Well, the Rangers season is over, and we took a step backwards in 2005. Generally teams that overperform one year tend to slide backwards the next year, and we followed that. We were 10 games lower in the standings than last year. We ended up in third place again, which I suppose is better than the four years we spent in last. However, I’m tired of all the losing. I’m ready to win something again. Next year will be the 10 year anniversary of our first division championship. I know we won twice more in the following three years, but 10 years. That’s a long time. I know we need pitching, I know we need that, but I’m starting to feel frustrated. Perhaps it’s because the playoffs are going on, and the Rangers are at home again. We’ve got a lot of work to do in the offseason. I’m working on another article where I talk about every player that was on the field this season which will go into player specifics.
That leads me into the next part of the story. John Hart is gone as general manager. I think it’s a fair statement to say that you’d have a hard time finding many fans who said they liked him. Hart was extremely inaccessible when he was GM. You never saw him for the most part. Whenever there was a signing or whatnot, there was very frequently a “conference call” so he didn’t have to actually show up. He was there from time to time, but it was the exception, not the rule as far as this fan can tell. On Hart’s watch we signed probably the single worst free agent signing in club history, that being Chan Ho Park. How much of that was really Hart’s doing, and how much of it was Hicks in his “Let’s be Steinbrenner” period, we probably will never know. But there were several other not great signings during Hart’s era. Those were Todd Van Poppel, Jay Powell, Juan Gonzalez. There were also some really dumb moves too, like letting Travis Hafner go for beans. Letting Doug Davis get away. Both dumb moves. There’s plenty others. It wasn’t all bad, though. Some of the positive things were basically stealing Chris Young from the Expos for Einar Diaz (which ends up being Travis Hafner for Chris Young, essentially). John Thompson was great when he was here, that was a good move at the time. Frank Francisco (chair aside) was a great move – if he regains his health, it will be good for us again. But I suppose the best moves made during Hart’s run was signing Mike Young and Hank Blalock to long term contracts. That will definitely save us some money for a few years. That’s the one thing I thought Hart did well in Cleveland that he used here and it worked, the signing of players long term. Thought it was shrewd move in Cleveland. I wish they could have gotten that done with Kevin Mench, though. Overall I have to give John Hart’s run a C. He isn’t the devil like people like Randy Galloway make him out to be. He’s by no stretch the greatest we’ve had. Yes, there were a lot of dumb and bonehead moves, but what GM doesn’t have a handful of those under his belt? But he’s gone, which will make a lot of sports radio announcers and a lot of fans happy.
We replaced him with Jon Daniels, John Hart’s 28 year old assistant GM. Personally, I was hoping that would happen. Now I’m not foolish enough to say I know Daniels personally. I’ve only ever met him once, and that was in a group setting anyway. But in the little time I’ve got to hear him speak in person, he’s nothing like Hart, even though he was Hart’s assistant. From what I can tell, Daniels handled most of the contract negotiations anyway. Daniels will talk to fans and to the press. Obviously his job dictates that he can’t tell you everything, but I get the impression that Daniels wants to tell you what he can, and doesn’t put off an aura of “No, you’re not supposed to know that” or “Why are you asking me that?” – those things I felt from Hart. Daniels is pretty much a clean slate in terms of I don’t know if anyone really knows what will happen with him in terms of moves he’ll make – how he handle this and that. I won’t go into a lot of speculation on that, as there isn’t a lot to put out there, I think. We’ll just have to take it as it comes, and I think I speak for a lot of fans that I feel good about that. Hopefully his first order of business is signing Teixeira to a long term contract (and I mean more than 3 years – something like 7).
I’ll have more soon regarding individual players and what I’d like to do. But in the meantime, I have to say I really am enjoying the fact that the Yankees get to go home.

After all this time, Rangers Captain was finally in the upper deck! If Captain is supposed to be for kids, then he should be upstairs a lot more often. Most families can’t afford to sit downstairs where he usually is. Kids and families are forced upstaris because of the cost of attending. And that’s why Rangers Captain should be upstairs more often.
It was fun having him up there, actually. This picture was taken with my cel phone camera in Section 328. Captain was standing in the aisle in Row 3. It happened on Saturday night, in what was at the time the big highlight of the night.

Was reading online today and ran across this article on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette site. It’s about how technology in use with new ticket systems is putting a crimp on some scalper activities (that’s a good thing).
Check out the article. It’s relevant here, because the Texas Rangers also participate in the same program, which is one of being able to sell unused season tickets through the team’s website. It’s far more secure due to bar code scanning at the gate.
I wish more teams in more sports did this kind of thing.

I got terribly busy yesterday and today and had no time at work to do an update. I will do one for Thursday’s game when I update for the weekend games.
I also see that we were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. I had given up awhile ago on that, but it’s still kind of sad to see that when it happens.

Just realized I never updated from the weekend, and I don’t have time to do it now. Will get caught up in the next day or so.

You know, as I sit here the last few days watching the coverage from New Orleans, and all the othe surrounding areas destroyed by the recent Hurricane, I have a hard time bringing myself to work on my websites. Some of the images I’ve been watching are particularly disturbing (dead in the water, dead on the side of the road in wheelchairs, and the impact on children), and have sapped my enjoyment of my leisure activities (of which this website is one). The images of dead children, and ones that are obviously dying are extremely bothersome to me.
I will update later once I’m in a better mood. I hope you understand. Remember, this is a fan site, and when the fan running the site is in the kind of mood he’s in, he doesn’t want to do much in the way of fun things, as the game reports of a baseball team just seem insigificant.
Make a donation to the Red Cross, please. Thank you.

I haven’t updated for the Tampa series because I’ve been sick. Running a fever, and had some other problems that decorum prevents me from mentioning here.
I will update, I’m not bailing on the season, but I need to feel a little more “normal” before I want to do that.
Not that there’s a whole lot to write about there anyway. We lost about sums it up. :)

Well, another “major” player has been suspended. This time Ryan Franklin of the Seattle Mariners. This doesn’t have anything to do with the Rangers, really – just wanted to note it.
Link.
Raffy’s still the “biggest name” player, though.

I have to admit this free fall has really bummed me out. On my forums I’ve told a lot of people I’m not ready to give up on the season. I’m still not, but I have to admit it’s not looking pleasant. I have to admit to burnout at the moment.
As I write this, we’re in third place in the AL West, 10 games back (and only 6 games out of the basement). We’re only 4.5 games out in the Wild Card race, but we’re in 8th place there. Our pitching is in shambles, and there’s not a lot of immediate help ready. Sure, I know a lot of knee jerk Rangers fans go “Bring up Diamond, Danks, & Volquez”. Volquez is hurt, and Diamond and Danks aren’t ready yet – they’re great prospects, no one argues that. But I don’t know that you rush your blue chips along like that just to satiate the fans who want to win now. Sorry, can’t help you with that. As much as I’d like to see us go 162-0 some season, I don’t want to blow out the future just to win now.
So we have a starting rotation right now of Kenny Rogers, Chan Ho Park, Chris Young, Ricardo Rodriguez, & Joaquin Benoit. Not a group of 5 that scares anyone, really. Rogers is our best bet, and he’s going out for a couple of weeks on suspension. In the meantime, we have James Baldwin as a rescue? His first appearance aside, I can’t imagine him as the great saviour.
I read where we’re trying to get Sydney Ponson from the Orioles. Given how much this guy makes $8.5 Million, I can’t see where this is an upgrade over what we have already, especially given his performance.
I also read where we’re trying to send Alfonso Soriano to the Mets for some prospects. I also read where we’re asking for three good guys for him, one being a stud outfield prospect called Lastings Milledge. I don’t know much about him, though. I’m sure Soriano will probably get moved if we continue to fall the next few days and we’ll probably see Kinsler at that point.
Laynce Nix is out for the season with surgery. I have to wonder if he’ll still have his anointed spot in center field next year – my gut feeling says that the team is tired of waiting to see if he’ll develop offensively.
Adrian Gonzalez was brought up a couple of days ago, he essentially replaced Marshall McDougall on the roster (as they were both infielders). I have to wonder if that’s a showcasing thing, as Teixeira doesn’t need the backup. Although anyone who would be intersted in Gonzalez wouldn’t need a showcase, they’d know about him anyway.
Drew Meyer was moved up to AAA a week ago or so. I wonder if he’s a realistic option at 2B should we move Soriano? I know most everyone assumes it will be Kinsler, but I wonder if they’re thinking Meyer?
I don’t like the new “Let’s Go Rangers” animation in the ballpark. It’s too monotous. The graphics on the scoreboard are fine, but the musci used behind it has no vareity, and it’s played way too much – goes way up there on the annoying scale.
I like Rangers Captain. Sue me.
There’s a lot of talk lately about Mark Cuban buying the Pittsburgh Pirates. I’d much rather him by the Rangers from Tom Hicks. As Hicks views it as an investment (as he’s always talking about money), give Hicks a lot more money than he’d ever hope to make, so he can get his money and go.
Off Topic Hockey Remark: I see when the NHL starts up again they’re going to NOT allow goalies to touch the puck in the corners. I think that’s the wrong way of going after this. What they should do is allow the goalie to be a viable target if he’s out of his crease. You can handle the puck in the corner, but if you’re out there, I’m allowed to check you into the boards like any other player.

Saw today on the New York Post where Joe Torre is planning on complaining to MLB about John Wetteland. Technically he’s not supposed to be in uniform and in the dugout during the game, there’s a rule that you’re only supposed to have six coaches. Our six in uniform coaches are Rudy Jaramillo, Orel Hershisher, Don Wakamatsu, DeMarlo Hale, Steve Smith, & Mark Connor. Wetteland makes 7 which pushes us over the limit. However, it’s been I think two years
And what about guys like Don Kalkstein? He wears 66, and is essentially the “shrink” for the team. I know that’s not his real title, but I can’t think of what his real one is. I see him in the duguout all the time. What’s the difference between Wetteland and Kalkstein? Why complain about it now? What about all the other teams who didn’t care, or all the other times we’ve played the Yankees?
What exactly does Torre hope to gain by this? Seems like a cheap shot to me, even if we are violating the coach rule.
In other Yankee news, the same article talks about the Yankees wanting to get Gary Matthews Jr from the Rangers. I will say my usual quote. Never help the Yankees. Baseball would be better off if not a single team at all ever traded with the Yankees. DON’T HELP THEM. Period.