Angels Clinch AL West Over Rangers

The Angels soaked the jersey in beer, champagne and tears, holding Nick Adenhart’s No. 34 high in the middle of the celebration he missed.

Los Angeles is headed back to the playoffs for the sixth time in eight years, and the Angels intend to go with the memory of their late teammate alongside them. The 22-year-old pitcher’s death in an April car accident roiled their season early on, but it couldn’t sink this resilient team.

Kendry Morales homered and drove in three runs, and the Angels wasted no time clinching their third straight AL West title with an 11-0 victory over the second-place Texas Rangers on Monday night.

Ervin Santana pitched a seven-hitter for his fourth career shutout, while Maicer Izturis had three hits and two RBIs to wrap up the Angels’ fifth division crown in six years. Los Angeles (92-64) will open at home in the best-of-five first round next week—most likely against Boston, a familiar nemesis. The Red Sox need one win or a Texas loss to earn the AL wild card.

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Rangers/Yankees Game 2 Preview

It’s been a month since A.J. Burnett won a game. Facing the Texas Rangers might help him end his rough stretch.

The right-hander looks to avoid a fourth straight loss while trying to help the New York Yankees to a second straight win and series victory over the visiting Rangers on Thursday.

Burnett (10-7, 4.08 ERA) hopes to close out a disappointing August on a positive note and bounce back from his worst outing of the season.

He allowed nine runs and nine hits – including three homers – in five innings of a 14-1 loss at Boston on Saturday. Burnett fell to 0-3 with a 6.32 ERA in his last five starts since going 5-0 with a 2.01 ERA in six outings from June 27-July 27.

Burnett once again disagreed with catcher Jorge Posada(notes) about pitch selection in his last start, a matter manager Joe Girardi feels has been blown out of proportion.

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Pudge Back in Starting Lineup for Texas Rangers

Ivan Rodriguez is the starting lineup for the Texas Rangers, a day after rejoining his old team in a trade with Houston.

The popular catcher nicknamed “Pudge” will hit eighth in Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins. It’ll be his first start for Texas since 2002.

Rodriguez won 10 Gold Gloves during 11 seasons with the Rangers. He also hit over .300 in his last eight seasons with the Rangers.

The 14-time All-Star hit his 300th home run while with the Astros in May. He takes a .299 career batting average into Wednesday night’s game. The Rangers plan to use Rodriguez as a backup to Taylor Teagarden.

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Rangers Wildcard Battle with Red Sox

The lead in the American League wild-card standings was three outs away, and the Rangers had the pitcher they wanted on the mound.

They turned to their opening day closer, who had blown only two saves all season and had allowed just seven runs.

He had never issued more than four hits or four runs in an inning in his career.

But rather than seal a momentum-building victory in the Rangers’ quest for the postseason, Frank Francisco had the worst outing of his career.

Boston tagged the right-hander for six runs and overcame a near disaster on the base paths to race past the Rangers for an 8-4 victory Friday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

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Texas Rangers Proving They’re Here To Stay

Going into a weekend where all the talks revolved around the Red Sox-Yankees series in Yankee Stadium, the other side of the country saw the Texas Rangers making a statement of their own.

The Rangers were set for a trip to visit the Los Angeles Angels in a series that could make or break their season. A team that was viewed as being a few years away from contending going into the season, the Rangers have proven they are a team of the present.

When Baseball America came out with their prospect handbook this offseason, Texas held many of the top prospects, and, more importantly, it held the No. 1 farm system. With many of their blue-chip prospects playing important roles for the ’09 team, the Rangers are showing that their future is now.

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Texas Rangers Start Ten Game Road Trip

Rangers ready for important road trip

The Rangers begin a tough 11-day, 10-game road trip on Monday, and they realize the importance of it.

“It’s always nice to sleep in your own bed, but you can’t rely on that security blanket,” outfielder David Murphy said. “It’s a big road trip. The seven games against teams in the division make it significant.”

The Rangers open a four-game stand against the Athletics on Monday followed by three games against the division-leading Angels starting on Friday. They have an off-day next Monday before playing three against the Indians.

This is the longest road trip this season in terms of both days and games for the Rangers. They have won three of their last four road series.

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Rangers Put Squeeze on Red Sox to Complete Sweep

Clay Buchholz(notes) pounced on the bunt near the first-base line, yet all the Boston starting pitcher could do was watch one Texas runner slide across home plate while another ran safely to first

The flu-ridden Rangers used that squeeze bunt by rookie Elvis Andrus(notes), a home run by Ian Kinsler(notes) and a solid spot start by Dustin Nippert(notes) to beat Boston 3-1 on Wednesday night and complete a three-game sweep of the slumping Red Sox.

“If that was directly to the pitcher, he might have had a shot,” said David Murphy(notes), who was running from third when Buchholz released the pitch. “It was just great placement by Elvis, and I scored easily.”

Boston has lost a season-worst five in a row and dropped two games back in the AL East to the New York Yankees, who have won six straight. The Red Sox had led the division since June 9 until the losing streak in which they have scored only nine times.

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Michael Young Powers Rangers to Win, 6-3

Young led off the sixth with his third hit, a homer to left that tied the game

Hank Blalock(notes) then had an RBI single before scoring on Murphy’s homer. Pitching coach John Farrell visited the mound, but Saltalamacchia hit the next pitch onto the grassy hill in straightaway center and Smoltz was done—after giving up three homers in an inning for only the second time in his 21-year career.

“The two-run homer was the backbreaker for me. I’m frustrated. I’m pleased with the way I’m throwing the baseball, but the results have been awful. They haven’t matched the effort,” Smoltz said. “I’ll have a hard time sleeping tonight.”

The Red Sox have lost three straight, the latest loss allowing the New York Yankees to tie them for the AL East lead. Boston has scored only six runs in those losses.

“We’re certainly not hitting on all cylinders. Sometimes this game can frustrate you a little bit,” manager Terry Francona said. “We’ve got to keep fighting because sometimes it’s not as easy as you want it to be.”

Texas trailed 2-1 when Kevin Millwood(notes) (9-7) threw his last pitch to end the top of the sixth. But the Rangers finally got to Smoltz, who hadn’t allowed a home run in 25 innings this season until Young’s homer.

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Kinsler Bookends Minnesota in 12 innings

Ian Kinsler got the Texas Rangers started with a home run, then ended the game with another long ball in the 12th inning.

notes: Rangers 3 back in division race

The bookend homers by Kinsler, between his three strikeouts, gave the Rangers a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

“I knew it had a chance. I was just hoping for a little gust of wind to get it over the fence,” Kinsler said. “We needed to get that win.”

Jarrod Saltalamacchia(notes), who set up earlier runs with the first two sacrifice bunts of his career, led off the 12th with a single off Brian Duensing(notes) (0-1) and was bunted to second by Elvis Andrus(notes). R.A. Dickey(notes) then took over for the Twins, and instead of floating another knuckleball left a 1-2 fastball over the plate.

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Kubel’s HR pushes Twins past Rangers

Twins Beat Rangers, 5-3

Talk about the Minnesota Twins, and All-Stars Joe Mauer(notes) and Justin Morneau(notes) quickly become the primary topic.

Maybe it’s time for the slugger who follows them in the lineup to be a part of the conversation.

Jason Kubel(notes) hit a tiebreaking three-run homer after the recognized stars reached base and the Twins beat the Texas Rangers 5-3 Friday night, putting a damper on Josh Hamilton’s(notes) first home game in more than six weeks.

“He’s kind of that silent guy,” Twins starter Glen Perkins(notes) said. “The chances of all three of those guys not having a good night are very slim. Kubel manages to step up in situations where we need it.”

Kubel’s 15th homer of the season, after consecutive hits by Mauer and Morneau, put the Twins up 5-2 in the third against Vicente Padilla(notes) (7-5).

“He doesn’t get talked about too much around here, but if you look at his numbers … that’s a pretty good first half,” manager Ron Gardenhire said.

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