The Rangers Are In First Place!

[NT03]

Time to start a fire Ron Washington thread? Time to start a fire Ron Washington thread.

Tyrone Biggums could do no worse and would be cheaper

[Green P1]

Time to start a fire Ron Washington thread? Time to start a fire Ron Washington thread.

Agreed. Its probably about time to put the first place Rangers thread out to pasture.

[UNT90]

The baseball Gods HATE this team.

Crack head manager + self-interested owner + sale that can't get done = last place

[KRAM1]

Agreed. Its probably about time to put the first place Rangers thread out to pasture.

Might even be time to put the Rangers themselves out top pasture! Something smells "rotten in Denmark" with this team. Maybe snake bit or anger of the baseball "gods", who knows. But already the season is beginning to look like a mess.

Doesn't mean there will not be some good baseball to watch, but if one expects the Rangers in the playoffs, well, at this point it might be good to simply "adjust" hopes and expectations for the year. Hey, it's the same as always it appears. At least ranger fans have consistency, right?

Edited April 22, 2010 by KRAM1

[MEANGREENMAN!]

I'm not going to bury the season until we play more divisional games. McCarthy and Holland are pitching lights out right now in OKC and I still feel good about us matching up against the other teams in my division. Maybe I'm being naive. Maybe I'm trying to justify the 600 dollars I spent on a ticket package. Maybe with expectations lowered maybe guess will stop pressing and play like they are truly capable of. Maybe I'm just stupid, but I'm not ready to quit on this team just yet.

Edited April 22, 2010 by MEANGREENMAN!

[Green Guy Bass]

Davis optioned to OKC. Time to Smoak out!!

[MeanGreenTexan]

Davis optioned to OKC. Time to Smoak out!!

This is excellent news. Hopefully the kid can produce at the big-league level right away. His numbers @ AAA are very good, but so were Davis'. We'll see...

[Green P1]

Davis optioned to OKC. Time to Smoak out!!

First place here we come bitches! And because there's nothing cooler than talking about your fantasy baseball team, Smoak has already supplanted J-ham in the robot greggos lineup.

[Censored by Laurie]

First place here we come bitches! And because there's nothing cooler than talking about your fantasy baseball team, Smoak has already supplanted J-ham in the robot greggos lineup.

And 2 Burrells, 1 Cup...Smoaks wif Cigarettes...see ya later Nick Blackburn.

Edited April 23, 2010 by Censored by Laurie

[Green Guy Bass]

Rich Harden. New set up man once Hunter is healthy and ready.....thoughts?

A strikeout pitcher that can throw harder that the low 90's he registers as a starter. He could cover up some weaknesses at the back end of the pen, allowing Texas to not call up Tanner Scheppers or Alexi Ogando from Frisco to help out.

He has proven he can't give you much more than 5IP. The club will not pick up his 11.5 million in 2011 so you shouldn't worry about pissing him off, so if he struggles more over his next few starts, maybe try it out to see if it helps matters.

Hell, if the Cubs can put Zambrano in the pen for a while I see no reason why the Rangers can't.

[Quoner]

Rich Harden. New set up man once Hunter is healthy and ready.....thoughts?

A strikeout pitcher that can throw harder that the low 90's he registers as a starter. He could cover up some weaknesses at the back end of the pen, allowing Texas to not call up Tanner Scheppers or Alexi Ogando from Frisco to help out.

He has proven he can't give you much more than 5IP. The club will not pick up his 11.5 million in 2011 so you shouldn't worry about pissing him off, so if he struggles more over his next few starts, maybe try it out to see if it helps matters.

Hell, if the Cubs can put Zambrano in the pen for a while I see no reason why the Rangers can't.

I like it, but why not fast-track Scheppers? Isn't his shoulder a ticking time bomb anyway?

Also, Harrison could be a bullpen guy when Hunter and Holland are up here.

[UNT90]

Rich Harden. New set up man once Hunter is healthy and ready.....thoughts?

A strikeout pitcher that can throw harder that the low 90's he registers as a starter. He could cover up some weaknesses at the back end of the pen, allowing Texas to not call up Tanner Scheppers or Alexi Ogando from Frisco to help out.

He has proven he can't give you much more than 5IP. The club will not pick up his 11.5 million in 2011 so you shouldn't worry about pissing him off, so if he struggles more over his next few starts, maybe try it out to see if it helps matters.

Hell, if the Cubs can put Zambrano in the pen for a while I see no reason why the Rangers can't.

The walks would worry me if you gave him the set-up role. I am thinking more in the terms of long relief. How sad is that.

[MeanGreenTexan]

How sad is this? We're talking about putting our "ace", the guy we traded Millwood away for, into the bullpen.

[Quoner]

How sad is this? We're talking about putting our "ace", the guy we traded Millwood away for, into the bullpen.

It sucks, but if Harden is never going to stay healthy, turning Millwood into two effective bullpen pitchers (Ray and Harden) while clearing space for young pitchers doesn't bother me as much as it probably should. I'm glad we're at a point where we can shuffle him out if he blows rather than sitting through another Chan Ho experience of giving him the ball because of his contract.

Meanwhile, the real prize as we wait for ownership to get figured out is Ol' Grienke, just sitting over in KC, throwing gems and still losing games...

/puts on red glasses with blue frames

And for all the BS so far this year, it's a 2.5 game deficit with the lead dog going head-to-head with the Rays this week. If we're in that position by June and get the ownership stuff straightened out by July, there's still plenty of time for magic.

[Quoner]

From today's Baseball Prospectus newsletter:

Wasting His Time Here?

Tanner Scheppers, RHP, Rangers (Double-A Frisco)

Monday's stats: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K

While the Rangers continue to look for an answer to their bullpen woes, Scheppers keeps blowing away Texas League hitters at a staggering rate. Including last night's dominant outing, the 2009 draftee has faced 35 opposing batters in five appearances, striking out 18, walking none and allowing just three hits. The scouting reports match the stats as well, as Scheppers mid-to-upper-90s fastball features movement and pinpoint location, while his plus-plus curveball isn't just a hammer, it's a sledgehammer. He can get big league hitters out right now, and should get his chance soon, as because of his injury history and violent mechanics, every pitch he throws is a risk; so why not have him throw those pitches in the big leagues?

[Green P1]

So who's co-hosting diamond talk going forward?

[Quoner]

So who's co-hosting diamond talk going forward?

Grubes

[Green Guy Bass]

So who's co-hosting diamond talk going forward?

Stay tuned. Tonight david Newberry.....after that, not completely sure yet. Tune in anyhow if you like. Will the show ever be the same?? No. But I am dedicated to putting forward the very best product for the listener and the Ranger fan. This has been a really tough week. But we will soldier on as we always do.

[Quoner]

Stay tuned. Tonight david Newberry.....after that, not completely sure yet. Tune in anyhow if you like. Will the show ever be the same?? No. But I am dedicated to putting forward the very best product for the listener and the Ranger fan. This has been a really tough week. But we will soldier on as we always do.

Is the "truck full of XXXs" drop now off limits?

[Green P1]

Is the "truck full of XXXs" drop now off limits?

or "XXX's smoke"? People serously need to learn to tag things with the disclaimer "just for fun."

On another note, has anyone else had the Rangers game preempted/blacked out in favor of television poker lately? I swear this is the second time its happened in the past week. I mean... whats the deal?

[Censored by Laurie]

or "XXX's smoke"? People serously need to learn to tag things with the disclaimer "just for fun."

On another note, has anyone else had the Rangers game preempted/blacked out in favor of television poker lately? I swear this is the second time its happened in the past week. I mean... whats the deal?

Pun.

[Quoner]

Caught the opening of Diamond Talk last night and thought you all handled everything well. I'll be honest, Mavs Mike was a total beating for me, but I really loved baseball/Rangers Mike.

There's an obvious solution here: Have Najera* lobby Cumulus directly for his spot back and delete his Twitter account.

*If he's over the song, that is.

[Green P1]

There's an obvious solution here: Have Najera* lobby Cumulus directly for his spot back and delete his Twitter account.

Let's be honest here... EVERYONE should just delete their twitter accounts.

[UNT90]

I completely missed the whole Basik story. All I know is it had something to do with the Mavs and an inappropriate tweet?? Someone PM me and fill me in, please (I tried to google it without success).

Sad. I liked that dude and thought he brought a lot to the ticket and diamond talk.

The good news is the Rangers have played like poop for the first 21 games, yet only find themselves 1.5 down. Offense finding a slight heartbeat?

Edited April 29, 2010 by UNT90

[TheTastyGreek]

I completely missed the whole Basik story. All I know is it had something to do with the Mavs and an inappropriate tweet?? Someone PM me and fill me in, please (I tried to google it without success).

Sad. I liked that dude and thought he brought a lot to the ticket and diamond talk.

The good news is the Rangers have played like poop for the first 21 games, yet only find themselves 1.5 down. Offense finding a slight heartbeat?

Short story: Bacsik is out at a bar, drinking to excess (which is apparently out of character for him) and sharing this information on his Twitter page.

After the game ends, he (apparently a longtime Mavs superfan) posts something congratulating 'all the dirty Mexicans in San Antonio' (Not a direct quote, I don't want to look it up and that's the gist of it).

San Antonio is up in arms over it. Bacsik is suspended. Then, Bacsik is fired.

The moral of the story is not to show sportsmanship to dirty people of any ethnicity. Only congratulate the clean ones. Or, better yet- Don't single out any specific ethnic group within a city for special congratulations. Just say "way to go!" to everyone, be they white, black, hispanic, asian, aboriginal, inuit, or anything else you can imagine.

So if a Canadian team wins the Stanley Cup this year, don't congratulate all the dirty white people who live in that team's city. Because while fatties need love, too... People who don't adhere to modern standards of hygiene do not deserve specific congratulations.

I'll miss Bacsik if for no other reason than I don't trust Sean Bass to explain what should be done about Chone Figgins whenever we have a series with the Mariners.