Whether you're at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt's End
*Rangers win! Cowboys lose!! Let's keep it simple today.
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Chargers 30, Cowboys 21: My Top 10 Whitty Comments are over at NBC 5's Blue Star Blog.
*I admit, I didn't think the Rangers would be playing baseball tonight. Thought they were done after Sept. 22's kick-to-the-crotch loss in Kansas City via Grand Slam in extra innings. Give 'em credit. I know they played the putrid Astros and Angels, but they won seven consecutive elimination games to end the season. Impressive.
*So did the Rangers make the playoffs? They're kind of in Purgatory, the gray space between success and failure. Tonight at 7 on TBS they'll play Game 163, and all the statistics will count toward the regular season. But Nelson Cruz will be back and it's a do-or-die game, so it must be the post-season. Right?
*When Bruce Carter and Morris Claiborne get benched, it's hard to blame the Cowboys' coaching staff. Neither of those highly-touted guys are making plays, and Monte Kiffin is attempting to fix what is surprisingly broken.
*David Price vs. Martin Perez. Tampa's veteran ace vs. Texas' 22-year-old rookie that has made only 25 career starts, 0 in the post-season. Seems like a mismatch, but Price is 1-7 all-time against the Rangers with a 5.57 ERA and 1-2 with a 10.26 ERA in four starts in Arlington. Also in the Rangers' favor, home teams are 5-1 in Tiebreaker Play-In Games since '95.
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Hot.
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Not.
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*20 games into his NFL career and I'm trying to remember Claiborne's signature play. He has one interception (last year against Cam Newton) and one touchdown (a scoop-'n-score fumble return against the Eagles.) Yikes.
*You know who I can't stand? The lazy, shallow Cowboys' "fan" who watches the loss to the Chargers and issues the same, tired synopsis. "They just weren't mentally prepared." Wait, what the what?! How was their mental preparation when they were up 21-10 just before halftime? "They just have a losing culture." This is tough for Cowboys fans, but sometimes you just have to admit that your players got their butts kicked by their players. Remember the expectations for this team. When you predict them to go 9-7, you shouldn't freak out at 2-2. "Same ol' Cowboys." They're 23-21 under Jason Garrett and .500 going all the way back to 1996. When they win why isn't also "same ol' Cowboys"?
*If Yu Darvish is truly an ace, he's got to last more than 85 pitches in a Game 7 situation.
*ESPN's Ray Lewis picked the winner, but I'm pretty sure he didn't do his homework. Offered Lewis of Cowboys-Chargers on the network's pre-game show: "The Chargers are very excited about their football team. I think at home they win today." I get tons better analysis in the comments section, and you guys are considerably less paid.
*Unless Adrian Beltre goes bonkers tonight the Rangers will finish without a 100-RBI guy for only the third time in the last 20 years. Beltre has 92 RBI. In '07 Michael Young led the team with 94 and in '09 it was Marlon Byrd with 89.
*Activating and playing Cruz isn't even a debate. Stop it. He's eligible to play. So he should play. Not sure what message you think the Rangers would send by not playing their biggest bat in the season's biggest game.
*Yes, the Cowboys' defense was atrocious Sunday. But you know what hurt them as much as anything else? Three third-down drops by receivers that ended offensive drives. Dwayne Harris, Dez Bryant and Jason Witten all should've caught key passes, but didn't. Said Dez of his third-quarter drop on the sideline: "Just trying to see where I was at on the field. I kind of lost my eye on the ball, trying to keep my feet in bounds."
*Rangers' TV play-by-play voice Steve Busby yesterday described a pitch as a "comeback fastball." I know baseball can get tedious, but sometimes announcers just make up crap to test if we're listening.
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*Best moment of the weekend was Josh Hamilton meekly flying out in the last at-bat of his failed, forgettable season, getting roundly booed by Rangers fans and then sarcastically tipping his cap. Hamilton reminds me of someone else. Once a more popular, more rotund, more successful person, he's also deteriorated into a freakishly skinny dude with drastically dipping performance, diminished popularity and a scraggly beard. He's ...
Breaking Bad's Walter White. Right? Wait, who did you think I was talking about?
*David Arkin has yet to play a single snap for the Cowboys. The offensive lineman was selected in the 4th Round of the 2011 NFL Draft, 44 picks ahead of Seahawks' cornerback Richard Sherman. I apologize for ruining your breakfast.
*Under Ron Washington the Rangers are 1-3 in elimination games. They won Game 5 over the Rays in 2010, but have since lost Game 5 of the '10 World Series, Game 7 of the '11 World Series and the Wild-Card Game to the Orioles in '12.
*Love Fox Sports Southwest's suuuuuuuper-sloooooooow-motionnnnnnnn camera for Rangers replays, but not sure why it's called "Phantom Cam." Phantom refers to a ghost or an illusion of something that's almost impossible to see. This camera makes things easier to see. Really should be called the
Un-Phantom Cam.
*The Rangers' Alex Rios has played 1,454 games without reaching the playoffs, third-most among active players behind only Adam Dunn and Vernon Wells. The all-time record? Ernie Banks and his 2,528 over 19 seasons with the Cubs. If the Rangers don't officially make the playoffs, won't be Rios' fault. In 46 games in Texas he's hit .280 with six homers and 25 RBI.
*Hope you enjoyed that pink-free Cowboys game. Because of breast cancer awareness
month, it'll be the last one until Nov. 3. I hate cancer and I love charity, it just gets old after oh, I dunno, two weeks.
*Today? I know all the buzz is Cowboys' loss and Rangers' win, but I'll be down at American Airlines Center this afternoon for Mavs' Media Day. Tonight at 7 I'll figure out where TBS is on DirecTV and watch Rangers-Rays. Don't be a stranger.
