Just reported on MLB...Rangers want Bengie Molina...SF wants cash and perhaps a young bullpen arm.

Extra words, yes,yes,yes, yes, yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes


Extra words, yes,yes,yes, yes, yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes

Extra words, yes,yes,yes, yes, yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes

Extra words, yes,yes,yes, yes, yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes

Extra words, yes,yes,yes, yes, yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes,yes

Don't know where they got the story...but this IS a story.

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I remember last year, this guy struck out something like 70 hitters in 30 innings in the DSL.  Now I see he's at Hickory, has pitched 2 innings, has struck out 6.  But there seems to be a dearth of info on the guy despite numbers that positively beg for more publicity.  Is there anyone who can shed some light on this guy?  And now I need eleven more words to make this an official FanPost.  Bingo.

The Angels are in Arizona (sigh) this weekend while the Padres visit Arlington.  Then they come to Texas for a pivotal 3-game series.  You have to know the Halos have circled these games with Texas on their calendar ever since we took 'em to the woodshed during last series here.  So, anybody plan on going?  And also chime in with your thoughts on how you think this series might go and any other impressions.

Well, we stayed through over an hour of the power outage and some family members were getting restless, so we vacated the premises.  I had a sinking feeling that all of Feldman's good work might come unraveled if the underside of the bullpen were trotted in to try and preserve the tie.  Unfortunately, I was right.

The pictures were made from row 10 behind the visitor's dugout.  Equipment was a Canon 40D camera and a Canon 100-400mm IS lens.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v649/tim552/Saturday%20game%20vs%20the%20Dodgers/?albumview=slideshow

Tim Perkins

Rockwall

Now that Golson has returned to his minor-league quarters, who do you think is the fastest Ranger?  I'm going to assume it's a 3-man race between Andrus, Hamilton, and Kinsler.  And rather than make it, say, a 40-yard dash, which might favor the quickness of Andrus over the size of Hamilton, let's say it's a timed home-plate to first to second to third race.  My guess is that Andrus and Hamilton would tie, followed closely by Ian.

I hope you are checking your work by listening to tapes.  Here are a couple of things that you can work on:

1.  Do you always talk this slowly?  Try to step it up a notch.  Granted baseball is a slow game, but when action breaks out, it demands quick description...which leads to #2..

2.  Stuff is happening on the field and your call is lagging way behind.  In the recent homestand, there would be a critical strikeout by a Ranger pitcher.  But the way the listener found out was by the roar of the crowd, not by your call.  Precious milliseconds passed before you let us know that indeed it was strike three.

We're pulling for you, Dave.  Your body of work is so impressive.  Your voice is perfect.  Hope you understand.

I'm a bit disappointed so far in Mr. Barnett, although I have to allow him room to settle in since it's so early.  I was thrilled like everyone else to have him move in next to Eric Nadel, but I sense some growing pains.  His voice is ideal, the perfect announcer's voice.  But frankly, right now he's too slow on the draw for me.  His call seems to be a bit late...I'm hearing the action and cheers from the field and the lag is there before Dave tells me what's happening.  And his style of speech is a bit too deliberate for me.  I find myself silently urging him to speed up and finish his thought.

But, as I said, it's early.  Either he'll improve or I'll adjust to his pace.  For you old-timers, he reminds me a bit of Bill Merrill, one of the announcers from the early 70's.  Merrill was a wonderful fellow, but so slow in his descriptions that I screamed a lot at the radio.

Since I have always wanted to do this and since I've got a couple of free roundtrip tickets from Southwest, I am pondering a trip to Surprise during spring training.  Got some questions.  Is there any charge to access the various diamonds where the Rangers work out in the mornings?  Is the main road to Phoenix the one that I've heard horror stories about...due to traffic?  Anybody who's done this trip have any overall tips?  I am considering staying in Glendale.  Is that a good choice?

This is a bad one.  The computer models had been all over the place but now are in better agreement that the storm will get fairly close to the Metroplex.  One respected model even shows Gustav stalling over North Texas through next Saturday.

  Meanwhile, out in the Gulf, it is predicted that the hurricane will briefly hit Cat 5 after passing over Cuba, then revert to Cat 4 before landfall.  While there is a part of me that digs wild weather, there is also a knot in my stomach, knowing how many lives will be changed forever by this monster.

This was posted today on www.uniwatchblog.com.

Uni Watch News Ticker: This has to be filed in the “Rumor” category for now, but Chris Josephson, who’s part of the Rangers’ TV crew in Arlington, checked in last night with the following: “I’ve heard from a few different people in the press box that the Rangers will have a few jersey changes next year. First off, none of the jerseys will say ‘Rangers’ anymore — every jersey will have ‘Texas,’ just like the current road grays and blue alternates. There’s also talk of a red alternate being thrown into the rotation. No word on what it will look like. I personally hate the idea of a red jersey, but fans have been calling for red’s return because the Rangers haven’t made the playoffs since the team got rid of the red about 10 years ago.”

I heard on the radio broadcast tonight that Hamilton is hitting something like .260 since the AS break, and at game's end tonight, his average had dropped to .300 even.  I'm wondering if, despite all the wonderful publicity and the jaw-dropping home run derby, he might be slip-sliding out of the favorite's spot in the MVP race.  ARod did win the prize hitting .298 recently, I might point out.

For awhile, it appeared that Kinsler might be his chief rival, but Ian has also cooled considerably.  Justin Morneau is lurking in the shadows, and he has nice hardware already on his mantel.  Can Cliff Lee swoop in and carry off both the Cy Young and the MVP?  The last AL pitcher to win an MVP was Dennis Eckersley in '92.

Is Josh going to have to step it up a bit offensively or do you think his feel-good story can suffice?

I'm wondering if the smooth moves of Jon Daniels last summer had league GM's playing more cautious with their minor league prospects this time around.  Daniels has received lots of plaudits for restocking the Ranger minor league teams with two adroit moves, those involving Gagne and Teixeira.

So as this year's trade deadline approached, were other GM's leary of emptying their own systems having seen what happened to Boston and Atlanta last year?

I'm a little confused as to how we got to where we are today, namely looking for a club who'll part with prospects to get him.  I consider him a serviceable 3B who may figure it out and someday be a stud.  So, which of these reasons is it?

1.  We are comfortable with Vasquez there for the foreseeable future.

2.  We are frustrated by Blalock's hitting.

3.  We are frustrated by his defense.

4.  We are frustrated by his rash of injuries.

So is it one of the above or a combination of these?

My son thought it would be a good idea to compare the hitting stats of Juan Gonzalez during his noteworthy year of 1998 to those of resident beasticon, Josh Hamilton, through July 17 of their respective years.  What he found was remarkable similarity...