A short epitaph on the Texas Rangers season

I'm proud of the performance of the over-achieving 2010 edition of the Texas Rangers. Sure they lost the World Series in five games, but they at least brought the Series to North Central Texas for the first time ever and how many folks realistically expected that to happen when the season started? To be honest, I didn't expect it to happen when the playoffs started.

But I got to give these guys credit. They didn't lose this Series. They didn't give it away. They were defeated by a superior team, a team with the best starting pitching rotation since the magnificent Baltimore Oriole team of 1971. (Remember Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Pat Dobson, Mike Cuellar? They all won 20 games for the Orioles that year.) And in a short series, pitching is going to make the difference.

As I alluded to earlier, I didn't expect the Rangers to get past Tampa Bay in the ALDS. So, from my point of view, this Series appearance was a bonus, a tribute to the togetherness of a fine baseball team. But now this club has whetted my appetite: I want to see them back in the Series in 2011.

Growing up in New York City, as I did when the City had three baseball teams, one of them -- the Brooklyn Dodgers -- always ended their season with a phrase that seems apt right now: "WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR!"