May 15 - Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School

“Somehow I got stuck
Between a rock and hard place
And I’m down on my luck,
Yeah, I’m down on my luck”

--- Warren Zevon “Lawyers, Guns and Money”

I didn't buy into the pre-season hyperbole about the 2007 Rangers team.  I wasn’t convinced just getting a new manager was going to change anything unless it was accompanied by a stronger starting rotation and more offense from the OF.   I thought they'd hover around .500 - but I never dreamed it would be quite this bad. 

Thank goodness for minor league games to take my mind off the mess in Arlington.

May 11 Corpus Christi (Houston) at Frisco:  An early indication of the troubled pitching in this game was the line score in the 3rd inning:  1 run 6 Hits for the Hooks while the Rough Riders had 4 runs on 2 hits.   The Hooks pitcher couldn't find the strike zone and Frisco pitcher Aramando Galarraga was standing on the precipice of trouble all evening, no wonder he pumped his fist after working out of bases loaded - no outs jam early in the game.  Kevin Richardson delivered in the clutch - driving in 4 runs, while Galarraga gave up 12 hits in 6 innings, but only 4 runs.  German Duran remained hot going 2 for 3 with walk 2 runs scored.  Edit - It would probably help if I mentioned the final score: Frisco 10 - Hooks 4.

There are pictures in Photo Gallery from this game.

I originally planned to attend Saturday night's game in Frisco but random thunderstorms and the change in the starting rotation  - Eric Hurley pushed back to Sunday’s road game - made me stay home. 

Random Thoughts:
Poor Poor Pitiful Me - The outfield that could have been - all three of these players were at one time Rangers and only Tom Hicks checkbook kept one or all of them from remaining at the Ballpark:

Carlos Lee:  .287 BA/ .340 OBP/.496 SLG – 7 HR – 35 RBI
Alfonso Soriano:  .312 BA/ .353 OBP/ .512 SLG – 4 HR – 8 RBI
Gary Matthews Jr.: .303 BA/ .337 OBP/ .422 SLG – 6 HR – 21 RBI

Looking For The Next Best Thing - Is there hope for the OF in the minors?

At Oklahoma City: Marlon Byrd is hitting .359 with 4 HR, Kevin Mahar’s first 9 games in AAA have produced a .389 average with 1 HR, while Jason Botts season average is an ugly .238 – in his last 10 games (since May 3rd) he’s hitting .333 with 2 HR.

Meanwhile the Frisco – OF Steve Murphy is hitting a respectable .291 and Brandon Boggs (in a still small sample of 6 games) is hitting .313   

Yes, those are minor league numbers, but really – could they be any worse than the OF in Arlington right now?

Mr. Bad Example – Something Ron Washington said last week bothered me just a little – here’s the quote from T.R .Sullivan’s article:

"Washington said that he didn't talk to Otsuka after activating Gagne.
'What am I going to say, 'Aki, you're going back to setup?' Washington said. 'He knows that. He doesn't need to be told.' "

I don’t know, Ron maybe show just a little common courtesy, a pat on back, thanks for filling in where we need you. It's no secret that Aki wasn’t thrilled about the Gagne signing – but Aki has stepped into whatever role you needed without showing any resentment – or at least not in public.  We were told that Ron Washington was a communicator – a player’s manager – that incident and Washington’s remarks struck me as just the opposite and isn’t that what got the last manager fired?

Disorder In The House - So Michael and Tex, you were unhappy in the clubhouse, the GM listened and the manager was fired and a “players” manager hired. 

So Michael and Tex – how quickly you forgot 2004 when ARod said he couldn’t be patient, didn’t want to be stuck with you “kids” . All of the sudden just a couple of years later you’re the ones not willing to be patient with the kids at DH and on the mound – so the GM listened and traded away “kid” pitchers for a more “experienced” one and brought in a “veteran” with a tarnished reputation at DH. 

Anaheim and Oakland are wracked with injuries – and yet they are 5 and 6 games ahead of your healthy team.  So Michael and Tex what is your excuse now? 

There’s plenty wrong with this team, but the bottom line is the “star” players this team is built around aren’t performing like star players – and this season is starting to circle drain rather quickly as April slumps continue well into the middle of May. 

So Michael and Tex you got what you wanted – in this fan’s mind it’s time for some accountability. So when are you going to show us that all those moves were worth it and that this truly is your team?

It Ain’t All That Pretty At All – Finally, for those of us who - more or less - remember the 1970’s there’s “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead:  The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon” written by his former wife Crystal – at Warren’s request before he left us.   I read a few chapters in the bookstore the other day – Warren himself said it best: "I got to be Jim Morrison a lot longer than he did."

I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s – his hair was perfect –-Marla Hooch