Just saw Buster Olney talking about this on ESPN, so in attempt to not allow his stupidity to stick I thought I should post my response.  No excuse for B.J. Upton's lack of hustle or his getting picked off, but I don't understand how Evan Longoria is seen as not doing any harm.  If a player is going to say something to Upton in the dugout it should be another outfielder not an infielder.  Otherwise wait to get in the clubhouse. 

Longoria has 353 games in the league.  BJ Upton has 586.  Carl Crawford has 1153 games played.  Carl Crawford should have stepped up and said something if anyone.

I know that the guys on this site are better at breaking down the statistics better than I am, so I have to ask is Elvis Andrus deserving of a Gold Glove for his defense this year?  I am not asking if he is going to get a Gold Glove.  I doubt there is a chance of that.  Veterans like Jeter (gag) and Scutaro will probably be given the award before Andrus is considered.  He is just a hair behind Marco S in total chances, but that is with about 15 fewer games.  He's 7th in fielding percentage, but I think everyone besides those that vote have realized how little that really means.  So what do the Lone Star Baseball Brains think?

Last year my family and I went to Rangers home series right before the All Star break.  I remember asking my son, who was almost four at the time, who his favorite Rangers were (his favorite player is Roberto Clemente).  He told me Mark Teixeira, Kenny Loftin, and Eric Gagne.  Last year was the first season that my son was really old enough to have favorite players.  Before that every time a player with a darker skin was up he thought it was Soriano and all the white players were Hank Blalock.  Needless to say, last year was a tough trading deadline for him.  It was not easy telling him his guys were traded away.  I remember how I felt being 12 and the Rangers trading away ruben Sierra, but at least he was my favorite Ranger and as a kid I was excited about Jose Conseco coming to Texas.  This year if you ask him who his favorite player is, he would quickly tell you, Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  He says it quite well, I must admit.  As you know, it is looking like Salts days may be numbered.

I know there are some other dads here with kids of all ages.  Have any of you experienced anything like this?  How have yall explained it to your kids?

By the way, I am hoping he doesn't start rooting too hard for Ian Kinsler or Josh Hamilton.  I may have to make up some stuff about them, like they kick dogs and they hate Star Wars.

If you are looking for a Father Son activity this video may give you some inspiration. Get your tissues ready, unless you are a stone.

You could probably figure it out from the video, but the event is the Ironman race; three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island.

<!-- m -->http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?v ... dd9ea45513

I realize the majority of the Lone Star Ballers have written off ESPN and don't subject themselves to the over-the-top factually deprived broadcasting that is ESPN, but I did so this morning.  I don't often sit down and watch Sportcenter all the way through anymore, but I was bored this morning and wanted to hear some of the All Star talk.  It didn't take long before I thought my head was going to explode.

(-1) Maybe some of you caught this.  This may seem minor, but it is evidence of the general over looking of the Texas Rangers.  In their discussion of the All Star lineups they say Josh Hamilton's name, call it a great story, and say his homerun total and RBI total.  Then the finish the listing the starters.  After this they show us the names of the four Red Sox starters and then the two Yankee starters.  After all of this East Coast-love, they put up the list of AL reserves.  The Talking East Coast Head says, "AL reserves, a heavy dose of AL Central.  Of the eleven players, seven of them hale from the Central.  The only AL West player, Milton Bradley,  at DH and he his likely to start in place of the injured (pause for drama) 'Big Papi'."  THE LIST IS ON THE SCREEN!!!  I was able to read all the names and see that Ian Kinsler and Michael Young are on it.  I am guessing he wasn't sure who they were or who they played for and just assumed they were AL East guys.  Since they are All Stars and his researcher didn't include them in the list of AL Central players they must play for the East and since he didn't recognize them them they must play for Toronto or Baltimore.  Just to rub some salt in the wound, when "revealing" the NL Reserves he mentions Cristian Guzman's NL leading 118 hits.  Hmm, "NL leading"?  That means someone in the AL must have more, right?  I wonder that is?  If ESPN wants to know who that guy is, all they need to do is look at the top of the list for batting average or at the top of the list for runs scored.  I will stop before my blood pressure gets too high.

(-21)  In their "Quest for Title Town USA" they featured the city of Pittsburgh.  In their video montage of the Pittsburgh's championship history, there is no mention of Roberto Clemente.  He was responsible for two of their titles, MVP of one series, had a base hit in every single playoff game he played in and is a legendary figure in baseball as a whole.  He was 10 times the player the mentioned Stargell was and he was 1000 times the player the mentioned Mazeroski was.

Ok, I stole that title from The New York Post, but it was just too perfect.  I am not intending to make any political statements about this I just had to point out some things from the video.  I leave the "What if George W. Bush did this rants to Sharky."
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpEckWHSvXk

I think we could we could all learn a few things from this video.
First off, if you find yourself fighting heavy eyelids it is not a good idea to lean on an elbow.  Game over at that point.

Then there are the ever so near flawlessly executed cover-up maneuvers Slick Willy utilizes.  

1. The first one is easy to miss.  He is leaning on two fingers and when the grip slips and his head dips he very seamlessly moves his hand back as if he is cupping his ear to hear what the speaker is saying.  Problem, Bill you are sitting 5 feet directly behind a rather loud speaker, who is speaking into a microphone.  Think; location, location, location when incorporating this move.
   
2. Then he initiates a two perfect "falling asleep head nod into a nod in agreements".  The second is better than the first.  His head tips forward and instead of jerking back up he effortlessly brings it up and then right into bobbing his head in agreement.

All this being said, Bill makes a fatal error just before the video ends.  He just cannot resist checking his watch.  I am not aware of any move that this can be done without it looking like you are checking your watch.  Sure, you could do it and not be seen (unless you are sitting directly behind the speaker), but if it is seen it is what it is.

I just wanted to write a word of encouragement to all the "bloggers" that have recently attacked by some of the paid "journalists".  One such attack was a comparison of todays bloggers to the pamphleteers of colonial America.  As a teacher and fan of American history I have to point out that this is not such a bad thing to be.  I don't know much about colonial pamphleteers, but I do know that one of those referenced colonial bloggers wrote a pamphlet call "Common Sense".  His name was Thomas Payne.  Kind of an important pamphlet.  I wonder how long he stood on the street corner trying to get anyone to read it.  To learn more about Thomas Payne you could go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine.  Since, wiki can be a bit unreliable you may want to visit Philadelphia.  This is where Thomas Payne was living when he wrote "Common Sense".  I assume that if you lived and worked in Philadelphia, you already knew this.

Great work Adam.  Keep the chin up, we could use a revolution of sports media.  You just may be the pamphleteer to do it.

I realize you closed comments on a related topic, but I had to mention this.  I don't know if this has already been said.  I am sure the people who got to read the comments of the other thread will let me know if it has.

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/26432
Those who fail to know history are destined to repeat it.

I wonder if the Yankees realize they just rehired Buck Showalter.  Maybe they have a four year plan.  3 years of Joe Girardi, fire him, hire a relatively unsuccessful veteran manager and then win 4 straight World Series.

For those of you that want to discuss something other than trades.  There is another commercial that is bugging.  I hate misinformation.  Factually incorrect advertisement is ruining America (this may be hyperbole).  The commercial that is ruining America is the Capital One commercial that has the lady with a chimpanzee on her back.  Why does she have a chimpanzee on her back?  Well, I would guess Capital One would like you to think that she has a monkey on her back.  IF she had a monkey are her back the commercial would make sense and be kind of funny, but she has an ape on her back.  It makes zero sense except for the fact that people are mislead to believe she has a monkey and they think it makes sense.  Teaching is hard enough, I don't need Capital One working against me.

Monkeys have tales and climb trees.
Apes have no tales and live on the ground.

BTW - Curious George has no tale so is most likely a "curious little" ape.  He does climb trees so he is really neither.  It is a cartoon/book so I will overlook this.

I just thought I would go ahead and get this up.  I figured now that he is traded we can all start kicking ourselves in the crotch every time Tex hits a home run, hits a double, hits a sac fly, etc.  It is not like we are going to be happy with the trade.  I would bet money that Jared does not even put a ball in play today. :)

makes a stop at the Angus Glen Course in Ontario.  Can you believe they would play a tournament at the Angus?  I mean who would name their golf course after that part of the cow?  What has come of this world where that is appropriate?  I bet the Angus growers of Canada have the golf course in their back pocket.  Write you local Jack in the Box and tell them you want to see them buying their own golf course.  I want to see a Sirloin Golf Course and PGA better be willing to take the tour there.

I realize this is a total waste of a diary, but is there really anything new to say about possible trades and or our feelings for JD?  Feel free to put me in the penalty box.

And yes, for those that are not aware of my awareness of what Angus really is and that the name of the course is someone's name, I am aware. (that may be a run on sentence)

I wonder if this will get the coverage baseball and Chris Benoit have received or if it will be brushed over and forgotten like Shaun Merrimen.

"Gary Player put steroids at the forefront of the British Open on Wednesday, saying golf has its head buried in a bunker if it thinks the sport is clean and he knows of one player using performance-enhancing drugs."

Gary Player said, "Whether it's HGH, whether it's Creatine or whether it's steroids, I know for a fact that some golfers are doing it."

He also said, "I took an oath prior to him telling me -- I won't tell you where -- but he told me what he did, and I could see this massive change in him, and somebody else told me something, that I also promised I wouldn't tell, that verified others had done it."

Of course all the other big names at the British Open are saying they no of no one using anything illegal.  Gary Player is not Jose Canseco.  This guy is very well respected and does not have a history of running his mouth.  There is no reason for him to make this up and there is no reason for people not to believe him.

The USGA or PGA have no rules against performance enhancers that I know of, and I am fully aware of some of our board that feel that there is nothing wrong with it if it is not against rules.  That is fine, I understand that, but there should be rules against it.
Sorry, I don't know how to do box quotes.

I am currently watching the Astros and Cubs and am bored, imagine that, so I thought I would take a second and vent a little or maybe rant a little.  Don't worry it is not a political or religious rant.  

I am also curious to see what some of the legal experts think.  

The Jack and the Box's new line of commercials really irritate me.  Not in a talking animal kind of irritating, but in a inaccurate/misleading kind of way.

First off, I am not affiliated with any food establishment, I have not eaten at Jack in the Box in five or six years (mainly because there is not one in Abilene), and I am not affiliated with the beef industry in any way.

What really drives batty about their commercials is that they are trying to portray Angus beef as a part of the cow that sounds a lot like Angus (hint: the anus).  This is totally false.  For those that are not familiar with cows, Angus is a type of cow.  

Before you get any ideas, it is hard to live in West Texas and not have some familiarity of the cow species.

In today's America, things said on TV are believed  without question.  Even if it is said by a guy in a giant clown head.  I know that people are not going to think that JITB's competitors are using cow anuses for their hamburgers, but they will believe that Angus is somehow less desirable or should be equated to hot dogs or something (which are disgustingly delicious).  

Just look at what competitors commercials have done to McDonalds.  How many people believe that their McD's burger was reheated before it was served.  I worked there 11 years ago and even then the burgers weren't reheated, but people sure thought they were.

You can't say that it is just good advertising because unlike the commercials that hurt McD's, these commercials hurt the ranchers that raise and sell Angus beef.  McDonalds does or at least did zap their burgers for like 7 seconds to melt the cheese and warm the bun, so there is some truth to saying they reheat their burgers.  However there is zero truth to "the Angus" being something gross.  

My question is, how is this different than just plain slander?  How is this different than Oprah saying bad things about beef?  Not saying Oprah should have been sued.  To be honest I don't know the details or really care.  I am just surprised that this is something that JITB thinks is ok.  I would guess that Angus beef is of higher quality than anything they are putting on their burgers.  I know Burger King was pretty proud of their Angus beef burgers a couple of years ago.

I love to hear from the lawyers and the beef experts.  Actually, would love to hear from anyone with an opinion.

My wife and two kids have been here in Arlington for the entire home-stand. We have been in the RF seats for all the games except for last night, my son and I braved the sun for the first row in LF.  Tonight we are in the first row behind the Bullpen.  My son has been yelling at Marlon Byrd all week trying to just get a wave.  He is almost 4, he is not after a ball or anything just wants one of the players to turn and wave.  I have really appreciated your openness to the fans and if you by chance read this before game time could you give him a wave.  He will be yelling for you I am sure.  He loves baseball and has learned many of the bullpen guys' names this week.  Again, we are not trolling for a free baseball, (though I will have a baseball and pen if yall are signing before the game) my son just wants a player to wave to him.

For the those that on the site that read this and hate me right now, I have a question for everyone to discuss.  I hope to see Gagne back (especially if he really wants to be here), but if were to be traded why would we use anyone but CJ as a closer?  Would we find someone from within or is there going to be a free agent out there?  Personally I would like whoever it is to be someone that will be here a while.

If I were an Angel I would be embarrassed for this little story to get out.  Also, rap music in the locker room is not really news, nor is it something that is only in the Angels locker room.  

I realize this is not that important of an issue and it is probably just sour grapes because we are fifteen games behind these guys (soon to be 14).  It is still a dumb story not worthy of your MLB.com website.
http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070628&content_id=2055026&vkey=news_ ana&fext=.jsp&c_id=ana

I know this is not really sports related, but I thought it was important.  As many of you may know Dog the Bounty Hunter is being extradited to Mexico for bringing the convicted rapist (on 87 accounts no less), Andrew Lester, to justice.  This is a link to sign a petition asking the Mexican government to drop the charges.
http://www.xkastclients.com/dog2/petition/

That is the title of what I think is one of the greatest books ever written.  I hope people are still checking the board.  I haven't seen any new posts.  It was written by two brothers, Conn and Hal Iggulden.  If you go to www.amazon.com right now it is on the home page and is on sale for about 15 bucks.  If you have sons or are a son you would love this book.  The book is basically a "How to.." on being a boy.  If guys think back to when they were a kid and think about the things they enjoyed learning, doing, reading about, it is in this book.  There are coin tricks, famous battles, heroic stories, fossils, dinosaurs, hunting, fishing, juggling, how to make a bow and arrow, how to build a tree house, how to build a go cart, and so on and so.  It is just a great book.  Sons and dads will love thumbing through the book on a Saturday morning before they head outside to be boys or pulling it off the shelf to find an answer to a question.  I think the best parts of the book are the 8 things you need to know about girls (laughed out loud and my wife confirmed all of them), the list of books (with age appropriateness) that every boy should read,  the poems every boy should read, and the stories of courage.
The book like a Boy Scout book (there are even badges to print off at their website) or as a friend called it "an encyclopedia for boys".  The authors have an explanation for why they wrote the book and to summarize it, they felt that these things were being forgotten.  Forgotten because of our busy schedules and boys spending their time in front of video games and the TV.  This book would be the perfect fathers day gift.  I have bought me a copy, then I went back and bought a copy for each of my son's grandpas, a copy for my classroom, and a copy for another gift.  Yes, that is five copies now.  I love this book.  My wife, won't let me take it with us when we go out to eat any more and she is tired of me practicing coin tricks on her.  My son however, loves the coin tricks (even though they need a lot of practice) and is even trying to do them himself.  He loves the section with all the pictures of common bugs and insects.
Here is the books website www.dangerousbookforboys.com

"I made a big mistake. It's my fault, It's nobody's else's fault," Rose said. However, he said he should be reinstated because "I'm the best ambassador baseball has." - Pete Rose

This little doozy and some comments by others in the Rose diary got me thinking.  Obviously, Rose is not the "best ambassador baseball has."  Regardless of your views of his HOF rights, you have to admit that he not a good ambassador for baseball.  There is an innumerable number of former living players that are better ambassadors than Pete Rose (Ripken, Aaron, etc).

It would be too easy to name players that are better ambassadors than Rose.  I thought it would be interesting to hear who this board thinks are actually worse living baseball ambassadors than Pete Rose.

I would like to start things off by nominating Jose Canseco for his admitted steroid use, being a jerk, hitting his wifes/girlfriends, dating Madonna, having a mullet, having a baseball card featuring himself without a shirt on (didn't need that as a kid), and profiting off of his own cheating/illegal behavior.

There is a poll with a few former players I assume will be nominated.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2744208

Basically no big deal.  He had bypass surgery in 2000 and according to his son Reid he has an occasional "episode".  The article says that he plans to participate in a pitching clinic in Houston next week.  

Reid says, "He takes medication for it," Reid Ryan said. "From time to time, he has episodes that require him to get checked out when he has pain or something. He's feeling good. This is more about taking precautions."

It is just weird to me to think that he retire 14 years ago.  I think it is interesting how us guys have a mental time line of our lives.  We identify certain sporting events or players with different parts of our lives.  The Rangers were playing the Boston Red Sox the day my son was born.  Bill Mueller hit grand slams from both sides of the plate and the rumors were just starting to swirl about ARod wanting out.

This is a two part diary with one of the parts being split into two sub groups and one of those parts being split into two parts.

I am a fan that too often watches and creates their opinion with their heart.  I can look at the facts and however and realize I am a Rangers homer and be persuaded.  I however suck at finding all those facts.  So therefore suck at making projections.

Part A and all its parts:
What are yall's projections or what we need to see from the OF/DH contenders for this Spring Training?
  A1: What do yall project Sosa to do this spring?
  A2: What do yall project the other two do this spring? a: Botts
        b: Cruz

Part B:
How much should Sosa have to do to beat either of the two for the #1RH-DH/OF spot?

The way I see it, there is only one #1RH-DH spot and one #3 OF.  
Sosa is not really contending for the OF spot, but if Cruz is horrible and Sosa and Botts shoot the lights out, then Sosa may be a better choice defensively than Botts (not that Botts has had a chance to play the field) leaving Botts to DH.  If  Cruz is decent in the spring I want him to get the #3OF spot and hit in 7 or 8 spot right in front of Kinsler.

The Rangers caravan made a stop in Abilene, today.  It was Rick Bauer, Wes Littleton, and Eric Nadel at the Academy Sports.  I made sure to really encourage my students at school to ask their parents to take them by.  I'm trying to secure the next generation of baseball fans you see.  We all have to do our part.  I left as soon as all my students were out the door since they were only going to be there from 3 to 4.  That time doesn't exactly encourage a lot of kids to make it by.  Speaking of which, the Rangers really could do more to build the kid fan base.  For example, there visit to Abilene could have been scheduled from 3:30 to 4:30.  Also, as long as they are going to smallish towns they should send invitation type information to the schools and such.  My kids didn't care which players were there, they were excited to meet professional baseball players.  Hopefully, they will watch a few games hoping to see Rick or Wes come into the game.  Just a thought for any of you that might have connections.

Don't worry my question was not in there.  I asked Littleton if he was still considered a rookie.  Bauer who was signing for someone several people behind me, quickly blurted, "yes!"  Which I thought was funny.  Wes said that to the rest of the pitchers he was definitely still a rookie, but didn't know what the MLB record keepers definition of a rookie was.  Here is my question, what is the standard for being a rookie?  I'm also curious if BlueGlove wanted to share with us the kinds of things Wes should expect this year since he is still a rookie by team standards.

I think this is going to be an exciting game.  I see a lot of points being thrown up there.  I think the mistakes of T. Green will be the difference in this game.  I see Manning throwing 3 touchdowns and Addai running in 2.  The return of Sanders will be enough to slow L. Johnson down.  Johnson will gain nearly 150 yards.  I think that counts as slowing him down.  He is a beast.  The final score will be 38 to 24, Colts.

Would the Rangers or the Rangers' fans be interested in Sosa as a DH/LF/RF?  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/12/21/dominican.sosa.ap/index.html He says he would accept an offer like the one he rejected from the Nationals last year, garunteed 500,000 deal.  He could be a low risk high reward type signing.  If we were to sign him to a deal similar to the one FThomas got last year we could end up looking pretty smart.  The greatest risk in my mind is if he tests positive for something while wearing a Rangers jersey.  It could be a very sentimental ending to his career, think book-ends.  I lean towards no because of the steroids risk, but I'm interested in your thoughts.

I know that most of the new diaries have been about signings and transactions lately, but with Adam doing an awesome job staying on top of that I thought we could use one to discuss the Rangers offense.  

I still can't help but think that the Rangers poor offensive numbers last year were a fluke.  I agree that another bat would be nice, but I don't think it is critical.  I feel that the offense will bounce back.  Am I alone in thinking that we will see the best of Blalock very soon because the burden of playing for Buck is gone?  I think Tex will look like Tex and MY will continue to improve and be back to competeing for batting titles.  If Botts gets the chance to start the season in the line up and is given a real shot I think we see 20+ homers and 250+ batting Average.  I think there is great benefits to a young player starting the season in the lineup.  He never felt comfortable last year and I think he always felt he was playing in a try-out.

I realize there were a lot "I feel"s and "I think"s in there.  I am not a scientific baseball projector, but I love that yall are.  This is just my opinion.

espn.com has a stupid poll up right now (I know yall all hate ESPN).  It asks, "Who would you rather have as a teammate?"  Terrell Owens and Alex Rodriguez are the two choices.  I don't think it needs to be debated that they are both amazingly talented players and both automatically make your team more talented.  The only thing you could say in defense of TO is that he shows up in the playoffs.  I feel that Owens behavior was totally blown out of proportion in the game yesterday by Troy and Joe Buckles, but TO is a cancer on any team.  Alex does not hurt your team.  He does not cause problems.  I think the problem with him is he doesn't rock the boat enough.  Everybody wants him to speak up, but he has proven time and time again that he sucks at saying things.  Everytime he tries to he sounds fake and too polished.  TO is a cancer and AROD is a pussy.  How could anyone honestly choose TO over Arod.  Fortunately ARod is leading by a mile in this poll.  Which just shows how stupid the poll is.

I am not a big fan of either by the way.

What has happened to the game day threads?  It seemed that we were in the 80 to 120 comments range on most nights.  The las few games there has only been around 20 to 30.  A lot of those comments aren't even about the game.  Are that many of us fair weather fans or have the games been that boring?

This question alone is probably not enough to support a diary so I came up with another talking point.  Which of the current major league players' numbers will be retired by the Rangers?

I love baseball.  I love the Rangers.  Like many of you, I watch a lot of baseball (little league, minors, National league, anything).  I am always preaching the greatness of baseball to people.  I want everybody to go and experience a Major League game.  I know that the more people know about the game the more they will enjoy and love baseball.  Saying there are so many people at a game (especially a Rangers vs Rangers game) who are total posers or just a non-fan (big difference).  This very judgemental and I really think we should just go and enjoy the game the way that we want to enjoy it.  I personally wear a Rangers t-shirt or jersey and I often take my glove depending on the location of my seats.  I know how many of feel about those two things.

So here are a few ways that I have come up with to tell who are the posers or non-baseball fan.  Share your tell-tell signs and we can educate the non-baseball world.

1.  If they get into the Ozarka dot race.
2.  If they try to start the wave or participate more then twice (I usually rase my hands twice for my 3 year olds sake, but 2 is my limit and I don't usually stand up).
3.  If they leave their seats for long stretches of time to buy mini-bats, shirts, giant fingers, or whatever else they do for so long (I don't mind them doing this, especially if they are sitting in front or besides me and I don't the moms taking the kids).
4.  They scream for every flyball because they think it is a homerun.  If you have watched a lot of baseball, especially live baseball, you can just tell when it is gone and you usually wait until the second it lands down to cheer.  Stand up for a long fly ball.  Wish it out.  Yell for it to go, but don't cheer until you see it bounce off the chest of guy you has not fielded a fly ball in 30 years. (the false homerun cheer is the loudest when the Yankees are in town)
5.  They do everything they can to get on TV or jumbotron. They dance around to every song with one eye on the big screen (bring a sign in protest, but not asking Jeter to marry you.  funny aside; on monday a lady had a sign that said "Derek JeterS will you marry me?" and wearing a shirt that said "Future Mrs. JeterS".  She even had a D Jeter watch, but she didn't even know how to spell his name!).
6.  They don't get there until the 3rd inning.  Don't say "I get there late because I was at work."  The games start at 7:05 if work is making you late then I would say that you are a bigger fan of you job then you are of the Rangers.
7.  They are wearing a mini-skirt, high heels, or anything else that would totally be unconfortable and impractical for climbing stairs, sitting in a hard plastic seat, or 90 degree weather.  
8.  If they are wearing a bent cowboy hat from American Eagle.
9.  If they are on a cell phone for long stretches of time or more then twice in one game.  Esspecially if they make a phonecall.
10.  If they leave at the top of the 8th because the Rangers are losing.  They have 2 more at bats folks.
11.  If they get drunk during the game.  Seriously how does anyone afford to get drunk at a baseball game.

I found these two pitches to be pretty interesting.  The gyroball was mentioned in the wikipedia article about Daisuke Matsuzaka and it may explain how he and other Japanese pitchers manage to throw so many pitches.  There is a link to a wikipedia article about the Gyro ball which has a link to the description of the Shuuto.

In short the Gyroball is described as a pitch that is thrown by moving the arm away from the body instead of across the body.  It was developed to cause less stress on the arm.  Kerry Wood and Mark Prior should start studying it in their free time.

I posted this because I thought it was really interesting and I had not heard anything about it.  I am surprised that I don't remember hearing about it during the WBC.  I assume it was mentioned because Daisyduke Matsazuka (I think I misspelled the last name) was the MVP of the thing.  I also wondered if anyone knew of a way I could see the delivery (a link or something).  

I thought this was kind of interesting, but maybe it's not.  I am sure yall will let me know if it isn't.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/tex/depthchart

I was just looking atthe Rangers depth chart when I noticed that Dero was the starting RF and then the first back up for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and SS.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him in LF either.  I wouldn't argue with the fact that he is all of those things I just had never seen it on paper or on computer screen thing or stuff...  I don't really think he is the team MVP (Buck may), but I don't like the idea of him getting hurt and I am really glad we have him.  Who decides these Depth charts on Yahoo?  Do the Rangers submit it or does Yahoo just watch and put what they think?

Am I the only one who is getting tired of the David Ortiz can do no wrong crap.  I mean if he does poorly everyone says oh that Big Papi at least he sure can hit.  They hyped him up for the Derby and he was big let down, but they were quick to make excuses for him.  "He did just play a 19 inning game last night he must be soooo tired."  HE IS A FREAKING DH!!!!  He like batted 9 times.  He probably batted like 9 times swung probably 25 times over like a 6 hour period. He was 1 for 7 with 1 rbi, 2 walks and 7 LOB.  He probably took a nap some where in there.  He should not have even been eligible for this game.  He played like 7 games at first this season.  HE IS A FREAKING DH!!!!  He can't touch his toes much less field a ground ball.  Then he makes a "Look what I found" pick at first and they go on and on. Give me a break.
Dont get me wrong, he is an amazing DH.  The guy knows how to rake, but he is a one trick poney.  He has been a great hitter for the last 3 or so years, but I am tired of the Big Papi can do no wrong crap.