Courtesy Fort Worth Star Telegram

(March 14, 2011) Sure, there are Rangers players trying to win spots in camp, but John Rhadigan may have an even tougher task. Rhadigan, the new Rangers television play-by-play man, has to make the Texas fans happy. Rhadigan, who replaced Josh Lewin, made his debut Saturday. Here's Rhadigan's assessment of his debut:

What were your overall impressions? I felt surprisingly less nervous than I expected to. I guess that's a credit to Tom [Grieve], just knowing that my security blanket's next to me. I was able to eat right before. I was like, 'Hey I'm eating. That's cool.' I thought it went pretty smoothly.

Were there any glitches? There was one very big noticeable mistake that was a result of wholesale changes they make. When [Craig] Gentry got hurt, I called that [Julio] Borbon. I realized quickly, with the help of Tom, that it was Gentry. I don't want to make any mistakes.

You're going to be under a microscope, so it seems like things will be magnified? It's going to be accentuated. I then look to my TV people and they're like, 'Dude, it's spring training.' That doesn't mean it's any less important, but that there are new guys in at every moment. I still regret that. I don't want to make any mistakes.

What else? The other mistake I made, which was also big, was that a fan on the road in spring training brought a sheet cake that said 'Congratulations John.' They gave it to me in the stands and I never got the fan's name. The whole point of that is for the fan to get mentioned on TV and I didn't do that.

Are you glad the first one's out of the way? I am. I have a sense of relief. I feel like I almost settled in a little bit. I didn't feel like myself the first week I was here. Just slightly off. Doing that first TV game and getting the regular guys in my ear makes me feel a lot more like myself.

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