The local jock kingdom talk-talk-talk at the moment is about championships, what with all the rampant football hype here in mid-August centered on the Cowboys, the TCU Frogs and, for me anyway, the Aledo Bearcats.
But just as a reminder, and maybe even a request for a little show of respect, we've got a local baseball team headed for the stretch run of a long season, still in, yes, championship contention.
Hey, man. The Rangers ain't dead yet. Even a forever hover around the .500 mark hasn't buried this bunch.
The AL West title is still within reach. So is an AL wild-card spot in the playoffs.
The way it looks now, the first team to 86 victories among the Astros, Angels and Rangers will be going to the playoffs.
OK, even that's far-fetched for the Rangers, but the other two clubs are also flawed. Again, it's simply a bad division, with the Astros the only club with a positive season to date.
What's more worrisome, however, for the Rangers as a franchise goes beyond the "now." It's the future that needs to be firmed up.
I never hesitate, of course, to hammer on Jon Daniels for his GM decisions the past three years, and the roster he put together to start this season was some of his worst work to date.
Nefty Feliz as the closer. No lefty in the bullpen. A continued disregard for the bullpen. The force-feeding of Leonys Martin as an everyday center fielder and leadoff hitter. A lack of right-handed hitters. A lack of power, period.
But when Shawn Tolleson came out of baseball heaven to emerge as a competent closer (once the inevitable flunk-out by Feliz), that saved this season from going totally into the ditch.
And when Mitch Moreland had a sudden career revival, it has helped keep the offense afloat, although center fielder Delino DeShields has been the most prevalent shock of shockers with his impressive emergence.
But the best move for now, and more importantly, the future, was the trade-deadline deal for pitcher Cole Hamels.
I know. I know. Nothing of note has happened yet with Hamels. He's made two OK starts, the Rangers lost both games, and then Hamels missed his last start with what the club said was a minor injury. He is scheduled to start again Monday night in Arlington against the Mariners.
But this is a good pitcher who may need AL adjustment time since he's been strictly a National Leaguer. I'm not making excuses for him, that's just baseball life. Pitching in the NL is different. And easier.
Obviously, the Hamels trade drew mostly local praise, but I had to laugh when a writer down the road, who is normally the president of the Jon Daniels rah-rah club, condemned it as the kind of trade where (a GM) "needs a home run in order to hang on to his job."
Daniels nailed it with the Hamels trade.
And even in a season that has fishtailed all over the MLB road, the Rangers still have a divisional title shot, and a wild-card shot.
I know it's all about local football hype at the moment, but over the next week or two you might at least give the baseball team a look.
Sports on 08/17/2015