Ranger Rowdy Report

Okay, I was wrong that this was the Rangers' only trip ever to Shea Stadium. I forgot about that stretch in 1974-75 when the Yankees played there. Hey, I wasn't even on the planet back then.

Either way, they might be glad they'll never come back, as that park will close after this year. The club struggled against the Yankees those years ago, and now they dropped two of three from the Mets, with Friday's 7-1 loss and Sunday's doubleheader split. It still didn't Willie Randolph's job in Queens, however, as he was just let go as Mets manager.

With the struggles the Mets have had this year, they didn't need a visiting team doing something to entertain their own fans. But that's what happened during Saturday's rainout. While unsuccessfully waiting out the rain, Mike Young and a few others decided to use the tarp covering the field as a Slip-and-Slide. That may be the only time a New York crowd cheered for the opposition.

Meanwhile, the Rangers seem to have hit a plateau. After that blistering hot May to get them back to around the .500 mark, they haven't been able to get past there. They went 3-3 on this road trip, so they're still a game under. The good news is that they haven't really lost much ground in the West this past week, still seven games back.

The bullpen continues to struggle. They almost blew a 7-2 lead in the first Sunday game, with Frankie giving up three in the seventh and CJ allowing two in the ninth before holding on for the 8-7 win.

Then Kason Gabbard was good but not great in the second game, not making it through the sixth and giving up four. With the bats getting nothing off Pedro Martinez after the third, they lost 4-2.

So now they're back home for a brief homestand against the Braves. That means Mark Teixeira is back, and everyone here is wondering how the crowd is going to treat him. I still say the club was better off getting rid of him in the long run. They played well without him at the end of last year, and power hitting first basemen are a dime a dozen (even though we currently have a platoon at that position). Still, I do my best to not boo other players. What other people do is their business.