Texas Rangers Wiretap

The Gambler Goes Berserk

Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers could face assault charges after shoving two cameramen Wednesday, sending one to the hospital in a videotaped tirade that included throwing a camera to the ground and threatening to break others.

Rogers, who missed his last start for the struggling Rangers with a broken pinky he suffered during an outburst earlier this month, erupted at the cameramen as they filmed him walking to the field for pregame stretching before Wednesday night's game against the Los Angeles Angels.

The 40-year-old left-hander first shoved Fox Sports Net Southwest photographer David Mammeli, telling him: "I told you to get those cameras out of my face."

Rogers then approached a second cameraman. He wrestled the camera from Larry Rodriguez of Dallas-Fort Worth television station KDFW, threw it to the ground and kicked it.

Rodriguez filed a formal police report against Rogers on Wednesday night, claiming assault. Police went to interview Rodriguez at about 9 p.m. ET at the Medical Center of Arlington where the cameraman was being examined for possible injuries.

According to Lt. Blake Miller, detectives plan to interview Rogers sometime on Thursday.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound pitcher saw two other cameramen who were recording from the Rangers' dugout and walked toward them. He did not make contact with the men, who were backing away.

"I'll break every ... one of them," Rogers said before he was escorted to the clubhouse by catcher Rod Barajas.

The Rangers sent Rogers home about an hour later.

Kenny Rogers could be facing a suspension -- and assault charges -- after Wednesday's pregame altercation.

KDFW news director Maria Barrs said paramedics took Rodriguez to the hospital to be checked out.

"He does have quite a bit of pain, in his shoulder and his arm and his leg," Barrs said. Rodriguez was treated and released.

Fox Sports Net Souhwest spokesman Ramon Alvarez said Mammeli wasn't injured.

Footage shot by Dallas-Fort Worth station KTVT shows Rogers pushing Rodriguez's camera, which goes over the photographer's head and falls to the ground. As Rodriguez puts the camera back on his shoulder, Rogers approaches again, pushing the lens away and having words with the photographer.

As players begin to intervene, Rogers pulls the camera to the ground and kicks it before walking away.

Rodriguez said that when he picked up the camera the second time, his intentions were to keep getting footage of Rogers.

"I figured since now he vented that he was all good, but the second time was just a little bit too much," he said in an interview on KDFW.

"There's no question he was upset. I don't understand why we were the ... I don't know if we were the stem of the problem or what," he said. "I don't think we did anything wrong."

Rangers general manager John Hart said late Wednesday that the team had contacted Major League Baseball, and wouldn't say whether the team would suspend Rogers.

Hart said he had talked to Rogers and "Kenny obviously realizes his actions were incorrect."

"His comment to me was 'I didn't handle this right. I'm frustrated. My integrity and toughness is being called into question,' " Hart said.

Rangers manager Buck Showalter, who did not witness the events, said the said the team will investigate.

"It's not something we'll take lightly," Showalter said. "When I have all the facts, I'll deal with it."

Via ESPN

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Rogers Tantrum Threatens Rangers Playoff Hopes

Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers recently broke a bone in his non-pitching hand when he tried to take on a water cooler after coming out of his last start against Washington. Rogers will miss at least one start, but this won?t hurt the Rangers as much as his immature actions have.

At 40 years old, Rogers in the elder statesman in the Rangers clubhouse and a second pitching coach to his the rest of the rotation. However, the message Rogers sent on June 17th was that it is acceptable to lose your composure during the game and jeopardize your team?s chances of making a playoff run this season.

Via Doug Benton/RealGM

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Angels Extend Win Streak To Seven Games With Thrashing Of Texas

Bartolo Colon, Vladimir Guerrero and the Los Angeles Angels all kept their impressive streaks going against the Texas Rangers.

The Angels extended their season-best winning streak to seven in a row with a 13-3 victory Monday night, when Colon won his 10th straight start against Texas and Guerrero had a solo homer and two RBI doubles to give him hits in all 28 games he's played against the Rangers.

Colon (10-4) threw 66 of his 87 pitches for strikes to beat Texas for the third time this year, and ninth time since joining the Angels before last season. He scattered eight hits over eight innings.

``He was nasty,'' Rangers designated hitter David Dellucci said. ``There's games where you walk away and you're frustrated because there's no way that guy should have done what he did. When Bartolo Colon does what he does, you're able to accept it a little bit better.''

Colon struck out his first three batters, and besides Hank Blalock's two home runs, allowed six singles before Jake Woods replaced him to start the ninth.

``The most difficult team I face all year is Texas. They make me elevate my game,'' Colon said.

Via Yahoo!

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Rogers Breaks Bone In Non-Pitching Hand

Kenny Rogers broke a bone in his non-pitching hand when he hit a water cooler in frustration, and the Texas Rangers pitcher will miss at least one start.

Rogers, 9-3 with an American League-leading 2.46 ERA, broke a bone at the base of his right pinkie after coming out of his last home start, June 17 against Washington, manager Buck Showalter said Monday.

"It's an emotional game ... most of the time you don't break a small bone," Showalter said after pointing out a cooler at the end of the dugout. "The good news, it's nothing serious enough to keep him out over an extended period of time."

Showalter said the left-hander will miss his scheduled start Tuesday against the Angels and indicated Rogers could miss another turn as well since it would take 10 to 12 days for the broken bone to heal completely.

Via ESPN

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Rogers Looking For An Extension

When Kenny Rogers came to the Rangers this off-season with a desire to extend his contract, they declined, saying that they wanted to see if he could imitate his 2004 success.

Rogers has, and now the Rangers and his agent, Scott Boras, have begun what Rangers assistant general manager Jon Daniels termed "preliminary discussions" for a multi-year extension for the 40-year-old left-hander.

Daniels would not comment on specifics of the discussions. Boras did not immediately return a phone call.

"It's way too early to handicap anything," Daniels said. "We certainly recognize and appreciate what Kenny's been able to do here. That's why this has come up."

Via DallasNews.com

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