Ranger Of The Week: Yu Darvish
ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - At no point were we planning on renaming this feature the Darvish/Hamilton award, but at the pace each of them are going, we just might have to.
For the third time on Friday Night Baseball, Yu Darvish takes home Ranger of the Week honors for his performance last Friday after the 2-hour rain delay. He sealed it with his masterful 7-inning win against the A's on Wednesday night.
The team's undisputed ace at this point, Darvish has 14 strikeouts for the past week, and is throwing an impressive 2.60 ERA right now.
CBS 11 at 6 producer Stewart McKenzie said it best. "The great performance after the rain delay last Friday earned respect from his teammates and fans. No Prima Donna there."
Plus, Yu is packing the stands, and the mayor of his hometown in Japan sent Arlington mayor Robert Cluck a care package this week, so he's not only helping Arlington's bottom line, he's promoting international diplomacy.
But waiting in the wings to be Ranger of the Week is a slightly-better-than-average Elvis Andrus. As CBS 11 at 10 producer Tom Duerr points out, Elvis is 13 for 38 with 5 RBI's in the past week, including 4 for 5 last Sunday. Duerr adds that over the past month, Elvis brought his batting average up nearly 100 points.
And even though the team overall struggled this week, everyone at CBS 11 and The Fan had a little fun with their votes. When factored in with all the 'real' votes, Josh Hamilton's broken bat technically picked up the win for raising nearly $2,000 for the Texas Rangers Foundation and for making it to Cooperstown Friday. Granted, Hamilton has been homerless since the bat broke, but the bat did help Hamilton get the new 2-foot-long 'Bratbino' named in his honor.
Eric Nadel also picked up a few nods for getting elected to the Rangers Hall of Fame. The always-clutch Voice of the Rangers will be enshrined in the outfield hall later this season.
CBS 11 Chief Meteorologist Larry Mowry picked up a vote from Elf for his ceremonial first pitch Thursday, but Larry being an employee of CBSDFW and not of the Texas Rangers eliminated him from contention.
But finally, the vote that made us laugh the most this week went to Sam Houston. The also-ran of the 'Legends' version of the Dot Race finally got a win this week. "I don't think it's fair that Nolan wins all the time," said The Fan's Jeff Cavanaugh. "It's about time Sam Houston got his due at the ballpark."
Maybe next week the Green Dot will win Ranger of the Week, but don't hold your breath.
