For the second straight night, the Texas Rangers’ powerful bats were silenced by a St. Louis starter.

Jaime Garcia pitched seven strong innings while allowing zero runs on just three hits and striking out seven. Everything was going right for the right-hander and manager Tony La Russa, who lifted Garcia for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh, which produced the Cardinals’ only run of the night when Allen Craig singled home David Freese.

But it was the Rangers’ work on the base paths in the top of the ninth that allowed Texas to come from behind by scoring two runs and propel them to a 2-1 victory in Game 2 on Thursday night.

Down 1-0 and facing a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series, Ian Kinsler led off the ninth with a single to center. Had the Cardinals not been playing doubles defense, Kinsler’s shallow fly ball probably would have been caught by Matt Holliday in left field. Instead, it brought the go-ahead run to the plate for the Rangers, who were threatening for the first time all night.

With Elvis Andrus up to bat, Kinsler took off for second and appeared to be gunned down by St. Louis backstop Yadier Molina. But second base umpire Ron Kulpa called Kinsler safe to the dismay of the ground. Replays showed that shortstop Rafael Furcal swiped the ground as Kinsler got his hand to the bag safely, proving that Kulpa’s call was correct.

With Kinsler now in scoring range, Andrus delivered a single of his own off closer Jason Motte. While his hit wasn’t enough to score Kinsler from third, Andrus headed for second on a heads up play after he saw the ball get past cutoff man Albert Pujols, putting two men in scoring position for Josh Hamilton. The left-handed slugger then delivered a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Kinsler and moving Andrus over to third. Michael Young then did his job by hitting another sac fly to score Andrus and all of a sudden the Rangers had a lead for the first time all series.

Texas closer Neftali Feliz wound up walking the first batter he faced in the bottom of the inning, putting Molina on base and the potential game-winning run up to bat. But Feliz struck out Nick Punto and Skip Schumaker and then retired Furcal on a fly out to right to end the game and send Texas home with a split in the series.

Of course, base running wasn’t the only thing that saved the Rangers on the night. Andrus made two outstanding defensive plays in back-to-back innings in the fourth and fifth. In the fourth, he and Kinsler retired Holliday on a slick double play, as Andrus went to his left and flipped the ball back to Kinsler, who made a bare-handed catch while tossing the ball to first to complete the play. In the fifth, Andrus made an even better play while diving to his left to halt a potential base hit by Furcal, then flipping the ball to Kinsler using only his glove to register a force out at second. Both plays stopped potential scoring rallies for St. Louis.

With things tied at one game apiece, the series now shifts to Texas for three games, starting with Game 3 on Saturday night.

All 2011 Fantasy Articles | 2011 Position Rankings

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. Shortstop is the new second base, a fantasy wasteland where only six (!) players are projected to be drafted in the first ten rounds. Six, out of a hundred. That’s bad.

“Hello. I’m Derek Jeter, and you’re not.”

Worse, only five of those players are proven fantasy performers year after year, and even that is stretching the truth until it nearly breaks. Truth be told, there is one guy in this group (Hanley Ramirez) that has held up as a reliable fantasy stud. The rest are streaky, as in ‘Will Ferrell in “Old School”‘ streaky. (Tulo, we’re looking at you.) What is a fantasy manager to do once Hanley and Troy Tulowitzki are off the board? For starters, don’t panic, and for God’s sake don’t reach. Continue to take the best guy on the board, and see if one of these guys lands in your lap.

Jose Reyes, Mets
The late, great Sparky Anderson once said, “Just give me 25 guys on the last year of their contracts; I’ll win a pennant every year.” You think he wouldn’t love to have Reyes this year, since he’s essentially auditioning for all of Major League Baseball? The Mets are so bogged down with money issues that there has even been speculation that they will have a hard time paying their players, which makes the likelihood of a contract extension to Reyes unlikely. Meanwhile, the shortstop of the Red Sox, Marco Scutaro, has a player option on his contract for next year, which the club could buy out for $1.5 million. Don’t think for a minute that Reyes doesn’t know this, and will bust his ass to get him some Carl Crawford money. Having said that, don’t bid the moon and the stars to get him. If he comes to you, great. If not, then take a look at…

Marco Scutaro, Red Sox
Reyes’ 2010 stat line was .282-83-11-54-30. Scutaro’s line was .275-92-11-56-5. Nearly identical in every category except steals, and he can be had 11 rounds after Reyes is off the board. If you play in a points league and Reyes is gone, take a deep breath, and remember that the next best thing is a mere 110 picks away. Scutaro is the textbook definition of a value pick, even if he spends the entire year in the 9-hole.

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All 2009 Fantasy Articles | 2009 Position Rankings

Before your 2009 fantasy baseball draft kicks off this year, do yourself a favor and repeat this three or four times to yourself: I will draft a shortstop in the first nine rounds.

Not unlike third basemen, the shortstop position is weak this season. After Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins come off the board in the first two rounds, you’re left with roughly eight shortstops that will give you adequate to good production this season. We project those eight shortstops to be selected anywhere between the fifth and ninth round in standard mixed leagues, which is why we suggest nabbing one before the conclusion of the ninth.

The good news is that in a 12-team league, you’ll definitely have the opportunity to land one of the big three (Ramirez, Reyes, Rollins) or scoop up one of the eight adequate-to-good shortstops that we’re referring to. The bad news is that shortstops can start flying off the board quickly and if you’re selecting in a snake draft, you could wind up on the wrong end of the spectrum when the run starts.

That’s why to be safe, you will draft a shortstop in one of the first nine rounds because you don’t want to be the guy that’s trying to figure out whether or not Edgar Renteria will bounce back now that he’s in the NL again, or having to choose between Orlando Cabrera’s consistent .280 batting average and Khalili Greene’s 25-plus home run potential. (Side note: If you do wind up being that guy come draft day, it might be wise to select two shortstops back to back and hope you catch lightning in a bottle with one of them.)

Obviously you still want to be smart on draft day; we’re not advising you to take Derek Jeter in the third because you’re spooked about failing to grab a shortstop before the ninth round. But taking one of the top 11 shortstops a round early might not be a bad idea considering what you’ll be left with later on.

You know it’s a slow week in MLB again when the big news is that Jeff Kent has announced his retirement. And just like Kent does with ease himself, the news stirred up controversy. This volatile player has never quite been a media darling, and has often gotten into it with teammates. But there is now debate about the guy’s Hall of Fame credentials. Okay, he may have the most homers for a second baseman in history, but you can’t tell me this guy is in the same class as a guy like Joe Morgan. He’s just not. And while a .290 career batting average is nothing to sneeze at, 377 homers over 20 years is not exactly Babe Ruth-esque.

Anyway, as Manny Ramirez remains unemployed, there were a few other smaller signings and moves this past week….

Okay, this isn’t small but just announced on Friday, Prince Fielder has agreed to a 2-year, $18 million deal with the Brewers that will keep him firmly entrenched (and who could move the guy?) on first base in Milwaukee through 2010. I’m glad for the Brew Crew since they lost out to the mighty Yankees in the CC sweepstakes.

Catcher Gregg Zaun re-signed with the Orioles, the team that drafted him back in 1989. The journeyman player signed a deal worth $1.5 million with a $2 million option for 2010.

The Phillies signed outfielder Jayson Werth to a two-year, $10 million contract and also inked reliever Chad Durbin to a one-year deal worth $1.635 million.

Young right fielder Nick Markakis of the Orioles came to terms on a six-year, $66.1 million deal, covering his first three arbitration-eligible years as well as his first three free agency eligible seasons. Clearly the O’s believe in this kid and want to keep him away from the Yankees and Red Sox.

Two other catchers signed this week—Brad Ausmus reached agreement with the Dodgers on a 1-year, $1 million deal; and Henry Blanco signed a $750,000 deal for one year to back up Padres’ catcher Nick Hundley.

Shortstop Omar Vizquel, who at 41 still looks like he’s 25, has been invited to spring training by the Texas Rangers. Vizquel signed a minor league deal that will allow him to mentor 20-year old Elvis Andrus, and to possibly become the team’s utility infielder. In order to make room for Andrus on the field, the Rangers are planning to move all-star shortstop Michael Young to third base. In addition, the Rangers are said to be casually wooing free agent pitcher Ben Sheets, who lives in Dallas.

Meanwhile, Tom Covill of Yahoo Sports posted this great summary of the remaining big name free agents still looking for work. It’s really kind of mind-boggling, but looking at these tiny deals being signed this past week, it’s clearly about economics and nothing more.