The Rangers

I grew up with baseball.  My little brother M was practically born with a baseball in his hand, and much of my childhood was spent on the bleachers at the baseball park in our hometown with my mom, watching my brother play and my dad coach.  He coached almost every team that M was on, some of the teams were good and some lost every game.

As you can imagine, my family loved professional baseball too.  I remember the 1996 season, when the Rangers won the American League West Division and subsequently lost the first round of the playoffs.  Since then, I don't think they ever made it close to the playoffs.

This year, after many years of building, they won the American League West Division again.  We fans knew they could keep going - with the mix of experienced veterans and young talent, along with good pitching for the first time in a long time, they could win the World Series. 

Then they beat out the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and moved on to the next team:  the New York Yankees.  The team with more World Series rings than I can remember, and cocky fans, and a huge payroll.  The first game was fun to watch, at first.  Texas got on the scoreboard in the first inning thanks to Josh Hamilton's home run and the Yankees apparently forgot how to hit.  Then the 8th inning happened, and the Yankees remembered how to swing the bat, and the Rangers bullpen gave them pitches they wanted to hit.  Rangers lost, 6-5.

The sportswriters and press had a blast with that story.  Every article I read seemed to have the tone of disdain for the Rangers, like they are kids playing Little League and couldn't handle it in the big leagues with the big bad Yankees.  Even the TBS announcers don't seem to want the Rangers to win.   

The Rangers bullpen did their job yesterday and the Yankees lost 7-2.  Game 3 is going to be a good one.