D

That’s ok, I think we started our own home run pool

“Evan is a hero, Evan is a hero, the regiment proclaimed…..”

I love the way Marlon always hustles. I sure hope we find a way to keep him here.

It included me saying that I wished Pudge wasn’t playing, which I never thought I’d see the day that happened.

If the Yankees have secured a playoff spot but not yet the division, doesn’t that mean that the Rangers have in fact been eliminated from the Wild Card Race?

Ryans Dad – It just means that the Rangers can”t catch the Yankees. They could mathmatically catch the Red Sox/Angels.

Yeah, I thought it through and realized the error of my thinking. Thanks though

Nice start for Hunter.. he so deserves a spot guaranteed next year as well as Feldman

You don’t want to “guarantee” young guys a starting spot. A little competition won’t hurt them at all.

I don’t think so, I believe he was on a one year deal

Oh gosh…I hope Benson is not back.

So after all this rookie hazing costume talk…I’d like to see a charticle with the player’s name, costume and the picture. I’d buy a newspaper to see that.

@Evan: So apparently there was talk on the post-game show last night that “people close to the team” think Kinsler wants out and there’s a good chance he gets traded. Please tell me this is knee-jerk or someone misinterperting what was said. Do you see it that way? Clearly we have no one coming to replace him and that would be a giant step back. Calm my fears!

Wasn’t it 7 games?

They were sizzling in May…but for some reason I think I heard the longest streak was 8. Not for sure though.

mine opened.

I think there was a longer home winning streak (probably what Becca’s thinking of), but I’m pretty sure the longest total win streak was 7.

Both sites crash my web browsers.

@Ranger fan: Heard nothing of the sort regarding Kinsler. Sounds like people putting a lot of disconnected things together and creating a rumor.

yeah, hank’s playing for a contract next year. which when it’s good for the rangers, i can’t complain.

Evan, have you heard any news on the impending contract negotiations with my favorite batting coach of ever? What are the chances he stays?

i just wish hank was consistant. and there is the argument that to be consistant you have to play everyday. but he has to know his role. and that isn’t one of an everyday player.

and this not-knowing the owner is absolutely mind blowing right now. because so many players’ (and coaches’) futures depends on what kind of money they can bring. it’s all just speculation until that part is figured out.

@scooper: i totally agree. which is why i have been down on him this year. he turns it on when it seems it’s absolutely necessary, but doesn’t stay with it. it seems lazy. or like he doesn’t care. and that’s just a fan’s point of view, not necessarily a big baseball brain’s point of view.

Did Wash get a hair cut?

Rain come in from the DMN blog?

Ok, I vote Rain off the island. Isn’t there a Red Sox game you could go watch on ESPN or something?

@RAT: must have. none of ours would act like that.

That Ron Washington vote of confidence for Hunter in next year’s rotation is working well.

i hate mean people.

Really nice to have a 1B in the line-up every day who has a better OPS than the rookie Andrus.

Makes quite a difference.

@becca: I agree. I’m also not too fond of negative folks.

Realism?

i meant to say that maybe RAT is rooting for a benson contract extension.

I say “keep the faith”. Yes, it would take a miracle at this point, but when’s the last time Rangers’ fans even had a chance with a week and a half left in the season?

@RF: ask RAT.

@Ryans Dad: There is no word on the Rudy Jaramillo contract situation. I think this will be topic No. 1 for the Rangers to discuss during the offseason. I’ve said this before and remain pretty adamant about it: Jaramillo has flaws as an instructor (every instructor does), but to let him walk away after one sub-par offensive year is just beyond knee-jerk to me.

@PTRF: this last week hasn’t been fun, but I keep reminding myself that it has been a great season. our guys have experienced a pennant race and that will help in our development (especially the young guys). Our future is bright and I refuse to let the last week or two ruin the season for me.

@scooper: I agree. It’s always easier to be out of it early, and not get your hopes up. However, it has had to be fun to have that nervous feeling and excitement for the whole season hasn’t it? And yes, the experience has to be good for these guys.

@PTRF:I’d say the stigma attached to the strikeout is changing.

Thanks, Evan. I agree.

I’m not giving up until we are officially eliminated. And I’ll still have fun after that watching the games. This has been the best season in years, our future is bright, I love watching the young guys. I am a happy Texas Rangers fan!

Wow, this team sucks

@scooper: great attitude.

PTRF: Texas led both leagues with more than900 runs scored last year. How does that count as three bad years in a row?

Cool! 8-6, gonna start watching the game again.

@Win’s Dad: I just meant in terms of strikeouts. Not overall offense. Sorry for the confusion.

Did Josh just say something about Scott Coolbaugh? Isn’t he the coach that got killed by a line drive a couple of years ago?

@PTRF: Mike Coolbaugh was killed by a line drive in 2007. His brother, Scott, is a minor league hitting instructor for the Rangers.

@Evan: Thanks. I knew the last name sounded familiar.

@evan: thanks. that doesn’t mean that I don’t get frustrated, but this isn’t life and death.

I’m with you, becca! Isn’t it a good thing that we aren’t stat geeks? I like numbers just fine, but they aren’t as much fun as baseball!

@Big Tex: I don’t think that question even warrants a response.

@scooper: You just have to look back two years to the Rockies. They won just about every game in Sept to make a miracle run to the WS. If the Rangers go unconscious and win the rest of their games they have a good chance to catch LAA. Is that asking too much?

@PTRF: That’s what I mean. It isn’t at all likely, but it is still possible.

and shoot, even if it is 100% unlikely, these guys are still playing to win every game they go out to play. as a fan, that’s all you can ask of your team.

@becca: you are right. I’ve seen teams just quit, and our guys haven’t done that.

Thanks, scoop. I think.

I’ve really enjoyed the discussions on here. It’s fun talking baseball. I look forward to doing it again next year.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Evan’s done a great job with this site and it is a lot of fun. Thank you, Evan.

@ Part Time Rangers Fan
Mortgage Row is cheering your endeavor on. For, they do indeed need more borrowers with the
blunt humor but sheer idiotic posture you possess.

This scoring stuff is going to get us killed. Can anybody get it stopped?

@tom b: talk to RAT. he has some sort of control on the scoring somehow. it’s like magic.

PTRF i doubt he knows either.

@scooper: If you guys were going to run me out of here it would have been on my first or second visit when I couldn’t get my point across about veterans vs. rookies. I still laugh at myself when I think about that. I knew what I wanted to say, but couldn’t get it out in a coherent way. I caused much consternation. Finally, we all figured out we were agreeing with each other.

@ Part Time Ranger Fan

No problem. Just having fun. I love the Rangers and my Homerism gets in the way sometimes. All in fun man.

I think he meant that Hank swung.

@scooper: Yeah, that might be what the ump was thinking, but usually for a swing he’ll just point at the batter then make the out signal. When you rub one hand across the fingertips of the other it means that it was a foul tip. That’s what he did. Maybe he just made a mistake. I think Hank swung anyway.

@RF: I may as well have been communicating in Chinese. I couldn’t have confused myself, or anyone else, worse.

Hmmm, on second thought, roller-coaster games are what I get when I watch the Rangers play.

@PTRF: actually, he made both signals. He first pointed like it was a swing. You don’t do that if it was a foul tip. then, he made the signal like it was a foul tip. Confusing, but I think Hank swung.

@PTRF: True… But something about being emotionally involved in a game that could be lost after regaining a lead for a third time… Just gets exhausting.

exhausting and rollercoasters kinda sums up this season. and no, peter, i don’t mean that in a bad way!

glad i didn’t spend time hanging out on the blog tonight, rough crowd.

@rain – I believe my point was that this made all the more frustrating by the fact that the Angels aren’t exactly storming into the playoffs. They are doing exactly what we said they needed to do 3 weeks ago, and we just didn’t do our part. But even in spite of that, we COULD have been in this if we had just won 2 or 3 more games in this strech (6-5 instead of 3-8) and 10 days ago none of us would have thought even 6-5 would get this done.

And when you you look at how the Angels bats have really cooled off, its not unthinkable at all for them to lose 2 of 3 this weekend. When you factor in this game should result in a win, is it inconceivable that we win 4 more in a row? We have already swept TB once at home and that was when they had Kazmir and Pena.

So, no I don’t think I’m a dumb azz, but rather one of smartest baseball people I know.

@Peter – I don’t think its tanking to run into a buzz saw (the As are one of the 3 hottest teams in gbaseball and are hitting EVERYTHING) and struggle without over 20% of your offense (including your best player and most dangerous hitter). Finish has been disappointing but I don’t consider it tanking at all. They hit a wall, ran out of gas, slumped at plate, whatever, but they didn’t quit.

@Evan – this isn’t 1 year of struggling with Rudy J. As you and I have said, much of the struggles this year are probably on account of tighter games and pitchers working harder to always make better pitches. Everytime this offense has faced pressure situations over the 15 year run of Rudy, they have caved (see NYY in 98 and 99). Finally, how much of the “good seasons” were PED enhanced? We know Alex was. We know Raffy was. We are pretty sure Pudge was (come on, we know). We have a decent suspicion Ruben was (though I hope not). His prize pupil GMJ Jr. was. We know Blalock was (hell, Baszik went on record on the air as saying he was). We know Canseco was. You don’t think Julio Franco was? We can go on and on.

Yikes…thta didn’t look good.

@becca -most of the league was, including the pitchers he was facing. he was still one of the best hitters among those hitters, so he was still great in my book. I always liked him better than Pudge and Raffy.

@JackDaddy: you just refuted your own argument. If everyone was using, no one had an advantage. And you have to already be able to hit for PED’s to help anyway.

Nomar has to be OCD.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention Juan Gonzalez Jack! If we’re tossing names, we’ve gotta drop one of the biggest ones out there.

good c.j. is so much more fun than wheels-off c.j.

@becca: when Julio was playing they weren’t against the rules.

@JackDaddy: are you really going to re-write history and blame Rudy for those playoff losses? IMO, that’s just crazy!

in 1998 we lost 2-0, 3-1 and 4-0. Game 3 was 0-0 through 5. So yes their pitching was good, but our pitching didn’t cost us anything and their pitching wasn’t THAT GOOD.

in 1999 we lost 8-0, 3-1 and 3-0. Game 1 was 1-0 into the bottom of 5th.

Game 2, we led 1-0 into bottom of 5th.

Again, pitching didn’t cost us that series.

Evan can confirm, but I think they are two worst offensive performances (by runs and batting average) in post season history.

If one good thing comes out of this ownership mess, its that Rudy J isn’t coming back. We’ll have around 15 guys earning close to the league min. on serf status – you think they are going to pay Rudy big $$ wwhen that extra $500K might bring Vizquel back? No way. So long Rudy.

I think we need a six pak here. And then we also need about six more runs this inning.

@RAT – can’t believe I forgot Juan! No doubt. 100% certainty he was juicing. And he is my all time favorite ball player.

@Jack Daddy: Gonzalez was one of my favorites as well…

Kind of sad how he just fell off the map so quickly.

Evan, thanks for the link to Reuters article identifying some of the potential owners

I read where Jim Crane was once named “Top CEO golfer” by Golf Digest. (I’m not sure whether that would be a good or bad thing for us Ranger fans.)

to be fair, hero and role model for me as a 4th grader was totally different. i wanted to grow up to be sandra day o’connor. and play 2nd base like julio. totally different!

Who is it JB?

@Ryan’s Dad: Lol

Forgive me, Jack Daddy. I forgot that you are always right. I don’t know why I even think about posting a dissenting opinion.

Julio had to be on the juice. Did you ever see those popeye-esque forearms.

The Rudy decision is a tough one. His track record is excellent with the exception of this year. I am not in favor of tossing a guy for one down year especially with all of the youth on the roster. However, I do see a disconnect in a small-ball approach and the approach our players took at the plate this year. The Rangers had patience at times but there many times during the drought where the hitters would swing for the fences in strikeout or flyout. Situational hitting was really not a strength and you have to ask yourself … should it more developed and ingrained in the system.

I also question Wash’s use of pitchers in Sept. the 6th innings killed us. We have the expanded roster so why didn’t we use all of the available arms in a pennant race? Case in point, why wasn’t Hunter pulled earlier tonight?

buck, his forarms are still spinach-induced-looking.

Ohhhh, what a DAY!

i think we need a russian overlord that made his fortune in nickel mining to buy the team

The Texas Cosmonauts?

The DMN Rangers blog at one time was excellent. Unfortunately, it is nothing more than a place for one to spew verbal graffiti. Richard really was doing a great job despite limited resources, but he is now gone. Dmag. is the new wave of electronic media.

I’d put Franky in. CJ has a lot of pitches…he did hos job. ANd Kennedy is a killer…

Another good point from RAT, there has been a change in approach from teams since the PED era, has the Rangers approach changed with the times, or has it become a relic from days past?

@becca: Nice! I don’t think Julio didn’t eat spinach to get those forearm though.

I loved watching Julio take batting practice – line drives all over the field. He was a great hitter and he played hard.

CJ is way over his limit on pitches this inning and Wash is trying to ride him through. It could get bad.

I think the more you pitch the more you’re able to pitch. It probably wore down the pitchers as the year went on because they weren’t used to it, but as they do it year after year they will be more conditioned to it. Start it in the minors and build them up.

@scooper – I’m not saying I’m right that Rudy should go – (there probably isn’t a right answer). My main point with you was that it was our offense not pitching that cost us 98 and 99. I have been frustrated for 10 years hearing people say the Rangers will never win because of pitching. Drives me nuts is all.

I won’t call you wrong for saying that Rudy isn’t the problem now. Its just opinion and I like all viewpoints. Sorry if I came across differently.

Re/ 1996 – want to heartbroken again? Look at how we could have/should have won these games. I had forgotten Game 2 went 12 innings.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1996_ALDS2.shtml

Julio ate seaweed… or something haha, I just know he had a wild workout/diet regimen after coming back from Japan.

You can only get “1 more inning” if they are actually pitching well. Early in they year, it worked. For whatever reason, we haven’t gotten that “1 more inning” for the last couple of months. It is a good mindset to have, but “1 more inning” goes hand in hand with being more efficient with your pitches. When pitchers don’t have good command, they throw more pitches and don’t pitch as deeply in the game.

yeah, i think the early heavy use made them hit a wall. but like PTRF said, if they realize that’s how it’s played in arlington, they can adapt. i hope, at least.

@scooper – also, you have some of my favorite opinions on here.

There is a reason that MLB teams don’t use pitchers much more than 100 pitches, especially early in the season. What made the Rangers think they could try that with Millwood? What do they know that nobody else does?

Ownership situation is a bit of a bummer.

Can’t stop thinking about the off-season changes.

Benoit and Hurley will be back but we have a lot of guys that should go to arbitration – a lot of good guys that I don’t think the Rangers can afford to lose.

Byrd would be signed again, I’m convinced but with no money in the bank .. he’s gone.

If Byrd walks, then Murphy stays. If Bryd is signed Murphy is gone.

Inside the mind of Ian Kinsler…a comforting read.

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090923&content_id=7118130&vkey=news_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

@JackDaddy: OK. I’m sorry for being a jerk.

@all: I don’t have the motivation to research this, but I’ll bet that if you add up pitches and innings, none of our pitchers have been overworked. I don’t know what Millwood’s excuse is, but the rest of the guys are young and still learning to pitch in the big leagues (yes, even Feldman). I would be willing to bet that they will all be better next year.

norm was talking about that on the ticket today. the 100 pitch count is a fairly new phenomenon, only really used since they moved to a 5 man rotation. if a pitcher is pitching efficiently and hitting his spots, the pitch count shouldn’t matter too much, as it would automatically mean that the minimum number of pitches would have been used to get through the 5th or 6th inning for the starter. which i think was the maddux philosophy – pitch smarter and more efficiently.

p.s. i don’t spell check

@Buck: That line made me laugh.

@becca: I agree. When most people hear “1 more inning,” they think it means throw more pitches. They want the pitchers to go deeper in games with the same number of pitches (basically).

Ballgame! Good relief pitching today!

Game Time! Big W

TAG explained the one more inning this way, if you get in a jam in the 4th inning, don’t be looking toward the bullpen to get you out of the mess. They won’t be there. It is an effort to set up the bullpen to work the 7,8,&9th innings only. Nowhere in that explanation did they mention a pitch count.

@Evan, The Comment Count is back up. Just let a Capitalist welcome all of you Commies.

I don’t know why the Rangers’ pitched seem to struggle in the 6th inning in Sept. Fatigue … overuse … pressure… youth .. I just don’t know.

However, I do know if your pitcher is getting pounded in a close game and the team has a chance at a pennant, you don’t pull any punches. they had 5 months to pitch into the 6th to save the bullpen. It just seems that it would be OK to deviate from the philosophy to win when wins were needed.

Relax Pedro, Ian is just coming into his role on this team. He took a bad approach to get fans to the ballpark. Not unlike Romo’s comments after the Eagles game last year. He will adjust his views and be smarter in interviews because of this experience. Now let’s hope he can level out his swing next year.

@scooper: Just a quick look at the innings pitched shows that you are right. None of the pitchers have been over-used. Only two have more than 127 IP (Millwood 182.2 & Feldman 176.2). That’s not a ton of innings.

I am not a big Millwood fan, but it would have been nice for Milly to get some run support when he pitched. Hunter did indeed get a gift tonight.

@Evan, I have heard rumblings that the very same management who owns the Oklahoma City Thunder(Dorchester Capital Corp./Professional Basketball Club. LLC) is eying the Rangers franchise. Could this team inevitably end up in OKC two years from now. Clayton Bennett has serious money and the ability to lure OKC to build an retractable roof stadium. Furthermore, many Ranger fans reside in Oklahoma.

when walking up the steps of prosperity, always remember that a catastrophic plunge is following behind you.