Evan Grant Calls this the Worst Off Season Ever. Really?!?!?!?

"the worst off-season in the history of off-seasons...""?!?!?  Tap the breaks there Evan Grant and all you guys that are buying into this stuff.  How soon we forget how bad it was not so long ago.  Is Grant saying this is worse than over-paying for A-Rod and handcuffing the Rangers for years?  Or what about signing Chan Ho Park as your ace and again overpaying.  Or signing Rafael Palmeiro or Andres Galarraga or [insert name of aging position player], year in and year out.  As it stands here's the batting order:

1. Kins (1B)

2. Elvis (SS)

3. Profar (2B)

4. Beltre (3B)

5. Nellie (OF)

6. Murph (OF)

7. Gentry (OF)

8. Ott/Moreland (DH - depending on match up)

9. Soto (C - and what if the Rangers sign Pierzynski?  He's the kind of guy you hate but would probably like if he's on your team, see Bruce Bowen)

And again what Josh Hamilton did we lose?  The one that batted out of his mind for the first 2 months of the season last year or the one that ended the season batting about .200 down the stretch in games that mattered?

I'm OK with the above line up.

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Lost Josh, an All-Star and MVP and Michael Young, Mr. Ranger.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Young had asked to be traded 2 out of the last 3 years, now he got his wish, just a little delayed.  And again, which Josh did the Rangers lose?  The Rangers definitely now do not have to deal with the distraction of having him in the clubhouse.  And now the Halos get Josh and CJ Wilson,  maybe they'll room together on the road, do I hear the theme song from the "Odd Couple"?

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: OK, Wash has to manage this team.  Change the batting order when the stats dictate it (i.e. the opposite of leaving Josh in the 3 hole despite him slumping last year), try different combos in the outfield, etc.  Let's see what happens.

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One Week After the Playoff Loss...

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Really couldn't bring myself to sit down and think about the season and that last game until now.

8 stinking pitches is what Josh saw in what may have been (I think likely was) his last game as a Ranger.

You are not going to win many ballgames getting only one run across the plate.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: There's next year to look forward to I guess.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Some questions about the past season, the offseason and next season:

Why didn't Wash move Kins out of the lead off spot when it was apparent to everyone he wasn't cutting it?

Why didn't Wash move Josh out of the 3 hole when he starting batting about .200 after the All Star break?

They did bring up Olt and Profar but, they hardly got any action, so what was the point of having them join the big club then?

If the Rangers don't sign Josh, do they go out and get a player with some power?

Or do they make do with what they got: Gentry in center, Murph in left, Nellie in right?

Who is the Rangers first baseman?  Or is it going to be a platoon thing again next year between Young, Napoli(if they resign him) and Moreland?

Where was Robbie Ross down the stretch, did they forget they had him in the bullpen?

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Rangers' Collapse Complete

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: But, they still got into the weird wildcard win-or-go-home-playoff game and NO ONE is expecting them to win it.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But, they still got into the weird wildcard win-or-go-home-playoff game and NO ONE is expecting them to win it.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Wow.  That was hard to watch.

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Rangers On Verge of Monumental Collapse

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: After leading the division since April 9 they're about to lose the division to the hottest team in baseball, the A's.  April 9 to Oct. 2 your Rangers were alone in first place.  And now they're on the verge of becoming a wildcard team in a win or go home playoff game.  Now don't you really wish the Rangers hadn't blown that save in the first game of the double header against the Angels this past Sunday?

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: They're in the playoffs no matter what.  3 straight years.  Not too shabby.  You just don't want to back your way into the playoffs is all.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Everyone chill out regarding firing Wash.  If you had a lead off batter that gets picked off seemingly every day and bats .250-ish, a slugging center fielder who took July off, a right fielder that hasn't been good offensively all year, a catcher who missed most of the summer, and your pitching "ace" out for the year, you'd be happy to just be in the playoffs and think that the manager did a pretty good job of managing an awful set of circumstances wouldn't you?  Unless I'm missing something, Wash cannot run the bases, hit or pitch for them.

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Magic Number 3 to Clinch Division

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Mike Adams gave up homers like he was pitching during the home run derby during the All Star break.  Rangers gave up 11 hits and 7 runs to the often offensively challenged A's.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: The offense got off to quick start.  Koji continues to look strong to very strong.  And Joe MF Nathan continues to get it done.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The A's essentially have to run the table to win the division.

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Rangers Split First 2 Versus A's

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: You're not going to win too many games putting up only 2 runs (both scored in the bottom of the first).  And then after being spotted a 2 run lead, Scooter Feldman proceeded to come out and have trouble finding the strike zone.

And why can the Rangers not run the bases ?

Why can Ogando only go 2 innings?

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Offense did have 7 hits, just left a lot of runners in scoring position.  Were you really expecting to win this one when you heard Yu had a stiff neck and Scooter was starting?

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Seriously, the base running thing is mesmerizing.  How can pros get picked off/caught in no-mans-land/thrown out by a mile when stealing so often?

4 games up and 2 more at home against the A's.  3 more versus the A's next week in Oakland.  8 more games total.  It's an adventure.

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Magic Number is 9, 12 More Games to Go

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Kins cannot seem to help getting picked off on the base pads.

Josh is having vision problems apparently, needless to say that's not good for someone in his profession much less someone who's going to be a free agent at the end of the season.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Beltre is awesome.  Yu is throwing wicked stuff and is hardly walking anyone. And the Rangers just won 2 out of 3 versus the Halos.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The Rangers have 7 games left against the second place A's.  Still a boatload of baseball to be played.

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19 Games Left in the Regular Season, We Have Half a Tank of Gas, Half a Pack of Smokes, We're Wearing Sunglasses and It's Dark, Let's Role*

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Yeah, the blown save sucked last night.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Keep in mind Joe Nathan had a record number of consecutive saves going before last night.  And he should NOT have been booed by the hometown fans last night when he left the field.  He should have received a very much deserved standing ovation.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: *The above is a bad paraphrasing from the Blues Brothers.  After most of the season completed, the Rangers are up 3 games on the A's in the division with 19 games to go.  Get ready, it should be a fun ride.

Josh is playing tonight.  AB (Adrian Beltre) DH'd last night.  Yes, Joe Nathan blew the save last night.  As a good friend said, that's good timing, now he's due to string together another 30+ save streak just in time for the home-stretch and the playoffs.

Seattle has been pretty darn good since the All-Star break, so no one should be taking this series against them for granted.

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Hello Playoff-Like Baseball; Rangers Lose Pitching Duel to Rays in 11th Inning 3-1

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The Rangers' offense managed only one run against the Ray's starter.

The Rangers' relievers fell behind the count to too many batters.  That combined with too many BB's by relievers eventually caught up to the bullpen in the 11th.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Of course that one run by the Rangers was a solo homer by Mr. Ranger, Michael Young  who continues to have a hot bat in September.

And Holland gave up only 2 hits in 8 IP, the first of which was a solo homer by Longoria, the only run Doogie gave up.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: As a friend noted, this was a tense game from beginning to end.  Hopefully next time the Rangers are in a tight game like this Adams, Ogando and/or Nathan will be available.

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I Hate The Texas Rangers (Not Really, Just Joking, Kinda)

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: I really got nothin'. Although, I think Kins may have been run down or picked off between each base this year, way to go.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Oh yeah, they won tonight and Beltre and Murph continue to be the All-Stars of this team.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I hate the Rangers (not really, just joking, kinda).  Let me explain, here's why I wrote that.  We have been spoiled by these last 2 full seasons, hopefully going on 3 where they make the playoffs, again (knock on wood).  In other words, these Rangers teams the last 3-5 years under Wash have spoiled us.  And for that I kinda hate 'em.  Now we as fans, it seems like, almost expect to make the playoffs each year.  And those are mighty high expectations.  Just remember that no matter what may come this year, or the next, or the many more years after, that we had at least these years.  I'm just saying don't take them for granted and I'll kinda hate the Rangers for spoiling us.

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Welcome to the Majors Mr. Profar, Rangers Beat Up on Tribe 8-3

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Doogie Holland gave up 6 hits in his first 3 IP.  He was going so bad that Wash came out and gave him a talking to.  It seems Wash is having to go out to the mound when Doogie is pitching a lot.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: The rest of the way the Dutch Oven only gave up one more hit, going a total of 7 innings.

Oh yeah, Jurickson Profar, the much ballyhooed minor leaguer, made his major league debut.  And in his first at bat he went yard.  First Texas Ranger to ever do that ( another player did it back in the 60's when the organization was in DC and called the Senators).  Next at bat he had a sharply hit double.  The at bat after that it sure looked like his new teammates hid his helmet and bat in the dugout and caused him to be late coming to the plate.  And Profar got the pie in the face during his postgame interview on the field.  Pranks have been and will be played on newbies, fun to see.

Not to be outdone, Hamilton, Beltre and David "Charlie" Muphy all went deep in the top of the 5th in a span of 6 pitches.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: After losing to the Tribe last night the Rangers' offense bounced back nicely.

There was an airshow apparently going on in CLE and you could hear the planes flying over.  From the sound of it the airshow was taking place in the ballpark's parking lot and the planes were flying 100 feet over the top of the ballpark.

With the win today Wash tied the late great Johnny Oates for the second most wins by a Rangers manager.  Not too shabby.

I know it's only one game but, if Profar is half as good as they say what does that mean for the players on the roster currently and for Profar?  Kins just signed a big extension before this year. And Elvis and Beltre aren't free agents until 2015 and 2016 respectively.  So where does Profar fit?  Convert him to an outfielder?  Don't get me wrong it's a good problem to have.

Going into today the A's have won 7 straight and are 3 GB.  Who are those guys and why won't they lose a ballgame?

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Despite Errors Rangers Beat Cle 5-3 Friday Night

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Two errors in the same inning by Elvis helped the Tribe score a run.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Get this, Josh walked twice.  In the same game!  Beltre continued to have the hot bat as did Muph and Kins.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Why won't the stinkin' A's lose a game.  Now the A's have won 7 straight and still are hanging tough, 4 GB

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Rangers Win Pitching Duel 1-0 Versus Rays

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Obviously the offense didn't have what we have come to expect from the Rangers in August, that being a great offensive output tonight.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Yuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!  7 IP, scattered 6 hits, only 2 BB's and  10 K's.  Not too shabby.  And Kins had a solo shot to account for the only run of the ballgame.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: OK, the Rangers have the best record in the AL but, the pesky A's are hanging tough and are still only 5.5 GB.  The Rangers have 4 more games at home against the A's the last full week of the season and 3 more after that against them at Oakland, by the way.  So, those might be mighty important ballgames if this holds up.

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Rangers Beat Cy Young Favorite David Price, Rays 6-5

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Doogie Holland looked shaky early.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: After a talking to by pitching coach Mike Maddux, Holland settled down.  Oh yeah, Beltre was a triple away from hitting for the cycle.  Again.  In less than a week.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The ballgame was on ESPN and all the ESPN announcers could talk about was how great Maddon and Price are.

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Beltre Hits for the Cycle, Rangers Win 8-0

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Rangers had an error in the game, albeit by Harrison.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Harrison had a no hitter going into the 7th and left the game only giving up 2 hits.  Awesome.

Beltre, who's been on a tear of late, hit for the cycle.  Again, awesome.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Hello best record in the AL.

And the Red Sox apparently officially threw in the towel and traded away Gonzalez, Beckett and Crawford to the Dodgers.  I wonder if this means Bobby Valentine will get another year with a new group of players or if they'll give him a pink slip at the end of the year.  Ready to have Bobby V as a TV talking head again?

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Offense Continues to Roll, Rangers Win 10-6

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The Rangers, with Oswalt starting in place of an ailing Yu, again gave up a first inning run.  Again.

And Oz apparently doesn't know how to execute a run down between 3rd and home. When the ball was hit right back at the mound and the runner, going on contact, was caught in no man's land Oz had the ball and just stood there near the mound and threw to 3B.  Don't just stand there, run at the base runner.  And Beltre was somehow given an error on the play when he threw around the base runner to home even though Soto caught the ball but dropped it trying to apply the tag.

Scheppers looked good at first, getting 2 quick outs, then shaky, loading the bases in the top of the 9th.  Then, Elvis had a throwing error that scored 2 that made it 10-6.

This game was closer than the final score indicates.  A huge offensive explosion in the bottom of the 8th (Rangers scored 6 runs) broke a 4-4 tie and put it out of reach.  Gotta wonder how different the game would have been if the Twins' starter isn't thrown out in the early innings.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But the early run wasn't a crooked number so I guess that's something.  Beltre went yard again.  Josh had a double that scored 2 early and had 5 total RBI's in the game.

Oh yeah, Nathan came in to clean up the mess and got his 23rd consecutive save and Wash notched is 500th win as Rangers' manager.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: After Oz plunked Mauer, the Twin's pitcher threw a ball at Josh's head (it missed him).  The ump threw out the pitcher and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.  I don't know if both dugouts had been warned prior to the the brush back pitch to Josh.  If so, then retaliate at your own risk.

Oh yeah, the vaunted Halos were 8.5 GB  and had lost 13 of the 20 games they've played in August going into tonight.  Where's John Kruk gushing about how the Angels are the team to beat in the West now?

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Sorry Tommy Hunter, Rangers Pound O's 12-3

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: I got nothing.  Yes, Holland gave up 3 ER's but, that's not too bad against a team fighting for a wild card spot.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Beltre (with three homers, and his head touched in the dugout more than a few times, much to his supposed chagrin)! And the rest of the offense including a grand salami by Mitch Moreland.  And to point it out AGAIN, Murph had another multi-hit game.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: No one's talking about the Rangers winning the World Series.  All the talk is about Yankees.  Good.

There was a balk called in the top of 8th against Lowe.  While on the rubber Lowe started to bring his throwing hand back towards his glove to get set in the stretch and then stopped it.  Balk.  Very minor, but yeah, it was a balk.  Don't hear about balks called very often anymore, only reason I mention it.

Rangers win another series.  How far back are the vaunted Halos?  But, watch out for the scrappy A's.

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Rangers Lose 5-3 to O's

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Scooter Feldman gave up an early run (first inning) and a big crooked number (4 runs in the 4th inning).

And the Rangers didn't have a runner in scoring position till the 6th (Kins had a solo homer before that with no one on).  And Josh went 0-fer with 3 SO's including a strikeout to end the inning in the 7th with 2 runners on.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But as mentioned, Kins did go yard to tie the game at the time in the 3rd.  Hopefully he's starting to work his way out of his offensive funk.  Soto went yard with Murph on base to make it 5-3 O's is the bottom of the 7th.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The other night the local broadcast guys referred to the O's as the east coast Rangers.  That's kind of true.  In the field they have Chris "Crash" Davis and catcher Teagarden (Omar Quintanilla also played for the Rangers less than 15 games).  They also have Hunter, O'Day and Strope on their pitching staff.  And Showalter (Dr. Gaius, see below) as their manager.

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Thank You Ryan Dempster, Rangers Beat Orioles 5-1

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Dempster again gave up a first inning run.

The Rangers had 9 LOB, 4 of those LOB when the Rangers were down 1 run in the early innings.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: After giving up the early run and 2 hits in the first inning Dempster only gave up 2 more hits the rest of the way and retired the last 11 Orange birds he faced with 8 strong IP.  And Nathan capped it off by striking out the side, all swinging, to finish the game in a non-save situation.

In the 4th Soto had the RBI, scoring Nellie (did anyone notice that it looked like Nellie was cringing after sliding into home on that play?), to put the Rangers up to 2-1 at that point and up for good as it would turn out.  David "Charlie" Murphy again had a multi-hit, multi-RBI game.

Elvis had a great defensive play, going towards 3B he back handed a grounder and made a jump-throw from at least 2 feet deep in the left field grass to get the batter out at first.  How has he not won a gold glove yet?

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Nathan set a franchise record by recording his 22nd consecutive save this past Saturday.  Now if the Rangers make the postseason let's see how he does converting saves then.  And let's see if this is the Ryan Dempster we'll see down the stretch.

As I've had mentioned to me by a good friend, doesn't ex-Ranger manager and current Orioles skipper Buck Showalter kinda look like Dr. Zaius from the original Planet of the Apes movie?  Kinda?  Compare for yourself below:

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Rangers Win 2 Out of 3 Versus Blue Jays in Weekend Series

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: In the loss in the first game of the series Yu walked 10 in 7 IP.

And the Rangers mighty, potent offense (written sarcastically) managed a whopping 4 runs in the first 2 games of the series.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But, the Rangers won game 2 of the series because they were bailed out by a great group effort by the pitching staff (6 pitchers saw action), including 4.1 IP by Oswalt in which he  gave up only 1 ER.

In the last game of the series the offense woke up scoring 11 runs with Young going for 5 RBI's in the game.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Dempster didn't make to the trip to his native land of Canada because of "personal reasons."  Some speculated that it was passport (lost?) issues.  Weird.

The Rangers look like, in some games, they cannot put runs across the plate and in others they drop double digit runs their opponents.  How about this?  How about some offensive consistency?

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Rangers Avoid Sweep in Bronx, Win 10-6

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:  That's what happens when you put a 3B/1B in right field (Olt).  You get an error.

The pitching staff is continuing to give up crooked numbers/big innings, like today with a 5 run 6th inning.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: However, through 5 IP Doogie Holland had a 1 hitter going and the Rangers offense had staked him to a 4-0 lead.

6 Rangers had multiple hits with David "Charlie" Murphy leading the way with 3.  Beltre and Gentry both had 3 RBI's.  The offense finally woke up after managing just 6 hits in the last 2 games and 2 runs in the last 3 versus the Spankees.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Even after losing 3 straight before today's win and even if both the Halos and the A's win tonight the Rangers will still lead the division by 6 games.  That would still be at least the 2nd biggest division lead in all of baseball at the end of the day.

I came up with the nickname David "Charlie" Murphy as an homage to Charlie Murphy, Eddie Murphy's younger brother who is also a comedian and pretty darn funny in his own right (see his appearances on the Dave Chappelle Show).  Charlie Murphy doesn't seem to get the due and respect that he's earned/owed.  Sound familiar?  Of course, they share the same last name so it works on that level too.

David Murphy has been playing great baseball this year and has played well for the Rangers going back a few seasons but, he's still not quite an everyday player.  And to be clear Murph wasn't considered an everyday guy when he first started out with the big club.  Sure, he's gets a boatload more starts in the field nowadays so he's not quite as unappreciated as he has been in years past...

But you know who hasn't been an everyday player this year but maybe deserves to get more starts in the field down the stretch and next year?  Craig Gentry.  Craig "Charlie" Gentry?

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Rangers Lose, Again, 3-2

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: 4 hits by Rangers.  Again, not good.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Josh went yard twice, albeit on solo efforts.  Wasted good effort by Scooter Feldman.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Welcome to playoff style baseball Texas.  Looks like it might be a problem.

Soto is our catcher with Napoli on the DL, forgot to mention that.

Is it just me or does Soto have a double hitch when he throws it back to the mound?

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Rangers Lose to Spankees Again, 3-0

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:  I know hindsight is 20/20 but, Harrison was in a pitching duel with Kuroda.  Harry was at 106 pitches, had only given up 5 hits through 6.1 IP, he still looked like he had good stuff and still had a shutout going.  And the Spankees had 2 switch hitters due up in Texiera and Swisher so there was no match up (lefty vs. lefty for example) that you were going for. But, Wash pulled Harry and Ogando gave up 2 homers for 3 runs.  Ballgame.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Harry looked good (and in my opinion at the time should have been left in to finish his pitching duel with Kuroda).

Tanner Scheppers looked great in relief even with the ump not giving him pitches that were well within the strike zone.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: To go on even more, with the way the game was going for the Rangers at the plate why doesn't Wash leave Harrison in so long as he keeps his own shutout going?

But, bottom line is that the Rangers aren't going to win too many ballgames when they can only manage 2 hits (the first one in the 7th inning).

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Rangers Lose to Spankees 8-2

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Dempster giving up 5 runs in the 3rd inning was not good.

Kins got picked off at 2nd and Elvis got picked off at 3rd in the game.  Those are essentially free outs they're giving the other team and at the same time they're taking themselves out of scoring position.

Rangers sure seem to get picked off a lot more often than Rangers pick off opposing base runners.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Murph, Hamilton and Nellie continue to produce at the plate.

And it was one bad inning by Dempster in the 3rd, he looked great (perfect) before the 3rd inning and after the 3rd he was good to OK with 6 IP.  Hopefully the 3rd is just an bump in the road.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I had sure hoped that the last start from Dempster before this one would be indicative of what we could expect from him going forward.  Again, I hope the 3rd inning was just an anomaly for Dempster.

It's a long, 4 game series.  Let's hope Harry can step up tomorrow and have a strong outing.

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Rangers Win 8-3; Win Series Versus Detroit

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Yu continues to walk too many batters to make everyone comfortable, walking 5 in 6.2 IP.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: The offense was great, again.  And Josh Hamilton went yard and had another multi-hit, multi-RBI game.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: A's and Angels lost today, increasing the Rangers lead to 6.5 and 8 over them respectively in the division.  According to all the TV talking heads after the Greinke trade the Halos were supposed to start gaining on and eventually overtake the Rangers.  So far, not so much.

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Rangers/Holland Win 2-1 In Pitching Duel Versus Detroit/Verlander

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Shaky first inning by Doogie Holland, gave up a solo shot in the first inning.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But, that homer and 2 other hits and 1 BB was all that Holland gave up in 7.2 IP.  Josh continues to hit in August.  Nellie and Olt had the 2 RBI's.  And Olt had the pinch hit game winning hit.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Oh please let Holland pitch like this down the stretch.

Rangers are up 5.5 and 7 games against the A's and Halos respectively going into today's day game.

Yu is up today, he and Wash had a talk after his last in a string of tough starts.

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Rangers Lose to Detroit 6-2

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Scooter Feldman was harmed by the long ball (Prince Fielder's 3 run homer in the 6th).  Lowe didn't look too good in his first appearance since he went on the DL.

Nellie sometimes looks bad in right field, like tonight where he made an awkward dive for a hit that went into the right field corner that resulted in an in the park home run.  Nellie left the game with some back issues.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Josh went yard.  In fact the top of the order looked good as did Young.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes:  Maybe the team to watch out for in the division is the A's.  As of this post the Seamen of Seattle were beating the Halos.  A's lost tonight

Let's have an honest look at how Napoli has been doing at the plate.  This year.  I know it's easy to remember how great he did the last half of last year and in the playoffs.  But that was last year.  What have you done for us lately?  Napoli and his agent probably wish now that they could have worked out a multi-year deal during the offseason with the Rangers.  Right now he's pretty much not batting any better than Soto(or Yorvit before that).  Keep that in mind if you start to see Soto get more chances behind the plate.

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Pitching Struggles Continue, But Rangers Win 10-9 Over Red Sox

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Matt Harrison and Roy Oswalt both gave up 4 ER's each.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Harry is reported to have had flu-like symptoms before game time but pitched anyway and took an IV after the game.  Oswalt looked good for a while but, went back out for the 7th where he gave up the 4 runs.

Josh, Nellie, Soto and Moreland all went yard.  And Josh was 3-5.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The Rangers seem to like August a lot better than July.

I just heard TV talking head and ex-MLBer John Kruk gush about how great the Halos are and how this race in the West will be close between the Rangers, Halos and A's down the stretch.  Well, I don't know if Kruk can count but, the Rangers are 6 games up on the A's (that's right the Angels are 3rd, 6.5 GB) with less than 2 months of baseball left.  And the Rangers played about as bad as they can in July and maintained their lead in the West.  No respect, no respect.

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Thank You Ryan Dempster, Rangers Win 6-3

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Errors hurt.  Most MLB teams will make you pay if you give them an extra out and that's exactly what happened when Kins committed an error in the 7th.  All 3 Boston runs were scored after the error and were unearned on a HR where it sure looked like a fan reached down and caught it, otherwise it would have hit the Green Monster.  Umps let the 3 run homer stand.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: David "Charlie" Murphy continues to produce at the plate.  Josh, Nellie and Kins had 2 hits each.  Even Soto got a hit.  And the Rangers scored 6 runs without the benefit of the long ball.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: What did I say about Dempster?  Or what did I say about Dempster here?  He stepped up and showed what he can do against one of the best offenses this year.  6.2 IP, 6 K's and 1 BB.  If Dempster can continue to step up and fill the "ace" role then hopefully that'll settle down the rest of the rotation.  Then Yu, Harry, Holland and Feldman can hopefully just go out and pitch and not over-think it.

And by the way, this year in past games Kins has been thrown out of ballgames for seemingly doing/saying little to nothing but, Pedroia can whine and moan and yell at the 1B ump for minutes, yell at him from the dugout after he eventually leaves the field and then finally half an inning later Pedroia finally got run by the 1B ump.  What gives?  Double standard much?

The win tonight is also big because the A's and Halos are in the middle of a 3 game series against each other.  A Rangers' loss would have meant that one of them would have gained a game.

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That Was Not Good, Boston Beat Texas 9-2

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: It was 2-1 Boston in the top of the 4th and Nellie had a lead off double.  Then, Nellie proceeds to get picked off at second after taking a ridiculously big lead off.  It was uphill sledding offensively from that point forward.

Yu got beat up for 6 ER's and 4 BB's in 6.2 IP.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Beltre had a homer in the top of the 9th.  Nellie did have 3 hits.  And Josh had a hit.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I blame this on Oz-gate (Oswalt refusing to go out for a 3rd inning in the last game vs. KC) and/or a hangover from the tough loss in the finale versus KC.  The team looked unsettled.  Including Yu.

Next up Dempster.  Let's see if he looks like an ace tomorrow night.  If they have needed a strong start from an ace pitcher this season I'd say tomorrow is it.

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TTRB on Twitter

The Texas Rangers Blog - TTRB now has a twitter feed for those that consume Texas Rangers stuff in such a way.  The twitter handle is: TTRBTweets, http://twitter.com/TTRBTweets.  Down on the left side of the page there is also a link.

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Rangers Lose Finale Versus KC; Multiple Blown Chances

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Looking at the box score Elvis had an OK to good game.  But, in the top of the 7th Olt was on third and Elvis was on second with no outs and Young at the plate.  Young singled and of course Olt scored.  Elvis ran through third base coach Dave Anderson's stop sign and was thrown out at home by a country mile.  Again that was the first out of the inning.  Few batters later Nellie had a deep flyout for the last out of the inning that would have scored Elvis easily had he been on third where he was supposed to be.

Then in the top the 9th with Olt on 3rd and no outs Elvis couldn't get the bat on the ball for a bunt suicide squeeze and Olt is out.  The pitch was low, away and in the dirt so it was hard to get the bat on the ball.

Elvis leaves the game and and in the 10th Alberto Gonzalez comes in and commits an error.  Next batter, Olt commits a throwing error, winning run scores.

Oh yeah, Holland didn't look good either.

 Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Beltre broke out of his hitting slump with RISP.  Josh hit and scored and Olt is continuing to impress at the plate.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: This one got away.  Period.  Way too many chances that the Rangers let slip away.

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Rangers Over KC 4-2; Go for Sweep Tomorrow in Early Game

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Offense was a little more quiet than in recent games managing only 4 runs, otherwise not much to gripe about.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Olt and Josh had the RBI's in the ballgame.  Good to see both those guys with RBI's.  Scooter Feldman is starting to look like the pitcher he was a few years ago with another strong outing.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: A lot of TV talking head "experts" keep saying that the Halos are the best team in the division if not in the AL, well going into tomorrow not only are the Halos (6 GB) not first in the West but, they're 3rd behind the A's (5.5 GB).  Weird how the talking heads forget to mention that when they're gushing about the Angels...

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Yours Truly Talks Rangers Baseball on the Radio

The great great guys from the radio show Three Point Stance had me on their radio show last night during the Rangers/KC ballgame to talk all things Texas Rangers.  Thanks to hosts E.J., Scottie and Robbie for having me on.

Though the show emanates from Long Island, NY you of course can find their show online every Friday night at 8:00pm central time at: http://www.wlie540am.com/

They're on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ThreePointStance

And check out their twitter feed: http://twitter.com/3ptstanceradio

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NOT a Pitching Duel, Rangers Win 15-9, Split Series With Halos

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Dempster probably was hoping for a better first outing with his new club, giving up 8 ER's in 4.2 IP.

It was at least 105 degrees at first pitch.  And it was windy, the wind felt like a huge blow dryer was hitting your entire body.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: The bats continue to produce on this second day of August and the Rangers beat up on C.J. Wilson in the process.  Lots of offense but of note are the new additions, Soto and Olt, both of them contributed to the offensive explosion.  David "Charlie" Murphy continues his hot streak going 2-2 off the bench.  Nellie and Kins both went yard for the second straight night.  And...Josh Hamilton had 4 RBI's in the ballgame.  


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Look, if the Rangers put up 7+ runs each game they should be hard to beat.  If Josh is getting right again the timing couldn't be more perfect especially if Napoli, Nellie, Murph and Kins continue to do what they've done recently at the plate.  Let's hope, wait and see.

C.J. Wilson, former Ranger and current Angel, is, to put it nicely, an interesting character off the field, here's some local media types having a little fun at CJ's expense using his own quotes:

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Rangers Rally to Win in 10 Over Halos

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The Halos' first 6 runs of the game were on 2 hits in the top of the 3rd .  A combination of Yu walking batters and a throwing error to first when Kinsler was trying to turn 2 contributed to that.

Pujols homered twice.  Again.

In the top of the 10th Nathan gave up 2 homers which scored 3 runs to put the Halos back up by 3 in the ballgame after the Rangers tied it in the bottom of the 9th.

In the bottom of the 9th the Rangers had the winning run on second with 1 out (an Elvis double) but, the Rangers couldn't bring the run around to score and win the game then.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: After being down 6-0 going into the bottom of the 3rd the Rangers rallied pulling to within 1 run, down 7-6 going into the bottom 9th.

Kins tried to make up for the early error by homering in the bottom of the 9th to tie up the ballgame.

Down 3 in the bottom of the 10th, first, Nellie homered to start yet another rally (by the way earlier in the top of the 9th Nellie gunned down a runner at home, which proved to be important).  Then Moreland singled in a run.

And last, Elvis had the game winning walk-off hit to score 2.  Rangers win the ballgame in the bottom 10th.  Wow.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: You cannot give teams extra outs which is exactly what the Rangers did early on in this game.

The Rangers have scored the second most runs all year, second only to the Red Sox.  But, the Rangers were dead last in runs in the month of July.  Just shows how hot the Rangers were earlier in the year offensively and how far the Rangers' bats fell off in July.  Well it's August now, hopefully this win on August 1st will prove to be representative of the rest of August and the season when it comes to the Rangers' bats.

Murphy scored three times and had a RBI to continue his hot streak.  Napoli also continues to stay hot with 2 RBI's and a run scored.  Elvis, Moreland, Kins, Beltre, Cruz, Napoli, Murph, Young and Gentry all either had at least one RBI or one run scored in the win.

Oh yeah, welcome to Texas Dempster, how'd you like your first game with the club?

How cool is it that the Rangers do the fireworks and play the theme from "The Natural" every time a Ranger goes yard?  You cannot really appreciate how awesome it is unless you're at the ballpark when a Ranger goes yard.  Anyways, I think it's pretty darn cool.

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Dempster Is a Ranger; Rangers Lose Second in a Row to Halos

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Yup, Rangers lost another game to the Halos managing just 2 runs against the Halos 6 runs.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: They lost to Weaver who arguably is the best pitcher in the AL right now so what did you expect.

Dempster is a Ranger!  And Dempster will hopefully cure what ails the Rangers, at least when in comes to having some type of veteran anchor in the rotation with Colby Lewis out for the year.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Pitcher Martin Perez was sent down from the big club to Triple-A Round Rock to make room for Dempster.  Perez's ERA was a tad north of 4, not too bad for a newbie.  The only problem with Dempster being added is that it doesn't address the offensive problems the Rangers have been having.

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Rangers Lose to Halos 15-8

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: That's right 15-8, the Rangers were beat like a drum.  Oz gave up 8 hits and 3 HR's in 5.1 IP.  Not good.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Wasted a great Josh (breakout game?) effort, he went 3-4, with one BB and a HR, scoring twice.  Rangers put up 8 runs albeit in a losing effort.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: If you would have told me the Rangers would have dropped the claw on the Halos to the tune of 8 runs I would have bet dollars to donuts the Rangers would have come away with a 'W'.  Shows what I know.

Mitch Moreland is back and the Rangers traded for catcher Soto from the Cubs, a former rookie of the year for a minor league pitcher.  But, that's one too many catchers with the big club so sadly that means that apparently catcher Yorvit Torrealba will designated for assignment by the Rangers. If that's true then so long Yorvit and thanks.

Now the Rangers are up 4 on the Halos and A's.  The A's play the Rays on the West Coast so if the A's win tonight the A's will be 3.5 behind the Rangers.  Again, it's a 3 team race in the wild West Division.

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Rangers Avoid Sweep Versus White Sox

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Rangers only scored 2 runs.  One run on a ground out to the pitcher, the other on an error.  Offense continues to struggle to say the least.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Scooter!!!!!  Feldman pitched 8 innings of shutout ball.  Then Joe Nathan closed it out.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Next up 4 vs. the Halos.  Is it still a big series since the Halos are 3rd in the division behind the A's?  Answer: yes, but, this is now a 3 team race.  You gotta check the A's and Halos scores each night when the Rangers aren't playing them.

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Rangers Lose Again to White Sox; Josh Sits Out

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: It's hard to win when you cannot get a hit with runners in scoring position.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Napoli hit a solo homer accounting for the Rangers only run of the ballgame.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Yes, Josh sat out of tonight's ballgame.  And why not, he hasn't exactly been effective at the plate recently.  Besides an arm maybe the Rangers could use a bat.  All the Rangers, for the most part, looked like they are trying to figure stuff out at the plate tonight.  Maybe they need to shake up the batting order.  Why is Gentry batting 9th when he's one of the few Rangers hitting over .300.  I know that some will say that he's hitting so well because he's batting 9th.  Well, let's test out that hypothesis by moving him up in the order.  Just a thought.  


Josh also had an interesting quote before the ballgame tonight apparently:


"The frustrating part is dealing with (the media) and not being able to share everything with you guys," Hamilton said. "When the time is right, you guys will be right in the loop."


So, what can he not share with us?  Is he hurt?  Has he been since June?  What else could it be?

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D'oh! Halos Land Greinke

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Really?  The Brewers had to deal Greinke to the Halos? Oh, yeah Rangers lost to the White Sox last night.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: There are those that think Greinke would not have been a good clubhouse fit in Arlington and that Josh Johnson is the Rangers' real target.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: If not Johnson then again, what about Dempster?  The Marlins will likely try to make the Rangers overpay for Johnson.  Or could the Rangers pull off the rarely seen intra-division trade with the Mariners and land King Felix?  With the Halos loading up on some pitching for a playoff run I would think the Rangers would do something.  I guess they don't have to but, if the Rangers don't make a move and end up in a one-off wild card playoff game or (gulp!) don't make the playoffs because both the A's and the Halos overtake them then there are going to be a lot of questions about not making a move.  All that said all the talking heads on TV seem to think a Rangers move is in the making to acquire a front of the rotation pitcher.

Of course, any pitching acquisition may be for naught if the Rangers' bats continue to be anything but consistent.  Let me put it this way, does anyone really think the Rangers have any chance of winning a World Series much less winning a playoff series if Josh Hamilton is hitting .190?  Well, Josh has been doing just that since June 1.

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Rangers Win Another Series

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Oh Josh, when will you figure it out?


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Small ball works, even in Texas, a sacrifice bunt was even spotted last night.  And David "Charlie" Murphy has been nothing but spectacular here recently.  Gentry's hitting over .300 by the way.  Not too bad for for 2 guys that don't get to play everyday.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Josh Johnson or Greinke?  Rangers fans are acting like it's up to the Rangers to decide which hurler they want.  Other teams may want these guys too, like the Dodgers or any other playoff hopeful out there.  Also, why aren't the Rangers talking about maybe trying to land Dempster?

Next up, 3 versus the White Sox.  Sox teams back to back.  Hopefully the Rangers can win 2 out three against these Sox too.  After that?  4 at home versus the dreaded Halos.  That series will go a long way to determining how close of a divisional race we're going to have here in August and September.  Rangers are up 5 games as of today.

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That One Hurt Last Night

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Gentry twice had a runner in scoring position only to pull a Josh Hamilton and swing at the first pitch for a popup out to end the inning.

Kinsler got thrown out in the first inning after being picked off at first and from the looks of it calmly questioning the call.  That's the second time this year I can think of where Kins got quickly thrown out after disputing a call (the other one was after striking out), wonder what he's telling the ump.

Former Ranger, current Red Sox (and notorious for hitting batsman) Vicente Padilla beaned Beltre in the head.  Can't think that Padilla hit Beltre on purpose since he had him down 0-2 with 2 outs when the pitch got away from him.  Still, Padilla has the rep, so will there be retaliation tonight in the rubber match?

Nathan walked 2 in row after getting 2 outs in the 9th and eventually gave up the go ahead run.  He'd only walk 5 all year up to that point.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Josh got a RBI on a weakly hit ground ball (only run of the game for the Rangers)? Martin Perez looked good on the mound.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Rangers are up 4.5 on the Halos.  If this thing gets closer down the stretch, this will be one of those games you look back on and think, "they really could have used a W in that one."


Colby Lewis out for the year.  And he's in a contract year so big payday for him, that's just lousy timing for him.  And he's already gone through Tommy John surgery once I think.  

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AL Loses All Star Game to NL Again; And AGAIN AL Loses Home Field Advantage in WS

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: This demonstrates again why this arbitrary rule is just that, arbitrary and stupid.  How about have the interleague records each year, AL vs. NL, determine home field in the WS.  Or how about this novel idea, the team with the best record has home field in the WS.  


Also, except for a bloop single by Napoli that should have been an error and Joe Nathan, the 8 Rangers were non-issues in the game.  Besides Verlander, Matty "Harry" Harrison gave up the only additional runs in the game, 3.  And maybe Wash should have pulled Verlander when he loaded the bases in the first and brought in Joe Nathan.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Verlander essentially lost the game in the first inning, and how does Wash pull the AL starting pitcher in the the first inning, you let Verlander pitch his way out of trouble right?  At least it wasn't a Rangers pitcher that got rocked like the casbah in the the first inning.  


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I generally have felt that the AL is better than the NL for quite a while but, 3 all Star Games in a row and 2 World Series in a row may indicate I've been wrong.  Interleague play records show the AL winning overall each year except 4, and the AL winning each year since 2004 but, those records include scrub AL teams vs. scrub NL teams.  All Star Games and World Series are the best vs. the best.


Oh yeah, the Rangers lead the AL West by 4.  13 games left head to head vs the hated Halos.

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That's 5 Losses In a Row, When Do We Start to Worry?

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Pitchers hurt.  Bats cold.  We have sunglasses on, it's night.  We have half a pack of smokes, and a quarter tank of gas and 250 miles to go. Oh yeah, and the Rangers have just lost 5 games in row.  Not good.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: How in the f%cking sh!t are your Texas Rangers still 4 games up?  With them all beat up?


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I think there are 8 Rangers set to be in the All Star game, think that's a record or something.  Yu is one of them.  Is Matt Harrison? Yup. And I'm going to jinx him, he's more than half way to a twenty game winner, the Rangers haven't one of those in a while.  And I know with all the Moneyball stuff wins for pitchers supposedly doesn't mean much but, I don't care.  A 20 game winner is a symbolic thing then, at least in my book/blog.  And I'd take a twenty game winner, since it's been since 1998 that your Texas Rangers have had one.

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In Honor of Tomorrow Night Being Nolan Ryan Snow Monkey Night at the Ballpark...

I give you (the link for) the audio of Nolan Ryan explaining at a Ticket event why he was, at one point in time, the snow monkey ambassador for the state of Texas (I'm not joking).

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Rangers Beat Tigers 13-9; Win 6th Straight Series

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Josh was 0-4 with 4 strike outs.  Oz got beat up for 5 ER's on 13 hits in 6 IP.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Oz did get the win though since the Rangers offense (without any help from Josh) put 13 runs on the board.  Again, with all the pitching injuries the Rangers have strung together 6 series wins.  David "Charlie" Murphy went 4-5, going yard twice along with 2 singles, scoring 3 times, and 5 RBI's-very nice.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Your Texas Rangers have, for the season, a run differential of +91 against their opponents. The team with the next best run differential is the Spankees, with a +62.  Even with that going for them and the 6 straight series wins, the pesky Halos are still hanging around 4.5 games back of the Rangers, making all those games (13) against them after the All Star break loom even larger.

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Oz's Start Goes About As Well As Possible

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Oz didn't throw a no hitter or complete game shutout.

On a serious note, Dave Barnett is still not in the booth.  Sending good vibes his direction, hope the testing he's undergoing reveals all is OK.

Josh struck out 3 times and according to Busby (subbing in for Barnett) Josh hasn't hit a homer in fourteen days.  For most that's not a big deal but, with the clip at which Josh was hitting them at the beginning of the season, it is a drought for Josh.  And Gentry tweaked his ankle legging out an attempt at a bunt single.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Oz was great, especially for his first start. Win streak at 7.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I'm going to say what maybe no one else will say or thinks.  I think Busby is great on the TV broadcast.  Does that mean I'd like him to stay on the TV broadcast even when Barnett is (hopefully) ready to resume his duties as the TV play by play guy?  No, absolutely not.  But, I wouldn't mind seeing a booth of Barnett as play by play and Busby riding shotgun.  I know Tom "TAG" Grieve is, I guess, Mr. Ranger but, listening to the games recently TAG seems to offer very little compared to the knowledge that Busby drops in between nearly every pitch.  TAG talking about the food the booth receives from fans might have been endearing when the Rangers were basement dwellers but now how about a little more baseball talk during the game.  Just a thought.


Since that's likely not to happen since TAG is Mr. Ranger and Busby didn't play ball for the Rangers and isn't a former Rangers GM like TAG...


Alternatively, I'm thinking about pulling an old trick I know others have when watching the Cowboys so they could hear Brad Sham on the radio: I'll turn down the sound on the TV and put on the radio when Busby goes back to the radio booth.  

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Rangers Sweep Padres

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Again, big deal, it's not like the Padres are very good. And Moreland pulled a hamstring legging one out during the series.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: They still had to play the games and take care of business, which they did.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Apparently the NL West teams the Rangers had to play aren't, for the most part, very good.  Even with the Rangers putting together back to back series sweeps, the pesky Halos are keeping pace and hanging around at 5 games back.

And Oswalt makes his season and Texas Rangers debut tomorrow having sat out almost half the season.  Let's see how that goes, fingers crossed.

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Rangers Win First Two Versus Padres, Win Another Series

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Much like sweeping the 'Stros, big deal, the Padres are in last place in their division.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Scooter Feldman got his first win, alert the media!  Josh is back.  And again, like sweeping the 'Stros, they beat a basement dweller like a drum like they're supposed to, so good.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The word of the day today is perspective, from the Oxford Dictionaries meaning: a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something.  In this context everyone needs to keep the Rangers' season to date in perspective.  Yes, they've had weird lapses in offense.  Yes, they've suffered some injuries, particularly to the pitching staff (Holland, Ogando, Feliz).  Yes, it's a long season and we're just in June.  But, your Texas Rangers have the biggest lead of any division leader in all of MLB going into tonight's ballgame.  Not too shabby.  


All that being said/written...


If I counted correctly the Rangers play the Halos 13 more times before the end of the season and all those games are after the Allstar break.  I would bet the Halos have those dates circled on their calendars. 

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Dave Barnett to Undergo Testing After Bizarre Ramblings

After the below weird/scary(/distrubing?) ramblings from Texas Rangers' play-by-play announcer Dave Barnett it's being reported that he's going to undergo some testing and will be out the next few games.

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Take That Houston

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Everyone calm down about a sweep, the 'Stros are 11.5 out it in the NL Central, ahead of only the hopeless Cubbies.  And Josh is still out with that stomach bug.
Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Rangers sweep Houston, like they should have.
And if there was any question, Cobra Lewis is the ace of the staff.  Yeah, Yu's been great but, Cobra is mowing down hitters, and hardly walking anyone.
Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: When is Mitch Moreland going to get a chance to be the every day first baseman?
I'm thinking I'm done with inter-league play.  It's been nice but, I'd rather have more divisional games.  Of course there's no way MLB will do away with a cash-cow like inter-league play.  Of course I'm assuming it's a cash-cow, I wonder if inter-league games really drive up gate receipts anymore...

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Oh Scooter...

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Scooter Feldman just cannot seem to put together a good game much less a good inning this year.  He's 0-6 with and ERA north of 6.  When the Rangers could really use a spot starter to come through, Scooter just hasn't delivered.

And Josh is in the hospital with an intestinal virus (that sound unpleasant to say the least) getting fluids through an IV.  Same thing that put Doogie Holland on the DL?  Don't know.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Still up 3 games on the Halos even though the pitching and offense has been inconsistent.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The thing about Scooter's performance that really hurts is two-fold: (1) on the one side Scooter could have played himself into the rotation (at least for a while) especially with Ogando, Feliz and Holland out and Oswalt not ready yet but, his play has made that all but impossible; (2) and if Scooter had played well and when Feliz, Holland, Ogando and Oswalt are ready to pitch, Scooter would have been great trade bait to offer a team near the trade deadline.  Oh well.

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Poor Manship ...

I heckled Manship mercilessly years ago when he played against your Texas Rangers.  No cursing or anything but, it was fun to yell, "you got nothing Manship!"  And the Rangers rallied against him.  Now his own team can't even spell his name right.  He can't win for being Manship.  Or Mansihp.  

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Rangers Lose Series to Halos But Salvage Game 3

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Errors.  Way too many errors.  And way to many runners left on base, which is very unusual to date for this incarnation of the Rangers.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Matt Harrison looked great through 4 innings (perfect I think) and they hung on to win the last game of the series.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: After all of that your Rangers are still up 4.5 on the second place Halos.  Now the dog days of summer are about to begin.  The Rangers will play in games during the day in the mid to high 90's and the low 90's to at best the high 80's at night.  But, our Rangers are used to that kinda heat right?  What about the new guys like Nathan and Yu?  We'll see.

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Went to the Game Last Night, Rangers Got Beat Like a Drum

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Two errors hurt, especially the one committed by the usually reliable Beltre which cost the Rangers a 3rd out that would have gotten Scooter Feldman out of a bases loaded jam.  Rangers gave up 6 earned runs in the game, 10 total runs, compared to getting only 3 of their own runs across.  Ogando looked shaky at best in relief.  The Rangers are getting into the habit of making the Seamen look a lot better than their W/L record would indicate.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Josh went yard.  Scooter Feldman will get a lot of criticism for the loss but, look at his line, 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 K's, 3 BB's.  Not a great K/BB ratio but, not as bad the score would indicate.  Just saying, it wasn't all Scooter's fault.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Halos are only 5.5 games behind your defending AL champion Texas Rangers.

Rangers sign Oswalt.  This causes multiple questions to pop up:
When will Oz be ready to start?
What happens to Feliz when he's healthy?
Feliz back to the bullpen?
Is Feliz more seriously injured than the Rangers are letting on?
Tommy John surgery for Feliz?
Will Robbie Ross have to wear the pink backpack again?

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Not Bad But, Not Good Either Recently

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Like I worried about in my last post it appears the Rangers are human after all.  Remember everyone was falling over themselves proclaiming how good they are?  Now they're 4-6 in their last 10.  Josh is below .400.  Feliz is injured and Scooter Feldman was knocked out today with a grand slam by the powerhouse Mariners (last part meant to be sarcastic, the Seemen are anything but an offensive juggernaut). And Napoli is in a huge slump.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Beltre is apparently over his injury.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Yu pitched poorly yesterday too.  He's human too.

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So The Past Week Or So Hasn't Sucked

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Not too much, if anything, to b!tch about here but, I'll give it a try:

Holland and Harrison have given up more than a few runs in some recent outings.

I'd like to see Mitch Moreland hit for average.  It's painful sometimes to watch Young play defense at 1B, 2B and 3B, is it just me or does it seem like his feet are stuck in cement?  Of course he is the utility guy and on the wrong side of 30.

Oh yeah, and some a$$hole ump threw Wash out of a ballgame on his 60th birthday.  His birthday!  That's not right.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: JOSH HAMILTON
(the other guys haven't been half bad either)


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Tom Verducci and others had better quit trying to jinx the lil' Rangers and stop writing articles saying they're the best team in baseball and/or comparing them to the Yankees of the late 90's and/or saying the Rangers will be good for years to come.  Quit it.

Oh yeah, the Rangers lost to an\\KC's old, soft throwing lefty last night whose fast ball tops out in the mid-80's mph at best, managing only 1 run.  That'll hopefully keep them humble.

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Behind Yu, Rangers Shut Out Spankees, Win 2-0

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: I got nuthin' here really.  Rangers managed only 5 hits against Spankee pitching but, the Ranger pitching picked the bats up.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Yu continued to improve, he pitched all but one pitch tonight for the shutout against the Spankees.  Oh yeah, Joe Nathan came in and threw one pitch to induce the the game ending double play in the 9th to pick up the save.  That's very strong to scary strong.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: To continue the double-backwards jinx, Josh is now batting exactly .400.

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Boston Homer Party

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Not much here.  Didn't tune in till top of 8 when Rangers hit 3 homers and first seven Rangers batters in that inning reached safely.  Heard mention that Young was lifted for David "Charlie" Murphy because of a stiff back, that's not good.  Also, it seems that a lot of times huge offensive outputs like this are followed up by anemic performances the next day, we'll see.


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining:  Offense was very strong to unbelievably strong.  21 hits, 18 runs.  Colby Lewis has walked one batter in his first two starts.  Is that good?


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: There was a Vicente Padilla sighting (former Ranger '06-'09) who came in as a reliever for the Red Stockings.  I just remember Padilla being a pitcher who either had terrible control at times or would bean a batter for a team just 'cause he felt like it.  Used to make for interesting ballgames when he pitched for the Rangers, if someone went yard on him it seemed like clockwork that he would bean the next guy.

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In With the Good, Out With the Bad, Round and Round, Like a Carousel

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: So Joe Nathan (no relation to the hot dog company as far as I know, stay tuned for more info re this) has lost one game and blown a save now in this young season when:

a) entering a ballgame on short rest (48 hours or less think)
b) coming off Tommy John surgery
c) being older, 37 years old and again, coming off Tommy John surgery


Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Today Doogie Holland pitched a great game.  Who knew?  And the offense, for the most part, has been strong to very strong.  And David "Charlie" Murphy is batting over .400.  Oh, and Josh is also over .400 too.  I'll keep you posted regarding their respective charges to be the first batter since the Splendid Splinter to bat .400 or better for a season.  Yeah, that's right, I jinxed them, deal with it.  Might as well as get over with jinxing it now.


Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I don't like Poo-Holes and the Halos.

And, at the encouragement of many, I will trust in Wash and collective Rangers brain-trust when it comes to the closer.  But, Adams and Ogando are sitting right there...

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Why the H Wasn't Yu Darvish's First Start Televised Locally?

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Seriously, why wasn't Yu Darvish's first start, albeit in spring training, in a Rangers' uniform televised at least locally?  I would bet dollars to donuts it was televised in Japan.  This is the biggest rookie start in Dallas since when?  Since Aikman's first start wearing the star on his helmet?  And I think they showed Aikman's first preseason start his rookie year in its entirety.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: ESPN news showed Darvish face his first 4 batters.  And he threw 36 pitches, gave up 2 hits, 0 runs, walked 0, and fanned 3.  Not a bad start.  From what I saw he had a deceptively quick fastball, a slider that tricked hitters and a good sinking/cutting fastball too.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Some local media outlet should televise all his starts, please.

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Who's Pitching for the Rangers?

Edgar: "Who's pitching for the Rangers tonight?"


Horace: "Yu."


Edgar: "I'm not pitching.  I'm just a fan of the Rangers."


Horace: "I know."


Edgar: "OK then, who's pitching then."


Horace: "Yu."


Edgar: "A wise guy, eh?


(insert more back forth here, a la the Abbott and Costello bit)


Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: No pitcher from Japan since Nomo has even come close to living up to the expectations placed on them.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Yu Darvish is, according to most if not all the talking heads, far better than any pitcher ever to come over from Japan.  7 different pitches, 5 quality pitches.  If he's half as good as the hype he'll be good to pretty darn good.  If he lives up to the hype he might be the Rangers first 20 game winner since 1998.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Prince Fielder is off the market, signing with the Tigers.  Oh well.  It was nice to hope for another big off season splash by your Texas Rangers.

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