Subject: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

• Tom Hicks' California Gold Rush

  January 11, 2007

• How the West Was Lost (Hint: It Rhymes With "Suck")

  August 24, 2006

• Small Ball, Big Balls

  May 9, 2006

• You Know Who Could Use Some Baseball? The Stinkin' Texas Rangers.

  May 16, 2007

• How Come No One Here Is Talking About Tom Hicks' New Stadium?

  July 26, 2007

• Seriously, Tom Hicks, Just Sell the Texas Rangers and Stop Pretending Like You Give a Damn

  December 10, 2007

• "Mr. President." "Mr. President." And Other Rangers Giggles.

  February 28, 2008

• Texas Rangers Making Contingency Plans In Case This Uptick is a Mirage

  May 8, 2008

• Your Rangers Officially Don’t Suck

  July 1, 2008

• Past the Halfway Mark, the Rangers Look Like Contenders and Pretenders

  July 3, 2008

• 'Baaaaaaallgaaaame!"

  July 10, 2008

• Journeymen of summer

  Root, root, root for the home team -- whoever they are

  August 19, 1999

• A Christmas List for Jon Daniels

  Here in The Sportatorium, every now and then we like to talk baseball. I mean hard-core, balls-and-strikes baseball. By "every now and then" I mean this morning. And by "we", of course, I mean seamhead colleague Sam Merten. Sam, the floor is yours: For those of you distracted by Sean Avery's antics, the format change at Live 105.3 FM and the drama at Valley Ranch, Rangers' GM Jon Daniels and his colleagues spent most of last week in Las Vegas for baseball's Winter Meetings. Daniels has be

  December 18, 2008

• Hall of Fame hunt

  February 2, 1995

• Here's the pitch

  November 6, 1997

• Rock and roll over

  January 1, 1998

• Do over

  July 9, 1998

• The spring of our discontent

  March 25, 1999

• The 10 Worst Sports Celebrations in the History of Sports

  Bad, but nowhere near the worst.Dear LeBron James, Just ask, and I'm sure Dancing With The Stars will have you on their ridiculously cheesy show next season. I'm sure millions of potato-chip snackin' housewives would be fixated on your every silly, pre-fabricated step. But as a basketball fan, I demand you immediately cease and desist with your bullshit pre-game choreography. It's stupid. It's illogical. It's degrading. It's unbecoming of a player who has the talent - but not th

  March 25, 2009

• Status Woe

  Insane Rangers again take similar path to identical destination

  October 2, 2008

• Plan See

  With blueprints A and B trashed, the Rangers have stumbled onto a visually stimulating development

  July 17, 2008

• Ask A Mexican

  Laughter is a universal language; comedy isn't

  May 22, 2008

• Maverick Madness

  Better late than never, let's hear it for U-T-Yay!

  March 20, 2008

• One Bone Down, Hank Blalock Hopes to Help the Rangers Get Back Up

  March 6, 2008

• Rangers: The Texas Treadmills

  Your Rangers yet again perfect the art of going nowhere fast

  October 4, 2007

• Bases Loaded

  June 29, 2006

• Boy Blunder

  Is baseball's youngest general manager man enough to rebuild the Rangers?

  July 12, 2007

• Déjà Boo

  Another Rangers season ends in a familiar Hunt for Dead October

  September 28, 2006

• Home Show

  Rangers' Angelic home opener

  April 7, 2005

• Now Boarding

  Hop on the bandwagon

  May 20, 2004

• The Buck Starts Here

  New Texas Rangers manager Buck Showalter makes the team much better. Problem is, he can’t hit leadoff, play center field or pitch.

  March 6, 2003

• Strolling Illusions

  Angels in the Park blesses with ambience rather than food

  July 1, 1999

• Lights Out!

  Welcome to the dark side.Over on The Ticket, Mike Rhyner (aka "Baseball Jesus", the cockiest nickname in the history of sports, by the way) is quick to identify the "catastrophic moment." The play/incident/injury/whatever that signals the beginning of the end each Texas Rangers' season. Over the past 37 years it's usually been multiple choice. But what about this one? Though the Rangers are still above .500 and still tied for the lead in the American League West, we have a candidate. June

  June 24, 2009

• Will Your Texas Rangers Ever See First Place Again?

  Maybe we starting celebrating singles?Notable deaths in the last week: Ed McMahon. Farrah Fawcett. Michael Jackson. Billy Mays. The Texas Rangers? After getting 1-hit last night by someone named Chad Gaudin and losing two of three to a San Diego Padres outfit that hadn't won a series since Memorial Day, a Rangers' team that led the American League West by 4 1/2 games on June 13 enters this week's three-game series against Anaheim suddenly trailing the Angels by 1 1/2. The Ranger

  June 29, 2009

• Hank Blalock Saves Frankie Francisco's Ass/Texas Rangers' Season

  Bacon saved. Barely.The Rangers tip-toed perilously close to a lost season last night. Instead, they wound up jumping all over a won game. I know we're only two days into July, but coughing up a 7-1 lead and losing to the AL West division leaders last night might have been a kick to the crotch the Rangers never recovered from. It came thiiiiiiiis close to happening. Closer Frankie Francisco - maybe it's time for C.J. Wilson to get the role? - walked two Angels and surrendered a

  July 2, 2009

• Rangers Win Again; Chris Davis Finally Loses

  Who will we see in Arlington next: Him or Justin Smoak?Let's play three strikes with your Texas Rangers. Your first-place Texas Rangers. Yes, I am surprised. And impressed. Steeeriiiike One - Chris Davis demoted. Davis is a good guy with a great glove, but the Rangers could afford to be patient with him no longer. You can swallow a .200-hitting Gold Glove catcher, but not a first baseman. When the Rangers headed for Anaheim last night for a fun three-game series with the Angels,

  July 6, 2009

• Rangers Win Game, Lose Potential Owner?

  Getting cold feet?Talked yesterday afternoon to David McDavid , he of the best odds to buy the Texas Rangers from Tom Hicks. Nothing definitive, but the auto tycoon has cooled slightly on the idea of owning our baseball team to the point where he said he is - for now - "leaning against it." McDavid also echoed team president Nolan Ryan's stance from last week: That any change-of-ownership won't happen until after this season. So plenty time - fingers crossed - for him to change his m

  July 8, 2009

• Yeah, But What If Baseball Went To The European Football Table?

  I know the Texas Rangers swept the previously mighty Boston Red Sox and we're all atwitter about the American League West division race heading into August ... September ... maybe even October? But what if baseball were governed according to, say, European football standards? You know, the top teams rewarded with international play and/or advancement and the worst facing relegation to the league below. I can see the initial extended excitement. Actually a reason to watch Pirates-Nationals a

  July 23, 2009

• Seattle Showdown

  July 30, 2009

• Feliz Navidad!

  Ladies and gentlemen, the future. Well, at least part of it.​And now you know why I didn't exactly shed a tear that the Texas Rangers decided against acquiring Roy Halladay in exchange for a package that included one Neftali Feliz. In a word: WOW! Merry Christmas, Rangers fans. The 21-year-old righty made a spectacular Major League debut last night in what turned out to be a kick-to-the-crotch 3-2 loss to the Oakland A's, striking out the first four batters he faced and routinely touchi

  August 4, 2009

• Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels Has Matured Into One of Baseball’s Best Brains

  August 6, 2009

• Rangers 2, Angels 1

  ​How you get shut down by Gio Gonzalez and then light up John Lackey I'll never know, but your Texas Rangers deflected the dirt from their coffin in Anaheim this weekend. I still don't think they'll catch the Angels or make the playoffs, but taking two of three in California keeps baseball relevant past mid-August. For the year before the year, it's an amazing season. Derek Holland was devastating in yesterday's complete-game, 7-0 shutout win. His fastba

  August 10, 2009

• Texas Rangers: Soar, Then Stoop

  Some days the Rangers seem legit; others full of saline.​Got this "friend" named Newy Scruggs. He has his theory that the Texas Rangers "play well against the big boys." Hogwash I'd tell him, until the Rangers took two of three against the Angels last weekend. Then I watch Texas last night and - yep - I'm starting to embrace all sides of Newy's thesis. Including the flip-side which mandates that while the Rangers play up to their competition, they also stoop down to it. Evidence: Indian

  August 12, 2009

• What's Your Hicks Hiccup?

  When did you write off Tom Hicks: Before, after or perhaps during this photo op?​Unless you consider the Dallas Stars' 1999 Stanley Cup a lifetime pardon, we've all got one. That is, that moment when Tom Hicks did/said something so outrageously inane that you WTF'd him onto your permament shit list. For me it was the Texas Rangers' owner offering the bassackward philosophy of - and I'm paraphrasing - "Well, if you expect me to spend more money on free agents you'd better come out and sp

  August 20, 2009

• Texas Rangers Win Again, Issue a Press Release That'll Blow Your Mind

  Not sure why I had a Christmas ham under my cap. But at least I can prove I'm a Rangers' lifer.​They've lost Michael Young (two weeks with a hammy) and now maybe even Josh Hamilton (left last night's game with back ouchie). But, give them credit, your Texas Rangers haven't lost hope. And why should they? Allow me to quickly clarify my position: I don't think the Rangers will make the playoffs, but I sure as hell hope they do. I've been a fan since watching Frank Howard whistle a homer o

  September 3, 2009

• Neftali Feliz is a fireballin’ pitching phenom who has brought the surprising Texas Rangers Christmas in September.

  September 10, 2009

• Rangers 7-0, Mariners 2-5

  C'mon Mr. Sunshine, we need you more than ever.​Uh-oh, another faceplant by Derek Holland. After a doubleheader split the Rangers trail Boston by 4 in the Wild Card and Anaheim by 6 in the West with 20 games remaining. If the Red Sox (who swept a doubleheader) and Angels (who never ever never lose) maintain their .600 paces they'll each go 12-8 down the stretch. To catch tie Boston, Texas would need to finish 16-4 and to catch Anaheim the Rangers would have to go 18-2.

  September 14, 2009

• What's Next, Kevin Millwood on Waivers?

  ​Buddy of mine took his 9-year-old to the Rangers game Monday night in Arlington. Kid, not surprisingly, wanted some ice cream. In one of those cool, plastic Rangers helmet cups. One problem: "They didn't have any Rangers helmet cups," my buddy tells me. "They had run out. They told us they only had Dodgers and Astros. I asked if they were getting Texas cups in and it was like 'Uh, not until next season.' They just shrugged. It was like a going-out-of-business sale and all the good stuff

  September 16, 2009

• The Rangers May Be Out But They Are Not Down--Not Come Next April

  October 8, 2009

• American Baseball, the European Way

  ​Even if European soccer owner Tom Hicks convinced Major League Baseball to inject the same screwy tables that govern soccer into America's pasttime your Texas Rangers wouldn't be a playoff team. But, alas, they wouldn't be relegated, either. If baseball were run according to European soccer standards--top teams earning international play (or advancement, in the case of minor league squads), the worst facing relegation to the league below--the woeful Pirates, Orioles and Nats would be pla

  October 8, 2009