crzyjournalist03
05-06-2004, 10:10 AM
This article was printed in the Dallas Morning News yesterday and I thought some of you Houston fans might want to read it too.
Rangers, Astros could share stage in October
12:16 AM CDT on Wednesday, May 5, 2004
ARLINGTON – Once again, no more than a mere five weeks into the season, we are left to ask of the Rangers: "How could they possibly be playing like this?"
Only this time, we've got different answers.
The Rangers are playing like this because they greeted Tampa Bay on Tuesday evening leading the American League in batting.
Leading the league in RBIs.
Standing second in the league in ERA.
Leading the league in saves.
Standing second in the AL in fielding percentage.
Leading all of baseball in double plays.
No wonder the Rangers are playing like they are, which is good enough, finally, not only to be in contention in May for the first time in three springs, but to actually be sitting atop the heap in their division.
So when I closed my eyes and thought of the Rangers on Tuesday, I did so with a different sense of wonderment:
Can you say: "I-45 Series?"
I envisioned the Rangers taking the field in The Ballpark against the Houston Astros. Not during a stretch of interleague play. I'm talking about when the bunting is out, in October. And there is nothing in my paper cup except water.
If the Rangers keep playing like this, they're more likely to win 100 games than lose them, and to wind up participants in the postseason rather than spectators.
If you've followed the Rangers, recently or for a generation or from as far back as my hometown, where they were pushovers called the Senators, then it is never too early to get giddy about a baseball-best start of 17-9 that these guys rolled out at The Ballpark on Tuesday. They almost overcame another outing by Chan Ho Park, but fell 5-4 on a ninth-inning homer by Tino Martinez of the light-hitting Devil Rays.
"We had an opportunity," Buck Showalter said.
Rarely have his Rangers not this season.
What they have done so far isn't a mirage. The 17 wins they have mined in the first 27 outings don't look like fool's gold any more than the 16 wins cobbled by the Astros so far. Like the Rangers, the Astros have won early with league-leading batting and run production and solid pitching led by the 5-0 Roger Clemens. The Astros were picked by everyone to make the playoffs, if not the World Series. They're a win behind the Rangers now. So why not imagine the unimaginable?
Think Angels fans thought they would be playing the Giants for it all? Anybody got a rally ferret?
The only place the Rangers don't compare with the Astros right now is in star power. Andy Pettitte and Clemens opted for Houston over North Texas. But the Rangers have developing stars.
Some new names we learned last season, like Michael Young, Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira, who broke out of his post-disabled list slump Tuesday with a home run to center in the second.
And in the off-season, of course, came Alfonso Soriano, a proven star. In April, we learned about Gerald Laird. Could April's rookie of the month be the new Pudge?
All I'm saying is that something is going on here. This doesn't look like a mirage. And with the Tigers, last season's 119-game losers, coming to town at week's end, and trips to Tampa Bay and Detroit coming up immediately afterward, well, there could be real reason to start paying serious attention.
Maybe we should have seen this coming when Tom Hicks hired Showalter, one of the game's best turnaround managers. His first season with the Yankees, they finished fourth. The next year, he dragged them to second. His third season in the Bronx, he guided them to first.
His first year with the expansion Diamondbacks, they finished fifth. The next season, they slithered into first.
So Showalter looks to be right on schedule in Arlington in his second season. This should be his breakthrough year. Last season, his Rangers finished fourth, where we've become accustomed to finding them. Last week, they swept the Red Sox.
Rangers pitcher R.A Dickey said the difference this year is that everyone is getting along and that none of the youngsters are afraid to say something for fear of being hooted down by veteran stars. They have a good chemistry, in short. That can overcome some weaknesses.
There is no doubt that this team has some. There aren't many clubs that would trade their rotations for the Rangers' staff, no matter its serviceable start.
But these hitters are for real. And the infield defense seems as impenetrable as that Western mountain where this country's national security surveillance department is entombed.
That doesn't mean this absolutely will be a dream season. But who knows? At least the nightmare is over.
E-mail kblackistone@dallasnews.com
Rangers, Astros could share stage in October
12:16 AM CDT on Wednesday, May 5, 2004
ARLINGTON – Once again, no more than a mere five weeks into the season, we are left to ask of the Rangers: "How could they possibly be playing like this?"
Only this time, we've got different answers.
The Rangers are playing like this because they greeted Tampa Bay on Tuesday evening leading the American League in batting.
Leading the league in RBIs.
Standing second in the league in ERA.
Leading the league in saves.
Standing second in the AL in fielding percentage.
Leading all of baseball in double plays.
No wonder the Rangers are playing like they are, which is good enough, finally, not only to be in contention in May for the first time in three springs, but to actually be sitting atop the heap in their division.
So when I closed my eyes and thought of the Rangers on Tuesday, I did so with a different sense of wonderment:
Can you say: "I-45 Series?"
I envisioned the Rangers taking the field in The Ballpark against the Houston Astros. Not during a stretch of interleague play. I'm talking about when the bunting is out, in October. And there is nothing in my paper cup except water.
If the Rangers keep playing like this, they're more likely to win 100 games than lose them, and to wind up participants in the postseason rather than spectators.
If you've followed the Rangers, recently or for a generation or from as far back as my hometown, where they were pushovers called the Senators, then it is never too early to get giddy about a baseball-best start of 17-9 that these guys rolled out at The Ballpark on Tuesday. They almost overcame another outing by Chan Ho Park, but fell 5-4 on a ninth-inning homer by Tino Martinez of the light-hitting Devil Rays.
"We had an opportunity," Buck Showalter said.
Rarely have his Rangers not this season.
What they have done so far isn't a mirage. The 17 wins they have mined in the first 27 outings don't look like fool's gold any more than the 16 wins cobbled by the Astros so far. Like the Rangers, the Astros have won early with league-leading batting and run production and solid pitching led by the 5-0 Roger Clemens. The Astros were picked by everyone to make the playoffs, if not the World Series. They're a win behind the Rangers now. So why not imagine the unimaginable?
Think Angels fans thought they would be playing the Giants for it all? Anybody got a rally ferret?
The only place the Rangers don't compare with the Astros right now is in star power. Andy Pettitte and Clemens opted for Houston over North Texas. But the Rangers have developing stars.
Some new names we learned last season, like Michael Young, Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira, who broke out of his post-disabled list slump Tuesday with a home run to center in the second.
And in the off-season, of course, came Alfonso Soriano, a proven star. In April, we learned about Gerald Laird. Could April's rookie of the month be the new Pudge?
All I'm saying is that something is going on here. This doesn't look like a mirage. And with the Tigers, last season's 119-game losers, coming to town at week's end, and trips to Tampa Bay and Detroit coming up immediately afterward, well, there could be real reason to start paying serious attention.
Maybe we should have seen this coming when Tom Hicks hired Showalter, one of the game's best turnaround managers. His first season with the Yankees, they finished fourth. The next year, he dragged them to second. His third season in the Bronx, he guided them to first.
His first year with the expansion Diamondbacks, they finished fifth. The next season, they slithered into first.
So Showalter looks to be right on schedule in Arlington in his second season. This should be his breakthrough year. Last season, his Rangers finished fourth, where we've become accustomed to finding them. Last week, they swept the Red Sox.
Rangers pitcher R.A Dickey said the difference this year is that everyone is getting along and that none of the youngsters are afraid to say something for fear of being hooted down by veteran stars. They have a good chemistry, in short. That can overcome some weaknesses.
There is no doubt that this team has some. There aren't many clubs that would trade their rotations for the Rangers' staff, no matter its serviceable start.
But these hitters are for real. And the infield defense seems as impenetrable as that Western mountain where this country's national security surveillance department is entombed.
That doesn't mean this absolutely will be a dream season. But who knows? At least the nightmare is over.
E-mail kblackistone@dallasnews.com