Race for the Flag - 8/18

The Texas Rangers increased their lead in the AL Wildcard last night and today acquired their former All-Star catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez from the Houston Astros.

The Rangers had the need for a catcher when starter Jarrod Saltalamacchia went on the DL with an injured arm. Rodriguez played for Texas from 1991-2002. His time there included an AL MVP (1999), 1o Gold Gloves, and 10 All-Star appearances. He was hitting just .251/.280/.382 with 8 HR and 34 RBI in 93 games.

The Astros will received Single-A pitching prospect Matt Nevarez and 2 players to be named later.


The Rangers beat the Twins last night 8-5 to pick up a half game on idle Boston and now lead the Red Sox by 1 game in the Wildcard standings.


John Smoltz is looking for a team and sources have said that the St. Louis Cardinals and Rangers are among the teams that are the leading contenders. Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki, via his Twitter account, said the Cards are in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, the Boston Globe says the Rangers are the AL front-runner to land Smoltz.

The White Sox have brought up Freddy Garcia to face the Detroit Tigers in a big AL Central battle. Chicago moved to within 2 games of idle Detroit with a walk win, on a Scott Podsednik single, against KC last night.

Division leaders St. Louis and LA met last night and the Cards came out on top behind the pitching of Chris Carpenter. The right-hander allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in 8 innings and struck out 8. Albert Pujols and Rick Ankiel took knuckleballer Charlie Hager deep in the 3-2 win.

Joe Martinez continued his comeback from an early season comebacker by picking up his 2nd win of the month last night at Citi Field. The Giants pounded Livan Hernandez and the Mets, 10-1.

The Cubs and Kevin Gregg's woes continued last night. Chicago led San Diego 1-0 in the 9th, but Gregg gave up a game tying double to Chase Headley and a walk-off 3-run home run to Kyle Blanks.

The Braves picked up a half game on idle Philadelphia with a 9-4 win over Arizona. Tommy Hanson won his 8th game and Ryan Church and Adam LaRoche drove in 3 runs each.