New York Yankees

If Signing Yu Darvish and Prince Fielder Are Mutually Exclusive, The Texas Rangers Might Be Better Off If Darvish Returns to Japan

As Wednesday's 4 p.m. deadline nears in the negotiations between the Texas Rangers and Yu Darvish, the most significant hang-up is reportedly the 25-year-old's request for a five-year contract and the team's preference for a six-year deal, according to Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan. Understandably, Dar ... More >>

In the World Series Match-Up Between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals, Don't Dismiss the Impact of Tony La Russa

St. Louis CardinalsTony La Russa on the field at Busch Stadium yesterday afternoon.​For whatever reason, my relationship with baseball went from casual to deeply committed bordering on obsessive during the 1986 baseball season. Like most kids growing up in North Texas, my father taught me to l ... More >>

The Real Rangers' Race is in Detroit, Not Anaheim

​Nothing like a good baseball pennant race. Too bad this year there ain't one. No divisional "race" is closer than 5 games in the season's last week and even the Wild Card is producing nothing more dramatic than a two-game edge. With another Angels' loss Monday the Rangers inched closer to a ... More >>

Rangers-Angels Take Baseball's Center Stage. Or at Least They Should.

​There are only two division races in baseball. And only one with playoff implications. As we play the regular season's final month the Tigers, Phillies, Brewers and Braves each have leads of at least 7 games with only 20 remaining. In the AL East the Yankees lead the Red Sox by 2.5, bu ... More >>

A Labor Day First: Top 10 U.S. Open Observer-ations ... From a Guy Who Just Wants a Chance To Work

​Carrollton's Kelly Dearmore emailed me with a simple request: I wanna write for Sportatorium. Being that he's a free-lance writer that has covered concerts for the Observer, he hates the New York Yankees and he loves him some tennis in general and one of my fave sporting events -- the ... More >>

The Greatest Individual Playoff Performance in the History of Dallas-Fort Worth Sports. Is Dirk's Dominant?

​The Mavs can play better than they did in Game 1 of the NBA's Western Conference Finals. For the first time in the playoffs they allowed 100 points, 112 to be exact. The Thunder grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and, according to Mavs' coach Rick Carlisle, corralled 13 of the game's 20 loose bal ... More >>

All Right, All Right, All Right: McConaughey To Throw Out First Pitch at Rangers Game Friday

​Your Texas Rangers play the New York Yankees on Friday night, first pitch at 7:05 p.m. Got tickets? It'd be a lot cooler if you did.Because, see, the Rangers just sent word that Matthew McConaughey will toss out the ceremonial first pitch, right before he heads to Houston to pick up Aerosmith tic ... More >>

A Rangers Repeat? History Suggests Odds Are Long.

One Hit Wonders

Cliff Lee Shuns Rangers, Shocks Yankees and Signs With Phillies

The Phillies?! Now Rangers fans don't even get a chance to boo him.​The good news: Your Texas Rangers didn't lose Cliff Lee to the New York Yankees. The bad/horrible/devastating news: Your Texas Rangers lost Cliff Lee. To the Philadelphia Phillies?! We heard persistent whispers all through ... More >>

Whitt's End: 12.10.10

​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *In the ALCS, the Rangers beat the Yankees in six games. In the pursuit of Cliff Lee, looks like the Yankees will beat the Rangers in seven years. *I've been rough on the Rangers, who at one point ... More >>

Cliff Lee is Going, Going, Going ... Gone?

​This doesn't look good. The New York Yankees make free-agent pitcher Cliff Lee an offer of six years between $140-$150 million. (UPDATE: How about a seventh year?!) Lee's agent, Darek Brauneker, puts the offer in his briefcase, leaves baseball's winter meetings early and flies to Arkans ... More >>

Do the Rangers' New Owners Have the Money and Will to Build on a Winning Formula?

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington makes the most unlikely of journeys from cocaine to Champagne.

Five Reasons Why Your Texas Rangers Will Keep Postseason Badass Cliff Lee Next Season

Photos by Sam MertenCliff Lee tosses in the outfield on July 11 following his first start with the Rangers.​Ever since New York Baseball Digest's Frank Russo posted his "Five Reasons Why the Yankees Will Sign Cliff Lee" on Monday, it has made the rounds, and several of my fellow Texas Rangers ... More >>

"The Old Rangers Are Gone."

​That quote, from Texas Rangers owner Chuck Greenberg, is the theme of this morning's World Series round-up.It comes from an interview in USA Today concerning the prospects of keeping Cliff Lee, which doesn't sound like the impossibility others have made it out to be; says Lee, beating the San Fra ... More >>

Back, Back in the New York Groove?

​Writes Mike Lupica in the New York Daily News: "The Yankees showed up on Wednesday in Game 5, they did, hundred percent. Now they have to do it again in Texas, or they become another big, bad Yankee team of this decade that got hit somewhere before the World Series and never recovered. You know w ... More >>

Whitt's End: 10.22.10

​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End:*Roger Staubach to Tony Hill to beat the Redskins in '79. Alvin Harper running free against the 49ers to clinch the NFC Championship Game in '92. Dirk Nowitzki's long 3-pointer to secure Game 2 of ... More >>

2010 ALCS - Rangers-Yankees: Game 6 Preview

Is tonight THE night? ​The lights are on. Clouds are circling but so far nothing but sprinkles. The wind is howling in from the south/right field, which means -- as evidenced by Josh Hamilton's extra-hitting session right now -- the jet stream out to right-center is in full effect an ... More >>

Damned Yankees

​Groans Erik Boland of Newsday: "All the elements that put the Yankees in a three-games-to-one series hole materialized Friday night, ensuring they wouldn't be able to completely climb out of that hole. It was another night of ragged starting pitching, ineffective relief pitching and next to nothi ... More >>

For Now, At Least, a Fairytale of New York

​Sums up George A. King III in this morning's New York Post: "The Yankees arrived last night deep in the heart of Texas with a pulse. Faint, for sure, but enough of a beat that the ALCS stethoscope detected it. Can the pump tick long enough to get the Yankees to the World Series? That's not the wa ... More >>

2010 ALCS GAME 5 - Yankees 7, Rangers 2: My Top 10 Observer-ations

​10. The better team didn't win Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, but the more desperate team did. The Rangers are on a magical, unprecedented playoff roll, but asking them to be good enough - to be mature enough - to sweep the 95-win defending champions in New York was unrealistic. Those of ... More >>

2010 ALCS Game 4 - Rangers 10, Yankees 3: My Top 10 Observer-ations

This guy is the Yankees' only hope. In other words, 'tis over.​10. And that, my friends, is why I wanted the New York Yankees. Between CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera, this is a flawed pitching staff. Just ask the Rangers, who in this series have posted 5, 7, 8 and 10 runs in building a comm ... More >>

Hard Times in New York Town

​Writes Mike Lupica in this morning's New York Daily News: "So it has come to this for the Yankees, after the Texas Rangers threw them down another flight of stairs, trying to throw them all the way out to 161st St., all the way into next season. It has come to CC Sabathia trying to keep them aw ... More >>

2010 ALCS - Rangers-Yankees: Game 5 Preview

Can it end right here? Right now? Abso-friggin'-lutely!​Pssst, I'm not supposed to talk about this. Like a no-no in the 7th inning, baseball's unwritten etiquette says you're not supposed to whisper a word about celebratory plans. Especially when you're on the enemy's fabled field. But ... More >>

Rangers vs. Yankees: The Mismatch is, Ironically, a Mismatch

​As expected, this thing is a blowout. Not even close. Think about it: The New Yankees entered the American League Championship Series with 41 AL pennants; the Texas Rangers 0. The Bronx Bombers play in Yankee Stadium; the Rangers in a ballpark once controlled by broke-ass bum Tom Hicks. The ... More >>

This Morning, In a New York State of Mind

​Writes Mike Lupica in this morning's New York Daily News: "So now, after all the winning during the regular season that Joe Girardi talked about in a testy postgame interview session, after starting the postseason with four straight wins and maybe thinking the Rangers were going to be the kind o ... More >>

2010 ALCS - Rangers vs. Yankees: Game 4 Preview

​The Texas Rangers lead the ALCS over the New York Yankees, 2-1. In Monday night's Game 3 they waltzed into fabled Yankee Stadium and laid an 8-0 whupping on the Bronx Bombers. The Rangers have dominated the series, out-scoring New York 20-8 with five of the Yankees' runs coming in that epic ... More >>

Yankee Stadium: Is It Really So Great?

​I was prepared to be in awe. To be mesmerized. To shrink in the midst of baseball's ghosts and glory. But, I gotta tell ya, new Yankee Stadium is just a ballpark. Can't believe this place cost more to build than Cowboys Stadium. And can't believe people actually pay for seats waaaay up wher ... More >>

2010 ALCS - Rangers-Yankees: Game 3 Preview

​Look at it this way, if Cliff Lee beats the Yankees here tonight in Game 3 of the ALCS they'll have to beat the Texas Rangers in three consecutive games or else face him again in Game 7 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Saturday. Advantage: Rangers? Of course to take a 2-1 series lead the ... More >>

2010 ALCS Game 3 - Rangers 8, Yankees 0: My Top Observer-ations

About 90 minutes after this pic, Josh Hamilton went deep to start a Rangers' romp in The Bronx​10. How dominant was Cliff Lee tonight? I sat in the right-field seats of Yankee Stadium in the middle innings and I swear fans were wildly cheering foul balls managed by Nick Swisher. Any contact ... More >>

About Last Night, The Texas Rangers Feel Really Bad About ... the Overpriced Parking Problem?

Rally towel or the white flag of surrender?​For seven innings, the guy wearing the Alex Rodriguez Texas Rangers jersey in Section 314 taunted the young man in the Alex Rodriguez New York Yankees jersey sitting but one row back. A lot of: "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" And: "You're on steroids! You' ... More >>

2010 ALCS GAME 2 - Rangers 7, Yankees 2: My Top 10 Observer-ations

​10. I've never seen a scarier, more intense 5-run baseball game in my life. With closer Neftali Feliz flying 98-mph fastballs all over the joint in the 9th, the tension felt as though it were 3-2 instead of 7-2. 9. I know Elvis Andrus gets credit for manufacturing a 1-0 lead with his "A ... More >>

Rangers-Yankees: You Ready For History?!

​We're about two hours from Pitch 1 of Game 1 of the American League Championship Series between the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. I'm at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where Nolan Ryan is talking to the national media, Josh Hamilton is taking batting practice and the glorious sun i ... More >>

2010 ALCS: Yankees v. Rangers Position-by-Position Breakdown

​Gleefully, I was wrong about Rays in 5. In accordance, take this synopsis with a pinch of salt, a hint of lime, a chug of a six pack, then wake up Friday night and watch for yourselves. ALCS rosters won't be set until Friday at 10 a.m. so there could be some tweaks to the Rangers- Yankees b ... More >>

Whitt's End: 10.8.10

​Whether you're at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt's End: *A sentence I thought I'd never live long enough to type: The American League Championship Series -- Texas Rangers v. New York Yankees -- starts one week from today at Rangers Ballpark in ... More >>

Texas Rangers Fans: Let's Go Yankees! Clap ... Clap ... ClapClapClap!!

​I've seen Mavericks' forward Popeye Jones inadvertently tip a jump ball into his own basket, giving the Cleveland Cavaliers two points. I've seen Cowboys' defensive lineman Leon Lett inexplicably attempt to recover a blocked field goal on an icy Thanksgiving field at Texas Stadium, handing t ... More >>

Who You Want: Yankees or Rays?

​I spoke too soon. Maybe you thought it too. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that if and/or when the Texas Rangers made the playoffs they'd face the New York Yankees. NY would win the American League East, the Tampa Bay Rays would win the Wild Card and the Minnesota Twins the Central. A ... More >>

Rangers 3, Yankees 0: As Good As it Gets

​Same as we shouldn't get too low with the Dallas Cowboys, let's not get too high with the Texas Rangers. Because, well ... oh eff it. You know what, let's do get high. I know the Rangers didn't face C.C. Sabathia or Andy Pettite, but sweeping the New York Yankees in September is about as goo ... More >>

Counter Attack

The Texas Rangers Thrive while Owner Tom Hicks' Sports Empire Crumbles.

With a 22-Game Taste, Let's Circle the Bases: Last-Place Rangers Have First-Place Potential

Ian Kinsler makes his season debut tonight against the Mariners and lefthander Cliff Lee, who's also making his first appearance of the year. ​While Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has cryptically blamed the refs yet again for his team's fourth first-round exit from the playoffs in the last seven y ... More >>

Calling For An Ass Whoop

How Cute: Jerry Jones and George Steinbrenner in the Catering Biz!

Hatin' On Pinstripes

See Damn Yankees in Fort Worth

Demons in the Outfield

Go Yanks!

Hello Cowboys, Goodbye Rangers

Ranger Danger

Booing A-Rod was fun, but don't get carried away with the "kids"

Out of Luck

Want a sure thing? Read Schutze's columns.

Yankees, go home

Hate is such a strong, strong word