A fairly abbreviated schedule yesterday, but there are some things I’ve missed, so consider this your Week in Review.

-The Texas Rangers and LA Angels played a fairly big series in Arlington this week with the Rangers and Angels splitting a 4-game series. LA had a chance to win each game, especially Wednesday’s, but their bullpen did them in in both Texas victories. Wednesday night, closer Ernesto Freiri gave up home runs in the 9^th and 10^th innings, as Texas rallied for an 11-10 victory. Last night, Texas didn’t wait until the 9^th, hammering the Angels in the 7^th inning to win 15-9. And no, they weren’t playing football. Texas maintains their 5 game lead on the Angels, who also sit a ½ game behind the A’s in the West. LA would currently be the AL Wild Card 2.

-The San Francisco Giants are struggling mightily since losing Pablo Sandoval to a hamstring injury. The Giants are 3-7 in their last 10 games and are coming off a disappointing series loss to the New York Mets at AT&T park. New Giant Hunter Pence is 0-6 in his first two games in the Bay. The Giants lead the NL West by a ½ game over the Dodgers and 2 games over the Diamondbacks.

-We may have seen the end of the road this week for three former All-Stars as Bobby Abreu, Derek Lowe, and Hideki Matsui were all either released or DFA’d (designated for assignment, which is the precursor to being released). Only Lowe is expected to be picked up, but this was clearly the end of the road for three players whose time passed a few years ago.

AL Wild Card Matchup: Los Angeles @ Oakland

AL Divisional Round WC/1: Wild Card game winner vs. New York Yankees

AL Divisional Round 3/2: Chicago White Sox vs. Texas Rangers

NL Wild Card Matchup: Atlanta @ Pittsburgh

NL Divisional Round WC/1: Wild Card game winner vs. Cincinnati Reds

NL Divisional Round 3/2: Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants

The Nationals welcomed back Jayson Werth last night and got 7 stellar innings from Ross Detwiler to salvage the final game of their 3-game series with the Phillies.

Werth lined a ball to left field for a hit in his first at-bat and finished the game 1-3 with a walk. He played center field. It was the first time all season that the Nats had Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse, Adam LaRoche, and Jayson Werth in the lineup on the same day.

The story, though, was Detwiler, who bounced back from a rough outing in Milwaukee last weekend to earn his 6^th victory of the season. Detwiler gave up just 3 hits in the outing. Sean Burnett and Tyler Clippard cleaned up to preserve the 3-0 win.

The Nats begin a 4-game series with the Miami Marlins today, with a double header. It’s also a single-admission game for those of you who like 18 innings of baseball for the price of 9. Here are the matchups for the weekend series:

Friday, 4:05 p.m.: Brad Hand v. John Lannan

Friday, 7:35 p.m.: Josh Johnson v. Gio Gonzalez

Saturday, 7:05 p.m.: Mark Buehrle v. Jordan Zimmermann

Sunday, 1:35 p.m.: Ricky Nolasco v. Stephen Strasburg

Baseball’s biggest series this weekend will take place in the Queen City as the red hot Reds host the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh enters the series 3 ½ games behind the Reds. Of course, ESPN being what it is, the Sunday Night Baseball game this week is the Brewers and Cardinals. So enjoy that.

The Bulletin is going to be gone all of next week. It will return on August 13^th with a full recap of all of the tape-delayed Olympic excitement that it missed. Or baseball. Probably baseball.