I still expect to see Pete Incaviglia's name in the box score

I did it again today.I saw the Rangers and Tigers played this afternoon. And I read over the accounts of the game thinking "Did Pete get in?"He hasn't played since 1998 when he was with the Astros. And he's bounced around the minors and independent leagues as a coach and manager.But he seemed to be around forever, never quite being the awesome MVP candidate that everyone projected he'd be in

I didn't want to win a game this weekend

I like starting a season in an 0-3 hole. It is more fun that way.Seriously, this was a pretty lousy display by my Red Sox, picked by so many to go all the way. It was home run derby off of both Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz and frankly that makes me nervous.I know it is against Texas and they are a good home run team. But what happened to "Good Pitching beats Good Hitting."The Sox have an off day

This is what I was afraid of with the Red Sox

At least there was no suspense in this game.Yeah, I know it is early. But one reason I wasn't swept up in the pre season hype was I felt like there were too many assumptions about the starting rotation. Lester and Buchholz were written in ink and the assumption was either Lackey, Beckett or Dice-K were going to be bouncing back.Well we had better HOPE so. John Lackey became John Lacking or John

Is this any way to start a potential World Series season?

Seriously... the day after I write up my "What movies will this team mirror?" post, the give us this stinker?It started out so well. Ellsbury reaching on a 2 base error and the Sox up 2-0 before the Rangers even came to the plate. They went up 4-2 and even after Lester coughed up a bunch of homers, still had a thrill with Big Papi tying the game.And all of that got flushed down the toilet with a

The Rangers shouldn't trade Michael Young - My latest for The Hardball Times

In my latest article for The Hardball Times, I talk about Michael Young. Yeah he seems mad and he should be. And sure it would appear to be the classy move for the Rangers to find him a new home.But they shouldn't. A spot in the infield will open up for him and there is no way Texas will get equal value. Everyone should just count to 10 and by the end of the season, everyone will be laughing and

Welcome to Texas, Adrian...

And we at the Rangers look forward to that one year you have when this contract expires that you will actually put up MVP caliber numbers and get your THIRD huge contract.OK, that's not totally fair. Adrian Beltre will probably fare well in a hitters ballpark and will play well for the Rangers. But am I the only one who thinks they could have used that money to keep Vlad Guerrero, keep Michael

File this under HOLY CRAP! Cliff Lee goes back to the Phillies

OK, who saw THIS coming?Seriously... when I heard the Phillies were wandering in the mix for Cliff Lee I thought "They are still trying to make up for sticking Lee in the Roy Halladay trade. They are at least showing their fans that they knew they screwed that up."It seemed like it was for show.And I had asked Phillies fans to let their team off the hook for dealing Lee.But obviously they weren't

Cliff Lee... one the best post season pitchers ever? Not so sure about that.

The Cliff Lee sweepstakes keeps on rolling and I hear commentators and writers talk about how he is an All Time great post season pitcher.Now I am not going to belittle his post season record but let's calm down for a little bit.First of all, if I turned back the back the world a la Superman all the way back to 2008, Cliff Lee's career post season numbers would look like this:0 Games.So he went

Another Cliff Lee thought

Each day Cliff Lee doesn't sign, it seems like the Rangers, the Yankees and probably some other team add more money to the offer.Each week that goes by it seems like another year is thrown onto the contract.What if Cliff Lee waited until just before spring training?Get the teams all sweating.He could have a 15 year contract for $375 million.Hey, it's worth a shot!

If all things were equal, Cliff Lee should be a Cardinal

Wherever Cliff Lee will sign, it will be for the biggest contract. And why not? Would YOU turn down the most dough?And after being a Cy Young winner in 2008, he has played for four different teams. So why shouldn't he go for stability in his life now?And of course the Yankees are front runners.The Rangers want him back and supposedly there are some other clubs in the running.If it weren't a money

Will Cliff Lee's free agency be like the end of Superman 2?

There's a great scene in Superman 2 that I will spoil here.If you haven't seen the movie... it came out nearly 30 years ago. Take your time.In the scene, the evil Kryptonians led by General Zod have been obsessing over one thing: Capturing and defeating Superman.And when they cornered him in the Fortress of Solitude, Superman was forced to go into that chamber that takes all of his powers away.

MY WIFE DEFEATS A FISH!!!!

As I wrote before, my wife and my fish both predicted a Giants and Rangers World Series.My wife knows a little more than my fish, and yesterday she proved it once and for all.Wifey picked the Giants to win it.Red the fish picked the Rangers.And I've never seen my wife more proud than when she reigned supreme over a fish.I can make fun of wifey half watching the games and my fish swimming around..

Color me impressed, Rangers fans

Soak it in Rangers fans.It's called passion for baseball. It's a long season... it's not 16 Sundays. It's every day and investing time emotion and having moments of great joy and winters of agony.And if your team wins, you are overwhelmed with joy that can make each summer after wards a celebration.Enjoy it. This frustration will pay off.I started the post season needling Rangers fans but from

Jonathan Sanchez should start today... and here's why

The Giants should take Sanchez's sorry arm out of the ice pack and throw him today... against Cliff Lee.And I am kind of serious.Right now they have Lincecum going up against Lee. It could be a wash. Two awesome aces, neither had their best game in Game 1.And Lee knows that a win tonight could help him get that $100 million contract in the off season.So I am basically going back to the logic I

I told the Rangers to start Cliff Lee

As I wrote on Thursday, this is not a second guess. Cliff Lee should have started Game 4. He didn't go 5 innings in Game 1 and this could have been a series changing game.Yes I know Madison Bumgarner pitched brilliantly, but who is to say he would have pitched as well knowing how little margin for error he would have with Lee pitching for the other team.Maybe Lee goes more than 4 innings and

What did YOU do at age 21?

When I was 21 I was finishing up my junior year at NYU, eating too much Chinese food, renting movies at Kim's Video on Bleecker street and sharing a tiny apartment with a guy whose name escapes me right now.When Madison Bumgarner was 21, he pitched 8 shutout innings in the World Series on the road against an amazing offensive team to put the Giants to within one game of their first World Series

Hope you Giants fans who wanted an exciting series are happy

You've got a series now... you've got drama and tension and a Game 3 starter named Sanchez who looks rattled.My father described it best. "He sh*t on the floor and p*ssed on the furniture."So I don't want to hear from any Giant fan friends that they want more drama. As if this season and the entire existence of the San Francisco Giants was the equivalent of General Zod bellowing "Is there no one

The Texas Rangers - A film by Clint Eastwood

The Texas Rangers story this season has unfolded like a movie... but not just any kind of movie.Specifically it has been a Clint Eastwood film.I'm not talking about the Spaghetti Westerns, the Dirty Harry films or even the Clyde the Orangutan movies.I'm talking about the respected Clint Eastwood films of the 1990s and 2000s.You know, the ones he churns out about once every 8 months. The ones

Poll Results from the Live Blog

During Game 1 of the World Series, I did a Live Blog. And along the way, I would give quick polls to the participating readers.Let's see the results of the polls:When Tim Lincecum looked shaky in the first few innings, I posted this poll.When Linecum forgot to throw to third on a run down, I asked this question.I posed this one after the Giants just looked over matched in the first few innings. A

A win is a win... no matter how ugly

Giant fans should be really happy they don't have style points for World Series wins. Because this was Jabba the Hutt ugly.In what everyone and their moose thought was going to be a classic pitchers duel devolved into a sloppier than Oscar Madison's bedroom fiasco.You had Lincecum, who pitched the first two innings like he was as high as Cheech and Chong during the car scene from Up in Smoke.In