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Friday, June 25, 2004

The Silver Boot Duel: Part I 

The hated Houston Astros visit Ameriquest Field in Arlington this weekend, as the Rangers and Astros revisit their storied rivalry once again. Well, perhaps I overstated it a bit, but both teams come off exciting days for them. Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 18th inning to lead the Rangers to a sweep over the Seattle Mariners, while the Astros bolstered their postseason chances by acquiring Kansas City outfielder Carlos Beltran in a three way deal that sent Octavio Dotel and catching prospect John Buck away from H-Town.

The pitching matchups look like this:

Friday: Kenny Rogers (9-2 3.54 ERA) v. Wade Miller (7-6 3.46 ERA)
Saturday: John Wasdin (1-0 3.09 ERA) v. Tim Redding (3-6 5.27 ERA)
Sunday: Ryan Drese (4-4 3.63 ERA) v. Roy Oswalt (5-6 3.91 ERA)

The Dallas Morning News mentions that Rogers was moved up to Friday due to Thursday's extra innings game depleting the bullpen. If Rogers runs into trouble Friday night, John Wasdin will be used in relief and Ricardo Rodriguez would make his first career Rangers start Saturday night.

I think the Rangers take two out of three in this series. They are playing really well right now and play especially well at home. Beltran will a welcome addition to the Astros, but you have to wonder what their bullpen will look like now that Dotel is gone and Lidge is the closer.

UPDATE: The Astros might not be done dealing, as they are rumored to be close to acquiring Detroit Tigers closer Ugueth Urbina.

I like Urbina. He was great for the Rangers last year. You gotta wonder why the A's didn't go after him if he was available instead of trading for the shaky Dotel? Salary considerations? Urbina doesn't make that much, maybe $3-4 million for one year.

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