- Isn't it amazing what decent starting pitching can do for a team? Their starters basically pitched them out of it the first 2 months of the season. And now they're pitching great and Texas has gone 6-0-1 in its last 3 series and has won 15 of 22.
Make the Teixeira trade NOW. Keep bolstering the rotation, this recent stretch of success should be all the info Jon Daniels needs to ship Teixeira out to LA. Add another top of the rotation guy who's 23 and already has 3 years of MLB experience. Do it NOW.
Rangers take another series, use the resurgent Kevin Millwood's 6 strong innings of 1-run ball to win 2-1. And Gagne comes back strong after blowing a save Friday.
ARLINGTON – Kenny Lofton hit a tiebreaking homer, Kevin Millwood won for the fourth time in five starts and the Rangers went into All-Star break with a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday to claim another series.
The Rangers took two of three games from Baltimore and are unbeaten in seven consecutive series for the first time since 2001, when they also went 6-0-1 during one stretch. But they are still in last place in the AL West and 15 games behind the Los Angeles Angels.
Millwood allowed one run and five hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked three, two of those coming in the sixth when he got out of a bases-loaded jam by inducing a groundball by Jay Payton.
Eric Gagne worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 13 chances. His first blown save came Friday night against the Orioles, a game the Rangers won in 10 innings.
- And you still need another reason to ship Teixeira out to LA? Robinson Tejeda got shipped down to AAA. Even more reason to get another starter (top of the rotation guy at that) in here so Tejeda can stay down there and learn how to throw strikes. Throwing 96 mph means nothing if you can't locate. This also allows you take time with Eric Hurley. I'd love a Millwood, Billingsley, McCarthy, Loe, Hurley rotation in 08. Or maybe Padilla in there somewhere if he ever figures things out or gets healthy.
July 7, 2007
Tejeda down; Littleton up
The Rangers sent RHP Robinson Tejeda down to Triple-A Oklahoma. Evan Grant reports Tejeda will stay on the Oklahoma roster for 10 days but won't pitch for the Redhawks. He'll get some extra bullpen work with pitching coach Mark Connor.
The Rangers brought up RHP Wes Littleton to add some help for the bullpen. Littleton is 0-1 with a 3.71 ERA in 18 relief appearances with Oklahoma. He's 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in nine outings for the Rangers.
- Mavs re-sign Devean George. Hopefully he comes back with motivation looking for that semi-big contract in 2008-2009 and can play a full season at 100% health. I thought he was playing great and deserving of a starting spot until he banged his knee up last year in Milwaukee. He seems to be motivated and if he stays heatlhy, I can see him starting a fair amount of games this year. You need guys like him to go big at the 2 guard and do all the little glue guy type things on the court.
LAS VEGAS – The Mavericks have wrapped up the second of their free agents, coming to terms with Devean George on a one-year contract.
A 6-8 swingman, George had opted out of the second season of his two-year contract last month to become an unrestricted free agent. He agreed to a deal worth $2.5 million for next season.
"Devean's good to go and thrilled to be staying with the Mavericks," said Mark Bartelstein, George's agent. "We agreed on a one-year deal because it will give him a chance to get his value back where it should be."
Bartelstein added that George is much healthier now than he was much of last season, which should give him an opportunity for a big season. By doing a one-year deal, it means the Mavericks could re-sign him next summer at any amount up to the NBA maximum.
George, who turns 30 on Aug. 29, suffered through a knee injury during the second half of last season that cost him 14 games. For the year, he played 60 games, averaging 6.4 points and 3.6 rebounds. He shot 39.5 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from 3-point range.
The Mavericks, as per NBA rules, are not allowed to comment on potential free-agent signings, which can become official Wednesday, when the moratorium on signings is lifted.
By retaining George, it means the Mavericks will continue to have a potentially strong group of reserves.
Jerry Stackhouse agreed to a three-year contract last week and is expected to continue in his sixth-man role. Though George started 17 games last season and is viewed as an option at shooting guard in the lineup, he appears to be better suited to coming off the bench.
George's situation should bode well for the Mavericks. When George opted to terminate his original Mavs' contract after one season, it gave him the chance to gauge his market value. With no desirable multi-year contracts to be had, George now has the opportunity to play for his next contract. One good year could translate into longer-term security.
Next up for the Mavericks is to see how the market plays out for other free agents around the league. They have their eye on Charlotte's Gerald Wallace and are waiting to see how his negotiations go with the Bobcats.
The Mavericks have their full mid-level exception, believed to be about $6 million, to work with and can use it on one player or break it up for several players.
- Still remember Nebraska recruiting this guy. He was going to be next in line of great option qb's at Nebraska. Not like he didn't make a good decision, he's doing very well in baseball, but would have loved to see him take a few snaps at Nebraska.
Crawford still wonders how he'd fare as Husker
BY DIRK CHATELAIN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Carl Crawford is flipping through a Fantasy Football magazine in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium - anything to pass the time before first pitch. A reporter approaches and asks about Nebraska.
"I would've thought people had forgotten about me by now," Crawford says.
Eight years have passed since Crawford told Turner Gill sorry, but every once in a while the Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder still dreams of running the option.
"I used to see Crouch break for like 70 yards," Crawford said Friday. "I knew how fast I was. Man, I just wish I had a chance to do it one time."
It's mere trivia now, but in February 1999, Crawford signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Nebraska. He was going to battle Eric Crouch for the starting job. If that didn't work out, he was going to be the next Bobby Newcombe.
Four months later, the Devil Rays selected him in the major league baseball draft's second round and offered Crawford $1.5 million to sign.
Where Crawford's from in Houston, you don't turn down $1.5 million.
"It'll always be in my head," Crawford said. "What could've been."
He's just 25, but three times he's led the American League in stolen bases and triples. He is an All-Star and, last year, nearly became the third player ever to hit 20 home runs, bat .300 and steal 60 bases in one season.
Only Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby has matched Crawford's achievement of increasing his batting average and home run total in five straight seasons.
Crawford can stretch singles into doubles and chase down line drives in the gap. Football, though, still feels more natural to him. It's more instinctive, more reliant on athleticism.
His senior year of high school, the 6-foot-2 lefty rushed for 1,200 yards. He also averaged 25 points on the basketball court, drawing interest from UCLA.
"He just had speed and athleticism," said Gill, the former Nebraska quarterbacks coach, in 2000. "Those two qualities right there, they jumped off the tape."
Nebraska's tradition and coaching staff jumped out at Crawford. Head coach Frank Solich came to Houston during recruiting and ate with his family.
"None of the other coaches had done that," Crawford said.
More important, Crawford saw himself as a dynamic option quarterback. Gill once explained to him the Husker offense: This guy blocks this defender. This guy blocks that defender. The goal, Gill said, was getting the quarterback one-on-one with the free safety.
"I was like, 'I only have to make one guy miss?'" Crawford said. "Man, this is going to be easy."
Correll Buckhalter hosted Crawford during his recruiting trip - Jammal Lord was in Lincoln visiting the same weekend. It was the first time Crawford ever saw snow.
He would've joined the football team in 1999 and the baseball team in 2000. Dave Van Horn, whose team made the College World Series in 2001 and 2002, had big plans for Crawford.
Football hooked Crawford to Nebraska, though. In 2001, what would've been Crawford's third season, the Huskers played for a national title in the Rose Bowl. The old quarterback was watching on TV.
"The attention and the glory (of baseball), it would've never been close to that," Crawford said. "They went to the national championship. That would've been my chance to be on the national stage."
By then, he was in the big leagues. Tampa Bay snagged Crawford in the second round of the 1999 draft and offered him enough to get his mom a new house.
"They paid me that so I wouldn't go to Nebraska," said Crawford, who made his major league debut in 2000. "I really felt bad about disappointing the coaching staff like that."
Gill, now the University of Buffalo head coach, had no hard feelings. He wrote Crawford a letter a few years later and requested tickets to a game in Kansas City.
Friends back home still ponder what Crawford could've done in Lincoln. Houston's football country, you know. Crawford used to follow the Huskers more closely. He's lost interest since they changed coaching staffs and offenses. But he's got a 3-year-old son who looks and moves just like him.
"Maybe he can play football someday. We can see what happens."
- A new show on HBO, high comedy
- Looking for an old NES console as we speak
- This bison or whatever it is actually survives
- Picks O' the day
Weekend record - 8-10
YTD - 53-49
All Star break
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