Posted: 04 Oct 2010 08:54 PM PDT

10:59 PM CDT on Monday, October 4, 2010

COLUMN By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com

Column by EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News | egrant@dallasnews.com

Since the moment the Rangers clinched a playoff berth, all the conversation about this team's ability to advance has hinged on Josh Hamilton and Cliff Lee and to a lesser extent, pitchers such as C.J. Wilson and NeftaliFeliz.

Sure, all those guys have the ability to make a difference. Come playoff time, in a short five- or seven-game series or some combination of the two, it is often some surprising player who makes all the difference in the world between a team advancing or being eliminated.

As the Rangers prepare for their fourth trip to the playoffs, we try to prepare you to not be surprised if a surprise hero emerges. Here then is our list of the top five guys, in descending order, who could be Rangers playoff heroes.

Mitch Moreland: He's got two things you look for in a playoff hero. He's entering the playoffs hot, and he's got plate discipline. After a long September slump, Moreland emerged in a big way over the final eight days of the season with four homers and six walks in seven games. Given the Rangers' poor production from first base this season, anything the position produces in the playoffs would be a plus. Moreland has the ability to keep the position from being a liability, but also has the ability to make it an asset.
Nelson Cruz: Think of him as a modern day version of Juan Gonzalez, only having other guys in the lineup (Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero) who are bigger concerns to opposing pitchers. Gonzalez's power nearly helped the Rangers topple the Yankees in 1996, and his lack of plate discipline foiled any chances the club might have had in 1998 and 1999. Cruz could be the same kind of guy: A big hit in a playoff series or a big zero. He has four walkoff hits for the Rangers this year, including three walkoff homers. Don't be surprised to see him deliver in a big situation once again.
Colby Lewis: The Rays are prone to the strikeout, and Lewis had more strikeouts this season than any Rangers pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1991. Tampa Bay has not faced him this year and the only five to face him ever are a combined 2-for-14 … and that was when Lewis was bad. And if the Rangers can sneak out of Tampa Bay with a split, Lewis' Game 3 start becomes the turning point in the series. He can either put the Rangers on the verge of clinching or on the verge of elimination. No Ranger pitcher has been cooler, more consistent or more reliable this year. That's the kind of guy who could have an impact with just one start in a series.
Michael Young: Yeah, he didn't do much during the second half of this season, but Young will have had most of three days of rest heading into the series opener. The one thing the guy hasn't had was time off this season. Maybe, as he approaches his 34th birthday later this month, the extra time off will rejuvenate his mind and body a bit. It's also worth noting that due to a stiff neck, he played only three at-bats of one game against Tampa Bay when the Rangers visited in August.
Alexi Ogando: As it turns out so often, the closer gets all the glory, but the setup man gets all the pressure. After being barred from entering the U.S. for five years due to a visa fraud scam, Ogando seems oblivious to pressure. With Frank Francisco out for the division series, at least, expect to see Ogando continue to expand his prominence in the Rangers' bullpen. He could be used anywhere from the sixth to the eighth and may draw the toughest assignments of the game. When the Angels won the World Series in 2002, they had a rookie come out of nowhere to be an unhittable late-inning force: Francisco Rodriguez. Ogando has the ability and the stuff to duplicate that performance.

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'Superman' Movie Series is Up, Up and Away With a New Director - New York Times Blogs

Posted: 04 Oct 2010 05:33 PM PDT

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And Now For The News... First In A Series - Post Chronicle

Posted: 04 Oct 2010 05:05 PM PDT

And Now For The News... First In A Series
by Oliver North

KABUL, Afghanistan - Last week, our "War Stories" team was on the U.S.-Mexico border documenting the tidal wave of violence and illegal activity on America's "southern front." This week, we're back in Afghanistan to detail what's happening in the shadows of the Hindu Kush. The outcomes of both these fights are of vital importance to the American people. But it's hard to get the facts on the fights from the way these stories are being covered by the so-called mainstream media.

The potentates of the press apparently have decided that the "war on drugs" has been lost and that "amnesty" for illegal aliens is a substitute for secure borders. In their exuberance to convince the public of these positions, major U.S. print and broadcast outlets provide breathless reports of wholesale bloodshed in Mexico, but they overlook slow but steady improvements in border security and successes in dismantling drug cartels. In short, "surrender" is being presented as the only option. This same sentiment is evident in the coverage of the campaign here in Afghanistan.

On Sept. 18, the Afghan people went to the polls to elect a new national parliament. It was similar to the kind of legislative election we will hold in less than six weeks - with the same portent for political change. Yet most U.S. media coverage of Afghanistan's experiment in representative government focused on insurgent attacks aimed at disrupting the vote. Newspaper and television reports claimed "low voter interest" and highlighted "Taliban attacks aimed at reducing turnout." But, as we learned once we arrived here, those stories were simply wrong.

There were insurgent attacks - but one-third fewer than during last year's presidential elections. According to international observers, fewer than 1 percent of polling stations had any violence at all. And those same monitors reported voter turnout - an estimated 3.6 million, or about 40 percent of those eligible - was actually higher than it was in the 2009 election.

Set aside for a moment that most Afghan voters had to ignore the risk of violence, walk to their local polling stations and wait in long lines - and that turnout was higher than it is in most of our "off-year" elections. Ask instead how those who reported this story managed to get it so wrong. The answer, of course, is that there is an agenda in many of our media. Those who "shape the news" have a predisposition for the negative and make a conscious choice to ignore "good news" that contradicts their bias.

Therefore, "news" from here tends to spotlight corruption in the Karzai government, the tribulations caused by pervasive opium production and American military losses. Reports datelined "Kabul" and stories filed from Kandahar and Herat frequently cite the ineffectiveness of the Afghan National Security Forces. Yet when Gen. David Petraeus commended the ANSF after the recent elections for "safeguarding a weapon with greater potential than any other: the people's right to vote," he was all but ignored.

The consistent theme in the U.S. media is that we are engaged in a war that cannot be won. "Reporters" here and editors at home have decided their theme: Afghanistan is a lost cause. It's all George W. Bush's fault for ignoring "the necessary war" and picking a fight with Saddam Hussein.

Negative news infatuation disorder is the only rational explanation for the exuberant coverage of the palace intrigues perpetrated by Washington insiders depicted in Bob Woodward's new book, "Obama's Wars." Instead of covering the troops fighting this war and concentrating on the far more relevant issue of how it is being fought, it's far easier - and apparently more fun - to focus on internecine battles within the present administration.

Some of the salacious gossip Woodward chronicles does, of course, matter to the outcome of the campaign in this difficult and dangerous place. In one passage widely circulated in advance of the book's release, the president is quoted as saying: "We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever ... we absorbed it and we are stronger." If this comment is cited accurately, it is a stunning, unprecedented and particularly heartless perspective for a democratically elected head of state.

Totalitarians often speak of the punishment their followers will tolerate. But no other Western president or prime minister - even in the midst of World War II - is quoted as saying his civilian population should be expected to "absorb" nearly 3,000 killed and nearly as many injured by an adversary in order to fulfill a political goal.

Thank goodness few of the warriors we are covering here in Afghanistan are even aware of the intrigues swirling in Washington or the negative news so fascinating to our media elites. The troops here are too busy fighting America's real enemies.

Oliver North is the host of "War Stories" on Fox News Channel, founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance, and author of the book American Heroes

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