Sports talk
Fireworks finale best of show for Rangers' bombs

   Fireworks lit the sky as the Rangers finished their final home game this season.
   Sadly, this was one of the more exciting moments of this season.
   The Rangers finished below .500 and last in their division.
   It is also probably the last time we will see some of the greatest Rangers ever.
   One-time MVP Juan Gonzalez's odds of resigning are extremely low.
   The Rangers' trying to trade Juando all season has been a constant joke on sports shows.
   Gonzalez, whose contract gave him the ability to veto any trade he didn't want, ruined all keeping any good feelings between him and the Rangers management.
   Of course, future Hall of Fame first baseman Raphael Palmeiro will also most likely not be in a Rangers uniform again.
   The Rangers need to rebuild with young players if they ever want to be successful, and at 39, Palmeiro is in no way young.
   Raphy, who is a career .291, is having his worst batting season since his 1986 rookie season when he batted .247.
   His 527 home runs put Palmeiro in the highest tier of baseball's greats.
   Raphy, however, was not just a hitter. He won Gold Glove honors on numerous occasions and had only 108 errors in 24 seasons of play, which is only 4.5 errors a season.
   Palmeiro also will be missed in the clubhouse.
  Since his return to a Ran-gers uniform in 1999, Raphy has been a different kind of guy. The Rangers originally traded Palmeiro for Will Clark to find a player to be a leader in the clubhouse.
   Palmeiro was gone five years before the Rangers decided to bring him back. When he was traded, many people looked at Raphy as a sometimes standoffish player.
   He was never friendly to the media and often distant from players. His five years in Baltimore profoundly changed him. He returned a cheerful and optimistic team leader. He is one of the first players the media will seek out after a game, often before Alex Rodriguez is chosen for an interview.
   He is such a team player now that many of the players including A-Rod and even Mark Teixeira, who split time with Raphy and will be competing for a job with him next season, have expressed a deep concern over Raphy's not coming back to wear a Texas uniform. Well, Teixeira may want Palmeiro back in a Rangers uniform, but it will be partly his fault if he is not.
   When Raphy's contract runs out, the hall of famer will be wanting a very large salary, while the 23- year-old Teixeira will cost the Rangers significantly less.
   For a team with one of the largest payrolls in baseball and a constantly dwindling fan base, it's hard to justify keeping an aging superstar who has two bad knees and whose bat is slowing down. So, farewell, Raphael Palmeiro.
   We will miss your perfect left-handed swing. We will miss your almost flawless fielding.
   We will miss the way you take charge of the younger players who look at you in awe.
   Mostly, we will miss a man who has been a part of the Dallas sports scene for more than 10 years.