I would like to thank Cuyler and Z for their new adds the last couple days. I'm sure we are the only three reading this thing, but it sure is fun isn't it?
Okay, down to business. Ranger talk. The rangers dropped another one tonight 12-9 or something like that to the vaunted Angels. Before I talk about the rangers, I'll discuss the clear-cut favorite (two days ago i though the west was wide open). Even if their starters are average (and with the exception of colon they are), once they get to the bullpen with Shields, Donnelly, and KROD it's game over. KROD is just nasty and should be the most dominant closer in baseball very soon. The angels offense could be downright scary this year. Vlad has gotten a hit in all 24 games against the rangers which is a crazy streak, Orlando Cabrera looks like a huge upgrade over david eckstein right now, jeff devannon is filling in nicely at DH, and chone figgins may be a terror on the basepaths and be a good utility guy.
Back to the rangers, I am not too worried about our starters yet (bet against Chan Ho tomorrow if you are not opposed to betting against the rangers). Chris Young has looked very shaky but the rest of the staff has looked serviceable to this point. I am worried about our bullpen and am counting the days until Francisco and Almanzer get back which should be shortly. Our lineup looks like it is going to be pretty stout this year. But as always, there are some negatives.
Positives:
-- Lots of WALKS (2nd in the majors despite the small sample size). Our OBP should be markedly higher this year which in all probability (see Baseball Prospectus) means more runs for our lineup.
--Dave Dellucci -- The "Godfather" continues to play like this and he will gain a cult following among rangers fans, well maybe just Marcus and I. We were brainstorming ideas for a group to rival the already famous hank's homies out at the ballpark. I had the very cheesy "the barajas bunch". But i have to admit to liking Marcus' idea of "Dellucci's goons".
--Rod Barajas offense - Admit it, the guy is hitting the ball so far better than anyone could have anticipated. Of course, there is the issue of his very suspect knocking down balls and catching plays at the plate.
--Sori, Hank, Young, and Tex -- These guys should produce all year. If any of them (besides maybe soriano because kinsler can step up) gets hurt, this season is over.
--Adrian Gonzalez -- In his limited abs to this point, I think he's a keeper.
Negatives
--Bullpen - I can't really single anyone out (besides "gas can" RA Dickey). If our bulppen ended being really lucky with our bulpen last year, then this is going to be a long season. Because our starters are not good enough to win games for us. Almanzar and Francisco (I'm praying) coming back should help us stabilize the pen and allow us to win games late. Time to wake up Coco
--Gary Matthews, Jr. - I love GMJ, but if he continues to hit like this, it may time to call Nix back up and start rotating gary again around the outfield
--Mench - He has looked overmatched at the plate so far. I'm not overly worried yet because he seems like a slow starter
Overall impressions so far, I am not going to panic yet because we are only 8 games into the season. But if we do get our top 2 setup men back and we still aren't playing better baseball, then my expectations for this season are going to diminsh very quickly. I still think we can win this division and until shown otherwise, I will not change my mind.
While we are on baseball talk, I thought I'd go ahead and go off on my weekly rant:
Can ESPN get over itself with this CONSTANT discussion about Derek Lowe and Dave Roberts at fenway yesterday. I have heard no one talk about this with the exception of the talking heads on the alleged "sports leader". So many other great storylines out of Fenway yesterday (johnny pesky, the bill russell, bruschi, bobby orr, richard seymour quartet) and all ESPN can talk about it is the pointless discussion on Lowe / Roberts putting a red sox jersey on for 45 minutes.
ESPN reminds me of the railroad industry in that the network can afford to be so cocky because you have a true monopoly with sports fans. As much as hate to admit this becuase I think Ric Renner is a cheese dick and fox sports is far from perfect, I admit that I find myself watching the Best Damn sports show only because i get so sick of the product ESPN puts out. I don't see anything stopping ESPN in the near future, but we can still hope that the network will continue to put out the best product they can. That's all I ask.
While we are on baseball talk, I will give you my top 5 uniforms in the major leagues:
1) Dodgers -- I hate the dodgers, but they got the best damn uniforms in the game. Classy
2) Yanks -- If I didn't hate the yankees so much, they would be #1.
3) Tigers -- Maybe it goes back to the Tigers hat Ice Cube wore in boyz n the hood, but I love these uniforms. TIVO alert -- If you have not checked out the HBO series on Detroit's world series win over the Cardinals in the late 60s bringing a city together in the midst of turmoil, you should check it out.
4) White Sox -- I put their unis here because they became the standard for the very cool expansion team unis, Marlins and Rockies, who easily could have been on the list themselves.
5) Cardinals -- It's a homer pick sure, but you have to admit these unis are classic. My personal favorite are thier home white on white. Great throwbacks to the baby blue '82 unis.
That's all i got....
T
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