In modern vernacular (which is really the speech patterns of teenage girls) I believe we would say about Yu Darvish’s 11 strikeouts “Ahhhhhhhhhhh, snap!” I mean, you come over from Japan where the talent isn’t nearly as good and you strike out 11 guys? I don’t even care where you struck them out–you struck out 11. Is anybody else as hopeful for the Rangers as I am? This is truly incredible.
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News and commentary of everything Texas Rangers related.
Retired reliever, and knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey has written a memoir. He actually played for the Rangers back at the turn of the century (the 21st century that is) and he has something kind of shocking (but maybe not surprising given baseball’s culture back then) to say about the Rangers.
“The sight of it makes me cringe, the shiny thin needle lying randomly on the tile floor. My mind races with thoughts about how and why it got there. I know as much about needles as I do about jewelry, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t a sewing needle. I don’t know if this syringe injected a Ranger with insulin or cortisone or B12 or anabolic steroids, though you can hazard a guess when you run through the roster of my muscle-laden teammates.”
Yu Darvish is on track to join the rotation in the regular season as he moves into the 5-day rotation for spring training. Because spring training is such an up and down event, anything that provides regularity and consistency for a pitcher is a good thing. Plus, that also means that the Rangers are happy with his progress towards the regular season.
Derek Holland signed a five-year deal with the Texas Rangers to remain a flamethrower for them at a price of $28.5 million. How does this help to solidify the pitching staff in Texas? Well, with the loss of C.J. Wilson to the Angels, this gives the Rangers assurance that they have someone who can stand in C.J. Wilson’s place and work alongside Neftali Feliz. Because the pitching staff has gone through some changes of late, it stands to reason that this signing would happen and that it would happen so quickly.
Josh Hamilton has taken a new stance on what the Rangers can do for him when it comes time to give him a new contract. It seems that the tune has changed a couple times since last season ended. Initially, Hamilton wanted respect (which I understand.) Now, I think that he just wants to make sure he can stay in Texas.
“Free agency is free agency. If they sign me now, it’d probably cost less. If they sign me there (free agency), it’d cost more. So we’ll see.”
Is Dallas a great sports town? I mean, there are some towns that are called “titletown” or get rave reviews for their support of their teams. Is Dallas that great? Do the fans in Dallas give their teams a reason to believe? Yes.
Here’s what Dallas fans do. When they get even the slightest whiff of hope, they show up. It doesn’t take much, but they just need a little bit of hope. Then, they will remain with the team even after the hope is gone. So, for example, the Cowboys can make some bad moves, but, the fans are still showing up because they believe that there is hope for the Cowboys.
Roy Oswalt isn’t going to anybody’s spring training, right now, and reports have surfaced that he might become a hired gun in the middle of the season. So, we know that he might be a great addition for some people, but, would he be a great addition to the Rangers?
The Rangers are deep with pitching, but, what if there was a catastrophic injury? Here’s a better question. What if:
Neftali Feliz is cruising in the starting lineup, but the bullpen starts to deteriorate and there are some injuries. The Rangers call up people, but it isn’t working. How quickly would you want to move Feliz back to the bullpen and try to sign Oswalt to come into the starting rotation?
Nolan Ryan is smitten with Yu Darvish. I mean. Smitten. Check out the comments and tell me he doesn’t have a mancrush:
“I think it’s neat and exciting that he has the following that he does and so many people are excited about it.”
“When I look at my career and his career and where I was at 25 years old, there’s a substantial difference. I had a control problem. I was very durable, but I didn’t have the feel for the baseball or my delivery as he does with his. That’s one of the unique things about him.
ESPN’s Howard Bryant explains why he thinks Rangers manager Ron Washington has the toughest job in sports.
Josh Hamilton is making some life changes, and he’s talking about it because he really feels like his last relapse (and the Rangers’ response) was something that brought about great changes in his life. Just listen to the quotes and see what you think:
“This time it’s not just, ‘OK, it happened, we’ll move past it and maybe it won’t happen again. We want to find out why it continues to happen. Whether it’s things in my life — stress, home things, whatever the case — those things might be a trigger.”
