The Babaganoush Sports Beat

Well, here we go again. It looks like the Rangers are going to have to get used to playing the second best team in their division. Just as it was five days ago, this is a big series. Now that the A's are actually closer to first place than the Angels, it would behoove the Rangers to do to the A's as they did to the Angels over the weekend. All hope must be crushed.

As with last weekend's series it's easy to see why this is a big one for the opponent. For one, the A's are 7 1/2 games back and have the opportunity to almost cut that in half. These are the types of series that you read about as "statement games" if things go right for the underdog. Secondly, while there's still a lot of baseball to go, there's really no time like the present to make their ascent if they have one in them.

After this chunk of AL West-y goodness, the Rangers don't really play another block of AL West games until the last half of September. If a true challenger is going to emerge, it has to start happening quickly. Here's where it gets tricky, however. In addition to the possibility to being down only 4 1/2 games, the A's could--and probably more easily--find themselves down 10 1/2 games by Friday. That's a huge swing. These are the types of series that can end a season.

Here's why the series is big for the Rangers. More often than not, in a series such as this, because technically it is just another series after all, a team will win two games and the other team will win one. If that happens in this series the Rangers will be up 6 1/2 or 8 1/2 depending on which team wins the two games. The sky is not falling in a 6 1/2 game scenario A and I'd probably just be writing about a third consecutive second place battle four days from now if an 8 1/2 game scenario B plays out. But there are those instances where a team wins all three games in a series. I don't think I need to explain why a Rangers sweep of the A's would be big for the Rangers, but if the A's sweep the Rangers, while not a reason to panic, it will certainly provide a new challenge with a new challenger.

You'll hear tales of 1996 and the 9 game September lead that fell to 1 before the ship was righted. You'll float repressed memories of sweltering summer collapses. You'll read of six or seven game losing streaks to fall out of the race. This series is big for the Rangers simply because while they probably should feel comfortable about their chances of playing in October, they still have to win the baseball games. At the first sign that they might not win them, it's going to get scary.

The simple solution is: Play them all like they're big. I expect the Rangers to do well in this series because they have favorable match-ups, but if they lose this series, I won't be surprised. I also won't be too worried about it, either. For once in my 28 year Rangers fandom life, in any season that didn't end already by May, and while the team should play them all like they're big, the Rangers are in a position where we don't necessarily have to sweat every loss. They will all be frustrating and horrible, mind you. That's the kinds of fans that we are. But for once, each loss isn't going to be a little individual end of the world.

News on the Sale (Clustershag) of the Rangers
Mark Cuban is expected to make clear Tuesday whether he will continue to pursue his acquisition of the Texas Rangers. Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and whom Major League Baseball has cleared as a bidder, was to have made up his mind by Monday night if he will stay in the picture, his attorney, Clifton Jessup, told the team's court-appointed chief restructuring officer within earshot of reporters at the federal courthouse. Cuban may not make it to a scheduled meeting today of potential bidders in Dallas, Jessup told Snyder, who was appointed by federal Judge D. Michael Lynn. Others likely joining the gathering are Houston investor Jim Crane, Dallas businessman Jeff Beck and representatives of Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan and Pittsburgh sports attorney Chuck Greenberg's group. Another potential bidder will not be in attendance because he has not been cleared by Major League Baseball, a source said.
Last week, Kevin M. Cofsky of Perella Weinberg Partners, a New York firm originally hired by Rangers owner Tom Hicks to find a buyer, testified that an interested party had met with the firm.

During a status hearing Monday on the ballclub's bankruptcy, Lynn said that Snyder had asked that the auction be postponed to Aug. 9. But the judge said he was sticking with the Aug. 4 date, with bids due the night before, and that the team could emerge from bankruptcy under a new owner at noon on Aug. 5. MLB attorney Stephen Shimshak argued against postponing the Aug. 4 auction, saying that the team owners were scheduled to vote to accept the auction's winner on Aug. 12, the day that the Greenberg-Ryan group says its funding commitments expire. A 75 percent favorable vote is required to approve a new owner.

The team's big lenders are waiting to see if Greenberg will refashion his offer now that the judge pointedly said that last-minute transfers of liabilities to the team and a side parking lot deal -- all seen as benefiting Hicks -- could be stripped from his offer. Greenberg may have to alter his offer to stay competitive, should others bid. The judge has openly criticized Perella Weinberg and the team's bankruptcy attorneys, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, for starting late off the block in trying to sell the team, and for apparently not trying as hard as they might. The firm, whose ouster had been demanded by the case's U.S. Trustee for possible conflicts of interest, must work to get the highest and best offer for the benefit of the ballclub, and hence its creditors, not its long-time client, the judge said.