The Rangers plan to make Jurickson Profar a “functional left fielder”

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As we noted over the weekend, when second baseman Ian Kinsler was activated from the disabled list, the Rangers decided to keep Jurickson Profar in the majors rather than send him back down to Triple-A Round Rock. The plan is to use him in a super-utility role moving forward, which will likely include some exposure to the outfield for the first time in his professional career. The transition is already underway.

 

Profar doesn’t figure to stick there in the long-term, but it’s a worthwhile experiment for the scuffling Rangers. The 20-year-old has never played the outfield — not even in Little League — but he’s certainly athletic enough to handle the position. If he gets comfortable, he could provide a nice upgrade over David Murphy, who just hasn’t been able to get it going this season.

Profar is batting .277/.330/.386 with two home runs and seven RBI in 22 games since being called up from Triple-A Round Rock last month.

 

The Man in the Arena

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Excerpt from the speech “Citizenship In A Republic”
delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910
download PDF of complete speech

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and forth coming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

 

Theodore Roosevelt

Salinger, Upcoming Documentary About Reclusive Author J. D. Salinger

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Salinger is an upcoming documentary about the reclusive author, J. D. Salinger. Written and directed by Shane Salerno, the film has been shrouding in secrecy during its nine years in production—the project’s very existence was concealed until 2010, the year J. D. Salinger died. The film tells the tale of Salinger’s life through interviews with his friends and contemporaries, from the author’s traumatic experiences during World War II to his decades of seclusion after the success of his 1951 novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger will be released on September 6, 2013.

Ron Washington held a doors-closed meeting

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.ron-washington

The Rangers have lost six in a row, lost their lead in the AL West and haven’t been scoring at all. Getting handcuffed by Chien-Ming Wang was apparently the last straw for Ron Washington, who held a team meeting after yesterday’s loss:

“I spoke to them, and the message is nobody’s business in this room — and I don’t mean to be disrespectful,” said Washington during his post-game press conference. “I just thought they needed to hear from the manager.”

The Rangers have a four-game set against the A’s starting today. It’s weird to call any series big in June — and the numbers and current level of play certainly favors the A’s leaving Texas still in the lead — but the Rangers can’t afford to fall too far behind.

Now if anyone can tell me what can possibly be said in a team meeting to make players play better, I’m all ears.

 

 

Definitive proof of the Spurs’ Finals dominance

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NBA: Finals-Miami Heat at San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs regained control of the NBA Finals with a 114-104 win over the Miami Heat in Thursday’s Game 5. They now lead the series 3-2, after breaking a 2-2 tie.

This is the Spurs’ fifth trip to the Finals in franchise history. They have never trailed in any of those series, through 27 Finals games.

  • The Spurs won the first two games of the 1999 Finals over the New York Knicks, but lost Game 3, They recovered and won the fourth and fifth games to win their first-ever title, 4-1.
  • In 2003, the Spurs were tied with the New Jersey Nets through four games, with San Antonio winning Games 1 and 3 and New Jersey winning Games 2 and 4. The Spurs won Games 5 and 6 to secure the title.
  • The defending champion Detroit Pistons took the Spurs the full seven games in 2005, but San Antonio controlled the momentum in that series, too. The Spurs won the first two games, the Pistons won Games 3 and 4, and from there they traded off wins, with San Antonio prevailing in Game 7.
  • The Spurs swept LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games in 2007.

So far in 2013, the Spurs and Heat have traded off wins. The series was tied going into Sunday’s game. Now, the Spurs are in control again.

If the Heat win the title, they will not only pull off an impressive come-from-behind victory against a very tough team, but they will make history by even winning one more game than the Spurs at any point in a Finals series.

That’s dominance.

 

Phil Mickelson holes miraculous shot to stay alive at the U.S. Open

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Phil Mickelson survived his opening nine holes Sunday at Merion Golf Club — but barely. Two double bogeys and just one birdie saw Phil relinquish the lead early, but this incredible shot at the 10th hole for eagle vaulted Mickelson back to even par. From 76 yards, out of the rough, Mickelson dunked it.

 

Project Kronos, A Fake Documentary That Explores the Beginnings of Human Interstellar Travel

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Project Kronos is a short faux documentary film written and directed by Hasraf ‘HaZ’ Dulull. The film is set in the not-so-distant future and explores the beginnings of human interstellar space travel.

Project Kronos is a documentary film set in the not too distant future, following a mission to achieve interstellar space travel. As the mission unfolds with extraordinary results, the scientists find themselves dealing with a much bigger agenda.

College World Series dugout has embarrassing spelling error

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Spelling is hard, you guys. Arranging letters into words in the English language is a fairly recent innovation considering the overall trajectory of mankind. Not too long ago, folks were communicating in symbols and gestures. There’s a reason the Scripps National Spelling Bee airs on the same network that broadcasts the brutal contests of “Monday Night Football.”

With that in mind, let’s not give too much grief to the TD Ameritrade Park worker (Or workers! It could have easily been a team-effort blunder.) who couldn’t spell callege colige Coolidge ”college” on top of the College World Series home dugout. That’s a hard word to spell — it’s got at least seven letters in it.

Need I remind you that in baseball, going two-for-three is a roaring success, and the “World Series” on that dugout is flawless.

There is, however, something to say about a possible curse on whichever team uses that flawed dugout. The first home team, Oregon State, lost the CWS opener to Mississippi State and the second home team, Louisville, got shut out by Indiana.

Maybe that extra L stands for “loss.”