Rangers Spotlight: Scott Feldman

Feldman did what he always seems to last night: pitch great and get a win. With the 6-4 win yesterday, Scott is now 8-2 on the season and has dropped his E.R.A. to 3.83. He has made himself a solid major league #3 pitcher and has been the Rangers second best pitcher only behind Mr. Millwood. But even Millwood has had an horrible outing while Feldman has kept Texas in every game he has pitched.

He is 10th in the A.L. in wins (8) and WHIP (1.18) and has gone at least 5 innings in every start this season and went at least 6 innings in 12 of his 15 starts. He always seems to have great movement on all his pitches and he has made it known to Evan Grant from Inside Corner that he wants to go deeper into games.

Heading into the All Star break you could make an argument that he is the Rangers most consistent pitcher this season and one of the main reasons they are in first place nearing mid-July.

Blalock is Red Hot!

Blalock's red hot play helped the front office send Chris Davis down to the minors, but Hank hasn't cooled off now that he has the starting gig. He has seen his average jump 21 points in the last 10 games and has 3 straight multi-hit games going into tonight's game. It has been well documented that Hank has been complaining of lack of playing time and since that was leaked to the media he has been playing extremely well.

Example: in last night's loss, he had the two Rangers hits through the first 5 innings against King Felix. But not only is he making contact in this streak but the power has been unbelievable. He has 4 HRs and 8 RBIs in his last 9 games which includes tonight's 2nd inning solo home run.

Welcome back Hank, the team needs your leadership during this playoff run!

Oh C.J., how we loathe thee

I have been a big C.J. Wilson apologist for a long time now, but he makes that difficult for me to hang onto that label after tonight's game. Wilson who has been lights out for most of the last month, blows the game tonight after Tommy Hunter and Darren O'Day do their job.

Mr. Blue Glove gives up a 3-run home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th to lose the game 3-1 to Seattle. To add insult to injury he almost collides with Michael Young to catch a foul out to end the 8th inning. That was a move based on pure emotions and it could have caused a severe injury to either of the players.

He has great stuff that nobody can argue with, but he has a 10 cent head that causes trouble when things don't go his way. If I wanted to watch an emotional player I would watch softball not professional baseball.

This loss hurts plain and simple.

Who is Nathan Jawai? Answer: Aussie Shaq!

After the dust settles from the trade, the Mavs pick up Marion, Greg Buckner, Kris Humphries, and Nathan Jawai. We all know Marion, Buckner is a former Mav from 2 years ago, and Humphries has been in the league for a few years now, but what about Jawai?

Who is this guy that was thrown into the deal?

I was reading on the TorontoStar.com today and some of the comments from the fans showed they were really dissappointed that the Raptors let this Australian go. He only played 6 games last year and played college ball at Midland College here in Texas yet there has to be something they liked about him.

He is a 6-10 PF from Sydney and is nicknamed the "Aussie Shaq".

Interesting.

Matrix lands in Dallas

According to Marc Stein and ESPN, Shawn Marion is a Dallas Maverick and it should be official by tomorrow. The details of the trade are not clear but apparently Stackhouse goes to Memphis as part of the 3-team trade.

With the addition of Marion, Gortat, and Kidd re-signing, the Mavs have to be considered a 50-win team next season and a legitimate playoff team. Also figure that the Mavs are not done by no means in the off-season with some reports out there saying Josh Howard could be the next piece moved for possibly...........Joe Johnson?

As it stands right now the starting lineup is:

PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Josh Howard
SF: Shawn Marion
PF: Dirk Nowitzki
C: Marcin Gortat

Other Notables: SG Jason Terry, PG J.J. Barea, C Erick Dampier, SG Antoine Wright

Does this move alone put us in the conversation with the Lakers and the Spurs?

***Update: Wright and Devean George are heading to Toronto and Kris Humphries is coming to Dallas from Toronto along with Marion***

Hamilton making his presence known!

Josh Hamilton has only been back for two games but has only made an incredible impact on this team. He is 5-8 with a stolen base and has been flying around the bases leaving one to think that he is completely healthy. Ham's presence in this lineup causes pitchers to fear his bat and gives the entire team a boost of confidence.

The question is: Should Hamilton participate in the Home Run Derby at the All Star Game? The baseball fan in me wants to say yes after the performance he had last year, but Josh clearly lost something after the All Star break with his bat. Can the Rangers, tied for 1st place, afford to have #32 play in an exhibition home run derby? Do you risk your playoff chances for a couple of hours of entertainment?

What do you think?