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NEW YORK – Thanks in part to the influence of a 300-game winner, and the brother of a 300-game winner, the Rangers no longer have to try to out-slug people.

In the most remarkable turnaround of the season, Texas' pitching staff is actually pretty good, with a 4.46 ERA after shutouts Thursday and Friday and allowing three runs Saturday. If the Rangers can keep it there all year, it would mark the first time since 1993 the franchise had an ERA better than 4.50.

Not coincidentally, Texas leads the AL West at 35-26, the second-best record in the league.

"This is my third year here," right-hander Brandon McCarthy said, "but in two years I got sick to death of hearing, 'Texas pitchers stink. Texas pitchers stink.'

"Now we can turn those tables a little bit, be the group that maybe changes that whole mindset. It would be an awesome accomplishment."

Red Sox lifer Johnny Pesky will have his number retired Friday night in a ceremony at Fenway Park. Pesky, who will turn 89 on Saturday, has spent most of his life working for the franchise, and he's more than deserving of the honor. But that's not why this is interesting.

From the Boston Globe's Extra Bases blog:

[Larry] Lucchino acknowledged the retirement of Pesky's number was an exception to the longstanding criteria for such honor, which in the past has been bestowed upon players who had played at least 10 years with the Red Sox, finished their careers here, and were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Red Sox changed the rule about having to finish you career with the team to retire Carlton Fisk's No. 27, but Pesky will be the first player to have his number retired by Boston that did not play with the club for 10 years or get inducted into Cooperstown.

A big part of me thinks that's too bad. It's virtually impossible to begrudge Pesky this honor, but I've long admired the strict criteria for getting a number up on the right field facade at Fenway.

On the other hand, it was only a matter of time before the Red Sox changed their policy. After all, neither Manny Ramirez nor Pedro Martinez played 10 years with the club, but both deserve to be honored by Boston long after they stop playing. So why not change it for Pesky?

Later today, the Red Sox will stroll out of the visitor's dugout and face the Yankees for the final time at venerable Yankee Stadium. There will be other goodbyes to the House That Ruth Built in the coming weeks, but with the Bronx Bombers a major longshot to play into October, this series seems to have taken on special significance.

Here are a dozen of the finest moments in the best rivalry in American sports, all of which took place at Yankee Stadium. Even Red Sox fans have to be feeling a little nostalgic about their team's final visit. After all, the franchise's finest hour took place there.

1. Oct. 16, 2003: The ghosts strike one last time. After Red Sox manager Grady Little leaves Pedro Martinez in well past the 100-pitch mark with a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning, the Yankees rally to force extra innings. In the 11th, Aaron Boone sends a deep fly into the Bronx night, sending New York to the World Series and crushing Boston's dreams of ending the Curse of the Bambino again.

Carlton Fisk's feuds with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf are well documented. Fisk, after being released from the team in 1993, was kicked out of the clubhouse after he tried to congratulate them for winning the A.L. West. The relationship started to heal when the Sox retired his number 72, and continued when the club erected a statue. Now the relationship is a working one again, as Fisk has been appointed an ambassador to the club.

"They (White Sox) have defined me as an ambassador, whatever an ambassador's duties are," Fisk said. "I just hope it's not an ambassador to Iraq or some place and they send me over there. I guess it means I'm a jack of all trades and a master of none. I was a master of one, but not anymore."

Oh no Carlton, not Iraq. But perhaps smoothing over things that Ozzie Guillen says in public could be almost as daunting.

"All you have to do is find a muzzle for him sometimes," Fisk said. "That's Ozzie, though. We used to tell Ozzie when he was playing, 'Ozzie, shut up.' But he's bold, he's brassy, he played, he has fun. That's what he has tried to instill in the players, that you can be bold and brassy, but you go out and play."

Ah, I guess the duties of a White Sox ambassador consist of finding Ozzie Guillen a muzzle, and telling him to shut up. I got it now. Should be fun in Chicago the rest of the season.

Heading towards the end of what's been a lengthy, and mostly successful career, Roberto Hernandez is conceding the fact that there are some aspects of today's game that he doesn't like. I'm sure having a six ERA is one of those factors. Also on that list, is the attitude of today's young players.

Hernandez said he learned how to pitch because teammates such as Carlton Fisk, Ozzie Guillen and Bobby Thigpen were tough on him early in his career. He recalled how Guillen called timeout during games to scream at him on the mound.

Something like that would never happen today, Hernandez said.
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He said retirement crossed his mind Saturday night. Ducking for safety to avoid a comebacker in the 14th inning, he found himself turned around and facing center field. He look up at the scoreboard, which told him it was 12:05 a.m. Sunday. It was his wife's birthday.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this," he said.

Funny thing is, I'm not sure how much longer anyone else will want him to do this -- with the exception of opposing batters, of course. Then again, just the fact that Hernandez has hung on this long is impressive. The guy was still an effective pitcher at 41, but he's definitely losing it at 42. Let's hope he calls it quits at the end of the year in order to preserve his legacy.