday night for third on the Rangers’ all-time hits list with 1,596. Nelson Cruz has missed a few games with a hairline fracture in his ring finger but isn’t expected to hit the DL.

THE ROTATION

Rookie Tommy Hunter continues to do his Tommy Hanson impression, baffling hitters and MLB predictions experts. However, he’s walked nine batters in 23 innings entering tonight’s start against Boston, so his 2.35 ERA will really get put to the test.

The All-Star break and subsequent drop to the bottom of the rotation may have helped Kevin Millwood find himself again. Monday’s win over the Red Sox was his best start in a month and he issued just one free pass after walking two or more hitters in six straight starts.

THE BULLPEN

Poor Frank Francisco. He’s back on the DL, but this time it’s with pneumonia of all things. The case is supposedly mild and the move is retroactive to July 10, so he could return by week’s end. Until then, C.J. Wilson will take over closing duties. I’m betting management feels safe putting the ball in Wilson’s hands, as he’s eight for 10 in save opps this season and has a 0.77 ERA at home.

OVERALL OUTLOOK

With the American League East so darned competitive, it looks like the Rangers will have to win the West to make the playoffs. They’re playing decent ball but, unfortunately for Dallas sports fans, so are the Angels. The season may come down to future head-to-head matchups between the two teams.