They Prefer to Be Rangers in Name Only

Bud Selig, the new/old commissioner, believes additional realignment is the only way to alleviate an impacted schedule. He has the Texas Rangers’ support, among others.

The Rangers are the only major league team two time zones away from the rest of their division--the American League West. They want a realignment removing the time difference for radio/TV broadcasts against division rivals--and reducing the number of West Coast trips.

Over the final 19 games of the first half, while the Angels never left Southern California, the Rangers made two trips to Southern California-- and three over the final 33 days of the first half, changing time zones eight times in that span while traveling more than 12,700 miles.

After building a six-game lead with a 31-19 record, the Rangers went 17-20 before the break as the Angels surged back with that 22-6 June, opening a 3 1/2-game lead before losing five in a row going into the break.

Texas Manager Johnny Oates figures that “if nobody buried us” during that first-half travel siege, “Look out. That gives us a chance. I mean, it’s not going to get any worse for us [travel or performance wise]. Anaheim could have buried us the last two weeks, and they didn’t.”

In the tightest of the division races, the Angels play 44 of their 76 second-half games on the road, making three trips to the Eastern time zone in 31 days.

The Rangers, who opened the second half with another West Coast trip to Oakland (in which they won three in a row and regained the AL West lead by half a game), have an otherwise equitable second half in which they have seven scheduled days off and play more than six games in a row only three times.

Texas General Manager Doug Melvin has said he doesn’t expect to add pitching help, but the race between the Rangers and Angels may hinge on which team does--schedule aside.

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Ken Griffey Jr. insists he doesn’t track home runs or the number of games he’s ahead of or behind a record pace.

There is one number he knows, however, and that’s the number of left fielders with whom he has shared the Seattle Mariner outfield since 1989. In the first three games of the second half, it has increased by two to 59, with first Russ Davis moving from third base to left, and then recently recalled Shane Monahan playing the position.

Davis was switched from third base because of his major league-leading 25 errors and promptly made his 26th in left, where he was replacing Glenallen Hill.

Hill was put on waivers because of his own defensive ills and claimed by the Chicago Cubs.

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Cleveland Indian and AL all-star Manager Mike Hargrove was bristling in Denver about Albert Belle’s comment that “if Hargrove was his own man, I think I would have been picked.” Said Hargrove: “There was nobody in my ear about this. I made the decision based on the fact that Albert was picked last year and didn’t participate in anything. I’m not going to waste a spot with somebody who doesn’t want to play. It’s that . . . simple.”

Now with the Chicago White Sox, Belle played for Hargrove in Cleveland and seemed to get his former manager even more upset by saying “[Hargrove] is another person who doesn’t appreciate what I did for him.”

Hargrove was reluctant to dignify that, but did. “Obviously, I am appreciative of what he did for us, but I’m not sure he’s appreciative of what we did for him,” Hargrove said. “That’s as far as I’m going to go. We’re doing pretty good without him.”

Two straight playoff trips, and a third coming up.