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Texas Rangers Team Page

Team Name: Texas Rangers Hometown: Arlington, Texas American League » Team History  » Team Schedule  » Team Website

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2008 Texas Rangers Schedule

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Texas Rangers History

An expansion franchise, the club was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1961 and was called the Washington Senators (not to be confused with the Washington Senators that left D.C. after 1960 to become the Minnesota Twins). The team then moved to Arlington in 1972 and became the Rangers. The Rangers are one of four teams to have never played in a World Series, having never won a league championship.

Although key hitters such as Michael Young and Mark Teixeira rebounded in 2007 after poor starts, the team overall ranks only seventh in the AL in runs scored despite playing in a good hitters park. On June 20, Sammy Sosa hit his 600th career home run against the Chicago Cubs at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Hank Blalock, the starting 3rd baseman who had been enjoying a good season, was placed on the 60-day disabled list on the 19th of May due to thoracic outlet syndrome, and Teixeira followed him onto the disabled list on June 9 (for the first time in his career) with a strained left quadriceps muscle. Although the team holds the highest ERA in the Majors there may be a few promising signs for the future with relief pitchers such as Willie Eyre doing a good job from the bullpen. With a record of 46-59 at the July 31st trade deadline, the team traded Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay to the Atlanta Braves in a deal that would eventually bring 5 prospects to the Rangers organization, including three of Atlanta's top prospects Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus and Matt Harrison. At the trade deadline of 4:00 CST, the team also traded closer Eric Gagné to the Boston Red Sox for left-hander Kason Gabbard and Minor League outfielders David Murphy and Engel Beltre in what can only be seen as an attempt to re-tool the team for the 2008 season. On August 19 at the Metrodome, the Minnesota Twins logged 19 strikeouts against the Rangers, one short of the Major League record. Three days later, the 22nd, in the first game of a doubleheader at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Rangers' bats came alive with a modern record for runs by one team, defeating the Baltimore Orioles 30-3. Their 27-run margin of victory is also a modern day MLB record. Wes Littleton gained probably the easiest save in Major League history. Entering the game in the last of the seventh, with his team already ahead 14-3, Littleton gave up just two hits and a walk, earning a save because he finished the game and pitched at least three innings. The Rangers scored 16 of their 30 runs in the final two innings, giving Littleton a 27-run cushion in the last of the ninth. That raises the unanswerable question of how many runs Littleon would have had to yield before the Texas manager might have decided he was "in trouble". As it was, the O's were 3-up, 3-down in the ninth. The Rangers cooled off a bit in the nightcap, winning 9-7.

Information excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Rangers_%28baseball%29. All Rights Reserved.

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