I love Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. Some people don't like Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, but I do. They're knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Tonight's game is between the Chicago White Sox and my adoptive team, the Texas Rangers. It's the rubber game of a three-game series. The Rangers won yesterday in a game that was delayed by rain several times. My friend Jeff and I are disappointed in the Rangers' slow start, but we have to keep in mind that the Rangers play in a poor division. Although they're 11-12, they're only two games (in the all-important loss column) behind the first-place Seattle Mariners in the American League West Division. The Los Angeles Angels will get rolling eventually, so the Rangers will have to pick it up a notch to stay with them. We Rangers fans would love to have what my friend David Cortner calls "meaningful baseball" in August and September.
Here is a preview of tonight's game, which begins at 7:05 Central Time. David Murphy of the Rangers got off to a horrible start this season, but he is starting to come around. Jeff and I think he's the heart and soul of this team. This is not to disparage other Rangers, such as Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Josh Hamilton, all of whom are stars (by any reasonable standard); but Murph is special, both in terms of his character and in terms of his style of play. Prediction: Rangers 4, White Sox 3. Murph goes 4-4 with three doubles. He also makes two spectacular plays in left field. Jeff concurs with all this and adds that Murph will steal home this evening. Keep your eye on our rookie shortstop, Elvis Andrus. He is going to be a good one. If he hits a home run, you get to say, "Elvis has left the building!"
Addendum: The Rangers won, 5-1. Murph didn't play. Elvis had a great game, both at the plate and in the field.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 