Tim Cowlishaw

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ARLINGTON – The Rangers lost their grip on first place in the American League West over the weekend. They lost their grip on the bat long ago.

If I must concede to the Rangers naysayers who contended that this team would be anything but a true contender by the time the All-Star break arrived, I will ask one question.

Did you really think their lousy offense would be the problem?

Monday night wasn't quite as bad as Sunday, but still it ended in a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, who stretched their division lead to 2 ½ games.

Back-to-back home runs from David Murphy and Marlon Byrd in the third inning supplied the only Texas fireworks. Otherwise, a fairly lifeless Ballpark crowd of – get this – 16,985 watched the Angels walk off with a methodical win that felt nothing like the start of a series that would decide first place.

Really, on a rather pleasant night (by Texas standards), this team can't get 30,000 people to show up for the Angels? Or 25,000? Or even 20,000?

Well, as it turns out, first place won't change hands in this series. We now know the Angels will leave here with a lead after Wednesday night. My guess is that it will be more than half a game.

By the time the Rangers get to Seattle for a four-game series July 9-12 just before the All-Star break, that series probably won't feel much like a battle for second, either.

The Mariners, compared to the local club, are hot.

The Rangers aren't because they no longer can hit.

A disastrous June is almost at an end. The Rangers' 10-15 record for the month only begins to tell the story.

In the last three nights, the Rangers have lost at home to the Padres' Kevin Correia and Chad Gaudin and the Angels' Sean O'Sullivan. They have scored a total of five runs against that elite trio of starters and a few relievers.

The club's total of 90 runs in June is the worst in the American League.

The Rangers' batting average and on-base percentages for the month are the worst in the majors.

Pity the fan who ran to the restroom or the concession stand in the bottom of the third and missed a stretch of eight pitches in which Murphy and Byrd deposited pitches over the fence in center and left center.

That was it for the Rangers' attack.

Better than the one hit that came off of Michael Young's bat in a 2-0 loss to San Diego on Sunday night?

Sure.

Enough to keep this team viable in the American League West where the Angels are finally getting hot?

No.

Enough to maintain fan interest around here in the month before the Cowboys start shoving each other around on the Alamodome practice field?

Let Monday's paid attendance be your guide.

Apparently, the chance to witness outfielder Julio Borbon's major league debut failed to inspire lines at the box office.

Borbon was called up from Oklahoma City to put a little contact into a lineup that leads the American League in strikeouts. He got his first at-bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the first inning.

Borbon ended the inning with a strikeout. He ended the third inning with another one before fouling out in the sixth in his last at-bat.

He will have plenty of time to fix his swing at this level. Borbon's teammates won't.

And there's a chance that if the Rangers don't swing a little meaner bats against Joe Saunders tonight, the club will finish with the worst batting average for one month since hitting .183 in September, 1972, their first season out of Washington.

Shrinking from the spotlight as summer heats up is nothing new for this franchise. It's just the manner in which they are vanishing that causes any sense of disbelief.