Back To The Future

 I heard a very interesting proverb this past weekend:

 “Expectations are resentments waiting to happen”

 Funny thing, expectations.  Last year I had no expectations for the Rangers.  After enduing  yet another long dry spell of losing (which happened in the 80’s, early 90’s, early 2000’s - that's a lot) , I’d have been happy with a .500 team – and look what happened: The Texas Rangers won the 2023 World Series.

If I had anything to complain about that team, November 1^st, changed it all and I’ll love all of those guys till the day I die.

 Even the most loyal, optimistic fan (which is not always me) has to admit that everything, and I mean everything went right for the Rangers to achieve their championship.   In fact, I think most fans of any team that wins the World Series would agree:  the talent plays a big part but baseball luck plays role in it too. (Did you really at any point think the  Ranger bullpen was going to be that reliable in the post season?)

 This year, things are different – not bad, not good – just different.  Watching this team right now makes me wonder if the 2024 Ranger team is the one we were supposed to see last year. They are a much improved team over, 2017, 2018, 2019 etc. – you get the picture. 

 Their offense in 2023 for most of the season was other worldly – any expectation (there’s that word again) that it would be the same this season was, um, irrational.  This year, when you are counting on 2 rookies and 1 MIA as 1/3 of your line-up it will be roller coaster.  Most rookies, including some who eventually become very good players, will have their struggles adjusting to the major leagues.   Evan Carter didn’t have those problems in September, but now – it’s a different story:  .211 BA/.752 OPS (which is actually pretty good – because he takes almost as many BB’s as K’s). Then there’s the other Little Savior Part 2 – Wyatt Langford - .255 BA/.655 OPS – with twice as man K’s at BB’s that’s just plain yuck.  And, of course, there is the permanent roller coaster at third base – that I already wrote about in a previous post.  By the way is anyone else wondering about Cory Seager in day games: 3 for 20 (.150)?

 Along with the mighty offense in 2023 the Rangers didn’t make a lot of mistakes. They were first in team defense in the AL.  Right now they are 5^th – which is good but does mean they aren’t as sharp, which means more unearned runs which doesn’t help the pitching staff which leads me to our least favorite subject: pitching.

 Drafting, developing, keeping healthy, and putting together a solid starting 5 and reliable bullpen.  Pitching,  it’s by far the Rangers worst problem – as it was, as it is and as it will ever be, Amen.

 Do I think the Rangers are a playoff team in 2024 – looking at the rest of the AL West so far, I’d have to say yes.  Do I want them to win the World Series again? Well, of course I do. Do I think they’ll win the World Series in 2024 – probably not.  But if they keep Houston from winning the World Series by eliminating them in the division or in the playoffs that will be as good another World Series win this year for me

 --- The Eternal Marla

 P.S. Hey Houston, that expensive bullpen – what’s up with that?  (A nod to the perennially underrated Keenan Thompson)

Spaghetti Thoughts

 I’ve been thinking about what to call my occasional random thoughts, off- topic musings and rhetorical questions.   I still haven’t come up with something I like (and that hasn’t already been used by someone else)  So, I’ll try out a few titles until I find one I like.

 Today’s title:  Throwing It Against the Wall  - courtesy of that old food legend: if you throw a strand of cooked spaghetti against the wall and it sticks it’s ready (see Tom Berenger’s character in “The Big Chill”)

 ·        As a baseball fan who remembers well the 1990’s Yankees, as they buzz sawed through the first Ranger playoff teams, I’m kind of wondering if current era of the Yankees have become just another team.  The media will always be obsessed with the Yankees because there is still so much media based in New York. But lately, it appears to this reader that there are fewer stories about the Yankees and that they’ve become a bit less fashionable.  Seems to me the Dodgers are taking on the mantle of the big spending, big foot, big mouth villains of MLB.  Granted, Dodger fans are not nearly as annoying, especially since they don’t show up until the 3^rd inning and leave by the end of the 7^th. (When you have you heard a person from LA talk smack about baseball? There’s probably more smack talk about movie grosses in LA than there is about baseball.) There are still big spenders in the MLB : The Mets - we’ve seen how that works out , my beloved Rangers and we’ve seen that sometimes works, the Braves – if they wanted to, The Angels often foolishly, sometimes the Cubs and The Lyin’ Cheatin’ Astros.  But lately every time you read about an upcoming free agent (MLB or international) the Dodgers are always the first name mentioned as the likely destination.  (Of course, what did that big payroll and 100+ win season do for the Dodgers in 2023? The Rangers won the 2023 World Series)

 ·        Everyone’s got an opinion on Shohei Ohtani here’s mine: all those explanations don’t pass the smell test for me. The latest I read was that his interpreter turned off the notifications so Shohei didn’t see when Ippei was taking money from Ohtani –okay I guess. But – a man like Ohtani making that much money doesn’t have a business manager, or an accountant or a team of accountants that handle his money too and they didn’t see anything or say anything to Ohtani?  Really?  Meanwhile MLB is buying Ippei’s story essentially saying:  “Oh my,  Ohtani didn’t check his texts or look at the banking app on his phone – so he’s in the clear”.   Yeah right – MLB is going to do anything to protect their biggest international star no matter how flimsy the excuses.   I don’t think Ohtani gambled. I do think he knew or found out about Ippei’s problem and helped him out, but he didn’t consider the consequences that kind of “help” could cause.

 ·        About the death of an infamous former athlete:  now he’s going to have to tell the truth.

 ·        Thank you FUBO for 2 weeks of Ranger games – but your pricing is almost as much as the cable I cut 3 years ago – so it’s back to evenings with Eric, Matt and Jared – which is a very pleasant way to enjoy Ranger baseball.

 ·        One last question:  how long until the local media members stop saying that Josh Jung is not injury prone.  He’s never played an entire season in his career without missing a significant amount of time on the IL (still want to call it the DL) which means he’s injured.  Doesn’t matter the reason, even if it is bad luck he is still injured, which means he can’t play and it happens, a lot.  I agree with Adam Morris at Lone Star Ball, it’s something that has to be considered when planning the future for this team.

 --- Marla (who is not worried that my team has lost 4 out 5 games this week)     

 P.S. I’ve never been afraid of my age.  I don’t need Botox, or hair dye, or lifts for my sagging parts. (On a side note:  I am truly disturbed by those commercials where Jennifer Garner is promoting retinol/anti-aging “stuff” for teen-agers – wonder if her teen age daughters use that “stuff”).  Back to the subject of age: my pop culture references are generally out of date.  So what, it’s my blog, if you’re reading and complaining go back to your podcasts and get off my lawn!

*Tap*Tap*Tap* Is this thing on?

Hmm, let’s see a lot has happened in the 11+ years since my last blog post:  blogs are out, podcasts are in – no I will never bore you with a podcast.  Our friend TR Sullivan retired,  the Fort Worth Star Telegram retired from baseball too (no more beat writer or daily coverage) The Athletic retired from baseball (well, their coverage has shrunk considerably to be borderline not worth it). The Astros cheated, Vin Scully, Hank Aaron, Charlie Pride and two of my dearest DTFCer’s left us.  Mr. Sterling crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  We spent 2 years at home looking out the window worrying, then returned to a world that had been drastically altered.  We’re done with Twitter, over saturated with Tik Tok, fake news is now real news, opinion overrides facts. The earth got a lot warmer and its inhabitants a lot meaner.

 But it wasn’t all bad:  Prince Louis now rules my household, the Rangers built an indoor palace where they play (no more horrible hot evenings in the park during June-July-August).  “Ted Lasso” was great (no matter what a particular Ranger fan says) “Hamilton” was pretty good too. The pitch clock, the end of the “shift” and fewer pitching changes (yes, I like them all). That eclipse on April 8^th was pretty spectacular too.

Most importantly: on November 1^st  2023, I cried my eyes out and literally jumped for joy, because as Eric Nadel so eloquently stated “may the ghosts of 2011 be forever erased” – and they were when the Rangers, finally, won the World Series.

 In the “church of baseball” that Annie Savoy and I belong to: it was a baseball miracle. 

What happens next?  Right now, I don’t care, as one of our Ranger baseball guru’s stated:  The Rangers can’t hurt me anymore.  

 (Okay, but I still get upset when the Rangers lose to the The Lyin’ Cheatin’ Astros.)

 -- Marla Hooch (redux)

To Be Continued....

It's been one of those weeks - haven't had a moment to ruminate about anything...blog about something coming up soon.                               

In the meantime: so sorry the Orioles, Nationals, and Reds all lost.   As far the as the National League is concerned, if the "big" one hit California today or tomorrow and it slid into the ocean with Giant and Cardinals - woudln't bother me at all.   The only horse I have left in the race is the Tigers. 

Sorry about Jeter's ankle - but the Yankees use that as an excuse for their performance so far, that really speaks volumes about their "team".

Cannot join the knee-jerking crowd that wants to clean house and trade everyone on the Rangers - that's not right, I don't know what the plan is, but I hope it's a much more specific, strategic and less emotional.

It's always a good day when the Cowboys lose.

I really need to buy a few more Aimee Mann songs off of I-Tunes.

And... this is the week one year ago that I lost Baseball Mom (October 16th).

Sometimes it feels like just yesterday, sometimes it feels like forever.

Miss you and will always love you Mom - love Marla

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Um...I Guess I Forgot...Again

I became a Ranger fan August 1979. 

Since that time I’ve been through 6 General Managers: Eddie Robinson, Joe Klein, Tom Grieve, Doug Melvin, John Hart and Jon Daniels

5 different ownership groups:  Brad Corbett, Eddie Chiles and friends, George W. Bush, Tom Schieffer and a cast of thousands,  Tom Hicks and his creditors with a cameo by Bud Selig and now Nolan Ryan and company 

The one thing they all have in common is they keep doing the same thing over and over again – expecting a different result.  I’ve heard that’s the definition of insanity or at least Ranger insanity.

Our good friend TR Sullivan’s observation this morning’s on Postcards From Elysian Fields blog  is absolutely perfect on the subject of  Josh Hamilton/the playoff loss and the Rangers usual knee-jerk plan of action.  
 

I am looking right at you Nolan Ryan (and to some extent Jon Daniels) and shaking my head in frustration. 

With all the years of baseball experience Ryan has and that Cornell educated GM you think they would already know the maxim of  philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952) who said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (from "Life of Reason I").





-- waiting for Version 41 of the new and better Rangers team Nolan and Jon plan to pull out of a rabbit’s hat this off-season - Marla

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This Day In History

1465
-- French King Louis XI signs a peace agreement with Charles the Stout

1857
-- City of Anaheim CA founded - and no playoff baseball game was played there that day either

1880
-- First ballpoint pen patented by Alonzo T. Cross

1882
-- Outlaw Frank James surrenders in Missouri six months after the death of his brother Jesse James

1907
-- Philadelphia A's pitcher Rube Vickers no-hits the Washington Senators in a 5 inning game

1921
-- The World Series is broadcast on the radio for the first time

1924
-- First appearance in the NYC Daily News of the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie"

1954
-- Hurricane Hazel hits the east coast of the United States

1962
-- The Beatles release their first hit in England "Love Me Do"

1966
-- A sodium cooling system malfunction causes a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi nuclear power demonstration plant near Detroit, Michigan.  Radiation is contained (entire story detailed in the book "We Almost Lost Detroit")

1969
-- "Monty Python's Flying Circus" begins its run on the BBC

1983
-- Polish anti-communist union leader Lech Walesa wins the Nobel Peace Prize

2001
-- Barry Bonds hits his HGH aided 71st and 72nd Home Runs to break Mark McGwire's androstene aided record of 71 Home Runs

2004
-- Howard Stern announces he's leaving over the air radio for satellite radio company Sirius

2008
--Dow Jones Industrial Averages drop 700 points signaling the beginning of the economic downturn/recession

2012
-- The Rangers two year AL Dynasty ends.

--- Marla

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