[speaker001:] all right well I have a lot of different teams that I like to to keep in touch with of course Texas Rangers being one of them I mean uh you know you can't live in Dallas without you know
[speaker002:] well what are the others
[speaker001:] well uh I originally came from Saint Louis so uh the Saint Louis Cardinals are one um I moved to Kansas City see I have I have a tendency to adopt adopt teams when I went go to a team uh go to a town yeah so uh I lived in Kansas City for a couple years and I adopted the Royals I lived in Houston for two and a half years so I adopted the uh
[speaker002:] well it's helpful
[speaker001:] uh the Houston Astros so I mean you know I've got quite a few
[speaker002:] well do you keep up with the statistical stuff
[speaker001:] no I don't I don't get into that too much every every once in a while I will keep in in touch with maybe like who's in the top five of hitting or something like that but I don't get into you know how many errors somebody has or things like that
[speaker002:] well there's there's a guy on that was on Norm Hisken's show that I listen to going to work in the morning who does uh uh it's essentially trivial statistics but they've got a statistic it's a statistic that has to do with winning
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] and losing one run games
[speaker001:] I've heard of that one
[speaker002:] and apparently the Rangers last year won a lot of one run games
[speaker001:] well I didn't know that that's supposed to be a real good statistic uh
[speaker002:] well it it it is but it's the it's it's a reverse indicator
[speaker001:] well that's true they don't have the offense to uh to get out or to have the the more runs so
[speaker002:] well what the what the argument is and it it it it's one of these statistical gee how can you draw a conclusion from it but they find that that that there's a connection between that and how they do in Spring training the following year
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh it's strangely enough it's almost like the law of averages catches you on the following year
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] which means that if you have a good year winning one run one run games that the following year you'll have a bad year and they they've got um they've looked at I think twenty three teams uh and and the uh the statistics are something like twenty one out of twenty three it was which means that the Rangers are going to have a terrible year I think
[speaker001:] which I was kind of leaning toward anyway to tell you the truth
[speaker002:] well I mean and it's uh I don't know what do you what do you think of Incaviglia's uh loss
[speaker001:] I kind of think it was necessary I mean I I I I don't I'm not a a big um pure power hitter anyway I mean I don't like these guys that get up there and swing for the downs every time I mean uh I think that uh that a player ought to hit a home run if he's got the pitch to do it but when you get two strikes on you you have a tendency you know you should you know shorten your swing a little bit you know if it's a perfect shot go for it but I mean you know the strike outs were a big problem for him and uh plus supposedly what I heard he was not much of a team player anyway so
[speaker002:] well it it's an interesting concept though when you look at uh of of how baseball how apparently I was reading in the paper tonight that the Detroit Tigers are going to sign him and uh and the point of of I I guess I don't understand the the strategy of how baseball works but it seems that you know they can sign him tomorrow and he could go in the team the next day and and and they put him in the lineup and he hits a home run and all of a sudden he becomes a hero and and all he has to do is hit the ball I mean it's not
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah well that's true
[speaker002:] and and all he has to do is one you know hit it once it doesn't he can he can strike he can swing a couple times if he if he fouls it up he can swing as much as he can it's an interesting uh
[speaker001:] um-hum right
[speaker002:] an interesting concept of of how they do that but I agree with you I think that I think that's part of what uh baseball needs more of I uh I I guess what bothers me is is that when you go um you wait and wait and wait and finally a guy gets up there and blast a home run and that's all the game is I'd rather see the ball hit around and have the people
[speaker001:] yeah well there's there's another point to that too they said that um that he was horrible at uh at batting with with men on base now having somebody get up and hit a solo home run does you you know gives you one run obviously but I mean if you can't do it with men on base there's something definitely wrong um you know you you've got to be able to get the two and three run home runs you know to to be able to
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] uh score enough runs to be able win in these uh in this day and age so
[speaker002:] yeah well how do you think the Royals are going to do
[speaker001:] I think the Royals will do okay they have they have several pitchers that had badly years last year and they are they're these uh cycle pitchers they they pitch one year bad one year good one beer bad one year good Saberhagen has won uh supposedly the Cy I think he won Cy year uh two out of three years and uh you know so he's very much due for a good year
[speaker002:] well are they going to beat are they going to beat Oakland
[speaker001:] well now see that's a good question I that's I don't know how Oakland's going to react to being uh swept in the World Series last year they could very easily uh take that as a challenge which is the way most teams naturally you know naturally do uh and and just go out and and not give anybody a chance to beat them so
[speaker002:] yeah well I go to Saint Louis from time to time and I watch I I watch their sports up there and they're uh they're they're certainly intense about the Cardinals they
[speaker001:] um-hum oh yeah baseball is there is there life up there like football is down here I think
[speaker002:] you did you actually live in Saint Louis
[speaker001:] I lived in the suburbs of Saint Louis yeah
[speaker002:] yeah everybody does right
[speaker001:] yeah that's true too I think that's all that they have
[speaker002:] I had a friend from college that lives in uh yeah it's well I should say on the west side I mean everything's on the west side Manchester
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh out that way and uh went and visited him but anyway it is interesting well how are the Cardinals do you still keep up with them or something
[speaker001:] hum yeah oh yeah I I definitely do in fact I've got family that still lives up there um from what I hear from everybody up there they're not going to have a good year because they let too many people go but I've been following Spring training and they're like one of the best teams in spring training so far so
[speaker002:] well is that a good indicator
[speaker001:] that well it can be it it really kind of depends on on um what they were you know what they were looking for in other words if if in Spring crain training they were looking at all their kids like a lot of them do um then it really doesn't give you any indication but if they were uh playing the people that they're going to play then that might be pretty good indication so you know it's it's it's not a great indication because there have been teams that have just you know come out and just won all kinds of games in Spring craning training and then gone on a you know fourteen game losing streak in the first of the season so
[speaker002:] you know what I think's remarkable is uh it seems that what you really need to do to win though is to have a team that has reasonable talent and has some people that have have have really breakthrough years
[speaker001:] exactly yeah
[speaker002:] and and the question is how do you forecast that if you had to you know if you had to bet on who would be in the World Series I mean it'd be really tough
[speaker001:] you can't right the I think the best thing that you can do is go with um the players that are that have the talent to do the best years and um that they hadn't had these uh gigantic uh career years yet and and just kind of assume that you know someone one of them is going to break through eventually so and I I think they said the Reds um this last year I'm not sure that they said that they had that many people having career years
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] you know and and so they may be even better better this year
[speaker002:] well well when are the Rangers going to come through with it
[speaker001:] uh that's a good question I the Rangers have a have a pitching problem and whether or not they can fix that or not is going to be an interesting question they're doing the right thing though uh they are going with their farm system they're letting their farm system uh build up and stuff like that and
[speaker002:] well is there enough money that's part of it I oh oh that was part of Skip Bayless argument I don't know if you read Skip Bayless but a a a local commentary and
[speaker001:] um-hum no um-hum
[speaker002:] his argument is that uh the ownership is not inclined to lose big money long enough to to bring in the big dollars
[speaker001:] um that's probably true well conside ring what I've seen in the last uh you know two seasons I'm beginning to agree with that yeah but I mean you don't have to spend the big money as far as I'm concerned to uh
[speaker002:] would you would you agree with that
[speaker001:] to win you just have to spend it if it's necessary in other words if you've got a player on your team who's helping your team then keep him there don't let him go away you know and I think that's really what's been hurting uh uh the uh Rangers
[speaker002:] uh yeah well didn't Kansas City put up quite a bit of money for their pitching staff
[speaker001:] oh yeah they they spent more money last year than any other team in the in the league and they were you know toward the bottom of the league uh so it's like I said spending money doesn't guarantee you uh winning a pennant it really doesn't so
[speaker002:] yeah well and that I think that's maybe part of it that that the um and it you know if I owned the team I think you'd like them to do well but the question of losing big big money that what didn't didn't did Steinbrenner actually make money on the
[speaker001:] uh you got me I you know I think that there's coming to a point real soon when ticket prices are going to be to the point where the average fan can't go and once you do that you lose everything I mean
[speaker002:] well it it it yeah it's it's a little bit like any other sport you know when it starts costing you fifty to a hundred dollars to go to a game
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh you know I mean I I guess as we get older if you're probably going if if you if you compare to go to a a sport a a say you go to a rock concert or or even a performance uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] an opera or the symphony or something uh if you know it but how how often do you do that and I I would I would think baseball probably feeds on a number of people that can go out there you know several times a
[speaker001:] right that that's the whole point there're so many games in in a year that they've got to have repeat customers they can't afford not to and
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know that's one of the things that I think Saint Louis has done um I mean their you know their ticket prices are you know kind I guess as high as anybody else's but what somehow or another they attract uh so many people from some I mean they're a some it's a small market and yet they attract as many if not more than most uh uh most other cities so
[speaker002:] yeah but don't you think there's a the the there're older fans there I don't I don't mean older um you know the fact that that it's it's a better established and that the the city is is is more of a of a