The day after Darvish.

Not much going on today in Ranger-land. Apparently everyone is catching their breath after the Yu Darvish signing.

It's still free agent time though and aside from Fausto Carmona being arrested for identity fraud the big news is still the off-season signings. This time of year always depresses me a little. I know that professional baseball is a business but it seems to really air its ugly side when millions of dollars are on the line. Speaking of money, since I have no other ideas for a card today I'll leave you with this game-used one of Mark "Money Man" Teixeira. Tex's expensive jersey swatch shows up today on a 2004 Sweet Spot Home Run Heroes card, numbered 108/199.

I'm ready for Spring Training.

A milestone and some convoluted reasoning.

Ok, so today's card, 2007 Sweet Spot Classic #CM-GP, has a very weak connection to the events of the past couple of days. There is a connection though so hang in there.

Texas lost today to the A's in Oakland. Colby Lewis allowed three earned runs as the A's topped Texas 4-3. Mike Adams allowed the fourth run to take the loss. That stalls the Rangers magic number at three.

At least the Rangers took two of three from the A's on this road trip. That was in part due to C.J. Wilson's performance in last night's game. Wilson didn't get the win but he did keep the team in the game to set up the late inning scoring that comprised the 3-2 win.

During his six innings Wilson struck out eight A's. That brings his season strikeout total to 206. That makes him the first lefthander in Rangers history to reach 200 strikeouts in a season. It also makes him the first Rangers pitcher to reach 200 in a season since Nolan Ryan did it in 1991.

Gaylord Perry never struck out 200 batters in a season when he was with Texas. He is in the Hall of Fame though. So is Nolan Ryan. Since I have no game-used or signed cards of Nolan or C.J. that I haven't already posted, that's as close as I could come. Still, puts C.J. Wilson in some pretty impressive company.

Silver Slugger awards out.

Well, the MLB awards season is in full swing. Today the Silver Slugger awards were announced. Unlike the Gold Glove awards, the Rangers were not shut out of this category.

Vladimir Guerrero won the award for the Designated Hitter position. That's great even if I still cringe at the DH being called a position. This was Vlad's 8th award.

The other Ranger who won was Josh Hamilton. Josh, shown here on his 2009 Sweet Spot Sweet Swatch card, picked up his second silver bat. Not really any surprise there as he won the batting title for the American League and is in consideration for MVP.

Good to see Texas picking up some hardware. Hopefully the trend continues in the Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Manager of the Year categories as well.