Posts Tagged ‘Zonk’

More Random Rangerness Posted by Ken Jones in Texas Rangers, The Bullpen September 4th, 2008

Finally, the Rangers get the 3-game sweep they’ve been looking for all year, knocking off the really, really, really, really awful KC Royals. This is not only the Rangers first 3-0 series of the season, it’s their first EVER 3-0 trip to Kaufmann Stadium. Of course, the sweep would have meant more if it had come in April, May, June, or July, or if the Rangers hadn’t preceded the whitewash with a 3-14 streak that wiped out three months of hard work, but who are we to complain?

Speaking of complaining, in a battle, when one army is beaten and surrenders, they will wave a white flag. In wrestling, a beaten foe can ‘tap out’ on the mat. After aerial combat for mates, the losing male of the Asian Red-Billed Sparrow will show submission by laying prone on the ground in a silhouette of the American Bald Eagle, similar to the back of a U.S. Quarter. (I might have made that last one up…) I just mention this because the Rangers called up Nelson Cruz this week.

Speaking of Nelson Cruz, I’ve actually been very impressed by the Rangers this season. While Cruz was destroying the pitchers in Triple A, Texas passed over him several times as they needed outfield help. I don’t know whether this was a conscious effort to give guys like Brandon Boggs an audition, a signal to Cruz that they’ve seen what he can offer, or an attempt to shake Nelson into believing that he needed to mentally toughen up, but it was refreshing. Maybe the next 30 games will give us a chance to see if Cruz can handle the majors or if he is the Latin Crash Davis.

Speaking of the last month of the season, it should be interesting to watch, if for no other reason than to see if Michael Young can extend his streak of consecutive 200-hit seasons to six. 45 hits in 30 games is an awful lot to ask, but do you want to bet against the man? If Ian Kinsler can come back and if Josh Hamilton can stagger to the finish line of his first full major league season, Michael could have an outside shot at it. And it gives us something to cheer for.

Speaking of cheering for the Rangers, ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” poll to determine the greatest player for each franchise surprised me when they rolled through Texas. Dollars to donuts, I would have bet that it was Nolan Ryan in a landslide. But out of more than 41,000 votes cast, Pudge Rodriguez squeezed him out, 35% to 33%, even if he’s a Yankee now. (I still haven’t gotten over that. I would rather watch “The Thin Red Line” again than see Pudge in pinstripes…) Juando got 12%, followed by A-Rod, Frank Howard, Raffy, and Michael Young. Charlie Hough, Buddy Bell, and Ruben Sierra rounded out the list with less than 1% of the vote apiece. Read more