The Good Old Days, The Honest Man, The Restless Heart, The Promised Land
Congratulations to two first-time Song of the Day winners, Ms. Jennie Bauman and Mr. Peter Pope, for correctly, and collectively, naming "Be Mine" by David Gray as the Thursday Song of the Day.
I suppose that now is as good a time as any for the yearly "It's late March/early April, and hope springs eternal for every baseball fan" post, and let's be completely and utterly honest here, if you are a fan of the baseball franchise that resides in Arlington, Texas, you need more hope than an inmate in Shawshank State Penitentiary.
With that said, I have become a daily reader of the Rangers blog at the Dallas Morning News website. Throughout my life, I have never considered myself a pessimist, but a few more years supporting the Rangers might do that to a man. The curiously optimistic aspect of pessimism is the repeated idea that if your expectations are low enough, it is incredibly difficult to be disappointed on a regular basis. I guess that's the most accurate and succinct summation of how I feel about the current state of the Rangers franchise.
That's not to say that I'm not excited about minor-league prospects like pitcher Eric Hurley, short-stop Elvis Andruz, first-baseman Chris Davis, and catcher Taylor Teagarden, but the big league club is currently in a difficult spot. Almost all of the pre-season publications that I have seen are picking the Rangers to finish 3rd or 4th in the American League West, and the semi-glory days of the mid to late 90's seem like light years away, but then again, if the expectations are so low, anything more than complete and utter mediocrity will seem like a gift from the baseball gods.
According to manager Ron Washington, the opening day (3/31) lineup will probably look a little something like this against Seattle :
- 2B Ian Kinsler
- SS Michael Young
- OF/DH Josh Hamilton (Referred to by fans in Cincinnati as "Roy Hobbs". Always a good sign in my book)
- OF Milton "Monopoly" Bradley
- 3B Hank Blalock
- OF David Murphy (Baylor Alum)
- OF Marlon Byrd
- 1B Ben Broussard
- C Gerald Laird
The Rangers seem to have a good mix of younger players (Kinsler, Murphy, Hamilton), familiar faces (Blalock,Young, Catalanotto), and certifiable head-cases (Bradley).
I'm not promising that this is going to be the year when the Rangers win the World Series.
I'm not promising that this is the year that the Rangers win the ALCS.
I'm not promising that this is the year that the Rangers win the AL West for the first time since 1999.
I'm not even going to promise that this is the year that the Rangers have their first winning record since posting an 83-79 mark in 2004.
Um, I just read those last 4 sentences, and this hope thing is looking a bit like a sham. Oh well, the season begins on Monday. See you in Seattle.
Labels: Baseball, Texas Rangers
posted by Justin @ 3/28/2008 10:04:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Being a resident of Orange County, I am counting on the Rangers to pull ahead of the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim (representing two counties is possible only in California.) It has become easier for me to be a Rangers fan once I left the state. We will just have to see if their pitching sucks like aways, or if the mound can provide a mediocre performance so as not to negate every bit of offense.
Either way, I sure will be screaming my head off for the Rangers way out in the outfield some hot summer day in Anaheim. Huzzah!
My grandfather was the eternal optimistic pessimist when it came to the sports teams of Dallas. He was legendary for calling the "turning point" of a Rangers or Cowboys game with his signature phrase, "Well, There goes the old ball game." But he always watched, always kept hope.
Hey, I'm just glad to be back in a place where I can keep tabs on the Rangers again. They'll talk about (bash) the Cowboys in Houston, but the Rangers don't even make the radar screen. Good to be amongst friends again.
read my mind. the killers
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