Frank Francisco

Ignorance and poor decision-making, not cocaine, will be the downfall of Ron Washington as manager of the Texas Rangers. After yet another heartbreaking 7-6 loss in a game the Rangers should have won against the Boston Red Sox, it is hard not to find fault in Washington's style of game management.

Anytime a team goes from leading 6-2 to losing the game by a run, fingers begin to be pointed. Five runs and a degrading loss later, fingers should be pointed at the manager.

The 2010 season is just about to enter its third full week, and we've seen plenty of surprises already.

Several players have unexpectedly emerged as seemingly-reliable fantasy options, while other normally productive players are off to slow starts. 

Here's a rundown of who's hot and who's not as we begin the second half of April.

Risers

The bullpen may be the biggest group of unsung heroes in recent years for the Rangers.

They haven’t had any big flashy names, but for the most part they have kept games close, and have been able to close them out when given the chance.

When considering the 2010 bullpen for the Rangers it is easiest to start with the givens.

I'm concluding my look at the four AL West bullpens with Texas. Inside are analyses of 13 relievers (there's a lot of competition for relief slots):

Frank Francisco
Neftali Feliz
Darren O'Day
Darren Oliver
C.J. Wilson
Chris Ray
Ben Snyder
Dustin Nippert
Brandon McCarthy
Geoff Geary
Warner Madrigal
Willie Eyre
Clay Rapada

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It's Thursday, and the weekend is almost upon us. If you're like me, you start looking forward to the weekend on, well, Monday. But before we dig into this full plate of steamy weekend baseball, why not look back and reminisce about the pitchers that flat out got it done last week. These guys are already looking like Cy Young contenders, with stat lines that make baseball fan's eyes go wide upon first view.

AL:

I know that it is early in the season and that eight games it not enough of a sample to trend what a team and for that matter a player is going to do in the 2009 MLB season.

However, the early returns can begin to paint the picture of what is going to happen throughout the season. Right now the Rangers bullpen is heading down the wrong path.

The Rangers did get off to a great start by winning their first three games at home against the Cleveland Indians, but since then a three-game sweep at the hands of the Tigers and so far losing the first two to the Orioles.