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By Eddie Middlebrook
If you have lived under a rock this past year, you might have missed Baylor Athletics having one of the greatest years in collegiate sports history. This past year has been Añodeloso, the “Year of the Bear”, so it should be no surprise that this would be the season Baylor alumnus David Murphy has his career season.
by Bob Bland
Back on March 2nd, less than a month before the start of this season, Major League Baseball announced a significant change to their playoff format which involved the addition of an extra Wild Card team per league. Expanding the number of playoff teams isn’t problematic in and of itself, because the need to preserve tradition fell by the wayside years ago, with the increase in divisions, expansion of playoff qualifiers and addition of a third playoff round (Division Series). The structuring of this year’s all-new format, on the other hand, is quite troubling for several reasons.
First of all, MLB made a grievous error by forcing the Wild Card teams to meet in a ONE-GAME playoff. The NFL is the only major sports league which regularly employs single-game playoff rounds, and for good reason. Each of their teams only play one game per week during the regular season (excluding bye weeks), because the intensely physical nature of their sport is far too demanding to enable a quick enough recovery for teams to take on their next opponent any sooner.
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by Jeff Johnson
A runner has a specific strategy in each race he or she competes in, regardless of the competition or age level. The epicenter of that strategy is always “the kick”. Timing “the kick” just right is usually the difference in winning or losing. This tactic is simply when the runner will choose to sprint near the end of a race and pull away from the pack. This “kick” requires training and practice to find the perfect time for that runner to maximize the opportunities in order to finish near the top. The Texas Rangers have also specialized in a “kick” of their own the past two seasons and I believe we are witnessing that strategy being employed right now in 2012.
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By Peter Ellwood
Every year, baseball fans religiously chant the mantra that every baseball game is just one of 162. As you know, the baseball season is so long that each individual game does not make or break a season in the same way that it might in other sports. Baseball fans are conditioned to understand this, and strive to communicate that perspective to other, less-enlightened baseball fans. Yet, sometimes, there are those games that seem to mean more than just any other game.
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By Ben Wertz
In a potential playoff preview, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers played an intense playoff-like game on Tuesday night in Arlington. The Rangers were backed by an outstanding performance by Yu Darvish and one clutch hit by Ian Kinsler as they beat the Rays by the score of 1-0.
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By James Holland
Coming into Monday of last week Adrian Beltre had 17 hits for the month of August which included three doubles and one home run. He had been in a slump for what seemed like an eternity but it wasn’t as if he was striking out a lot, as Josh Hamilton did when he was struggling. He was making contact but the power didn’t seem to be there. Last Monday he had one hit. Last Tuesday he went hitless again, causing more worry amongst fans. But you knew that Ron Washington wouldn’t rest him. Wash sticks by his guys and asks them to tough it out.
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by Bob Bland
Most athletes never fully realize their potential. But for the rare few who do, there's almost always a seminal moment in which that realization takes place and becomes apparent to all. That moment may have just happened for one of your Texas Rangers.
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By Ben Wertz
Matt Harrison took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Adrian Beltre hit for the cycle for the second time in his career as the Rangers beat the Twins 8-0 on Friday night for their third consecutive win.
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By James Holland
This week the Baltimore Orioles paid a visit to Texas and, as always, a debate began on Twitter as to who was the better first baseman: Chris Davis or Mitch Moreland? A lot of fans were upset when Davis was sent to Baltimore along with Tommy Hunter last July in exchange for reliever Koji Uehara. And, after a season in which he was hampered by a nagging wrist injury, a lot of fans refused to jump on the Mitch Moreland bandwagon. Even to this day Moreland finds that he still has numerous detractors. There are some people who love Davis so much for his defense and power that they refused to take a hard deep look at the stats and realize that Moreland is better.
