Poor Toby's Almanac...Where the Boys Are From.
Even a dog has a hometown:
Scott Feldman pitches for the Rangers on Sunday. Feldman was born in Kailua, Hawaii where his father worked as an FBI agent. He is one of three players born in Hawaii who played for the Rangers.
Where are the Boys from?
Well, in the United States, more Rangers were born in California than any other state. There are 125 Rangers born in the Golden State led by Michael Young. Texas is a distant second with 57. Then comes Florida with 37, followed by Illinois (28 including Jim Sundberg), New York (26) and then Michigan and Ohio with 20 each.
None? No Ranger has been born in Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico or Rhode Island. Only two came from North Dakota but they were pretty good: Rick Helling and Travis Hafner. New Hampshire's only contribution was Bob Tewksbury and Stan Thomas is the only one from Maine. Bump Wills is the only Ranger to be born in the nation's capital.
George Wright is one of 13 from neighboring Oklahoma. Thought there would be more but the Sooners were edged out by Pennsylvania (17), New Jersey and Missouri (16), North Carolina (15) and Georgia (14).
Oracle of the Elysian Fields:
"Last summer the Hall of Fame had that traveling Negro League exhibit come through here. Talk about a critical piece of the game's history that not nearly enough people know about... I was locked in. Hopefully the draft concept has a similar effect, and allows the industry to bring that piece of our history to more of our fans."
General manager Jon Daniels on the Negro League draft
Toby's Top Five
1. Manny Ramirez - I'm sorry...why did Ramirez and Jon Lester for Alex Rodriguez fall through?
2. Tampa Bay Rays - I'm sorry...why Drew Meyer over Scott Kazmir?
3. Brandon Webb - I'm sorry...why didn't... never mind.
4. Charley Pride - Here's one draft pick the Rangers finally got right. Of course they've only been scouting him for 30 years.
5. Jamey Wright - Anybody notice he is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in May?
Birthdays:
Brad Wilkerson turns 31 on Sunday. On Saturday, Doug Mathis turns 25. He was born in Phoenix, or more specifically Maryvale, which is the neighborhood of Phoenix where the Brewers train. Now he lives in Show Low, Arizona.
Glad you asked. Show Low, according to legend, was named after a marathon poker match where the stakes were a 100,000 acre ranch. The final hand was decided by lowest card wins. The winning hand was the deuce of clubs. That's now the name of Main Street.
Ex-Ranger of the Week:
Three of the top 12 pitchers in baseball are former Rangers. You know about Edinson Volquez and John Danks. But Ryan Dempster is 7-2 with a 2.75 ERA in 12 starts for the Cubs. He was the Cubs closer the past three years with 85 saves but moved back to the rotation so that Kerry Wood could take over that role. Dempster never actually played for the Rangers but was drafted by them in the third round in 1995 and traded to the Marlins a year later along with Rick Helling for John Burkett.
Anniversary: It was 33 years ago today that Nolan Ryan threw his fourth career no-hitter, tying Sandy Koufax for the most in Major League history. He beat the Orioles, 1-0. Also, in 1925, Lou Gehrig began his streak of 2,130 games played.
Pitching matchup of the Week:
Joba Chamberlain, who the New York media has pretty decided is the second coming of Walter Johnson, makes his Major League debut on Tuesday against the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay.
Last call:
The Lakers in six. They'll win one game in Boston, then two games in Los Angeles. They'll go back to Boston and lose, then clinch Game 6 at home."
Catcher Gerald Laird's prediction for the NBA Finals.
I don't know but I'm pretty sure you have the road to home games wrong. The NBA, another billiant league, changes the format specifically for the finals. All through the playoffs the format is 2-2-1-1-1, when it gets to the finals it changes. Boston will have two home games then the Lakers will have 3 home games then Boston would have 2 home games if it ever gets that far.
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Ex-Rangers of the week:
T.R., I'm waiting to see Danks and Volquez start an All-Star game against each other. Brandon McCarthy will be on someones DL. Armando Gallaraga, Chris Young and Dempster will make appearances later in the game. We'll probably see Hamilton and Volquez face each other. Maybe Ron Washington will be the manager for the AL. But, if he is, JD won't allow him to select Danks. I wonder when we'll see another Ranger pitcher as an All Star? Random thoughts.
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Hey, Toby, about your top five:
1-The thought of Manny Ramirez as a Texas Ranger makes me nauseous. He can hit, but let Manny be Manny somewhere else. A- Rod for Jon Lester, sure, but you can keep Manny.
2-4-Yeah
5-Toby, I don't believe in jinxes, but I think you jinxed Jamey Wright.
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I think you may have jinxed Jamey Wright. ;)
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Questions for all those posters who keep talking of Volquez. Would you reverse that trade right now, if you could? And given that Hamilton has been reasonably successful, which player(s) would you have given instead? (Please be reasonable. Dont choose player(s) that would have made the Reds GM laugh his head off.) Would you disgree stongly with the statement that Hamilton may well become one of the best position players of all time?
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Anthony,
I think the Hamilton-Volquez trade was a great trade for both clubs. Go to MLB. com and you'll see Hams and Volquez picture next to each other on the league leaders tab ( one leads in strike out, the other in RBI ). This may be a trade talked about for many years.
Hamilton has been reasonably successful? That is the understatement of the year.
Ask me if Hamilton May become one of the greatest position players in about 5 years. His first year, withe the Reds did not indicate that. His first two months as a Ranger does, but it has only been two months. If he stays healthy and keeps his commitment to the Lord Jesus, I would have to agree that he'll be one of the greats.
I was just making the point that there are so many ex-Rangers pitchers out there succeeding when our dearth of pitching continues.
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That is why there beath a dearth of pitching and this doesn't just include Daniels. The Rangers are Notorious for giving up on young pitching trading or releasing it. Hamilton is a stud, no doubt, but i agree with Cordero that we aren't in any position of trading pitchers. If Millwood rebounds, i would trade him, sell high on him, he isn't a staff ace, doesn't take care or prepare himself to be getting the money that he is getting. The same thing with Blalock, get him healthy and get him gone, he is too injury prone, besides we don't need him. Young, Frostad or Metcalf are the future third basemen.
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Neither of the previous two posters answered my first question. But I didn't expect them to.
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D'god, given the bad year that Millwood had last year, and with Blalock only just off a long DL, do you seriously believe that the Reds would have traded Hamilton for them? I can hear the gales of laughter from Cincinnati here in Australia.
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