You know, I just gotta say,

Usually when people mouth off like that, bad things happen.  What goes around comes around, and the baseball gods are truly vindictive vengeful gods that act swiftly and love to righteously punish those who piss them off.

Josh Hamilton, apparently, has not saved his breath to cool his porridge.  A grown man and addict that was/is revered in North Texas and much of this nation.  A grown man who makes over twenty million dollars a year hitting baseballs, and running after them.

Chuck Morgan, the Rangers' and The Ballpark in Arlington public address voice said it ever so well the other day,

VC, I have been wondering since December.

Its not so much the negativity, but making sure our fans feel at home and that our players feel like they are at home. Out of respect to the current roster, even though its part of our history, this year is a little early to show big hits or big plays by players that have moved on. 

We are working on a concept. A little history showing the AL trophies being raised. 

Personally, I think our fans deserve more credit than what they have received the past couple of days. David Murphy said it best, that our place was “electric”. Ron Washington said it best, 3.4 million came through the gates in Texas.

Like many of you, I have been to what people consider “baseball towns”. In New York, I saw a ballpark empty out in the middle of an ALCS game. 

I grew up close to a “baseball town.” If you take the Rangers history, put it on the banks of the Mississippi, I’m not sure that is a baseball town. 

I hope that makes sense, but what I am saying, fans here deserve a lot of credit. Fans here have supported a baseball team for 40 years with not a lot of trips to the postseason. I think Adam mentioned that in his column this morning.

In my opinion, there are alot of baseball fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We are a melting pot of many baseball fans. Some from Detroit, some from New York, some like the Cardinals from the days their grandparents listened to KMOX, some like the Braves and Cubs because of the superstations.

But in 2010, something special happened. Almost everyone in this area became Texas Rangers fans.

As I wrote back in September, 3,000,000 should never be taken for granted. It needs to be respected. There are couple of those so called baseball towns that wish they had fans like the Texas Rangers have now.

Our fans are loud. Our fans cheer when there are 2 strikes. Our fans for years have cheered and given standing ovations to great performances, that’s nothing new. That’s been going on since I came here in 1983 and getting know fans here, I am sure great performances were cheered for back in the 1970s.

In 1993 we closed a ballpark and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.

In 1994 we opened a new ballpark and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.

In 1996, 1998, 1999, 2010 and 2011 we won AL West titles and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.

In 2010 and 2011 we won AL Pennants and our fans responded the way any baseball town would.

This area is a great area for football, basketball, hockey, NASCAR and baseball.

We live in a great sports area. Not many areas in the country that can support franchises and events the way Dallas-Fort Worth does with attendance, interest, sponsorships, luxury suites, TV and radio ratings.

Dallas-Fort Worth is a great area and a great place for a professional athlete to call home.

Fans in this area, in this case, baseball fans, deserve more credit and a big thank you.

I’ll get off the soap box now.

Thanks

Chuck

by chuckranger83 on Feb 19, 2013 2:42 PM CST up reply   67 recs

Word.  Can not wait to see the Angels run in to town now.

MDS

Starting tonight,

At a game I will be attending -- thanks Pnut -- the Rangers will have three chances over the next seventy-two hours to win one game and win their third straight American League West title.

I am not optimistic.  Of course, the season that marks the tenth anniversary of the amazing Moneyball twenty-game winning streak A's would be a miracle one for your 2012 Oakland Plucky Athletics.

I would not be the least bit surprised if the A's did sweep the Rangers and stole the flag.  And, even if the Rangers do win the division their playoff prospects do not look very good.  In point of fact (h/t Beat the Devil; an aside, me and a buddy were obsessed with Beat the Devil, and even had a drinking game -- drinking Pernod, natch, which is what Bogart orders in an early scene -- where we drank every time Jennifer Jones says, "In point of fact."  She says it three times in three seconds in that clip, starting at the 3:04 mark.  You could get pretty drunk playing our game, depending on what you are drinking.) Ahem, in point of fact, the Rangers just do not look very good.  They are having runners picked off; they are not getting good jumps on fly balls; the rotation is seriously leaky -- with the exception of Darvish and Harrison; Nathan -- uncharacteristically -- has blown two saves in just the last couple of weeks; the offense is a serious roller coaster ride with longer valleys than peaks; Wash keeps bringing Lowe out to pitch in high-leverage situations; and some of the players look flat-out bushed.  We probably would not even have made the playoffs if not for Adrian Beltre.  (And he tweaked his shoulder again last night! Do not know if he will be at third or the DH tonight, but he insisted last night that he is playing today.) However it turns out this has been one of the strangest Ranger seasons ever. Despite being considered one of the best teams all season long, Ranger fans have never seemed satisfied.  There have been mystery flus and viruses; our rotation was nearly completely wiped out; Hamilton either looks like Mickey Mantle or Joe Shlabotnik (lately, more like Shlabotnik); Roy Oswalt has been much more pain in the neck than savior; Kinsler is acting like Kinsler (and not hitting much recently); it has just a been a wacky wacky season for the Rangers, and there could be a real sense of relief when it ends, however it ends.  Baseball is a seductive, yet cruel lady, ...

To wit, every game matters in a very long season of Major League Baseball.  April is just as important as September.  Just ask the Los Angeles Angels of Disneyland, who spent one-third of a billion dollars on two players, and despite being one of the best teams in the Majors at this point, will be working on their golf game next weekend.  They simply could not overcome their horrible start and are on the outside looking in.  Not that I am all that wracked up about it.

Wash will have tonight's starter on a very short leash tonight, Martin Perez.  The A's roughed him up for five runs in two-thirds of one inning last week.  We will probably see Oswalt or Scooter Feldman if Perez can not get it done.

Honestly, this is not the best chance for the Rangers tonight.  Tomorrow is.  But, "That's the way baseball go," as Wash likes to say.

The Rangers have clinched a playoff spot.
The Rangers' Magic Number for the division title is two.
The Rangers' Magic Number for home field advantage is three.

The Athletics' Magic Number for a playoff spot is one.
The Athletics' Magic Number for the division title is six.
The Athletics' Magic Number for home field advantage is six.

************

Here is a fun chart of the AL West playoff chances throughout the season:  (Poor Mariners.)

And here are some more screen shots of an interesting philosophical discussion on the Rangers SBNation blog:

I will talk about The Master, which I saw yesterday, another time.

I love you all,
Ardent

Well, goodness flipping gracious me!

So, that was not scary, at all, right?

The Rangers earn a split in the series, winning today, Nathan getting the last out with Cespedes in the on-deck circle, again.  Just like on Monday.

But, the plucky A's decided they would rather give me a heart attack by hitting three solo shots in the eighth, before being retired in order in the ninth.

Good grief!

(And, now I get to do inventory tonight.  Woo-hoo!)

The final from Arlington is nine to seven, Rangers.

The Rangers' Magic Number for the division is three.
The Rangers' Magic Number for a playoff berth is two.  (The Angels are trailing the Mariners three to two right now B5.)
The Rangers' Magic Number for home field advantage is six.  (The Yankees play later tonight.)

The Athletics' Magic Number for the division is eleven.  
The Athletics' Magic Number for a playoff berth is six.

************

Here is how you figure out a Magic Number.  The Magic Number is 163 - (Your team's Wins + Your rival team's losses.)

For example:  The Rangers now have ninety-two wins, and the A's have sixty-eight losses.  That adds up to 160.  160 subtracted from 163 is three!

Plus, you can do it for the trailing team, too.  The A's have eighty-eight wins, and the Rangers have sixty-four losses.  That adds up to 152.  152 from 163 is eleven.

Who ever reduces their Magic Number to zero first wins the division.

************

Oh, those plucky A's! Even if we do win the division, we still might have to face them in the playoffs.  Ugh!

Joe Nathan has a lifetime ERA of 0.76 (!) v the Oakland A's

Barely alive,
mds

The Rangers Magic Number is five.

Their Magic Number for the playoffs is three, and their Magic Number for Home Field Advantage is eight.

(Have I told you folks the Renee Magic Number story? It is a hoot.  Maybe another time.)

Wow! Look at Napoli jump!

In the meantime, let us talk about last night's odd little A's/Rangers tilt.  Derek "Dutch" Holland had looked marvelous lately, so, last night, of course, he could not find the strike zone, and gave up two massive bombs to Cespedes and Donaldson.  He lasted all of three total innings, and left, trailing three to one.

When I saw that Roy Oswalt was coming in for the fourth, I had resigned myself to the fact that the Rangers were most certainly going to lose, and that Oswalt would act like a little cry baby again, and that Ranger fans everywhere would scream, "DFA the bum, already!"

Lo, and behold, Oswalt pitched very well for two frames, and kept the Rangers in the game. Hamilton (we discovered what his mystery illness was, but it still sounds like a fishy story) hit a second-deck bomb job of his own, and the Rangers were trailing four to two, bottom of the seventh.

The A's yanked Straily (after a v fine effort) with two out, bottom seven, and brought in Neshak. (Neshak had blown the A's four run 13th inning lead in the Bronx a few days ago.)  Neshak walked Hamilton, got to two strikes on Beltre, and then got rocked by an opposite field home run, tying the game at four.

A's fans are surely wondering why Ross pitched the ninth.  (I feel bad for Ross, he has had a v rough year.) But, for whatever reason, Managers are reluctant to bring in their closers in tied ballgames on the road.  There were some other options for Melvin, too (Doolittle, the Rangers had lefty Moreland lead off) but Melvin went for Ross.

Ross faced five batters, giving up one run, three singles, an intentional walk, and recorded his only out on Elvis Andrus' sacrifice.  And, that is your ballgame.

(Melvin's oddest move to me last night was sending the runner in the top of the ninth with Cespedes -- who murders the Rangers -- in the on deck circle.)

Beltre's legend continues to grow in Arlington.  He had a spectacular game last night, despite still being v sick.

Alright, we do it all again tonight! Darvish v Milone.  You gotta love nerve-wracking Pennant Race baseball.

















Ardent

A junkie speaks: (Updated x 3!)

So, I get home, and Oregon is getting waxed by USC.  Stanford lost.  Oklahoma St lost (gosh, I feel bad for them.)  And the Sooners are in a dogfight with Baylor.  (I cannot watch this game, I am following it on what our family calls, "tap tap" i.e. the computer.

Really? This is what the College Football Gods want? A rematch of the "Game of the Century", the most boring college football game evah, or to see LSU obliterate the Sooners for the Title?

For the record, there are no College Football Gods.  There are baseball Gods, however, and they are capricious, vengeful bastards, that often reward the nastiest of folks.

-Ardent

PS:  I'll keep you posted.

AH

UPDATE:  Sooners trail by one touchdown late in the third (I am not too concerned, yet.)  I am more concerned that the Ducks are creeping closer to the (hated) Trojans.  Ick.  (It is like rooting for the Yankees.)

More soon.

UPDATE x 2:  The world is returning to normal.  Sooners really in a hole now.  Oregon has a chance to tie or win, late in 4th.

Final update, prob v soon.

UPDATE x 3:  Oregon loses.  The Sooners are within one TD.  Less than six minutes left.  Is there some Sooner Magic available?

For once the Baseball Goddess,

That teasing Siren, has deigned to shine her light on my Texas Rangers, to let me in to that beautiful palace of which I had ne'er in these 35 years ever been allowed to enter.

I think the hubris of some of the Tampa players, mocking our celebration symbols, pissed her off.

&, natch, it helps we had this guy:

Bring on the damn Yankees

I Am In Shock (Rangers)

This kind of stuff just does not happen to the Texas Rangers.  I am being led through a door that has always been shut to me.  I am not there yet.  And that door might v well be slammed in my face this weekend because baseball is a beautiful, seductive, yet v cruel bitch, who has tortured thousands of her fans for o'er a century now.

It is up to hard-luck Colby Lewis today.  And David Murphy is back.  The Rangers finally have their best lineup ready to go today.  Let's do it Rangers, let's go through that door.