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G4: Rangers survive Darvish nightmare inning, win 11-5

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I was at this game, it was the first of the season for me.  I’ll be honest, I went because Yu Darvish was pitching.  I was sitting in Section 208 out over the left field wall, so I couldn’t get a good closeup view of what Darvish was throwing – but I WAS there.  That was the point.  I’m figuring somewhere down the line, Darvish will end up being a stud, and I wanted to say I was there for his first game.  And not be lying about it, unlike the half a million people who will say they were there and weren’t.   I got there early, as I was set to retake my photos for my seat selector feature here on my site.   That took me from just when gates opened at 5PM until about 6:40PM when I finally finished.   During that time, I got a handle on what Darvish mania was like.

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My new 2012 Seat Selector is online!

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I’ve been running this site since December 1998, and in that time there’s been two things on my site that no other Texas Rangers fan site has done that I’m aware of.

One is a history of the uniform numbers for the entire franchise history.   That one got me some notice.  Victor Rojas name checked me a few times with Eric Nadel on radio broadcasts regarding this when he was still with Texas.   You can view that here if you’d like.

The other is a feature that I call my “Seat Selector”.  It’s a feature that’s on many a website.  In fact, there’s an entire site dedicated to the concept (that you should check out if you haven’t).   Many a moon ago (back during the first season this site was active, which was 1999), I went around the park, took a picture of every section, and put it on the website.   But there’s more to the story than just that.   Check it out..

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G3: Harrison and Rangers shut out Sox, 5-0

Posted by on at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_04_08_chamlb_texmlb_1&mode=wrap#gid=2012_04_08_chamlb_texmlb_1&mode=wrap>MLB.com Recap

This is another game that tested my ability to avoid the game score.  This was a Sunday night ESPN game, which meant I couldn’t see it.  I was gonna watch it on mlb.tv after the recap became available.  Something I didn’t know is that the ESPN Sunday night exclusive also controls when the recap will be available – even when the game is actually OVER.   Apparently, the Sunday night game can’t be replayed until 90 minutes after the game actually ends.  Which for this game meant I wasn’t able to start watching the game until about 11:57PM.  That is an incredibly late time to start a game – even though I was able to skip the commercials quite quickly.  mlb.tv game archives have the start of each top/bottom of an inning marked as a “chapter” (of sorts).   So when the last out is made, I just hit the right trigger on my Xbox 360 controller, and it goes straight to the next pitch.  That’s nice.   Anyway, I started watching, and got through about an hour or so, and had to stop around 1:10AM, as I was falling asleep.  Came back to the game in the morning, and finished watching around 8:15AM.  heh.  Had some contracters coming to do touchup work on a carpet install, so I had to hang around, but not get into anything, as I had to deal with the contractors.

Anyway, about the game… [Read more…]

G2: Rangers lose 3-2 on Nathan HR

Posted by on at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_04_07_chamlb_texmlb_1&mode=wrap>MLB.com Recap

So starts the list of games I can’t see.  “Watched” this one on mlb at bat on the computer, since I couldn’t watch it on TV.  Listened to (most of) the radio broadcast.  It sounded to me like Derek Holland was a bit all over the place.

He technically was given a quality start, but let’s face it.  Six innings pitched, three earned runs (ERA of 4.50) barely qualifies.  Men far more erudite than me on the subject of baseball stats have argued that one, so I won’t go into extreme detail.   But Holland didn’t help himself with three walks over his six innings.   His overall line was six innings pitched, three hits, three earned runs, three walks, and five strikeouts.   Holland was a bit wobbly early on, but settled down after the Sox did their scoring against him, and put up three zeroes in the 4th through 6th innings.   Derek exited with 93 pitches, which for six innings was only three over the recommended limit, so he probably could have gone again.  Perhaps it was a gut feeling by Wash, or a “Hey, it’s his first outing, we’ll keep the count down a little” type of thing.  [Read more…]

Yu Darvish

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OK, I decided to go to the Texas Rangers game on Monday evening.  Wanted to see Yu Darvish.   I’ll be in Section 208.  Not the greatest seat, but it’s something.  :)

G1: Rangers take the first one, 3-2

Posted by on at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_04_06_chamlb_texmlb_1&mode=wrap#gid=2012_04_06_chamlb_texmlb_1&mode=wrap>MLB.com Recap

Here’s the official short recap of the game.

Ian Kinsler homered, Michael Young drove in the go-ahead run and Colby Lewis struck out nine over six innings to lift the Rangers to an Opening Day win. Chicago’s Adam Dunn tied a Major League record with his eighth home run in a season opener.

That sentence doesn’t do justice to it.  A little short story before I get to game stuff.  As I’ve mentioned the last few days, I was somewhat annoyed that the opening day was on Fox Sports only, and not on free TV like it has been for bloody ages.  Found out earlier this week that Ch 21 was going to replay the game at 7PM, so the challenge becomes avoiding the score until then – which isn’t easy in this totally connected world.  I did manage to do that, and around 5:40PM I noticed that mlb.tv had a replay of the game, so I started watching then.   Wish I didn’t have to do that, but I don’t really want to pay for cable TV anymore either – I’ve gotten quite used to regular broadcast TV, with a few expections (FSSW & Rangers plus MLBN).  Anyway, on to the game… [Read more…]

My thoughts on Game1 2012 25 Man Roster

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Wanted to say a little about the opening day 25 man roster this opening day.  This the fourth opening day of the season.   I’m reminded of the day when it was just the Reds who played early.  Now the first game of the year isn’t even played in this country!  That issue aside…

I don’t think anyone was surprised by the moves that were made earlier today to bring the 25 man roster into focus.   I’m going to include some 2011 stats, and their salary for 2012.  First off, the ones that don’t open on the 25 man.

  • Yoshi Tateyama – He starts the season on the DL.  We hadn’t heard much about him being hurt until the last few days, when it was realized we needed a roster space.  I’m not saying his DL stint is a lie, but it did come up out of nowhere fast.   He hasn’t pitched awfully, but I wonder about his long term future – he doesn’t instill much confidence to this fan.
  • Julio Borbon – He starts the season in AAA, and will share time with Leonys Martin in CF.   I think everyone was HOPING that Borbon would finally figure it out this spring.  I said early on that if he doesn’t start the year with the team, he’s probably gone some time this season.  Maybe not right away, but I would expect him to be packaged in a deal with someone else at this point.   An injury can change that, but I think he’s passed the time to earn it on his own, unfortunately.
  • Cody Eppley – He’s been up here and there before, so he’s not a stranger to Arlington.  But was a name you didn’t hear much of in discussions this spring.  He was DFA’ed in the roster dance today.  Given all the traffic in releases and cuts this time of year, I bet you we get him through waivers, and outright him to AAA.  I was wrong.  I wrote that text on Wed the 4th, and then he was claimed by the Yankees before I posted this on the 6th.  :)

Those are the ones I felt like saying something about that didn’t make the roster.  Here’s some remarks about the 25 guys who DID make the roster…

These are in no order on my end, I just cheated and used the list the players were listed in the Rangers 25 man press release.  Needed SOME order, I went with that.  :) [Read more…]

ST33: Rangers beat Frisco 6-1 in spring finale

Posted by on at http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2012_04_04_texmlb_friaax_1>MLB.com Recap

The Rangers beat the Frisco Roughriders 6-1 in the final game of spring training.

Who cares about the details?  Bring on the regular season!

Umpires

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And here we go. Today is opening day, or at least a real opening day of sorts – not the fake ones we’ve had so far.

I get in the car and turn on turn on XM radio and listen to the baseball talk channel, and the first thing you’re talking about is blown calls in the Miami game last night.

The hosts were ragging on Angel Hernandez and an obviously blown call with Bud Selig sitting there. I’m thinking to myself it’s day one, we haven’t played the bulk of the games yet for “game one” and they’re already ragging on the umpires.

This will be an interesting season – it just feels like an home. :-)

25 Man Roster Set

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  • OF Julio Borbon optioned to AAA
  • P Yoshinori Tateyama placed on 15 day DL (retro to Mar 30)
  • IF Luis Hernandez assigned to AAA
  • P Robbie Ross purchased from AAA
  • IF Alberto Gonzalez purchased from AAA
  • P Cody Eppley designated for assignment
  • P Neil Cotts assigned to AAA
  • P Aaron Heilman signed to a 1 year minor league contract [ Link ]

Some remarks: None of these were a huge surprise, really.  We knew about pretty much all of these moves before the season started.  Given this is the 25 man roster, I’ll make a larger separate post about this separately.