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July 2009
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From the ALS Association: Dallas--On July 4th, the Texas Rangers will commemorate the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous "Luckiest Man" farewell speech that he gave as he battled the disease that ultimately took his life. This commemoration is part of The ALS Association's "Covering All the Bases" Hitting Challenge taking place during Major League Baseball's "4ALS Awareness" charitable initiative. Former Texas Ra...
The Texas Rangers seem to have their arrow pointing up again. Now if they can just have similar success against a team that was in the World Series last fall, they might be back on the right track. Granted a walk off home run by Hank Blalock on Wednesday night helped, but taking two out of three against Los Angeles was huge. They still trail the Angels by a game, but the team has won five of their last eight games. Another rea...
Texas Rangers spokesman John Blake said that the team has no comment on the team's financial situation, but that "payroll is made." I called him a few minutes ago after reading Evan Grant's blog. Take a moment to read his entry - Evan did the legwork on this story. Short version, t...
From the Texas Rangers: Tuesday night's Texas Rangers' 9-5 victory over the A.L. West-leading Los Angeles Angels was the highest-rated Rangers game of the season on FOX Sports Southwest. The telecast averaged a 3.8 Nielsen household rating in Dallas-Fort Worth, surpassing the year's previous high of 3.7 on May 27 vs. the Yankees, and was the best rating for a Rangers game on FOX Sports Southwest since a 4.0 on Aug. 7, 2008 vs. the Yank...
We can debate the grammatical correctness of "A historic" vs "An historic" later ... suffice it to say I actually did a quick on-line search before deciding on it. To the point - the baseball season moves so quickly that we aren't given a chance to savor single games. It's neither bad nor good ... it just is. The football season allows us this opportunity; the downside is we only get to watch our team once a week. It's importan...
The TCU baseball had it's most successful season this year and, appropriately, finishes the season with its highest ranking in school history, 11th. It has been a good year for Horned Frog athletics. The football team finished the season ranked No. 7. Here's more from TCU: FORT WORTH, Texas - The historical 2009 baseball campaign saw the TCU baseball team finish ranked as high as No. 11 in the final poll of the season...
The Rangers moves continue. Outfielder Julio Borbon is up, pitcher Willie Eyre is down. From the Texas Rangers Arlington, Texas - The Texas Rangers announced prior to tonight's game that the club has recalled outfielder Julio Borbon (#29) from Triple-A Oklahoma City. To make room on the roster for Borbon (pronounced boar-BONE), the club has optioned right-handed pitcher Willie Eyre to Oklahoma City. Borbon is in the starting ...
From the Texas Rangers: Arlington, Texas - The Texas Rangers announced prior to tonight's game that the club has recalled right-handed pitcher Tommy Hunter from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Hunter (#35) is scheduled to start tonight's series finale against San Diego. To make room on the 25-man roster for Hunter, the club has placed left-handed pitcher Matt Harrison on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 24, with left shoulder in...
From the Texas Rangers: Arlington, Texas - The Texas Rangers announced prior to tonight's game that the club has reinstated right-handed pitcher Willie Eyre (#55) from the 60-day disabled list. To make room on the 25-man roster for Eyre, the club has optioned outfielder Brandon Boggs to Triple-A Oklahoma City. To make room on the 40-man roster for Eyre, the team has placed infielder German Duran on release waivers for the purpose of...
It has been a rough sophomore year for Texas Rangers first baseman Chris Davis. He's hitting .209. What's amazing is that is 13 points better than yesterday. He was batting just .196 heading into his 4 for 5 night in Arizona. And it wasn't just that he recorded his first multiple hit game since June 5 (he's had just nine multi-hit games this season). Davis had two extra-base hits, including the 12th inning two-run hom...
The Texas Rangers are still in first place in the AL West. But... The LA Angels of Anaheim are just a game back, despite losing their last three games. After tying the Dodgers for the best record for the month of May in MLB (20-9), the Rangers are just 7-11 so far in June. So now we're faced with the eternal question, it seems: Are the...
Its always interesting to watch American and National League teams play each other during the regular season. Interleague games are fun, different; and above all, very important to watch. These games can really put a team's batting or pitching performance to the test. The NL has the better pitchers and the AL has the better hitters. A lot of this would have to be due to the major difference between both leagues where the NL uses its pi...
Most of the time baseball provides a slow death. The sudden walk-off varieties are not the norm, but perhaps the Rangers found the most dis-heartening of all the walk-off losses. If its a walk-off homer, in most cases, the guy made a great play, and ripped it out of the ballpark. You tip your hat and get ready to play the next day. Yeah, tough on the pitcher, but you just keep going. But in Saturday night's case, reliever Ja...
Mark Cuban still isn't planning on buying the Chicago Cubs. The Dallas Mavericks owner told ESPN he has "no plans to get back in the mix" for the Cubbies. A few days ago I heard Cuban say similar things on a radio show. He said the move didn't make financial sense for him at this time. ...After the Rangers 3 game sweep in May over Houston, it was inevitable Texas would bring the Silver Boot back to Arlington for a 3rd straight year. Now, with silver boot in hand, the Rangers will go for a first in the Lone Star Series. Since the series started in 2001, no team has won more than 4 of the 6 games played against each other. The Rangers have gone 4-2 against Houston twice (2005, 2007) while Houston has done it 3 times (2002...
Matt Harrison is back with the Rangers and gets the start tonight, while Warner Madrigal (with his 10.13 ERA) is going back to triple-A. Here's more from the Texas Rangers: Arlington, Texas - The Texas Rangers announced prior to tonight's game that the club has reinstated left-handed pitcher Matt Harrison from the 15-day disabled list. To make room on the 25-man roster for Harrison, the club has optioned right-handed pitcher ...
From the Texas Rangers: Toby Harrah, the Rangers first all-star who excelled at three infield positions, and Ruben Sierra, a powerful switch-hitter who captured the club's player of the year award four times in a five-year span, have been elected as the 2009 class of the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame, it was announced today. Ruben Sierra was one of the most popular players for the Texas Rangers and also one of the most prolific. The All-Star outfielder played in 1,190 games for the Rangers and is fourth all-time in club history with 180 home runs. Now his son is part of the Rangers organization. Outfielder Ruben Sierra Jr. was drafted by the Rangers with 184th pick in the MLB Draft today. The 18-year-old was sixth-round selection is a 6-2, 180-pou...
Ron Washington, the guy who is about to be fired about every May, who has only been the Rangers manager for a little more than two and a half years and whose winning percentage is .490 is now the longest tenured coach of a pro sports team in Dallas-Fort Worth. Ron Washington. I know, I'm having a hard time believing it too. Nothing against Washington, I like him. But he still seems like the new guy and now he's the old pro. Was...
If you're wondering why the Texas Rangers were able to draft left handed pitcher Matthew Purke while others shied away, it might be because of his representation. No it's not Scott Boras, but instead it's Sports Select Group (SSG) based in Houston. SSG became a partner of the Sanders Morris Harris Group (SMHG) in December 2004. Part owner of SMH...
This was probably 11 years ago now, when we were both up-and-comers in our respective businesses, toiling away in Shreveport, Louisiana. New Rangers pitcher Jason Grilli was a top pick by the San Francisco Giants, whose double-A affiliate used to be the Shreveport Captains. I was a weekend sports anchor at the CBS affiliate. I was out with some of my TV...
The Texas Rangers used their first-round draft pick (14th overall) to take pitcher Matthew Purke, a lefty from Spring who had committed to TCU. From the Rangers: The Texas Rangers have selected left-handed pitcher Matthew Purke out of Klein High School in Spring, Texas, with the 14th overall selection in the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. "Our scouts like Matt's makeup and ability," said Rangers Ge...
The Texas Rangers are staying busy tweaking their pitching staff. That includes signing Jason Grilli, demoting Kris Benson, putting Bradon McCarthy on the DL and promoting Guillermo Moscoso. Here's more on the moves from the Rangers: The Texas Rangers announced the following four roster moves prior to tonight's game against Toronto: • Acquired right-handed pitcher Jason Grilli (#52) from Colorado in exchange for cash co...
The Texas Rangers are in first place and manager Ron Washington has a little more job security now. The club is exercising it's option to keep Wash with the Rangers next season. Here's the official announcement: Arlington, Texas - The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has exercised a contract option to retain Manager Ron Washington for the 2010 season. Washington is currently in his third season as the club's skippe...
Just finished reading an interesting article on Ron Washington ... wanted to share that with you here. The Rangers are playing in Boston tonight at 6:05, on Fox Sports SW. ...I finally did .... yesterday when it came out that the Texas Rangers put Vicente Padilla on waivers, I vaguely remembered a similar situation from a few years ago, when the Rangers surprisingly gave up on one of their starting pitchers early in the season. I finally figured it out. In early June, 2005, Ryan Drese was designated for assignment by the Rangers - he was 4-6 with a 6.46 ERA at the time (he was also the opening day starter)....
It wasn't a great debut for the Rangers at the new Yankees Stadium. Vicente Padilla had "control" issues on Tuesday before being waived on Wednesday. And then on Thursday, the Rangers saw a 5-1 lead dissipate before losing 8-6. Melky Cabrera broke a 6-6 tie with a 2-run shot in the 8th. New York took 2 of the 3 games against Texas. Yankees Stadium is proving to be a launching pad, 4-homers were hit on Thursday: Johnny Damon, Nelson Cr...
From the Texas Rangers: Rangers radio announcer Eric Nadel underwent surgery to address two tears in the retina in his right eye today in New York City. The surgery was performed by Dr. Richard Spaide. Nadel flew back to Dallas this afternoon. He will be examined there tomorrow with more surgery being a possibility. He is expected to be sidelined for at least the remainder of this roadtrip, which concludes with 3 games in Boston, and p...
The Texas Rangers may be trying to move volatile pitcher Vicente Padilla. According to a Fox Sports report, the Rangers have requested outright waivers on the starting pitcher. Rival teams can submit claims on Padilla until noon Friday, according to the report, which says that any team claiming him would assume his...
The TCU athletic department sent an interesting note out today. TCU, Florida and Texas are the only schools in the nation this season to finish in the top 10 in football and have a Super Regional baseball team. The Horned Frog football team finished seventh in the country. Texas finished fourth in the AP Poll and third in the Coaches' Poll and, of course, Florida finished first in both polls. TCU and Texas meet this we...
The Texas Rangers are juggling their roster as they head into an important stretch of their season, starting tonight in New York. Josh Hamilton is on the disabled list, while Vicente Padilla and Brandon Boggs are back on the major league roster. From the Texas Rangers: The Texas Rangers announced the follow...
The TCU Horned Frogs and the Texas Longhors will start their NCAA Baseball Super Regional best-of-three series Saturday night. All of the games will air on one of the ESPN networks. Here's more from TCU: Coming off a historical win Sunday night, the TCU Horned Frogs continue their postseason run beginning Saturday night against the tournaments No. 1 seeded Texas Longhorns. First pitch for the Super Regional in Austin is set for...
What a May. The Texas Rangers May record (20-9) just may have turned their season. They tied with the LA Dodgers for the best May record in MLB. Starting June, the Rangers have the best record in the American League (30-20) and lead the AL West by 4.5 games over the LA Angels. Only one team in MLB has a better record than the Rangers (the Dodgers are an astounding 35-17, despite the Manny being Manny drama). Wha...
What a great weekend of baseball at the NCAA regional tournament in Austin. Here's a list of some of the accomplishments/milestones by the University of Texas baseball team in this weekend's regional play. Saturday - Texas vs Boston College
Texas Rangers merchandise is hot now that the team is sailing into June with the best record in the American League. But police say some of those hats, jerseys and jackets are now quite literally "hot" after the team's store in Uptown Dallas was burglarized around 3:20 a.m. Sunday. The suspects smashed through a glass door at the store at 2222 McKinney Avenue and scooped up 28 Rangers jerseys, 40 hats, four jackets and two hood...
What have we come to in our society? Whatever happened to giving the other team a hard time? Will fans no longer be able to boo someday? These are the questions the come up after the Texas Rangers told a fan she had to turn her "Yankees Suck" t-shirt inside-out or be kicked out of Rangers Ballpark in ...
Tommy Hunter will get his first action of 2009 for the Rangers making the game 1 start tomorrow due to injuries two Rangers starters Vicente Padilla and Matt Harrison. From the Texas Rangers: The Rangers have named right-handed pitcher Tommy Hunter as the starter for tomorrow's Game 1 of a doubleheader vs. Oakland at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. It would be his first appearance in the majors this season. Hunter has gone a ...
According to Yahoo Sports: DH Hank Blalock was not in the lineup for the fourth time in the last six games. Granted, two of those missed starts were in an NL park and since he's been relegated to being a DH, his presence isn't as certain when the DH rule isn't in effect. But the Rangers returned to AL rules for this week's series against the Yankees, and Wednesday the Rangers chose to go without Blalock for the second consecutive day. ...
Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks isn't ruling out selling a majority share of the team. The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports Hicks as saying he is selling part of the Rangers, but didn't know how big a part. For the first time, Hicks said he would be open to selling more than a minority share. It was back in March that Hicks first announc...
Just not the kind he wants to. Davis has alrea...
I've been wanting to blog about this since last week, when Texas returned from a three-game sweep in Detroit. I heard one of the guys from a talk radio show describing how statistically bad the Rangers have been on the road in 2009. But really, they've only been bad in Detroit. Here are the splits: HOME (21 games): .295 batting average, 130 runs scored (6.2 per game), 35 home runs ROAD (23 games): .249 batting average, ...
They lost 4-3 to the Tigers Thursday to make 11 straight losses at the expansive Comerica Park. Th...
I joked last week with the guys in the office that Texas Rangers wouldn't lose again this season. It was a clear joke since, at that point, the Rangers still had nearly 130 games left to play this year. The Rangers won seven games in a row before losing to the Detroit Tigers last night, the ninth straight loss for the Rangers in the Motor City. And that's the thing about baseball, there are so many games and it's such ...
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