Don’t take my word for this.

Easy enough.

when she is changing Grandpa Urine’s nappy.

…And somewhere Josey Whines sheds a tear as his hero gets skewered…

Seriously? I understand him saying that about BMac and Gabbard, but Mendoza? What more do we need to see?

I wish someone would restrict Galloway’s kernings to football. His lack of interest in doing anything but bitch about the Rangers is getting really old. When the Rangers do better, he might actually have to learn something about baseball, but I won’t hold my breath.

As to Howe, he’s one of the biggest question marks in this season on the coaching staff. In the eight games I went to, I never saw Howe and Washington do much more than make comments to one another every now and then in game. He has 11 years’ experience as a big league manager and while his overall record as manager doesn’t quite break .500, it’s better than Washington’s two seasons’ worth as manager (small sample size, I know).

So why has the veteran manager turned bench coach been, in my opinion, mostly absent?

So he was the one who suggest Wash to keep throwing Jamey Wright out there in critical situations?
Is he the one who wants Arias batting leadoff and Davis in the bottom of the lineup?

Grant suggests that Art Howe could be out as bench coach. Grant notes that Howe was brought in as bench coach to assist Washington in terms of game management and preparation, and those have been weaknesses of the team.

What a crock of shit. If they want to make a change in the bench coach that’s fine. But don’t try to blame Wash’s lack of baseball smarts on Howe. Washington is the manager and if has to have someone hold his hand and/or teach him the game then he needs to be the one that is fired.

and hope the team finishes behind the A’s. Certainly you can hope we finish with the 16th best (or worse) record, so we don’t lose a draft pick if we sign someone big. But hoping to finish 3rd? Are these the same people who think the late ‘90s were a failure because we didn’t win a playoff series? Or that

I guess every team has these fans – the types that think the ’90s Braves were a colossal disappointment since they only won one WS. But hoping that your team finishes 3rd rather than 2nd seems like you enjoy being miserable.

(And don’t give me the “raise one spot in the draft argument” – everyone here should know the marginal benefit of drafting 13th instead of 14th is negligible. Making that argument suggests that you see no marginal benefit of second over third, which means you are a dour perfectionist)

Rangers on twib? I know I thought that too.

Curious where he winds up.

Does that link go to a bad place for anyone else???

Blogging the Boys just did a post about a mobile site…

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2008/9/27/623165/btb-goes-mobile

One game away (I assume that they won’t be making up their other game) from securing the first pick and getting to either draft Strasburg or have their fans hate them for not picking him. Go Nats!

Evan wrote this last night:

There has been no dramatic positive pitching turnaround under Hawkins. The club had a 5.27 ERA when Connor was dismissed; it was 5.73 under Hawkins entering Friday. Probably not a reflection of Hawkins’ skills – he’s very much appreciated in player development – but I think the only way he would have stayed in the current role is if he had a direct and tangible impact on the staff.

I ran the numbers last night (including last night’s win in the equation), and came up with the following:

"In 110 games and 984 team innings pitched from March 31st through August 1st, the Rangers’ pitchers surrendered a 1.59 WHIP, yielded 4.09 walks per nine innings, struck out just 5.70 batters per nine innings, and allowed 1.13 home runs per nine innings.

In 50 games and 439 team innings pitched since August 1st, the Rangers’ pitchers have surrendered a 1.56 WHIP, yielded 3.55 walks per nine innings, struck out 6.72 batters per nine innings, and allowed 1.07 home runs per nine innings.

In the all-important strikeouts-to-walks department, the Rangers’ pitchers delivered an abysmal 1.39 K/BB ratio through August 1st. Since August 1st, that figure has been a still-underwhelming, but far more respectable 1.90."

So, under Hawkins, the Rangers’ pitchers have issued nearly half a walk less and induced a full strikeout more per nine innings – both very good things. I haven’t added up the numbers yet to see if the strike percentage has been better, but it’s probable that such a significant positive change in the K/BB department would largely be the result of the pitching staff throwing more strikes. I’d call that a positive change.

Too bad there aren’t game logs that feature FIP or xFIP…

about their overall record than where they finish in the division. I wouldn’t care if the finished last if they won 90 games.