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Well it seems like little more than a year since Ron Washington resigned as manager of the Texas Rangers, putting a nice ripe ol' cherry on top of a giant shit sundae of a 2014 Rangers baseball season. I remember exactly where I was. It was in the upper-90s, and I had just arrived on campus wearing two giant sweat stains where my backpack straps rested, a symbol of both how out of shape I was (am) and how oppressive East Coast humidity can be during the dog days of summer.
But for a brief moment amidst near-total discomfort, there was relief. And if not relief, then at least distraction, staring up at me from my phone's Twitter app that day. But then something else happened, rumbling in the bellows of what some call a "conscience." It was strange, and after assuring myself it wasn't just indigestion, I realized it was something else altogether. Something....stronger. I did it. I felt it. It was there, and it was real, and there was nothing I could do to convince myself that was not the case. I felt bad for the Texas Rangers.
I mean, I'm not a psychopath or something, I hate the Rangers just as much as the next guy. I mean hell, I tweeted this on Opening Day last season, absolutely clueless to how prescient the whole thing would end up being:
Afternoon opening day beer...which shall I...ah yes, that one pic.twitter.com/RLV9Cxew3E
— Matthias Ellis (@matthiasellis) March 31, 2014
That Rangers season saw injury after injury after injury, losing streaks, a cottage industry of NRI callups like they were running a meat factory instead of a billion dollar enterprise. But we are human, all too human, and I think that even the worst of us would have felt at least a little sympathy for what that franchise went through in 2014.
Flash forward one year later and we have the stupid God Damn Rangers with a stupid prodigal son narrative just thrown into their lap, leading them to win streaks and laughs in the faces of writers declaring Prince Fielder's career to be over, a bunch of new toys around the trade deadline, and finally, their current place at the top of the AL West. Fuck that.
If I make one pledge to you on this here website, I promise to never be as short sighted as I was last year. So go, Mariners. Attack, taste the blood, win. I don't even care who is hitting where or is trying to catch fly balls in which corner of the outfield. Win.
Just beat the dang Rangers.
Goms.
Game info
- Mariners @ Rangers, 5:05 PM PST
- TV: ROOT
- Radio: 710 ESPN