AL West Update: Schadenfreude Edition

by Suboptimal on Sep 6, 2010 11:44 PM PDT in Et Cetera

Schadenfreude (noun): pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others (German: literally "harmjoy").

You may have forgotten about the Texas Rangers now that they've faded over the horizon. I'm not even sure how many games they are ahead of the Angels right now, but I imagine it's about 10. It's cute that Mark Gubicza considers that a "playoff race," but make no mistake, the Rangers will win the AL West by default.

However, the enthusiasm over their first post-season appearance since the last ice age is diminished by the fear of another playoff bust (1-9 in post-season games since 1961) . After a fast start, they're struggling to surpass even their modest 87-win finish last season, and this in spite of playing the weakest schedule in the American League. Today, for instance, they played just their 50th game against a team currently over .500, and they lost it 7-2. Here is a litany of the Rangers' other woes:

They are a losing team on the road (32-38).
They are a losing team in the second half (27-29 since their 81st game).
They are a losing team against winning teams (21-29 against teams currently over .500).
They are a losing team against playoff teams (8-17 against MIN, NYY, and TB).

They have not won a single game against a playoff team on the road (0-12).

They would be at least two games out of any playoff berth besides the AL West.

Vladimir Guerrero is hitting .247 / .291 / .365 since the All-Star Game.

Josh Hamilton and Cliff Lee are currently both on the shelf for unspecified amounts of time.

The team is a disappointing 3-8 when Lee starts, and everyone else they've acquired (Molina, Cantu, Guzman, Cora, Francoeur) has been pretty much useless.

The Labor Day weekend might as well have placed an exclamation point on all of the above points. The Rangers went 0-4 while being outscored 29-14, including a three-game sweep in Minnesota. Down one run in Sunday's game, they loaded the bases with two outs in the 9th inning, but Michael Young was called out for making contact with his own third-base coach. Brutal.

Still, the Rangers are the best that the baseball cesspool known as the AL West has to offer. Their "success" hasn't exactly come at the expense of the Angels, as I think we all recognize that the 2010 Angels are in no way deserving of post-season competition. But there's always room for envy--after all, the 2006 Cardinals proved that making the playoffs is more important than actually being good.

So where do you stand? Considering that a pinheaded robber baron named Tom Hicks has exploited the Rangers franchise as a closed financial ledger for hiding the debts of his other failing businesses for over a decade, we all have a question to ask of ourselves: Do I take pleasure in the misfortune of others?

Poll

Well, do you, punk?

YES! I wish nothing but pain, suffering, misery, and desolation upon my enemies, their children, their children's children, and their posterity for all time.

147 votes

Nah, they can have their moment...while it lasts.

161 votes

I'm a troll. (Hi, Ranger fans!)

28 votes

336 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 23 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

F the Rangers.

I would root for the Yankees or Red Sox over them.

"F it, let's pitch." - Ervin Santana

by Chzburger Jones on Sep 7, 2010 12:13 AM PDT reply actions

Maybe the Yankees

Red Sox not so much.

by deejayelleseven on Sep 7, 2010 3:38 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Not me.

"Ballplayers play baseball." -Jose Mota

by Fred Fredrix on Sep 7, 2010 6:48 AM PDT up reply actions

I could never bring myself to root for the sux or skanks.

Ever. Let the rangers have their moment, because they’re toast once the playoffs start.

YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE.....

by halofolife on Sep 7, 2010 8:36 AM PDT up reply actions

-1

I love this team.

by Downing Rules on Sep 7, 2010 11:16 AM PDT up reply actions

Fuck Texas

The worst fans in the AL WEST

I have had trolls from Seattle … they are like schooteachers, they present a stat and demand that it be accepted as ABC

I have had trolls from Oakland … they are like thug hippies, they lecture you about equality in a threatening tone

I have had trolls from Texas … they just leave puddles of drool wherever they go. Awful dumbshits.

The worst thing you can say about Angels fans is that we are so good looking that it becomes a distraction at the game when the chicks are vying for the attention we focus on our team.

by Rev Halofan on Sep 7, 2010 12:22 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

I want the Rangers fans' hopes and confidence held high until the playoffs

when the Twins crush their little egos into pieces. And I hope it is decided on a bad umpire call to make it a hundred times worse for them such that they never recover from the trauma.

I hate the Texas Rangers

by 44FAN on Sep 7, 2010 12:47 AM PDT reply actions

so you are assuming they make it to the ALCS?

NY and TB can’t play one another in the ALDS, so Texas will have to play one of them. if they play the Twins it will only be in the CS.

personally I’m pulling for a TB/Minny ALCS, with the best team winning (probably TB, Brian Fuentes notwithstanding).

protectedpickprotectedpickprotectedpickprotectedpickprotectedpickprotectedpick

by 2pintsofbooze on Sep 7, 2010 12:55 AM PDT up reply actions

My point is that I'm rooting against the Rangers no matter what.

They will probably lose to the Yankees in the ALDS anyways.

"F it, let's pitch." - Ervin Santana

by Chzburger Jones on Sep 7, 2010 1:29 AM PDT up reply actions

Butt ZOMG dey haz Cliff Lee now ya'll

by deejayelleseven on Sep 7, 2010 3:39 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Not really

He is missing his next start because of back problems.

"I can't tell people what to think or not to think. Their perceptions are their perceptions. We just feel we've taken a step forward. At the end of the day, we have to play 162 games. Once that happens then we'll be able to evaluate the offseason moves."~Tony Reagins, on the Angels' offseason

by George Kaplan on Sep 7, 2010 4:12 AM PDT up reply actions

I hope they get swept in the ALDS

Having the most lopsided defeat come from a Cliff Lee start. But I also hope Vlad mashes, I like seeing Vlad do well. Another thing about those points… They won’t have home field advantage. Having losing records on the road against playoff teams is another reason to be happy about they’re chances for failure. Sorry if I echo your point. Schadenfreude, yes :)

by AlohaHalofan on Sep 7, 2010 7:16 AM PDT via mobile reply actions

I guess I don't understand the Texas hate

They aren’t going anywhere. The Skanks and The Sux are the teams worth hating.

NA, #34 SP, LAA
Light up the Halo for Nick!

More Howie please...

by hk47 on Sep 7, 2010 7:21 AM PDT reply actions

I have to live with a few of these people

Fuck ‘em. Last week, I was driving through downtown Houston and some asshole who’s been cheering for the Rangers passionately all his life (everyone on their bandwagon has been-just ask ’em) sees the Angels sticker on the back of my ride and decides to get behind me and follow me all over downtown with his middle finger upraised between the pair of Ranger caps on the dash of his truck.

Then there was the pseudo-intellectual jackoff who I run into a few times a year at my local dive who walked up to me a couple of weeks ago and proudly proclaimed “I told you PECOTA was dead-on!” My response – “Blind squirrel, meet nut. Oh, and if you see a wood chipper on the way home, please feel free to jump in.”

When you have to live with these walking hard-ons, and mind you, Houston is 250 miles South of the D/FW Metrosexualplex, you’d understand the hate.

by HoustonHaloFan on Sep 7, 2010 7:42 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Whatever

Who really cares about Texas? I get no joy from seeing Texas suck when we have been (perhaps) the worst team in baseball the past two months.

by Brody on Sep 7, 2010 8:05 AM PDT reply actions

Eff the entire state of Texas

I’ve only briefly been there while passing through and have no desire to return under any circumstance. There’s only a handful of people I’ve met from the state that weren’t walking stereotypes. In fact, the coolest Texan I’ve ever met was in Germany and I don’t know how he lives in his home state. Suddenly, Ranger fans are creaming themselves like they’re the greatest franchise ever…yet if we had Kendry Morales all year, we’d be right there with ’em atop this weaksauce division.

I hate the Red Sox more because they are a plague of ingorant bandwagoners upon the entire country. I despise the Yankees for their endless cash reserves and get annoyed by their fans, but at least most of them know baseball. The Rangers are a division rival trying to take our throne – screw them. I can’t wait to see Nolan Ryan and GWB crying in each other’s arms while Laura looks on stoically as the Yankees or Rays pound the Rangers into oblivion. Screw the Rangers, screw the Cowboys, screw country music, screw Ryan and W, Mark Cuban’s cool and I guess screw the Astros too…what do they even do down there anyway?

Mess with Texas all day, everyday.

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Sep 7, 2010 9:34 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs