The Newest Texas Ranger

This picture is from the Texas Rangers page on Facebook. It shows the newest Texas Ranger -- Shin-Soo Choo (formerly of the Cincinnati Reds). Choo will be the lead-off hitter, and play left field. This is the second big-name player the Rangers acquired this off-season -- the first being slugger and first baseman Prince Fielder, in a trade with the Detroit Tigers (for Ian Kinsler). The Rangers have also gotten another young outfielder who has good potential for developing into a power hitter (Michael Chioce from the Oakland A's).

These new acquisitions should beef up the offensive power, and it was done without losing any pitchers (or big prospects). I'm starting to feel pretty good about the Rangers' chances next year.

Welcome To Texas, Prince !

(The image above is from the Facebook page of the Texas Rangers.)

I want to depart from my usual discussion of politics and economics to give a big Texas "howdy" and a warm welcome to the newest player for the Texas Rangers -- Prince Fielder. Detroit traded Fielder to the Rangers (along with $30 million to help offset his exorbitant salary) for second baseman Ian Kinsler. Texas needed another big bat in the lineup. Now if they can resign Nelson Cruz (who is a free agent), they'll have as good (or better) power in the middle of their batting order as any team (remember, they also still have Adrian Beltre).

I am a bit sorry to see Kinsler go to the Tigers. He has been a great Ranger. But we needed the power hitter, and we have an excellent prospect to take Kinsler's place -- Jurickson Profar. Personally, I think this trade makes the Rangers a better team, and I'm excited about next season's potential.

Kudos To Dairy Queen

A couple of days ago there was a tragedy at a Texas Rangers baseball game that took the life of a young father. After catching the third out of an inning, outfielder Josh Hamilton tried to do some fans a favor by tossing the baseball into the stands. Unfortunately, in an effort to snag the ball for his son, one fan reached out too far and fell over the railing and landed on his head. The accident killed him.

The fan who died was a firefighter in Brownwood, Texas, and his death left his family in a bad financial situation. The Rangers have formed a memorial fund for the family (and anyone wishing to donate to that fund can go here for information).

A corporation has also stepped up to do the right thing -- Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen's are fast food restaurants that are prolific throughout the state of Texas (with nearly every small town having at least one). Dairy Queen has announced that they will donate a dollar to the family for every fan that goes to today's Rangers/Athletics game. Judging from this year's attendance figures, that will probably be at least $35,000.

I realize that is not a lot of money for a corporation, and they will receive some nice publicity from the gesture, but I still think it was a very nice thing for them to do. It's going to make my next DQ burger and shake taste a little bit better.

Perry Rewards Teabagger Chuck Norris

Rick Perry seems to have an endless stream of ways to embarrass and humiliate his fellow Texans and the state of Texas.   This time he's recognizing second-rate actor Chuck Norris by making him an honorary Texas Ranger.   The governor presented Norris, and his brother Aaron Norris, with designations making them both honorary Texas Rangers yesterday in Dallas.   Norris played a Texas Ranger in an unrealistic TV series for several years.

More recently, Norris has been engaging in teabagger politics and working for fundamentalist "christian" causes.   He supported Mike Huckabee is the last presidential primary, and has been a very vocal opponent of President Obama -- writing a column for the fringe right-wing site WorldNetDaily.

The 70 year-old Norris is also a creationist who wants school science classes to teach his religion.   He is also active in trying to get Bible classes into Texas schools.   He was an early and active supporter of the bigoted Proposition 8 in California (which sought to deny equal rights to homosexual Americans).

Personally I believe making Norris an honorary Ranger is a slap-in-the-face to all Texas law enforcement officers.   But this is just like Perry to use state agencies to reward his political supporters.   I guess we should just be glad that it didn't require the awarding of state funds or contracts this time.

Rangers Aren't Embarrassed Enough - Yet

As you probably know, the Texas Rangers are playing in their very first World Series ever.   It's not going well.   So far, they've done nothing but embarrass themselves.   They have pretty much been blown out of the first two games by a team that makes a habit of winning one-run games.   In the second of those two games they walked in three runs in a row and wound up losing by nine runs.

Now that would be embarrassing enough for most Major League Baseball teams, but not the Texas Rangers.   They seem to be going for the World Cup of embarrassing.   Just look at what they have arranged to happen at game 4 this Sunday.

The Rangers have invited not one, but two George Bush's to throw out the first pitch for Sunday's game.   That's right.   They've asked both ex-presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush (the worst president ever), to deliver the traditional first pitch (or first two pitches in this case).

They'd better win four of the next five games if they ever expect to live this down.

Food For Thought

As you may or may not know by now, the Texas Rangers have won their very first American League Championship and will face the San Francisco Giants in their first World Series.   It took them nearly 40 years to do it, but they have finally reached baseball's ultimate series.

For my blogger friend Craig, who posts as cpmaz on his blog Random Musings, this brings up an interesting question -- at least for those of us who don't mind mixing baseball and politics.   I thought the point he makes and the question he raises is very pertinent, so I repost it here for your benefit:

"George W. Bush ran the Texas Rangers for 5 years, from 1989 until 1994, and it's taken the Rangers 16 years to right their ship.  And after that 16 years, people all over Texas and the country are rejoicing.

Yet Bush ran the entire country for *8* years (60% longer) and messed upeverything, and people are livid that Barack Obama hasn't fixed everything in less than 2 years (87% less time).

What's up with that?"

Governor Perry Lies Again

Well, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Texas Governor Rick Perry. It seems he's told another bald-faced lie, and on top of that, he's ready to misuse the state's premier investigative agency -- all in an attempt to play to the racist base of his party and win that party's primary election.

A few days ago, the governor told the people of Texas that property owners and local border law enforcement are being "overwhelmed" by smugglers and gangs from Mexico. Perry announced he would send the Texas Rangers to work with the Texas National Guard and beef up border law enforcement (although neither organization has been trained for that kind of operation).

The Texas Border Coalition, self-described as the "collective voice of border mayors, county judges, (and) economic development commissions focused on issues that affect more than 6 million people along the Texas-Mexico border region and economically disadvantaged counties from El Paso to Brownsville", disagrees with the governor (and they should know since they actually live in the border region).

Speaking for the group, Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster says, "Your remarks, if accurately reported, create a public impression of lawless hordes overrunning the border region and do not reflect our collective experience. While each of our communities has their own unique issues, being overwhelmed by criminal elements from Mexico is not one of them.

Foster went on to say that crime on the border has decreased by 65% in the past few years, and the apprehension of illegal border crossers has dropped by 40% (60% in El Paso). It sounds to me like local border law enforcement and federal immigration officials are doing a good job on the border. The governor's political ploy will only interfere with their efforts.

The Texas Rangers and the Texas National Guard are very good at the jobs they were trained to do. Governor Perry needs to stop using these organizations to play politics, and let them do their jobs.

Pudge Is Back !

Normally by late August, it really doesn't matter what the Texas Rangers do because they are so far behind other teams it would take a miracle to make the play-offs. But this year is different. This year, they have an excellent chance of making the play-offs (they actually lead for the wild-card slot).

They're usually a good hitting and scoring team, and they are again this year. What's different this year is they added some really good pitching -- both starting pitchers and relief pitchers have done a great job.

That's why it was really disappointing when the starting catcher got hurt. How seriously would that hurt the team? But Rangers general manager Jon Daniels had an answer. He went out and re-aquired one of the most popular Rangers of all time in a trade with the Astro. He had to give up some minor league talent, but the player he got was Pudge Rodriguez.

This seems to be a trade that makes everyone happy. The fans get one of their favorite players back. Pudge gets to finish his career with the Rangers. And the Rangers players get a great defensive catcher that can hit. It's a win-win-win situation.

Will this trade help put the Rangers in the play-offs? Nobody knows yet. But I am glad that Pudge is once again wearing a Rangers uniform.

New Rangers Uniforms

These are the new uniforms for the Texas Rangers 2009 season. The red uniforms will be worn on opening day and for every Saturday game throughout the season. There will also be a "red-out" weekend. The team has also dumped the ugly blue shoes and belts. Both will now be black. All in all, I think the new uniforms are an improvement.

Nolan Ryan May Return To The Rangers

I have not been a big fan of Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks. The one good thing I can say about him is that he seems to be willing to spend the money to try and make the Rangers better. The problem is where he's spent the money.

Using my 20-20 hindsight, it's not hard to say that giving "A-Rod" a quarter of a billion dollar contract was a huge mistake. It not only tied up a lot of money in a player who turned out to be very divisive in the clubhouse, but had the Rangers paying the Yankees to take him off our hands. The money would have been much better spent on young hopefuls.

Fortunately, that is now in the past. The question is how to help the Rangers now and in the future. Last Friday, Hicks may have taken the first step toward improving that future for the Texas Rangers. He met with Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan for a 90-minute discussion. Rumor has it that he was feeling out Ryan to see if he would be interested in becoming the Ranger's new club president.

That's an idea that I like a lot. Ryan currently is working with the Houston Astros organization. He took that job because it's closer to his home in Round Rock, and he has a lot of fans in the Houston area that remember his years with the Astros very fondly.

But Ryan also has some strong ties to the Texas Rangers, and he is revered by baseball fans in North Texas. He pitched for the Rangers for five years, and he sports a Ranger's cap in his Hall of Fame plaque. He got his 5,000th strikeout as a Ranger, as well as his sixth and seventh no-hitters.

Would Ryan be interested in the presidency of the Rangers? I believe he would, especially if Hicks offers the right salary and an assurance that Ryan would have the authority to do the job his own way. And I believe Hicks would offer that. He is not a "stingy" owner, and does have a reputation for being a "hands-off" owner. He tends to hire people and then turn them loose to do their job.

Would Ryan help the Rangers? That's the big question. He's more than just a great ex-player. He's smart, and he's a student of the game. There is no doubt of his love for and knowledge of the game. Combine that with his reputation, and we may actually see more free agents, especially pitchers, that would be willing to come to Texas.

While no one knows whether he (or anyone else) could make winners out of the Rangers, there is one immediate effect he would have. He would sell tickets. He would give the Ranger's "beaten-down" fans a new hope, and that's a good thing.

I hope it happens. The Texas Rangers need Nolan Ryan.

Last-Place Rangers Set Scoring Record

In all of the twentieth century and twenty-first century, no major league baseball team has ever scored 30 runs in a single game -- until last night. In the first game of a double-header against Baltimore, the usually hapless Texas Rangers exploded to defeat the Orioles by a score of 30 to 3.

The Rangers started out behind by 3 runs, but then scored 5 runs in the fourth inning, 9 runs in the sixth inning, 10 runs in the eighth inning and 6 runs in the ninth inning. This marked the first time since 1897, that a team had scored as many as 30 runs. The last time was when Chicago defeated Louisville 36 to 7 in a National League game on June 28, 1897.

Two Rangers, Marlon Byrd and Travis Metcalf, hit grand-slam home runs. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez each hit two home runs. David Murphy had five of the Rangers' 29 total hits.

I guess it gives the Rangers something to be proud of in an otherwise disastrous season. The Rangers are in last place in the West -- 19 games out of first place. Only Tampa Bay has a worse record in the American League.

Personally, I would have rather they spread those runs around a bit and won some more games.