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Game 45 ~ Texas Rangers ~ MAVS and NBA Free Agency ~ Do Not Worry

GO RANGERS!!! 47-41 (wins ~ losses)
3rd in AL West (7.5 games behind Astros)

Game 45. 

On Tuesday night, I met a friend and my parents at the Rangers game. As we are getting out of the truck, my mom notices that the parking tag has a big 45 on it. Oh... it's game 45. We look at our tickets, they also say game 45. 

Tyler Skaggs, a pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, passed away at his hotel Monday in Texas. The number he wore on his jersey was #45.  


Photo @MLB @LAAngels Twitter

The Rangers gave the Angels the choice to play or not play. Monday's game had already been cancelled, as it should have been. But they opted to play on Tuesday. 

We knew the game would be heavy, but we had our season tickets from our 10 game pack, so we went with it. And it was heavy. Tears during the National Anthem as an Army band played. Very fitting. Tip of the hats across both lines of players. I even saw Woodward, the Rangers Manager, hugging and shaking Angels players hands as they stretched before the game.

Jonathan Lucroy, former Rangers catcher, was catching for the Angels that night. As Rangers players came to the plate, they gave Lucroy a hug and tipped their helmet to the Angels dugout. Whew. More tears...

The last game Skaggs pitched was on Saturday... Here's an expert from his interview on ESPN.com on June 30th... 


Tyler Skaggs (7-7) gave up just two hits and two runs, but walked four and couldn't get through five innings for the Angels. They have fallen back to .500 again with two straight losses following a four-game winning streak.
"He's a great pitcher," Skaggs said of Anderson. "I thought I threw the ball really well. ... The four walks is something I need to cut down on, but I'm not going to hang my head."
No walk-up music. Organ type music between innings. No fireworks or The Natural theme song when Andrus hit a home run. Just baseball. Just respect. Just grief. The Rangers also put #45 in black and red on the back of the pitchers mound. They did everything they could to make our stadium feel like home for the Angels. Choo and a few other players were a part of these decisions. Humbling to see it all in person. 

The Angles won the game. Over 4 hours, one of the longest 9-inning games ever played by the Rangers. Neither team looked focused. No three-up-three-down innings. Trout was DH, didn't play Center Field. A few players were injured at bat, so other guys who had opted not to play had to come into the game. It was good to get those guys out of their new hotel (they moved hotels Tuesday morning), but it was a sad day no matter where you were.

I've read article after article about Tyler Skaggs, his beautiful wife, of only 7 months and all of the wonderful things people have to say about him! Dude looks so fun and full of life! He had his team dress up in Cowboy gear, just to come to Texas for their four game stint vs. the Rangers. Checkout their team photo on his Instagram page

Nothing will top the interview from his teammates after the game. It's worth watching all 7 minutes of this video







What now? 

We pray for Skaggs wife and family. We pray for his coaches/teammates/friends and for peace in their hearts. Grief is so powerful... I hope that they have time to process everything and stick together through it all. 

And because this is what they do... we keep playing baseball. 

Some players get a true break because the All-Star break is this weekend. Neither Joey Gallo or Hunter Pence will be in the All-Star game, despite getting voted in. Both are recovering from injuries and we need them the rest of the season if we keep trying to make a run at the Wild Card slot! 

We're 11 games behind the Yankees, who are in First Place in the American League. We can close the gap if our guys keep playing like they are and if we get Pence back! Even Odor had two monster homer runs (homers) Thursday night! Not something we've seen in a while, but we'll take it!

MLB ALL-STAR SCHEDULE

Monday, July 8th
HOME RUN DERBY
7:00 PM CST

Here is the Home Run Derby bracket

Tuesday, July 9th
ALL-STAR GAME
6:30 PM CST

Here's the All-Star Roster.

Check out the full Rangers schedule

#TexasRangers
#TylerSkaggs
#MLBAllStarGame
#HomeRunDerby

GO MAVS!!!
It's NBA Free Agency season... which has more rules to it than the actual game of basketball. Check out this list if you want to know every player option. 

The Mavs are making moves... and even before those new moves... we obviously lost Dirk to retirement, but have Luca! So keep that in mind! 

1) Two words... Power Forward. We locked up both Porzingis with a five year deal worth $158M, and Powell with a three year deal worth $33M. I don't know if you've seen these guys in person, but Porzingis is 7'3" and Powell is 6'11". I'm 5'3" and I can't even imagine what the world looks like from up there!! 

2) Seth Curry. The brother of the great Steph Curry, and a guy who played for the Mavs previously in the 2016-2017 season. He played with Portland last year, making it to the Playoffs vs. his brother and Golden State. They were defeated in the Western Finals, but he played well and ended the season with a 45% 3-point shooting rate. Kind of glad Cuban is bringing this kid back! He signed a four year deal worth $32M. Can't wait to see him play with Luca!! 

3) We're keeping Dorian Finney-Smith! Three year deal worth $12M. He was an undrafted rookie when he came to the Mavs three years ago. Pretty cool story for this 26 year old! 

There are a lot of other players still on the board... it will be interesting to see who ends up where. Not just Kawhi. 

Follow @ScooterMagruder on Twitter or on YouTube to stay up to date on Free Agency

PLAYER LOAD MANAGEMENT

So this is a hot topic in the NBA. Mainly driven by Mike Greenberg on ESPN. He covered Michael Jordan in Chicago when he played for the Bulls. Less technology, less treatment options, less recovery time, less everything and he stated on his twitter page that Jordan only missed 6 games across 6 seasons in which his team won Championships. 

This is one topic I fully agree with Greenberg on. 

I feel like "load management" is like me showing up to work. Sitting in my cube, with my computer in front of me, and not turning it on all day. My eyes hurt from looking at the screen and my brain hurts from working so much. But I'm physically there. Dressed in real clothes. Just watching everyone else around me work, while I "rest." (Which is truly much needed, btw)

How well would that go over with my boss? Or any boss? And how many of us have salaries that are a small fraction of what these guys make? And we're expected to grind out 40+ hours a week with no one concerned about our "load management." What we do may not look physical, but it is. It's mental too and the stress causes a ton of us cuberhood workers to have a wide variety of health issues. 

Bottom line... my sympathy card runs low for these fellas. If you're injured, heal. I fully support that. But if you can play, play. We're all tired. We'd all love to play a sport for a living and make millions. And get away with resting, while sitting at work. But, that's not reality. And shouldn't be, even for NBA players. 

#justsayin
#loadmanagement
#MFFL
#NBAfreeagency

Random Info...
If this blog or life itself isn't reminder enough that life is short... just know, it is! Not one of us can truly plan for tomorrow. We can hope for it, be excited about it, but no one is guaranteed it.

Should that make us sad? Nope. Quite the opposite! It's freeing to know that we get to live each day fully and with intention.

Control is not the goal. Living is. Living is not controlling.

Forgive quickly.
Laugh multiple times a day, even at yourself.
Hug, because you love people.
Encourage, because words matter.
Forgive yourself and God.
Play and have fun!
Forgive again.

We had a party this weekend, and I dove off the diving board, too many times. I may be sore from it, but why not dive? Why not throw the back-flip? Living isn't not dying, it's LIVING = LIFE GIVING!

It's going to look different for each person. But don't be afraid to be silly or get your clothes dirty! It will wash out!

I hope all of you LIVE each day to it's fullest and make sweet and precious memories with everyone around you!



#matthew6:34
#hugsomeone
#donotworry
#controlisnotthegoal

~smile~

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