Subject: Neftali Feliz

• Dwarfed by the Cowboys' New Stadium, the Rangers Spiffy Up Their Park

  March 26, 2009

• Why Can't the Texas Rangers Always Play the Kansas City Royals?

  March 3, 2008

• Found It: A Reason For Rangers Fans To Remain Optimistic

  August 20, 2008

• Wrapping Up Jon Daniels' Third Year As Rangers GM

  Armando Galaragga was the only thing of value Jon Daniels was able to get from the Alfonso Soriano trade. Then he gave him away for a player the Rangers released. Whoops. You want more hot-stove baseball talk from Sam? Merry Christmas ... As mentioned yesterday, Jon Daniels is entering his fourth year as general manager. He started off with a bang in year one, trading Alfonso Soriano in his first move and dealing Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez less than two weeks later. Unfortunately, he re

  December 19, 2008

• Whitt's End: 1.16.09

  Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *My summation of Thursday's dramatic plane crash/rescue in New York's Hudson River: It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!! *Found it funny that, although the crash happened at 2:30, Larry King and his ancient suspenders were still talking about the details on CNN under a yellow "BREAKING NEWS!" banner at 8:30. *To answer a couple of your questions, the way it's been explained to me is th

  January 16, 2009

• Bad Rangers' Pitching News and it's Only Friggin' January

  From the same team that lost Adam Eaton in spring training 2006 just hours after general manager Jon Daniels announced his starting rotation comes news that top pitching prospect Eric Hurley has undergone rotator cuff surgery and is out for the 2009 season. In news that will surprise no one: Rangers = Snakebit. Hurley, the team's first-round pick in '04, showed flashes at the big-league level last season, going 1-2 with a 5.47 ERA. Flashes, I said. His loss isn't devastating news, but it ain't

  January 22, 2009

• The Hapless Texas Rangers Turn to their Farm System

  February 5, 2009

• Can Nolan Ryan Save the Texas Rangers? Again?

  March 13, 2008

• Texas Rangers Have Given Their Fans Something to Cheer About, Entering June With The Second Best Record in Baseball.

  June 4, 2009

• Whitt's End: 5.22.09

  Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *You'll have to savor this offering like a cow with its cud, because this morning I'm headed out to the Byron Nelson to chug margaritas and chase girls in The Pavilion watch golf and conduct research for next week's column in the Observer's print product. Allow me an excused absence? *First it was Bill Parcells. Now it appears Tony Romo's going to avoid referring to Terrell Owens by name. And

  May 22, 2009

• Neftali Feliz: Deal or No Deal?

  Mark GrahamShould Feliz and his 100 mph-plus heater be headed to Arlington or Toronto?While Ian Kinsler's bat - the first player with both a lead-off and walk-off homer in the same game - last night gave the Texas Rangers a momentary pulse, let's talk about the future of a dominant arm down on the farm. Sam, take it away ... On his blog yesterday, ESPN's Buster Olney made the case for the Blue Jays to deal ace Roy Halladay before the trade deadline if GM J.P. Ricciardi wants to maximize the

  July 20, 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

• Whitt's End: 8.14.09

  ​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *Lots of you asking for a breakdown of the latest Arbitron PPM radio ratings for July. Not worth a separate item these days because - yawn - The Ticket's dynasty just rolls on. Dunham & Miller and The Hardline have the equivalent of four-touchdown leads in morning and afternoon drive. The battle for No. 2, however, just got interesting. While The Ticket (No. 1 in the market) still dominates

  August 14, 2009

• The Closer

  For the first time in a long time, your Rangers have a better option than Kyra Sedgwick​After Friday's monumental, six-run implosion in a gut-wrenching loss to the Boston Red Sox, I heard lots of calls for Frankie Francisco's job - if not his head. But give Texas Rangers' manager Ron Washington credit. The guy is an unflappable optimist. At times to a fault, he trusts his players. "Frankie's never been quite right since an early-season visit to the DL." "He can't pit

  August 18, 2009

• Dallas' Fantasy Roster

  No. 12 in your football program ... No. 12 on our fantasy roster.​When I say No. 22, who comes to mind? Do you immediately think of the Dallas Cowboys' all-time best runner? Or their all-time best rusher? Or perhaps instead the second-leading all-time scorer in the history of the Dallas Mavericks? The quest is to attach a Dallas/Fort Worth player to every sports uniform 0-99. A fantasy roster, if you will. The criterion for determining which local athlete "owns" a specific number is as

  August 25, 2009

• Rangers 10, Yankees 9. Frank(ie)ly, That Was Too Close For Comfort.

  ​Random thoughts after a roller-coaster, thrilling, frustrating, sweat-stained best game of the Rangers' season: *From 0-4 to 2-4 to 7-4 to 7-5 to 10-5 to 10-9, seriously, what a damn entertaining baseball game. *Elvis Andrus turns 21 today. His baseball IQ turns 219. *I watched the game at a bar, so maybe it was just me. But that game wasn't in HD wasn't it? *Something's not right with Kevin Millwood. Of course without him allowing a 4-spot in the 1st the Rangers wouldn't have been

  August 26, 2009

• Rangers 5-5, Blue Jays 2-2. My Top 10 Observations.

  'Twas a sweep. Get it?​10. I'm impressed. Your Texas Rangers bounced back from Monday's gut-wrenching 18-10 loss with typical, testosteroned resiliency. Granted, the Blue Jays suck - 18 runs one night; last night only 12 hits in 18 innings - but the Rangers could've caved. They didn't. 9. I was reminded last night that there's something really special about meaningful September baseball. The crowd was only 17,203 - I swear there weren't more than 500 people in the park for the day'

  September 2, 2009

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

  September 10, 2009

• Texas Rangers: The Hits Keep a Comin'

  Neftali Feliz likes him. So should you.​I have no idea who or what Omega El Fuerte is. But if it's good enough for Texas Rangers' fireballin' phenom Neftali Feliz, it's good enough for me. When the ridiculous rookie enters a game over the weekend in a crucial series against the Seattle Mariners, he'll be serenaded by cheers from frenzied fans and by the pulsating sounds of Omega - a hot Latin artist from his Dominican Republic - courtesy of Rangers' in-game entertainmant guru

  September 10, 2009

• Whitt's End: 9.11.09

  ​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *As for August's PPM radio ratings - surprise! - 1310 AM The Ticket continues to dominate. Among men 25-54, The Ticket remains No. 1 in the market leading every hour from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. In the distant battle for second place 105.3 The Fan continues to gain on 103.3 FM ESPN, leading in about half the day. To avoid those "Hey, quit tooting your own horn, asshole!" accusation

  September 11, 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

• Whitt's End: 10.2.09

  ​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *Former Carter High School star Michael Crabtree may not be a bad guy, but he's following some horrible advice. Friend of a friend of Crabtree tells me that he and the 49ers remain $10 million apart in contract negotiations and that the former Red Raiders receiver is indeed prepared to sit out the season. He's living in Florida, by the way, working out daily with a personal trainer and cat

  October 2, 2009

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

  October 8, 2009