Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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The pop culture references were great. Plus Tag would rein him in.

I thought he did fantastic during the first pennant year.

Remember when they tried to replace him with John Rhadigan and how terrible that was?

I actually don't mind CJ and Dave Raymond. Much better than Steve Busby who was just boring as hell.

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I think Rhadigan was always going to be a stop-gap. He just never seemed to have a comfort with the TV aspect of being watched.

Raymond always had a Houston-bent when we'd play them, so he never got me to buy-in to his personality. Busby was boring, but overall he wasn't terrible.

I think they tried to use Nadel for the TV for a bit. Or maybe they were just collaborating. Anyway, Nadel had his head on the desk and I couldn't tell that he could actually see the field. I remember thinking, "yeah, that's why he does radio."

PatriotAg02 said:

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I love CJ. Dave has taken some getting used to. My biggest gripe with him early on was his lack of enthusiasm on his calls. He just seemed to be there and have no emotional connection to the team. He's gotten better, but still a few ticks off of what Lewin brought.

On a related note, anyone have any new info about Eric Nadel? Last I heard he was taking time off to deal with his mental health. I grew up listening to Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel on the radio calls (we didn't have cable tv). He's a Rangers staple. I hope he is doing better.

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I think Dave couldn't read the baseball and often got surprised. He'd get excited about a fly ball that was caught on the track, and then act routine on a blast that was 10 rows deep.

I looked up and found a few clips from Nadel that were about 3 weeks old. He was promoting a charity event. Seems to be stable and improving with no real timeline to return. Didn't realize, I think he is 70+. My guess is, if the Rangers make it to the Playoffs, he'll be a guest, but I don't expect him back fulltime. He indicated that he is still following the team and excited about their success.

DallasAg 94 said:

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PatriotAg02 said:

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I love CJ. Dave has taken some getting used to. My biggest gripe with him early on was his lack of enthusiasm on his calls. He just seemed to be there and have no emotional connection to the team. He's gotten better, but still a few ticks off of what Lewin brought.

On a related note, anyone have any new info about Eric Nadel? Last I heard he was taking time off to deal with his mental health. I grew up listening to Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel on the radio calls (we didn't have cable tv). He's a Rangers staple. I hope he is doing better.

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I think Dave couldn't read the baseball and often got surprised. He'd get excited about a fly ball that was caught on the track, and then act routine on a blast that was 10 rows deep.

I looked up and found a few clips from Nadel that were about 3 weeks old. He was promoting a charity event. Seems to be stable and improving with no real timeline to return. Didn't realize, I think he is 70+. My guess is, if the Rangers make it to the Playoffs, he'll be a guest, but I don't expect him back fulltime. He indicated that he is still following the team and excited about their success.

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Glad he's doing better. Thanks for the update.

I'm fine with CJ, not my favorite but he gives good insight.

Last year Dave couldn't read the ball so he'd either get overly excited for a fly out or ho-hum until the ball was 25 rows back in the upperdeck.

This year I'm convinced Dave simply can't bring himself to be a fan of the Rangers. Even ignoring his routine "jinxing" of any no-hitter or the like we've got going, he seems to get as excited (or more) for the opposing team getting big hits or making big plays as he does Texas. It's like he forget sometimes who he is supposed to be rooting for.

Probably wasn't a good idea to hire an Astros loyalist. Like stated on here many times... people in the DFW area just don't get the disdain people from Houston have for the Metroplex.

Keep in mind - if someone who works in the front office of a MLB club posts on public threads, he needs to be very careful about everything he posts. It's wreckless to do otherwise.

beagle2009 said:

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Mr Gigem said:

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texasaggie2015 on the Astros thread is either a troll or actually has inside info on the club. Either way, they need to be careful about spewing information about potential front office moves on a message board.

Also, whoever is feeding them info from the inside is pretty wreckless

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Man can we please keep this thread to Rangers discussion? The constant reports on what's going on in the Astros thread is exactly the kind of pettiness that we accuse Astros fans of. If people care enough they can go to that thread on their own and keep it to themselves. We have some absolutely great discussion on this thread and would really hate for it to turn toxic!

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There should be exceptions. Such as rangers off days or 5 hours before / after a rangers game. The Astros **** is still relevant sometimes because they've won the division so many times in a row and we're trying to snatch it from them. Just the way it is.

If we were chasing Oakland or the angels, I know the chatter would be minimal, but the Astros thread is right next door and lots of them enjoyed gloating about how bad our team was for years so there is a rivalry and people on here wanting to see the astros lose or do poorly as much as possible.

The Astros placed Yordan Alvarez on the injured list with right oblique discomfort. He is going back to Houston for further evaluation.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) June 9, 2023

Hopefully he's only out 10-15 days like Duran was.

I don't want it to be a long injury because Astro fans will go from saying "we haven't played anyone good" to " we would've crushed you with Yordan".

CJ is good. Really like the analytics insights he brings. Raymond sucks big-time. Can't read a ball off the bat, seems aloof in a goofy way, and just doesn't seem authentic at all

Grapesoda2525 said:

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Hopefully he's only out 10-15 days like Duran was.

I don't want it to be a long injury because Astro fans will go from saying "we haven't played anyone good" to " we would've crushed you with Yordan".

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Look... you play the players you have.

I don't give a rats-ass what another team says. People who make excuses will make excuses.

We are going to win the West and it won't matter what the other teams do.

We went into the season believing our rotation would be:
deGrom, Heaney, Eovaldi, Gray (24GS), Perez (32GS, but FA), Odorizzi, Dunning (29GS), Otto (27 GS), Hearn (13GS), Howard (8GS), Ragans (9GS)

I've always heard you need to go into ST with about 8 SPs. The bolded players were what we originally expected for 2023, when the 2022 season ended. Strikethroughs are players we lost.

Injuries happen and your depth greatly impacts your season. I say that every year. I say that during the season about teams that will fade or rise.

ETA GS

The Rangers were without Seager/ Garver/ Jankowski for over a month. Time to see what kind of depth the Astros have. Those three injuries allowed guys like Duran/ Taveras/ Heim to thrive and ended up being a net positive for us moving forward.

gigem1223 said:

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The Rangers were without Seager/ Garver/ Jankowski for over a month. Time to see what kind of depth the Astros have. Those three injuries allowed guys like Duran/ Taveras/ Heim to thrive and ended up being a net positive for us moving forward.

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Definitely not intended to be a pot stirring post.

The Astros have been without 3 starting pitchers (McCullers, Luis Garcia and Urquidy), Michael Brantley and Altuve up until 12ish games ago. Depth, especially on the pitching side, has been very tested.

Their absence has allowed some opportunities for players like Mauricio Duban, Brandon Bielak, JP France and Corey Julks emerge as real contributors to the squad. We are all hopeful that Yanier Diaz will get more opportunities at DH with Yordan out.

Good luck with that with Dusty at the helm.

I don't care about Astro fans excuses. I don't remember them giving us any quarter when we had injuries, just RANGERS SUCK!!!!!

Let's not forget we've had some key injuries also. And will go on the rest of the season without the most dominant pitcher in all of MLB.

bearkatag15 said:

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Definitely not intended to be a pot stirring post.

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I'll take you at your word.

Quote:

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The Astros have been without 3 starting pitchers (McCullers, Luis Garcia and Urquidy), Michael Brantley and Altuve up until 12ish games ago. Depth, especially on the pitching side, has been very tested.

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deGrom ('22): 11GS, 3.08 ERA. 6GS, 2.67 ERA in '23
v
McCullers ('22): 8GS, 2.27 ERA. 0GS in '23


Odorizzi ('22 w/Hou): 12GS, 3.75 ERA, 0GS in '23
v
Garcia ('22): 28GS, 3.72 ERA, 6GS in '23


Otto ('22): 27GS, 4.64 ERA, 0GS in '23
v
Urquidy ('22): 28GS, 3.94 ERA, 6GS in '23


Seager ('22): 151 G, .245, 33 HR; 30G, .336, 6HR in '23
v
Altuve ('22): 141G, .300, 28HR. 13G in '23

Texas: 40-21 0GB
Houston: 36-27 5GB

ETA the huge contributions from Brantley that are missing:
Brantley ('22): 64G, .288, 5HR, 1SB

I'm not sure what your intent was with the comparisons but those look like a lot of missing pieces for both teams. And pretty equal

bearkatag15 said:

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I'm not sure what your intent was with the comparisons but those look like a lot of missing pieces for both teams. And pretty equal

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You got my point.

Texas: 40-21 0GB
Houston: 36-27 5GB

Y'all have had a great start to the season. Congrats!

bearkatag15 said:

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Y'all have had a great start to the season. Congrats!

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Likewise. It will be a sprint to the finish, for sure.

Remember early start tonight.

Big test this weekend. Strangely, Heaney seems to be our road warrior so far. His numbers are WAY better on the road than at home this season, giving up only 5 runs in his 4 road starts for a 1.82 ERA, .167 BA against, and .89 WHIP.

The Devil Rays unis are sick.

shack009 said:

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The Devil Rays unis are sick.

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Yeah. Digging the old school Devil Rays look

Seager got one just off the end for a 395' out do strait away center and Lowe almost shot one down the LF line for extra bases. Lowe waks. Glasnow can be had.

Dang. Made a couple good pitches down 3-1 to get Garcia chasing…

Medical emergency in the crowd

What's happening? There's some kind of delay… Rangers have not taken the field.

gigem1223 said:

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Medical emergency in the crowd

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Oh Jesus… that's never good. Can't help but think about the situation with Josh Hamilton in LF…

Some fan wheeled off on a stretcher by the rays dugout.

shack009 said:

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The Devil Rays unis are sick.

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They really need to go back to those. Their normal unis are among the most boring and lame in MLB.