Rangers Ballpark

If the Orioles are looking for a bright side to their three-game pummeling by the Texas Rangers, it's this: They don't have to come back here this season. That likely won't make a long flight to Boston -- and four more games in never-friendly Fenway Park before the merciful All-Star break finally comes -- any easier. On Wednesday night, the Rangers embarrassed the Orioles and veteran Jeremy Guthrie, 13-5, to sweep a three-game series in which Texas outscored the Orioles 30-11 and outplayed them in practically every phase of the game.

Just about a year ago, when the Orioles were in town to play the Texas Rangers in the series prior to the All-Star Break, Buck Showalter was contemplating whether he should return to the game as Orioles manager. He even had a clandestine meeting near Dallas with Andy MacPhail , the club's president of baseball operations, while the Orioles were in the midst of sweeping the Rangers in a four-game series. When the Orioles played at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Monday night for the first time since that fateful meeting, Showalter was in the visiting dugout.

Predicted finish, records Rangers Angels Athletics Mariners 87-75 86-76 78-84 61-101 Pennants, wild cards since 1995: 2, 3 Average payroll: $99.3 million (third of six divisions) Manager with World Series rings: Mike Scioscia ('02) Players with MVP awards: Josh Hamilton ('10), Ichiro Suzuki ('01). Pitchers with Cy Young awards: Felix Hernandez ('10) Possible high fantasy picks: Hamilton, Hernandez, Ian Kinsler, Trevor Cahill.

Nolan Ryan stood on the dirt behind the on-deck circle after a Thursday exhibition game at Surprise Stadium, politely signing autographs. The line of fans interested in having him sign a T-shirt, photo, bat or program ran all the way to the top of the stands, and then snaked around toward home plate. Ryan, clad in khakis, red polo shirt and cap, seemed in no hurry to walk down the right-field line and into his office at the Rangers' spring training complex. It was exactly the kind of Rockwellian scene Commissioner Bud Selig must have envisioned when he enthusiastically welcomed Ryan into the fraternity of Major League Baseball owners last August, after he and partner Chuck Greenberg won a bankruptcy auction in which their competition was Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Catch a breath, Nolan Ryan. You have been everywhere during the 2010 World Series. You have posed for more pictures than Cindy Crawford . You have done more interviews than Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos did before hiring John Farrell as manager. You have done everything except draw a map of the strike zone for Derek Holland, and it has been a beautiful thing to witness. But for the sheer fun of it, let's stop to consider how life would have been different if Fox Sports Southwest had not advanced you and Chuck Greenberg the money to beat Mark Cuban in the bankruptcy auction to buy the Rangers.

NEW YORK — This is a new situation for most of the Rangers and all of their fans, so it seems right to offer a little help in their quest to finish off the Yankees. Take no comfort — repeat, no comfort — in the fact Mr. Clifton Phifer Lee is set to pitch Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, if one is necessary. This cannot be stressed too much. Take no comfort — repeat, absolutely zero comfort, and maybe less — that Cliff Lee is waiting for a seventh game.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cowboys will remain sports kings of the Metroplex. But by changing their culture and mindset, the Rangers have seized the success that eluded them for years as they tried to outslug their opponents. "It's not like we've taken over (from the Cowboys)," said outfielder David Murphy, whose Rangers will try to complete a three-game sweep of the Rays in this best-of-five American League Division Series that resumes Saturday at Rangers Ballpark. "(But)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For all the noise the Rays made over a controversial check swing that preceded Michael Young's three-run homer Thursday, their offense was completely silent against the Rangers. As a result, the Rangers moved within one game of their first playoff series victory in franchise history after a convincing 6-0 victory in Game 2 of this best-of-five American League Division Series. "You can't win games by just getting two hits," manager Joe Maddon said after the Rays succumbed to left-hander C.J. Wilson and two relievers.

As draining and deflating as their first half was, the Orioles wished that they could have just kept playing after Sunday, rather than leaving Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and dispersing to different parts of the country for their All-Star break. Sure, they had four days to revel in a four-game winning streak, but all the momentum they had built in a surprising sweep of the American League West Division-leading Texas Rangers was gone very early Friday night when starter Brad Bergesen put his teammates in a hole that they never dug out from.

As draining and deflating as the first half was, perhaps it would have been more beneficial had the Orioles just kept playing after last Sunday, rather than leaving Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, and dispersing to different parts of the country for their All-Star break. Sure, they had four days to revel in a four-game winning streak and lick their many wounds, but all the momentum they had built in a surprising sweep of the American League West Division-leading Texas Rangers over the weekend was gone very early Friday night when starter Brad Bergesen put his teammates in a hole from which they could never dig out. Bergesen allowed runs in each of the first three innings, and the Orioles got little going against Toronto Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero, who allowed two unearned runs over seven innings in a 4-2 victory in front of an announced 18,120 at Camden Yards.