By The Rivers of Babylon...

 

"By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion."

-Psalm 137, Verse 1

 

This post isn’t about baseball.

 It’s a post about of special kind of grief, and my way of moving beyond it.

 I am a very proud graduate, Notre Dame College of Ohio, Cleveland Ohio: Bachelor of Arts.

 After 100 years of service, Notre Dame College will be closing its doors after the graduation ceremony on May 4^th.  The doors will literally be locked by the bank that is taking over the college campus.  The reason why is sordid and sad.  The closure was announced very recently, we alumn were taken by surprise. There was no communication to us or the current students about the college’s problems.

 Shame all those who had responsibility for leading the college for the past 20+ years.  Your actions showed that you were not upholding the principles  that were the original foundation of NDC. You were ethically deplorable and decidedly the opposite of what constitutes a Catholic institution.

 My four years at NDC were the most important of my life.  Even more meaningful than the Rangers winning the World Series in 2023 (see, I worked in a baseball reference).  It was more than just having a great time in college in the 1970’s – but I’m not going to lie there was plenty of that too.

 It was a smaller all women’s college when I attended (that went co-ed about 20 years ago). I lived on campus, and the group of friends I bonded with are still an active part of my life 40+ years later. More than just getting an education, it was a profoundly personal experience of acceptance, revelation, and growth that I can’t adequately put into words. 

 My dear college friends and I have remembered with great emotion our time at Notre Dame College during the past few weeks.  We will all carry our memories and hold them close, but knowing that we’ll never be able to return to the beautiful campus, classrooms and dorms leaves a deep scar.  For me, knowing that other young people will never have the opportunity to experience NDC is heartbreaking.

 I’ll go back to proselytizing about baseball in my next post.

 For now, I smile, I sob, I reminisce and I am eternally grateful for the part of my soul that is and will always be Notre Dame College of Ohio.

-- Marla, NDC Class of 1979

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)