Torrealba the Terrible The Rangers won again yesterday, 7-3, beating Felix Hernandez and upping their record to 6-0 as they head on the road.
It was a Wednesday afternoon (1 p.m. first pitch) game against the Seattle Mariners, and about 25,000 people showed up to watch it.
Let's put this into perspective: In past years, the only time 25,000 people showed up at the Ballpark was on a Friday or Saturday night when the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees were in town. And those were the most well-attended games of the season.
Never did they draw 25K against the Mariners. Never in an afternoon game, especially on a weekday with school in session. 25,000! Over the weekend with the Red Sox in town, they drew between 40,000-50,000. Even Monday's game drew about 40K and then about 35K Tuesday.
I heard a stat that the Rangers have already sold something like 1.3 million tickets for this season (and that was on opening day). They sold 1.3 million tickets last season in June. Also, TV ratings over the weekend were exceedingly high, particularly for cable-based broadcasts of Texas Rangers baseball.
Yes, Dallas-Fort Worth loves a winner. It's a frontrunner town. While this drives me bananas to see the mooks in their flat-billed, side-cocked, sparkling-new Rangers caps on, it's neat to watch a winning baseball club. It's also cool to go to a stadium and, for the most part, have no room to stretch out. It's cool to see 20,000 people standing up and clapping when Alex Ogando has two strikes.
The electricity in the air when Neftali Feliz comes from the bullpen, or basically any time Josh Hamilton comes up to bat, is combustible. For once, the biggest, baddest sons of bitches in DFW sports is the Texas Rangers.
Going to a game anymore is a must. It doesn't hurt that there are countless specials and promotions. It certainly doesn't hurt that the game presentation is about 50 percent better over previous seasons.
It really doesn't hurt that there are 25 guys (with the possible exception of Dave Bush, who is the only Ranger to not log a minute of field time) that are extremely likable, energetic and crowd pleasing.
Winning puts it all over the edge.
What does all this mean? Cash. More people mean more beer and hot dog sales. More T-shirts and caps. It also means more advertising.
If the marketing dude with the Rangers can go to, say, Dairy Queen and guarantee 25,000 people looking at their billboard on the outfield fence even during day games, that just means that advertising space will be scarcer than hen's teeth this year.
Ideally, all of this cash goes back into the coffers. Available to pay for more pitching and better nachoes and whatnot.
Ideally.
Once upon a time, an owner paid $215 million for this franchise's savior. We all know how that worked out.
