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Should a need arise with the Texas Rangers, first baseman/outfielder Brad Hawpe is ready.

The eight-year veteran had Tommy John surgery on his left elbow Aug. 5. He has since built up the arm strength and with that comes confidence while playing for Double-A Frisco in the Rangers' minor league system. He's more than nine months removed from the major surgery, and there are no limitations.

PODCAST
Brad Hawpe discusses his recovery from Tommy John surgery in Double-A Frisco and the Rangers' keys to success. Listen

"I was nervous making throws," Hawpe said about the way he felt about seven or eight months after the surgery. "Late in the game, if we were up by one run or something, I would look at manager (Steve Buechele) and say, 'Hey, you know, if a guy is on third and one out and a fly ball to right, I may not be your guy just yet to be able to throw him out,' because in the past that was my calling card.

"That’s not a question for me anymore."

Hawpe was a guest last weekend on Rangers Magazine on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM. He said there wasn't a specific moment when he felt he was over the mental and physical obstacles of elbow surgery. However, he credits his Frisco teammates for encouraging him to play long toss, which is something he used to do three days a week pre-surgery.

The 32-year-old has played in 893 minor league games, mostly with the Colorado Rockies organization, but he has also played for San Diego and Tampa Bay. Hawpe, a Metroplex resident, is a career .276 hitter with 124 home runs and 490 RBIs. Three of those home runs came as a pinch-hitter.

Getting back to his "calling card," Hawpe led the National League with 16 outfield assists in 2006 and was second the year before with 10.

While Hawpe is trying to get back to the big leagues, he has the pleasure of being a teammate of highly touted prospects who are looking to get to the majors for the first time. When I brought up Jurickson Profar, Hawpe delivered quite the scouting report.

"Most 19-year-olds are what, freshman in college? Most kids can't handle the level he's at and the attention he gets. That kid is going to be incredible," Hawpe said.

"I don’t know how else to put it. He’s going to be a star, in my opinion. Not just because of his talent. His talent is off the charts. His work ethic is good. His mindset is right. He’s a very positive kid, but what people may not know about him when they are looking at stats and trying to figure this and that out about him is he’s very intelligent. He’s a very, very, very smart kid. For a 19-year-old to carry himself and handle himself like he does, I mean I am thoroughly impressed by that kid."

Hawpe talked more about his health, the difference between his athletic ability before and after surgery, his relationship with the Rangers in spring training and thereafter, playing for and the importance of a manager like Buechele and the difference in minor league ball in present day compared to his rise to the big leagues.

He also talked about a major key to Rangers success. Listen to the podcast and find out what he thinks.

Bryan Dolgin is the host of Rangers Magazine as well as the host of the Rangers radio pre and post game shows on the Texas Rangers ESPN Radio Network & ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @RangersRadioBD

The Rangers return home with a scheduled day off for the first time since May 3. In that 20-game span, they finished 10-10.

There’s two ways to look at it:

The Rangers know they didn’t play their best baseball. They were swept by the Kansas City Royals, split a two game series with the Oakland Athletics and lost a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners -- all teams back-to-back American League Champions should beat. Following Josh Hamilton’s home run streak, the offense cooled down considerably. The Rangers had an opportunity to separate themselves from the pack in baseball and didn’t capitalize.

Or you can remind yourself it’s still May 24. Even with a stretch of all-around bad hitting nights, the Rangers were still able to muster 10 wins during a stretch in which they dealt with a doubleheader, a nearly two-hour rain delay followed by an afternoon game the next day and with Neftali Feliz on the disabled list. Pitching, for the most part has been solid and the Rangers found ways to get the job done at the plate. A prime example is Tuesday’s 3-1 win over the Mariners in which all it took was an inning of runs, solid pitching and defense to get the win.

Not to mention they’re still in first place of the AL West and nine games over .500.

What’s your take on the 10-10 record in 20 games?

SEATTLE -- It seems just about every Rangers player with a bat in his hands has been in a funk lately, and the only reasonable explanation in the clubhouse is ... well, to paraphrase the manager, that's the way baseball goes.

"We haven’t been the best offense, for sure," shortstop Elvis Andrus said. "It’s kind of gotten rough a little bit fighting through it, but that’s the way the season goes. We’re going to have good times and we’re going to have bad times, and right now it’s not the best time for our offense playing well."

Rangers manager Ron Washington plans to sleep in and relax during the Rangers' first scheduled off day since May 3. The last thing on his mind is the offensive struggles this early in the season, considering the same lineup has won back-to-back American League championships.

"We’re in May," Washington said. "We've just got to keep grinding like we always do. I have quality guys out there in that clubhouse and we’ll put it back together."

In the past 10 games, the Rangers offense has been outscored by a run in series against the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.

"We know we can play better baseball than we have right now, but sometimes you’ve got to stay humble," Andrus said.

They were on the cusp of breaking out Wednesday, but they couldn't catch a break in a 5-3 loss to the Mariners.

Nelson Cruz hit two shots to the warning track in right field. Michael Young saw 20 pitches in his first two plate appearances and he didn't have a hit to show for it. Young hit a hard ground ball up over the mound that was kicked by pitcher Kevin Millwood to keep it in the infield in the second. Young had another ground ball dance down the third-base line in the third. It appeared to be a hit until Kyle Seager made a great play to record the out.

Young is batting .233 (19-of-87) with a .322 slugging percentage and eight RBIs in May. He's struck out 16 times and collected just two walks.

"I feel fine," Young said. "Those are the at-bats I want to keep on having. I don’t look at them as grinding. I look at them as a couple good at-bats. If I keep doing that, then things will start going my way."

He doesn't see the team's struggles as a slump. Just as quickly as the bats went cold, the Rangers know all it takes is a few good at-bats to get them going again.

"If we go through a tough stretch and we’re playing .500 ball, sometimes that happens," Young said. "But we know we're capable of going on hot stretches where we get a ton of wins in a row. We just stay focused on the things we know we're capable of."

Even with the woes at the plate, the Rangers are still nine games over .500.

"We're still in first place [of the AL West], and that's all that matters," Andrus said.

SEATTLE -- Scott Feldman hasn't been announced as a permanent replacement for Neftali Feliz in the Rangers' rotation, but he looked like the other two starting pitchers during the three-game series with the Mariners in one way: He allowed walks to turn into runs.

He didn't top Yu Darvish's six-walk performance Monday, but he came close. Feldman's command was shaky in the second and fifth innings in Wednesday's 5-3 loss. His five walks gave the Mariners 13 free trips to first base off the Rangers' starters, including Matt Harrison, this series. It resulted in seven of the Mariners' 12 runs in three days.

Feldman walked the bases loaded to start the second against the Mariners' Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters. Michael Saunders' sacrifice fly would score the only run 0f the inning thanks to a couple of groundouts, but it resulted in an early 1-0 deficit.

Feldman seemed to find a groove, retiring eight straight heading into the fifth, but that inning started with a walk to Saunders. Mike Carp followed with a single, and an error by Ian Kinsler at second base advanced runners to second and third. Feldman intentionally walked Dustin Ackley to load the bases up for Alex Liddi with one out, and Liddi made Feldman pay on the first pitch. The grand slam on an inside fastball barely cleared the left-field wall over the scoreboard, but it was four runs nonetheless.

"Walking that many guys, I was dodging bullets all day, and then finally they got me in the fifth there. It finally caught up to me," Feldman said.

Robbie Ross entered the game, ending Feldman's night after five runs allowed on three hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Feldman hadn't thrown in eight days entering Wednesday's contest, and it was only his eighth appearance this season.

"I’ve been doing as good as I can to try and stay sharp," Feldman said. "The last couple times just haven’t been good."

Rangers manager Ron Washington said he isn't going to hold too much of this start against Feldman when judging him as a possible replacement for Feliz. Washington said Feldman made one bad pitch.

"It’s unfortunate that the one that he made put four runs on him," Washington said. "I thought he was doing a good job.

"There's decisions to be made and we'll make decisions, but you can't put that on Scotty."

Although Washington hasn't made any commitment, Feldman is preparing with the intention of starting Tuesday when what had been Feliz's turn comes up in the rotation.

"My fastball was decent but all the other pitches were lacking the command that I need," Feldman said. "I'm going to work really hard these next few days in between starts and throw a lot of pitches and work on that kind of stuff."

SEATTLE -- With a decision yet to be made on who will be the long-term fill-in for Neftali Feliz in the rotation, the Rangers will send Scott Feldman to the mound to start Wednesday. And all Feldman is focused on is Wednesday’s rubber game with the Seattle Mariners.

“You can’t really think of it like that,” Feldman said on possibly filling in for Feliz. “I try to take it one pitch at a time. If you start getting outside of your elements and think about all kinds of other stuff, it’s usually not the best idea. So I’m going to try and keep it simple.”

Feldman wants to do well in his third start, considering it could result to his return to the rotation, but he’s going to take it one game at a time.

“I don’t want to make it something that it’s not,” Feldman said. “I want to go out there and pitch well, and everything else will take care of itself.”

Feldman is 0-1 with a 2.00 ERA in two starts this season. He only pitched a combined eight innings in the two games, but he stretched himself out during spring training and has stayed prepared with side and bullpen sessions.

“It just depends on the stress of the innings he has,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “If he’s able to get through some innings early, it might give him some leeway late.”

The starter-turned-middle reliever said he’s in a different mindset now when he starts than in previous seasons. He said he’s gone through some struggles, namely dealing with knee issues that kept him off the field for most of last season, that have been important learning lessons as he’s grown older.

He’s also learned the importance of changing speeds.

While his repertoire of pitches isn’t as vast as Yu Darvish's, Feldman tinkered with different grips last season and started throwing a changeup during games to add to his sinker, cutter, four-seam fastball, curveball and slider.

“I just got to keep throwing it to gain the trust in it,” Feldman said. “I feel like I’ve gotten to that point now.”

While he has an abundance of pitches to throw Wednesday, Feldman’s goal is the same as it is for every starting pitcher under Washington: keep the Rangers in the game.

SEATTLE -- Texas Rangers starter Matt Harrison knew he was off in the first inning, but he kept his cool. Coupled with some great defensive plays, Harrison was able cruise from then on to collect his second win this month, a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

PODCAST
Rangers manager Ron Washington talks with Bryan Dolgin immediately following the Rangers 3-1 win in Seattle. Listen

Harrison ran into trouble early on after allowing his only two walks of the game. Alex Liddi got a free pass after a nine-pitch at-bat in the first and scored three batters later on a single by former Ranger Justin Smoak. Harrison followed that with an eight-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs, which brought pitching coach Mike Maddux out to the mound.

It took a one pitch, a 404-foot flyout from Casper Wells, to get Harrison out of the jam. Josh Hamilton made a leaping catch into the center field wall.

“I don’t what kind of catch he made, but he was able to run it down,” said Harrison, who threw 35 pitches in the first. “He’s an outstanding defensive player. It was great play to get me out of a jam. It could’ve been either way.”

Harrison said he thought he was overthrowing a bit during the inning, so he backed up on his fastball. He said it helped with his command and allowed him to settle in.

“I felt really good coming into the game,” Harrison said. “I felt like my arm felt the best today as it has all season.”

His defense was able to lend a helping hand. Harrison induced a double-play ball in the second to erase a leadoff single by Michael Saunders. And Hamilton made another leaping grab in the third, robbing Liddi of an extra base hit.

“He kept them in the big part of the field,” manger Ron Washington said. “It says 405 out there [in center field], but it plays like 445.”

Harrison said he had his best changeup of the season and was also able to work his curveball for strikes. Even with his first-inning struggles, Harrison was able to throw 75 of his 114 pitches for strikes and finished with six strikeouts.

“I thought he did a tremendous job after that first inning,” Washington said. “They fought him in that first inning pretty good and got his pitch count up. Then after that, he began to pound the strike zone.”

Washington left Harrison in the game in the eighth after he struck out Dustin Ackley to end the seventh, but Harrison gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning. Washington pulled Harrison with no outs, but Mike Adams came on and was able to leave Liddi and Ichiro Suzuki stranded on the bags.

“I had no doubt when I sent him out there and I had no doubt when I went and got him,” Washington said. “I felt good when I sent him out there. He was throwing the ball really good. It just didn’t work out.”

Washington will certainly take a one-run pitching performance, especially considering how it started and how Harrison's last two starts finished. Harrison lost his last two decisions before Tuesday’s game, allowing seven earned runs in 11 1/3 innings to the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels.

“I hope he understands what it takes to go deep in the ballgame,” Washington said. “That’s to make the opponents swing the bats and make that good defense behind you play.”

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers and Mariners play Game 2 of a three-game set. Let's chat all about it. The room is now open for you to post some early questions and participate in polls. We'll start chatting closer to game time. The game starts at 9:10 p.m. on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM and FSSW.

SEATTLE -- Ivan Rodriguez and Jim Sundberg will represent the Rangers in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft on June 4.

They'll be in the MLB Network studios during the draft and will announce the club's 39th and 52nd picks in Compensation Round A. Those picks were assigned with the signings of C.J. Wilson to the Los Angeles Angels and Darren Oliver to the Toronto Blue Jays. Commissioner Bud Selig will announce the selections for the first round, during which the Rangers hold the 29th pick.

All 30 clubs will have at least one representative on hand for Day 1 of the draft.

Rodriguez recently retired as a Ranger, where he spent the first 12 of his illustrious 21-year career behind the plate. He's a 14-time All-Star and 13-time Gold Glove award winner.

Sundberg, a six-time Gold Glove winner at catcher, is a Rangers senior executive vice president and a member of the inaugural class of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame. He was named to three All-Star games during his 16-year career.

SEATTLE -- Mike Adams made his return to the mound in the eighth inning Monday after dealing with a respiratory virus.

Adams said he felt fine in his first appearance since Thursday. He controlled his breathing to help his lungs out, but he doesn't think it will be a concern moving forward.

His stuff felt even better.

Adams didn't allow a runner. He was able to locate his fastball and his off-speed pitches, which he used to strike out Casper Wells and Brendan Ryan.

"It's good to not only get to get back out there but to get my confidence back and get it going again," Adams said.

He said it was difficult to get a feel for the ball the past few weeks. His ERA jumped from a 1.00 to 2.51 in his last eight appearances. He has the bullpen's last two defeats and allowed a walk-off home run against the Toronto Blue Jays to Brett Lawrie on May 1.

He played around with the baseball for a few days to regain the grips and it paid off in his best appearance this month.

"I slowed my body down a little bit and just focused on executing my pitch instead of trying to throw everything by people," Adams said.

SEATTLE -- Maybe it's the Northwest green uniforms. Or the fact that Japanese icon Ichiro Suzuki is on the team. Whatever the case, Yu Darvish had another short outing on the mound against the Seattle Mariners.

Darvish lasted just four innings -- his shortest start in nine trips to the mound -- and allowed four earned runs on four hits and six walks in a 6-1 loss Monday night.

It appeared to be the pitchers duel everyone anticipated between Darvish and Felix Hernandez after two innings, but Darvish couldn't find the strike zone as his outing progressed.

Suzuki had an RBI triple in the first inning, but Darvish ended up striking out the side with his slider. Darvish faced the minimum in the second inning, but the wheels came off in the third.

Five of Darvish's six walks came in the third and fourth innings. Suzuki drove in his second run in the third on a ball Darvish left over the middle of the plate.

"Early part of the game, I was ok with my command," Darvish said through an interpretor. "But somewhere in the middle when I needed to throw strikes, I struggled to get strikes in those situations."

He didn't get off to a great start in the fourth. Darvish walked the bases loaded, yet managed to give up just one run thanks to some key force-outs at the plate on plays by third baseman Adrian Beltre and shortstop Elvis Andrus. He struck out Kyle Seager in what would be the last batter he faced.

"It's kind of tough giving up four hits and five runs," Mike Napoli said. "When you walk people, it's pretty tough to minimize damage."

Washington had a lengthy talk with Darvish in the dugout after his outing. He told Darvish he was pulled mainly due to his high pitch count, despite how he finished the fourth. Darvish threw 96 pitches.

"He actually didn't know how many pitches he had, and I was trying to explain to him we're not out to hurt you," Washington said. "That's a lot of pitches in a short period of time, and we need him for the rest of the season."

The Mariners are the only team to rack up more than three earned runs on Darvish, and they've now done it twice. It's the only team Darvish has faced more than once. The Mariners collected five earned runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings against Darvish in his first career start. The Mariners have accounted for nine of Darvish's 19 earned runs this season.

Darvish even apologized to Washington for his outing.

"He expected more, but I told him he didn't have to apologize to me," Washington said. "It's a part of baseball. It happens. But I'm more than certain when he sees Seattle again, he'll have something for them."

Darvish said Washington's comments were reassuring. He was disappointed he couldn't go deeper into the game and felt his overall approach Monday wasn't good.

"Next time I want to make sure that I don't go through that and improve on it," Darvish said.

When Yu Darvish made his major league debut against the Seattle Mariners, he walked four over 5 2/3 innings on April 9 in Arlington. Darvish gave up four runs on four hits and two walks in the first inning.

It was a rough start for the 25-year old right-hander from Japan. He wound up striking out five and allowing eight hits while getting his first major league victory.

Darvish takes on Seattle again tonight, the first time he will face an opponent for the second time this year.

"My first time I wasn't able to display the pitches I wanted too," Darvish said through an interpreter. "But this time I will have a different approach."

Darvish's debut against Seattle was a learning experience and since then he's been a dominant force in the Rangers' rotation. He's 6-1 with 2.60 ERA overall, and since that game he hasn't allowed more than three runs in any start and posted double-digits in strikeouts twice.

Darvish said he's not making many changes, yet it's interesting to note in his first few starts he threw off-speed pitches early in the count and now he's throwing fastballs.

"It's not so much the effort level; velocity of the ball hasn't changed much," he said. "Not much difference. We'll have to see how it plays out."

HOUSTON -- The finale of Part I of the Silver Boot series goes to the Rangers, a 6-1 winner on Sunday afternoon over the Houston Astros.

Credit a five-run first inning and Colby Lewis with getting things done. Lewis ended a personal three-game losing streak with eight strong innings and was taken out after allowing a ninth-inning home run to Jed Lowrie to end the shutout and complete game bid.

Lewis with a solid effort: Right-hander Colby Lewis moved to 4-3 on the season with a wonderful pitching performance. He threw a season-high 123 pitches and allowed just one run on four hits through eight innings. It was Lewis' longest outing of the season. Lewis was given a five-run lead in the first inning and made it hold up. He retired 15 of 17 hitters in the middle innings and almost made everyone forget his personal three-game losing streak. The Rangers average 5.71 runs per game when he's on the mound and that trend continued Sunday.

First inning gets it started: Things got off fast for the Rangers against Astros starter Jordan Lyles. Josh Hamilton drove in the first run with a sac fly to center and then a pair of two-run singles from Nelson Cruz and Colby Lewis, yeah, Colby Lewis, pushed the lead to 5-0. Lewis, while excellent on the mound, was just as good at the plate, getting two hits, both singles and driving in two runs. It's the third time in interleague play a Ranger pitcher has produced a multi-RBI game. Darren Oliver was the first Ranger to do it, June 18, 1997 against Colorado and Lewis, who has now done it twice. Lewis first got it done on June 13, 2010 versus Milwaukee. Lewis has also produced the third two-hit game by a Rangers pitcher since the start of interleague play. Chan Ho Park and Lewis have done it.

Silver Boot stuff: While the Rangers took their first series since taking two-of-three from Los Angeles of Anaheim (May 11-13), the Silver Boot will remain in Arlington until the teams meet again June 15-17. The Rangers have won eight of the last 11 meetings between the teams and is 11-4 in the series since 2010. Houston hasn't won a series over Texas since June 24-26, 2008.

Notes: Ian Kinsler has struck out six times the last two games. Saturday night he struck out four times and twice on Sunday. Kinsler did, however, single to leadoff the game and eventually score. ... The 113,261 fans who attended the three-game set is the largest in the Silver Boot series since 2007. ... It didn't seem as if Nelson Cruz (tight quad) had any problems running around the bases. he ran hard with little problems after getting a seventh-inning single. Cruz went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. ... Elvis Andrus' two hits continued his team lead with 17 multi-hit games this season. Andrus has 12 games with at least two hits. ... Adrian Beltre caught a pop fly that maybe hit one of the support beams in the roof at Minute Maid Park. A popup by Brian Bogusevic in the first seemed to hit one of the support beams high above the third base dugout. After Beltre caught the ball he smiled and said something to Lewis, to maybe indicate something weird happened. Astros manager Brad Mills came out to ask the umpiring crew to talk about it, which they did but they ruled the ball was clean.

What's next?: Rangers start a three-game set at Seattle with a good matchup in Game 1. Yu Darvish takes on Felix Hernandez. It's the first opponent the Rangers meet in a series for the second time.

ARLINGTON, Texas – It’s Josh Hamilton’s turn to rest.

The Rangers’ red-hot slugger isn’t in the lineup for Thursday’s 1:05 p.m. game against the Oakland A’s. He is the sixth and final Rangers regular to get a planned day off during this homestand.

Mike Napoli and Ian Kinsler were off Monday, then Nelson Cruz and Elvis Andrus were rested Tuesday. The Rangers lost both of those games to the Royals. Michael Young was off for Wednesday's win against Oakland. Now it’s time for Hamilton, who has a 16-game hitting streak, to sit.

“It was as simple as it was to give the rest of them the day off,” manager Ron Washington said when asked whether it was difficult to leave Hamilton’s name out of the lineup. “Just had to pick his day.”

Hamilton, who leads the American League in the Triple Crown categories with a .404 average, 18 home runs and 45 RBIs, might be used as a pinch-hitter. The plan, however, is to give the MVP candidate a full day off before the Rangers head to Houston to start a seven-game road trip.

“I’m not going to have a chance to win a ballgame and have him sitting on the bench, but my intention is not to use him,” Washington said. “That’s my intention. My intention is to give him a whole day, but you never know."

UPDATE: Hamilton entered Thursday's game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and went o-for-2, ending his hitting streak.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- There isn't a panic button in Ron Washington's office. You can't find one anywhere in the Texas Rangers' clubhouse.

That isn't going to change because an American League afterthought like the Kansas City Royals came to town and swept a two-game series. The Rangers' relentless optimism isn't going to fade just because a team now tied for the AL's best record (23-14) is a game under .500 since its 13-3 start.

In fact, Washington and his group of grinders find words like "worry" and "concern" funny, especially in the middle of May.

"Don't jump off the ship," Washington said with a grin as he headed back to his office following his postgame press conference after Tuesday's 7-4 loss to the Royals. "You'll sink. We'll return as a submarine and you can't get back on."

The Rangers have overcome a heck of a lot tougher situations en route to morphing into one of baseball's model franchises over the last few years.

Heck, just look back at their road to the club's first World Series, when the revelation of the manager's one-time cocaine use was a spring training stunner, the franchise's bankruptcy and rocky ownership transfer dominated headlines for most of the regular season, the Rangers almost blew a 2-0 lead before recovering to finally win a playoff series and they coughed up Game 1 to the mighty Yankees with a bullpen meltdown only to rebound by dismissing one of the most storied franchises in baseball.

It was that season that the Rangers started constantly referring to themselves as resilient. That's become part of their identity since then as the core has continued to play together and grow stronger.

Resiliency really is a combination of confidence and grit, two characteristics that can be found in abundance in the Rangers' clubhouse.

"We feel like we're always one pitch from turning anything around," Michael Young said. "That's one reason why I think we're a really good team.

"We believe in ourselves. Every guy individually here knows what they're capable of doing in this game. You combine that with some mental toughness and you're always one pitch, one at-bat, one swing from getting right back to where you want to be."

The Rangers are right where they want to be at the moment, sitting atop the AL West standings as the second-place Oakland A's come to town. Texas just hasn't played good baseball consistently over the last month.

The Rangers will report to work Wednesday afternoon expecting that to change for the better. That's just the way Wash's Rangers roll ... or float.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers and Royals wrap up a two-game series. Let's chat all about it. The room is now open for you to post some early questions and participate in polls. We'll start chatting closer to game time. The game starts at 7:05 p.m. on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM and FSSW.