Friday Foto: My Birthday Present

My birthday came and went recently, and I thought I'd share a "voucher" of sorts that my wife Regina gave me, which she designed herself:

I thought it was real at first.

Friday Foto: Another Romo . . . .

This really isn't relevant to the Rangers at all, I just thought it was funny to see the name "Romo" on the back of a baseball jersey. This guy's name is Sergio Romo, relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.

Friday Foto: Do YOU Recognize This Team?

Look at how different this team is after just 2 years . . . . I count at least 4 players that are no longer in the big leagues . . . .

On an unrelated note, I still think Mark Teixeira looks like he's 14 years old.

Friday Foto: Executive Privilege

From a purely non-political standpoint, I always loved that the President of the United States was a Rangers fan.

Friday Foto: Extricated Eddie

This season hasn't gone quite as well as Eddie Guardado and the Rangers hoped it would, allowing 5 ER in 4 2/3 IP. Eddie's struggles this season were something that I predicted a couple of weeks ago here at HWC in a post about Batting Average on Balls in Play:

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Eddie Guardado: 2008 BABIP (with Rangers): .240 Career BABIP: .290

I have to admit that I was surprised with "Everyday" Eddie's strong season in 2008. It was great; he's the scrappy underdog that we all root for inside. But perhaps he got a few too many lucky bounces this last season, as showcased by his .240 BABIP with the Rangers in 2008. His luck started to catch up with him when he arrived in Minnesota, however, which his .427 BABIP from that point on suggests. Look for Eddie's 2009 BABIP to regress towards his career BABIP of .290, and hence for his ERA to inflate as well.
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Hopefully this is just an aberration, but it seems more likely that Everyday Eddie's arm has finally had it (he's allowed 11 ER in just 12 IP since being traded to the Twins last year).

Apparently the frustration just got to him, as he was ejected from yesterday's game after Ron Washington pulled him for walking in a run with the bases loaded:



Even still, you have to love Eddie Guardado. He's a class-act, evidenced by his summary of the whole ejection process:

"There is nobody to blame but me. Even if one of the pitches should have been a strike . . . It’s nobody’s fault but mine for not throwing the ball over the plate."

Friday Foto: Moneyball

As many of you may have heard by now, Moneyball is being made into a movie. It has been rumored that Brad Pitt will play Billy Beane, and Demetri Martin will play Beane's assistant Paul DePodesta. Adam Morris at LoneStarBall talks about some of the rumors that have been thrown around about the adaptation of the infamous book.

Judge for yourself whether these are accurate castings:

Friday Foto: Branding the Birds

Mike Ricigliano, who draws the comic strip for USA Today's Sports Weekly, draws cartoons for each Orioles game for The Baltimore Sun. While ignoring the first two comics for obvious reasons, here is the comic for Wednesday night's 19-6 game:

Friday Foto: A Beautiful Sight

The Ballpark in Arlington, filled with seats on Opening Day. Need I say more?

Sunday: Rangers Recap

Here we are, a week away from Opening Day. Though we all may be growing tired of Spring Training, it is offset by the ever-increasing excitement for the start of the actual season. Luckily for those of us who write about the Rangers, this means there isn't a shortage of topics to write about as there might have been in the dark, cold offesason. Let's take a look at what we've discussed this past week:

Sunday: Back in the Saddle Again
Monday Movie: The Natural
Tuesday Trivia: Trading for and trading away Jose Canseco
Wednesday: Baseball Prospectus Scouting Reports in Review (by John Paul)
Thursday: From Washington to Washington (by Thomas)
Friday: The Curious Case of Michael Young (by John Paul)
Saturday: Andruw Jones: Fourth Outfielder? (by Jon)

And here is this week's Friday Foto, a day or two late:

Pudge is becoming quite the journeyman, it seems . . . . .

Friday Foto: Speed Zone

I don't know if this is real or the product of photoshop, but it's still great . . . .

Friday Foto: Texas Rangers: The Movie

Anyone seen this movie?

I like the tagline: Before There Was Law, There Were The Rangers