A BIG Hamilton Achievement
According to Jamey Newberg of The Newberg Report:
“MLB has just named Josh Hamilton the American League Player of the Month for May. He is the first American League player in the 35-year history of the monthly honors to win the award in both April and May in a given season. Eric Davis (1987), Bobby Bonilla (1988), and Mark McGwire (1998) achieved the feat in the National League.”
Time to start the ol’ “Records Josh Hamilton Has Broken” scoreboard.
There’s a possibility they’d run out of numbers.
I understand the, “WHOA, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, he’s got some history, you can’t trust him long term….”
As an addict, he will never overcome his addiction. The best he can do is “keep it in check.”
Case in point:
After keeping his cocaine and heroin addiction in check for 20 years Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler checked into rehab a couple weeks ago after falling off the wagon he’d ridden for so long (click here).
I personally feel Josh has begun to whip his affliction for many reasons but I’ll list the most pertinent in my opinion…..
First, he’s established many “check points” in his day to day living. Meaning he avoids putting himself into any sort of scenario that could turn on his craving and put him in harms way. I know he’s said he doesn’t think about it that much, but when you’ve put close to four million dollars up your nose and/or in your lungs via crack pipe, it rewires your brain. It is a proven fact that all types of addiction can result in this, however, abuse of stimulants (cocaine, methamphetamines) cause the worst damage.
Next, and without trying to bring religion into the discussion, he is a very, very religious man. The basis of most recovery programs is the realization of a higher power, whether it be a door knob or the Man himself. I’ll take the Man himself over an inanimate object thank you.
Finally, he has a great support system who knows everything he’s gone through (see here). There is no hiding behind lies and mistruths with the people who are behind him. They know him through and through and would catch any BS in next to no time.
Nolan, JD, THicks……time to sign this cornerstone centerfielder to a 6-7 year deal.
In order to make everyone feel at ease (if legally compliant) include ”Out Clauses” for the team should Josh relapse prompting action from MLB.
I’m sure the wheels are in motion but sometimes you gotta remind folks.
Go Rangers!
Sell! Sell! Sell!
Talking a little hypothetical here. Bare with me and play along.
Let’s say you wake up on the trading deadline which is July 31st. It’s 8 am, it’s already 100 degrees outside, my boy will be 1 month and 12 days old, the Rangers are 10 games over .500 and tied with the Angels of North America/California/Los Angeles and last but not least Anaheim.
See, the scenario isn’t that big a stretch is it? Ok, let’s say they’re 2 games back of the Angels and tied for the Wild Card…..
So…..are we buyers, or are we sellers?
Now, back to reality…
See the dude in the picture with the “ARB 056″ hanging from his neck……that better be Jon Daniels and he better be selling hard, selling like Blake from “Glengarry Glen Ross”.
If we did find ourselves in this hypothetical position it would be tough not pulling the trigger. Scores of fans would be crying for us to buy, radio shows would be screaming to buy, columnists and beat writers alike would be shouting to buy.
But this is what “the plan” is all about, right?. Sitting on your prospects and nurturing them into anything from serviceable major leaguers to all stars. It is what baseball is about now. The frivolous spending of yesterday is long gone (besides the bigmarket boys, you know who they are) as small to mid market teams must develop their own in order to compete year in and year out.
A byproduct of “the plan” is taking some lumps and criticism. I don’t know about you but I could deal with some short term pain in order to achieve long term success. We haven’t won in almost a decade, so what’s one or two more years, right?
Will we be in that position? Not sure, but it scares me that some in the local media have suggested we become deadline spenders. They reason this by saying our minor league system is deep enough that we could put a nice package together and not deplete our system.
Having a stockpile of minor league talent is a great position to be in isn’t it? I don’t remember ever having that luxury before, and with time, it will only get deeper and deeper. So why ruin it?
Now is not the time to package up prospects for a 3rd or 4th starter who will be gone a year after his service, one who has the distinct possibility of withering away in the moronic heat we have in Texas. We don’t buy because I don’t have the faith in our organization right now, particularly in the way they judge young talent, mainly the way they judge young PITCHING talent.
So, in this short post I beg the Rangers to Sell, Sell, Sell…..if they don’t know how just call this guy.
Be good.
Ryan A
Ryan A’s Proclamation
Josh Hamilton is in the top five when speaking of best players in the game.
I am proclaiming that he has the best tools of ANYONE today.
The sky is the limit for our young Hammer (Hank Blalock officially lost this nomenclature the minute Hamilton started taking BP during Spring Training.)
Click here to see his monster night.
It doesn’t show his first at bat which is the one I was most impressed with. He lined a ball the opposite way for a single. Nothing real impressive, but for someone with his power and size, to be able to stay on the ball serving them into left field, is something else.
Then watch his at bat when he beats out a close-to-routine grounder.
Oh, and check out around 55 seconds, right when the ball leaves the bat, the sound the crowd makes, this is what it’s all about, the “Buzz” he creates.
His natural, God-given talents are beyond ridiculous. Don’t forget he’s 6’4″ hovering around 240.
For the record, and I”ve said this a million times, I don’t care if Volquez wins 15-18 games, I make that trade 10 times out of 10…..just to emphasize it a little more, I make it 10,000,000 times out of 10,000,000.
Hamilton will win more games by being out there everyday. Hamilton is a special player, one that doesn’t come around all too often.
I’m going to the game tonight and I am actually beyond excited, this is the first time I”ve felt this way in a looooong time folks.
I haven’t even talked about his defense yet. I’ll save that for another time, I don’t want people thinking I have some sort of mancrush on the Hammer or anything……….
Be good-
Ryan A
My Turn
BASEBALL FACTS:
Pitching wins ballgames.
Pitching wins championships.
Pitching will beat good hitting 9 times out of 10.
and
No Free Agent Pitchers want to pitch in Arlington, TX so we have to raise our own.
These are all pretty well known facts. I know them, you know them and well, I guess Jon Daniels doesn’t know them….
Armando Galarraga, John Danks, Edinson (Edison, Jose Reyes) Volquez, and Chris Young.
Having a pretty good year collectively huh?
All of the above were traded by Jon Daniels since JD got here.
This is not an entry aimed at slamming JD, it’s more of a therapeutic entry. Seeing these guys nightly on Sportscenter grows tiresome.
Now, I’ll make the Volquez for Hamilton deal ten times out of ten. Josh Hamilton is a freak, we had no studs coming up in the minors who were outfielders, our OF depth on the farm is pretty weak from what I understand.
But, we sure did a good job of righting Edinson Volquez after a dismal 2006. Mark Connor sent him all the way to High A ball just as he did Roy Holladay in 2001.
So, props to the coaching staff in righting a 4-pitch maestro whose nickname is Pedrito (Little Pedro).
I’m trying to be a glass half-full guy here.
Armando Galarraga is 2-1 with a 3.07 ERA in 5 starts. In 29.1 innings he has 21 strikeouts and has held opponents to a paltry (favorite baseball adjective) .187 batting average.
I’ll take that.
I don’t even know why we got rid of him. I’m thinking it was some sort of log jam on the 40-man (mismanagement???) that caused us to try and have him clear waivers. I think Detroit scooped him up on the cheap, like Chris Shelton cheap. OINTMENT PLEASE!!!!
Next is John Danks, aka the lefthanded guy we drafted with our number one pick (#9 overall) in 2003….and who we traded to the Chicago White Sox for Brandon McCarthy, who may be made of glass.
Danks is 3-3 with a 2.74 ERA in 8 starts holding hitters to a .236 clip.
McCarthy, well, google him. Actually, just click on his name, but you won’t find any 2008 numbers for him….
I can picture Kenny Williams (White Sox General Manager) running to the phone to accept that call from JD that eve of Christmas Eve 2006. The same way I see George Costanza running over those women and kids as he evacuated that apartment after the fire alarm went off.
And finally, Chris Young.
I think this was JD’s first trade while manning the ship. Not a good way to start out is being kind.
You get my point here.
There are lots of prospects in our system that are supposed to be coming up the next few years, however, I don’t know that they can equate to the above guys we’ve lost.
In order to find out and keep them here, Nolan Ryan may have to cut JD’s trigger finger off to keep this from happening again.
Let me know Big Tex, I’ve got the chloroform-soaked rag ready.
Next up: Brandon Boggs, maybe….
Pitching and defense really does win games….weird
As a lifelong baseball fan I’ve always heard this phrase, as a Ranger-lifer, I’ve rarely if ever seen it executed.
It was so foreign to me and the rest of the Ranger faithful. Even during the runs of the late 90′s our staff was below average, what got them to the postseason were some pitchers that would go into the mid innings backed by a defense that did not kick many balls…oh yeah, and an offense that massacred those standing 60′ 6″ away.
May rolls around and all we can do is forget about April. Which by all accounts was worse than brutal…I actually can’t come up with a descriptive word to describe April…
Staff ERA is 1.84…really? Goodness.
Batting Average Against is .197….uhhhh, what?
We’ve won the last 5 and are 8-2 for the month correcting our overall record to 18-20 putting us 4 games behind Oakland and Los Angeles Anaheim California whatever…..
Any coincidence? Darn tootin’ there is.
People were calling for Wash’s head on a plater. I was about to become one of them. It’s amazing what some wins will do. I think he’s learning on the job, just as JD has. Have they been perfect? By all means, a big hearty “No.”
But given what Wash had to work with at the beginning of the year was unfair, now they’ve called up some kids who have energized both the team and the fans.
This is what it was supposed to be about….rebuild.
It didn’t look like it when we had Frank the Cat, Marlon Byrd and Ben Broussard out there every day.
Now we can call it rebuilding.
It is fun to watch the kids, but most importantly, it’s fun to watch these kids win.
Next Up: Brandon Boggs…promise.
Sinkers, Sinkers, and more Sinkers
The 2-seamed fastball, aka “sinker”, isn’t as sexy as it’s flat, 4-seamed brother but they are just as, if not more, effective.
The 4-seamer is a pitch of power, a pitch that challenges hitters, if you’ve got a good one, you use it and you don’t care if they know it’s coming, ala Curt Schilling in the beginning of this century. He’d stand up there and would basically tip the hitter as he would his catcher during pre-inning warmups. Here it is meat, hit it if you can……
A good hard 2-seamer can sometimes look like one of those seen on Intellivision Baseball, moving everywhere, hard to control. Although not as “manly” as the 4-seamer, it is deadlier because the pitch bores in and down on hitters only allowing the batter to beat the ball in the ground. (Righty vs. Righty or Lefty vs. Lefty)
If you play in Texas, and want to be successful, a sinker is a must. Thanks to the jet stream at the Ballpark you can fart on one and put it in the seats.
Ground balls aren’t cooler than Strikeouts, but they’re more economical and keep the team in the game. The more ground balls the better chance for a double play.
The Rangers’ starting rotation is heavy on sinker-ball pitchers.
Crazy Eyes Padilla has a nasty, nasty 4-seamer and an even nastier sinker. If Padilla used it more and stopped relying on his offspeed stuff he would be more effective and more economical with his pitch count, getting further into games and resting the bullpen.
Lefty Kason Gabbard, the guy with the batting helmet lodged between his vertebrae, is a guy I love, he is the typical “crafty” leftie, but he isn’t a thumber. He will come at righties and put fastballs right under their fists. His sinker is good, not overpowering, but when located the way he knows how it is devastating. I worry about his toughness, especially after the Sexson tussle his injury was listed as, “Bruised Knees” in some media outlets.
Scott Feldman, you know the guy that threw laredo-style last year. Well, Mark Conner worked with him moving him into a 3/4 arm slot. The results have been good thus far, take out his early season work out of the bullpen and he’s got some great numbers. This guy’s sinker is crazy, it is hard for him to control at times. If you look at his numbers from the windup vs. the stretch there is no doubt that he needs to move to the stretch exclusively. It quiets his body and allows him to corral that wicked 2-seamer.
Sir Sidney Ponson, who is 2-0 in 3 starts with a 1.33 ERA, has a great sinker and hopefully can keep this up. This is no doubt his last shot in the bigleagues and he knows it. He works fast and he uses his sinker almost exclusively, more importantly he’s keeping that sinker down where it needs to be. Ponson was suprised after learning that he received a fine after the Rangers – Mariners fracas. Below is from Dallas Morning News blog:
“Ponson said he was fined for “being too aggressive” while tangling with Ranger-plunking Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez. Ponson said he simply challenged Hernandez to punch him if he wanted to take a shot at somebody.
Ponson declined to say how much he was fined (UPDATE: $500), but he vowed to get his money’s worth the next time the benches clear.
“The next time I get off the bench I will whip somebody’s ***,” said Ponson, who let a much worse word fly a few times during his chat with the media in the Rangers’ clubhouse.”"
I love this guy!!!
Okay, so I’m not expecting anything here. But, it is fun to watch a team pitch and play good D. This is all I ever wanted from this club, was to play like pros and rebuild for a better future.
Next Up: Bradon Boggs
Big Sidney!
Well, whodathunkit? Sidney Ponson is back. And I”m really trying not to overreact…..but, could we have found “lighting in a bottle?”
Certainly I, nor anyone I know expected such a resurgence from this big time perfromer of yesterday gone.
Sir Sidney (he was made a knight by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands) is only 31 and not far removed from a really good year….in 2003 he went 14-6 with a 3.77 E.R.A. This was during the backend of the steroid era, which are impressive numbers given the amount of bull semen the hitters were ingesting back then.
It, of course, was his contract year and he hasn’t done much of anything in baseball worth noting. However, off the field he’s been much more noticable, racking up a couple of DWI’s (both in 2005) and I think he knocked out an Aruban judge as well.
Seems as though Sidney has put down the bottle for a little while after realizing…..”Man, I’m kinda pissing this away here…..time to put down the Jack and Little Debbie variety pack and get my big butt in gear.”
I wonder if he’s approached Josh Hamilton or anything like that, Josh knows a thing or two of tying one on, maybe this is Josh’s first reclaimation project? Or maybe I’m being a little tabloidish…..either way, welcome back Sidney Ponson.
Pronk II?
Jason Botts, he of 38 at bats in the 2008 season (and only 282 for his career), has been DFA’d (Designated for Assignment).
And understandably, he wants the Rangers to trade (good luck) or give him his outright release.
Botts, 28, grew up in the Rangers farm system, all of nine years. He should want to get out of the Rangers organization, he deserves to start anew with a different franchise.
Question is, does anyone want to give him a chance?
As big as this guy is (6’5″, 250 lbs) his bat has never developed the thud that alot of people expected. He is a switch hitter with a long-swing, who is slow-footed. Oh and he’s also considered a defensive liability.
As bad as that sounds, we had another guy like that at one time, his name was Travis Hafner (aka Pronk)….heard of him?
For JD’s sake, oh brother, if Botts turns into Pronk II then expect the natives to come down I-30 carrying torches looking to burn the stadium down.
For Botts sake, I like the shot he took at the Rangers when learning of his demotion. You can’t really argue with what he said because, well, it’s true.
Godspeed Jason Carl Botts.
Moving Forward…
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Se-ren-i-ty: noun – a disposition free from stress or emotion
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Ahhh, the Serenity Prayer, a prayer said and heard almost as much as the Lord’s Prayer. The Serenity Prayer is most commonly heard from church parishioners and those practicing or in search of recovery at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
I am recommending that all Ranger fans learn the four verses above. Not to make you a better person, but to make it through the rest of the season, or 139 more games.
Our farm teams are no doubt punishing all who are in front of them, however, our Big League boys are being micturated upon nightly.
I know it stinks that our team is not doing well, actually, they are terrible right now.
The most frustruating part is that they did not build on the hot finish they had last year.
Entering into the season I felt we could atleast build on that and hover around .500, a great feat given what Wash and staff had to work with on the 25-man roster.
I’m going to the game on the 30th, against the Royals. I am debating on making and taking signs, perhaps even going as the ol’ “papersack headed fan.”
No way I’d do that, a) my wife wouldn’t let me and b) my wife wouldn’t let me and c) you guessed it, my wife wouldn’t let me.
I feel sorry for Wash. 185 or so games into his career and he’s already got to deal with a website calling for his head. As I’ve mentioned before, he’s a great baseball man and he’s been looking for this oppurtunity since the day he became a big league coach so it’s human nature to feel for the guy.
But, baseball is a business and business is all about “What have you done for me lately?”
I’m a fan of the Rangers, I take abuse from my friends on a daily basis claiming I’m a Ranger apologist. So be it, however, if the boys ever become the franchise they are working to become the tides will turn, I will be the one showering abuse their way.
It’s hard being a Ranger fan, but someone’s gotta do it, right?
rylonvortex
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