Tuesday, February 19, 2013

No Josh Hamilton It's You Who Doesn't Get It.

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Josh Hamilton's interview with local CBS affiliate reporter Gina Miller was hard to listen to and just cements the fact that it was time for him to get the heck out of town.  To paraphrase one of the many barbs from Hamilton, he said that any fans that booed him or might boo him in the future "don't get it."  He also had the complete lack of humility and outrageous audacity to wink at the camera and say that Rangers' fans got spoiled the last few years, implying that it was all him and we will all be sorry to see him gone.  All this after he stated that the Metroplex is not a "baseball town."  Implying it's more of a football town.  But that's too simple.  That's like saying LA is a Lakers/basketball town.  Hamilton may think local DFW baseball fans don't get certain baseball related things.  And that only a seasoned professional baseball player like him or fans from baseball towns get the intricacies of trying to throw, hit and catch a baseball for a living.  Well, in my humble opinion, there are a few things that Hamilton hasn't, doesn't and will never get.

Here's what Hamilton doesn't get:
1) Football may be supreme in DFW but that doesn't mean that local baseball fans can't recognize when a player is mailing it in. 
2) DFW baseball fans get upset when a player jogs after a ball that he just dropped on a routine pop up in the biggest game of the year. 
3) Local baseball fans can recognize (and read stat sheets) when a player that's capable of batting well over .320 bats .223, .177 and .259 three out of the last four months down the stretch last season. 
4) DFW baseball fans can wonder outloud after the All-Star break last year why Wash didn't move him down the batting order when he was batting so poorly (was that because Hamilton's weak psyche couldn't take being moved down the batting order?). 
5) Maybe the Rangers will be better off with a player that averages around .300 each month of the regular season instead of one that disappears for months at a time and always has something going on. (Remember his greatest, self-indulgent quote from last year: "Guys, it's me. It's Josh. It's going to be something weird."  Besides being rid of a player who refers to himself in the third person, maybe DFW fans were tired of Hamilton's rather large set of baggage, especially coupled with him not being able to hit a watermelon at the plate.
6) And maybe Hamilton hasn't been to too many Cowboys games here since Romo took over but I seem to recall that the knowledgeable DFW football fans have tossed more that a few boo-birds Romo's way too.
7) Here's some news for Hamilton, the Rangers drew the 3rd most fans last year in MLB in spite of him essentially taking 3 months off.  And yes he did contribute to the increase in the Rangers' popularity in DFW but unlike the way he makes it sound, he didn't do it by himself. 
8) Maybe a departing "star" that, a) took way more money than anyone around here thought he would be offered and b) took said offer without hearing a counter-offer from the Rangers and c) is going to have to play a few times against his old team at their park shouldn't, d) turn around and verbally kick its fans (that stuck with him through some great highs and some really low lows-remember Sherlocks?) in the privates.  
9) And yes, the Anaheim area of Los Angeles, California, West Coast of America might be more of a basketball town. 
10) If Hamilton bats for the Angels like he did for the Rangers down the stretch last year and/or for 3 months of the regular season I think he'll hear something other than cheers from the West Coast, LA of Anaheim, LakersLand, California baseball-savant fans.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Pitchers and catchers reported last week.  Full squad reported this week.  Let's see how Pierzynski and Berkman do.  Let's see if Moreland can become a full timer at 1B and if Gentry will step up in CF and at the plate.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: After all this drama with Hamilton and him not being a part of the Rangers going forward, I cannot help but think of and paraphrase one of my favorite movie quotes from one of my favorite movies, Hoosiers, "my team is on the field."  I just hope that's what Nolan, JD, Wash and all the players think and believe going into Spring Training and the season.

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