Published: Dec. 20, 2011 at 12:44 AM

Gotta run!.

Winter Meetings interview with the Texas Rangers

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The Rangers are playing the Mexico City Red Devils on Tuesday, April 3rd at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Q. What is the benefit and purpose of this endeavor?

NOLAN RYAN: We think that anytime we can broaden an opportunity for our fan base we think it’s important and we think that our relationship with the Mexican League is important.
So we just think that it’s kind of a unique opportunity for us to be able to invite them as our guest and give our fans an opportunity to see a team from the Mexican League come and for us to hopefully stimulate some interest in our Spanish community here.

Q. What does this mean for your team to be able to play this game?

ROBERTO MANSUR: (In Spanish.)

Q. Have you ever been to a game to see the Mexican League?

NOLAN RYAN: Only in Spring Training. When I was with the Angels, we went and played in Mexicali. That was the only exposure I’ve had.

Q. How was the experience?

NOLAN RYAN: Well, the fans were very avid. There was a sellout. That was a new stadium at the time. So it was a special event.

Q. What was the genesis of this idea?

NOLAN RYAN: I think probably need to ask Sonny that.

JON DANIELS: Bill McLaughlin works with us and has a good relationship with a number of the teams and Mr. Mansur, his family are very big in the baseball community down there. And over the last few years in our international efforts have tried to grow our relationship in a bunch of areas.

Q. Is this a potential of a working relationship with the Diablos?

JON DANIELS: I don’t think we’ll get ahead of ourselves, but we are working toward a productive, beneficial relationship.

Q. (INAUDIBLE).

JON DANIELS: We scout the Mexican leagues pretty thoroughly already, but this is just a continuation of that relationship.

Q. Ron, what’s your reaction?

RON WASHINGTON: It’s exciting. We are happy to be developing this relationship. And also as Nolan said, it was an opportunity to extend the game of baseball to the Latin community. Diablos has certainly been an organization that we’re very happy to have them come into Texas and be a part of the Texas Rangers family.

JORGE ALUM: We want to translate. We are excited and honored to be here, to be invited to play this exhibition game. We are very excited. We look forward to it and we’re pretty sure that it is going to be the starting of a very long and very good relationship.

The most popular team in Mexico, because of the Mexican players playing was the LA Dodgers. Lately you can see more and more Texas Rangers hats and T shirts and a lot of fans are growing in Mexico. The team there will be very happy for us to come over and play with a very important team right now for us.

Roberto said that even though right now we don’t have a Mexican player playing for the Rangers, he’s optimistic because of the talent of the Mexican players. Pretty soon the Rangers may have one player playing on another team. We’re pretty positive. We’re sure there will be one player playing for the Texas Rangers.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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The Texas Rangers announced their seasonal awards and named Michael Young(notes) the 2011 Player of the Year and C.J. Wilson(notes) the Pitcher of the Year. Both are deserving choices but also remain interesting because of behind-the-scenes drama.

Starting with C.J. Wilson, no one deserved the award more than him in 2011. The entire pitching rotation was great this year, finishing with one of the lowest ERA totals in decades. However, Wilson tied for the lead in wins (16, shared with Derek Holland(notes)), had the lowest ERA of the starters (2.94) and the most strikeouts (206).

Of course, this brings up the sore subject with Rangers’ fans that Wilson is on his way out of the organization. Wilson is a homegrown talent, brought up through the minors before earning the job as the Texas closer. He then moved into the starting rotation before finally earning his role as the Rangers’ ace pitcher. Now, he is on his way out to a big free agent money deal.

It makes me wonder if this is the same future we will see for Neftali Feliz(notes).

Michael Young was an even bigger deal. When the season started, Texas did everything in their power to make Young feel like he was no longer wanted. They brought in Adrian Beltre(notes), moving Young to the DH position, the umpteenth time they changed his position over his career. Then they signed Mike Napoli(notes) to share the DH role with Young, making it look like Young no longer had a place on the team.

Michael Young asked to be traded, Texas refused when they found no suitable teams to work with, and it looked like the relationship was strained beyond repair.

However, Michael Young responded with a career-high .338 batting average, with 213 hits, 11 homers and 106 RBIs. He made his seventh trip to the All-Star game as well. The Rangers responded by giving him the Player of the Year honor for the fifth time, tying Juan Gonzalez’s team record.

While I love what Mike Napoli did for the team this year and believe Derek Holland is the new face of this pitching staff, both of these players deserve these honors.

The awards will be handed out at the Dr. Pepper Awards Show in the Arlington Convention Center on January 12, 2012.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has been a Texas Rangers fan his entire life, watching the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate play for over 30 years. While Texas has moved their Triple-A team, Shawn still remains a loyal Rangers fan and dreams of the year they finally win the big one.

Source: MLB.COM

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If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

That’s all for today.

While the rest of the baseball world might have enjoyed listening to Ron Washington’s profane exhortations before Game 7 of the World Series, the Texas Rangers are understandably upset that a tape of that speech was made public on Sunday night.

So much so that the team has launched an investigation aiming to find which employee leaked the recording to Joe Sports Fan. The St. Louis-based sports blog says it received the speech from an unnamed member of the Rangers clubhouse staff.

“It’s unacceptable for this type of thing to be out there,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told ESPN Dallas. “It was a private moment for the team, not meant for anyone else’s ears. We’re looking into it, probably won’t have additional comments until we’ve finished that process.”

The six-minute recording also features several Rangers players trying to pump up their teammates for a game they would eventually lose to the St. Louis Cardinals. None of the material is particularly revealing or even embarrassing — it’s simply a pep talk filled with a @!$#-ton of swearing — but you can understand why the Rangers would be rankled. The closed-door clubhouse is supposed to be a place of trust and having one of your own employees threatening the sanctity of their last refuge is a big deal in the baseball world. While it appears the guilty party wouldn’t face any criminal charges under Missouri’s recording laws, you can be sure that he’ll be paying for the leak with his job if and when he’s exposed.

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Related: St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, 2011 Postseason, 2011 ALCS – Tigers vs. Rangers

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Credit: AP Photo / Eric Gay

Texas Rangers’ Josh Hamilton is congratulated by Esteban German (6) after Hamilton hit a two-run home run during the 10th inning of Game 6 of baseball’s World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Comment Below!.

There’s no celebration this year for the Texas Rangers.
Last year, a fan rally followed the Texas Rangers’ first appearance in a World Series. This time, having lost the Fall Classic for the second straight year, there won’t be one.
The Rangers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after coming within one strike of clinching the Series twice in Game 6.
Rangers spokesman John Blake told The Associated Press on Saturday that the team decided before the Series began that no party should be held if they lost this year. Blake said the team’s expectations were higher, “and if we didn’t win, we didn’t think it merited it.”
Last year, several thousand fans rallied after the Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in five games.

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Updated Oct 29, 2011 7:46 PM ET

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP)

There’s no celebration this year for the Texas Rangers.

Last year, a fan rally followed the Texas Rangers’ first appearance in a World Series. This time, having lost the Fall Classic for the second straight year, there won’t be one.

The Rangers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after coming within one strike of clinching the Series twice in Game 6.

Rangers spokesman John Blake told The Associated Press on Saturday that the team decided before the Series began that no party should be held if they lost this year. Blake said the team’s expectations were higher, ”and if we didn’t win, we didn’t think it merited it.”

Last year, several thousand fans rallied after the Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in five games.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

ARLINGTON, Texas — There’s no celebration this year for the Texas Rangers.

Last year, a fan rally followed the Texas Rangers’ first appearance in a World Series. This time, having lost the Fall Classic for the second straight year, there won’t be one.

Leave your comments on the news below.

The Texas Rangers needed one win in the final two games of the 2011 World Series to capture their first ever MLB Championship. They had not lost back-to-back games since August and had momentum on their side. After going down 2-1, the Rangers fought back in Texas, winning back-to-back games to take a 3-2 lead. It seemed like they would finally win that elusive title. Then St. Louis improbably came back three times in Game 6 to win in extra innings and finally thumped Texas in Game 7 to win their 11th World Series title.

Texas has still never won a World Series.

Heading into Game 6, Mike Napoli(notes) was the hero of the series and he would have won the MVP award if Texas could have held on. In Game 6, Texas did everything they could to win offensively. Even Josh Hamilton(notes), playing with a hurt groin, hit his first home run of the postseason. Nelson Cruz(notes) tied Barry Bonds and Carlos Beltran(notes) for most home runs in the postseason at eight. Mike Napoli tied Mickey Mantle for extra base hits in a World Series.

None of it was enough, because for the second year in a row, the Rangers pitching staff couldn’t hold it together. Neftali Feliz(notes), the wonderful Texas closer, blew his first save in the postseason in the ninth inning of Game 6. Matt Harrison(notes) started Game 7 and finished with a 7.04 ERA with only one strikeout. Scott Feldman(notes), who played so well this postseason, finished the World Series with a 9.00 ERA and gave up three walks and two earned runs in Game 7.

Alexi Ogando(notes) came into the postseason as the bullpen’s secret weapon. He helped shut down Detroit in the ALCS. In the World Series, he ended up with a 10.13 ERA. This was a repeat of the 2010 season.

There were some high points in the series. For one, Derek Holland(notes) has made his case for the role of ace on the 2012 pitching staff. Mike Napoli is the undisputed catcher on this team now and should be held onto for dear life. This team has a lot of potential on offense but their pitchers are so young and inexperienced. It almost seemed like they were playing not to lose. I am almost certain Ogando was pitching not to give up a run instead of trying to overpower the hitters.

The Texas Rangers played so well all season long and to see it end like this is discouraging. Texas should have won Game 6 and this World Series should have been over on Oct. 27. When St. Louis fought back in that game and won, it deflated the Texas Rangers in Game 7. Where the Rangers go from here is anyone’s guess.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has been a Texas Rangers fan his entire life, watching the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate play for over 30 years. While Texas has moved their Triple-A team, Shawn still remains a loyal Rangers fan and dreams of the year they finally win the big one.

Source: MLB.COM

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

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Read More: game recap, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers

Magic Number: 3

Wednesday night’s game spent most of the evening as the kind of that makes a fan want to kick something. C.J. Wilson had the stuff, getting 13 swinging strikes from the best team in baseball at avoiding whiffs, with eight strikeouts and just five hits allowed. Unfortunately, he faced the sworn nemesis of the Texas Rangers, umpire Gerry Davis and his wandering strikezone. The questionable zone drove up Wilson’s pitch count, keeping him to just six innings, and helped produce three walks. One of those walks extended a fifth inning which saw Oakland eke out two runs to take the lead.

At that point, ex-Ranger Brand McCarthy was “cruising.” By cruising, he was getting the Rangers to hit balls to fielders when runners were on. Through the first seven innings, six Rangers reached safely with no outs, and the only one who scored did so on a Mike Napoli double play. McCarthy only had one strikeout to his name, but the Rangers — and the luck dragons — were bailing him out and wasting opportunities, and the eighth inning began in a game that felt like a slow death march of frustration. The sort of game that feels really awful when your team doesn’t have a five game lead in the division with eight to play.

Fortunately, instead of being a mostly-meaningless loss, the heroes of the Rangers came through to add another attractive win to the resume. The Rangers’ bullpen Cerberus of Koji Uehara, Mike Adams, and Neftali Feliz ended the game with three no-hit innings, with only Feliz managing some relative struggles with long at-bats and a walk allowed. In the eighth, the Athletics made the strange decision to pull McCarthy after just 79 pitches, and Ian Kinsler launched a home run off of Grant Balfour to tie the game, followed by the game-winner from Josh Hamilton. Two bullets to take the game from frustrating to awesome in a matter of moments.

With the victory, the 2011 Rangers have tied 1996 and 2010 for the third most victories in franchise history, and are a 5-2 finish to the season from tying 1999 for the most; very doable against the Athletics, Mariners, and Angels. More importantly, it moved the magic number to three, a tiny number that could be wiped away before the Cowboys play again. And perhaps most importantly, it kept the Rangers tied with Detroit for homefield in the first round of the playoffs; with the Tigers owning the head-to-head tie-breaker, falling back a game would be like giving them a two game lead with seven to go.

This also marks the first time the Rangers have ever produced back-to-back 90 win seasons. With two of the best seasons the team has ever put forth strung together — and another one high on the list in 2009 — a World Series appearance previously, another playoff appearance forthcoming, and a still-fantastic farm system, we are certainly in the midst, or perhaps at the beginning, of the golden era of Texas Rangers baseball.

It’s fun to take a moment and appreciate that.

GAME CHARTS

FanGraphs Win Expectancy

Biggest Contrubtions (What is this, I don’t even. . . ?)

1. Ian Kinsler 32%
2. Josh Hamilton 21%
3. Neftali Feliz 18%

Gerry Davis’s Strikezone from Brooks Baseball

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September 19, 2011, 1:53 PM EDT

By Steven Church

(Updates with speedy auction approval in fifth paragraph.)

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) — Chuck Greenberg, former chief executive officer and co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, may seek to purchase the bankrupt Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League, a lawyer said today in court.

Greenberg is part of Texas Hockey Acquisition Co. and may participate in an auction of the Stars, owned by former billionaire Thomas Hicks, said Greenberg’s attorney, Jeffrey M. Schlerf, of Fox Rothschild LLP.

“They are definitely interested in bidding,” Schlerf said in an interview after the Stars hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Stars filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15 with a plan pre- approved by its lenders to sell the team at an auction with a so-called stalking horse bid from Vancouver-based businessman Tom Gaglardi.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Walsh agreed to speed up the usual process for approving an auction. Walsh agreed to let the team return to court Sept. 22 to seek approval for the rules.

Greenberg and hall-of-fame pitcher Nolan Ryan led the group that bought the Texas Rangers at a bankruptcy auction last year for about $593 million.

Greenberg announced in March that he was stepping down as Rangers CEO and selling his stake back to the team because of differences with Ryan.

Bidder’s Offer

Gaglardi agreed to be the lead bidder with an offer that includes about $50 million in cash and $100 million in new debt promised to senior lenders.

Several parties signed confidentiality agreements with the team to get financial information they need to bid, Stars attorney Martin Sosland of Weil, Gotschal & Manges LLP said in an interview.

Hicks, who fell off the Forbes list of billionaires in 2010, sold his stake in the Liverpool Football Club in the U.K. and last year put the Rangers into bankruptcy where it was sold at a court-supervised auction. Hicks invested cash and loans worth about $150 million in the team.

Gaglardi and his family own Sandman Hotels, Inns & Suites; Denny’s Restaurants; and the Kamloops Blazers Hockey Team.

The case is Dallas Stars LP, 11-12935, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

–Editors: David E. Rovella, Charles Carter

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at schurch3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net.

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Felix Hernandez goes for the Mariners in today’s finale. Alex Liddi gets the start at third base today, which should make an entire country happy.

Speaking of third basemen, Chone Figgins has been shut down for the year. He won’t accompany the team on its next road trip. Has he played his final game for the M’s? We’ll know more this coming winter.

On Hernandez, if you missed it yesterday, our local Baseball Writers Association of America chapter voted him the team’s top pitcher for the fourth consecutive year. I gave him the award prior to yesterday’s game.

Photo Credit: John Lok/Seattle Times

Gotta run!.

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

Texas Rangers’ Josh Hamilton follows through on a single to right off of Los Angeles Angels reliever Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Arlington, Texas. Hamilton broke out of a slump with a long two-run homer and the tie-breaking RBI single for the AL West-leading Rangers, who rallied for a 9-5 victory over the chasing Angels.

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