Man of many talents.

Listening to last night's game and one thing really stood out. The Rangers were fortunate not to have to face Oriole's reliever Chris Davis, shown here on card 188 of the 2009 Allen and Ginter set.

Davis came on in the bottom of the 16th inning against the Red Sox on Sunday night. He tossed two scoreless frames to pick up the win when the game finally ended after the 17th inning. Rangers fans knew Chris could field and hit but probably had no idea he could pitch as well. Apparently Texas gave up more than they thought in the trade that sent Davis to Baltimore.

Judging by the seven run ninth for the Rangers last night, the O's would have been wise to have broken out their secret weapon again.

Minor League Monday - Cris Colon, 1990 Charlotte Rangers Star.

Another loss last night. Time for a trip down to the farm.

Cristobal Colon, shown here on card 3 of the 1990 Star Charlotte Rangers set, was signed by the Rangers in October of 1986. Coming from Venezuela it was hoped that he would be a shortstop in the vein of other great Venezuelans. Being the nephew of former White Sox star Chico Carrasquel helped to add to the expectations.

I have to admit that I am not really sure why Cris is included in this team set. He wouldn't play for Charlotte at all in 1990. Instead he split the season between Single A Gastonia and Double A Tulsa.

Colon earned the promotion from Single to Double A after his bat finally seemed to come around. A .321 batting average in 149 plate appearances got him the ticket.

Unfortunately Cris couldn't quite keep the average going at Double A. In 245 plate appearances his batting average slid to .244 and his on-base percentage to .260. Ominously, his walk total rose by just one while he struck out an additional 13 times. He was able to keep his power numbers steady for the most part but with three less triples his slugging percentage also dropped.

That kind of performance wasn't the way to get the call from Arlington. In fact, it wasn't even the way to stick at Double A. To start off the 1991 season Colon would find himself assigned to A+ ball. The year after this card was issued Cris Colon officially appeared on the Charlotte Rangers roster.

Hello win column!

Apparently somebody responded to my post last night and located Derek Holland. Dutch turned in a nice 7.1 inning performance in Cleveland and allowed just two runs, only one of them earned. The second Indian run scored on a Mike Napoli passed ball.

Unfortunately for Derek, those two runs were enough to tie the game up and give him a no decision. Mike Adams picked up the blown save after he and Nap got crossed up. That sent the game into extras.

In the top of the eleventh Adrian Beltre came to the plate following two walks. The first was unintentional, the second was to Mitch Moreland to get to the pinch-hitting Beltre. Adrian, shown here on card US150 of the 2011 Topps Gold set, hasn't started a game in several days due to some hamstring concerns. The Indians must have been thinking that he would be cold coming off the bench.

Sadly for The Tribe, the intentional walk backfired. Beltre launched a three-run shot to put the Rangers up 5-2. Joe Nathan came in for the bottom of the eleventh. In spite of allowing one runner to reach base, he made the lead stand up. That stops the Rangers losing streak at three.

Couple of things about the game. First, it was great to see the shutdown version of Derek Holland show up. He got a tough break with the no decision but still pitched well deep into the game. In spite of the blown save the bullpen pitched well as well. Mike Adams, Alexi Ogando, and Joe Nathan all lowered their ERA's. Adams should have put the Cleveland fire out sooner than he did but I saw nothing to panic about.

Elvis Andrus was also a bright light tonight. Several outstanding defensive plays and a bunch of routine ones. No errors by him or the rest of the defense. Very nice to see that. Hopefully the defense will hold and the pitching continue to come around. The rest of the division is struggling and this is a good time to put some games between them and Texas.

Missing...

Wow. Seems like this past week every Rangers starter except Yu Darvish has gone missing in action. Tonight was Colby Lewis' turn to lose as the Rangers skid hit three games in a row.

If you happen to see Derek Holland, shown here on 2009 Topps Heritage Chrome #560, Neftali Feliz, or Matt Harrison around please tell them to report to Cleveland to join the team. That way the club can give these batting practice pitchers who have been filling in a break.

40th Anniversary All-Time Team

Well, the voting is open for the Texas Rangers 40th Anniversary All-Time Team. All you have to do is go here and you can vote from a list of selected players for each position. The position players were placed on the ballot due to being among the team's all-time leaders in games played. Pitchers were selected by wins, games started, appearances, and saves.

Here is the way I voted:
C - Ivan Rodriguez. Almost pulled the trigger for Jim Sundberg. In fact, Sunny has done more for the franchise than Pudge if you count his front-office work.
1B - Will Clark. Started winning with Will. Raffy was great but The Thrill helped bring postseason ball to Arlington.
2B - Ian Kinsler. Bump Wills speed, Julio Franco's offense, and Mark McLemore's glove. Kins gets it hands down.
SS - Michael Young. Michael was only listed here and at second. Toby Harrah should have probably beat him out but that's the stiffest competition he had.
3B - Buddy Bell. Steve Buechele's glove, Hank Blalock and Dean Palmer's bats. Almost went with Harrah here in order to get him on the team but Buddy wins out.
OF - Rusty Greer. Simply a company man and all-out player.
OF - Al Oliver. Great bat.
OF - Jeff Burroughs. First MVP award in team history.
DH - Juan Gonzalez. Power. RBI's. Simply decimated opposing pitching at his peak.
SP - Jon Matlack. Kind of a homer vote, kind of not. Probably about the best lefty the Rangers have ever started on a regular basis.
SP - Fergie Jenkins. 1974. Enough said.
RP - Danny Darwin. Starting in 1978 and running through 1984 Danny was a stable influence on a pitching staff in decline.
RP - Neftali Feliz. Rookie record for saves. I know he melted down during the World Series last year but he filled about any role in the pen the club had for him for the past couple of years.

So there you have it. I wasn't real thrilled that there was no chance to vote for backup players and no chance to write in. Toby Harrah and Jim Sundberg in particular need to be on the team. Also, why just two starting pitchers and two relievers? I can't think of any team that uses that small of a pitching staff. I also left off Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira on purpose even though both were on the ballot. The way they left the team did as much or more damage than what they contributed on the field during their stay.

Any else care to share your vote and/or thoughts on the process and ballot?

One of those days.

It's one of those days. A 1988 Score day. Look at card number 452 in the set and you know what I mean. Nothing against Dale Mohorcic but there's just not a lot of inspiration there. More blah than ha.

That's pretty much the way the day has gone. Feeling run down and dealing with some news on the home front. Nothing too serious but a letdown all the same. The Rangers loss to Toronto this afternoon really didn't help.

Since my motivation level is pretty low I'm going to call it a day. Should be back tomorrow and ready to post again.

Bottom up!

Normally if a Rangers pitcher had just won his fourth victory of the season before the end of April and had improved with just about every start, I would post his card. Unfortunately I have no cards of Yu Darvish. So, in spite of his nine strikeouts in seven innings last night, I can't post a card of his.

I can post a card of Mitch Moreland though. Here he is on card 634 of the 2011 Topps 60th Anniversary Factory Set. Mitch batted 8th last night. In the seventh inning he sent a solo shot over the wall. A few minutes later Craig Gentry, batting 9th also went yard. Back-to-back jacks from the bottom of the order!

Those shots helped put the Rangers 4-1 win on ice. If they keep it up I had better add Gentry and Moreland cards to my shopping list alongside Darvish.