Yu, Yo(rvit), Yo(shinori), and others: 2012 Rangers

Yu is facing Ichiro for the first time RIGHT NOW.

"That guy gets more cheap hits than anyone in the history of baseball."

OK, who is the Rangers' color commentator?

32 pitches, two runs, bases loaded, one out.

guess theres no one like kyle seager in japan

too reliant on the gyroball?

that's the first inning I've seen, looks as advertised

The TV crew is Dave Barnett and Tom Grieve. Nolan fired Josh Lewin (now Mets radio guy) before last season, he was the first passable Rangers TV presence in years.

josh lewin was great

Really enjoyed Lewin's Tigers telecasts (late '90s/early '00s?). Glad to hear he has regular work again.

Yu looked pretty good if you just ignore that first inning

heard on local radio yesterday, re: Nathan's blown save:

"Tie game, top of the 9th - why do you have YOUR CLOSER out there?" immediately switched channels

ftr, i did not think joe nathan was a good signing

very bizarre i thought... seemed very un-rangers

that statement is in no way related to milo's post, btw

geez didya see that Yu strikeout pitch on Boesch

How many bats has Hamilton lost in the stands? Goddamn.

This fucking team.

o_o

trying to imagine if they could replace Mitch Moreland with a reasonable bat at first

Their DIFF (+52 in 16 games) is higher than the Phillies' runs scored.

hamilton is nearly raking at matt kemp levels now.

Yu's ERA is under 3 now

love the yu

^^^owed one punch

kind of bizarre/awesome that this is the team he decides to start throwing strikes to, glad it's working

well, strikes is what they swing at.

his curve is nasty

Tip your cap, jerk.

learn from bobby v

"Elvis, what makes him so effective?"

"I mean...he's tall."

i liked that they didn't interview yu cuz he doesn't speak english well enough so they go and find someone who speaks english, like, marginally better

Derek Hollands creep game is second to none

so true

http://www.chickenfriedbaseball.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/derek-Holland.jpg

Nolan's favorite.

Mitch Moreland and Craig Gentry hitting back to back homers tonight out of the 8th and 9th slot was pretty much the quintessential moment for this team.

Top of 1st - J Hamilton homered to center, E Andrus scored
Top of 3rd - Ball, Ball, J Hamilton homered to left, E Andrus scored
Top of 5th - Ball, Strike (swinging), Ball, J Hamilton doubled to deep right center
Top of 7th - Strike (foul), J Hamilton homered to center, E Andrus scored

where is cole hamels when the orioles need him

3 dongs on 10 pitches is p bondesque

take it to tmi

okay um

four homers for ham

+ a double

jesus

holy shit

WHY ARE YOU PITCHING TO HIM

somewhere out there, mark whiten is smiling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batters_with_four_home_runs_in_one_game

I found out about this via SI's boxscores; I saw he'd hit one earlier tonight, and checking back two minutes ago, it was "Hamilton (14), Hamilton (14), Hamilton (14), Hamilton (14)." That's awesome--with a double, too.

how many batters til he's up again?

he's the seventh batter in the queue (they're heading into the top of the ninth.)

Hamilton: 20
Padres: 18

prospectus has them @ 100% lol

i've had this gif open in my browser for at least a week

http://www.fangraphs.com/not/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Beltre1.gif

lol elvis should have patted his head too

haha i thought he was going to pat it pre-catch

7th N Cruz homered to left center (484 feet), M Young scored.

craig gentry is the first position player to pitch for the rangers since 2000

didn't wash say something recently about how he wouldn't do this?

Rangers TV announcer to miss 2 games after references to 'fifth' base, 'botched robbery'

so fucking weird

fifth base is anal, yes?

that sounds similar to what can happen from a 'mild' stroke.

"JOSH THROW BAT HERE" sign held a couple rows away from landing spot of bat lost by Josh Hamilton.

And he just threw another one.

“Today is the first day,” Hamilton said before the Rangers’ series finale with the Rays. “The Holy Spirit … I kept waking up last night thinking about different things and what might be causing me to stumble in my relationship with the Lord. I felt like chewing tobacco was one. So I got up this morning and threw it all away. So when it is time to take a dip, I pray instead.”

whoops i thought that was more recent than 1 month old

I hope that's going well for him. Dipping is so gross.

lightning strikes

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/7/9/3147629/lightning-texas-rangers-ballpark-video-gif?tw_p=twt

Just put the entire article in the URL

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/texas-rangers/headlines/20120723-nolan-ryan-josh-hamilton-just-gives-away-at-bats-i-can-t-say-i-ever-saw-hank-aaron-do-that.ece

Hamilton sucking makes me incredibly happy. Fuck that guy.

hmmmmmm

it is a curious strategy to repeatedly and publicly shit on a guy who is probably your best player, let alone an impending free agent. why not just hand him a 40?

I'd bet a couple of American dollars that his attempt to get off tobacco is contributing to Hamilton's problems. Athletes generally aren't expected to compete at a high level when they're drying out from other addictive drugs, right?

Rangers manager Ron Washington took the occasion of a Wednesday radio interview to add to the intrigue surrounding Josh Hamilton. Over the weekend, Hamilton hinted that there was more to the prolonged slump or what was bothering him: "The frustrating part is dealing with (the media) and not being able to share everything with you guys. When the time is right, you guys will be right in the loop." On Wednesday, Washington said he was aware of the problem but that Hamilton is the only person who can address it, since he brought it up: ... "It has nothing to do with injuries. Josh is the one that made the statement and got all the inquiries going, and I think Josh is the one that has to put a rest to the inquiries, not Ron Washington. I can just tell you one thing: It is not because he's hurt."

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/334024

I'd bet a couple of American dollars that his attempt to get off tobacco is contributing to Hamilton's problems. Athletes generally aren't expected to compete at a high level when they're drying out from other addictive drugs, right?

― Neil Jung (WmC), Thursday, July 26, 2012 9:33 AM (1 week ago)

He yelled at both of his base coaches during the same inning.

Why wouldn't he just wait three more months before trying to get off tobacco?

Smells like ... a coverup

him & his wife gave some... um... interesting quotes in the SI cover story from a few months back

The right-hander threw two scoreless innings, but when manager Ron Washington asked him to go out for a third in an eventual 7-6 loss to the Royals, Oswalt declined.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/8238905/texas-rangers-ron-washington-roy-oswalt-go-another-inning

profar called up

oh fuck

Sit down and watch Michael Young play short.

Playing 2B today.

No-doubt HR, first at-bat.

388'

juricksonned

Is there pressure to take Young out of the lineup?

"No pressure at all," Washington said the other day. "Why? Who am I going to replace him with?"

At this the skipper pulled out his lineup card and pointed to the list of bench players. Somebody offered the name of Mike Olt -- the highly touted first-base prospect who reached the big leagues a month ago after tearing it up at Double-A Frisco.

The fans, Washington was reminded, tend to gravitate toward a young up-and-comer like Olt when a 35-year-old like Young (and here the last name appears ironic) is reduced to a singles-hitting shadow of his former self.

"Fans want to gravitate toward a young up-and-comer," Washington said, "and the fans want to win, too."

And Washington, whose Rangers are still in first place in the American League West (albeit with the A's making a late charge), believes that the Rangers are in their best position to win with Young's name on that lineup card.

"Intangibles," Washington said. "He leads even when things are not right [for him personally]. That's what leaders do. If you didn't look at his numbers, you wouldn't know Michael Young is struggling. That's how he handles himself. He comes every day with the same tempo, same attitude, cheers on his teammates every night and busts his
[tail] every night."

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120903&content_id=37854714

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs5/1936518_o.gif

the comments on that article are something else

Weird/awesome to see Greg Maddux on the Rangers' bench.

what's he doing there? Mike needed help?

"and kins drives one, high and deep to left field, back is wells, at the wall he leaps, goodbye!"
(wells falls over fence into stands)
"goodbye vernon"
"both ball and wells, are gone!"

Hamilton diagnosed w/ ocular keratitis from overcaffeination

the unexpected (and expected) struggles of the year

Michael Young's only remaining tool is a Swiss Army knife filled with grit, moxie, and leadership. And a toothpick. They still put the toothpick in there, for some reason.

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/10/1/3438410/texas-rangers-oakland-as-series-playoffs

if the rangers go down in the wc game does wash survive y/n

I can't see it, but maybe.

y

he'll get another half season

fun

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/10/4/3454436/josh-hamilton-worst-ever

Wow I finally got to see the error.

Dave Magadan hired to fix hitters

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/8525264/hitting-coach-dave-magadan-leaves-boston-red-sox-texas-rangers