Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill
Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, the perfect place to enjoy tonight's Paschal Moon.
* Yes, it all started 48 years ago today. John F. Kennedy was there. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the Washington Senators lost to the White Sox, 4-3. That was the Rangers' franchise's first game at old Griffith Stadium.
* By the way, it was 62 years ago today (1947, I knew that) that Branch Rickey issued a statement to the press: "The Brooklyn Dodgers today purchased the contract of Jackie Roosevelt Robinson from the Montreal Royals. He will report immediately."
* Want one more? The Rangers were the opposing team 36 years ago today when the Royals opened their new stadium with a 12-1 victory. The Rangers were managed by Whitey Herzog. Eventually he made his way to the home dugout at then-Royals Stadium.
* Ron Washington on the Rangers: "These guys are confident. They know what it takes to win and they believe in it. They understand it's pitching and defense and executing the fundamentals. Play the way the game is presented to you on a given night. They understand that. That's the biggest difference right now."
* The Rangers are in the middle of a stretch of four straight day games. That hasn't happened since April 4-9 1998 against the Blue Jays and White Sox. The Rangers had a night game in Chicago rained out in that stretch.
* Michael Young's .336 batting average at Comerica Park is the eighth highest since the place opened for players with at least 120 at-bats there.
* If Omar Vizquel, 42, is still with the Rangers on April 25, he'll become the oldest position player to ever play for the Rangers. He'll pass Brian Downing. Only two players older are pitchers: Nolan Ryan and Charlie Hough.
* Just for the heck of it: Mitch Williams
* In Ian Kinsler's last 162 games - going back to Aug. 21, 2007 - he is hitting .318 with a .385 on-base percentage and a .516 slugging percentage. He has 139 runs scored, 215 hits, 50 doubles, 24 home runs, 95 RBI and 33 stolen bases.
* Jon Daniels on Joaquin Arias at shortstop: "Right now his arm is adequate to play shortstop. There's no telling where he would be without the shoulder injury. This is a guy who had a double-plus arm. He showed in Spring Training he can make the routine play. His arm isn't 100 percent but hopefully he's getting there."
* Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu on former Rangers pitching coach Orel Hershiser: "Orel used to say, 'Give them the pitch they are looking for, but put it in a place they can't hit it."
* Mark Teixeira on getting booed for three straight days in Baltimore: "It really didn't bother me. It's just like anywhere you go. They're passionate fans and they let me know that they wish I was an Oriole. That's why they're booing, then it's really not all that bad. But I'm ready to get on with the season and get to Kansas City."
How different would the Rangers' history be if Whitey Herzog was kept on instead of being replaced by Billy Martin? My Ranger interest begin as a kid with Billy Martin's Turnaround Gang. But, as I got older and was able to see what Herzog was building here and then what he built in KC and in St. Louis. It really makes me wonder "what if"? He was building what we see happening now. Why was he fired? Because he was an unknown commodity and Billy Martin, the fiery winner wherever he went became available. Martin was a seat filler. It's a great example of two contrasting philosophies that still exist in baseball. Trade prospects for veterans for a "win now" try versus building and developing your own players on the farm. Or, patience versus no patience. Sound familiar? In each case, the philosophy trickles down from the ownership. I hope our current Rangers stick with the development plan. I believe it is going to work. I guess this is why baseball is and always will be a "talkin' sport". You just can't have these discussions about football, basketball, or hockey.
Just for the heck of it: Farm and Ranch Night.
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Courtesy of "clark" on LSB:
someone should point out to TR
that Jackie Robinson debuted in 47, not 57, meaning it was 62 years ago today. I tried to comment but I don’t have an accound and frankly I was too lazy to register.
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Thanks... fixed it....
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1) throwing out Mitch Williams gratuitously is, technically speaking, a wild pitch
2) 15-2...who's the Einstein who didn't get the e-mail about the red uni's?
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1) throwing out Mitch Williams gratuitously is, technically speaking, a wild pitch
2) 15-2...who's the Einstein who didn't get the e-mail about the red uni's?
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Same old Rangers today. Maybe they should have carried the red with them to Detroit. Why is Benson on the staff? I love where this team is headed but they did nothing to address the poor pitching at the major league level for this season. 15 runs & to loose to a guy we just cut from the roster last year WOW. I just hope those first 3 games weren't a mirage. Let's get them tomorrow
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It is only one game and Millwood and Padilla looked sharp. McCarthy had his ups and downs. Benson should have been out of the inning except for two plays. First that ball is his not Salty's, second Cruz has got to get that ball. It is amazing that Cruz's wasn't called an error. The same thing goes for Young over there at third. Hey i ain't no baseball expert but Mike hasn't looked real good over there. Hey Mike the ball is gonna get on you alot faster over there, they don't call it the "hot corner" for nothing. So is three games gonna be how long our emphasis on pitching and defense lasts? It sure looks like we were playing for the three run home run. "We need two starters and two relievers." Ron Washington i believe. Bring on Jason Jennings for Benson and put Benson in the bullpen. Who in the hell decided to trade Gallaraga? That guy pitched his buttocks off today. The Rangers looked like dead fastball hitters today who could not hit the offspeed and breaking pitches. The season is still early and as long as we can stay above .500 for the first two months then we will be ok. But i still get mad, because we know what the issues are but we fail to address them. Then we get into the season and get surprised when we find out hey we don't have enough pitching. It is all about the pitching, we saw it today, and unfortunately we are going to see it again! Good pitching, beats great offense everyday folks.
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It is only one game and Millwood and Padilla looked sharp. McCarthy had his ups and downs. Benson should have been out of the inning except for two plays. First that ball is his not Salty's, second Cruz has got to get that ball. It is amazing that Cruz's wasn't called an error. The same thing goes for Young over there at third. Hey i ain't no baseball expert but Mike hasn't looked real good over there. Hey Mike the ball is gonna get on you alot faster over there, they don't call it the "hot corner" for nothing. So is three games gonna be how long our emphasis on pitching and defense lasts? It sure looks like we were playing for the three run home run. "We need two starters and two relievers." Ron Washington i believe. Bring on Jason Jennings for Benson and put Benson in the bullpen. Who in the hell decided to trade Gallaraga? That guy pitched his buttocks off today. The Rangers looked like dead fastball hitters today who could not hit the offspeed and breaking pitches. The season is still early and as long as we can stay above .500 for the first two months then we will be ok. But i still get mad, because we know what the issues are but we fail to address them. Then we get into the season and get surprised when we find out hey we don't have enough pitching. It is all about the pitching, we saw it today, and unfortunately we are going to see it again! Good pitching, beats great offense everyday folks.
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It is only one game and Millwood and Padilla looked sharp. McCarthy had his ups and downs. Benson should have been out of the inning except for two plays. First that ball is his not Salty's, second Cruz has got to get that ball. It is amazing that Cruz's wasn't called an error. The same thing goes for Young over there at third. Hey i ain't no baseball expert but Mike hasn't looked real good over there. Hey Mike the ball is gonna get on you alot faster over there, they don't call it the "hot corner" for nothing. So is three games gonna be how long our emphasis on pitching and defense lasts? It sure looks like we were playing for the three run home run. "We need two starters and two relievers." Ron Washington i believe. Bring on Jason Jennings for Benson and put Benson in the bullpen. Who in the hell decided to trade Gallaraga? That guy pitched his buttocks off today. The Rangers looked like dead fastball hitters today who could not hit the offspeed and breaking pitches. The season is still early and as long as we can stay above .500 for the first two months then we will be ok. But i still get mad, because we know what the issues are but we fail to address them. Then we get into the season and get surprised when we find out hey we don't have enough pitching. It is all about the pitching, we saw it today, and unfortunately we are going to see it again! Good pitching, beats great offense everyday folks.
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It is only one game and Millwood and Padilla looked sharp. McCarthy had his ups and downs. Benson should have been out of the inning except for two plays. First that ball is his not Salty's, second Cruz has got to get that ball. It is amazing that Cruz's wasn't called an error. The same thing goes for Young over there at third. Hey i ain't no baseball expert but Mike hasn't looked real good over there. Hey Mike the ball is gonna get on you alot faster over there, they don't call it the "hot corner" for nothing. So is three games gonna be how long our emphasis on pitching and defense lasts? It sure looks like we were playing for the three run home run. "We need two starters and two relievers." Ron Washington i believe. Bring on Jason Jennings for Benson and put Benson in the bullpen. Who in the hell decided to trade Gallaraga? That guy pitched his buttocks off today. The Rangers looked like dead fastball hitters today who could not hit the offspeed and breaking pitches. The season is still early and as long as we can stay above .500 for the first two months then we will be ok. But i still get mad, because we know what the issues are but we fail to address them. Then we get into the season and get surprised when we find out hey we don't have enough pitching. It is all about the pitching, we saw it today, and unfortunately we are going to see it again! Good pitching, beats great offense everyday folks.
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It is only one game and Millwood and Padilla looked sharp. McCarthy had his ups and downs. Benson should have been out of the inning except for two plays. First that ball is his not Salty's, second Cruz has got to get that ball. It is amazing that Cruz's wasn't called an error. The same thing goes for Young over there at third. Hey i ain't no baseball expert but Mike hasn't looked real good over there. Hey Mike the ball is gonna get on you alot faster over there, they don't call it the "hot corner" for nothing. So is three games gonna be how long our emphasis on pitching and defense lasts? It sure looks like we were playing for the three run home run. "We need two starters and two relievers." Ron Washington i believe. Bring on Jason Jennings for Benson and put Benson in the bullpen. Who in the hell decided to trade Gallaraga? That guy pitched his buttocks off today. The Rangers looked like dead fastball hitters today who could not hit the offspeed and breaking pitches. The season is still early and as long as we can stay above .500 for the first two months then we will be ok. But i still get mad, because we know what the issues are but we fail to address them. Then we get into the season and get surprised when we find out hey we don't have enough pitching. It is all about the pitching, we saw it today, and unfortunately we are going to see it again! Good pitching, beats great offense everyday folks.
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Aw gee...I thought he was gone. .. (You all remember the Richard Nixon speech...you're not going to have D'god to kick around anymore) The only thing worse than a D'god rant is a D'god rant X5
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Fred, cut d'god a little slack. Don't you see a little improvement (X5)? He threw in a little positive spin and only one reference to a past pitching evaluation blunder. He didn't even mention Danks' 6 shutout innings.....oh crap, I just did.....dang it!The pitching so far is no surprise and, fortunately, I don't think we can fairly evaluate them until they get a few more starts/appearances under their belts. (See Verlander's last outing v. today). I'll tap the breaks on the division championship for now; D'god, keep tapping the breaks on the doom and gloom and past insanity.
On another note, how must the Braves' fans feel when they see us with Andrus, Murphy, Salty, Harrison, and next year or so Feliz? Our front office may have made some horrible mistakes in past player talent evaluation, but at least our guys haven't built someone else's team! Thanks Atlanta. I bet they would like a do-over on that one. 4-3 in the 8th, we need a rally boys. Rudy, get those bats crankin'!
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Computer problems fredrme. Hey we lost two games this weekend that we have got to win. At this point if i am Millwood i am pitching until i just can't go any more. What did he have to lose if he kept pitching? He went a great 7 innings but unfortunately the game is 9 innings long. It is already looking like other teams can't wait to get into our bullpen. Wilson is a "nut". I love Mike Young but he isn't looking good over there at third. Mad Dog Madrigal is young but hey he totally lost his control on Saturday and he gets the nod today over Guardado? I love Washington, but it seems that he sometimes makes moves just to be making moves and proving some type of point. Benson's start wasn't that bad, neither was Harrisons. But the sad fact is we have to win that game on Saturday and definitely the one today. Great teams keep battling, win the games they are supposed to win and steal a few just as the Tigers did yesterday and today. But again it is still early and as long as we stay even and/or close til All Star Break then we will be ok. "We need two starters and two relievers." I will settle for Jennings to starting rotation and 4 relievers!
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