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The Texas Rangers have returned to the
World Series, but this is a vastly different club than the one
that fell in five games to the San Francisco Giants in last
year’s Fall Classic.

It is a re-tooled squad ever more determined to succeed.

Young pitchers have stepped up to fortify the a starting
rotation following the departure of ace starter Cliff Lee, a
pair of sluggers have been added and a bolstered bullpen have
all helped to make the Rangers favourites to claim Major League
Baseball’s championship for the first time.

Texas manager Ron Washington said the road back began with
a commitment made after last year’s World Series loss.

“On November the first we committed ourselves to trying to
get back here because we knew we had the potential in the
clubhouse to do it,” Washington told reporters on Tuesday at
Busch Stadium, where the Rangers worked out to prepare for
Wednesday’s Game One.

“A lot of times people say a lot of things that they like
to do, and they don’t usually live up to it. But the character
inside my clubhouse, they lived up to it.”

Lee, who left as a free agent to join the Philadelphia
Phillies, was a mentor in 2010 for C.J. Wilson, who converted
from a reliever to a starting pitcher and has become the new
number one on the Texas staff.

“A lot of us sat in the locker room after Game Five against
the Giants and we were really upset,” said Wilson, who will
start the Series opener against Chris Carpenter. “We’re like,
this is not how we wanted it to go.

“We are here to win, and that’s what we’ve been doing all
year, and the sting of losing last year is what carried us
through the off-season and helped us take it to the next
level.”

When the Rangers realized they were not going to be able to
re-sign Lee, they set their sights on power-hitting third
baseman Adrian Beltre, who left the Boston Red Sox as a free
agent, and signed him to a five-year, $80 million deal.

Beltre delivered 32 home runs, 105 runs batted in and a
.296 batting average besides a great glove at third base.

With the emergence of young Neftali Feliz as their closer,
the Rangers were able send former closer Frank Francisco to the
Toronto Blue Jays for power-hitting catcher Mike Napoli, who
belted 30 home runs and drove in 75.

Those two players helped in other ways as well, Washington
said.

“When we got Beltre … he brought leadership. Brought
tremendous offensive capability and tremendous defensive
capability, and leadership, also,” said the Rangers manager.

“We always knew what (Napoli) was capable of doing as far
as getting on base and punching the ball out of the ballpark,
but here we had another guy that was a leader, and he turned
out to be a tremendous receiver. Helped our young pitching
staff make it through the year.”

Mid-season acquisition of relievers Mike Adams, Mike
Gonzalez and Koji Uehara shored up the bullpen and the Rangers
roared on to the American League West title and eliminated the
Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers in the playoffs to return to
Major League Baseball’s grandest stage.

“I think (slugging outfielder Josh) Hamilton put it as
perfectly as it can be put,” Washington said. “Right now we
expect to win, and that’s the attitude we have.”

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

All-Star closer Heath Bell was working on a franchise-record stretch of 99 games and 102 at-bats without allowing a home run when he made one costly mistake on an 0-2 pitch.

Aubrey Huff led off the ninth inning with a tying drive into the right-field seats, and the San Francisco Giants went on to a 6-2 victory over the struggling San Diego Padres in 12 innings on Thursday night.

Mike Fontenot brought in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the 12th, and the NL West-leading Giants piled it on against the last-place Padres.

The bullpen collapse extended the Padres’ losing streak to six games, tying their season high.

Bell was trying to preserve a 1-0 win for Aaron Harang, who threw seven strong innings in his second start back from a stint on the disabled list, but Huff hit his ninth homer.

“Huge for us. We’re looking at a 1-0 loss there,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We needed something like that to save us and he did with the home run.”

Until Huff’s shot, Bell hadn’t given up a homer since San Francisco’s Juan Uribe went deep on April 19, 2010.

“I didn’t know until someone told me it was last year against these guys and then I remembered it was Uribe,” Bell said. “He tattooed one to left field.

“I threw a breaking ball inside, and then I tried to go down and in,” Bell said. It was a pretty good pitch but I think Huff was maybe expecting it. He saw it real well and he just lifted it up. That’s why he’s good. He can just kind of throw his bat down there and flip it out of here. As soon as I saw him hit it, I knew it was going to go 10 to 15 rows deep.”

It was Bell’s second blown save in 62 chances dating to last year and second in 28 opportunities this year.

“That’s a big hit right there, off one of the best closers in the game,” Giants starter Madison Bumgarner said. “To put us back in the game right there, that was a big-time hit.”

Giants All-Star closer Brian Wilson came on with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 12th for his 27th save in 31 chances. He allowed Will Venable’s sacrifice fly, then walked Chris Denorfia to load the bases before getting Jason Bartlett to ground out.

Cody Ross started the winning rally in the five-run 12th with a leadoff walk against Luke Gregerson (2-3) and was replaced by Emmanuel Burriss, who stole second. Gregerson then walked Brandon Crawford and committed an error trying to field Eli Whiteside’s bunt, loading the bases. Miguel Tejada fouled out and Andres Torres struck out before Fontenot walked on four straight pitches.

Pablo Sandoval added a two-run single, and Nate Schierholtz and Huff each drove in a run with a base hit. All five runs that inning were unearned.

Santiago Casillas (2-1) threw two perfect innings for the win.

The Padres, the lowest-scoring team in the NL, dropped 13 games behind the defending World Series champions and 13 games under .500.

The Padres had scored only two runs in their last 44 innings before the All-Star break. Their losing streak includes consecutive shutouts at Los Angeles, including a game in which the Dodgers didn’t get their first hit until there were two outs in the ninth inning.

Harang held the Giants to five hits while striking out four and walking one. In his previous start, Harang handed a no-hit bid to the bullpen after six innings before the Dodgers won 1-0 after getting two hits with two outs in the ninth.

Whiteside tied his career high with three hits.

The Padres had three consecutive hits off Bumgarner for a run with two outs in the third. Denorfia singled to right, advanced on Jason Bartlett’s base hit to center and scored on Chase Headley’s single to left.

Bumgarner allowed seven hits in six innings, struck out four and walked none.

NOTES: San Diego State football coach Rocky Long threw out the ceremonial first pitch, to Padres manager Bud Black, an SDSU alum. … The Padres wore 1983 throwback brown uniforms as a tribute to Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, who died July 7. There was also a video tribute and a moment of silence. Williams managed the Padres from 1982-85, including reaching the World Series for the first time in franchise history in 1984. Williams managed the Oakland Athletics to back-to-back World Series titles and also led the Boston Red Sox to the 1967 World Series. … Headley left in the eighth with a bruised left ankle.

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All-Star closer Heath Bell was working on a franchise-record stretch of 99 games and 102 at-bats without allowing a home run when he made one costly mistake on an 0-2 pitch.

Aubrey Huff led off the ninth inning with a tying drive into the right-field seats, and the San Francisco Giants went on to a 6-2 victory over the struggling San Diego Padres in 12 innings on Thursday night.

Mike Fontenot brought in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the 12th, and the NL West-leading Giants piled it on against the last-place Padres.

The bullpen collapse extended the Padres’ losing streak to six games, tying their season high.

Bell was trying to preserve a 1-0 win for Aaron Harang, who threw seven strong innings in his second start back from a stint on the disabled list, but Huff hit his ninth homer.

“Huge for us. We’re looking at a 1-0 loss there,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We needed something like that to save us and he did with the home run.”

Until Huff’s shot, Bell hadn’t given up a homer since San Francisco’s Juan Uribe went deep on April 19, 2010.

“I didn’t know until someone told me it was last year against these guys and then I remembered it was Uribe,” Bell said. “He tattooed one to left field.

“I threw a breaking ball inside, and then I tried to go down and in,” Bell said. It was a pretty good pitch but I think Huff was maybe expecting it. He saw it real well and he just lifted it up. That’s why he’s good. He can just kind of throw his bat down there and flip it out of here. As soon as I saw him hit it, I knew it was going to go 10 to 15 rows deep.”

It was Bell’s second blown save in 62 chances dating to last year and second in 28 opportunities this year.

“That’s a big hit right there, off one of the best closers in the game,” Giants starter Madison Bumgarner said. “To put us back in the game right there, that was a big-time hit.”

Giants All-Star closer Brian Wilson came on with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 12th for his 27th save in 31 chances. He allowed Will Venable’s sacrifice fly, then walked Chris Denorfia to load the bases before getting Jason Bartlett to ground out.

Cody Ross started the winning rally in the five-run 12th with a leadoff walk against Luke Gregerson (2-3) and was replaced by Emmanuel Burriss, who stole second. Gregerson then walked Brandon Crawford and committed an error trying to field Eli Whiteside’s bunt, loading the bases. Miguel Tejada fouled out and Andres Torres struck out before Fontenot walked on four straight pitches.

Pablo Sandoval added a two-run single, and Nate Schierholtz and Huff each drove in a run with a base hit. All five runs that inning were unearned.

Santiago Casillas (2-1) threw two perfect innings for the win.

The Padres, the lowest-scoring team in the NL, dropped 13 games behind the defending World Series champions and 13 games under .500.

The Padres had scored only two runs in their last 44 innings before the All-Star break. Their losing streak includes consecutive shutouts at Los Angeles, including a game in which the Dodgers didn’t get their first hit until there were two outs in the ninth inning.

Harang held the Giants to five hits while striking out four and walking one. In his previous start, Harang handed a no-hit bid to the bullpen after six innings before the Dodgers won 1-0 after getting two hits with two outs in the ninth.

Whiteside tied his career high with three hits.

The Padres had three consecutive hits off Bumgarner for a run with two outs in the third. Denorfia singled to right, advanced on Jason Bartlett’s base hit to center and scored on Chase Headley’s single to left.

Bumgarner allowed seven hits in six innings, struck out four and walked none.

NOTES: San Diego State football coach Rocky Long threw out the ceremonial first pitch, to Padres manager Bud Black, an SDSU alum. … The Padres wore 1983 throwback brown uniforms as a tribute to Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, who died July 7. There was also a video tribute and a moment of silence. Williams managed the Padres from 1982-85, including reaching the World Series for the first time in franchise history in 1984. Williams managed the Oakland Athletics to back-to-back World Series titles and also led the Boston Red Sox to the 1967 World Series. … Headley left in the eighth with a bruised left ankle.

Not much else going on in the MLB planet today.

Gotta run!.

Two weeks ago, the San Francisco Giants announced they would become the first professional sports team to film a public service announcement for the anti-homophobia “It Gets Better” campaign. The popular movement is designed to “provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know ‘It Gets Better.”

The Giants’ ad was officially released on Wednesday. Here it is:

Barry Zito(notes), Sergio Romo(notes), Matt Cain(notes), Hensley Meulens and Andres Torres(notes) are the five team members who, as Zito puts it, “speak for the entire Giants organization when we say that there is no place in society for hatred and bullying against anyone.”

As we said before, the Giants’ decision to participate in making such a powerful statement is an admirable one and it’s cool that the entire thing was sparked by the inspiration of one fan, Sean Chapin.

It looks like Chapin and the Giants may have started a message-spreading trend. A 12-year-old Boston Red Sox fan named Sam Maden recently saw the move the Giants were making and started his own petition on Change.org asking his favorite team to make a PSA of their own. The petition, which was inspired by Sam’s late uncle, now has over 6,000 e-signatures.

Related: Barry Zito, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, ModernTube

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Reigning National League Rookie of the Year Buster Posey, catcher for the San Francisco Giants, suffered a broken bone in his left leg last night during a home plate collision with Florida Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins. Chris Haft of mlb.com is reporting that Posey will likely miss the remainder of the season.

Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post blogs today that, “Cousins was in tears this morning, telling reporters how bad he felt,” and he quotes Cousins as saying, “It’s everywhere. No matter where I look. It’s on TV as a soon as I turn the TV on. It’s outside on TV. It’s on TV here as soon as I walk in. And when I see it I turn away. I juts dont like knowing that I could have possibly ended somebody’s season.”

Whenever a player in any sport is badly injured, some variation of following questions is invariably asked: Why did it happen? Could it have been prevented? Is the sport doing enough to protect its players?

In this instance it seems that at least Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Buster Posey’s agent Jeff Berry believe the answer to that last question is, “No,” and they think it’s time for a rule change.

Bochy, a Major League catcher for nine seasons, said in an interview today that, while he understands things like this happen in baseball, he believes that catchers “are in harm’s way [in these situations],” and that the MLB, “should consider changing the rules a little bit,” (See video for Bochy’s full comments.)

Posey’s agent Jeff Berry is none too pleased about this either:

“You leave players way too vulnerable. I can tell you Major League Baseball is less than it was before [Posey's injury]. It’s stupid. I don’t know if this ends up leading to a rule change, but it should. The guy [at the plate] is too exposed.

“If you go helmet to helmet in the NFL, it’s a $100,000 fine, but in baseball, you have a situation in which runners are [slamming into] fielders. It’s brutal. It’s borderline shocking. It just stinks for baseball. I’m going to call Major League Baseball and put this on the radar. Because it’s just wrong.”

It is easy to understand how Bochy and Berry could be so upset. They are probably each a little upset with themselves in allowing Posey, who is arguably the best hitter on a team that ranks last in the National League in runs, to be behind the plate.

Catcher is unquestionably the most dangerous position on a baseball field and already this season there have been a handful instances where Posey has been dinged up behind the plate. But maybe they should take a few days to cool down and realize that, while Posey’s injury is unfortunate, it is (say it with me) a part of the game. 

There are dozens upon dozens of plays at the plate every baseball season and the number of them that end in catastrophic injury can be counted on one hand. Things like this are going to happen from time to time. It is nonsensical to believe that every time somebody gets injured in sports a rule change is warranted.

Posey found himself in an awkward position as Cousins hit him at the plate. He was positioned on his knees with his butt on his feet. Had he been in a squat, as he was the instant before Cousins hit him, he likely would have rolled over and not suffered this injury. It was an unfortunate sequence of events where Posey ended up in the wrong position at the wrong time.

One has to wonder how much this has to do with the fact that this is Buster Posey—fan and league favorite, World Champion, and NL Rookie of the Year—and not, say, Ryan Doumit of the Pittsburgh Pirates. If Posey weren’t such a productive member of his team and so important to Major League Baseball’s marketing department, would anybody be this upset?

I can’t help but be reminded of the NHL. When Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins suffered his season-ending concussion last year, people started to buzz a little bit about player safety. But it wasn’t until Sidney Crosby was concussed in the middle of this season that the NHL really began its crusade against hits to the head. How come nobody calls for rules changes until a high-profile player is seriously injured?  

Sports are sometimes dangerous. There are times when these dangers supersede the entertainment value of the game and a change needs to be made. Catchers suffering injury on plays at the plate is not an epidemic on par with concussions in the NFL, as Mr. Berry would have us believe. This was an unfortunate accident and nothing more. Hopefully the MLB realizes that and stays away from the rulebook. 

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Florida Marlins’ Emilio Bonifacio (1) gets a high five from a teammate after scoring in the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 16, 2009. (UPI Photo/Matthew Healey) 

SAN FRANCISCO, May 26 (UPI) — Emilio Bonifacio delivered a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the 12th inning Wednesday, giving the Florida Marlins a 7-6 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Florida took a 6-2 lead in the ninth after a three-run double from Mike Stanton but the Giants answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning, a rally capped by Aubrey Huff’s two-run single.

John Buck greeted San Francisco reliever Guillermo Mota (2-1) with a single to open the 12th. A sacrifice attempt failed but Scott Cousins reached first on the play and took third on Omar Infante’s single.

Bonifacio worked the count to 2-2 before lifting a fly to short right-center. Nate Schierholtz caught the ball and made a strong one-hop throw home but catcher Buster Posey mishandled the bounce and Cousins scored as he bowled over Posey, who was injured on the play.

Ryan Webb (1-3) collected the win after two innings of one-hit relief and Burke Badenhop earned his first save with a 1-2-3 12th.

Stanton, who had a run-scoring double in Florida’s two-run first inning, finished with four hits and four RBI.

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That’s all the news for today.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

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That’s all the news for today.

There is the quick update of the day.

Not a lot else going on in the MLB world today.