Ranger Book

BELIEVE IT! Texas Rangers: 2010 American League Champions

Presented by from The Dallas Morning News

Contributors Writers

Photojournalists

Tim Cowlishaw Kevin Sherrington Jean-Jacques Taylor Evan Grant Barry Horn Brad Townsend Michael E. Young

Michael Ainsworth Josh Birnbaum Vernon Bryant Louis DeLuca Tom Fox G.J. McCarthy Kye R. Lee Brad Loper John F. Rhodes Courtney Perry Brendan Sullivan

Graphic Artists Michael Hogue Travis Hogue

Project Editors Jeff Miller Linda Stallard Johnson

Project Photo Editor Brad Loper

Photo Editors Chris Wilkins Irwin Thompson

CopyrightŠ 2010 by The Dallas Morning News • ISBN: 978-1-59725-297-3 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher.

Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. www.pediment.com Printed in the United States of America

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Rich Alfano GENERAL MANAGER

Bob Yates DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

Garry Leavell SPORTS EDITOR

Mark Francescutti SPORTSDAYDFW.COM EDITOR

John K. Handley SALES DIRECTOR, SPORTS

Shannon Cockrell MARKETING DIRECTOR

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Foreword Magical 2010 season and solid core of young players are reasons for increased Rangers optimism in 2011 November 2, 2010, by Tim Cowlishaw

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or the first time in 39 years, the thrill rides across the street at Six Flags paled in comparison to what the Texas Rangers delivered from April to … November?

When the club reported to Surprise, Ariz., for spring training, Scott Feldman and Rich Harden were the No. 1-2 starters, Josh Hamilton was just hoping for a healthy bounce-back season, Vladimir Guerrero was a huge question mark, Tom Hicks owned the team, and the playoffs were something that Rangers fans had vague memories of from the ’90s.

When it ended … well, first of all, it ended in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Nov. 1. That tells you how different and how magical the 2010 season was for long-suffering fans of the only team never to compete in a League Championship Series.

The Rangers won their first playoff series ever over Tampa Bay, then ended up falling just short of the ultimate goal by losing the World Series to San Francisco’s superior pitching in five games. They had captured their first American League pennant by dethroning the champion New York Yankees in six games in the team’s first ALCS.

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Along the way, the Rangers uncovered (or acquired) far better pitching than Feldman and Harden were able to supply as neither even made the postseason roster. Hamilton topped off an incredible regular season in which he ran away with the majors’ batting title (.359) by winning the ALCS MVP. Guerrero, who showed he was anything but over the hill during his 115-RBI regular season, capped it off by driving in the ALCS-clinching runs against the Yankees.

All the while, the team was cheered from the owners’ front row seats by Nolan Ryan and new CEO Chuck Greenberg who, after a testy and lengthy court battle, won the right to buy the franchise, ending the Hicks era once and for all.

Even when the Giants’ Brian Wilson struck out Nelson Cruz to end the Major League Baseball season, fans stood and cheered and chanted, “Let’s go, Rangers!’’

The Rangers had never played more than four playoff games in one postseason. This year, they played 16.

And still the fans wanted more. One thing the Rangers continued to display from previous years was the ability to hit. Manager Ron Washington’s club led the majors with a .276 average.

The driving force was Hamilton, who was coming back from an injury-plagued 2009 season in which he hit just .268 with 10 home runs and 54 RBIs. Hamilton went on a tear that started in June and really didn’t stop until the Giants shut down all the Rangers’ bats in the World Series. Hamilton hit .454 in June, .418 in July and .356 in August, finishing the regular season with 32 home runs and 100 RBIs. The pitching staff ’s strengths came from more unlikely sources. Colby Lewis, who washed out in his first try with Texas, spent two seasons in Japan before the Rangers gave him another try. Reliever C.J. Wilson asked for and received a spring tryout as a starter.

They were the club’s two most efficient pitchers until just before the All-Star break, when general manager Jon Daniels, despite dealing with a team that was in bankruptcy court, acquired Cliff Lee from Seattle.

Wilson led the team in wins. Lewis beat the Yankees twice in the ALCS and was the team’s only World Series winner. But Lee’s arrival energized the entire clubhouse, and he was no disappointment early in the postseason when he beat the Rays twice to give the Rangers their first playoff series win ever. ■

Table of Contents Regular Season...................................7

ALCS................................................... 85

Rangers determined to reach playoffs for first time since ’99 ...............................................................................12 ‘I was weak’..........................................................................................16 Great stuff.......................................................................................... 20 Rangers have clout with Vlad............................................................... 25 Real deal............................................................................................ 36 All’s well that ends well........................................................................ 45 A whole new ballgame......................................................................... 48 Super slugger shines........................................................................... 53 Best of the West...................................................................................61

A spoiled start..................................................................................... 86 Night and day.....................................................................................90 For Lee, ‘little bit of glory’................................................................... 96 One more time.................................................................................. 100 Believe it! ......................................................................................... 104

ALDS................................................... 69 Smooth launch....................................................................................71 Sweep dreams..................................................................................... 73 Antlers rule!........................................................................................81

World Series......................................113 Rangers have overcome plenty, but shaking off Lee fiasco will be tough ...................................................................... 116 Silent bats, bullpen meltdown push Rangers into 2-0 hole..................................................................................... 120 Texas Swing.......................................................................................126 Pitched into a hole............................................................................. 131 Giants’ winning rally has a familiar look.............................................136

Statistics.......................................... 140

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Regular Season

opposite: Jake Tucker (from left) of Fort Worth, D.J. McLaughlin of Plano and Josh Polak of Waxahachie, Texas, wearing painted-on jerseys of their favorite Rangers, rose for national anthem before Texas’ 4-3 win over Minnesota on Aug. 25. COURTNEY PERRY

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above: Former Rangers pitcher Don Stanhouse welcomed fans and passed out magnetic schedules inside a gate at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington before the Rangers’ opener April 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays. LOUIS DeLUCA opposite top: The Rangers stood along the first-base line in front of their dugout after being introduced at their home opener. LOUIS DeLUCA opposite bottom left: Fans filed into Rangers Ballpark in Arlington through the Home Plate gate on Opening Day against Toronto. With the 5-4 victory over the Jays that day, the Rangers under manager Ron Washington improved to 3-1 in home openers and 2-2 in openers overall. tom fox opposite bottom right: Rangers president Nolan Ryan was all smiles at the home opener. In August, Ryan was part of the ownership group that took control of the franchise from Tom Hicks. LOUIS DeLUCA

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right: Scott Feldman walked around the mound in frustration after allowing a home run to Arlington native Vernon Wells of the Blue Jays on Opening Day. Feldman earned the prestigious assignment by winning 17 games in 2009. He lasted seven innings and left trailing 3-0, but the Rangers rallied to win. TOM FOX below: Nelson Cruz popped a bubble in the on-deck circle while awaiting an atbat during the April 10 home game against Seattle. Cruz had a tremendous April, hitting seven home runs and knocking in 17 runs before going on the disabled list for the first of multiple times in 2010. MICHAEL AINSWORTH bottom: Manager Ron Washington, shown on Opening Day, was greeted warmly

by Rangers fans despite admitting during spring training that he’d used cocaine once in the previous season. LOUIS DeLUCA

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above: Jarrod Saltalamacchia celebrated his ninthinning hit that drove home the last of two runs in the inning on Opening Day as the Rangers rallied past Toronto 5-4. LOUIS DeLUCA left: Josh Hamilton caught Jarrod Saltalamacchia at home plate as C.J. Wilson (left) and Neftali Feliz joined in the fun of the Rangers’ Opening Day comeback. Saltalamacchia would play only one more game for the Rangers; he spent much of the season at Class AAA Oklahoma and was traded to Boston in early August. LOUIS DeLUCA

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Rangers determined to reach playoffs for first time since ’99 With no postseason history, Young keeps focus on unfinished business April 4, 2010, By EVAN GRANT

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he cash-strapped Rangers spent time and money this off-season to come up with their new marketing slogan.

Such a waste. All they had to do was ask Michael Young.

Nobody believes — needs to believe — “It’s Time” more than Young.

The message behind “It’s Time” is inferred. It’s time the Rangers believe, to put a sorry decade of last-place finishes and franchise instability in the past. It’s time to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999, a year before Young made his major league debut.

“Look, I’ve had expectations of going to the playoffs every year I’ve been here; that’s just how I’m wired,” Young said as spring training in Arizona wound down.

“But, at the same time, I knew everyone would have to play at the optimum level to get there. I knew we had a chance to win if everything went right.

“But now … ,” he continued, “now if we just play the way we’re capable of …”

He didn’t need to finish the sentence. It’s more appropriate that way. The playoffs are the one uncompleted work of Young’s career.

When this season ends, Young will be on the verge of turning 34. He will have almost certainly played in 1,500 major league games (all with the Rangers) and probably will be the club’s all-time hits leader. And unless something changes, he may very well lead all of baseball in postseason withdrawal.

Young enters the season with 1,351 games played, third among active players in games without a postseason trip. He’s likely to surpass part-time Seattle pinch hitter Mike Sweeney on the list before the All-Star break. He won’t catch Randy Winn this season, but

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left: Michael Young, shown during the Rangers’ game against Oakland on May 13, became the franchise’s all-time hits leader during the 2010 season — and finally broke his personal postseason participation drought. LOUIS DeLUCA below: Nelson Cruz dived into second base as Toronto second baseman Mike McCoy couldn’t field the throw from catcher Jose Molina during the game at Rangers Ballpark on April 8. The Blue Jays won that day, 3-1, to win the opening series of the season two games to one. LOUIS DeLUCA

Above: Josh Hamilton looked down to third base coach Dave Anderson during the Rangers’ May 6 home game against the Kansas City Royals. Hamilton went 3-for-5 that night against the Royals, already his third three-hit game of the young season. TOM FOX

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since Winn signed with the New York Yankees last fall, his chances of breaking the drought have shot up dramatically.

In his 10 seasons with the Rangers, Young has gone through two full-scale rebuilding efforts. The first one, after the 2003 season, provided immediate encouragement. A team built around Young, Mark Teixeira, Hank Blalock, Laynce Nix, Ryan Drese and Francisco Cordero put up 89 wins and hung around the AL West race until the last week of the 2004 season. A minor league system with a cutely named troika of pitchers — “DVD” for John Danks, Edinson Volquez and Thomas Diamond — promised to provide backup for years to come.

They talked of dog-piling on the field after a championship. Bright times were ahead.

A half-dozen years later, Young is the only one still with the Rangers. Last fall, he finally got to see one of those guys do the dog-pile thing after winning a World Series. It was Mark Teixeira with his new Yankees teammates.

Young called Teixeira and congratulated him. During and after the postseason, Young talked with his close friend Vernon Wells, who has played 1,290 games with one organization, also without a playoff berth.

Both became more driven — if that’s possible — to reach the playoffs. They did not, however, pity themselves.

“I’m not going to become more driven by Tex making it,” Young said. “I’m happy for Tex; he’s one of my closest friends. But if I need somebody else’s success to motivate me, I don’t deserve to win a World Series. It’s got to come from within me.”

That said, Young did seem to arrive in Arizona with an altered state of consciousness about his role. He was thrust into the leadership role in 2004, after just two full seasons as a Rangers starter, and while he embraced it, he also was respectful of the transient veterans and wasn’t about to hold hands with players who didn’t exhibit the desire.

In 2004, after he volunteered to move to shortstop after Alex Rodriguez was traded, he felt “every eye” in the clubhouse on him to take on leadership. You don’t choose to be a leader; it chooses you when people start following you.

Now he feels surrounded by young players with both 14

talent and work ethic to win a championship. He’s got a decade of experience in the game and naturally feels more comfortable expressing himself around the veterans. Over the course of the spring, he’s had conversations with numerous players on the team, stressing the importance of what it takes to win.

“With each passing season, I want to win more and more,” Young said. “The longer I’ve played, the more I realize what it takes to win. Now, when I see it, I’m going to push guys harder and harder, starting with me. I think it’s my responsibility to push them more because we have a championship-caliber team. We have young, talented players.”

“Michael’s always been the man, but this spring he’s really been a leader,” manager Ron Washington said.

“He’s speaking out more, being out front more, more boisterous. Especially after losing veterans like Eddie [Guardado], Marlon [Byrd], Andruw Jones, [Kevin] Millwood, it’s refreshing to see him speak up more now. It means a lot in that clubhouse.”

When Young talks, it’s in that clubhouse. He won’t call a teammate out via the media or in front of management. It was easy to call Will Clark the leader of the late 1990s Rangers because he was always chirping, but Mark McLemore was the guy who held the club together.

“I think I do it the right way,” he said. “It’s all about respect for each other. We are trying to improve each other and make the team better. That’s what’s important. I don’t want people to know about me, whether that is media, fans, management or whoever. It’s not about me. I don’t deserve to win any more than any other guy in this clubhouse. It’s about us as a team.”

Because, this time, it really is time. ■ top left: Second baseman Ian Kinsler made a throw to first base during the Rangers’ 2-1 win over Oakland at Rangers Ballpark on May 13. The victory ended a 6-1 homestand and gave Texas a two-game lead in the American League West. LOUIS DeLUCA bottom left: Shortstop Elvis Andrus couldn’t corral a shot into center field by the Angels’ Howie Kendrick during the Rangers’ 8-7 win in Arlington on May 18.

Andrus began his second season like he ended his first — usually hitting ninth in the batting order — but was quickly moved into the leadoff spot and became an offensive catalyst. TOM FOX

above: Leo Butler of Mineral Wells, Texas, and son Jacob tried to catch a souvenir T-shirt during the Rangers’ home game against the Chicago White Sox on April 29. The Rangers attracted more than 2.5 million fans to Arlington during the regular season. MICHAEL AINSWORTH top right: C.J. Wilson was quick off the mound to snare a bunt by Kansas City’s Scott Podsednik on the fly during the game at Rangers Ballpark on May 7. Wilson outdueled Royals ace Zack Greinke, the reigning AL Cy Young award winner, to improve his record to 3-1. JOHN F. RHODES bottom right: Outfielders Craig Gentry (from left), Josh Hamilton and David Murphy celebrated the Rangers’ 4-2 win over the Chicago White Sox at Rangers Ballpark on April 27. Gentry made his 2010 debut with the Rangers that night and saw action in 20 games during the first half of the season. JOHN F. RHODES

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