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A good season can tame Texas Rangers’ ballpark beast

In response to the question of how do you kill a vampire, one online advice column suggests pointing a cross soaked with holy water at the beast, driving a stake through its heart, cutting off its head and stuffing it with garlic

Reliable sources say that at no time during the Rangers’ 81 home games this season did they see Ron Washington walking around the ballpark with a wooden cross, holy water, a stake, a knife or garlic.

Despite that, for the first time in several years, the season will end with the ballpark not being accused of sucking the life out of Rangers teams.

The Rangers had an absolutely wonderful run, and it will end Sunday in Seattle. There have been challenges caused by injuries that forced Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and Ian Kinsler to miss more than 100 games total, yet Texas was in the playoff race until the last week of the season.

It was a tribute to the team, but it also was refreshing to not hear any excuses — about injuries or the ballpark.

If someone called the park a launching pad, it was in passing. The nasty wind currents that made home runs cheap miraculously disappeared or were ignored. No one campaigned for jack-hammering the Cuervo Club, which supposedly boomeranged winds behind home plate toward the outfield, carrying balls over the fence.

(A quick aside: With the Rangers financial problems, perhaps critics now understand that adding revenue sources such as the club are vital to the economic health of a sports franchise.)

This season was the first in many years that did not include multiple obscenities tossed at the ballpark

Click here to read the full article – By JAN HUBBARD of Star-Telegram.com

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October 5, 2009 Posted by rsanrel | MLB, Rangers Apparel, Rangers Collectibles, Rangers News, Rangers Stuff, Texas Rangers | Baseball, Baseball Collectibles, MLB, Rangers, Rangers Baseball, Rangers News, Texas, Texas Rangers, Texas Rangers baseball, Texas Rangers Collectibles, Texas Rangers Mens Apparel | No Comments Yet

Holland ready to wrap up rookie year

ANAHEIM — Derek Holland’s rookie season is about to come to an end

Holland makes his final start on Wednesday night against the Angels. He brings a 6.14 ERA into the game and since 1972, when the Rangers first played in Texas, that’s the 11th-highest ERA for a Major League rookie with at least 100 innings pitched.

But the Rangers still think Holland got much out of his first season in the Major Leagues even though he made just five starts combined at Double- and Triple-A before getting up here.

“Well, for starters, one of the best things is he knows he can pitch here,” pitching coach Mike Maddux said. “That’s something everybody has to overcome and realize, ‘Yes, I can pitch in the big leagues.’ He showed that.

“He’s definitely become a four-pitch pitcher, willing to throw any pitch in any count. There has been a fusion that comes from trial and error on how to use all his pitches over the course of the year.”

Holland won his most recent start, beating Tampa Bay, 8-3, on Friday. But he allowed three runs in five innings and is now 1-5 with an 11.17 ERA in his past six games.

“I just want to finish strong and on a good note,” Holland said, “stay positive and give it everything I have.”

Click here to read the full article – By T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com

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