Enjoy the Ride

Ask any true baseball fan about the grind of an MLB season and they will all come to the same consensus in regards to any of the30 teams in the show; baseball season ebbs and flows.  There are times when the tide of adversity rears its head and teams struggle.  This happens to even the best of teams. 

But there are also times when the sun emerges from behind an ominous gray sky, the clouds clear and winning can be seen on the horizon. 

No team epitomizes this analogy like the Texas Rangers.  My mistake, I meant to say the first place Texas Rangers…as in all of baseball.  

With a 47-28 record, it wouldn’t seem like the club’s fan base would have that much to be pessimistic about.  But in a sports town with fans that have suddenly, for a lack of better words, developed a sense of entitlement after seeing its basketball team win the finals last season and witnessing the baseball club appear in back-to-back World Series there seems to be a shortage of patience and an increase in ridiculous expectations.

What “regular” or bandwagon fans fail to realize is that in the course of a 162 game season, your team will lose.  The will lose a lot.  No one will ever go 162-0 or 152-10 as I predicted but they will lose some games.  The Rangers will most likely lose about 50-60 games this season, but that is still 112-102 wins.  They are 76 games into their season and have lost just 28 games.  If they match this record for the next 76 games, they will be at 94-56 with 12 games to play and yet someone will still argue about some call the sipper makes or some move the GM didn’t make in some mundane scenario that will have bearing only to the Skip Baylesses of the metroplex.

The team is less than a year removed from their last WS appearance and the haters are still questioning the leadership of the club.  Rangers manager Ron Washington is still viewed by some as a guy just along for the ride…eating seeds and hugging Jackie Moore after every victory.  They decry the fact that he will not tinker with a lineup that for the most part has been the same for the past two years the victories have increased.  Did I mention that they were in the World Series?

But an average May record and two series losses in the beginning of June to division rivals had some of Wash’s and the team’s detractors crying that the tea was in a tail spin and big changes had to be made.  They didn’t take into account that the rotation and its replacements were dropping like flies.   Key sections of the offense went through slumps to which they are just beginning to break out of now.  The fans had become spoiled because they were treated to an exciting opening month.  Coming back to reality was like a hard crash after an all-night bender at a gay bar-it was unbelievable. 

The team was 14-13 in May and played some atrocious baseball but they also learned from their mistakes which translated into June.  While the pretenders like the Athletics, Mariners, Blue Jays and Rays (God I hate the Rays) remembered who they were, the Rangers remained calm and played one game at a time.  June started off with a 4-6 record only to see the team go 12-3 and winning six straight series, sweeping two in the process.  They are currently 16-9 with the A’s in town tonight as they look to extend their lead over division rival LA Angels who have been in the Rangers rear-view but have been closing fast.    

Fans need to have faith in our team, our manager and our front office.  They have proven over the last two years that they have a plan and are sticking to it.  Fans need to understand that injuries happen, teams have losing streaks, players can’t hit the broad side of a barn, managers make dumb decisions and some acquisitions don’t always pan out.  But for about 35 years we wished we had the problems we have now.  The only conversation fans had about Rangers’ players in the playoffs was when they were being watched on other teams. 

Fans need to return the patient fans they were when the Rangers were losing, couldn’t pitch or manufacture runs and enjoy what they are witnessing every day no matter the outcome.  Otherwise, we are just Yankee fans.

Let’s go Rangers

If the first month of 2012 MLB season has been any indication of what’s in store for metroplex sports fans, then by all means we’re in for one hell of a ride: one that may surpass the accomplishments of the ‘90s Cowboys, 2011 Mavericks and 2000 Stars.

  For the first time in ever, and I’m taking into account the success of the Rangers over the course of the past two seasons, our baseball team seems poised to dominate the baseball landscape from now to game 162.  And if things keep going the way they are, possibly to game 181.  The Rangers three weeks into the season and are already up 7 games on the division rival LA Angels.  Pujols isn’t hitting anywhere near his contract worth and CJ Wilson has already accumulated two losses on the season which is a direct result of the aforementioned Pujols’ anemic showing at the plate as well as defensive lapses and all around team suckiness.

All the Rangers have done is win behind stellar pitching efforts from all five starters (even ace Colby Lewis) and the only staff member with two losses is closer Joe Nathan who is still a work in progress.  We all got a glimpse of the greatness Yu Darvish possesses after his fifth start.  He seems to get stronger, confident and is gaining command of his pitches with each outing. 

Then there’s the offensive output.  Even when the team is behind, no pitcher can rest easy.  Hamilton is on fire, Young is doing what he does, Andrus is displaying remarkable patience at the plate and glimpses of power and Kinsler gets everything going from the leadoff spot.  The top of the lineup does so much damage that we forget that the bottom is struggling.  But the strength of the team is they find ways to win and rely on guys considered afterthoughts to deliver.  Snyder and Gonzales are picking up hitting slack while Cruz, Napoli, Moreland and Torrealba are trying to figure out their swings.

The defense ranks among the top five and Kinsler and Andrus will probably go down as the best defensive tandem in team history.  Once you add Beltre and Mr. Everything in Young, if you’re an opposing hitter you have to pray these guys make an error because if they get their gloves on a ball, you’re as good as done.  Your other option is to hit it over their heads but then you have to deal with Hamilton who can get to everything and Cruz who will gun you down at first given the opportunity. 

Then we get to the bullpen which is easily forgettable because they rarely get into the game.  The offense builds leads so fast that when they do get the occasional appearance it’s usually a spot start in the event of a double header or just to get some late game work because they’ve just been in the bullpen relaxing.  I’d love to have that job.

If the Rangers can find their way back to the Series, then there is no question they would have the best run of a sports team in the metroplex.  You could argue ‘90s Cowboys, but baseball’s season length, combined with the injury factor and the few teams that can actually make the playoffs is what sets them apart from all the rest.

I almost forgot.  I need to adjust my prediction from 152-10 to 142-20. 

All The Right Moves

Sometimes the best moves are the ones not made.  And the Texas Rangers just made the biggest one by keeping their wits about them and letting Prince Fielder and his girth land in Detroit on Wednesday. 

Now I cannot lie, I was one of those hoping the Rangers would have pulled out all the stops and welcomed the Prince into his new kingdom out at the Ballpark.  Hell it wasn’t my money, but I was having a hard time trying to rationalize why a few billionaires couldn’t spend a few extra mil to make the team better.  Why couldn’t they resign Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli, Elvis Andrus and Kinsler and keep this thing going?  We needed to do something to counteract what the Angels had just pulled off in December by signing both Albert Pujols and former area douche extraordinaire Christopher John Wilson to contracts totaling just in the neighborhood of $345 million, right?

So our first move was to bid on an unknown Japanese pitcher that the Rangers’ front office has been drooling over for more than 2 years.  Of course the comparisons of Yu Darvish to Daisuke Matsuzaka and Chan Ho Park will be inevitable until he actually pitches and inning, but I trust in this Rangers’ staff to do the right thing and bring him along the right way.

The second shoe I was waiting to drop was that of Fielder.  I just knew the Rangers would make a play on him after signing Darvish to a total contract of just around $112 million.  They would just have to get creative and make room.  But as the days went on and I started to think realistically, I harkened back to the days of Tom Hicks and HSG and how excited I was to see exorbitant contracts dished out to Alex Rodriguez and the aforementioned Mr. Park.  So much money was spent that the rest of the team, including the farm system, was neglected and the only thing we got out of it was annual last place finishes.

Ten years and 1 bankruptcy later we were right back where we started from.  The organization had reached that fork in the road.  And whereas last time it went left without hesitation, this time they studied the route, looked over their options and only after careful consideration did they choose to go right.  It didn’t matter that other teams were passing them and looking to make big splashes by spending ridiculous money and making questionable trades, our team decided that this go round would be different and they weren’t willing to place the future of the franchise in jeopardy for a “win now” mentality that so many teams possess without actually getting better.

The Angels have made the mistake of Hicks by basically bidding against themselves.  Then to make matters worse, they spend $77 million on their projected number 3 pitcher.  They didn’t get better in any particular area.  Vernon Wells and Tori Hunter are still old and the last time I checked, the Rangers were still able to get to their pitchers.  Now we’ll be able to get to their third as well.  

The Tigers have spent $214 million on Fielder which looks good this year, but what do you do next year when you have a logjam at first base with Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez when he comes back and Fielder?  Who can you resign and who do you let go when contract time comes up with some of your star players? 

The Rangers learned the hard way and basically laid out a “how to” guide on how to scuttle a franchise.  Currently the forward and the additional chapters are being written by the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  It just seems no one has bothered to pay attention and teams keep doing things the wrong way. 

When the dust finally settled and the biggest splash we made was Darvish, I came to grips with the fact that my team had once again done the right thing by doing nothing further.  Now they can resign the guys who’ve been here and worry about fracturing the chemistry of the team.  And the best thing about the Fielder deal falling through is it may make Mitch Moreland a more focused and determined hitter knowing he was close to losing his job.

Sure the $3 billion contract kicks in in a few years and there will be plenty of cash to supplement the payroll.  But that is then and this is now.  And now is no the time to make Hicks-ian moves to put us right back in the position we were in before.  Now is the time for everyone to trust in our team’s front office, coaching staff and the players we have. 

With everything they’ve gotten right, including two World Series appearances, I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think they know what they’re doing.

Fan Mail

It’ been a while since I’ve gone through the emails and responded to your questions, but to be frank, I just haven’t given a damn.  The Rangers are on a roll, sometimes good however more recently bad, the Cowboys are about to kick off the regular season under new leadership but the same old crappy management and the NBA is still locked out. 

I could really care if the latter really comes back but it would give me another sport to complain about and more athletes to criticize.  But I digress.  Fantasy leagues are back in full swing and the college football season is about to take off.  And with the exception of the Miami Hurricanes, this season should be one to remember.

So without further ado, lemme reach into the ol’ grab bag and see what intelligent questions we got.

-What do you think the Dallas Cowboys chances are this season?  They appear to have a tough schedule with the Jets in week 1, the Pats in week 6 and the rest of the East that seemed to improve while the ‘Boys sat idle.

Milt Thomas, Pantego

They have a chance…a chance to be awful.  They also have a chance to be good but I put that right there with a snowman completing a marathon in Hell.  Look I have said this all along; I am not a big believer in the so-called Red Headed Savior, Jason Garrett.  He comes off to me as another cookie cutter, wannabe coach that, much like Josh McDaniels, wants to be the guy they used to work for and we see how that worked out for McDaniels and the Broncos and the mess they are working with now. 

Garrett wants so bad to be Jimmy Johnson that it makes me wonder why Jerry didn’t ask him to come back to coach.  These days, the Bill Parcells types of coaches don’t last long.  Players tune them out too fast because who are you going to really get rid of—your franchise player or some coach the entire team has stopped listening too regardless of their “toughness.” The Cowboys lack the talent and the front office intelligence the team needs to be successful again.  And it’s going to be a while before they are relevant again—that while being when Jones is in a nursing home or in the ground.

-I read your post on the controversy surrounding Tim Tebow and Kyle Orton and I think the only reason you pick on him is because everyone else is piling on.  He’s a fine young man and should be given the opportunity lead the franchise because he deserves it, not to mention he was a 1^st rounder.

Carlos Sepulveda, Plano

Look, I think I’m a decent guy but that doesn’t mean I should just walk in and run a Fortune 500 company just because the boss’ friend likes me.  That is the equivalent of the Tebow situation in Denver.  Yes he was a first rounder, but in the eyes of an imbecile.  An imbecile that ran out Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall and then turned around and got rid of the Mike Alstott 2.0 in Peyton Hillis all because he thought he was going to spark a revolution or something in Denver.  I don’t hate Tebow; I just think he is unprepared to be a quarterback at the NFL level.  I don’t have to have played or watch incessant amounts of film to know when a guy has horrible mechanics.  Just because a guy throws one great pass doesn’t mean he should be the starter.  Just because one gives great speeches in college and motivates the team doesn’t mean that will translate to the NFL.  These guys have accomplished their goal and most will make ridiculous amounts of money so having a guy yelling at them up and down the sidelines doesn’t work like it did in college.

If you want to win, and I mean the team and not the fans, you play either Orton or Brady Quinn.  If you want to mount up concussions and lose your football team, you go with Tebow.  Fans aren’t in the locker room after a loss; players are.  Fans don’t take devastating hits for three hours; players do.  Fans don’t work out relentlessly to get better at their craft and earn multi-million dollar contract; players do.  Tebow may be good down the line, but I wouldn’t risk screwing my franchise any more than it already has been.

-Do you think the NBA lockout will go into the regular season and possibly cancel games or do you see this getting resolved relatively quickly?

Trent Broyles, Fort Worth

The short answer is I really could care less.  I am so out on the NBA it is ridiculous.  David Stern has turned the league into glorified streetball where the slightest touch earns star players trips to the free throw line.  The referees have too much power and the same teams suck and have no incentive to get better.  I think the best thing going is if the players do go overseas and get stuck in some of those contracts they cannot get out of because to be honest I’d rather watch the WNBA than the pre-planned WWE-styled garbage we see run out there between November and June.

-The Rangers’ pitching staff has fallen off a cliff making it hard for me to keep watching these games.  I’m afraid the team is going to be in second place after the Angels series and done by the last week of the season.  Should I still have hope?
-Phil Tanner, Waco

Hell yeah you should still have hope!  This is what late season baseball is all about.  Every game means something now and there is no time for complacency from anyone on the team.  We are still in first and just like the Angels this could be the series that galvanizes the team again.  I think when the series is over; the Rangers will be up by four games.  The problem is what they do after the series.  Do they stay hot or do they fall back into a funk against the Rays and Red Sox?  Who knows?  But I’d rather be in a tight race than in no race at all.  What they need is for Sept. 1^st to come as quickly as possible so they can get Beltre and Blanco back on the field and Quintanilla can go away and Young can go back to DHing.

   -The Cowboys will lose this year not because of the offensive line or the defense or even coaching.  They will lose because Tony [Romo] is the worst quarterback in the history of the franchise.  You can take that to the bank.

-Starry Lanley, Las Colinas

Again with this?  How in the hell do you keep getting emails in?  I thought I had you blocked.  Even though the Cowboys will be terrible this year it will not be from the QB position.  It will be coaching.  How can a guy that has presided over the offense the last four years all-of-a-sudden be the franchise savior?  It’s akin to asking the fox too watch the hen house because he knows the neighborhood.  When the Cowboys were good offensively, it was because of Garrett.  But when they were bad, and they have been terrible, it has also been under Garrett.  He has made questionable calls and substitutions dating back to when he snaked Wade and took over as head turd.  And as much as I hated the fact that Owens was brought here, he was a weapon and Garrett’s ego couldn’t make it work either.  His play calling is mediocre at best and had Jerry not given him this job or had let other teams really get a chance at him, who would have really had an interest in his services?  No one.

And you can take that to the bank!

-I saw where former Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl claims the NCAA was making an example of him by placing a show-cause penalty on him until 2013.  Did the NCAA go far enough and will this deter others who abuse the rules?
-Jerry Reynolds, Saginaw

I don’t think it went far enough, but it is a good start.  The only way the NCAA cleans up college athletics is by establishing clear, concise, concrete rules across the board and enforcing them to the letter regardless of the institution.  Pearl can still be hired by a school to evaluate talent but cannot contact recruits or actually coach.  As a matter of fact, teams can be penalized for hiring Pearl and any of his former assistants before their bans expire. 

I have said for the longest that coaches should be punished for their transgressions.  Pearl, Jim Tressel, Lane Kiffin and others should have to deal with the consequences of their actions and just not the institution.  I like Randy Shannon, but if the University of Miami should receive the death penalty, Shannon and even Larry Coker should get an equal if not greater fine or penalty.  Every school should be on notice that deviant behavior will not be tolerated and the NCAA should be allowed to become involved with either terminating coaches contracts or “encouraging” them to leave should coaches cross the line.  They are the leaders of men and should be held to higher standards and it’s time they were dealt with accordingly. 

The Closer?

Could someone from the Rangers please get Brenda Lee Johnson on the phone because they could use the help?

The Rangers are at it again.  They start off a series in convincing fashion only to be reminded of just how unreliable their bullpen is in the remaining games.  On Monday with Derek Holland on the mound, they basically held an extended batting practice against the Minnesota Twins scoring 20 runs and garnering 20 hits before the 6^th inning.  Everything was going so smooth it was reported that Holland was seen in the concourse several times sampling barbecue and downing margaritas. 

But as soon as Holland was lifted, the bullpen got back to the business of doing what they do best: giving the opponents the opportunity to catch up.  Being down 19 is a lot of catching up to do but I have faith that this bunch of slugs could give any opponent all the assistance they need.

First up: Scooter Feldman jogged in for an inning and he surrendered the second run of the game.  He’s new to the bullpen so I’ll cut him a little slack until his ERA gets up to the seemingly selected goal of five.  He was followed by the cavalcade of degenerates who usually reserve their meltdowns for close games.  Arthur Rhodes pitched one inning as well un-assing three runs on three hits.  I know Wash wants to get him some work, and I agree with him.  I’d just like to see him working either in Round Rock or in another city, Cincinnati perhaps.  They score enough runs to make his charitable contributions obsolete.

But the star of the show has to be one Neftali Rasmussen Feliz.  That’s actually not his middle name but who cares, he freaking sucks right now.  The job of the closer is to shut down games, period.  Feliz, as we all keep witnessing, is not doing that.  He misses the strike zone regularly, walks batters consistently and is giving up hits as if he were a middle reliever.  If you want to know what’s wrong with this team, then one needs to look no further than Rhodes and Feliz.  It’s almost as if the motto between the two going into a game is “let’s make this interesting.”

 I was willing to give Rhodes a pass because the rest of the bullpen has been injured and unreliable.  I tried to chalk his mediocre play as recently as July up to fatigue and pitching in the warmest park he’s ever been in.  I can’t defend him any more because he is terrible and it’s time we either saw him in a reduced role or a nonexistent one.

Feliz, on the other hand, is a different animal.  Either he has lost his confidence, is too confident and it is backfiring or he is just not closer material any more.  I don’t know which one it is but someone (Mike Maddox) needs to figure him out fast and get it corrected.  I could go for a little more Yoshinori Tateyama who’s been unhittable lately while Feliz gets it figured out.  And by a little more, I’m looking through September if necessary after blowing save number five on Tuesday.  Hey I believe where there’s five that can be blown with ease, six is somewhere around the corner.

And here’s the kicker; it’s not just that he is blowing games but it the way he’s doing it.  Through 37 innings, Feliz has only recorded 26 strike outs, allowed 20 walks and given up 29 hits, four of which were homeruns (14 earned runs). His ERA is an unacceptable 3.35.  If I were his manager I would be afraid to let him pitch to a 7-year-old girl for fear he would hit her, walk her or she’d get a single up the middle.  

I now the rumors are everywhere about the Rangers pursuit of an outfielder but they need to concentrate on bullpen help.  Even though I love Tommy Hunter, I’m still not sold on him.  I don’t trust Feldman and I’m starting to only want to see Darren Oliver in action every 15 days or whenever his commercial comes on.  I’m still afraid of Mark Lowe because I know there’s a meltdown waiting to happen; he’s just saving it for the right time.

So what we are left with is the hope that the Rangers make a serious push for San Diego’s Heath Bell or Mike Adams.  Even though Bell stated he would be an eight inning guy if need be, the Rangers would be fools if they didn’t pull a Frankie Francisco on Feliz and move him to the set-up role until he gets his head right.  If they don’t think he can, then they can get an early jump on grooming him to be a starter next season and maybe he can fill the role Dave Bush had as a spot starter.

Whatever they do, they need to do it fast because the Angels are at the back door.  And if they get in, it will be hell trying to make it to the dance as a wild card.  Hopefully John Daniels can make the necessary moves in the next few days to shore up the bullpen. 

If not, maybe he can at least get Deputy Chief Johnson on the phone to try to solve the problem.