Good Call

The Rangers finally have their new TV play-by-play guy and it’s John Rhadigan, of Fox Sports Southwest. Did anybody actually see that coming?

After the end of last season, the Rangers announced that they would not be bringing back Josh Lewin, who was with the team for 9 years and has since gotten a job at 105.3 The Fan.

Since then there has been radio silence from the organization. There was almost no news on who was being considered to replace him until earlier this week when Rhadigan’s name came out.

I know a lot of people didn’t like Lewin [probably including Nolan Ryan], but there was something specific that I thought he did better than anyone.

During those big moments, when the fans were on their feet, Lewin was always right there with the rest of us. It’s true that he probably made too many Seinfeld and Entourage references in the middle innings, but Lewin loved to watch this team win and his excitement was always welcome [to me at least].

Two such examples –

Opening day, 2010, Jarrod Saltalamacchia hits a game winning single in the 9th-inning:
Salt-a-la-macchia! WELCOME TO 20-10!

In a September game against the Yankees, Nelson Cruz blasts a 13th inning HR into the Ranger bullpen:
…and Nelly fires away. Deep drive. Right field. Go Home! BALLGAME!

I’ve talked to several other fans that didn’t like the way Lewin handled his business, but I wanted to take some time to say that I appreciated what he did and how he did it.

It’s true that he’s not Mark Holtz or Eric Nadel, but I never wanted him to be. If nothing else, at least he was genuine and comfortable being himself.

As far as John Rhadigan goes, I really don’t know what to expect from him. Watching him in pre- and post-game shows on FSSW, he seems like a very professional, straight-laced journalist type [a lot like a local news anchor].

Listening to a radio interview with him yesterday, he said that this has been his dream for a long time now. Hopefully he can take it and make it his own.

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