The OFFICIAL 2011 Texas Rangers' Season Thread

[mavspwnage]

Beautiful escape by Harrison in the 7th. That will be the day for him. Great season debut for him. That probably should have been called strike three on McDonald. But Harrison shook it off and struck out Ellsbury. Good job, Matt!!

[mavspwnage]

Cruz matches Kinsler and hits a HR in every game!

[jthig32]

That Harrison performance was freaking awesome. It's so tantalizing to see a young, talented pitcher put together a performance like that. Hopefully he can build on that moving forward.

[mkat]

Man, they made Boston look like amateurs. Wow. Go Rangers!

[jthig32]

Nadel said Cruz is only the second right handed hitter to ever hit the upper deck at RBiA. That ball was so crushed.

[mavspwnage]

Papelbon 100% beaned Kinsler on purpose. LOL @ the Red Sox going to that tactic because they can't get Kinsler to stop hitting home runs.

And LOL @ the Red Sox for again walking Hamilton to load the bases for Beltre when he hit a grand slam last night when they did the same thing.

[mavspwnage]

SWEEP!!

[clutch#41]

Napoli for frankie fransico.. another reason why jon daniels is the man. what a steal.

[Kirobaito]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Nadel said Cruz is only the second right handed hitter to ever hit the upper deck at RBiA. That ball was so crushed.

If Cruz stays healthy (a big if, though I did like to hear that he apparently went all out at keeping his hamstrings healthy, even changing his running style), he will finish top five in MVP voting. A healthy season from him would be what, 35 homers, 120 RBIs, 20 steals?

[mkat]

Originally Posted by Kirobaito

If Cruz stays healthy (a big if, though I did like to hear that he apparently went all out at keeping his hamstrings healthy, even changing his running style), he will finish top five in MVP voting. A healthy season from him would be what, 35 homers, 120 RBIs, 20 steals?

and probably a .310-.320 average, I'd hope. I'd love to see that.

[clutch#41]

this team is so stacked idk how you'll be able to pick an MVP.

[mavspwnage]

Major LOL @ the fact that Salty gets a AL Championship ring. Say what?

[clutch#41]

Originally Posted by mavspwnage

Major LOL @ the fact that Salty gets a AL Championship ring. Say what?

it'll probably be on ebay pretty soon.

[Murphy3]

In all honesty, Kinsler, Cruz, and Hamilton are all capable of putting up MVP numbers.. well, I guess I can add in Beltre also. There's not alot of teams that have 4 guys capable of doing so.. I'm not saying that I expect them to do so..just saying that they have that ability.

[Mav Addict]

Originally Posted by jthig32

I mean this not as a personal insult of any kind, as the guy is by all accounts a great dude.

But John Rhadigan is awful. Just awful.

I can only assume that he will get better with more practice, but it's honestly pretty embarrassing that this team went this route instead of bringing in a high level, professional baseball announcer.

I agree...he is terrible...him and Tom have no chemistry either...the dead air between them really is embarrassing. IMO

I knew the Rangers hitters were is good, but I never thought they would start off this hot...11 HR's and 1.183 OPS in 3 games is ridiculous even for this small sample size.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Mav Addict

I agree...he is terrible...him and Tom have no chemistry either...the dead air between them really is embarrassing. IMO

Now see, I'm going to disagree with part of this. I have no issues with the dead air. None at all. I didn't love Josh Lewin, and the main reason was he treated silence like it was toxic. Baseball is a peaceful, slow paced game. I see no reason that you have to be jabbering every single second of the broadcast.

So I'm fine with the silence. I like it, actually. It's the talking part that John is pretty bad at. I don't think LoneStarBall is every going to let go of the "It's a caught!" meme that came from yesterday's game.

[mkat]

Rhads will get it together. He just needs time to find his groove. Very few guys are good right off the bat.

[Flacolaco]

I wonder how long the'll give him. Three games is not a good sample size.

[Mav Addict]

I don't think there should be any dead air right after ANY hit and when the someone is rounding the bases....to me it seems as if Tom is almost speechless or either doesn't want to even comment after said statement from Rhad. I keep waiting on more insight from Tom after Rhad speaks, but to no avail, there is none.

Lewin did talk too much, and the way he used to look Tom in the eyes was creepy, but his play by play was head and shoulders above Rhads.

[Mav Addict]

Another thing....LOL@Red Sox nation thinking they could sweep the Rangers...One would think they have lost the World Series the way they are acting....but then again they were out-pitched and out hit in all 3 games against TX.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Mav Addict

I don't think there should be any dead air right after ANY hit and when the someone is rounding the bases....to me it seems as if Tom is almost speechless or either doesn't want to even comment after said statement from Rhad. I keep waiting on more insight from Tom after Rhad speaks, but to no avail, there is none.

Lewin did talk too much, and the way he used to look Tom in the eyes was creepy, but his play by play was head and shoulders above Rhads.

He definitely has some work to do in drawing out Tom's thoughts. Josh struggled with that early as well.

And yes, dead air during action is bad and needs to be corrected. No doubt about that. I think he'll get better, but I still think it's highly questionable to let go of a guy as polished as Josh and bring in someone with no play by play experience of any kind.

I hope he gets better because I like his overall style better than I did Josh's.

[Murphy3]

I said this a couple of different places... if you didn't want Lewin, that's fine. However, be prepared for it to take a few years before you truly have a replacement for the guy.

[muzak]

I liked Lewin. I liked hearing "ballgame!" after a win.

I, personally, don't like Tom. I'm not sure exactly what it is, maybe a little bit of everything, but I just don't care for him on the broadcast. He looks kind of creepy to boot.

On Rhad, he's been pretty bad, but overall, I don't think he will be. He sounds really nervous fumbling with the simplest of words/sentences, and deservedly so.

edit: Another thing on Rhad, he's a huge homer, and I'm one that's totally ok with that, though a lot of people on here seem to rag on other teams' broadcasters when they are homers. However, I thought when he said, with gusto, "sit down _____!" (whoever Harrison struck out to get himself out of that jam in the 7th, can't remember), I thought it was a little distasteful to be somewhat disrespectful on television. I thought broadcasters were supposed to remain somewhat unbiased? Seems like lots of baseball teams have homer broadcasters; whereas, most particularly football, and basketball have more unbiased.

[clutch#41]

tom is cool but rhad is ehh. personally i would rather have a young enthusiastic broadcast.

[jthig32]

BTW, after thinking on it a bit more, I think Napolli being the backup catcher actually increases my odds of winning the bet with Dan. Take a night like tonight: Moreland is going to sit, and Napoli is going to play against a lefty (always, I hope). If Napoli was the third catcher, maybe Wash plays Mike at 1B and Napoli at DH to get Mike some time in the field.

But since he's the back up catcher, Napoli's pretty much never going to DH.

Now, I personally think Napoli was pretty much always going to take precedent over Mike at 1B, hence why I made the bet, but this seems to help cement it.

[muzak]

Thig, seeing Nap catch a game yesterday, how did you think he fared? I know you were skeptical of his catching abilities. I thought he did well. Only one ball got by, that I saw/remember, but that ball had some nice english on it, hit him right in the middle of the chest protector and spiraled off. Not much you can do about that. I was hoping to see his arm get tested out.

[jthig32]

I thought that ball that got by should probably have been blocked.

Other than that he looked fine. I think it's hard to tell anything in one game.

One thing you have to remember is that how a catcher calls a game and works with the staff is large part of the equation, and that's information that we're just not privy to. It's certainly possible that his reputation is undeserved, but I can't imagine Scocia being that wrong about a catcher.

Based on everything I've read and seen, it still seems like a third catcher will be brought in once the bullpen goes back to normal depth.

[mavspwnage]

Andrus home run!!!! LMAO!

[jthig32]

Elvis getting the cold shoulder in the dugout is an early contender for awesome moment of the regular season. Just freaking fantastic.

[mavspwnage]

Nelson Cruz boomstick makes its fourth straight appearance. Just wow. Now if Kinsler can join him it would be amazing.

[alexamenos]

Good work by Holland to get out of that without more damage. I'm rooting for the dork.

[alexamenos]

4-0 bitches.

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Elvis getting the cold shoulder in the dugout is an early contender for awesome moment of the regular season. Just freaking fantastic.

What happened there?

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

What happened there?

This doesn't quite capture it, but it'll give you an idea. I love Wash looking around and realizing what's going on.

[chumdawg]

Thanks much. That's funny.

Fun team to watch.

[Mav Addict]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Elvis getting the cold shoulder in the dugout is an early contender for awesome moment of the regular season. Just freaking fantastic.

Very hilarious moment watching it live.....Soon as the ball left the field you could see Ian coordinating it in the dugout....but the way Wash reacted was pure comedy.

Definitely thought that moment would make SportsCenter, considering how many at bats it took Elvis to hit a HR, then the dugout cold shoulder, but it didn't.

[Murphy3]

Yep... that moment was awesome. I wish the live broadcast would have done a better job of showing the rest of the dugout.

[jthig32]

I really, really don't like starting Moreland in RF to make room for Young to play 1B. Why do you want to weaken your outfield to that extent with Ogando going?

Frustrating.

[mavspwnage]

Ogando as a starter?

YES PLEASE

Talk about bringin the goods. What a first start. wow

[alexamenos]

Anybody have any problem with the job starters 3,4 & 5 did this first trip through the rotation?