Five quick Rangers hits

It's an unfamiliar time in the life of a Texas Rangers fan right now. Aug. 13, and the Rangers are 7.5 games ahead in the AL West.

Life is pretty good right now.

It's been a while since I've posted anything Rangers related. Been very busy with the Conference Chatter blog at work and writing stories for work. Before I hit the sack tonight, I wanted to share five things that are on my mind with the Rangers right now.

1. Beating the Yankees twice in a row would have been awesome. It should have happened. After rallying on Tuesday in the ninth inning to knock off Mariano Rivera, the best closer of all-time, Texas jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the following game, but couldn't hold on. It was an ESPN game, only the second all season, if I remember correctly. Had a playoff atmosphere and a huge audience. Really would have liked to capture that one.

2. I'm glad the ownership situation worked out the way it did, and it's a done deal. Major League Baseball on Thursday approved Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg as the new owners of the Rangers. Great news, if you ask me. Nolan can continue to have the amazing impact he's had with the club. The duo made it a point to resign Cliff Lee, which would be pretty surreal. I'd probably welcome it. But I think the guys really need to make a point to sign general manager Jon Daniels, whose contract runs out after the 2011 season. The Mets will likely need a GM, and I don't want it being JD under any circumstance.

3. I hope Vlad Guerrero breaks out of this slump sometime soon. I just traded for the guy in fantasy baseball as well. It's awesome having someone smack dab in the middle of the Rangers' order on my fantasy team. I try not to be too biased when I play fantasy, but I needed hitting and had a plethora of pitching. Hopefully, St. Louis' Chris Carpenter, the guy I traded away, doesn't make me look like too much of an idiot.

4. If we win the West and Josh Hamilton stays healthy, he should be the consensus MVP. To be quite honest, this race isn't close right now. Hamilton is hitting .357 (it's Aug. 13!) with 24 home runs, 78 RBIs and seven stolen bases. He's now up 18 points for the league lead on Miguel Cabrera in batting average.

5. These next two series continue to be difficult. Home to Boston for three games, at Tampa Bay for three games. Combine that with the two Yankees games from this week, and we're talking playoff atmospheres for a week straight. I can live with that.

It's about that time, folks. Goodnight and good luck to all.