» Kris Benson

It’s been a few years since I’ve been able to really enjoy a full season of baseball. Joining the military kept me out of the loop in a lot of aspects of life for probably about the first year. Then I got about half a season in before I was sent to England – a country where baseball is almost unheard of. Football on the other hand is all that is spoken of here, and not the pig skin kind that most of this crowd will find at the front lines of their thought. Opening day this April was broadcast on our military satellite service, so I was happily reintroduced to my love for the game, the atmosphere, and how much I missed home.

Coming back into the game now, I see a lot of new names, and faces – a lot of the players I had come to know from teams have been traded, retired, or apparently are free agents now. I’ve been a long time Cubs fan, but had the pleasure of watching a Rangers game last year, and quite enjoyed it. Add to that the probability of me going to college in Texas in a couple years, I figured I’d start to learn the team. I’m not new to disappointment, certainly, as I’ve grown accustomed to a history of failed Cubbie seasons.

It’s no secret that the Rangers aren’t among the best teams in baseball having only made a few playoff appearances in a little over a decade, and never really making it very far when they did. I’ve listened to the first five games they’ve played this season; and found a good amount of excitement in three of them, with an equal amount of disappointment in three of them (not totaling six, just found issue in one of their wins). Their first two games against the Indians went surprisingly well. The third game was a little tense, that’s about when the Rangers’ pitching problem(s) started to rear its ugly head. Scott Feldman came in relief to give up four runs in just two innings. Luckily the Texas offense was able to counter the inefficiency of their pitching counterparts, shooting them to a 12-8 victory over the tribe.

Then it was off to Detroit – a team that had lost two games out of a series of four against the Blue Jays. The Rangers’ performance in their first against the Tigers was abysmal, to put it nicely. This was Kris Benson’s first start of the regular season and if there were any question to him making starting rotation on a regular basis, surely that question is bordering the answer of “no”. Benson gave up eight runs in five innings.

Game two at Detroit was a little more positive – it wasn’t a blowout loss, but surely one the Rangers could have, and should have pulled off – if they could add just a little tweaking to their defense, and obviously their pitching. It was a 4-3 final for the Tigers.

So now the Rangers sit on a no-more-than-average 3-2 record. While it is still extremely early in the season, it has been made incredibly clear; work is needed on pitching and defense. Also, I think it wouldn’t hurt if they started wearing red on a regular basis, maybe for luck.

For someone reacquainting himself with the faces, and names of the league, some standout so far on the Rangers roster: Elvis Andrus, a promising rookie with incredible speed. Salty, Blalock, Hamilton, Cruz, Byrd, Young – well quite frankly the whole roster given that my primary devotion now lies with the Rangers.

January 21, 2006: New York Mets traded Kris Benson to the Baltimore Orioles for John Maine and Jorge Julio.Ok let’s forget the Jorge Julio part. Looking back on this, I rate this as the # 3 best move Minaya made as the Mets GM. At the time, it didn’t look all that groundbreaking, but in retrospect, the Mets clearly got the better half of this one.

John Maine is now an integral part of the Mets starting rotation. He has the ability to step up his game and show some Ace like stuff many times throughout a given season. Granted, last year was unfortunately cut short for Mr. Maine, but I feel 2009 will be another amazing year for this incredible young starter.

in 2007 Maine went 15-10 with a 3.91 ERA and in 2008 Maine went 10-8 with a 4.18 ERA. Like perez, these numbers aren’t staggering. They are however something I feel will improve this year and next. For the Win column, I know that more of his games (and Johans) will end in W’s and not a big ND!

Finally, I feel Maine will win betwen 18 and 21 games this year. Not to menton the projected 18 – 21 for Mr. Santana as well. I have the highest of hopes for our starters this year. Anyways, Minaya made a solid move here, giving up next to nothing for a blooming young pitcher by the name of John Maine.

Stay tuned for # 2 on the list…I’ll give you a hint, his name wasn’t mentioned in this post…