Yesterday, the Rangers wasted a marvelous 4-hit outing by Chris Young. Kam Loe came in on the 8th, trying to protect a 5-3 lead and promptly allowed the first two Tigers to reach base (one on a single, the other on a hit-by-pitch). Sensing things slipping away, Buck Showalter went to Francisco Cordero for a 2-inning save opportunity.
It didn't work.
Cordero surrendered two runs in the 9th. Nick Regilio came on in the 10th and gave up a run and the Rangers, after winning nine straight, have now lost two in a row, falling 6-5.
Rumors began to swirl yesterday that the Rocket, Roger Clemens, is interested in the Rangers, in addition to the Yankees. One ESPN radio voice yesterday said, "Roger Clemens would vault the Rangers into the best team in the American League." And while the prospect of Clemens would make any Ranger fan salivate, the 8th inning is the weakness right now. Carlos Almanzar, he of the recent Tommy John surgery, was so steady and dependable last year as the 8th inning guy. The Rangers must find that missing link to this year's team.
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Last night was a blast. Dinner at Outback, with my wife sans children, and a movie at the Rave in Little Rock.
On the drive up, Mandy and I talked about my blog yesterday. In her own insightful way, Mandy raised this idea: Does every question we ask of Scripture have to have a clear answer?
Brilliant!
We ask questions out of our setting of an ancient text that, by its nature, was written to answer the questions of first-century believers. Some of our questions have no pat answer. And the answer to some of their questions, take idol meats in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 for example, have no real application for our setting.
What Mandy was saying was the very thesis of Leonard Sweet's excellent book Out of the Question...Into the Mystery. Sometimes, proof-texting a lame answer doesn't substitute for simply living in the mystery of God's will. Some tough questions have no conclusive answers. In that case, we should marvel at the mystery of it all and live in abiding faith in the answers we do have.
