ARLINGTON, Texas _ It was 1972, and the Texas Rangers were brand-spanking new, so we drove our used cars _ we were high school juniors _ to the new stadium in Arlington with exuberance. But we almost never arrived thinking of the Rangers.
We went to see Tony Oliva hit for the Twins. We went to see Yaz play left field for the Red Sox. I went, most of all, to see Oakland's Reggie Jackson muscle up on a home run ball or even twist himself into a pretzel striking out and to watch Vida Blue. Blue was just one year removed from his magical Cy Young/MVP season. And Blue, whose time at the top was brief but who seemed almost impossibly athletic as a pitcher, was who I was thinking about Wednesday when I drove out to the Rangers' suddenly sad second ballpark soon to be tossed aside for a third just to see an even more impossibly athletic pitcher named Shohei Ohtani.
One who plays even when he doesn't pitch. How about that.
Maybe I shouldn't say just to see. There was at least mild curiosity about the Rangers' wretched start and the somewhat shocking early attendance totals that suggested a fan base that has been forced to give up the ghost early on a bad team this season.
And, yes, the Rangers were lousy, losing to the Angels, 7-2, as they completed the kind of sweep that can energize a visiting bunch. LA outscored the Rangers, 26-6, and outhit them, 40-20.
The Rangers are 4-10 and heading for a weekend in Houston.
Somehow saying "yikes" doesn't seem sufficient.
This trip had that sort of 1972 feel not only because of the desire to see an opponent but because lately the Rangers' crowds have been embarrassingly small although that's by today's standards. The Rangers could have a significant drop in attendance this year and draw 2 million fans.
The original Rangers drew fewer than 700,000 in 1972.
Whether the Angels are as good as their first-place 10-3 record remains to be seen, but there's not much doubt about the early returns on Ohtani. A game-changing player the Rangers coveted for years, Ohtani threw 61/3 perfect innings against Oakland Sunday so the Rangers won't see what he looks like from the pitcher's mound until next time.
But after just one pinch-hit appearance in this series _ a ground out against the mystifying Bartolo Colon Tuesday _ Ohtani got his name on manager Mike Scioscia's lineup card Wednesday and that alone justified the trip for me. I'm not sure I can give Ohtani all the credit for the increased attendance _ the club drew a little more than 16,000 and 18,000 the first two nights before 20,363 showed up Wednesday _ but there's no doubt in the first two weeks of the major-league season there is more curiosity about Ohtani than any player in the game.
Hitting home runs in three consecutive games will do that for a pitcher.
Wednesday's game marked another little slice of history for Ohtani. As a left-handed hitter, this was his first start at DH against a left-handed pitcher. Given that it was the Rangers, Ohtani faced three pitchers on the night (and actually got thrown out by a fourth), but he reached base on both the lefties on a 1-for-3 night.
All the home runs came during batting practice. Ohtani put one against the wall behind the batter's eye in center and sent a couple of bombs into the upper reaches of the home run porch in right.
During the game, it was more of a subtle performance Ohtani delivered. His second-inning single through the left side of the infield brought home the game's first run and gave him 8 RBIs in just 20 at-bats. At that moment, Ohtani was batting .400.
He later drew a walk against lefty Jake Diekman after falling behind 1-2, showing remarkable poise to take three close pitches. Perhaps Ohtani betrayed the fact he's a rookie by getting picked off by reliever Chris Martin. In fact, first base ump called Ohtani out but a challenge overturned the call.
So Martin simply picked him off again.
Hey, the 23-year-old is merely great and a throwback to the days of Babe Ruth 100 years ago. He launches home runs, then throws a 100-mile per hour fastball and nasty splitter on his pitching days.
He's stunning on the mound and at the plate. Maybe the base-running component comes later.
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