According to Mosley, Martellus Bennett broke the news on Twitter (big surprise), and voiced his own personal sadness at the parting of a friend.

The odd thing is, Bryant never even practiced with the team. He apparently saw some minicamp action, but never looked right. Apparently, his knee never healed from offseason surgery.

With Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco, Jordan Shipley, and others, Cincinnati decided Bryant wasn’t worth the risk. But can they just cut him? Bryant has filed documents claiming that he was released due to injury, which is a no-no unless the team pays his guaranteed money, which it hasn’t.

It’s a strange situation. I’ve never heard of a team cutting an injured player who was guaranteed $8 million. Any guesses how this turns out?

After dishing out a 30-3 epic shellacking still in recent memory at Baltimore, the Rangers have become endemic of late when in town, and cannot seem to put together what it takes to get consecutive wins and close out a series.

Enter General Lee to put the hammer down.

Like the Civil War general, Lee, who showed his brilliant mastery and superior strategic skills only to be suffered a lack of man-power and resources, our Lee cannot be pinned to his outings results alone. These are after all team efforts: the bats have been anemic and the defense lacking.

Lee is suffering from lack of a win in the box score,  but not necessarily through any fault of his own. On Friday night he was once again following his game plan in the way he worked the outside of the strike zone, except this time Baltimore was waiting, and pounced. It was his first true failure alone wearing Texas Blue and Red: can’t blame the offense or defense.

Lee, as he has done for various reasons to date since he was traded here from Seattle, lost against his opponent and this time gave up long balls to Wiggington and Scott, insuring the loss. It was a big disappointment for those of us who watched. We were left once again to envision a late season collapse in the making, and Lee’s performance and the lack of Ranger offense and rash of recent injuries sharpened that perception.

But the Rangers needed to write off that loss and get on with the season. Play the next game and rely upon short term memory so a win could be acheivable.

A team must do that, especially this time of year where the club enjoys such a late season lead over the Angles and Athletics. Look at the clubs that rally to advance to the post season. They do it.

And tonight the Rangers did.

Enter Tommy “Big Game” Hunter, who was recalled from the Brick Yard. He stepped in where he left off before being placed on the DL and commanded the game: 8 IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER. All he did was sandwich in the otherwise lack luster performance of Lee and helped the Rangers salvage a 2-2 split in Baltimore. Am excellent way to leave the road and head home.

The concerns of previous seasons for the Rangers though have been the starting pitching down the stretch. Young arms get tired and the team suffers. Over the last six weeks of the season many games are lost due to a failure of the starters to give a quality start. The Rangers go through a swoon that just kills the fan base and introduces question marks for the off season Hot Stove conversations.

But this year is different. Quite different. The pitching has matured to such a level that opening day starter Scott Feldman finds himself as long relief in the bull pen. How is that for maturity?

Wilson, Lewis and Hunter have emerged as take control guys. Even though Wilson has not won a game in several starts, he still keeps the team in a position to win. That luck is bound to change.  Let leaves Harden and Lee.

Harden was a gamble in the off season, arriving here in large part due to his yet fulfilled potential that was based upon his ability to paint. So far that experiment has failed, but he is close to (once again) being healthy. The organization seems fit to keep sending him out every five days to see if he fulfills his expectation.

Feldman, who has at times shown his off sped brilliance and pitch to contact philosophy that rewarded him with a long term contract in the off season, struggled and seems comfortable relegated to long relief.

That Leaves Lee and the question begged to be asked and answered: should he be signed long term, considering his success since he arrived? I say YES for these reasons:

Lee is a stud, and if you compare his numbers over the last 4 years to the league, the only one who might shine brighter is Roy Halliday, which is the reason he was signed and Lee was traded.

Lee is a gamer, and he lays it on the line every game. His approach to the plate is solid, and he does seem after a handful of games to treat each like the other. He has not slacked.

He is a veteran, and with the young guns in the system he can be relied upon each and every game STILL to give the club 8 innings and.  The upstarts cannot always be relied upon to do so.

While preseason games are generally meaningless, they have so far proven costly for the Cowboys, as TE John Phillips will be out for the season after tearing his ACL in the preseason opener Sunday night against the Bengals. Phillips was looking at an increased role as a bit of a Jason Witten starter kit, with his ability to catch and block from the line and in the backfield. Now those duties will go to Martellus Bennett, assuming he can get over his ankle injury.

This team has been snakebitten by injuries so far during training camp. Maybe its the injury-free karma they developed over the past few seasons catching with them, but the string of injuries suffered is staggering:

John Phillips: torn ACL
Dez Bryant: high ankle sprain
Marcus Spears: sprained MCL
Alex Barron: dislocated pinky, sprained ankle
Martellus Bennett: sprained ankle
Akwasi Owusu-Ansah: shoulder/hamstring
Scott Sicko: concussion
Cletus Gordon: strained neck
Bryan McCann: concussion
Sean Lee: quad strain
Pat Watkins: knee
Montrae Holland: stained hamstring

Of these, the most glaring to me are the injuries to Bennett and Phillips. Along with Witten, they were poised to form a nice three-headed platoon at tight end, with the ability to stretch the field with their receiving abilities while also being able to make key blocks when necessary. Now Phillips is out for the season, while Bennett is shaky with the ankle and hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations when he was healthy.

Spears being out is big as well. He is a critical part of a Cowboys defense that finished 4th against the run last season. He is hoping to be back for the regular season opener against the Redskins on September 12. Until then, Jason Hatcher is filling that defensive end role.

As for the game, we’ll probably see the starters on both sides for most of the 1st quarter, if not the entire quarter, then the second teamers will start coming in.

The biggest thing to watch for is for no one else to get injured. And to see if the offense can actually score a touchdown this time around.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until the games start counting. Hopefully most of those players listed will be well enough to play by then.

GO COWBOYS!!!

Aside from controlling how the Angels perform down the stretch, what is evident in the recent box scores this August should raise some eyebrows as there are some trouble spots that may both prohibit a run to the division title and even worse impair the Rangers in the play-offs. How the team rides these out will determine both their fate in the division and the hopes of any post-season success.

Why all the Gloom & Doom? Well, just like a pot hole on the heat drenched metro-area road grid, it only just recently surfaced and shows signs of impeding progress to the final destination.  Prior to events in August I was a happy band-wagon jumper like everyone else. But now I am trying just to navigate to get to the final destination, and the journey is going to take longer, if I even make it.  These are my reasons to express such concerns with the ball club:

The team needs Kinsler. While he is not the face of the franchise (Young), nor the super-star of the team (Hamilton), Ian Kinsler is once again hurt, out of the line-up, and sorely missed. No worries you say? In most instances I would agree with you. But his moxy and importance to this team cannot be over stated or easily measured: on most other teams players would take up the slack during his stay on the disabled list, but this is not the majority of other teams nor is he the run-off-the-mill player that can be filled in for.

Kinsler is, and I have always stated this, a catalyst to the team. The numbers do not always indicate this, (I always say “look at the record” to try and provide statistical proof) but his lack of presence does: (can Bill James elaborate on this?).  He always seems to come up with the spark-plug clutch hit to sustain a rally AND defensive play to kill a rally. These are not the type of numbers that are evident  in the box score, but are just equally as important. Rather they are the type to keep pitching coach Mike Maddox from a visit to the mound; or just as important providing a call to the bullpen fating the  current opposing pitcher to get the hook. Either way Ian has a knack for stopping or insuring baseball appears on the nightly highlights and that cannot be under-estimated.

Secondly both Vlad and Young are struggling mightily. For the month of August, these dudes are hitting a combined .160. Let me repeat that: my 10 game spread-sheet shows they are a combined 8 hits in 50 at bats. Not just to be attributed to weariness, this is troubling for these reasons: Young is historically a slow starter; unlike the pitching, he gets going in the summer like a jalepeno on the vine and thrives on the Texas heat. An August swoon is not typical. Vlad on the other hand is an unknown commodity; given up for dead in Anaheim as damaged goods after so many productive years, one has to question his once legendary durability. He certainly adjusted to Texas and the designated hitter role, but is he now damaged?

Could both be hurt? If so, what gives?

Isolated, the team can absorb an injury and cold streak of either and hope to advance towards the Fall Classic. But when potentially combined, these present problems in achieving the goal of post-season success that I don’t think can be filled easily with the boys in Ok City or Frisco…

Thirdly, what is preventing the move to the bullpen of for many years the labeled ‘enigmatic’ or ‘potential’  but deservedly so  burdensome Rich Harden? He was a major sighing in the off season that has no panned out, so now the question is asked when does this club finally realize that the man does not live up to his potential and instead try best to utilize him in a suitable capacity?

While he may now be healthy, his plate dreadful and tiring painting of the strike zone is not working; on the opposing hitters nor with the umpires. During his last outing in Oakland when ‘Money Ball’ once again appeared  as every batter took all of his pitches, I believe he threw more balls than strikes and it resulted in Harden deservedly getting yanked in the third inning. Why he continues to start is beyond me.

Perhaps Ron Washington gave him one last go-around in the rotation before accessing his decision. We hope. Once Tommy Hunter returns, what do you do? I hope it was a ‘get er’ done’ ultimatum that the organization feels has conclude. Either way, I would rather see Feldman, who appears to have performed above his potential last year, and is now properly utilized in the bull pen as long relief, get the start knowing that Harden is ready on short relief. Reverse the roles Ryan! Let’s mix it up!

There you go Texas fans.

These are the concerns. Weigh them as you will, but I feel the combination of them all may hinder a division title and advancement in the post-season. Daniels did good in making the trades to get people here to make a run for the division title, but nothing can account for this lack of questioning of availability for the clutch players and the back-end of the rotation.

Yes we have good things going on in Lee, Lewis, Wilson, Hamilton, Feliz, Cruz and others, but how will the Rangers fare against the Chisox, Rays, Twins and Yankees is the big question?

These concerns need to be addressed NOW while the team is in first place in the division to insure success in the fall classic.

This season.

This year.

They have the players, the organization to support the team, the attitude and better yet the gumption and apparent team chemistry to get done what needs to get done to win the World Series. The only real obstacle will be to win a play-off series, which they have never done.

I will provide a detailed follow-up this weekend, but for now just drink the Kool-aid and jump on the band wagon. The coolers are bottomless and the wagon is big

The Mavs kept Dirk. And got rid of Dampier (finally!)

The Rangers are in first place! And also for sale. Let’s just leave it at that.

The Cowboys? Hope springs eternal, as players and coaches begin filtering in to San Antonio this week, with training camp beginning Saturday.

Here are a few things to look for as camp progresses:

Kicker: is Buehler ready to handle all the duties? Or will a second leg be brought in?

Offensive line: Is Free ready to take over? How much will Adams be missed? Can they avoid major injury issues again?

Wide receiver: Will Roy finally step up to #1 receiver status? Or will Miles Austin snatch that honor away? Does Dez Bryant push Roy even further down the depth chart? Does Crayton stay?

Kick returner: Who’s it gonna be?

Cornerback: Can they produce more interceptions, as in any?

These are just a few of the issues I will be tracking as training camp gets underway.

The most wonderful time of the year is almost here…