Rangers are making some noise in the AL West. June 4, 2008
Posted by misterbaseball in Texas Rangers.add a comment
Don’t look now but the Texas Rangers are at .500 with a record of 30-30, 6 games behind the division leading Angels. This time last season the Rangers were sitting with a record of 20-37, 16 games behind the division leader. The Rangers were duplicating last year’s slow start until rumors started swirling about about the possibility of Manager Ron Washington being let go. The Rangers had a player’s only meeting on April 25th that has apparently lit a fire under the team. Since that meeting Texas is 22-14 sitting in third place behind Oakland.
A big part of the Rangers new found success has been their starting pitching. Starting pitcher Vicente Padilla has lead the charge back to .500 with several strong pitching performances. Although Padilla is on the bereavement list at the moment, so far this season he is 7-2 with a 3.67 ERA in 73.2 innings. Vicente
is putting up these numbers after having a horrible 2007 season and he is doing it in a hitters ballpark. The rest of the rotation has come through over the past month with strong outings from Sidney Ponson, Scott Feldman, Kevin Millwood, A.J. Murray, Doug Mathis, and Kason Gabbard.
The Rangers offense has put up huge numbers during their winning streak. Center-fielder Josh Hamilton leads the world in RBI’s, he is in the top ten in home runs and batting average. Hamilton is batting .329 with 17 homers and 67 RBI’s. His numbers represent legitimate MVP consideration along with a probable starting role on the American League All-Star Team. He isn’t the only one producing offensively for the Rangers. Right-fielder David Murphy and DH Milton Bradley are adding some punch to the offense. Murphy was a former first-round draft pick out of the Red Sox organization who came over in the Gagne deal. Murphy got a chance in spring training to win the starting right field job and win it he did. Murphy is batting .292 with 7 home runs and 39 RBI’s. Milton Bradley has also 
added some fire power to the offense by hitting .323 with 11 home runs and 36 RBI’s. Bradley has always been viewed as a great talent but injuries and anger management problems have kept him from realizing his potential. Hopefully, for the Rangers and Bradley, he can put his previous troubles in the past. The Rangers have a strong middle of the infield with perennial All-Star Michael Young and Ian Kinsler. Texas has a good catching tandem with Gerald Laird and Jarod Saltalamacchia. Both catchers could start for almost any team in the majors. The rest of the offense is solid and as the Texas weather heats up look for them to put plenty of crooked numbers on the scoreboard.
Texas may not win the AL West but they are definitely going to make things interesting the rest of the way. There are a lot of good things going on within the Rangers organization. They recently hired Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan as Team President. Ryan has been successful in everything he has done from his professional baseball career to his business endeavors. The first decision that Ryan made was to keep Ron Washington as his head coach. So far it looks like that move has paid off lets hope the Rangers can keep up their winning ways and make a run at the post-season.
Men of Faith May 24, 2008
Posted by misterbaseball in Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers.add a comment
In Major League Baseball there are players who suffer injuries on a fairly routine basis. Many times injuries come due to collisions, misplayed line-drives, or any number of circumstances. Rarely do we see an opposing player show genuine concern for their opponents.
On Wednesday night Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols smacked a line-drive in the face of Padres hurler Chris Young. As soon as time was called Pujols rushed to the mound to check on Young. Pujols, a professing Christian, began to pray along with Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. As much as we hate to see someone injured it is refreshing to see players gather together and lift up their concerns to the Lord.
Last season a young man by the name of Josh Hamilton came out of no where to contend for the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Hamilton, a former first round draft pick, was a rule five draft pick by
the Cincinnati Reds. Josh had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse before making a comeback last
season. After many attempts to get sober Josh decided that he couldn’t do it alone. He decided the only way to turn his life around was to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Now Josh is a role model to people from all different walks of life. Not only is Josh a positive role model, he is also vying for the coveted "Triple Crown" for the Texas Rangers this season. XM’s "Baseball This Morning" did several interviews with Hamilton last season and instead of talking about baseball he wanted to talk about his relationship with Jesus. His success is secondary in importance to his faith which is a rarity in our society today. Josh has a wonderful testimony and God is using him to reach others through baseball.
There are others around baseball who have been outspoken about their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Last year’s National League Champion, Colorado Rockies, had several players who spoke candidly about their faith. Rockies first baseman Todd Helton and left fielder Matt Holliday were very upfront, during their incredible post-season run, about their relationship with Christ. Former Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell was very instrumental in coordinating church services for Major League players through a ministry called Baseball Chapel. Baseball
Chapel has a website, www.baseballchapel.org that lists a number of players who participate in their ministry. This website has personal testimonies and ministry opportunities in the game of baseball. Among those mentioned on the website are Angels outfielder Garett Anderson, Tigers closer Todd Jones, Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran, and Padres pitcher Jake Peavy. Two books that are a must read for the "Christian Baseball Fan" are Safe at Home and Safe at Home 2. These books can be purchased at most Christian book stores. Also Fellowship of Christian Athletes has a site www.fca.org with information about sports and players. There are a lot of good resources out there that bring sports and faith to the forefront. With so many negitive things portrayed in the media it was encouraging to see Pujols and Gonzalez showing their faith on the field of battle.
Wild Wild West April 19, 2008
Posted by misterbaseball in LA Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers.add a comment
The American League West only has four teams in its division, yet
it continues to have fierce competition among those teams each season.
The Angels have been the most successful team in recent years winning
the American League West in 2004, 2005 and 2007. But don’t rule out
the Mariners, A’s and
Rangers.
have a talented lineup and are now the 6th most valuable franchise in
baseball this last season. They possess a great closer in K-Rod, and legitimate number one starting pitcher in John Lackey and
tons of talent
in their lineup. With the addition of Gary Matthews and Tori Hunter
the past two off-seasons the Angels have a solid outfield defensive
team. Look for them to be in the playoff race and the favorites to win
the West.
valuable franchise, have had a lot of talented players leave their team
over recent years. A lot of it has been financial
reasons. Yet, they
continue to put a competitive club on the field each season. The loss
of Danny Haren will be huge this season, but it doesn’t mean this team
won’t be able to win. They won the division in 2006 and hope to
challenge the Angels this season.
you mention the Seattle Mariners one player should come to
mind….Ichiro. The Japanese import has been in the states since the
2001
season and has never had fewer than 206 hits in a season. More
exciting news in Seattle is their starting pitching. This off-season
they acquired Erik Bedard from the Baltimore Orioles. He will join
Felix Hernandez as a tough 1-2 combination for the future. The
Mariners are primed to have a solid season and be in the mix to win the
west.
The Texas Rangers have had some down
years recently and are trying to turn things around. They are still a
long way from competing for the American 
League West crown though. The
have a potentially explosive offense with SS Michael Young, 2B Ian
Kinsler, 3B Hank Blalock and Outfielders Josh Hamilton and Milton
Bradley. Most importantly though, this team needs to have some
pitchers step up and start winning ballgames for this team. If they
don’t it will be their fourth straight losing season.
Where’s Kenny Lofton Going? February 26, 2008
Posted by misterbaseball in Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers.add a comment
Kenny Lofton will turn 41 at the end of May this year and he has yet to sign with a team this off-season. The much traveled Lofton made his big league debut in 1991 with the Houston Astros. Since then, Lofton has played for the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland again, Chicago Whitesox, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Cleveland one more time. Due to him changing teams so much the shipping company DHL did a commercial on him about always being on the move that aired constantly last year during the playoffs.
Kenny Lofton is a career .299 hitter and good at stealing bases. There are several teams that could use his services this season to make a push at the playoffs. The Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners all seem like a good fit for the talented and aging Lofton. It could be that some of these teams are waiting to see what happens at the start of spring training. The Cubs Felix Pie will get the opportunity to play CF at Wrigley this year before they consider going after anyone. The Mariners were hoping Adam Jones would be in the mix for their outfield but then they shipped Jones to Baltimore in the Erik Bedard trade. San Diego has Edmonds in CF, but Lofton is very capable of playing LF too. Atlanta hasn’t settled on their outfield yet either, except for Francouer. If Josh Anderson performs well in March he may be starting in April for the Braves. Finally, Cleveland could use Lofton, but look for their younger players like Ben Francisco, Franklin Gutierrez and Shin-Soo Choo to get a shot first.
