Rangers Playoff Match-up Announced

The Rangers (23-4) will take on the Vikings (15-11) this weekend in the first round of the CMBA Playoffs. The schedule is as follows:

Game 1: vs. Vikings at Winnemac Park @ 9:30 a.m.
Game 2: @ Vikings at Taft Field @ 10 a.m.
Game 3: vs Vikings at Winnemac Park @ 5:30 p.m. (if necessary)

The Rangers have an all-time 2-6 playoff record and are looking for their 1st series victory. This season the Rangers were 2-0 against the Vikings, sweeping a double header back on June 9, 2007.

Rangers Record-Breaking Season

Below is a list of the records the beloved Rangers have broken this season both individually and collectively.

Team Records:

Wins- 23
Runs- 260
Runs allowed- 118
Team batting avg. - .352




Individual Records

Alonzo Hilliard:

Hits: 37
Singles: 33
Stolen bases: 23
Batting Avg. .508

Isaiah Panatsis:

OBP: .564

Kevin Casey:

Runs: 36

John Kohn

Wins: 9
Strikeouts: 77


Congratulations to the team on a fine regular season and to all those individuals who broke single-season records.

The Return of Ranger Doubletakes, IV

Those of you not familiar with R&B music from the late 1990s might not recognize this artist. Just to clarfy, one of these is Jon B. and the other is Chris Rivera. The real question is who is serenading Luke before getting it on.

4th Somewhat Annual Ranger BBBQ a Success!

Thank you to all the rangers who made the 4th Somewhat annual Ranger BBBQ (the extra "B" is for BYOBB) a success. We consumed about 35 sausages, 4.75 pounds of potato salad, all the jello, and enough beans to gas out a small village! Beer amounts cannot be confirmed, all i know is the garbage can was full of empties!

Isaiah won at ski-ball with a high score of around 2000, Tim dominated at bags, and Luke held down the pinball machine! Matt Brooks also ate 3 sausages, making him the sauage king of the playoff bound Rangers!

Alonzo Hillard Named 2007 Ranger MVP

The Chicago Rangers announced today that Ranger newcomer Alonzo Hillard has been named 2007 team MVP. Alonzo received 7 first place votes, 5 second place votes and 3 third place votes.

The complete results from this year's voting can be found below:

2nd Place - Jonathan Kohn (5 1st place votes, 5 2nd place votes and 3 3rd place votes)

3rd Place - Isaiah Panatsis (3 1st place votes, 2 2nd place votes and 2 3rd place votes)

4th Place - Kevin Casey (1 1st place vote, 4 2nd place votes and 4 3rd place votes)

5th Place - Eric Morrissey (1 1st place vote and 1 3rd place vote)

6th Place - Tim Brannon (1 1st place vote)

7th Place(tie) - James Keathley, Mike LaRocco and Matt Swary (all received 1 3rd place vote)

7/28 field and time change

Tomorrow's tilt against the Aviators has been pushed up to 5pm and moved to Southwest Park in Park Ridge, IL. The Rangers are 7-0 against the Aviators in CMBA history and come into tomorrow's game riding a team record 11 game winning history. The Rangers are expected to throw Kevin Casey and Tim Brannon.

Rangers break 20 wins for first time in history

For the first time in their history, the Chicago Rangers eclipsed the 20 win mark. This was a historic moment and was one of the goals put forth to the team by manager Tim Brannon at the beginning of the season. Although Brannon was thrilled about reaching this historic moment, he was rather displeased with other aspects of the Rangers season. "We haven't come close to our goal of drinking 300 pitchers this season," Brannon said after the game. Nevertheless, the season is still not over and with Saturday's game being a night game, that goal might still be within reach.

Even with the win last night, the Rangers are still trailing the Marlins by 3 points in standings, but are tied in the loss column. If both the Marlins and the Rangers win out, the Marlins will have to finish their tie with Daley Division leader, the Chicago Browns. The Marlins hold the tiebreaker with the Rangers as they took the season series 2-1.

The Rangers will finish off their regular season with games against the Aviators, Cubs, and the Mets. The Rangers will play their first game ever at Altgelt park on Saturday night against the Aviators.

It's time to play "Name That Ranger!"

Hell Freezes Over!!!

Hell has officially frozen over as Ranger Left Fielder Mike LaRocco was allowed to play the infield for the first time since 2001! " I would like to thank the Rangers for this great opportunity to play the infield, and am glad that my error only led to a handful of runs!" says LaRocco. The Rangers could not believe it when LaRocco came within an eyelash of turning a double play. Ranger first basemen Matt Swary stated "I was not expecting him to throw the ball, and when he did, i thought he was going to throw in his usual wild way, so i got ready to play goalie!" To everyone's amazement, the throw was indeed accurate. Lather in the inning, LaRocco did mishandle a throw to pick up the error, but he did cleanly field a groundball and successfully threw the runner out at first base. "It was weird to see the game from a different angle, i would like to thank Ranger Manager Tim Brannon for giving me this chance as he had previously said there was no chance in hell of me playing the infield!" said a happy Mike LaRocco.

Rangers vs. Electrons Preview

The Chicago Rangers (17-4) and Winnemac Electrons (4-17) will wrap up their 3 game season series at Winnemac Park at 12:00 pm tomorrow in a Harold Washington Divisional matchup.

The Rangers come into Saturday's contest having won 8 straight and 10 of their last 11 games. The Electrons come in riding a 3 game slide.

The Rangers have won both meetings between the clubs this year by scores of 4-2 and 13-2. The Rangers are 12-1 (.923) lifetime against the Trons and have been victorious in their last 10 meetings. The sole Ranger loss against the Electrons came on Opening Day 2004.

The game will take place at Winnemac Park, where the Rangers boast a 10-3 (.769) record in 2007. The Rangers are 51-31 (.622) at the Foster and Damen grounds lifetime.

Weekend games have treated the Rangers well this season. The Rangers are 9-1 (.900) in games played on weekends in 2007.

Bonds HR # 753

Home run # 753 hit by Barry Bonds yesterday was caught by 13 year old Freeport native Tyler Diehl.

Proving once again, that Freeport, truly is the center of the universe.

Chicago Rangers Single Season Offensive Records

Entering 2007, the single season Ranger offensive records are:

AVG : .563 - Colin Clark (2006)
Hits : 36 - Tim Brannon and Isaiah Panatsis (2005)
At Bats : 93 - Kevin Casey (2005)
Singles : 30 - Tim Brannon (2005)
Doubles : 9 - Lucas Luecke (2002)
Triples : 6 - Isaiah Panatsis (2005)
Home Runs : 4 - Isaiah Panatsis (2005)
SLG% : .753 - Isaiah Panatsis (2005)
Walks : 19 - Tim Brannon (2003)
HBP : 14 - Lucas Luecke (2003)
SAC : 7 - Tim Brannon (2005)
OBP% : .611 - Colin Clark (2006)
Stolen Bases : 19 - Kevin Casey (2005)
Strike Outs : 32 - Brian Salgado (2006)
Runs Scored : 30 - Tim Brannon (2002)
RBI : 32 - Isaiah Panatsis (2005)

Streak Record Matched

The Chicago Rangers' current 8 game winning streak matches the franchise record set back in 2004. The 8 game winning streak in 2004 ran from 6/30/04 - 7/18/04. The current streak began back on June 23rd.

Rangers vs. Mets Re-Scheduled

The Rangers vs. Mets game originally scheduled on June 27 will be played on Monday, July 30th at 5:50 pm at Winnemac Park.

Rangers vs. Red Sox Re-Scheduled

Our postponed game from 7/10 versus the Red Sox will be made up this Sunday, July 22 at 12:00 pm at Winnemac Park.

The Long Awaited Updated Beer Count

It's been a while and I'm missing a number of receipts, but the Rangers have tallied the following beer stats:

On the 2007 campaign, the Chicago Rangers have drank 170 pitchers of beer and racked up a total bar tab of $2,331.17. That is an average of 9 pitchers and $116.56 per bar visit.

The Rangers are currently on pace to guzzle 272 pitchers and tally a total bar tab of $3,729.87!

New Stadium For the Rangers!

Even though the Chicago Rangers baseball club has played extremely well at venerable Winnemac Park, a new Stadium is planned for the North Side baseball team. Team General Manager Lucas Luecke said"With the Rangers improving every year, the Board of Directors feels that it is time to move the team into a more fan friendly arena." The team had drawn a record amount of fans to games this year, and a traditional baseball stadium with actual "seats" instead of the hill outside of Jordnt Foorball Stadium would let even more rabid Ranger fans watch the CMBA's most exciting team. "We may not always play the best baseball, but we will drink any team under the table!" states Ranger fan favorite Kevin Casey, "A new Stadium will definitely allow us to play better ball, and drink more beer!". Ranger assistant groundskeeper Mike LaRocco believes the new field will acknowledge the strong Ranger history at Winnemac Park, "The Entire infield from Winnemac will be transported to Ranger Stadium, complete with the sewer drains in left and right field, this will make the transition to Ranger Stadium even easier for the club!". Groundbreaking is expected within the next two years with an estimated completion date of 2013.

Sometimes when I get lonely....

I watch Bob Wacker make a fool of himself in homemade movies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXAvBPE2oqc

Rangers/Marlins Schedule Change

The Rangers/Marlins game originally scheduled for this Sunday, July 15th has been moved up to Thursday, July 12th.

The game will start at 5:50 pm at Southwest Park in Park Ridge.

Pre-AB music

We got into this discussion a bit after the win over the Chicago Bitches, er, Hounds Sunday afternoon. What song would you want as your introduction before stepping to the plate?

I'll start it off. My choice would either be the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme" or "Get Crunked Up." If you wanna be a dick about it, you might suggest "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen for my prodigious strikeout numbers.

Some of my suggestions for some the Rangers:

Luke -- "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" (I know, obvious choice.)
Tim -- "It's Raining Men"
Mike -- Theme from "MacGuyver" in honor of his instant dugout kit.
Jody -- "I Get Around" by Tupac. 80? I don't think I know 80 people, let alone 80 women.

Your turn. Blow up the comments...

4th Somewhat Annual Ranger Barbeque!

The 4th Ranger Barbeque hostedby my parents in thier backyard will be held on July 29th after our game against the Cubs at Winnemac. The tentative menu will consist of Bratwurst and Italian Sausage among other side items. If there is interest, a skee-ball and pin ball tournament can be arranged. Due to previous incidents, (Godfather) alcohol must be consumed at a rational pace, and sober drivers should be present.

I would like to know how many people are coming so superfan can cook a suitable amount of food. Any other menu suggestions are welcome. Let celebrate the historic Rangers season!

Scorebook Seminar

There will be a voluntary scorebook seminar tomorrow after the Rangers game at Gio's Sports Bar. Included in the seminar are teachings on the proper number to assign a position when scoring an out, understanding the difference between a hit and an error, and the correct way to score a groundball out. If time permits, additional teachings will include proper substitution markings and pitching changes. All are encouraged to attend.

Rangers vs. Aviators Time/Venue Change

The Rangers/Aviators game scheduled for Saturday, July 28th has been moved to Altgeld Park and will now be played at 7:30 pm on the evening of July 28th.

Rangers vs. Browns Preview

The Rangers and Browns will wrap up their 2007 2 game season series tomorrow at 9:00 am at Maywood Memorial Park.

The Rangers won the last meeting between the 2 teams by a score of 5-4 on June 6th. Ranger hurler James Keathley threw a 5 hit complete game with a season best 13 strike outs.

The Rangers are 4-14 (.222) lifetime against the Browns but are an impressive 4-1 (.800) at the Maywood yard.

The Rangers come into Saturday's game riding a 4 game winning streak and are 2 games behind the division leading Park Ridge Marlins.