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Category: Texas Rangers (Page 17 of 32)

Nolan Ryan & Robin Ventura

August 4, 2015 / / 3 Comments

Q: Who is the only major league player to get five hits off Nolan Ryan in one game?
A: Robin Ventura.

NolanRyanFiveHitterToday marks the 22nd anniversary of the night Robin Ventura made one of the dumbest decisions in all of sports history: charging the mound against a legendary future Hall of Famer, twice his age, in the pitcher’s home park. Now, think about it. If Ventura had popped Ryan a couple of times and bloodied his lip or, worse, really messed him up, he would have been vilified as a sorry punk who beat up an old man. Pick on someone your own age! Are you kidding me? Pretty gutless. On the other hand, it would be even worse if he charged Nolan and the old man took him behind the woodshed in front of 40,000 fans and every national highlights show for the rest of the month.

Ventura charging the mound against Ryan at the old Arlington Stadium was a lose-lose decision for him. No matter the outcome, he was going to be branded the loser. And he was. And still is. Forever.

If you click here, you can read Gerry Fraley’s original story on the incident that ran the next day in the Dallas Morning News. It’s fun to remember that Ryan was struggling, down 2-0 in the third inning, when he hit Ventura. Then, after the brawls — there were two, did you remember that? — Ryan went on to record the next two outs on two pitches and recorded 12 outs over his next 13 batters to earn the 5-2 win. Also by clicking that above link, you can watch a six-minute video of the original game broadcast of the event. You’ve got to watch all six minutes to see both brawls, to see Pudge and Raffy and Julio Franco and Jeff Russell and Bo Jackson all mixing it up, and to watch Ventura and White Sox manager Gene Lamont get tossed while Nolan stayed in.

It was ugly. And so beautiful.

Happy Anniversary, Nolan. I hope your Astros lose tonight.

Peace,

Allan

Joey Gallo Delivers in Debut

June 3, 2015 / / 0 Comments

JoeyGalloDebut

Where were you the night Joey Gallo made his dramatic major league debut with the Texas Rangers? It might not matter. Even if you were glued to the TV screen last night as the 21-year-old went 3-4 with a majestic homer and four RBIs, you might not remember it ten years from now. I couldn’t tell you where I was or what I was doing when Ruben Sierra, Pudge Rodriguez, or Juan Gonzales made their debuts with the Rangers.

Gallo was on his way to AAA Round Rock on Monday when the Rangers called and asked him to keep his apartment in Frisco. Due to Adrian Beltre’s jammed thumb suffered in Sunday’s walk-off win, the team needed to expedite Gallo’s journey to the majors and called him up to start at third base Tuesday. And Gallo delivered.

A sharply hit two-run single in his first ever major league at-bat. A towering two-run homer into the second deck in his second at-bat. Even more important, a hard-earned walk in the 8th inning after a quick strikeout in the 6th. Gallo’s on-demand curtain call at the Ballpark came well before he finished one triple shy of hitting for the cycle. He makes the Rangers must-see-TV right now. He’s part of a very young, very talented, very confident group of kids the Rangers are riding to win eleven of their past thirteen games. And they’re suddenly fun to watch.

JoeyGalloCurtainCall

The 6’5″ slugger has a lot of strike zone to cover at the plate. I’m not sure a guy that big can work as much ground as is needed at the hot corner at third. I don’t know how long it’ll take major league pitchers to figure him out. I do know he’s not going to go 3-4 with 4 RBIs every night. Before this is over, he’s going to struggle. Two weeks from now, we might all agree that Jon Daniels’ plan to ship Gallo back to Round Rock when Beltre is healthy is the right one.

But we’ve all seen enough to know he’s the real deal. He’s going to be a home-grown, drafted-and-developed superstar for this club in the tradition of Sierra and Pudge and Juando for many years. More than likely, he’ll play the bulk of this year with the Express, get called up to Arlington again in September, and then join the big club for good at the beginning of 2016. Probably. And if the powerful lefty lives up to expectations, if he plays a long and successful career with the Rangers and makes a bunch of All-Star games and delivers a couple of pennants, the legend of last night will be told and re-told so many times you’ll feel like you saw it live. And you might even tell people you did.

Peace,

Allan

The Church is on a Mission

April 7, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Two positive observations following the Rangers’ season opener: 1) tonight will be better; it absolutely cannot be any worse, and 2) the Rangers are still mathematically alive. For Evan Grant’s five reasons Rangers fans should not be panicked today, click here.

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In case you’re keeping score at home, Kevin Schaffer won our church office bracket contest and the free lunch and dessert that goes with it. Well, actually, his wife Michele won it for him. Kevin doesn’t know a Blue Devil from a Demon Deacon. On the strength of Duke’s come from behind win in last night’s title game, Vickie Nelson, our office manager, edged past Hannah McNeill for second place and the other free lunch. With all the guys on our church staff, three ladies finished in the top three. I’m glad Connie retired before she could fill one out.

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One more sports angle: how can anybody ever trust a guy like Tony Romo? Doesn’t it say something about the guy’s integrity, his character, when he’s born and raised in Wisconsin, but shows up in Indy last night wearing Duke colors and openly cheering for the Blue Devils against his home state university?!? It would be like Troy Aikman flying to Atlanta to wear blue and white and cheer for BYU over Oklahoma. It makes no sense. How do you trust a guy like that?

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In Ephesians 3, Paul prays this beautiful prayer for the Church. He prays about transformation: that God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, that Christ may dwell in your hearts, that the church would be rooted and established in love, that we would have power together with all the saints, to grasp the love of Christ, to know the love of Christ, and to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…”

The request here is that God would do a whole lot with the power that is at work in the Church. This prayer is not a wide open plea for God to demonstrate his power in the world in random ways and by random means. This is a specific request for God to act in spectacular ways through his Church. The transforming power of God belongs to us. So we’re not asking God to do great things while we sit in our church buildings and wait on it. And study it. And talk about it. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talking, but of power!

God’s Church is on a mission.

In Matthew 9, Jesus asks his disciples to pray for workers to send into the fields. Pray about it, he says. This is what we want God to do, to raise up these workers. And then in the very next sentence, just one verse later, Jesus is giving them the authority and the power and sending them into those fields to do the work. You ever notice that?

Be careful when you pray. The answer to your prayer may be the power of God moving you to mission. If you pray for God to use your church or to work through your church, be prepared to get off your pew and in to the mission. Go ahead and pray for the hungry and the sick. Please pray for God’s will to be done in your town just as it is heaven. Yes, pray those things. And then open your eyes and your ears and your heart to how God wants to work through you to do it.

Peace,

Allan

All On A Mission

April 6, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Opening Day. And I can’t remember a spring in my lifetime when the Rangers appeared to be as undermanned and ill-prepared. Brand new manager. No ace. Bullpen a work in progress. Questions in the outfield. Predictions for last place. Again. The Cactus League never gives the full picture, but the Rangers only won nine out of 33 games. And they looked bad doing it. First innings exploded against the starters, late leads were squandered by the relievers, and the offense has never really looked like it clicks. But I can’t wait for the first pitch tonight at 9:05. There are a lot of supremely talented young guys on this team. Choo and Fielder are both healthy. Who knows? It’s a long, long season. A lot can happen. It’s finally baseball time in Texas. Go Rangers.

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All children of God and disciples of Jesus are on a mission. In Genesis 12, when God decides to tell us how he’s going to restore the world, how he’s going to fix the problem of sin and evil and rebellion and death, when he shares his plan with us, he lets us know clearly that we are in on it with him. God is not interested in saving the world by himself. He calls Abraham. He calls him and sends him. “Go,” God says, “to the place I will show you… All peoples on earth will be blessed by you.”

In Isaiah 49, God calls his people out of exile. He saves them and changes them for the purpose of participating in his mission: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches his followers how to pray: “Our Father… Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

And that’s exactly what happens. Jesus heals the sick because there is no disease in heaven. He feeds the poor because there is no hunger in heaven. Jesus raises the dead because there are no cemeteries in heaven. He turns the other cheek because there is no violence in heaven. He eats dinner with everybody because there are no divisions or distinctions among people in heaven.

And on that last night, he sends his disciples out: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do the same things I’ve been doing. In fact, you’ll do even greater things because I’m going to live inside you! Go! Go do it! And, remember, you didn’t choose me, I chose you! You are the light of the world! You are the city on a hill! Your good deeds will bring praise to our Father in heaven!”

Every one of us is on a mission. No one is exempt.

Matthew 25 says on that last day the King will separate us according to who was on a mission and who wasn’t.

Peace,

Allan

Invitation to Possession

May 13, 2014 / / 0 Comments

I see movie trailers all the time teasing the next big demon-possession flick: based on a true story. Movies about demon-possession: based on historical events. Books about demon-possession. Newspaper and magazine articles about demon-possession.

You ever heard of an angel possession?

Why is it always the demons?

See, the Spirit of God is not interested in a violent takeover. Of anything. God’s Spirit will never enter your heart or your head or your body and cause you to do things against your will. That’s not how our God operates. God’s way is through invitation.

“Come and see.” “Come and eat.” “Come follow me.”

Gracious invitation.

“Give me your burdens.” “Cast your cares on me.”

Gentle, loving invitation.

The ways we act with each other and with the world will reflect our views of God. Our thoughts and deeds will communicate our understanding of our Savior. A kind invitation will always go a lot farther than an aggressive assault. And it’s much more in line with Christ-likeness and godly behavior.
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This past Sunday may have been Mother’s Day at your church. Here at Central it was Delta Day!

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 Yu Darvish finished one out away from a no-hitter at the temple Friday night and there were ten of us in the seats down the third base line to witness it together. It was probably a little weird for Brock since his dad and Greg Dowell and Spruce and Hub-Daddy were all there. It probably felt like we had made the trip for an intervention. But we just had an absolute blast. Greg ate for the cycle. Danny kept threatening to take off his shirt. I won $13 dollars from the rest of the guys on Martin’s homer in the 5th. Lanny tried to double-down on the Dot Race. I think Hub was actually rooting against the little kid running the stolen base promotion. And Andy was oblivious to all of it because he kept his eyes laser focused on the field the whole night.

It was so good to get caught up with Byrnes and the Drakes. And, yes, Darvish is impressive. Wow. I’ve been to countless hundreds of baseball games in my life. Still never seen a no-hitter.

On a side note, wouldn’t the Rangers be really, really good if Darvish could pitch every night?

Peace,

Allan

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