BALLPARK'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY IS BITTERSWEET.

Byline: GABE LACQUES

ARLINGTON, Texas - They will ring in the 10th anniversary of the picturesque Ballpark in Arlington today, when the Texas Rangers bring back the folks who performed the first national anthem here, got the first base hit, threw out the first pitch, and so on.

But every glimpse at the past decade here is also a cruel reminder of opportunity lost, because the window of opportunity for the Rangers to maintain their status as an elite baseball franchise has slammed shut, and it will take a Texas-sized effort to pry it open again.

Just step outside the gorgeous facility and look around. There are parking lots almost as far as the eye can see. Owner Tom Hicks owns 270 acres around the ballpark, an area once envisioned as a lucrative mega-entertainment and sports complex that would turn this blip on the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex into a legitimate destination.

The riverwalk and the fun and games haven't materialized. The parking lots are still here, though the city recently convinced Siemens to build its Dematic Postal Automation Headquarters on one of them. Yippee.

Take a look around the stadium on a given night. The Rangers drew no less than 2.77 million fans in the first six non-strike seasons of The Ballpark. As the team's performance bottomed out with four consecutive last- place finishes, so too did the attendance, which could drop below 2 million this season. The season-ticket base has fallen to a Tampa Bay-like 11,250.

Desperate to cultivate a dwindling fan base, the Rangers have stuffed the envelopes of their season-ticket holders with additional tickets, gratis. Please, bring your friends! It's on us!

Finally, step inside the Rangers clubhouse, where the final crater from the boom-and-bust decade sits. In a corner, the best player in baseball used to luxuriate in style before games.

Alex Rodriguez no longer is there. That's because the pitching staff around him stunk and he couldn't make fans care about the Rangers, evidenced by the slight drop in average attendance in 2001, the first year of his landmark $252 million contract.

Rodriguez might be gone, but the fallout from the financial nuclear winter of Hicks' era remains. The Rangers will pay $67 million over the next seven years for the greatest offensive shortstop ever to play for the Yankees. And let's not forget Chan Ho Park, of the five-year, $65 million contract and the 6.06 ERA in two years with Texas, still resides in the patchwork Rangers rotation.

Rodriguez's old locker stall is empty, appropriately enough.

``Alex's shoes, no one's going to fill,'' manager Buck Showalter pragmatically acknowledged.

No, but his time served and subsequent departure could be a boost to those who remain. His presence provided a dose of leadership to the Rangers' young nucleus. His departure enables that nucleus to spread its wings in the clubhouse.

``He was my best friend on the team,'' said shortstop Michael Young. ``We both loved to talk baseball. I'm happy for him. Alex was just a guy meant to play in New York, who wanted the East Coast vibe. It just didn't work out here. And that's fine.''

It's fine because Young, third baseman Hank Blalock and first baseman Mark Teixeira now carry the burden of leadership and hope for an organization. The Rangers proved that by signing Blalock to a five-year, $15 million contract and Young to a four-year, $10 million deal finalized last week.

``Their personalities come out more (without Rodriguez),'' Showalter said. ``The organization put that much faith in them and that helps. They're a little more sure of themselves.''

So sure that Young, who banged out 204 hits as a second baseman in '03, went into Showalter's office this spring and said he'd move back to shortstop when Alfonso Soriano, acquired in the Rodriguez deal, balked at doing the same. At 28, Soriano is the oldest of the wildly talented offensive nucleus that could expand to include emerging outfielder Laynce Nix.

But it always comes back to pitching here. The first lap through the rotation caused a ripple of cautious optimism. Park looks healthier. Talented but unharnessed youngster Colby Lewis showed a far more refined repertoire in beating Oakland. And R.A. Dickey is the blood and guts of the staff since he's pitching without an ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Still, the Rangers are a lock for a fourth-place finish on two fronts - in the unforgiving AL West, for the fifth consecutive year, and in their own market, where the Cowboys, Stars and Mavericks now command the hearts and wallets of the populace.

That their most marketable player will be paid $67 million to play in New York won't help.

``That's not our business,'' Young says. ``We're not trying to balance a budget. We're trying to win games.''

And win back the faith of a region that's too indifferent to be fed up. The downward spiral from the three playoff appearances of the '90s was lightning-fast. The climb back up will almost assuredly take longer.