Well, it is that time of year again when the pollen is high and the players are sneezing and coughing...but hey we are not talking colds we are talking home runs. The last 2 days for the Texas rangers have been very eventful in that Gagne got his first start of spring training and Chen seems to be getting another chance.

First things first a couple of days ago the Texas Rangers took on the SF Giants and Barry Bonds. The good news is that the rangers won 4-3 and Tejada was really on for the rangers. That was not the great news of the day though it was the fact that Eric Gagne got his first spring training start in which he gave up a home run to Barry Bonds but other than that he really performed to the liking of Ron Washington. But hey still if you are an AL team you will NOT have the chance to see Gagne till the start of the season something Washington is doing to hopefully trick some AL BIG BATS.

Second the rangers took on the Chicago Cubs yesterday and Sammy Sosa was in the game against his former team but nothing for the Slammin' Sammy. But wait there was one ranger that was in the spotlight and that was Gerald Laird with his two blast offs in the game. But in a game the rangers were hoping to win they lost 11-7 to the team of Sosa's past. Also, Mark Texeira played all nine innings in this game and that is unusual for a frontline starter, but Texeira wanted to test out the knee that has been sore over the last week that has left him sidelined and boy did he get a test the game lasted three hours and twenty nine minutes and he said the knee seems to be feeling fine...which is good news for the rangers.

Thirdly, Bruce Chen will get a shot on Friday to prove that he needs to be the rangers number five starter. Chen so far this spring has an 0.77 ERA and honestly in my opinion has a frontline shot at actually winning the fifth spot. He has totally done everything the rangers have ask of him this spring and more if he can carry that into a season of long work the rangers with their five starters will be one of the most fierce teams in the starting rotation. Be sure to watch the rangers today as they take on the LA Angels and Kameron Loe gets the start and Kevin Millwood will get a start in a minor league game. Until next time, as I have said for the last few months at hand SEE YOU IN THE PLAYOFFS.