The gods don’t want us to have local beat coverage, do they?
First this offseason we lost our DMN beat writers. In a cost cutting move, it was decided to do away with the DMN guys, and go with just the Ft Worth Star Telegram guys. Which is fine, so long as someone is doing it.
Then tonight came the news that the Ft Worth Star Telegram may not survive the current recession! That has all kinds of larger implications, but the amusing part about it to a Rangers fan is that those guys just picked up the banner of local coverage.
Fortunately, we have D Magazine to thank for picking up Evan Grant for beat coverage, but one would think if the Telegram goes away, the DMN beat guys would get rehired. I would imagine if the FTST goes away, the DMN might expand to be a metroplex wide newspaper, I can’t imagine Ft Worth without a newspaper at all.

Saw this amusing post on a Reds Blog.

Did anyone else notice that our starting rotation,
H arang
A rroyo
V olquez
O wings
C ueto
Spells HAVOC!

Tried that with our guys. It doesn’t spell anything. First off, there’s no vowels. :)
Millwood
Padilla
McCarthy
Harrison
Feldman
MPMHF

To everyone else, this is text meant for Anthony Andro of the Ft Worth Star Telegram.

Anthony, here’s a properly formatted text box score. It can be done with MT/Typepad. You just have to use the tags I sent you in email. Let me know if you need any help with this.

If you’re reading this on a Kindle, hopefully it isn’t too messed up. :)

Line Score
ML  FINAL
1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9     R  H  E
-  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -     -  -  -
TEXAS               1  0  0   0  4  0   0  0  1     6  9  0
HOUSTON             1  0  1   0  0  0   0  0  0     2  5  3   (FINAL)
BATTERIES:  TEX - DARREN OLIVER, PAT MAHOMES (7TH), MARK
PETKOVSEK (8TH), JEFF ZIMMERMAN (9TH) AND IVAN
RODRIGUEZ
HOU - SCOTT ELARTON, JAY POWELL (8TH), JOE SLUSARSKI
(9TH) AND BRAD AUSMUS
WP - DARREN OLIVER (6-2)
LP - SCOTT ELARTON (4-7)
SAVE - NONE
HOME RUNS:  TEX - ALEX RODRIGUEZ (20) OFF ELARTON IN THE 5TH, 2
ON
HOU - CRAIG BIGGIO (8) OFF D OLIVER IN THE 1ST, 0 ON
CRAIG BIGGIO (9) OFF D OLIVER IN THE 3RD, 0 ON
TIME:  2:51     ATT:  43,277
PROBABLES:  ANA - SCOTT SCHOENEWEIS (6-4, 3.71)
TEX - ROB BELL (NR)
COL - PEDRO ASTACIO (5-7, 5.28)
HOU - SHANE REYNOLDS (6-5, 4.94)
Box Score
TEXAS (6) VS HOUSTON (2) - FINAL
TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Catalanotto 2b          4  1  1  0   1  0   1  .306
I Rodriguez c           5  2  2  1   0  1   2  .286
A Rodriguez ss          4  1  3  3   0  0   0  .327
R Palmeiro 1b           3  0  0  0   1  1   1  .257
Sierra rf               3  0  0  1   0  1   2  .319
Petkovsek p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Je Zimmerman p         0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Kapler cf               4  0  0  0   0  0   3  .276
Lamb 3b                 4  1  1  0   0  0   0  .250
Ledee lf                4  1  1  0   0  2   1  .167
D Oliver p              2  0  1  0   0  1   0  .400
Mahomes p              0  0  0  0   0  0   0 1.000
Porter rf              0  0  0  1   0  0   0  .293
Totals                 33  6  9  6   2  6  10
BATTING: HR - A Rodriguez (20, 5th inning off Elarton 2 on, 1
out). S - D Oliver. SF - Sierra, Porter. RBI - Sierra (24), I
Rodriguez (33), A Rodriguez 3 (60), Porter (3). Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - Kapler 2. GIDP - I Rodriguez, R
Palmeiro.  Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (A Rodriguez-R Palmeiro).
HOUSTON                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Biggio 2b               4  2  2  2   0  0   1  .307
Lugo ss                 4  0  1  0   0  2   0  .263
Bagwell 1b              3  0  0  0   1  2   1  .277
L Berkman lf            3  0  2  0   1  1   0  .330
Alou rf                 4  0  0  0   0  0   4  .355
Hidalgo cf              4  0  0  0   0  1   0  .276
Castilla 3b             3  0  0  0   0  1   0  .238
b-Vizcaino ph          1  0  0  0   0  1   0  .277
Ausmus c                3  0  0  0   0  0   0  .210
Elarton p               2  0  0  0   0  0   0  .083
a-C Hayes ph           0  0  0  0   1  0   0  .189
Ja Powell p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Slusarski p            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .000
Totals                 31  2  5  2   3  8   6
a-walked for Elarton in the 7th; b-struck out for Castilla in
the 9th.
BATTING: HR - Biggio 2 (9, 1st inning off D Oliver 0 on, 0 out,
3rd inning off D Oliver 0 on, 1 out). RBI - Biggio 2 (30).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Alou 1, Bagwell 1.
GIDP - Alou.  Team LOB - 5.
FIELDING: E - Lugo 2 (13, ground ball, throw); Ja Powell (1,
throw). DP: 2 (Lugo-Biggio-Bagwell, Bagwell-Lugo-Ja Powell).
--------------------------------------------------
Texas          - 100 040 001  --  6
Houston        - 101 000 000  --  2
--------------------------------------------------
TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
D Oliver (W, 6-2)             6 2/3   5   2   2   3   5   2   5.96
Mahomes (H, 3)                  1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   7.30
Petkovsek (H, 4)              1       0   0   0   0   2   0   6.17
Je Zimmerman                  1       0   0   0   0   1   0   3.58
HOUSTON                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Elarton (L, 4-7)              7       7   5   5   2   5   1   6.52
Ja Powell                     1       2   1   0   0   0   0   3.93
Slusarski                     1       0   0   0   0   1   0   8.40
Ja Powell pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.
WP - D Oliver.  Pitches-strikes: Elarton 124-82; Ja Powell
19-14; Slusarski 12-8; D Oliver 102-68; Mahomes 4-2; Petkovsek
19-12; Je Zimmerman 9-7.  Ground balls-fly balls: Elarton 14-2;
Ja Powell 3-0; Slusarski 1-1; D Oliver 7-8; Mahomes 0-1;
Petkovsek 0-1; Je Zimmerman 1-1.  Batters faced: Elarton 29; Ja
Powell 6; Slusarski 3; D Oliver 27; Mahomes 1; Petkovsek 3; Je
Zimmerman 3.
UMPIRES: HP--Chuck Meriwether. 1B--Brian Onora. 2B--Mike
Fichter. 3B--John Hirschbeck.
T--2:51.  Att--43,277. Indoors.
ML       TEXAS AT HOUSTON
NOTE:  THE HOME RUN BY HOUSTON'S CRAIG BIGGIO LED OFF THE BOTTOM
OF THE FIRST INNING.  THE HOME RUN EXTENDED BIGGIO'S
HITTING STREAK TO 17 GAMES.

I originally posted this video back in July of 2008, but I wanted to bump it up again as I was showing a friend of mine some BSG stuff, so I thought I’d bump it back up and add on.

Thanks to my site visitor Baldwin Smith for pointing out the embedded video above. It’s a rather amusing video of the “Batting Stance Guy” doing his take on various Texas Rangers players both current and past. His rendition of Hank Blalock made me laugh out loud. Same thing for his Kenny Rogers one at the end of the video. :)
Thought y’all would want to see this.
UPDATE Feb 2009: Batting Stance Guy’s website can be reached at well.. http://www.battingstanceguy.com. He has several team specific videos besides this one. However, one video I urge you to watch is the one linked here. BSG made an appearance on the Hot Stove program on MLB Network back in January where he talks about how he does all of this. He also runs through a bunch of players called out by the three MLBN guys (Victor Rojas, Harold Reynolds, & Mitch Williams). His take on Andre Dawson is quite hysterical, and to see him do Harold Reynolds right in front of him is great. Of course, he does Joe Carter in front of Mitch Williams as well. Definitely check out this video (and go watch MLB Network).
UPDATE #2: BSG was on again Feb 25th, and did all Reds in front of Barry Larkin & Sean Casey. Check this one out, too.

I am sick of talking about steroids. I have declared my Rangers website to be a steroid free zone going forward. I’ve also tweaked my header graphic to take note of this. I’m not writing about steroids again.

So. Alex came out today and admitted he did steroids for all three years he was in Texas. He claims he hasn’t done any since then. There’s no positive tests to combat that since then. However, given he lied about doing them here in Texas, who knows what the real truth is?

I actually kind of buy into his logic that he felt he needed to live up to the contract. I remember there being an awful lot of talk in that direction when he first signed here. How he chose to try and live up to it.. Ever since he left Texas (09 will now be his sixth season since he wore a Texas uniform), I’ve always personally thought he held up his end of the bargain by delivering on the field. I’m not sure what I think now.

However, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. In looking around for a pic of A-Roid to use in this story, look what I found in the archives. I had forgotten about this – it should have been so obvious!

One of the lesser used pages on my site is my archive of Texas Rangers pocket schedules. I’ve been collecting them since just before I started this site (Dec of 1998), and a few years ago I decided to fill in the holes and get every one ever made. The problem with that is that my research has turned up a lot of alternates. There’s Spanish versions, multiple English ones, spring training schedules, etc… So a list of what the complete archive comprises is not available. Still, I’ve been trying to at least get all the years represented. Today I’ve done that.
Before I get to that, I wanted to draw attention to the first 2009 edition that I’ve seen myself. Features Josh Hamilton inside the ballpark. It shows off some of the more prominent tattoos on his arm, and given how great of a season he had in 2008, he probably deserves to be on the pocket schedule for 2009. That image is shown here. Based on what I’ve seen, there will be other 2009 variants, too. If any of you reading this are going to spring training in Surprise, can you pick me up a pocket schedule for spring training? They’ve had them in the past, and if they have one this year, I’d like to get one. Thanks.
As for the archives, I was fortunate to be sent an email from a Claude Jacques recently which completed the task of getting all the years on my archive. Claude runs a website dedicated to collecting pocket schedules. He’s got just about every team in every sport, in every level of majors and minors you can think of. It’s QUITE extensive. He was kind enough to send over everything he had relating to the Texas Rangers. After I went through and weeded out the duplicates of things I already had, he gave me 28 pocket schedule images I did not have before. I now have every year from 1972 through 2009 represented, and that’s pretty cool. Of the 28 new ones, below are a few highlights of ones he sent over that I liked the look of.
Make sure to check out my archive of schedules where you can see everything I have. As usual, if you have a variant I do not, or you have a larger/better quality version of something I do have, please drop me a line. Thanks.

Pocket schedule design has come a long way from this one in 1972, eh?

I have to say, once I got past my major irritation at not being able to get MLB Network on Time Warner in Garland, I have to say the channel is a major home run. I’ve really been enjoying the heck out of it. They recently announced their upcoming programming for the month of February, so I decided that I’d say something now that they’re reaching the end of the first month of programming.
I don’t watch everything there, as I’d have a hard time doing anything else in my life. As it is the nightly baseball news show is a season pass on my TiVo. It’s called “Hot Stove” (although that will change to “MLB Tonight” once games start). It’s basically four guys at a desk (from a rotating crew of guys) with some support staff in studio talking about the issues of the day, and other things like commentary on free agents, things of that nature. It’s similar in feel to Baseball Tonight in that regard – but this “feels” somewhat different. I’m not sure how to describe it. Perhaps it’s because the MLBN program is on at a time when Baseball Tonight is not – they generally are off once the World Series stops, so we shall see how viewing habits go once BBTN gets rolling again. Anyway, “Hot Stove” has segments where they interview players and other baseball related folks. I’ve seen real major league players in there, I saw Scott Boras in there, John Hart once, Nolan Ryan, and even Batting Stance Guy. A lot of times on Baseball Tonight, I tend to skip the “segments”, but on MLBN I generally don’t. That’s not to say I haven’t – if I’m particularly disinterested in a guest, I’ll skip over it, but for the most part, I’m interested in Hot Stove from front to back. Maybe it’s the personalities, who knows? I admit Victor Rojas is a major draw for me, and I’ve always thought BBTN made a mistake by dumping Harold Reynolds. There’s been a rotating crew of other guys (Al Leiter, Mitch Williams), and whatnot. Really have enjoyed the “feel”. I still think the set behind them is a little too busy with video screens, but I can live with that. This show is “new” on Monday through Friday at 6PM here in Dallas. It’s repeated SEVERAL times during the day to help fill the 24 hours of programming, so even if you don’t have a TiVo you should be able to catch it.
There are several other series on here. Shows about ballparks, specific “years” in baseball history, classic games, and all kinds of things. But one other thing I’m glad is on here is “Ken Burns’ Baseball”. I saw this originally when I rented the flicks from Netflix some time ago. As with a lot of people, I got my first taste of Buck O’Neill and the Negro Leagues from this show. Oh, I knew about the Negro Leagues before that, but it was a bunch of “black guys” playing baseball to me before I got to see more detail. I’m grateful to Ken Burns for bringing this to the light for me. I haven’t seen this in awhile, and they’ve been running it every Tuesday night – this past Tuesday was Episode 4, talking about the 20’s and Babe Ruth, mostly. Fantastic show if you’ve never seen it. Of particular interest is the fact that they have Ken Burns in studio with a recorded clip to go with each episode. It’s him talking for about 5-10 minutes or so about the particular episode on that night. It’s nice to have this new insight. But the best part was the news that they’re doing a new episode. When the series first aired, it was right after the players went on strike in 1994, so that’s roughly where that series ended. The new episode will pick up where the series left off, and go through 2008, so I’m glad to see a new one of those coming up.
But one show I am looking forward to is one that will started on February 20th, called “30 Clubs in 30 Days”. It will be a one hour series detailing a preview of the upcoming season for that team. I expect this will be a good way to learn about teams that we might not know a lot about otherwise. I’m not sure if I’ll watch all 30 of them, but I will definitely catch more than just my hometown Phillies, and my adopted team the Rangers. :) I did look ahead on their programming, and it appears the Texas Rangers episode will air on Wed March 18th at 5PM Central Time.
This 30 Clubs show speaks a lot to why I like this network so much. It’s not like ESPN where they seem to have an affinity for just the Yankees & Red Sox. Last week they spent 20 minutes talking about the Royals, saw the Giants another night, and the Indians yet another. Sometimes I think ESPN forgets there’s more than just Boston & the Bronx.
If you aren’t watching this channel, you should be. Especially if you’re stuck with Dish Network.

Those of you who follow my site know that I put together an annual Yahoo Fantasy Baseball League. I will be doing that again this year. However, Yahoo has not opened up signups yet. So I have a question to those visitors of mine who participate.
Would you prefer a draft date as early as possible, or something closer to the start of the actual season, or something in the middle. Let me know ASAP, as I expect these things to open up for the 2009 season shortly.