The Texas Rangers in the All-Star game were 1-for-9 with a 13.50 ERA

MLB's annual All-Star game was a bit of a bore, with the NL toying with Justin Verlander, etc.

The game was over in top of the first inning when the NL lead 5-0. So much for the Texas Rangers, or the AL, having home field advantage in the World Series.

The Rangers, collectively, were about as good as the rest of their AL teammates.

Batting
Ian Kinsler, 0-for-2. 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position
Josh Hamilton, 0-for-2. Grounded into one double play
Adrian Beltre, 0-for-2
Elvis Andrus, 0-for-1
Mike Napoli, 1-for-2. 1 strikeout

Pitching
Joe Nathan 1 ip. 8 pitches, 7 strikes
Matt Harrison 1 ip. 4 hits, 3 runs, 1 HR

 @MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Former Texas Rangers pitcher says former teammate should play a "women's sport"

Professional athletes are accustomed to being called any number of unflattering names, but the one they loathe the most is "quitter."

More than one Texas Rangers player who played behind Vicente Padilla when he pitched for the team from 2006 to 2008 described him as a quitter. That he would literally quit during a game by throwing at a guy's head, or just grooving pitches to get knocked around so hard the manager would be forced to take him out.

The sad part is that Padilla is a tremendously talented pitcher who when properly engaged can get people out. But there is a reason he continues to bounce around the majors - he is a bit of nut job.

Padilla is at the center of a "he said, she said" with former Texas Rangers teammate and current New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeria. The two played together for the Rangers in '06 and '07.

Padilla is with the Red Sox now, and after the NYY/Bos series completed on Sunday Mr. Teixeira called out Padilla after Friday's game saying that Padilla is a head hunter who doesn't have a lot of friends in baseball.

When Padilla was told of Teixeira's comments, he inferred that Teixeira is a racist and shrouded the comments with a sexist shot.

Padilla told the Spanish-language NESN that, "The problem is he talks about all the wrong things that others have done, but the things he's done -- against the Latinos [on the Rangers] -- he doesn't open his mouth about. He once threatened me and said he was going to hit me with a bat, and that's when we were playing on the same team. And then, he also had problems with Frank Francisco, our closer back then. But he doesn't talk about that, does he? Then, of course, he goes on and makes those comments about me."

Then he added this winner, "In this sport, as competitive ballplayers, we get pretty fired up. So I think, maybe, [Teixeira] picked the wrong profession. I think he'd be better off playing a women's sport."

Yeah! Take that, Mark! You're a girl!

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Roy Oswalt's first start is Friday for the Rangers, & he says he's the same pitcher as he was in 2010

With seemingly all but three of pitchers of your Texas Rangers pitchers on the disabled list, Roy Oswalt is being pushed into the rotation for Friday's game against the Rockies at The Ballpark. This is what we call a good draw if you are Oswalt.

The Rockies are a stout 25-41.

"I think I'm pretty close. The biggest thing is to get back into pitching shape," Oswalt said today on a conference call. He has made four minor league starts so far. "The last start was the best mechanics I've had through the whole game. They don't really need me down there (in the minors); they need me up there (with the Rangers). It may take me a game here or there to get acclimated to the big leagues and the pace of the game. I think I'm ready for it as far as arm strength and my body feels great."

The last time Oswalt pitched in the majors was for the Phillies in the 2011 NLDS.

Oswalt is no longer the 20-game winner who pitched for the Astros in 2004 and 2005 but a solid 34-year-old with good stuff, who should be able to provide solid innings, provided his back holds up. He is no longer an ace because durability is probably gone.

At the very least when he does pitch he should be able to at least keep the Rangers in the game. Only once in his 11 year major league career has he posted an ERA over 4.00. OK, so he's never pitched in the American League but this should work out well, provided his back remains problem-free.

He sees no reason why he can't be as good as he was in 2010, which he says was his best season when he posted a 2.76 ERA in 211.2 innings between Houston and Philly.

"I don't think really and truthfully I'm no different than 2010 when I was the best all around year," Oswalt said. "I don't feel any different than then. I'm still the same pitcher."

I am not expecting that. If he is close to that, the Rangers won this deal.

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

The Texas Rangers to interleague play returns; does it do it for you any more?

The lead for the Texas Rangers in the AL West is down to four games. They now begin a series in San Francisco against the Giants in a "re-match" of the World Series from two years ago.

This is the first of five consecutive inter-league series for your Rangers.

June 8 - 10: at SF
June 12 - 14: v. Arizona
June 15 - 17: v. Houston
June 18 - 20: at SD
June 22 - 24: Colorado

Do any of these series do anything for you?

Inter-league play was created to inject some interest into the game, and put some extra butts in seats in the hot months. What was first a cute novelty has now become an accepted portion of the schedule. The novelty is gone, and the purists who once complained about this break from tradition are no more.

Your interest level goes up based on the proximity of the opponent - LA v. Ana; SF vs. Oak.; Balt vs. Wash; Chi v. Chi; NY vs. NY; Houston v. Texas; Stl. vs. KC - or if the team has a bonafide star that never visits your town.

The interest level is a series by series, and team by team. 

It's no longer a question of whether it works because it's not going away. 

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel 

Video: Galloway & Big Mac ponder the panic button for the Texas Rangers

 

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Dallas Stars coach thinks New York Rangers are the team to win it all

DALLAS - Call Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan an expert on the L.A. Kings and Phoenix Coyotes, a tiny bit less so regarding the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. 

He saw the Kings and Coyotes about 100 times during the regular season. He saw the Devils twice and the Rangers once.

These are the NHL's Final Four. Glen is going with the New York Rangers to win this thing.

"(LA Kings coach Darryl Sutter's) system is to hunt. They are going to hunt you until they beat you. That is what they are doing right now," Gulutzan said. "They are putting on pressure until they are wearing you down. ...

"Just looking at this, the Rangers have more depth than anybody else. So if it's the Rangers/L.A. I just think, if you go past the first two lines of L.A., the bottom two lines the Rangers can put out a better bottom two lines. If it gets into a real grind, two-way hockey series, the Rangers have more. And the Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist, and the Kings have Jonathan Quick, so that's a wash. It's going to come down to depth." 

An L.A vs. New York Stanley Cup Finals, after which Gary Bettman should immediately retire. Never will his league enjoy higher ratings.

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Friday night Rangers ballpark showdown: C.J. Wilson vs. Yu Darvish

The thrill and rarity of Texas Rangers' outfielder Josh Hamilton's 54 home run performance (that's what it feels like now) earlier this week in Baltimore has created a buzz over baseball that we aren't even paying attention to how bad Albert Pujols has been sucking. BTW - Albert is batting .198 with 1 HR, 11 RBI this season.

According to the Internet Machine, the Rangers are talking about signing Hamilton to a 75-year contract worth $3 trillion. Again, that's what it feels like now.

Aside from Hamilton talk, in case you didn't know, the Anaheim Angels are coming to Texas for their first series of the season against the Rangers beginning Friday. 

This doesn't happen often, like almost never, but Friday night's scheduled pitching matchup is the rare matchup of the guy you had vs. the guy you have:

C.J. Wilson (4-2, 2.61 ERA) vs. Yu Darvish (4-1, 2.54 ERA)

Even though Wilson was instrumental in the Rangers' success in each of the past two seasons as a starter, by the time he hit free agency last winter fans sounded tired of his "Speed Racer, Most Interesting Man in the World" persona. There was a "Good riddance" feeling to his departure, which was bolstered by a pair of unimpressive post season performances. And then there was the fact he Tweeted out former teammate Mike Napoli's cell phone number.

Not sure I could get away with posting this video about C.J. Wilson on FunnyorDie.com, but here is a link to a pretty funny ad selling C.J. Wilson ... uhhh ... ummm ... products for women.

He may rub you wrong because he can sound a bit too cool for school, but the man is a solid innings eater who doesn't get hurt.

When the Rangers said goobye to Wilson they obviously did so with the knowledge they were going to make a serious run at Yu, who so far in his MLB career looks like he can be a dominating starting pitcher.

But the Rangers didn't make this swap for April through September, but specifically October.

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Video of Josh Hamilton's 4 HR & former TCU star pitcher's tie to the memorable night

Worth a look ...

 

Former TCU pitcher Jake Arrieta began the season as the Opening Day starter for the Baltimore Orioles in what will likely be his third full Major League season.

Things had been going pretty well for Arrieta until he served up a pair of two-run home runs to Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton on that ticket-stub saving night.

Before Tuesday night, Arrieta was 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA for the AL East leading Orioles. After Tuesday night, he is 2-3 with a 4.23 ERA.

Arrieta told The Baltimore Sun, "It was the first time I've ever seen anything like that. Very special hitter."

He added: "He's the kind of guy who really likes to jump on the first pitch, and we know that as a staff. I think it was just [that] we did him a favor by throwing him too many hittable pitches. He didn't miss tonight. You got to tip your cap to him, but we got to do a better job -- me especially -- making better pitches early in the count to him."

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Way to go former Texas Rangers 1B Chris Davis, Cy Young candidate

By all accounts former Texas Rangers 1B Chris Davis is one of the good guys, so it's nice to see good things happen to this young man from Longview, Texas.

On Sunday in Fenway Park, the Baltimore Orioles completed a sweep of the Red Sox with a 9-6 win in 17 innings.

Orioles' DH/1B Davis posted one of the most unique box score lines in baseball history:

Chris Davis, DH: 0-for 8, 5 strikeouts; 0-2 with runners in scoring position (BTW - despite this beating his average is now .299; he was batting .326 before the game began).

Chris Davis, P: 2 ip., 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB, 2 K, 23 pitches, 15 strikes

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Davis became the first player to go hitless in eight at-bats and earn a win since Hall of Famer Rube Waddell did that for the Philadelphia A's on July 4, 1905, in a 20-inning game against Cy Young.

Davis is also the first position player to earn a win since Rocky Colavito in 1968 for the NY Yankees.

The AL East leading Orioles host the Texas Rangers for a four-game set beginning tonight in Baltimore.

 

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel

Former Texas Rangers outfielder Chad Curtis accused of something really not good

Of all of the pro jocks I have covered, former Texas Rangers outfielder Chad Curtis ranks as one of the most brutally candid, not to mention truly unique, personalities I have met. It made him exiled in his own locker room. I never sensed his teammates liked him.

But I can't say I would have ever seen this one coming:

Curtis is retired now, and according to this report on MLive.com, he has been accused of inappropriately touching four high school students at a Michigan high school. No criminal charges have been filed.

Curtis, 43, who played for the Texas Rangers in 2000 and 2001, has been a volunteer assistant at Lakewood Schools in Barron County, Michigan. He had been a substitute teacher in the district, and was currently serving as a volunteer in the high school weight room.

He was scheduled to become the head football coach at Lakewood this fall. He is currently under suspension during an investigation.

Curtis came to the Rangers after a couple of productive years with the New York Yankees. A devout Christian who wore his faith on his sleeve, he was a favorite of then Rangers manager Johnny Oates, who shared similar beliefs. There was a theory that Oates kept Curtis on the roster because of that.

Curtis was nice and professional, but he was not your typical major league personality. He was different.

Curtis once cornered me in the Rangers' dugout in Oakland late in the 2001 season when he was doggedly explaining to me his religious beliefs, among other things. A pair of his teammates were laughing at me over his shoulder.

Curtis could easily come across as aloof, above it, and he really didn't make friends when he spoke about steroids in baseball in a time when that was decidedly not cool.

Perhaps it was not a coincidence that 2001 was his final MLB season.

@MacEngelProf
tengel@star-telegram.com
Facebook Mac Engel