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Rangers are baseball's latest choke joke
Posted Saturday, Oct. 06, 2012
By Randy Galloway
rgalloway@star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON -- Pack up your gear, boys, and take yourself on to the house. May your winter be mild, your golf be good, and your baseball shame overflow each and every off-season day.
The ongoing good local vibes for Rangers baseball, a massive mushrooming process the last three seasons, capped here in 2012 with knock-down-the-turnstiles fan love, was terminated Friday night.
What arrived in April with a mighty roar went out in October with a spineless whimper, low-lighted by a mercy-kill of an ouster, courtesy of another of those blood, guts and whatever-it-takes kind of ballclubs.
The feisty wild-child element of the American League, this time the Baltimore Orioles, got in the final blow, grinding out a 5-1 win in the winner-take-all wild card shootout at The Ballpark.
But it was the Oakland A's who had sucked the life and the fight out of the Rangers earlier this week, allowing the O's to make it official. The Rangers are the new collapse jokers of baseball, from their regular-season fold going back to the World Series Game 6 an October ago.
The Orioles simply added another postseason layer to the disgrace.
There was nothing new to report Friday night. Bat poop, stacked high since August, delivered another load of nothing, baffled even by the O's lefty, Joe Saunders, who was supposed to be demonized due to his many misadventures in Arlington going back to Joe's days in the Angels' rotation.
But any pitcher had become an adventure for the Rangers, and you can wager heavily that Darren O'Day, once a popular bullpen guy here, enjoyed his strong relief work in taking over for Saunders.
Congrats, of course, to Buck Showalter, a good manager for the Rangers back in the days of bad, bad Arlington clubs. Fired here by then 29-year old general manger Jon Daniels and former owner Tom Hicks, how about Buck coming home (he still lives in Dallas) to ying-yang stuff his old club and his young former boss.
It was obviously a postseason, particularly after the back-door route into the playoffs, that was going nowhere for the Rangers. They couldn't play with the A's, couldn't handle the O's in a shootout, and certainly couldn't have survived a series against the big boys. Then again, the A's and O's may be the big boys.
Next question:
With the off-season opening Saturday, it's a franchise that must deal with many more issues than a year ago, when the Game 6 collapse of October seemed like the off-season hangover of all hangovers.
This time, however, there's a people problem.
Egos and personalities are bound to collide, involving the front office against Ron Washington and his coaching staff. Team president Nolan Ryan will have to referee this one. Is Wash's job in jeopardy?
No way, not with Ryan involved, but keep an eye on the infighting. It could get ugly.
Then there's the ongoing roster decisions.
No, Josh Hamilton is no longer a decision.
Asked this week if there was any chance of re-signing Hamilton, one club official said, "not even if he wants to play here for free next season."
Even so, it'd be best to wait it out. Let every one cool down over the pop-up in Oakland, the verbal dust-up with Washington in the dugout following the pop-up, and now the pathetic, disinterested 0 for 4 Friday night, then see what the free-agency money will bring for Hamilton.
Never say never on a great-but-weird talent.
However, even the fans, usually very generous with the players, had had enough of Ham on Friday night. The only loud boos for a team that deserved plenty of them were reserved for Josh after another strikeout to end the eighth inning.
Josh had four at-bats, three with runners on, and saw eight pitches total. He struck out twice on three pitches, and rolled into a double play and grounded out while swinging at the first pitch. No clue. No hope at the plate.
But if Hamilton has worn out his welcome here, then the Rangers will have to add wood in the off-season to replace the Josh numbers, which are still huge.
Again, however, this club's September-into-October belly-up demise leaves questions to be answered concerning the Rangers' entire baseball philosophy, and that starts with Ryan, goes to GM Daniels, moves into the dugout with Washington and his coaching staff, and then lands in the middle of the clubhouse.
No doubt, Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus are foundation pieces. After that, it's a grab-bag situation.
While bat poop consumed the Rangers as this season wore on, there's also a rotation worry now at emergency status.
Yu Darvish, of course, is exempt from the F-troop members of the rotation. Matt Harrison is OK. After that, forget it.
Derek Holland busted in 2012, big time, and the use of Holland out of the bullpen both on Wednesday in Oakland and again Friday night made us all wonder what the heck Washington and Mike Maddux were drinking, thinking, or both.
Darvish, meanwhile, hung tough, doing what was asked of him Friday night, but due to bat poop he had to be perfect.
Oh, yes, the good vibes were plentiful in Arlington over much of the summer, but it all ended Friday night, when a team minus heart, soul and spunk stumbled its way into the off-season.
On this shaky foundation of immense disgust, let the regrouping, even the rebuilding, now begin.
_________________ The Hawk wrote: There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.
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