itsamadmadblog

AL West Standings
W L PCT GB STRK
1. Texas 30 19 .612 0 Won 3
2. Los Angeles 24 24 .500 5.5 Lost 2
3. Seattle 24 26 .480 6.5 Won 3
4. Oakland 18 29 .382 11 Lost 4


Tough loss today against Oakland, yet the Rangers still took 3 out of 4. Winning series in baseball is what matters. But the best record in the AL? The huge dividends the entire pitching staff is showing? The sparkling defense (led by a young, exciting shortstop rookie that will become, in 2-3 years, the face of this franchise I'm sure)? Yep, all these things are contributing. I don't know if it'll last- some of the rickety leanings of the starting rotation are beginning to surface-but damn it's fun watching this team play some great baseball right now. And the talk here right now is that, possibly, the upcoming road trip to the dreaded East Coast against Yankees/Red Sox will be a defining moment in this early year for the Rangers. They continue to get little plugs in the national media here and there, but their underwhelming performance against the Yankees here in Texas last week was not good attention.... now its time to go that wiffle ball park... err new Yankee stadium... and see if the allure the Yanks hold over this team is over. Then Fenway. Then back here and a scrappy Blue Jay team. We'll see. Fingers crossed. Knocking on wood. I think this may be the year Playoff baseball returns to my fair burg and jeez everyone is pumped about this team.

... that's it's time for this again:



And, for the first time ever, the fantasy league bug has bitten my friend Chris and I. My line-up is as follows:

C- Joe Mauer
1B- Adam LaRoche
2B- Placido Polanco
3B- Pedro Feliz
SS- Rafael Furcal
3B/SS- Michael Young
3B/SS- Joe Crede
OF- Carlos Quentin
OF- Jacoby Ellsbury
OF- David Murphy
OF- Jim Edmonds
OF- Hideki Matsui
Util- David DeJesus
P- Daisuke Matsuzaka
P- Scott Kazmir
P- Francisco Rodriguez
P- Cliff Lee
P- Edinson Volquez
P- Matt Garza
P- Troy Percival
P- Justin Masterson
P- Jered Weaver


I have to admit. This has been fun. From the draft (which, I quickly learned must be taken seriously and forced me to put down my beer and concentrate) to arranging the roster for opening day, any true baseball fan will get undeniable joy from it. Crunching numbers... keeping up with DL reports... playing the odds on when to sub in your bench players... it keeps you greatly invested. Granted, my list is a bit American League heavy (Rangers fan, remember) and I think I need to stretch myself more next time and expand my knowledge on NL players, but I look forward to enjoying the baseball season a little more this year. Oh yea... and I got Matsui!

Part of the reason why I love baseball so much is its reliance on tradition, unwritten rules and colorful history. Watch Ken Burns' 14 hour documentary, "Baseball" and you'd be hard pressed not to come away with an even greater appreciation for baseball's complex history of anecdotes. And, in a sport built around exaggerated hand gestures and strategic compromise, its amazing how much the sport is reliant on superstition. Think of that great scene in "Bull Durham" (culled from real life since director Ron Shelton played minor league ball for several years) where Jose (Rick Marzan) approaches the pitcher's mound, terrified out of his mind because his wife put a hex on his bat. The only thing that would cure the hex was the blood from a live chicken. And then "Major League" where Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert) prayed to Buddha before every game. In the topsy-turvey real life season so far this April, superstition and hexes have come full circle to imprint their mystical charm on baseball fans.

Hexes in baseball can be attributed back to the Babe Ruth curse when he was traded from Boston to the Yankees back in the day, a curse that was finally broken in '04 when the Sox reclaimed the title (so there's hope for all curses then, I suppose?). And, those lovable loser Cubs certainly have had their share of otherworldly curses, beginning with the infamous billy goat incident, its brush with a black cat in '69, and more recently, that poor sap named Bartman. Wow, now that's some misery.

If the controversy between the Red Sox and Yankees isn't enough, there was the great story earlier this month when a construction worker tried to bury a David Ortiz jersey in the foundation of the new Yankee stadium. This could've been a curse for the ages. Equal to a 8.5 quake hitting California, this would have sent the Yankee organization into a tailspin. Why in the hell did the guy blab? Could you imagine releasing this info a year or 2 after the stadium was finished? The Steinbrenner family would nuke the whole stadium, find the jersey and start all over. Bottom line- when you pull a great jinx, keep it to yourself until the time is right. And then, earlier this week, another black cat sprang from nowhere and jumped onto the playing field and (possibly) cursed the Yankees season (you tube below). ESPN reporters joked that it looked like the same cat from the '69 Cubs season. In a sport full of nervous twitches- i.e. pitchers and their fascination with rubbing the brim of their hat and licking fingers.... or the way a third baseman will methodically and religiously groom the dirt in front of him before each inning- superstition is king and baseball players do not forget such things.

Locally, Dallas has experienced its own brush with the jinx, evoked several years ago by politicians anxious to crown a hometown team champion. It was 2005 and the Dallas Mavericks had advanced to the NBA finals. After taking a two games to nil lead in the series, mayor Laura Miller announced the proposed route for the title parade through downtown. After that announcement, the Mavericks lost 4 straight games. Since that series, not a single professional Dallas sports team had made it out the first round of ANY playoffs. The Mavericks were knocked out by a lackluster Golden State last year, the Cowboys (who many picked to win the Super Bowl last year- glad that didn't happen tho!) lost in the first round of their playoffs, and the Stars (until this year again, curse broken) had failed to exit the first round as well. 'Loserville' talk was in full swing, and Dallas sports fans still refer to it as 'the announcement' that's turned this town into a sports sinkhole. All I can say, with the exception of the Rangers who need no curse to be godawful, I'm kinda glad I don't have a rooting interest in any of those other 3 teams mentioned. Otherwise, I'd be very close to jumping off the ledge.

So, of this got me thinking. Is there anything to it? Probably not, but I love how personal psychology plays such an important role in the actions and outcomes of our lives. I'm sure there are a host of rituals that athletes go there in preparing themselves but how exactly does one prepare for a black cat to burst onto the playing field during a MLB game? I would guess none. It all depends on your personal belief in things. I know some friends who take ample stock in horoscopes or fortune cookies (!). I believe you make your own luck. And if I got freaked out every time I had a black cat cross my path, I don't know if I'd make it out of the house. Plus, I used to have a black cat as a pretty cool pet, so I'm partial there. If nothing else, the succession of superstitious acts prevalent in baseball this season has added some nice fun to the mix. And, I guess the joke's really on us since the Ortiz jersey dug up from beneath Yankee stadium sold for close to $200,000 yesterday.

It's nowhere near as dire as my title suggests, but the '08 baseball season so far has yielded little excitement for Texas Rangers fans. As I write this, I"m watching the Red Sox put a pounding on them 9-3. And with three more games in the series, dare I say a sweep? With a 7-9 record (or about to be 7-10) there's still some hope, and there are surprise stars so far this season, namely young sprite David Murphy. And Josh Hamilton is paying off. And Padillo pitched a hell of a game last night beating Roy Halladay. But, overall, the basics just aren't there for the Rangers. They're making some atrocious fielding errors and can't quite come up with that timely hit (hitting .183 with runners in scoring position.. ouch). I can count at least 3 games that would've been W's if the fielding was there- yes I'm lookin at you Marlon Byrd.

Around the league, a few surprises so far. The Marlins are getting it done with some great young talent. The White Sox and Roylas have pretty much turned the AL central upside down, and The Diamondbacks 11-4? Interesting. Still, it's a long season. And boy do I love baseball. Even with the Stars hoping to make it out of the first round against the Anaheim Ducks (hockey? please.. give me a break) and the Mavericks poised for another playoff collapse (basketball.. ehh really don't care and these playoffs runs for what, 2-3 months? ridiculous), my mind is strictly focused on the diamond. I love this time of year.

This is an amazing story for the major leagues.

I doubt many will remember pitcher Rick Ankiel from the late 90's and early 00's. A pitching phenom in every sense of the word, Ankiel finally got his start in the bigs with the St. Louis Cardinals. After a great season of 11-7 and a strikeout percentage of almost 10 batters per 9 ininngs, he pitched the first game of the 2000 NLDS and the wheels came off. He threw numerous wild pitches and walked several batters. Even though they still won the game (thanks to a 6 run first couple of innings), Ankiel didn't look like a major league pitcher. In his second outing during the NLCS, he didn't make it out of the second inning, throwing 20 total pitches, walking two and throwing 2 wild pitches. The Cards lost that series to the Amazing Mets. After being sent down to the minors, his troubles continued. In one game he walked 24 batters in only 4 innings, settling with an ERA of over 20. Ankiel then had season ending Tommy Johns surgery in 2003. So, what does a down and out pitcher suffering from surgery do? He switches to the outfield, comes back to the majors 4 years later and smacks a 3 run homer in his first game with the Cardinals this week. The Cardinals have had a tremendously tough year and even though I'm not a Cards fan, it's stories like these that continue to fuel my enduring passion for our greatest sport.

UPDATE: Just watched Baseball Tonight and learned that Ankiel went 3-4 today with 2 more home runs. Plus, he made an incredible over the shoulder catch. They stated it best, saying, "This guy is the natural."