Awesome and so cool.
A handful of scenes from Texas 12, Cleveland 8:
Max showing obvious signs of guilt over being in Rangers Ballpark on a weekday afternoon.
Max contemplating Brandon McCarthy's mixed bag: sharp breaking ball but spotty fastball command, seven strikeouts but four walks in five innings, frequent wiggles out of trouble but an inefficient 21 pitches per inning.
Max's impression of how the Rangers' lineup must have felt facing Carl Pavano.
The day's only disappointment: the blue dot finished in second. Acceptable to Wade Phillips, perhaps. Not to Max.
Autograph hound Kate Jett tracks Max down to get his signature after he called Marlon Byrd's first-inning home run on the third pitch he saw from Pavano. (N.B.: Rangers' Director of Pro and International Scouting A.J. Preller, in the background [between Max and Kate] under his standard-issue fisherman's hat, updates his "follow" note on Max for 2018.).
Max contemplating – is Travis Hafner done?
Max reveling in the fact that even though Texas emptied the bench on Thursday, everyone contributed. Again. He asks you to think about this: Who was the star of the series sweep? Suggested answer: There wasn't one.
Max wondering if you realize not only that the Rangers are undefeated through three games, but also that they haven't trailed yet this season.
"Kate, did you know that Neftali Feliz, Kasey Kiker, Michael Main, Tim Murphy, and Martin Perez are all supposed to start on Friday? A.J., did you know?"
Max notes that Marlon Byrd drove in four runs through June 1 last year (spanning 72 plate appearances). He drove in five yesterday.
Max thinks it's premature and weird that a national columnist liked Kevin Millwood's Opening Day start so much that he wrote that Millwood could be a trade asset this summer. Why would he already be sentencing Texas to being a seller in July – especially if Millwood pitches like that for four months?
Max looks ahead to Detroit, the site of the low point of the 2008 season (the three-game sweep late in April in which Texas was outscored, 37-10, making it 12 losses in 14 games and very nearly costing Ron Washington his job).
I's just three games. There are a thousand to go. There's no sense in taking an average with runners in scoring position or a pitch count or first-pitch-strike rate and make too much of it. But it's okay to react to what Texas just did to Cleveland, a team that every "expert" has higher 2009 hopes for than your team, and see it like a four-yr-old does . . . seeing your starter strike out the side to start the game is awesome . . . calling a three-run homer that same inning is so cool . . . there will be disappointments that will make everything seem worse than it is, and even if they feel like blue not winning the dot race or that foul ball landing 10 rows away rather than in your light-up Rawlings, those too will pass. The marathon is barely underway. But it sure beats tripping over your shoelaces right as the gun sounds. Maybe that was one of those days at the yard that Max will remember his whole life, like the time I saw Nelson Briles throw a complete game against California early in the 1976 season. But it's just one of 162, capping one series of 52, and the slugging percentages and the 3 for 5's after the league wondered if you were done – and the standings – don't mean a thing yet. But, man, that was awesome and so cool. I want cotton candy and one of those chocolate chip cookie ice cream things and a red Rangers cap and a lot of those chips with cheese gunk on them and I want to catch a foul ball and I want to make too big a deal out of the fact that there's only one team in the American League who's undefeated and get excited about the idea that Josh Hamilton hasn't even gotten going, and neither has Chris Davis, and no starting pitcher has had his best stuff and command yet, but each of them who's taken the ball so far has battled, not unlike the lunchpail starters who last wore red for this franchise and helped the team into the playoffs three years out of four. Three day games in another state starting today, and neither Max nor I will have to go to bed before any of them end. =========================================================== To join the free Newberg Report mailing list so you can get e-mail deliveries of every edition of the newsletter, daily minor league game recaps, and frequent Newberg Report News Flashes, go to www.newbergreport.com and click the "Mailing List" link on the top menu bar.