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Texas Rangers play-by-play man Eric Nadel, who will join the Rangers Hall of Fame in August, is hosting a birthday bash tonight, with the Rangers off.

The concert, featuring Daphne Willis, is at The Kessler in Dallas. Doors open at 7 p.m. with the concert starting at 8 p.m. The event benefits CONTACT, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people facing daily life challeneges, and To Write Love on Her Arms, which helps people dealing with depression.

Click here for more information.

The Texas Rangers picked up left-handed pitcher John Gaub off a waiver claim from the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday. He goes on the club's 40-man roster, but was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock. That means the Rangers now have a full 40-man roster.

Here's the Rangers' release on Gaub:

Gaub, 27, was designated for assignment by Tampa Bay on Monday. He was acquired by the Rays in an April 5 waiver claim from the Chicago Cubs. Gaub has spent this season in the bullpen with Triple-A Durham, going 0-1 with one save and a 4.32 ERA (8 ER/16.2 IP) over 16 relief appearances.

Originally a 21st round pick (641st overall) by the Cleveland Indians in the 2006 June draft, Gaub was acquired by the Cubs, along with right-handed pitchers Chris Archer and Jeff Stevens, in exchange for infielder Mark DeRosa on Dec. 31, 2008. He made his major league debut with the Cubs on Sept. 12, 2011, and went 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA (2 ER/2.2 IP) over 4 relief appearances in his only big league action to date. The left-hander has a career 12-13 record and 3.65 ERA (93 ER/229.1 IP) in 187 games/one start over 6 seasons in the minor leagues.

Texas Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan said that pitcher Neftali Feliz could be out for a month. Ryan told ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Galloway and Company on Monday afternoon that doctors were pleased with the condition of Feliz's ligament, but that the elbow had inflammation.

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Rangers president Nolan Ryan comments on Neftali Feliz's injury, the club's interest in Roy Oswalt, re-signing Josh Hamilton and more. Listen

"They (the doctors) think through medication and rest that they'll be able to treat it and quiet it down and that he should be back pitching for us, I would think within the month," Ryan said.

Ryan was asked about the possibility of Roy Oswalt putting on a Rangers uniform. Ryan said he was scheduled to talk with general manager Jon Daniels later on Monday after Daniels' flight arrived in Seattle. Ryan indicated that Scott Feldman is expected to take Feliz's rotation spot for now.

"We have many things to talk about, but that will be one thing we’ll discuss is about how we'll fill that rotation spot," Ryan said. "Feldman is scheduled to do it right now and we have (Alexi) Ogando in the bullpen, whether you’d want to take him and put him back in the rotation, but that puts a big hole in your bullpen. If Roy is a possibility, I want to visit with J.D. and see what the scouts told him that they had seen. I really think that Roy wants to come back. He has indicated prior that he would like to play with us. We’ll take a look at that and see what happens."

Ryan said the preliminary report he heard on Oswalt was that he threw well and was in good shape. Ryan said Oswalt would need to stretch out and get some innings in the minor leagues before he could pitch with any major league club.

The Texas Rangers watched free agent right-handed pitcher Roy Oswalt throw on Friday, but the club was just doing its due diligence, according to a source.

The source added that “nothing has changed” with the club’s situation in regards to Oswalt, meaning the team doesn’t need an additional starter at this time. That doesn’t mean something couldn’t change, but with all five pitchers in the rotation still healthy and Scott Feldman, who won 17 games as a starter in 2009 as the long reliever, the Rangers have depth at the position.

Oswalt, 34, is still looking for a job and, according to reports, wants to pitch at some point in June. Several reports say he’s worked out for the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox recently with hopes of signing a deal soon.

Oswalt met with the Rangers over the offseason, but the club determined they didn’t need his services at that time. As of now, nothing has changed in that regard.

The new ESPN.com power rankings are out and the Texas Rangers, thanks to taking three of four in Baltimore and two of three from the Los Angeles Angels, are back in first place. They were No. 2 last week. Here's the top-5:

1. Texas Rangers
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. Atlanta Braves
5. St. Louis Cardinals

The AL West:

1. Texas Rangers
15. Oakland A's (moved up six spots)
21. Los Angeles Angels (moved down three spots)
25. Seattle Mariners (moved up one spot)

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The first series between the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers is over and the Angels leave town eight games back of Texas.

Does the gap seem even wider than that?

Maybe it's the gap between Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols right now that makes the distance between the Rangers and Angels look like the Grand Canyon. The Angels' top offseason acquisition was 2-for-12 in the series with one RBI. Both hits were singles. He's hitting .196 on the season. Pujols has one homer and 12 RBIs in 2012.

Compare that to Hamilton, who hit nine homers and had 18 RBIs in his last week. If the season ended today, he'd win the Triple Crown, leading the league with a .402, 18 homers and 44 RBIs.

The Rangers' offense pounded out 25 runs on 39 hits. They batted .358 as a team with five homers (including a grand slam by Nelson Cruz on Sunday), nine doubles and two triples. They scored an average of 8.3 runs per game in the series and had a .615 slugging percentage. Texas held the Angels to 13 runs on 24 hits and they batted just .235 as a team. They averaged four fewer runs per game in the series.

Texas lit up Jered Weaver, whose no-hitter was just two starts ago. They tagged him for eight runs and the pitcher was gone after 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start in 2 1/2 seasons. The only loss for the Rangers was Saturday afternoon, when they sleep-walked through a 4-2 loss. They won't admit they were tired, but they had to be. A doubleheader Thursday in Baltimore, a late flight back to Texas, a night game Friday that included a one-hour, 56-minute rain delay and then a quick turnaround for a noon game. The Angels, who had Thursday off in Texas, were better rested. That doesn't take anything away from C.J. Wilson, who pitched well Saturday in the win.

But the bottom line: The Rangers were the better team this past weekend and they've been the better team since the season began.

It's still early, but an eight-game deficit is a lot to make up. The teams still have 16 more head-to-head matchups, but nothing about what we saw this weekend gives any indication that the Angels would win a huge chunk of those to really alter things. What it will take is an extended winning streak by the Angels and a long stretch of struggles for Texas. It's still difficult for me to imagine that happening.

When the season began, both teams were considered AL contenders and many media members and fans picked the Angels to win the World Series. That, of course, could still happen. There's an extra playoff team and no one -- especially the Rangers -- expect the Angels to play like this for much longer. They'll get it together. And if they make the postseason with that pitching staff and a hot Pujols, they could be dangerous.

But even so, they still aren't better than the Rangers. That was clear again this weekend.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers have altered the starting rotation slightly this week, pushing Derek Holland's next start to Saturday. The doubleheader in Baltimore forced the club to change things around anyway, but they decided to allow Holland some extra rest while they have the chance.

Holland is physically fine. The team just wants to be proactive about giving pitchers some additional downtime when possible. They also wanted to keep Yu Darvish on his schedule, which means he'll start Wednesday against Oakland at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Because of the rainout on Wednesday night, it's likely that Scott Feldman will get a spot start on Monday, as long as he isn't needed out of the bullpen as a long reliever during the rest of the Angels series.

"Each year you live and you learn," manager Ron Washington said. "These guys are eating up a lot of innings in a lot of stressful games and we've got to try to take care of them somehow."

Texas did the same thing earlier in the season with Neftali Feliz when they had a rainout and a subsequent doubleheader in Detroit.

"It's an opportunity to really do some one-on-one work, have some mental talks," Washington said. "I want him to continue to command his fastball."

Holland has two straight quality starts after a two-start struggle at the end of April. Holland said he'll probably throw an additional bullpen session and could pitch an inning or two in relief to keep him sharp for Saturday's start.

Darvish, who got the win Friday and pitched 5 1/3 innings despite a one-hour, 56-minute rain delay after he pitched a scoreless first inning, will stay on his regular schedule for the time being. Washington said that doesn't mean Darvish won't eventually get some extra days like Feliz and Holland.

"He's always been a pitcher that has a routine and as often as we can keep him in his routine, we want to keep him in his routine," Washington said. "For now, he hasn't shown any weariness."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- As expected, those fans in their seats during pregame introductions gave former Ranger and current Los Angeles Angels starter C.J. Wilson a loud round of boos when public address announcer Chuck Morgan said his name.

Wilson was throwing near the left-field fence as he was introduced and smiled as he continued warm-ups. When he walked up the steps to the visiting bullpen, he was met with more boos from fans seated -- and many standing against the rails -- in that part of the park.

A group of four Rangers fans -- Brutus Phillips, David Lara, Mike Lara and Scott Price -- with half-season tickets near the bullpen rail booed Wilson and one held up a sign that read: "Fail C.J. Pitch like it's the playoffs."

"I've got respect for him as a pitcher, but I cheer against him now," David Lara said. "He's easy to dislike."

Mike Lara said he was "embarrassed" that Wilson was the Rangers' No. 1 pitcher in 2011.

"He was so erratic and couldn't get it done in the playoffs," he said.

The fans got another chance to boo him when Morgan introduced the starter and pitcher, as he always does, before the first inning. With Yu Darvish on the mound, the cheers for Darvish (Yuuuuuu) and jeers for Wilson (booo) sounded pretty similar.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington doesn't care that Albert Pujols comes into this three-games series batting just .198 with one homer. Washington knows Pujols is dangerous and shrugs off any talk of a slump.

"I'm not buying it," Washington said. "I'm not buying it. As a baseball player all it takes it for you to step in the box and for one guy that toes that rubber to give you your stuff back. And I certainly don't want to be the team that gives it to him."

Pujols hit three homers in Game 3 of the World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, but was just 1-for-19 in the other six games with six walks and three strikeouts.

"We didn't shut down Pujols. We didn't throw to him," Washington said. "He got a lot of walks. Sometimes even the best get impatient. But you don't shut down Pujols. You don't shut him down. Usually, he's the guy to get himself out. And that doesn't happen too often."

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Shortly after C.J. Wilson signed his offseason contract with the Los Angeles Angels on the final day of the winter meetings in Dallas, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington sent him a congratulatory text message, thanking him for all he did for the Rangers.

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Radio play-by-play voice of the Rangers, Eric Nadel, looks ahead to the Angels-Rangers series, puts Josh Hamilton's performance in perspective and more. Listen

"Within five or 10 minutes, he answered me back," Washington said. "I was shocked. I didn't think I would even get through. He was the guy that saved us a lot. Those Sunday days when it was 110 degrees out there and C.J. took the game and took it to the eighth inning. He did a lot for us."

Washington said Wilson deserved to move on if that's what he wanted to do.

"I wish him all the luck in the world," Washington said. "In the game of baseball that happens. People move forward, people move on. That's why they call it a team."

Washington admits that he and Wilson "didn't always see eye-to-eye" during the pitcher's tenure in Texas.

"But that's OK," Washington said about not seeing eye-to-eye with his former starter. "That's his personality. That's what I want out of my players (is) their personality. They don't have to come up in here politically correct and a lot of times he didn't. But I said what I had to say and he said what he had to say, but when it was all over, he respected me and I respected him and we moved on. That's C.J. He's definitely got his own mind."

One memorable instance of the two not seeing eye-to-eye was August 2008, when Wilson flipped the ball to Washington walking off the mound as the manager approached to change pitchers. Washington grabbed Wilson by the arm and made him get back on the mound and hand him the ball. Wilson apologized to the manager after the game.

"It was just a respect thing," Washington said. "I never held that against C.J. I understand his competitive juices. He was upset. But there's a place to handle those kinds of things and he just didn't handle it right that time and I let him know that. I didn't hold anything against him and we moved forward. Me and C.J. got along well. He had a way he wanted to do things and I had my way of doing things."

Washington talked about why Wilson is effective.

"He does his homework, studies opposing hitters and knows their weaknesses," Washington said. "He certainly has a good idea of what his strengths are and he does a good job of using that. He's a very intelligent guy."

Washington said Wilson didn't really make too many adjustments from being a reliever to a starter because he "always thought he was a starter, he just wanted the opportunity to do it." Washington wasn't sure that Wilson could do it because of his pitch count. Wilson had a high pitch count as a closer, but he got more efficient and became a work horse.

"The more he got the ball, the more he understood that if you can get rid of people in a hurry, get rid of them in a hurry," Washington said. "That's the kind of thing that springboards you to the back of the game."

Other notes:

* Yorvit Torrealba is catching Yu Darvish tonight, but that's because Washington wants as many right-handed bats as he can get in there against left-handed starter C.J. Wilson. The only lefty in the lineup for Texas is Josh Hamilton. Craig Gentry is in center and Mike Napoli at first base with Torrealba catching.

"Torrealba swung the bat pretty well the other day," Washington said. "I had thoughts of catching Napoli, but when I filled out my lineup, Torrealba came out of it."

* Washington said Monday's starter remains TBD. Scott Feldman is the most likely candidate, but he's available out of the bullpen tonight.

* Washington doesn't think that the fact that the Rangers hitters have seen Wilson for a few years as a teammate will help them much.

"With the pitches that C.J. throws, if he executes, he'll make anybody look bad," Washington said. "My hope is that he doesn't execute. If C.J. executes and Darvish executes, it should be a pretty good game tonight."

* Washington said outside perception of the Rangers-Angels series is bigger than normal but that his team will take it like "a day on the schedule."

"We're just going to play baseball and see what happens. They can play, we can play. We just have to wait and see what happens after nine innings." Washington said if it was September, it might mean more, but we're still in May.

* Washington praised Darvish's ability to focus and get the job done. "He adjusts and then he re-adjusts," Washington said. "That's what makes him special. Great players do that."

BALTIMORE -- It's finally time to welcome the Los Angeles Angels to Arlington.

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Texas Rangers fans have had to wait five weeks for one of the most anticipated rivalries of the 2012 season to get going. And while the Texas Rangers players stress that focus on winning every series -- no matter the opponent -- is the goal, the players understand the Angels are one of their top competitors in the AL, not to mention the AL West, and expect some excitement in front of sellout crowds this weekend.

"It's fun to play in front of packed houses and we've had that almost every game," Michael Young said. "When our park gets going, it's the loudest ballpark in the big leagues. I've played in the World Series twice and played in other parks. It's the loudest. The Cardinals said the same thing to us last year in those games in Arlington. Lots of parks don't seat 40,000 and we've got close to 50,000 and the just the way the ballpark is structured, it makes for a very loud place. We've been spoiled this year. We've had big crowds nearly every night. We feed off of it. We love it."

But Young and the rest of his teammates downplayed the hype surrounding what is turning into one of the biggest rivalries in the American League. While fans and media get excited about the prospect of Yu Darvish starting against C.J. Wilson, the pitcher he replaced in the rotation, the players just want to go out and try to win a series.

"I think the fans will enjoy it with everything that's been made out of it," David Murphy said. "It's ironic how everything has been built up in the offseason and the first meeting is C.J. versus Yu. It should be fun Friday night. They're a tough team. I don't think it will be any different than it has in the past. We have to play hard and try to win."

As the Rangers and Angels prepare to square off for the first of 19 games Friday night, both teams enter the contest after vastly different starts.

The Rangers come in as one of the top teams in the American League, off to a solid start to the season and full of star power. They lead the AL West by five games over the A's and seven games over the Angels. Josh Hamilton made history just days ago with a four-homer game. Darvish has made a fairly smooth transition to the major leagues from Japan. The Rangers' lineup continues to show off its depth, leading the league in runs scored (5.6 per game) and batting average (.291). They are tops in OPS and total bases. A young starting rotation has performed well, despite some trouble spots here and there from Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and Neftali Feliz. And the bullpen has solidified with Alexi Ogando, Mike Adams and Joe Nathan providing a formidable trio in winning situations.

Meanwhile the Angels have struggled to get things going. They fell behind the Rangers quickly out of the gate and still sit seven games behind in the AL West as the clubs begin head-to-head play against each other. Clearly, the Angels have plenty of time to catch up. But they'll need to play well against the Rangers and find some more consistency. The Angels have had trouble scoring runs, sitting 12th in the AL with just 3.65 runs per game -- nearly two full runs per game fewer than Texas. Part of that is Albert Pujols' slow start. It took him 110 at-bats to hit his first -- and only -- home run of the season and he's hitting just .198 on the season.

Still, it's a club with weapons. Pujols will certainly figure it out and the starting rotation, when clicking, is one of the best and deepest in the league. Early bullpen struggles hurt the Angels and they've made a change at closer.

"They haven't played as well as everyone thought they would this year, but we know how capable they are of putting together a good run," Murphy said. "There's way too much baseball left to be played. There's no reason for us to take them lightly. When you think about their team, you think first of all about how deep their starting pitching is, but they have a pretty good lineup too. They're a good team.

"I think everybody would be surprised if they continued to play all season the way that they have so far."

Young said the club will do what it always does: focus on how to improve and win games.

"I look at it that we have 13 rivals," Young said. "It's the American League. Every team is good. Every team wants to win the division. They are in our division and we're playing for the same prize. They're a good team. They've been good for a long time. But one thing we've been good at over the past few years is focusing on ourselves. We're trying to find ways to play better as the season goes along."

BALTIMORE -- Texas Rangers catcher Mike Napoli was not in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles. The reason: manager Ron Washington just felt like he needed a day off and that Brandon Snyder could attempt to keep his solid streak of hitting lefties going. We'll see if Washington keeps the lineup the same for the first game of Thursday's doubleheader now that Wednesday's game was postponed because of rain.

It's a rarity to have Napoli on the bench when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound. But Napoli is struggling right now. He is just 4-for-27 (.148) on this road trip and is hitting .237 on the season.

"I'm just trying to minimize the rough patches I go through," Napoli said this week. "Everybody goes through them. The best hitters in the game go through them, but they know how to minimize them and get back into a groove. I"m trying to do that."

A closer look at the numbers shows that Napoli has had one really hot seven-game streak. From April 15 to April 22, while the Rangers were in Minnesota, Boston and Detroit, Napoli was 12-for-29 (.414) with six homers and 11 RBIs. But in the other games, he's just 10-for-64 (.156) with one homer and five RBIs.

Napoli has been fouling balls straight back, an indication that maybe he's not far off. But he hasn't put the barrel on the bat as often as he'd like and admits he's not comfortable at the plate.

Napoli, though, has a history of slow starts. Last year, Napoli hit .267 in April, but slipped to .206 in May and .179 in June before steamrolling from July 4 through the rest of the regular season and into the postseason.

BALTIMORE -- Texas Rangers reliever Mike Adams knew he was witnessing history. As soon as Josh Hamilton's fourth home run bounded into the Baltimore Orioles' bullpen at Camden Yards, Adams asked for the baseball. He put it in a safe place in his backpack and couldn't wait to hand it to Hamilton.

Who knows, maybe it will be headed to the Hall of Fame soon.

"I knew he'd want that, and I wasn't going to get out of there without it," said Adams, who also secured Hamilton's third home run ball for safe keeping. "That's not something that happens every day. To be a witness to that and touch the baseball was pretty neat. We're all in awe."

Adams wasn't the only Rangers player amazed following Tuesday's ridiculous performance. After all, the closest thing to Roy Hobbs in the big leagues just matched the fictional character's four-homer performance that's part of movie lore.

Heck, Hamilton's display was more majestic. The only thing lacking was its own soundtrack.

Pitchers have perfect games and no-hitters. What does a hitter have? Perhaps Tuesday is as close to a perfect game as an offensive player can have in the big leagues. After his fourth homer, the 11,000 or so still in attendance at Camden Yards gave Hamilton a standing ovation. Many headed to the exits after that, clearly waiting around for Hamilton's fifth at-bat to see if he would hit another homer. He made it worth the wait worth it for them, even in a 10-3 Baltimore loss.

Read the rest here.

BALTIMORE -- This week's ESPN.com power rankings don't show the Texas Rangers in the No. 1 spot anymore. Series losses to the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians dropped Texas to No. 2. Tampa Bay is No. 1 now thanks to winning 12 of the last 15.

The top five:

1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Texas Rangers
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Washington Nationals
5. St. Louis Cardinals

The AL West:

2. Texas Rangers
18. Los Angeles Angels
21. Oakland A's
26. Seattle Mariners

NOTE: The Angels and Baltimore Orioles (now No. 6) made the biggest jump of any team in the rankings, going up six spots.

Jered Weaver's no-hitter on Wednesday night was the 10th in Angels history. That's tied for the most since 1961 by any club. Of course, they have current Rangers CEO and president Nolan Ryan to thank for that. Ryan tossed four of his no-hitters for the Angels (1973 vs. Tigers, 1973 vs. Royals, 1974 vs. Twins, 1975 vs. Orioles).

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But Weaver's no-hitter got me thinking: Which Ranger is most like to throw a no-hitter and how would you rank the current pitchers in order of most to least likely to toss a no-no? (In honor of Ryan's seven no-hitters, let's pick seven pitchers in order)

Here's my list:

1. Yu Darvish: If he gets ahead with his fastball and has all of his breaking and off-speed stuff working, he's got no-hitter potential for sure. There have already been flashes this season where he's looked like that (ask the Yankees and Blue Jays). Darvish showed an ability to be efficient despite a high strikeout rate the other day and is pitcher deeper into games now than he did his first few starts. With his arsenal, Darvish tops the list.

2. Derek Holland: He has the ability to miss bats and fool hitters. And he showed in Game 4 of the World Series last year (not to mention some big starts down the stretch) that he can pitch under pressure, clearly something that's needed if you're going to throw a no-hitter. Holland has the tools to do it.

3. Alexi Ogando: This might seem a strange entrant, but if he ever returns to the starting rotation he's got a chance. His secondary stuff is better than Neftali Feliz and teams have trouble hitting him in small doses now. Why couldn't he put that together for nine innings if everything went right? He gave up four or fewer hits in at least eight innings of work twice last year.

4. Matt Harrison: I think his stuff is underrated. He can throw his fastball in the mid 90s and down in the zone. He isn't afraid to let his defense help him, either, by letting batters put balls in play. And with the Rangers' defense behind you, that's a smart strategy.

5. Neftali Feliz: Still needs more time to develop his secondary stuff, but you can see that the ingredients are there to pull a no-hitter off. If he mixes in the slider, changeup and that electric fastball, it could all come together.

6. Robbie Ross: He's young and gaining some valuable experience. And the 22-year-old lefty is already showing he can get hitters on both sides of the plate. Like Feliz, he needs more seasoning. But I still think he's a starter long-term and once he gets there, the experience of pitching in the big leagues for a contender should only make him better.

7. Nolan Ryan/Greg Maddux: Don't laugh. I bet the 65-year-old Ryan could probably still throw the ball in the high 80s (maybe even hit 90) if given some time to get his arm in shape again. The question would be if his legs would allow him to pitch all nine innings. He could still intimidate up there and certainly knows what it takes to throw a no-hitter. After all, the man has seven of them. It sure would be fun to watch him try to do it again, wouldn't it? As for Maddux, his Hall of Fame career doesn't include a no-hitter. That's difficult to believe. But he's got the guile and pinpoint location to do it.

Note: Colby Lewis would have been next on my list, but we've limited this to seven spots (OK, I cheated and threw eight in there).

So what's your order of pitchers on the Rangers that could throw no-hitters? Is Darvish the most likely?