No Words Can Describe, But This Is My Best Effort

The boys of September have done it again.

Yes, I said it. The boys of September. You can figure that nickname out, I have faith.

Again, the Rangers pull out the heart's of their fan base, throw it on the ground (the pitch was called a ball in the process), and trot off into the sunset.

Last year, the Rangers were the feel good story of the year. No one expected a World Series team, and they somehow got past the Rays and Yankees to surprise the world before bowing out after just five games.

2011 was a different story. The Rangers were expected to be a playoff team, and expected to do well in them by their fan base.

They did well, until once again bowing out. This time, in the 9th inning of Game 6.

A good closer doesn't throw a pitch that can be hit 300+ feet, especially in a 2 strike count. Period. End of story.

I'm a Neftali Feliz fan, but what in the world were you thinking?

Whatever, we still have Game 7 right? Wrong.

I made an effort to not watch any ESPN or listen to anything but The Ticket radio station out of DFW all day because I knew they would rule the Rangers out.

But then again, everyone kept harping on "Well the Rangers haven't lost consecutive games in 46 contests!"

The Rangers also weren't in Busch Stadium against Chris Carpenter in any of those 46 games, so I wasn't sold.

I just didn't have a good feeling about it, and turns out I was right. They started out hot, but it turned into a game of Rangers walking to the plate, guessing, and turning around to head to the dugout.

I was confused by that. The Rangers took almost every first pitch, and almost every first pitch was a strike. Then they'd watch the next (Especially Elvis, every time), as a fastball sped right down the middle. Their at-bat would finish with them trying to dig a curve ball out of the dirt almost every time.


I've got to tip my hat to the Cardinals though. They showed up when they needed to show up. Chris Carpenter put the team on his back (Is that term overused yet?) and got it done in the biggest game of his life.

The Cardinals bullpen slammed the door closed, something the Rangers bullpen probably saw as foreign.

And even though this was the greatest season in Texas Ranger franchise history, I'm still not happy with it.

Last year was the year to GET THERE. I know I'm ready to WIN ONE, and I know the 300 other fans that showed up to games back in the mid-90's feel the same way.

I don't mind the bandwagon fans, I wrote a post on that last October.

But I am proud to say that my parents raised me as a Ranger fan from birth. As I put on twitter earlier, I even named my hamsters I got in kindergarten after my two favorite Rangers -- Pudge and Juan (who we later found out was Juanita...)

So yeah, it may be "the greatest season in history", but it wasn't. It ended with a loss, which the Rangers have in common with every other playoff team except for the Cardinals in 2011.

I'm tired of saying "That's how baseball go", so I'm not going to say it. I'm done with that.

MAKE the baseball go where you want it to go instead of heading to the plate guessing and gazelle-jumping into the right field wall as Freese slides into third.

I stand behind Ron Washington. I stand behind Jon Daniels. I stand behind Nolan Ryan.

However, I do not stand behind the mindset I saw from that team in the last 12 innings. Whoever needs to fix that problem, fix it.

See you in the spring, it's now fully football season at Oklahoma State.

Describing The World Series So Far

My friend Justin (@JustinSouthwell) tweeted last night: "Baseball = World's slowest rollercoaster"

Looking back at this world series, I fully agree with him.

I mean, this is ridiculous. If my doctor was in the room for any game, she'd hospitalize me for ridiculously high, neck vein bulging, face reddening blood pressure.

But I thought about Justin's tweet more and more, and I realized it matches a roller coaster perfectly... So I'll match it up with my favorite. The Titan.

The Build Up:
Clank clank clank clank, there goes the chain as we leave the station and start going up for the first drop. The suspense is building up. We beat the Ray's, this is going to be a sweet ride. We're struggling with the Tigers, this drop is going to be huge... I'm getting kind of nervous. I think I can see Fort Worth... Alright, we're at the top. Commence screams.

Game 1: The First Drop
Straight down. CJ pitches alright, gives up 3 runs in almost 6 innings, but Carpenter is even better and gives up 2. It's a kick in the gut, but we expected this drop to be there and be steep, so it's not that big of a deal. Oh, and don't forget the photo booth at the bottom, that's all of your Cardinals friends talking mess. We've got 6 games and a lot of roller coaster left though, breathe.

Game 2: Cruising Straight Up
On the Titan, you go underground, then shoot straight back up. That's just what happened in Game 2. We were at the bottom, then all of the sudden (in the 9th inning) we shot straight back up to almost as high as the first drop. Sweet.

Game 3: What? Another Drop?
This roller coaster is crazy. Not only is this drop even steeper, but it's sideways. Adding to the scary-ness (Is that a word?) of the drop. This is when Pujols hit a ball to the east side of Dallas, and then crushed two more as the Cardinals racked up 16 runs on Matt Harrison, who will be our Game 7 starter if it gets that far. Oh great.

Game 4: Corkscrew
The roller coaster then goes into a two-story corkscrew drop, and this is my favorite part. Yeah, it's a drop, but it's really fun. You try to stick your arms up but you're going so fast they get slung to the side. That's the best way to describe Holland's start, it's so good but so scary at the same time. This is the same guy who threw 10 straight balls in last year's world series when he came out of the bullpen, and he just shut down the Cardinals lineup (except for Berkman) for 8 1/3 inning? Wow. That was a sweet corkscrew.

Game 5: Power Brakes
The Cardinals scored first, just like when you're going about 50 miles an hour and stop on a dime towards the end of the ride. You're thinking it's the worst, but then you go into another corkscrew drop, this time slower. Alexi Ogando somehow escaping an inning, then Mike Napoli doing his best superman impression. Sweet.

Technically, this would be where you cruise into the station on the Titan, jump out of the car and simultaneously kiss the ground and thank God you lived, aka a celebration? Hopefully that isn't a jinx, but I'm only speaking about the Titan if you want to get down to it.

Also, don't forget that the 2011 World Champion Dallas Mavericks series did the exact same thing as the Rangers have done so far. Loss away, win away, loss at home, win at home, win at home, then they won away and danced on LeBron's kingly court.

Could the Rangers dance on Prince Pujols' lawn? I predicted Rangers in 6, but no one can seize momentum in this so you never know. But I'd like to think so.

One thing is for sure...

All trains checked, all seats cleared. Please keep your seat fastened at all times, and enjoy your ride on The Titan at Six Flags Over Texas.