I'm Back

I think it may be time to say goodbye to the picture of the day as we know it. 2 reasons really - 1 - it's silly hard to find a picture every day. Kinda takes the fun out of this blog. 2 - I'm at a place now in my career where I could see this biting me in the butt. I'm not sure I want it to be the an impression a potential new job gets of me if they do some background. So, dear reader what does that mean for this site? I think next week the picture of the day will diversify a bit if not disappear altogether. We'll see.



The Rangers swept a double header yesterday against the Indians. In both games they had huge leads and in both games it seemed they might blow it. But they didn't.

Rangers batter Cleveland with doubleheader sweep

01:13 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 9, 2009

By JEFF WILSON / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

CLEVELAND – Pick a rookie. Any rookie.

With the Texas Rangers these days, there are plenty of good ones to choose from, and any of them are capable of winning a game.

Four made contributions Tuesday in the first game of a doubleheader sweep at Progressive Field, but Julio Borbon made the biggest impact in the opening victory.

The outfielder swatted two solo homers, and the second sparked a crucial three-run ninth inning as the Rangers outlasted Cleveland, 11-9.

A brief break between games didn't cool off the Rangers. They collected 18 hits, one short of the season high, en route to a 10-5 victory and their third doubleheader sweep of the season.

Marlon Byrd went 4-for-4 in the opener and had the biggest hit, a three-run homer in the seventh that broke a 5-5 tie. But Borbon's unexpected power surge helped provide a cushion the Rangers badly needed.

"I'm kind of surprised. I'm not going to lie," said Borbon, who had only two homers in 96 games this year for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

The Rangers collected 14 hits and built a 7-0 lead after four innings in the second game and appeared to be on their way to an easy sweep, but they needed a three-run homer from Chris Davis in the ninth to secure a win that brought them within two games of wild-card-leading Boston.

Davis’ homer came with two outs after an error and a hit extended the inning. Byrd had three more hits, giving him a club-record seven for the doubleheader.

“It’s pretty good to get back on track and win some ballgames,” manager Ron Washington said. “We’ll come back tomorrow, get greedy and see if we can get a [series] sweep.”

Borbon had been hitless in 12 at-bats, and his average (now .329) has started to come back to earth some after a sizzling August.