The Great Debate

Let us begin this discussion with the simple question. Should Josh Hamilton return to the Texas Rangers Baseball team?

That’s a loaded questions to start with.

Why? You might ask… well its simple. Josh left this team, and when he did, upon his first return in an Angels uniform, told anyone with a recorder, or pad of paper in hand, that “This is not a baseball town”. OH! Did that just anger the hell out of people? YES IT DID! BUT!!!!!! (Wait for it). HE was not too far off from the fact!

IF you consider that, this part of the North Texas has been constantly barraged by, sports talk stations (that number three in the market) and by TWO newspapers, and FOUR TV stations (and those are just the English speaking ones), they cover the Dallas Cowboys constantly! Of the THREE sports talk station, ONE is the flagship station of the franchise!

But lets not stop there… lets figure that the Cowboys, the Mavericks, and the Stars all have championship rings and trophy’s in their possession! Do the Rangers? NOPE! They were close—twice, 2010 and 2011, but came up short both times.

So here is Josh Hamilton, who lived here, played here, was a part of those two teams that went to the post season and made to the World Series both times, a league MVP, a American League Championship Series MVP, and he listens to the radio, watches TV, reads the Newspapers, and knows exactly what he observes. That this is INDEED, a FOOTBALL TOWN! And its not just the Cowboys, it’s the Mustangs, the Mean Green Eagles, The Horned Frogs, the Longhorns, the Aggies, the Raiders, and so on. Its FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, with high school football, its everything BUT BASEBALL!

I am a born and raised Dallasite, and I have seen how the Cowboys rule the media, and even before there was a Jerry Jones and that circus, the Cowboys still were the lead story most of the time!

Since 1972, the Rangers have called Arlington, Texas home, and with all that the team has done, getting over 3 million though the doors in 2011 and 2012, they haven’t come close to that number since. They haven’t won the division since 2011, they barely made it to the post season in 2012, and did a one game against the Rays to see who would play in the post season. This team isn’t the same team at all!

So that brings us back to this debate about Josh Hamilton. Should the Rangers bring him back into the fold?

Frankly, its really not our decision, its that of Management, that means Jon Daniels and company that wish to bring #32 back to the clubhouse.

Players such as Adrian Beltre, and Elvis Andrus, Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, all have said “YES” bring him back, there are those who didn’t play with Hamilton when he was here the first time, like Prince Field, and Leonys Martin who wish to have him back, Michael Young, who is a special assistant to the GM, wants him back. There are those who believe, that this team, this town, would be more of an asset to Hamilton, to make sure that he stays “Healthy”.

Hamilton fell off the wagon, so to speak, when he relaspsed into the world of drug abuse and alcohol. He freely admitted it before spring training. However, he never took a drug test, and therefore, the arbitration that was asked for by the Angels, said that Hamilton did not need, nor warranted a suspension from the league.

With that, the team, in their own mind, wanted to do something to punish Hamilton, and yet they couldn’t suspend him without the Players Association getting involved, so they sat him on the bench and have basically said, that “We don’t want you—WE DON’T NEED YOU—you’re on your own buddy!”

125 Million dollar contract, and of that the still owe something like 83 million to Hamilton. The Rangers came in and said that they would pay 7.5 million of that contract, but the Angels had to pay off the rest!

Hamilton in February filed for divorce from his wife, and with four children involved, you know that can’t be easy on him either, or how about going back into history, when in 2011 on a July night, Josh gets a ball that was hit foul down the left field line, and then tosses it into the stands, there a man with his son, he reaches over to get the ball, and he flips over the railing and falls 14 feet behind the out of town scoreboard. Shannon Stone, a father, a husband, a firefighter from Brownwood, Texas, died. And Josh Hamilton has had to live with that! I am not making excuses for his actions, but I know how hard it is to forgive yourself for something like that!

Josh slipped, he relapsed, he fell off the pedestal, and he is mortal!

The fans most likely will “boo” his at bats, they might even heckle him in the outfield, but the fact that the organization is willing to accept him with open arms and allow him to be a part of this team, and this clubhouse, is speaking volumes, that they are here to take care of him, to watch him, and to protect him!

The GREAT DEBATE! Is his talents enough to help this team?

His bat, his glove, his ability to play left field, can he play full time, and if his bat is once again sound from the left side of the plate, there is a jet stream in Globe Life Park that has his name written all over it!

Can he still hit 30 home runs in a season, 100 RBI’s, and score 80 to 100 runs? If any of those answers are YES, then, then the debate is over! He can wear a Ranger uniform once again, and maybe give a little glimmer of hope to this team, who right now could use a little bit of a prayer, or at best what is left in the Jeff Hamilton tank!

There is only one real answer to all of this! Are YOU willing to forgive Josh Hamilton for his transgressions? Are you willing to forgive those things that he has said in the past, or you willing to look at the future, and see what might be, or what could have been?

I think that this is the time for Josh Hamilton to look himself in the mirror and look those demons in the eye, and start the fight, and live each day and try and forgive himself for the tragedy that happened in July of 2011, and put the other speed bumps in his life behind him.

Josh Hamilton needs the love of the Rangers Family as much as that family needs him!

Its just a thought! 

Opening Week in Major League Baseball!

Opening week for the Texas Rangers at home, after starting the season off 2-2 with the Oakland A’s in Oakland, the returned to Globe Life Park in Arlington to set up shop and take on the their , I-45 Rivals, the Houston Astros, and with that.. they begin their Silver Boot Series with them.

However, there is more to this than just the trophy for most wins against your down the block rival.  This is now the Season with a new manager, and a new attitude. Their Slogan is “NEVER QUIT!” to the point where it’s a hashtag and a battle cry with in the club house and on the field.

The weekend is filled with the pomp and circumstance that you would expect, the patriotic bunting along the stands, the introduction of the players along the baselines, then the playing of our National Anthem, the fly over of F-16 Fighter Jets, the first pitch by dignitaries, and then hearing the umpire yell “PLAY BALL!”

Nothing like opening day, or opening week at the home park, you get to see the players for the first time in the season, you get to smell the ball park for the first time, and there is a distinctive smell, that is hot dogs, popcorn, beer, and cotton candy! All of this fills your senses of sight, taste, smell, and feel! You get it all when you walk in the gates!

Then of course there is a matter of the game! In this particular instance, the Rangers didn’t fair all that well in the opening day festivities, where they literally were shellacked by the Astros, and if that wasn’t bad enough—they lose three players to injury on opening day! Starting with Ryan Rua in left field has a sprained ankle… then Shin Soo-Choo goes down with a muscle spasm I the lower back, and starting pitcher, Derek Holland doesn’t even make to the second inning with a strain in his left shoulder! Needless to say the clubhouse looks more like a M*A*S*H unit than a baseball club!

Though after the disaster that started the season—the second game of the series, looked more like what the Rangers were capable of doing, and beating back the Astros, then the rubber game on Sunday, not so much better than the first game, Colby Lewis got the start, and was lit up in the first with a home run, that wasn’t bad enough he gave up four runs in the second inning and before we could blink an eye, the Astros were up four to nothing! Oh let’s not forget another home run this time with a runner on base to give them that four/nothing lead!

The Rangers however pounded it back to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the seventh inning with a couple of hits and a walk sandwiched in there, the Rangers were able to get off the schnied, and score two runs on Leonys Martin’s single to left field that also got him going after starting the season 0 for 18!

So the 2015 Rangers are playing .500 ball to start the year, and looking to keep it at least even, when the Las Angeles Angels of Anaheim come for a three game set to the ball yard, including an afternoon game on the 15^th of April, when it is not only Tax Day, but Patriots Day in Boston, and for Major League Baseball, its Jackie Robinson Day!

That’s not only a day to celebrate a great ball player, and the fact that Robinson broke the color barrier with being the first African American to play Major League Baseball, but everyone in baseball gets to wear HIS number… 42 to celebrate it! HOWEVER! There’s a story behind that.

It starts with the fact that Jackie was getting all sorts of death threats from every major league city the Brooklyn Dodgers were playing, so while in St. Louis to play the Cardinals, teammate Peewee Reese, told Jackie that on the next game, they all would wear 42… that way they wouldn’t know who they were aiming for!

So, the last few years, the entire teams have worn 42 to honor Robinson, then MLB sells the jerseys on their website for charity!

So if the Rangers can keep pace with the rest of the West, than this team might find themselves in the driver’s seat for the Wildcard at the end of the season. HOWEVER! (there’s that word again) this team must find a way to stay healthy and keep everyone in the lineup, and Skipper Jeff Banister will have his work cut out for him, but for right now, it’s still early in the season, and there is a lot of baseball to be played!

SO! PLAY BALL! 

Its Just a thought! 

The Last Pre-Season Series before it gets for REAL!

First game at home for the Rangers after spending the spring in Surprise, Arizona for the last six weeks.

Now they return home for a two game set with the New York Mets then a day or two off and they start the season on the west coast against the Oakland A’s.

The strange thing, the first four series in April are against Division Rivals. They start with the A’s, then the Astros, the Angels, then the Mariners.

Checking the roster of the Rangers, some names are familiar, but there a slew of names on this team that are not even close to being known, but they can be by the end of the April, if this team takes off the way that Manager John Banister plans on this team competing.

The 2015 Rangers are not the same team that battled for the World Series title just four years ago, the only hold overs from that team are Pitchers Colby Lewis and Derek Holland, then you have Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Mitch Moreland, and closer Netali Feliz. Guess what folks, the rest of the roster is a who’s who of guys who are trying to make a strong living in Major League Baseball!

Opening day for the Rangers is a week from today, the 10^th of April at 3:05, but today—this game, this moment, is another moment in the sun for the Rangers, and their fans, and for this reporter, a return to the press box that he’s been away from for the last four years.

2011, the last time that I had the opportunity to sit in the press box and cover the Rangers, and to have a chance to see what this team could do, not only during the regular season, but take it into the post season.

Those dreaded Cardinals, those pesky Red Birds, then the dive of this team, post seasons for just one game playoff against the Orioles,  then last year a 163^rd game against the Tampa Rays, and then the departure of Manager Ron Washington, and the demise of this team.

New Manager, new attitude, new look Rangers. Only time will tell if these Rangers will live up to the expectations that the fans and the management put upon them.

Upon seeing the New York Mets roster, I am seeing an old familiar name as one of their coaches… Tom Goodwin, a former Texas Ranger outfielder in the 80’s and 90’s and then a coach / Manager of the Continental League Lewisville Lizards, in which the broadcast crew consisted of, yours truly, and others, and to see Goodwin in a major league uniform once again with the famous number 26 on his back, brings good feelings back into the fold.

Goodwin said that this was his first trip inside Globe Life Park, even when he was not playing for the Rangers anymore, he never played in this stadium.  It was built in 1994, and by then he was with Colorado or with the Dodgers, but never did he play inside this facility. With the Mets he at least gets to walk on the field, and see for the first time what this “Temple” is truly like!

Game time just moments away for an exhibition game! The CHILLS are still there!

Already into this short game—one pitching change and the reliever doesn’t look like he is sharp at all.. so Anthony Bass who the Rangers got from the Astros struggling in the 3^rd inning… but gets the third out… the Starter was Logan Verrett… and he only lasted 2 and third innings… with three hits .. one run it was earned… one base on balls and three strike outs.. but still struggled with his command as he gave up back to back doubles to lead to the Mets early 1-0 lead..

Aside from the fact that the Mets starting pitcher Jacob de Grom went four innings with toying with a no hitter until Prince Fielder broke it up in the bottom of the fourth… with a double into left field… though he was stranded at second—and the Rangers are down 2-0 after four… top of the fifth and a lot of new faces on the field for the Rangers… just trying to get in that last audition before the regular season starts.

This is why they play the game, this is why we watch the game… and all because we can push the sun back into the sky for one more chance to be a child of summer again!

Its just a thought!