Reply With QuoteAnything is better than being associated with the financially troubled and often predator Ameriquest, but Rangers Ballpark doesn't flow quite right.
Who wants to bet the giant bell stays in left field, renamed Rangers Bell?
Rangers rename their home
Ameriquest out; it's now Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
03:40 PM CDT on Monday, March 19, 2007
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....2b52694c.html
The Liberty Bell no longer tolls for the Rangers.
The club on Monday severed its relationship with Ameriquest Mortgage, the financially troubled lending company that uses the bell as its logo and that had served as the title sponsor on the ballpark in Arlington.
Effective immediately, the stadium is now Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Rather than simply add "The" to the title and restore the original name, the club wanted its name as part of the title to help build the Rangers' brand.
"All our research showed that our biggest asset was the perception of the ballpark," owner Tom Hicks said. "We need to make sure that we identify our brand with our biggest asset. That is a huge plus for us."
To get the brand name on the stadium, the Rangers are giving up a significant amount of cash. The club signed a 30-year, $75 million agreement with Ameriquest in 2004. The Rangers have received approximately $7.5 million of that money.
Ameriquest, one of the leaders in the now-troubled subprime lending industry, announced on Friday that it was laying off a substantial number of workers and consolidating operations. The Orange County Register reported that Ameriquest would lay off between 2,800 and 3,200 workers. Last year, Ameriquest cut 3,800 employees and also agreed to pay $325 million in a multi-state settlement over claims of deceptive lending practices.
Hicks said the Rangers had sought to buy back the stadium name as early as the middle of last year. Ameriquest, he said, resisted until late in 2006.
The Rangers hope to make back about $1 million to $1.5 million per year in reselling the signage in and around the park that had been given to Ameriquest as part of the deal. Among the signs in the ballpark is a giant replica of the Liberty Bell in the left field upper deck.
"It's worth more to us to have our brand back than it is to have the relationship [with Ameriquest]," Hicks said. "You never say never, but as far as I'm concerned, it's going to be Rangers Ballpark for forever. It's going to be 'Welcome to baseball at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.' "
Anything is better than being associated with the financially troubled and often predator Ameriquest, but Rangers Ballpark doesn't flow quite right.
Who wants to bet the giant bell stays in left field, renamed Rangers Bell?
What a friggin joke. Gloryhole Park and Foreclosure Stadium of Arlington. Nice.
Hey,this is some good news!
The Rangers are kicking butt in spring training too. I can't wait for opening day!
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
Rangers plane comes straight into Arlington
By SALLY CLAUNCH
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
http://www.star-telegram.com/235/story/52846.html
ARLINGTON -- Despite the weather, the Texas Rangers team plane landed in Arlington for the first time ever Thursday, bringing the players back from training camp in Arizona.
The plane landed about 9 p.m. at Arlington Municipal Airport. It was met by hundreds of people who paid $35 apiece to enjoy barbecue and welcome the team. About 800 tickets were sold, although not everyone showed up in the rain.
Airport Manager Bob Porter said the city has always wanted the airport to have a higher profile, and having the team land there will help that.
Gregg Elkin, Rangers senior communications director, said the team plane usually lands at Love Field when it comes back from training camp.
"We wanted to do something different with the city of Arlington," he said. "They've always expressed an interest in the team coming home to Arlington."
Sally Claunch, 817-548-5566 sclaunch@star-telegram.com
The Dallas Observer cover story on Sosa is good. But my favorite part, as usual, are the quotes from manager Washington.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-0...ain-sammy/full
After Sosa paid up after betting 10 pushups that his BP hit would go out:
"Did you see him drop down in the dirt and pay up?" Rangers manager Ron Washington says moments later. "I know Sammy's gonna hit and help this team on the field. But all I've ever asked of him is to be a teammate. To forget all that poopy (he didn't say "poopy") from his past and just be a good teammate. He's been great. He's part of the family."
On special treatment:
"Our guys will try to help keep him grounded," Washington says. "But if he starts being a poopyhead (he didn't say "poopyhead", either), they won't have his back. When we first got here I told him, 'You're not getting special treatment. Keep yourself in check and don't let that old stuff flare up.' It's the only conversation we've had about it. I don't expect another one."
On Sosa's infamous taste in music:
"I don't care if they play music or what kind," he says. "It's the players' locker room. If they ask me to step in and fix a problem, I will. But until then, it's up to them to run it like they want."
Nice long stretch about Washington:
For the last four years this serene setting was a boot camp of overbearing rules and diabolical miscommunication. But this is not your father's Rangers spring training. Especially if your father is named Buck Showalter.
While the sphincter-tight Showalter strangled a talented clubhouse into a tomb of paranoid zombies, Washington has changed the culture faster than you can say Avery Johnson. Playing 162 games that count over the next six months, he realizes that every pitch of every inning of all 29 exhibitions can't be that damn important.
Seated in a plastic chair behind home plate and alongside bench coach Art Howe, Washington watches games sipping blue Powerade and devouring sunflower seeds. By the end of a game, the area around his feet is so littered with shells he appears as some sort of human bird feeder. In his office, and out of his cap, he looks like George Jefferson but sounds like Richard Pryor, communicating via humor or sarcasm or profanity. Yep, good ol' unabashed profanity.
He laments not drinking any of the 12 Amstel Lights stocked in his mini-fridge. He has an iPod as big as a Hyundai but has filled the 5,000-song monstrosity with only 300 of his faves—Aretha Franklin, Ludacris, Neville Brothers—because he "got tired" of downloading. And he has an opinion, usually an interesting one, on everything from music to movies to the concept of motels.
"If you open your door and step right into the parking lot," Washington says, "that's pretty freaking (he didn't say "freaking", but you knew that by now) cheesy."
Unburdened of Showalter's surliness, the Rangers are free. To express their awkward obsession with American Idol. To make fun of their skipper for wearing gray pants on white pants day. And even to pull pranks, like the one orchestrated by Washington and utility infielder Jerry Hairston that involved the Surprise Police Department and ended with catcher Gerald Laird in handcuffs and his teammates in stitches.
And more:
In addition to providing his players with a psychological booster chair, Washington promises more stolen bases, sacrifices and manufactured runs, giving Texas a chance to win games not just 11-2, but 3-2.
"Things are about to freaking (he didn't... aw, forget it) change around here," Washington says. "We've got a clubhouse full of winners. And we're going to win."
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Rangers throw a new pitch to fans
By ANDREA AHLES
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Posted on Mon, Apr. 02, 2007
http://www.star-telegram.com/110/story/55552.html
ARLINGTON -- Could you use some baseball?
The Texas Rangers certainly hope so.
The team has launched a marketing campaign to lure more people to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Billboards, TV ads and radio spots featuring the Rangers' new slogan, "You could use some baseball," started appearing around the Metroplex in December.
So far, ticket sales are up about 8 percent over last year's preseason sales, Rangers President Jeff Cogen said. In 2006, attendance topped 2.38 million, with 100,000 fewer tickets sold than in the 2005 season.
After surveying the fan base at the end of last season, the Rangers found one place in the Metroplex where ticket sales lagged: north central Dallas.
"We were doing very limited business out of there," Cogen said. "So we created a satellite office in Dallas, and we created some packages that may appeal to that market segment, which is typically higher income."
One package includes a valet parking pass, an all-you-can-eat buffet, free soft drinks and a leather seat in the air-conditioned Cuervo Club behind home plate. The cost for an 18-game plan is $2,030 per seat.
Cogen said the packages are selling well in the Dallas area as well as in Tarrant County. He added that if the Dallas ticket office continues to do well, the team might consider opening one in downtown Fort Worth.
The Rangers are also trying to attract more families by increasing their midweek game promotions. In addition to Dollar Hot Dog Nights on Wednesdays, the team is adding $2 T-Shirt Tuesdays and Thirsty Thursdays, when sodas cost $1.
Cogen said the team will produce 7,500 to 10,000 $2 T-shirts that will not be available in the Rangers' existing stores. Later in the season, fans will be able to vote online for players to appear on the shirts, he added. These midweek promotions usually boost attendance 10 percent to 25 percent, Cogen said.
And while the Rangers business office is focused on increasing ticket sales with a variety of promotions early in the season, Cogen said there are several issues he can't control that affect attendance in the back half of the year. For example, if the Rangers are winning, ticket sales are usually brisk.
"There are a lot of variables that have to do with on field performance, weather, and other competitive factors, so I can only plan through about August," Cogen said.
FOR COUCH POTATOES
Pitch F/X - Fox Sports created a graphic that broadcasters can use between batters to show the location, speed and break of pitches.
BRINGING 'EM IN
All-inclusive ticket packages - Offered a new VIP package that includes valet parking, all food and beverages, and seats in the air-conditioned Cuervo Club
"You could use some baseball" ad campaign - Spent close to $1 million on additional billboards, radio and TV spots for the new marketing plan, in addition to its usual $1 million in advertising
New ticket office - Opened an office in Dallas with seven employees
More promotional nights - Started $2 T-shirt Tuesdays and Thirsty Thursdays, with $1 soft drinks
AT THE STADIUM
Lights and sound - Changed 700 lights to Sylvania 1,500-watt metal halide bulbs to improve lighting for televised games and spent $1 million for a new sound system with 100 speakers and 178 amplifiers
Luxury suites - Refurbished 90 more suites; all suites have been upgraded in the past four years
Ticket kiosks - Installed eight automated machines by the ticket offices that fans can use to buy tickets or claim them from will call.
Closer parking - Added a 1,200-space lot (the M lot) south of the Siemens building
Andrea Ahles, 817-548-5523 aahles@star-telegram.com
Listening to the game (right now -- it's a day game!), the announcers noted that the Rangers have replaced the Ameriquest Bell with additional seating.
In honor of the former sponsor, these seats are available for 50c down, and 50c per inning for the first six innings. In the seventh inning, though, the ushers come around and give you a bill for $50, which you have to pay or else they'll throw you out.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Haha. That'd be a funny-as-hell promotion. Email that to Chuck Morgan.
Glad to see the Rangers were pretty much made a laughing stock tonight in Chicago. Way to be on the wrong side of a no-hitter!
By the power of greyskull!
We got 'em yesterday though. Anyway, this loss doesn't count any more than any other.Originally Posted by Geaux Tigers
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
Indeed, one no-hitter does not a season make, either way. The Rangers didn't stink any less when Nolan was pitching his no-nos.
I thought the previous game, with Sosa irking the WSox fans with his home-run dance (and Ian Kinsler, by contrast, running it out like it was a ground ball through the hole), was a great start. Tonight is supposed to have additional drama, with the Sox manager threatening beanballs and a pitcher on our side who puts the "anger" in RangerS.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Oh man I cant wait for tonights game.Ozzie used to be one of my favorite players back in the day.I'd like for him and Padilla to get after it.Who would win?
What would be ideal is if Padilla surprises everyone by just focusing on throwing the darned ball, and not letting the peripheral crap get in the way. Let Ozzie and his crew get all steamed up and off-balance wondering what's going to happen, and leave the Chicago reporters talking about that no-hitter all they want as the Rangers head to Oakland with another series win.
However, if there is an altercation, there's no way it can top Nolan Ryan's 6-hitter against Robin Ventura.
(if picture doesn't show up, go to the page I got it from)
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
I'm too disapointed at the Mavericks pathetic approach to the playoffs to even comment on the Ranger's ass kicking they took yesterday from the Yankees.
By the power of greyskull!
Yeah, for once I'm glad the Rangers hardly get mentioned when it's time for the sports news, always fourth behind the Cowboys, Mavs, and Stars.
But dang, even the Rangers haven't delivered the sort of collapse that the Mavericks did. Of course, it's hard to collapse when you never even get to your feet.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
As of 5/26/07, the Rangers now own the second worse record in Major League Baseball. Glad to see the got the winning out of their system back in spring training.
By the power of greyskull!
I will not attend or watch another Ranger game till they have a winning record.
That might be a few decades the way Hicks is running things into the ground.
By the power of greyskull!
I can't imagine what brings anyone to the ballpark now. Tonight's home loss to the Boston Red Sox sounded like it was coming from Fenway -- the crowd was cheering for Boston! The Ballpark is like Six Flags now, I guess -- people come from out of town to watch their team win.
The Rangers just opened an office in Uptown to enhance their Dallas ticket base. But if they can't take care of business in the AL West, one of the weakest divisions in baseball this year, then all those billboards will do is remind Dallasites that there's a loud sucking sound coming from Tarrant County.
On the post-game show, the host is openly asking whether there are problems in the clubhouse -- is there something going on with Ron Washington, who looked like the best thing to happen to the Rangers since Nolan Ryan? And Jamey Newberg is having to defend GM Jon Daniels and his management team against calls for their heads. But it may be that the only person who can fix the problem is the one that can't be fired -- owner Tom Hicks.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Welll, some people just like the sport. I'd much prefer the Rangers to be successful, but I'm going to watch them regardless.
I don't like Hicks myself, but I don't think it's his fault that almost all of the Rangers players are underperforming based on their past history.
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
That history is still a losing history. He deserves blame because we know what hasn't worked. We know why players don't come here. Yet, nothing changes.
Maybe with the Fort Worth Cats on one side and the Grand Prairie Dogs on the other, Hicks will feel the heat as baseball fans from both sides of the Metroplex find they have a choice. They can watch minor-league-quality baseball at The CorporateSellout Ballpark In Arlington, or they can watch minor-league baseball with authentic minor-leaguers for half the drive and a quarter of the cost.
(I mean, they've GOT to call them the Prairie Dogs. Don't you think?)
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
By history I meant the current individual players' history. About the only one who was doing better than last year was Blalock, and he's out for months now.
As for the team history...that's true. I think it's a bit of a mystery as to what would bring in good starting pitching since money doesn't seem to be enough. Maybe a great pitching coach or a stadium redesign. It's not like the Rangers haven't tried, it's just that whatever they've offered hasn't convinced anyone.
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
The Rangers will never draw pitchers to that ballpark. Too hot AND too much of a hitter's park.
Cause or effect? Is it a hitter's park because of its dimensions, or because the Rangers never can get any decent pitching?
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
The team ERA is over 6 now and they don't play all their games in Arlington. Hicks is obvisouly still scared to death to pony up the money for decent pitching after the Chan Ho Park debacle and will simply keep the team on the same track until he sells.
It will be another 4-5 years until we get to see the effects of this year's draft and the young pitchers the Rangers selected.
By the power of greyskull!
haha
They will deal them away.................again.
Its not like Hicks hasn't offered big money to pitchers to come here. They never come here though. No respectable pitcher wants to pitch in such a live park that's such a grind to pitch in heat wise. There's no equivalent to it in the league and the players know it.
Ok, 2nd half, here we go.
The Rangers looked pretty darn good in June. Shame about those other months...
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if the Rangers play decently in the 2nd half, they might have enough hope for next year that they don't start dumping talent left and right.
Of course there's the other problem that, outside of the Rangers, the Angels are looking pretty good for the next few seasons, and the AL Central is awfully crowded with good teams that could take the wildcard. Is even a "good" Rangers team going to be enough?
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
Rangers test $29 tickets with unlimited concessions
10:47 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 21, 2007
By SUZANNE MARTA / The Dallas Morning News
smarta@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...s.30b6afe.html
Whenever possible, Juan Salazar tries to eat before he heads to the ballpark.
The Arlington resident and Texas Rangers fan enjoys ballpark favorites such as hot dogs and nachos, but between him and his wife, "it doesn't take long to spend $30 on food," he said.
Now Mr. Salazar and like-minded Rangers fans who dread the sticker shock at the concession stand have another option: all-inclusive seats.
On Thursday, in their series against the Seattle Mariners, the Rangers will begin testing an all-you-can-eat ticket.
For fans, it's a way to avoid shelling out every time they get thirsty or can't resist a hot dog.
And for the Rangers, who have one of the worst records in the American League, it's a way to fill a section that typically has plenty of empty seats.
Early demand was so strong that the team has added a second test for next month during its series against the Baltimore Orioles and is making plans for next season.
"We wanted to give fans another reason to come to a Rangers game," said Andrew Silverman, the Rangers' executive vice president of sales and marketing.
The Rangers' 600-seat all-inclusive section in the left-field Lexus Club Terrace level is sold out for Saturday night and is nearly sold out for Thursday and Friday. If the test is successful, the section could grow next year to 1,000 seats.
All-inclusive offerings have long been available to high-end ticket holders, whose hospitality suites often include food service.
The Rangers included a buffet this year with the 76 plush leather seats sold in the air-conditioned Jose Cuervo Club. The ticket price, previously $80, was boosted to $105.
But all-you-can-eat tickets haven't generally been available for middle-market customers, or the ones sitting in the cheap seats, until this year.
The Rangers' all-you-can-eat test program boosts the price to $29 from $23.
The test follows a new program by the Los Angeles Dodgers and similar trials by the Orioles, Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Royals.
The early results have been so good that several teams are considering making them part of their pitch for season-ticket and mini-plan sales next year.
...
^ Maybe the Rangers can also win 30-3 again. : )
That's the nice thing about having a team that perpetually stinks. Winning teams just win more than they lose -- how boring is that? Teams with nothing left to lose do strange and interesting things, like setting records that will show up as trivia answers. "What team scored the most runs in a 9-inning game?" "What team did Nolan Ryan pitch for when he set the career strikeout record?" "What team has only won a single post-season game in its entire Major League history?"
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
What team(s) still got a save in a game they won by 27 runs?! ; )
Ahh, it was an Awesome Game. At least the Rangers are hard to ignore. they're always doing something unbelievable...frequently on the bad side but not always.
I remember way back in '96 when the Rangers delivered their last thumpin'. One 16-run inning propelled them to a 26-7 win over....the Orioles, hehheh. That game saw the pitching debut (and finale) of infielder Manny Alexander.
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
After scratching their way to within a game of third place, the Rangers are looking forward to next year. Staying: the GM (Jon Daniels, still the youngest in the majors) and the manager (Ron Washington, who says the players' honeymoon is now officially over). Leaving: their marketing guy, replaced by well-liked Gold Glove catcher Jim Sundberg.
Sundberg will be Texas' lead spokesman
While I'm sure Hicks has perfectly good reasons for the change, I'm struck by one blindingly obvious fact: a winning record and a playoff appearance (with more than one win this time, please) would do more for the Rangers' marketing efforts than anything Sundberg hopes to accomplish with billboards and visits to sick kids.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Ah yes...
Well, it's a good point of debate whether or not the Rangers actually made process toward that goal this year.
The sad truth of the matter is that most of the problems would be solved by the same thing the Rangers have always lacked...solid, consistant, starting pitching. Now, obviously a lot of teams have been bad for a long time, but for how many teams has the major problem been the same the whole time?
Now, the Rangers may, MAY, have made some progress there with all the young pitchers that started this year. Unfortunately, the veteran starters are hopeless. So it could still be a while. :mumbles:
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
But nobody has starting pitching anymore -- three AL teams (including the Rangers, obviously) went the entire season without anyone pitching a complete game. Their bullpen really stepped up -- until the very last, the Rangers were perfect when they went into the late innings with a lead.
Or maybe that's a case of "sample size too small".
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
The plot thickens, according to a blog entry at the Dallas Observer.
Last Tuesday Gregg Elkin organized a season-ending press conference. Wednesday morning he was fired. By Jim Sundberg, who was made just last week the team's executive vice-president of communications and public relations.The rest of the article is here: Another Texas Rangers Loss. Hey, look at it this way -- maybe Hicks figures he can win a few games if he becomes unpredictable and wacky, like NY's Stienbrenner or down-home hero Mark Cuban.
“He just walked in and said, ‘See ya later,’’’ Elkin tells Unfair Park. “He told me that Mr. Hicks was giving him a great opportunity and that I no longer fit the team’s vision, whatever that means.” Elkin said owner Tom Hicks later sent him an e-mail, but basically he was abruptly shown the door without warning -- or a good reason.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
The DMN's Kevin Sherrington, looking at the all-expansion NL playoffs, has a stat:
Question: How many major league teams have never won a postseason series?He goes on to vent, which is all we can do until March, and notes "Texas is agonizing proof that it takes more than money to win, unless you're thinking about greasing the umpires." Worth a read: Playoffs? Rangers are always out
Answer: Only two now. One is Tampa Bay, a team that just compiled the worst record in baseball and finished last in its division for the ninth time in 10 seasons, a stretch so unremittingly bad, so foul, so despicable that the organization will effectively conduct a public exorcism next month when it officially removes the word "Devil" from its name.
The other member of the Zero Club is the Rangers, who don't plan a name change, although witness protection might not be a bad idea.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
One thing that I will miss about Dallas, is going to a spur-of-the-moment Ranger game on a weekday, paying $5 for a cheap seat, and waltzing right down the aisle of section 27 to sit a couple rows from the field. The Rangers sucked, but baseball is baseball.
In Chicago, this is what I'm dealing with.
Three blocks from Wrigley, and I can't get tickets.
By next season, we'll have not just one but two minor league teams -- the FW Cats and the Grand Prairie War Pigs, I mean Air Hogs. Isn't there a minor-league team in Chicago -- White Stockings, or something like that?
(look at me, a Rangers fan making fun of *any* other team!)
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Great article in Sports Illustrated on Josh Hamilton's amazing comeback from the depths of Hell to the top of the Major Leagues: The Super Natural
He is sitting in the video room at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, speaking in his soft North Carolina drawl, a plug of tobacco inside his left cheek. He's wearing a T-shirt and shorts, and the 26 tattoos he acquired during his years bingeing on booze and drugs are exposed. Satan's face gazes out from the crook of his left elbow, blue flames shoot down both his forearms; he now regrets getting every one of them.
Hamilton rubs his eyes and half yawns. The previous night's game, a 13-12 win over the Mariners, had lasted more than four hours; in the third inning he bludgeoned a 447-foot home run that landed a few feet from a couple's table in the ballpark's outfield dining area. Later on this mid-May day, in the eighth inning against Seattle, Hamilton will crash into the centerfield wall to make a spectacular running catch, preventing the tying run from scoring in a 5-2 Rangers victory. Three days later, against the Astros, Hamilton will go 5 for 5, including his ninth and 10th homers of the season, and drive in six runs. It's during stretches like this that Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler can say with a straight face, "Josh Hamilton is the best baseball player to ever walk the planet," and you almost believe it.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
After being shut out of national TV coverage entirely, the Hamiltons, I mean the Rangers, are suddenly a hot property to Fox and ESPN: Hot air: Josh Hamilton adds to Texas Rangers' clout with networks
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
The Rangers are in first, and because of that they're in the odd situation of playing an important series this weekend vs. the second-place Angels.
Since the Angels are probably the only other team in the West who could finish in first, the Rangers have a chance to add to their argument for legitimance (relevence?) by putting on a good show against them.
It's probably too early - or late - to be optimistic about the playoffs, but it's still kind of neat.
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
I have also heard that attendance is slowly creeping up. I wonder if it is because they are starting to win?
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
I had the privilege of witnessing Padilla's gem last week at New Comiskey. The only thing I loved more than the win was of a true-to-form Chicago hot dog vendor calling "I got hot dogs here and I ain't doin' this for my health!"
If the Rangers keep this up, next week I'll rent a car and make the 4 hour road trip to Detroit.
Probably. But they've just been a lot less painful to watch too. The pitchers work faster and go deeper into games. The defense is solid, and there just seem to be a lot fewer stupid things happening.
Consumers are not [the same as] citizens, and when a system pretends that they are, peculiar and even perverse things happen to decision making and democracy... - Benjamin Barber
Absolutely right. They have been fun.
I was being more of a smart ass about attendance going up. I stand on the side that states attendance increases with wins.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
105,000 over the weekend at the Ballpark, largest 3 day attendance since '07.
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