Oh my god. The Rangers/Yankees game tonight was an instant classic. We had Vinny Padilla going to the mound against Joba Chamberlain. We got down 4-0 early on a couple of homers by Giambi and Cano. However, you’ve got to be about 15 runs ahead of this Rangers team to be comfortable at all. Of course, our offense woke up and started producing. David Murphy came up and hit a two run homer. He has 73 RBI now. That’s second on this team to Josh Hamilton! There were some weird umpire calls, including two balks against Padilla. On the second, Wash came out and was tossed. Then, Michael Young a.k.a Mr. Clutch, came up and hit a three run homer to put the Rangers on top!!! Then, the X-Man, Xavier Nady came up and barely got a ball out over Marlon Byrd’s glove. If he was just a few inches taller, Marlon would’ve had that one. So, now it’s tied at 5. Bottom of the ninth. Marte loses his control and walks three. The bases are loaded for Marlon Byrd. And of course what does Mr. Byrd do? Only hit a walk-off grand slam!!! This team is making the walk off wins their speciality this year. Marlon got ice thrown on him in his postgame interviw, highfived some fans in the crowd (including Team President Nolan Ryan!), and did some very fancy high five moves with Salty. I never get tired of watching this team. Watching them go out to home plate and jump around like little kids with huge smiles on their faces puts a huge smile on my face.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, this team is absolutely incredible. This team NEVER says die and I love the heart of this team. This is probably the funnest group of Rangers I have ever watched. This has been such a fun summer watching this team and we’ve still got two months left! Now, do I think this team will somehow miracously catch the BoSox and win the Wildcard? No, but I think second place in the West and two more months of how they are playing right now will be a huge confidence booster and maybe, just maybe we can be contenders the next two years. Like Josh Lewin said, this is turning into a magical summer in Arlington, Texas.

And it makes it all the much sweeter that we beat the YANKS!!!!!!!!! God, if only we didn’t have to see Pudge in a Yanks uniform. Makes me wanna cry.

This is one of the best games of the year. It’s right on up there with Josh’s walkoff homer off K-Rod.

So, last Wednesday, on Josh Hamilton’s myspace fan page, he was online it. I saw the chance to message him and of course I did! He messaged me back and this is the result:

My message:

Hey Josh,

I know you probably don’t have a whole lot of time, however I saw the chance to message you and I had to take it. My name is Hannah Baugh and I’m sixteen years old. I live in Bonham, Texas about 90 miles north of Arlington. I have been a Rangers fan since I was born. I give my dad all the credit for my love of the greatest sport of them all, baseball, and my favorite team of them all, the Texas Rangers. I just want to tell you that we are so incredibly happy to get to call you a Texas Ranger. I’ve heard your story and I am so inspired by it. You belong on that baseball diamond and we can only thank God every day that He helped you to get back there.

I watched you that night at Yankee Stadium in the Home Run Derby and I don’t think that I took the smile off my face at any time when you were blasting those 28 homers in the first round. Josh, Rangers fans, myself included, have so much fun watching you every night. You are truly an inspiration to everyone. You have a beautiful family and may God bless you. I wish you and your family nothing all the happiness in the world. We love you, Josh.

<3 hannah

His Response:

thank you and your dad for supporting me i couldnt do it with out fans like you im just glad to be here and play the game i love i go out there and hustle unlike some players cause i know god wants me to i play this game for him every hit i bless him cause i know i wouldnt be here without him and kid dont ever do drugs they will kill you trust me you dont wanna go down the road ive been down your a pretty girl you dont wanna ruin that

OMG. That made my day, week, month, year. Whatever you wanna say. Love ya, Josh!!!!

<3 hannah

Wow, so I haven’t updated this in a while! Lol. Well, the Rangers have had 2 pretty crappy games and two really awesome games since I last updated. In Chicago, they lost a game 10-2 and then they had the last game of the series pretty wrapped up until the bullpen came in and blew it and the Rangers ended up losing 10-8. Then, they packed up and headed to the Bay Area to take on the Oakland Athletics. Oh, how I love West Coast baseball games. Lol, that’s like prime-time for me. I know a lot of people don’t like the West Coast games, one of them being my dad, but I’m a night owl so I love them. lol. On Friday night, the Rangers got off to a bad start. Vicente Padilla gave up five early runs, however the Rangers’ offense woke up. They scored those five runs back, on a David Murphy and Josh Hamilton homers. The, the Rangers had an eight-run ninth inning and they went on to win 14-6. Great game. Then, the game on Saturday was not on TV because it was a day game and no other game that is not on FOX can be televised. Since you know, FOX has to have their weekly Red Sox and/or Yankees game. I personally think it’s some bullhonkey. lol. So, I had to listen to it on the radio. Josh Hamilton, Marlon Byrd, and Chris ‘Crush’ Davis all powered up and hit a homerun. The Ragners went on to win 9-4.

Today, the Rangers are taking on Dana Eveland. It is 1-0 Rangers early on in the first inning from a Milton Bradley RBI double. Woohoo! lol

<3 hannah

Oh, how I love the sound of that. Now, who knows how long it will last, but for the moment the Rangers are in sole possession of second place in the AL West Race. Now, if only we were in the NL West, we would have like a 2 game lead! Haha, nobody in that division is over .500. The Rangers took on the Chicago White Sox tonight. Scott Feldman was pushed into an impromptu start when Eric Hurley had to remain on the DL. Feldman, like he has been all year, pitched very well. Josh Hamilton came up with 2 guys on and hit one out 422 ft! No Derby hangover from Mr. Hamilton. He has 98 RBI now. Unbelievable. Later on, Hank Blalock came up and hit one out!! It’s really good to see Mr. Blalock back on the baseball diamond. He just looks like a baseball player and he looks so natural out there. This all led up to a very pleasing 6-1 win for the Texas Rangers, putting them in second place in the AL West, coupled with an Oakland Athletics loss against Tampa Bay. It would be a real nice step in the right direction for this team to come in second place this year. Now, I know that’s not what they’re going for, obviously they want to surpass the Angels and win the division. However, it’s gonna take a whole lot to overtake the Angels and their pitching staff. This team has had a lot of third and fourth place finishes, coupled with a couple first place finishes in the late 90s. However, if they are not able to leap over the Angels or nab the Wild Card (which is a great possibility with them coming in only 4 1/2 games back tonight, I think.), then I think this team finishing second would be a great step in the right direction going into the next two years in which everyone supposed that they would be contenders. Well, I’m out for now..see ya later!

<3 hannah

Ugh, the game tonight was a mess. Rangers lost 14-2. The only exciting moment for the Rangers was Davis’ homer that I mentioned. I went outside after Justin Morneau cleared the bases with a double and it was 6-2. I was predicting that it would be bad and it would be somethingl like 15-2 when I went back in. Well, when I got there and saw that it was 14-2, I simply had to chuckle and shake my head. It’s because of our sucky pitching. Our offense can’t score fifteeen runs a game and if J.D. doesn’t go out this month of in the offseason and get the Rangers some serious pitching, then this thought of us contending the next two years might not be so accurate. If he does out and make some good deals, then yes I could see them contending in the next two years.

Ugh, this day has sucked. I’ve felt crappy all day and my allergies are still killing me. And of course, this didn’t make me feel any better. Well, hopefully they can go out and salvage the series tomorrow and get something going when we go into Chicago. Well, I’m out of here for now..

EDIT: I saw an article about how they surveyed 26 All-Stars on who is the best player in the league right now. Josh Hamilton came in second! A-Rod won with 9 votes and Josh got 6 votes (even though without the help of Michael Young who is the only player to have teamed with both Hamilton and A-Rod, who ultimately voted for A-Rod chosing his longetivy). Of course, they said that A-Rod ran away with it, but I don’t think that 9-6 is exactly running away with it.

<3 hannah

Fox Sports has released their list of the top ten biggest jerks of the first half of the Major League Baseball season. Here is the list:

10. Brett Myers

9. Al Reyes

8. Omar Minaya

7. Ozzie Guillen

6. Milton Bradley

5. Barry Bonds

4. Manny Ramirez

3. Alex Rodriguez

2. Roger Clemens

1. Shawn Chacon

Agree? Disagree? I think that they should now make a list of the top ten ’good guys’ in baseball now. Haha.

Well, game two in Minnesota for the Rangers has started. Not a good start. Joe Mauer just hit a first inning homerun so the Twins are ahead 1-0 now. C’mon boys. Can’t be shut out again. Let’s get some of that good Ranger offense going!!!

I’ll probably be back and post after the game tonight…until then, peace out!

EDIT: Had to come back b/c Chris ‘Crush’ Davis just hit one out!!!!! Yayyy. So glad that Blalock stayed at third base now. 2-1 Rangers now. =)

<3 hannah

Hello. So, I didn’t get back to posting that next entry about the Rangers future. Haha. I was being lazy and kinda busy at the same time. I’ve been working the last couple of days and last night I went to a Frisco Roughriders game. My dad and I were hoping that Neftali Feliz, the flamethrowing pitcher who in his first game at Frisco was reportedly hitting 101 mph on the radar guns. Someone said that there were more scouts behind home plate that night than they had ever seen before. However, he was not pitching. He had pitched Saturday and on a regular five-man rotation, last night would have been his turn, however we figured that they may not keep a five-man rotation in the minors so the kids can rest their arms more. That’s a good idea since these guys are so young right now. Especially Feliz who was born in 1988! I was born in 1991! Haha. So, we didn’t get to see Feliz (one of the prize prospects in the Mark Teixeria trade to Atlanta. Haha, I’m soooo loving this trade more and more every day. We got Salty, who in time I think can progress into a good major league catcher and a handful of other prospects. Haha. I think getting rid of Teixeria was one of the best things that has happened to this club in a long time. I’ve heard he can be a pretty big prima donna and I lost respect for him at the end of his Ranger tenure because of some of his comments and actions. And I love how he have a better record than the Braves right now. HAHAHAHA…) but we got to see Michael Schlact. We had never seen him pitch but the boy got roughed up pretty bad. When we left in the eighth inning, the Riders were losing 7-1.

So, the Rangers started the official second half of the regular season tonight. And guess what???!!! HANK BLALOCK IS FINALLY BACK!!!!!!!!!! After like a two-year hiatus. Well, okay it really wasn’t that long, but it seemed like it was that long. I felt sorry for the guy getting all those injuries and not being able to get back. So, back when Hank thought that he was going to be back soon, he suggested (I suppose) to the team that he would move to first base for the good of the team since we were getting NO production there from Ben Broussard (spare..lol), Jason Botts (miss him! he’s over in Japan I believe), Craig (it’s really Chris) Shelton (haha, it’s an inside joke between me and my dad..lol. I might explain later.), and probably some other dudes I’m not remembering at the moment. So, Hank started making the transistion over to first, however then he discovered he had carpal tunnel syndrome and that was a setback. Then, he hurt his right wrist diving for a ball and that’s when the Rangers had no choice but to act and get somebody up to play first for them. The perfect candidate was Chris ‘Crush’ Davis who was absolutely DESTROYING Triple-A pitching. (He also was a third baseman converted to a first baseman) The Rangers brought him up. I was at his first home game where he hit his first home run! He hit like three homers in his first six games. This dude is like a beast. He is a power bat to the full extent and he showed he was a great defender at first too. So, now Hank is ready but we’ve got a dilemma. Chris Davis is proving himself to be worthy of being a big leauger, however where do you put Blalock? Back at third. So, after all that fuss over him moving over to first base, he never actually does. Haha. But I am very glad that Chris is staying put for the moment because he is what my mom calls a ‘pretty boy.’ Haha, I have my list of pretty boys on the Rangers and in the big leagues. I might include that later on as well. LOL.

So, anyway back to the game. We were in Minnesota and we had to bring up another young minor leaguer because Salty had the flu over the Break and still is not feeling well. The Rangers brought up Triple-A catcher Taylor Teagarden (also a pretty boy! haha). Teagarden is a Texas boy from Carrollton. He has also been chosen to play in the Olympics! If he is back in the minors by Tuesday (and Salty should be back and ready to go by then), Teagarden is heading to Beijing. Exciting! So, we had Kevin Millwood going to the hill against Glen Perkins. Perkins pitched a very good game, while Millwood fine-tuned a pretty decent start himself. He got farther than he had been getting by getting into the seventh. We didn’t have any offense in this one. Ian Kinsler didn’t get a hit so that broke his 25-game hit streak. =( Oh well. He can start a whole new one tomorrow! That’s the beauty of baseball. The Rangers only got a total of 3 hits, while the Twins got 15. Oh god, I hope the Derby does not demolish Josh’s swing in the second half. He didn’t look too good swinging the bat tonight. So far, the Rangers have been the only team in the Majors not to be shut out this year. They took that the to the Break, however they got shut out tonight for the first time all year, 6-0. I never give up on this team, however if they want to be considered contenders, this road trip can make them or break them. They’ve got two more in Minnesota, then they head to Chicago and then on to Oakland. If they go any worse than say 4-5, then I don’t think there is a way than they can make a run to be contenders this year. This road trip is critical for this team and if they can make it this year. I hope they can, but I’m just not sure yet. We certainly did not get off to a very good start tonight, however tomorrow’s a new day and maybe it’s a better day. We can only hope! Well, I’m gonna peace out from here now..see ya!

<3 hannah

So, it’s the day after the All-Star Game, so no baseball is being played. Such a sad day. Haha, but the boys of summer deserve a break. Especially after that incredible game last night! 15 innings and the AL continues their dominance with a Michael Young sac fly to score Justin Morneau at about 1:38 a.m. in the Bronx. That was the most empty I’ve seen Yankee Stadium for a sporting event in my life. There was like, nobody there especially when they were presenting the MVP award to J.D. Drew, a member of Red Sox Nation. Haha. So, I’m of course excited for my boy, Mike to have the game-winning sac fly. Mike Young has won the game for the AL two of the last three years. If the AL win the World Series, they’ve got to thank Mr. Young, me thinks. While the Alll-Star Game was great, I think that I was highly more entertained by the Home Run Derby. Josh lanching those balls out of there was truly awesome to watch. I will never forget that. One of my favorite Ranger memories. If you want the Derby to be exciting, then bring back Josh Hamilton every year. Maybe next year he can win it! haha. I would change the Home Run Derby rules, however, I think that the guy who has the most homers at the end of the night deserves the trophy. Plain and simple. I mean, it wasn’t even close! Josh had 35 to Morneau’s 22! I think that they need to throw out all those stupid ’round’ rules and just have some fun. Whoever hits the most out gets the prize. But they don’t ask my opinion. THIS is why the Ballpark needs to open the gates earlier so us fans can come in and witness the majestic theater that is Josh Hamilton in batting practice. Whenever we get in there, the other team is taking BP. Ugh.

Ugh, raise your hand if you are sick and tired of hearing ESPN talk endlessly and endlessly about Brett Favre. They might as well just ask him what he ate for lunch while they’re at it. Ugh, if it’s not Tiger, it’s Brett Favre!!! And ugh, don’t even get me started on this idiotic ‘Titletown USA’ crap that they are doing. They are great championship towns all across the nation. How do you pick just one? Who really cares??!! Not me. Haha. Now, they should do that ‘My Wish’ special all summer long, in my opinion. That is great to watch. I love watching a little kid’s who’s had it so rough in his/her life light up whenever they see their favorite athlete. Now, THAT is some good televison. Please, more ‘My Wish.’!!! No more Brett Favre. lol

I’ve got some more to talk about. I’ll be back in a bit. In my next entry, I will be talking about the future of this Rangers team and my opinion on what they should do going forward.

Disclaimer: I hereby reserve the rights of the Josh Hamilton Story to pen the un-named Josh Hamilton Story/Movie coming to a theater near you sometime in the next decade.

Haha, I’m just kidding. But that would be friggin’ awweeessome. I’d love to do it!

<3 hannah

Well, as I sit here at 12:25 a.m. here in Texas, the MLB All-Star Game is still going on. It is in the 15th inning. Yankee Stadium just does not want to go away! With it being so late and my allergies still killing me (I believe it might be b/c we just acquired a new cat and I’m allergic to cats, but I’ve already fell in love with this cat, so we’re not giving it up. haha), I’m not delivering a blog the length of my first three entries. Well, this All-Star Game was just flying by early. Good pitching from both sides. It was actually kinda boring me. Matt Holliday struck through with a homer off of Ervin Santana, it seemed about 15 hours ago. The NL was up 2-0. Josh Hamilton got a hit and stole a base. Job well done, Josh. Milton Bradley also surprised everyone and stole a base! However, they also caught him sleeping and picked him off. I bet if Francona knew this game was gonna go on so long, he wouldn’t have taken Josh out. haha. Then, J.D. Drew came up and hit a HR to tie the game. Then, I can’t remember how the other two runs scored and now it’s tied 3-3. Haha. Mike Young had a tailor-made basehit to win the game, however Nate McClouth threw out Navarro at the plate. Mike and Ian have been in the game for quite a while now since Francona ran out of position players. Good thing the Rangers have an off-day Thursday, so they don’t have to play till Friday. So, now Scott Kazmir is the last hope in the bullpen for the AL and he threw 104 pitches Sunday. Francona is a worried man in that dugout. This is an epic game for the ages. Brad Lidge is the last hope for the NL. The way this game is going, they may still be playing tomorrow afternoon. My God.

Updates to come if there are any to speak of…..

My Texas boy, Michael Young is the difference again in the All-Star Game two times in the last two years!!!!!! Sac fly in the bottom of the 15th to score Justin Morneau! Good job, Mike. Loved seeing Ian and Derek Jeter going out and hug him afterward. J.D. Drew was the MVP. Also well deserved. Haha, a member of Red Sox Nation getting the MVP in the last year of Yankee Stadium. Who saw that coming? Well, I’m out for the night. Gotta work tomorrow. lol. See ya!

<3 hannah