The New Rangers

So December 15 is the day we find out who the new Rangers owner will be. Trust me this whole thing is completely confusing but I know one thing.....Tom Hicks is out! Groups apparently sent in bids and now its down to two possible owners. They are Dennis Gilbert, former player agent and Chuck Greenburg, really rich guy from what I hear. Both potential owners bring a lot to the table, Gilbert is a baseball mind who has been in the business of baseball for many years now. He is currently a special executive for the Chicago White Sox. Chuck Greenburg isn't really a baseball mind, all he ever did was be a lawyer to baseball players. Why do I like Chuck Greenburg? Because he of course has the group that has Nolan Ryan in it. Ryan is the deal breaker right now. Yes we all know that if Gilbert cans Ryan it won't exactly be the end of the world but damn its been great with Nolan. He has transformed a really crappy pitching staff and with a little help from Jon Daniels, developed the best farm system in the league.

All in all the Rangers are going to be in good hands. The Rangers needs a owner who wants to win and an owner who knows a little something about doing that. Tom Hicks thought he knew about owning a baseball team, hell he won a Stanley Cup....wait. Tom figured if you spent enough money you can buy a world series. Not so much, we need a smart owner who wants to win and knows how to do that. I'm very excited and I can't wait to see how this goes. Texas Rangers are in too good of a market to be the way they are.

Texas Rangers Off Season Predictions

Right now I know the off season has begun and I need to catch up. Right now Omar Visquel has left to go to the White Sox to be their backup SS. Right now Off season revolves around signing Marlon Byrd and other pitchers. Marlon might get signed but its looking dim. He really wants to come back and the Rangers really want him too, but its kind of like a couple graduating high school. They are both growing and going into different directions. I would love to have Marlon seeing how healthy Josh Hamiltion has been. Ben Sheets is a possibility with a two year deal or just an invite. Eddie wants to come back for 2010, well that's great I hope that team who signs you really love you like we did. Sorry Eddie you've hit your peak in Texas, don't make us hate you. Hank Blalock has probably seen his last days in Texas but hell I've seen crazier things. Pudge would be a great signing but the catcher situation in Texas is pretty tricky. Damn us and our great catchers. It won't be a big Rangers off season mostly because of a stacked farm system and an Owner still looking for partners to help him keep the field lights on. This was fun, hopefully Jacob and I will start to pick this up.

Rangers vs. Mariners 7-12-09

I'm taking a day off today. Go Rangers.

Rangers vs Mariners 7-11-09

9:25 - I'm a litte late tonight...I was in Hollywood all day. Also had my first experience a the In-n-Out Burger...not too bad. Can anyone fill me on the top of the first??

9:28 - I hate that train

9:31 - Whata play by Mike, I thought that was a hit and a run for sure.

9:42 - I really want to see Millwood have a good start tonight. His last two have been rough, especially his last start against Anaheim where he gave up 9 runs. I do not want to see a negative trend with Milly going into the All-Star break. Also, with Washburn pitching for Seattle, Millwood will need his good stuff for the Rangers to compete tonight. I don't see how the lefties are possibly going to lay off that slider from Washburn....the Rangers are going to have to wait for him to make mistakes, hopefully they will come. It might be another one of those nights where it will take a couple times through the line up for the Rangers to be able to adjust.

9:50 - That slider is tough. I don't see how any Ranger lefty is going to touch Washburn tonight. Ian Kinsler did make Washburn pay for a fastball right down the middle....it was set up by Andrus having a great leadoff style at bat.....

10:03 - Branyon is an easy strikeout if you make your pitches, but he'll kill a belt high fastball just on the inside part of the plate. Millwood still looking good though.

One thing I really like from the Rangers is every hitter runs hard to first on groundballs. That a sign of where this team's effort level is. Hustle is the only thing in baseball that a player can always control. I wonder if that is to the credit of Wash....

10:24 - Good things about the top of the 5th: Nelly and Salty drove Washburn pitches hard the opposite way, Salty's for a double. Also, Andrus drawing another walk....don't you think he HAS to be the leadoff hitter after the break?

Bad things: Your 1 and 2 hitters not coming through with runners in scoring position...if the Rangers go on to lose, you have to look at this inning as a huge missed opportunity to win.

10:59 - First of all, Marlon Byrd just showed what I was talking about with the hustle...if he's not running hard all the way, he's out at first. But then, a crazy play. I don't know what the rule is but it doesn't matter. It was a base running error by Byrd, I don't know why he didn't see that ball fall.

11:09 - That is another sickening homerun given up by Millwood...that is Johnson's 1st of the season....a lot like Mathis' homerun in Millwood's last start when he was hitting .209....why is Guardado up in the pen and not O'Day or Wilson?? A double by Hannahan....Millwood is done in this one, time to get him out. He's been great, but Washburn has been better.

The rule is out on the Byrd play: "if the player retreats for any reason to the base he came from, the force play is reinstated." So there you have it, the fault is all on Byrd. He needs some new cleats, that is the second costly slip by him tonight.

11:38 - Looks like our goose is cooked tonight. Washburn owned Texas hitters and thanks to the sorry Yankees, we are about to lose first place.

Rangers vs Mariners 7-10-09

9:05 - Live blog time! Let's get ready for a Rangers win. Oh, if you are ever in San Clemente, stop by at LaRocco's Pizza...awesome joint.

I picked the wrong outfielder to sit tonight, it's David Murphy instead and Nelson Cruz is in right. I'm finding out now that David Murphy has a strained finger suffered from his diving attempt on Ichiro last night

9:15 - "Ichiro gets more cheap hits than any player in baseball." That is a quote from Tom Grieve, sounds like he shares my frustration. Bad news - Mariners up early......good news - Yankees up 3-0 in the first over Anaheim.

9:23 - Just a thought: if Griffey would have hit a single in the hole, would we be crucifying Wash? Obviously we won't now because it happened to work and Kinsler got the out at home. But what if?

9:26 - That ball HAS to be cut off by Cruz in right, AWFUL angle and it costs the Rangers a run. The Rangers are going to have to pitch Gutierrez off the plate, he's killing us.

Another thing - that play never happens if the foul ball is caught...

9:30 - Brandon Morrow checks his closet at night for Hank Blalock....ANOTHER shot! Could be a tie game if Jones doesn't swing at a possible ball four on a 3-1 count. But at any rate, we get one back. 2-1.

9:35 - Ok, what do you all think about that steal? I think it was a crappy idea....I don't know if that was Cruz going on his own, or Wash's call. But you have Salty up hitting only .247 and he's up 2-0 in the count...3-0 after the pitch Cruz was thrown out on. If he's up 2-0 in the count, let him finish the at bat! A lot of good things happen when a hitter is up 2-0....

9:51 - BIG MIKE! How did that ball get out??? Tom said exactly what I said, he hit one harder in the 9th last night that barley made it to the warning track....oh well, 4-2 Rangers

9:53 - If I was a Mariner fan, I sure wouldn't be booing for walking Hank....that guy is killing Morrow

10:08 - Let's look at Kinsler's 1st 3 at-bats. 1) Morrow pitched him on the outside corner and he drove a shot to center. 2) Laid off bad pitches, again on the outside part of the plate, and worked a walk. 3) First ball swining and flew out to left. He just missed it, it was a fast ball up on the inside part of the plate and Kinsler doesn't see many pitches where he can turn on, so he took a hack at it. So, after 3 at-bats, I give up 2.5 thumbs up.

Pop fly falls between Byrd and Vizquel. That makes 4 bonehead plays in the game so far (pop foul falls, Young picking up a slow ground ball on the chalk line, Cruz stealing, and now the pop up falling)

10:37 - Morrow out. The Rangers did to him pretty much what I expected....played off his lack of control and drew some walks along with crushing some fastballs. Now let's see what we can do against the bullpen....after last night, I'm not comfortable with just a 2 run lead. Feldman is still going strong though

11:02 - wow, 1st strikeout of the game....Feldman really wanted to finish that inning, but if we don't bring in the lefty to get Ichiro, the Mariners could get a serious rally going

Well...the Mariners have a serious rally going....is Ichiro retiring soon?

11:21 - THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT NELLY CRUZ!!! He must be gearing up for the Home Run Derby.....the book on Cruz is "throw him outside and you'll get him out cuz he pulls everything." The first two pitches were outside, but the upper deck shot came on a belt high fastball right over the middle of the plate.....part of that book on Cruz is to NOT throw him over the middle of the plate....6-2

11:29 - I would walk Gutierrez here...

11:41 - Frankie time. Ichiro hits second, it is IMPERATIVE Frankie gets the 9 hole hitter out to lead off the inning

11:54 - BALLGAME! Frankie gets the job done, what a brilliant job pitching to Ichiro...4 fastballs up in the zone, and a forkball to end it...the walk of Branyon made me a little nervous, but he gets the job done anyway. Good game, Good night.

Pregame Stuff

Rangers rely on this guy for a bounce back

TONIGHT......Scott Feldman will take on this Seattle lineup as the Rangers will try to rebound after a tough loss last night. The bad guys will roll out Brandon Morrow...you might remember him from the earlier series in Arlington when the Rangers had back to back walk offs courtesy of Hank Blalock and Chris Davis. That of course was while Morrow was closing games. Since becoming a starter, Morrow has been much better; in his last two starts, he has only given up 4 runs in 10 2/3 innings. He will rely on his fastball, but can also mix in a slider and a change up. Morrow can have control issues, so if the Rangers are patient with him and look to hit the fastballs, they can have success tonight against Morrow. The Morrow-killer in the Texas line up is Hank Blalcok. Hank had a walk off double and a home run against Morrow the last 2 times he has faced him. Over his career, Hank is 3-4 with a home run and 4 RBI. However, I doubt Morrow will give Hank any high fastballs over the middle of the plate tonight.

Feldman will look to stay hot, he is 7-2 as a starter this year with a 3.25 ERA. Whenever I get ready to watch a Feldman start, I have confidence that he will get the job done. He has gone at least 6 innings in 11 of his 14 starts, pitching well in almost all of those starts. Keep an eye on his cut fastball, Joe Morgan was comparing it to Mariano Rivera's cut fastball and it keeps getting better every start.

Here are some things I think you all should keep an eye on tonight:

Rangers' level of play: Though the Rangers have shown no signs of this this season, sometimes a tough loss can linger into the following game. Keep an eye on how Texas is playing in the first 3 innings to guage how last night's loss is affecting them.

Ian Kinsler's at bats: The man is in a serious funk, we all know that. He knows it too, he was on the Bob and Dan Radio show this afternoon on the Ticket and said, "it's kinda hard [to get out of a slump] when you are popping up every freakin' at bat...). Right now what is important is the approach Ian is taking. Last night he had some very good looking swings that he was able to drive to right. None of them fell but like I said this morning, they are promising swings. He will need to continue to take the same approach tonight because no pitcher in baseball is throwing Kinsler inside pitches he can turn on and drive out of the park. For this reason, Kinsler is drawing more walks, which is a good sign, but the Rangers need the guy to hit.

The Outfield: It's crowded right now so pressure will be on Murphy and Byrd to keep swinging a hot bat or they could quickly be replaced by Nelly Cruz. You have to think Wash is under pressure to get Cruz some at-bats after he was named to the All-Star Game this afternoon. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Marlon Byrd was given a night off tonight. Who do you all think should be playing? What would you do if you were Wash?

One other note on Cruz, according to his Facebook he will be participating in the Home Run Derby.

We will be welcoming another contributor - Brad "Madman" Calhoun. Look for his insights coming soon. If anyone else out there is interested in becoming a contributor, let me know.

Join us for the live in game blog tonight. Go Rangers!

BREAKING NEWS

Evan Grant just reported this....

Nelson Cruz Going To All-Star Game

With news today that Torii Hunter is going to the DL, the American League has added Nelson Cruz to the AL All-Star roster. Since Hunter was a player selection, the replacement for him had to be the next person in line among player voting. That would be Mr. Cruz. No word on whether he might be a late addition to the Home Run Derby, but the dude does have 20 homers.

Also, it is still possible that Ian Kinsler could end up an All-Star. Dustin Pedroia’s wife is having pregnancy complications and he may have to excuse himself from playing to be with her. If so, Kinsler and New York’s Robinson Cano would be the most logical choices. But, since Pedroia was elected by the fans, that replacement decision would be in the hands of Tampa Bay and AL manager Joe Maddon.

I guess we know who the players around the league think should be playing in the Texas line up....does Nelly deserve this?