No Rangers news Wednesday, except in Round Rock

Apparently nobody was covering the Texas Rangers, Round Rock Express luncheon that was MC'd by Eric Nadel. I suppose that was because it was national signing day and this is Texas. LSB had a presence there if you are willing to count me and Ben (who I think is Schoolly, but I'm horrible at remembering names).

Mike Adams basically said that 'he only thinks of Nolan Ryan watching the game when he is on his way to the dugout to see what kind of look he has on his face.' Ryan said his children call it 'the scowl.'

Ryan explained how he tries to have a friendly relationship with the players, will answer pitching questions occasionally, but tries to stay out of the way of pitching coach Mike Maddux.

A Round Rock fan asked about Roy Oswalt, because Oswalt came through Round Rock on his way to Houston, and the answer was the typical 'We had a nice conversation with him' answer.

Ron Washington was asked by Eric Nadel how fans should react to being within a strike of winning the world series in game six and he said, "Get over it!" Washington added, 'We pretty well were ready to play in game 7, and put two runs up quickly, and if we had gotten to Carpenter, St. Louis had nobody left in the bullpen.'

Nolan Ryan also explained how difficult it was for the coaches and front office to get together on the Monday after the World Series to talk about the current roster and where improvements needed to be made.

I asked the Rangers personnel to compare Yu Darvish to Jim Bibby who was 6-5 and the first Ranger to throw a no hitter, or any other MLB pitcher in the last 30 years? Nolan Ryan answered that question by saying, 'He had only seen video of Yu, and had been asked for comparison with other pitchers by several people, but he really didn't have an impression of any MLB pitcher that is comparable to Yu at this time.

I talked to Jim Sundberg after luncheon, and reminded him of the best catcher's defensive play I had ever seen. He took a foul pop high off the screen in Arlington Stadium, turned and threw out a Detroit Tiger runner at second who was trying to advance from first base. I told him the fans yelled, "He's going!" He gave me a fist bump, and said, "Good job!" He also said he vaguely remembers the play. I said, "The fans were just doing their job." That was kind of fun!

Ben was taking some pictures, so hopefully he'll post some of them later. I also went on by and checked out the American League trophies on display and I realized, I never thought I would ever seen those trophies in possession of the Texas Rangers when I used to watch them in the '70s!

All and all, it was a fun time, and I wished I didn't have to get back to work.