The Rangers made a move to boost their infield, but we’re not talking players. We’re talking sod.

The team traded its Bermuda grass for Zeon Zoysia.

The Bermuda"gets so hot and dry out here, and the Zoysia is easier to maintain,"said Dennis Klein, the Rangers’ head groundskeeper.

The Zoysia is also more lush and plush, which enhances the field’s aesthetics, and it also might help slow the ground balls a bit through the infield, Klein said.

The project started the Monday, July 6, after the Rangers left for their last road trip. That meant the grounds team had two weeks to cultivate the new infield.

"It took a couple of hours to put in,"Klein said."It rolls out like carpet in 40-foot rolls, three feet wide. You prep the soil below and roll it out like carpet."

Third baseman Michael Young said the change is merely another adjustment to any big-league season.

"It seems better than what we had before, but I didn’t notice that big of a difference,"said Young of his first game on the new infield Friday night.

Fast, slow, high or low, you still have to field it, Young said.

— John Henry

Make no mistake, Taylor Teagarden had a rooting interest in college baseball’s Super Regional between former Southwest Conference brothers TCU and Texas.

He bleeds burnt orange.

"One would say that,"Teagarden said with a taste of sarcasm.

The Rangers’ backup catcher was a third-round pick of the team after a three-year career with the Longhorns that concluded with a national championship in 2005.

Teagarden had a prediction on Monday’s Game 3 between the’Horns and Horned Frogs, albeit slightly biased. His only deliberation was how he would present his opinion.

"Yeah … it’s going to be a victory for … the’Horns."

He was no doubt pleased to learn that he was right. Texas topped the Frogs 5-2 to advance to the College World Series.

Next stop Omaha. Teagarden had an opinion about that, too.

"They have an advantage with the pitching they have,"Teagarden said of his former school."They have three quality starters, maybe four, and their bullpen is about as good as anybody in the country."

Two lockers down, David Murphy, a Baylor alum, also had an opinion about Monday’s Game 3.

He wasn’t very objective, either.

"Ooh, that’s a tough call,"Murphy said."Texas was one of our rivals so I might have to go for TCU. If nothing else just to make Teagarden mad."

Whether this divide between teammates and (sort-of)

Southwest Conference alumni ultimately causes clubhouse disharmony remains unclear, though the thinking is only an Aggie would let that happen.

— John Henry