Help?

Two things have happened recently that are creating great trauma for me.

The first one happened earlier this week when Mark Teixeira signed a contract with the Evil Empire. The very fact that a player that I have great respect for signed with "them" is bad enough. But anyone who knows my family and my youngest daughter knows that we are now going to have a problem of Biblical proportions in my household.

THERE'S ABOUT TO BE A @$#%$& YANKEE FAN IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

I told her I hope she likes sleeping out in the back yard.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

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The second thing happened yesterday.

My oldest daughter went out and ordered THIS!!





Ted? I can't breathe, man! This is what you have to look forward to someday! I've never had so many emotions going through me at one time.

We don't have an official date, yet. Probably won't be until sometime in 2010, but they've ordered the dress. It won't have pink edges. They will be hunter green instead.

Sigh.

TTFN, y'all!

No Tex for Now

Scott Boras must be pulling his usual crap. The Red Sox have, extremely abruptly, completely pulled out of the race for Mark Teixeira, after reportedly making the biggest offer out there.

Anybody remember Boras lying to the Texas Rangers and telling them that Raphael Palmeiro had a better offer? When he didn't? So Palmeiro wound up playing for the O's instead of the R's.

For a team like the Sox, with all their money, to just yank out like that, something's going on.

That's ok, though. I would love to see Tex in a Red Sox uniform, but, honestly, we don't need him that badly. We got Youk, man. Who needs a Tex when you got a Youk??

(Please don't take that personally, other "Tex." Of course, we need you!)

If we can't get him, though, I'd really like to see him play in Baltimore. Why not? It's his home. I just hope he won't take that Nats deal. Dear Lord, what a horrible team. Surely, he wouldn't want to play there.

In the meantime, the Rangers are adding all kinds of improvements to their Ballpark. Seats closer to the field, LED scoreboards (which I'm opposed to, though...I'm a purist. I like the manual outfield scoreboards), and some kind of high-tech video thingy around the middle deck of the stadium.

Seems like all that money could maybe buy a pitcher.

But what do I know? Rangers "fans" don't come to watch baseball, anyway.

TTFN, y'all.

Rangers and Red Sox Making Another Trade?

Rumors, rumors, rumors.

Word on the street is that the Sox are interested in Taylor Teagarden or Jarrod Saltalawhatzitshickiedoodle. (Stephanie can spell his name...longest name in baseball, too.) I dunno about this.

I realize that if the Sox can re-sign Tek, they probably should bring a youngster for him to mentor. But I don't think Salty is the answer. I could be wrong. With someone like Tek teaching him, he might turn out ok. But I saw some pretty horrible games with him behind the plate in Texas last season. (Is it late enough to call it "last season" yet?)

Teagarden, on the other hand is supposed to be on of the Rangers' top prospects.

And I wouldn't be unhappy at all to see Clay Buchholz in a Rangers uniform. But I don't know if the Sox are interested in dealing him. The word is that the Rangers are interested in Buchholz or Masterson or Bowden.

I actually enjoy this time of year, even though I miss the games. I like the anticipation of seeing who's going to deal who (whom??) and what kind of miserable deals Jon Daniels is going to make for the Rangers.

The Teixeira conundrum is still out there, as well. He pretty much has a wide-open field in front of him. Lyle Spencer, on the "Hot Stove Blog," has called Tex "the best all-round player in the game." Well, he said that the case can be made that he is. I don't want to be guilty of misquoting.

Personally, I would love to see Tex get to go to Baltimore. That's where he is from, and they would love him there. However, I don't know if the O's can afford him, and the chances of him coming out with a WS ring from Baltimore are slim to none. Unless, that is, the O's can pull what the Rays did last season and go from "worst to first." I don't see that happening.

I'll say again that Boston doesn't really need Mark Teixeira. I would love to see him in a Red Sox uniform, especially if there were a chance he might wear pin stripes. But if Mike Lowell comes back from this hip surgery, we don't need a first baseman.

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Congratulations to two players that I like a lot!

Michael Young of the Rangers and Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox have both been awarded Golden Gloves!! Great for both of them. Young beat out Jeter and a host of other Shortstops. I'm really proud for him.

Oh, and TED!!! Get over and vote for Josh Hamilton in the TYIB awards. He's up for hitter and for whatever category they have his performance in the HR Derby. I voted for him about a kabillion times. I got his book, too. Came out a couple weeks ago. I'll let you know how it is as soon as Stephanie gets through with it. I'm hoping I can get him to sign it sometime. It's called Beyond Belief.

I guess that's it for this one.

Wait. One more thing. Sadly, we bid adieu to Michael Crichton this week. Author of many novels, the most famous probably being Jurassic Park, he lost his battle with cancer this week. I'll miss him.

TTFN, y'all!

What's Up With the Umps??

MLB umpires are getting worse and worse.

I'm not watching these Whirl Serious games, but I've seen two questionable calls, one in each game, that seem to have had a bearing on the outcome of the games.

Major League Baseball cannot afford this. While I acknowledge that umpires are human and, therefore, prone to make mistakes, I just can't bear to see the quality of officiating that we have had, really for the entire season. It's just been consistently bad.

Tonight, the home plate ump called one of the Rays out on a checked swing strike. Then he gave him first base. Which was it?? A strike out or a walk? How do you call a strike, then call a walk?? I saw the video clip. It was clearly a strike. His swing went past the point of no return. Does making a bad call tonight that benefited the Rays make up for the alleged botched no-balk call last night? Do two wrongs make a right? No, but three lefts do...

This is unacceptable. Perhaps if baseball had a real commissioner, he might address this issue. But since all we have is Bud Selig, that's not likely to happen. Sigh.

Rumors, rumors, rumors. Always one of the most fun parts about the off-season. And yes, as far as I'm concerned, the off-season started last Sunday night.

The most interesting rumor that I'm following is the one that has Mark Teixeira possibly becoming a Red Sox. I would love that. My daughter would also love that. We are both pretty big Tex fans, although it really pained me to see him with the Halos. I liked it better when he was with the Braves. And I really, really, really, really don't want to see him wind up with the Yankees.

But here's the problem. Do we need a first baseman? I dunno. A lot depends on Mike Lowell's status for next season. I love Mike Lowell almost as much as Dawn (ok maybe not...that would be kind of, you know, gay). If he's healthy, Youk plays first base, and we don't even need Kotsay (whom I don't feel is a good fit for the Sox anyway...he was a good bandaid). But if Lowell doesn't make it back from this hip injury, Youk could play third and Tex could play first base. Mark Teixeira is a fantastic switch-hitter (who walks a lot) and a gold glove first baseman. We saw his handiwork as we were playing the Angels in the playoffs. He robbed us several times.

I still feel like shortstop is our weakest position. What's up with that? It seems like all these years, we have never been strong at short. I don't even remember who was playing shortstop in '04. Then we got Renteria from the Cards, and he was forgettable. Then we had "E6" (thanks for that, Dawn...I love that), who is less than weak and Alex Cora, who is adequate, but not great. Jed Lowrie is ok, but still young with a lot to learn. And his plate performance leaves a bit to be desired. (I'm not just saying that because he made the last out of the season, either.) He wound up with a .258 avg, which ok, but even Lu--I mean E6--had a higher average than that. So, HEY THEO! Get us a shortstop!

We also need to get our starting rotation back in order. That kind of fell apart at the end of the season. I love Wake, but I think it's time for him to hang it up. Dice K was our best this season, going 18-3! He improved quite a bit over last year. Lester was next at 16-6. He had a pretty good season, too, along with a no-no against KC. But next was Beckett, who only won 12 games this year. He was disappointing this year, and I know he's tired of people asking him if something was wrong, but HEY...SOMETHING WAS WRONG!!

So for next season, we have Dice K, Lester and Beckett. Maybe Byrd. I don't know...jury's still out on him. I think he might be ok. We need at least one more strong starter, maybe two. The bullpen actually finished a little stronger than it started.

Ok. So. We have a few players that really need to get healthy over the winter. Lowell, Papi, Drew... We need a strong shortstop, and we need a couple of strong pitchers for the starting rotation.

I'm optimistic about '09.

Now I have to start thinking about something else to write about for um...*counting* November, December, January, February, March...*ahem* FIVE! Yeah, that's it. Five months. Dear Lord...might as well be 50! It would help if I liked football more. But even then, all we have is Jerry Diva Jones and his band of delinquent misfits and our girly-man quarterback. Pft.

Back to work with me!

TTFN, y'all!

Wakefield Delivers Again

Once again, Tim Wakefield has shut out the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Sox won 6-0 last night with Wakefield shining again, for what, I believe, is his second shutout in a row. And the Angels continued their domination over the Evil Empire, as they scored a run in the bottom of the 10th inning to win 7-6. This put the Sox back to 5 games ahead of the Yanks.

The Rangers and the Orioles were postponed by rain. In the meantime, the Rangers' first baseman hit two three run home runs for the Atlanta Braves. It's too bad Tom Hicks would rather "contend" than "win." I'm not sure he knows what that word means.

TTFN, y'all!

Was the Teixeira Trade A Good One?

The buzz around the MLB was that the Rangers actually came out pretty good for this year's trades. I'm not so sure.

While it was obvious that the "devil in baseball," Scott Boras was NOT going to allow Tex to stay in Texas (and Tex is foolish enough to think that Boras actually works for him...), there was still a year left in his contract. Hickman and the Boy Wonder claim that Tex turned down a multi-year contract worth $140,000,000. The problem is that Tex did not turn it down, Boras did. I wonder if Tex ever even knew it was made. That's just the kind of agent Boras is. Every fan of baseball should detest Scott Boras. Oh, sure, he's great for the players...or is he??

Most Rangers fans should remember the glory days of Rafael Palmeiro. Rafe wanted to stay with the Rangers. Boras lied to the Rangers and said he had a better offer. So the Rangers backed off and let him go. There was no better offer. So Palmeiro wound up in Baltimore instead.

It's my opinion that every MLB owner should band together and refuse to even talk to Boras. Ever. Don't even acknowledge that he exists. It would only take one season with all the top name players having contracts before they get smart and fire him. And yes, baseball could survive one season without all of them. Look at how much fun it is watching the Rangers right now. They are a bunch of (mostly) young, hungry players. They are barely playing .500 right now, but so what. This season is pretty much over for them. If they manage to claw their way up to .500 before the season is over, most fans will consider it a success. And they might not even finish in dead last!

Ok....lemmee step off of that soap box now. So far, the mediocre first baseman for which we traded a great first baseman is 1 for about 11 at the plate. In the meantime, Tex has hit two homer in his first two games as a Brave. I understand we got some "prospects" for Tex, as well. But how well have the Rangers' "prospects" ever worked out? Anyone remember this infamous "DVD" bunch? Danks, Volquez, and Diamond? Zilch. Nada. Never panned out worth anything.

And...we traded our only closer to the Red Sox. Now, mind you, it tickles me to no end to see Eric Gagne with the Sox. He's got a sure shot at some playoff action this year. A possible World Series ring. And the Rangers got Kason Gabbard out of the deal. That shocked the heck out of me...but I guess if you have talent out the wazzoo, you can afford to throw some away. But even Gabbard lost his first outing with the Rangers, after being 4-0 for the Sox so far. And the Rangers still have no closer until Otsuka gets off the dl. So there you go.

Only time will tell if the Rangers actually did well this trade season. My bets are on "no." Because that's the Rangers style, and it's definitely Jon Daniels' style.

And by the way...a note to the Rangers fans...probably some of the worst in all of baseball. Both Tex and Gagne got huge standing ovations from their new fans. When have Rangers fan EVER done that?? When have Rangers fans ever waited in a block-long line just for the hope of getting a ticket for a sold-out game? When have Rangers fans ever bought enough tickets that there is no hope of the opponent's fans even getting in the ballpark. And yet they whine and moan when they hear cheers of "Let's Go Red Sox!" wafting through the Rangers Ballpark. Pft. Every Rangers fan should be required to visit Fenway Park at least once. At Fenway Park there is no "cutesy" organ music urging fans to clap for the players during the inning. The Fenway Faithful need no urging. If one tries to start up a cheer of "Let's Go Rangers!" during an inning in Arlington, he will be a lonely voice, getting some stares from other fans indicating that he is just south of sane. Another thing I noticed about Fenway Park is there is NO promotional schedule. They don't give away anything. They don't have to. No stupid "chatter bats." No bobbleheads. No stupid "Wingo" games. And DEFINITELY no stinkin' CHEERLEADERS!!! I still think that's the dumbest idea that Hicks has ever come up with.

At Fenway Park....it's just baseball. And it's glorious!

TTFN, y'all!