Recently in 2000 Game Recaps Category
Well, the Rangers did get to play October baseball this year, but unfortunately, it wasn't the kind we were looking for, it was just the final game in a very dismal season.
Ryan Glynn pitched like he was the ace of the staff yesterday. He went toe to toe with Oakland starter Tim Hudson, going a total of 7 innings, and giving up 2 runs on six hits. Two of the runs were in the final inning he pitched, when he seemed to be getting the ball up, Oakland hit two solo home runs. Other than that, he was masterful. Pitch count was good, he walked four, struck out four, and generally pitched awesome.
Problem was that Tim Hudson was even more awesome. With the division crown on the line, and going for his 20th win, Tim Hudson pitched like a CY Young winner. He went 8 innings, giving up no runs, striking out ten, and giving up only four hits. There were two walks, but one of them was intentional. Tim Hudson was totally awesome, and from the looks of yesterday's game, he was a big part of the success the A's have had this year.
My hat goes off to the A's - they are worthy champs, and I hope they go further than we were able to in the last couple of years in the playoffs against the Yankees.
I did notice on the TV coverage that after the A's had won, you didn't hear anything from Tom Grieve anymore. I wonder if he was on the field or in the A's clubhouse to congratulate his son or something. Again, I can't express how glad I am it was the A's that won the division, and not the Mariners. I don't dislike the Mariners, but I like the A's - great young team, great heart. Also, I'm from Philadelphia, so there's that tie too (Although when I was born, they had already left for Kansas City).
A big two THUMBS DOWN! Could it get any worse on the final game tomorrow? Look at this box score!
Line Score
AL FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TEXAS 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 9 0
OAKLAND 9 0 1 0 5 0 8 0 x 23 24 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: TEX - DARREN OLIVER, BRIAN SIKORSKI (1ST), MATT
PERISHO (5TH), FRANCISCO CORDERO (5TH),
JONATHAN JOHNSON (7TH), DOUG DAVIS (7TH), JEFF
ZIMMERMAN (8TH) AND RANDY KNORR, BJ WASZGIS
(8TH)
OAK - BARRY ZITO, SCOTT SERVICE (7TH), TODD BELITZ
(9TH) AND RAMON HERNANDEZ, SAL FASANO (6TH)
WP - BARRY ZITO (7-4)
LP - DARREN OLIVER (2-9)
SAVE - NONE
HOME RUNS: TEX - NONE
OAK - RANDY VELARDE (11) OFF SIKORSKI IN THE 1ST, 1 ON
JASON GIAMBI (43) OFF SIKORSKI IN THE 3RD, 0 ON
MIGUEL TEJADA (30) OFF CORDERO IN THE 5TH, 3 ON
RYAN CHRISTENSON (4) OFF D DAVIS IN THE 7TH, 2 ON
TIME: 3:32 ATT: 35,546
PROBABLES: TEX - RYAN GLYNN (5-6, 5.84)
OAK - TIM HUDSON (19-6, 4.31)
Box Score
TEXAS (2) VS OAKLAND (23) - FINAL
TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
Sc Green cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 5 .242
R Clayton ss 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 .241
M Young 2b 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000
R Palmeiro 1b 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 .288
Dransfeldt ss 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .115
Curtis lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .275
a-Valdes ph-rf 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .260
Sierra dh 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 .237
Ledee rf-lf 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 .238
Sheldon 2b-1b 4 0 2 0 0 1 1 .289
Lamb 3b 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 .276
Knorr c 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 .303
Waszgis c 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .222
Totals 36 2 9 2 2 10 17
a-singled for Curtis in the 8th.
BATTING: RBI - Lamb (47), Waszgis (4). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - Sc Green 2, Knorr 1, Sierra 1, M Young 1.
Team LOB - 9.
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
Long cf 4 3 3 3 1 0 0 .290
b-Porter ph-cf 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .154
R Velarde 2b 5 3 3 2 0 0 2 .277
Menechino 2b 2 1 2 2 0 0 0 .255
Ja Giambi 1b 3 3 3 3 2 0 0 .334
Je Giambi pr-1b 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 .253
Saenz dh 3 0 1 1 1 0 1 .310
J Ortiz pr-dh 2 2 1 1 0 1 3 .182
d-Hinch ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .250
Tejada ss 4 1 1 5 1 0 4 .275
c-Byrnes ph-rf 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .300
Grieve lf 4 1 1 0 1 1 2 .279
R Christenson pr-lf 1 2 1 3 0 0 0 .248
Piatt rf-3b 6 2 4 0 0 1 2 .299
Chavez 3b 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .280
a-M Bellhorn ph-3b-ss 4 0 0 0 1 3 5 .154
Ra Hernandez c 2 1 0 1 1 1 2 .238
Fasano c 3 1 2 2 0 1 0 .214
Totals 48 23 24 23 10 10 24
a-walked for Chavez in the 2nd; b-walked for Long in the 7th;
c-singled for Tejada in the 7th; d-struck out for J Ortiz in the 8th.
BATTING: 2B - Long (34, Sikorski); Grieve (39, Cordero); Fasano
(6, Cordero); Piatt (5, Jo Johnson); Menechino (9, Jo Johnson).
HR - R Velarde (11, 1st inning off Sikorski 1 on, 2 out); Ja Giambi
(43, 3rd inning off Sikorski 0 on, 2 out); Tejada (30, 5th inning
off Cordero 3 on, 1 out); R Christenson (4, 7th inning off D Davis
2 on, 2 out). RBI - Ja Giambi 3 (137), Saenz (32), Tejada 5 (115),
Ra Hernandez (61), Long 3 (80), R Velarde 2 (40), Fasano 2 (19),
Menechino 2 (26), J Ortiz (1), R Christenson 3 (18). 2-out RBI -
Ra Hernandez, Long 3, R Velarde 2, Ja Giambi, J Ortiz,
R Christenson 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out -
Ra Hernandez 1, M Bellhorn 1, Tejada 2, Hinch 1. Team LOB - 11.
--------------------------------------------------
Texas - 010 000 001 -- 2
Oakland - 901 050 80X -- 23
--------------------------------------------------
TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era
D Oliver (L, 2-9) 2/3 5 6 6 1 0 0 7.50
Sikorski 3 1/3 4 4 4 4 2 2 5.73
Perisho 1/3 3 4 4 1 1 0 7.46
Cordero 1 2/3 3 1 1 2 2 1 5.35
Jo Johnson 2/3 5 7 7 2 2 0 6.21
D Davis 1/3 2 1 1 0 1 1 5.38
Je Zimmerman 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 5.30
OAKLAND ip h r er bb so hr era
Zito (W, 7-4) 6 5 1 1 1 7 0 2.72
Service 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 6.38
T Belitz 1 2 1 1 1 1 0 2.70
WP - Perisho. Pitches-strikes: Zito 100-62; Service 34-22; T
Belitz 16-10; D Oliver 29-18; Sikorski 73-38; Perisho 29-19;
Cordero 39-21; Jo Johnson 37-20; D Davis 20-13; Je Zimmerman
28-21. Ground balls-fly balls: Zito 6-5; Service 2-2; T Belitz
1-1; D Oliver 2-0; Sikorski 1-7; Perisho 0-0; Cordero 0-3; Jo
Johnson 0-0; D Davis 0-0; Je Zimmerman 0-1. Batters faced: Zito
24; Service 8; T Belitz 6; D Oliver 8; Sikorski 18; Perisho 5;
Cordero 10; Jo Johnson 9; D Davis 3; Je Zimmerman 5.
UMPIRES: HP--John Shulock. 1B--Brian Runge. 2B--Rocky Roe.
3B--Ian Lamplugh.
T--3:32. Att--35,546. Weather: 72 degrees, sunny. Wind: 7 mph,
out to right.
The final series of the season. I hope going into this series that we actually lose all three, and let the A's win it. We have nothing to play for at this point - the season is just about a total loss, we're way in last place, and the only point in winning now would be to help the Mariners. Given a choice between the Mariners and the A's, I'd rather the A's get the division crown.
Well, we followed up on this plan in Game 1, losing 7-5. As losses go, it wasn't the worst, we didn't lie down, but a loss is a loss, and in this season, there's a ton of 'em. 89 losses. That means we have to win both the last two to avoid a 90 loss season - don't think it's gonna happen. :)
We used seven pitchers, Kenny Rogers going 4.1, giving up five hits, and 3 earned runs. No one else pitched more than a single inning (Perisho had a 0 for IP). Francisco Cordero gave up two runs in 2/3 of an inning, and Jonathan Johnson & Mike Venafro each gave up a run, but neither was earned. On our side of the stick, we had a few decent nights by Scott sheldon, who went 2 for 3 after coming in early for Luis Alicea (Luis never played the field), Royce Clayton, who went 3 for 5, and Randy Knorr, who went 3 for 4.
Johnny Oates also fired Dick Bosman, which was a surprise, as they'd been together 9 years over two teams. Be curious to see who we bring in as a pitching coach. My initial vote - Bill Haselman.
Well, I was really hoping to come out of Seattle winning two of three and hurting Seattle - I really want to see the A's win the division. Didn't happen. No change in the standings at all during this series - Seattle is still 1/2 game up on Oakland going into the final three games of the season.
I had forgotten this game was on at 5:30, and didn't see much of it, as I tuned in late. I did get to see Ruben Sierra's home run - I was really really hoping he'd get one, on the (fairly decent) chance he won't be here next season. He was all kinds of smiles in the dugout, and that was very nice to see - my wife even commented that it's great to see players smile like that.
The other notable about this game (other than the fact we trounced on the Mariners) was the 5 stolen bases by Scarborough Green. I really think he should be given a shot at a 5th outfielder position. It's too bad he can't hit - because he plays passable defense, and has some ungodly speed - he could be a great leadoff hitter.
This weekend Tom Grieve has a chance to see his son's team clinch the division with him announcing it. That must be cool for him.
As this season draws to a close, I'm finding it harder and harder to sit and watch an entire game without flipping channels, looking at something else on my TiVo... This game was no exception.
We lost, and we had chances. We couldn't follow through and beat the Mariners' closer for the win. Oh well.
Not much to talk about here. We lost 5-0 on a complete game shutout by our traitor old friend, Aaron Sele. He pitched a 6 hit complete game shutout. We couldn't get anything going at all. Period.
About the only highlights on the other side was a pickoff of Rickey Henderson by Ryan Glynn early in the game, and the fact that our bullpen didn't make the game any worse. :)
The final home game of the 2000 season played out pretty much like the rest of the year. Rather irritating weather, and rather irritating performance by the team on the field. After yesterday being 97 degrees with like 80 percent humidity, it was about 60 degrees at the game. Since I'm from up north these temperatures don't bother me, but the day after 97, it's very noticeable.
Kenny Rogers started off by walking the first three batters of the game, and surprisingly only gave up one run that inning. Kenny went five innings, and only gave up a single hit, but he also allowed a career high eight walks. Given that many walks, it's surprising he only gave up two runs in these five innings. When he left, I was feeling pretty good about our chances to win the final home game. However, our usual problem reared it's head. Jonathan Johnson came on and pitched a couple of innings, but gave up two consecutive solo home runs for two more runs allowed - those were his only two hits though, he didn't pitch all that bad. Then the fun began. Tim Crabgrass came in and only pitched 1/3 of an inning, but he walked two, and with an error, ending up allowing four runs, because of Mike Venafro's gopher ball to Mo Vaughn - a towering grand slam into the second level of the upper deck. That was the epitaph for the Ranger's home season. Brian Sikorski came on for the ninth, and was the only pitcher not to allow any runs, but he too walked a batter - bringing the total walks allowed by Ranger pitching to FOURTEEN!!
Offensively, we didn't have much - we had the solo home run by Randy Knorr, and an RBI bloop single by Ruben Sierra in the fourth, scoring Scarborough Green. That was it. Speaking of Ruben, he'll be a trivia question - he made the final out of the home 2000 season, a come backer to the pitcher.
When the Rangers were coming off the field, they got (what I felt to be) a fairly decent standing ovation. Hardly anyone came back out onto the field after the game was over, but I can't be surprised at that - they probably just wanted to get out. Raffy came out, and Scott Sheldon did, and I thought I saw Ruben Sierra, but I wasn't sure. I was very pleased to see the fans give the team applause after the season was over. Given the usual Cowboy mentality that this town has, I figured they'd get booed - but they didn't. I liked that.
Speaking of Raffy, he was given a special framed Rangers jersey before the game in honor of his 400th HR. It looked normal, except the number on the back of the uniform was #400. Was a nice gesture, for sure.
Well, it figures. The one game that I don't have tickets for this series is the one where Raffy gets #400. My wife and I were in Baltimore last year when Cal Ripken missed getting his 400th by about two feet - and we missed this one, too. :)
However, Raffy was the only thing going last night. In this 15-4 loss, all four runs were driven in by Raffy. We had a total of four hits, three of them by Raffy (the other one a single by Ricky Ledee). Rick Helling was bad. Matt Perisho was fair. Darwin Cubillan was awful. Francisco Corder was fair to poor.
Was just an awful night all around - with the lone expection of Rafael Palmeiro who hit his 400th home run. I was watching, and when I saw him hit the ball, I hit pause on my TiVo (man these things are awesome). I went to get my wife, who was in the other room on the phone. When I came back, and backed the game up a few seconds so she could see it all (God, I really love TiVo). I had hit pause without even seeing it go over the fence. It was just one of those shots you could tell was going out off the bat. They shot off the home run fireworks 3 times for this one - which was cool. There was a rather large standing ovation, a curtain call from Raffy, and some nice family moments with his wife and kids who were in the first row behind the on deck circle. One funny note about the home run - a fan in the first row in the lower home run porch had the ball in his hands, and dropped it back onto the field. :)
Was a nice moment in a completely forgettable game. Oh wait, there was one cute thing. The Angels tied an AL record for using four pinch runners in an inning, and the two teams combined to set an AL record by using 5 pinch runners combined in a single inning. :)
My wife and I were at this game - and we had tickets to Sunday's final game, too. We're thinking before we show up, you know, as we don't have tickets to the middle of these three games, that's when Raffy will hit his home run. And of course, I was right. He hit his 400th on Saturday.
Anyway, about this one - Darren Oliver was on the mound tonight, so I just assumed a big loss. Well, Darren didn't pitch all that badly. He went 6.2 innings, allowing six hits, and two earned runs. Was actually a great performance, and really, he deserved a win. However, Anaheim pitchers were better than us. All five of them combined to allow only 8 hits, and 1 earned run. Hard to win when you're outpitched like that.
The frustration of this season played out late, when Frank Catalanotto was ejected for tossing his helmet back out onto the field after arguing a close call. Every replay, and all the announcers said that he was ejected after arguing, but no one seemed to notice that it didn't happen until he was in the dugout already, and his hat had been tossed back out onto the field.
On the injury front, Ricky Ledee was scratched from this game due to stepping on glass at home, and cutting his foot. Rusty Greer was officially shut down for the rest of the season due to the current foot problem he has. I doubt he'll go on the DL now, but that makes yet another player (I think it's 9 without looking it up) that have been finished for the season due to injury.
I skipped back and forth between this game, and some other television I was watching.
It was very cool to see an extra inning win. I tuned back into the game right as Scott Sheldon was about to swing for a home run to tie the game in the ninth. That was cool to see - and then we went ahead in the 11th, but gave up a run, so the game continued.
This was a game that was started by a total of 13 rookies on both teams, out of a possible 20 players total. Rather a lot!
Was nice to see Ruben Sierra get some hits and a few RBI's in this one - I'm really hoping he can hang around for next season, although my gut says he won't.
This was our only win in the Metrodome all season. Sigh.
Hmmm.. A 15-7 loss to the Twins. About the only thing worth talking about in this one was Raffy's 399th home run. :)
No real commentary here either - I was watching Monday Night Football. I checked in during the Ranger game from time to time, but there wasn't much going on.
Rick Helling was the hard luck loser in a game that really was the Joe Mays show. We got shut down 3-1 by the Twins, who have surprisingly had our number this year. After beating the Twins every single game in 1999, it certainly feels like it's a complete opposite this year.
Gabe Kapler continues to hit the ball well, going 2 for 3 and a walk. His average is now .306. I really hope he keeps it together at the start of next year. I've seen too many players figure it all out, get good at the end of the season, only to totally lose themselves the start of the next year.
No commentary on this game, as I was driving back to Dallas from Houston when the game was on.
Was nice to see in the box scores a gob more RBI's for Kapler, though. :)
The Rangers were officially eliminated from playoff contention tonight with this loss. Anyone surprised? :)
I didn't see or hear any of this game, as I was in Houston checking out the new Enron Field (which has some things that are better than the Ballpark - and some worse, but it was an awesome park, an awesome night for baseball, too).
Now this game I was at. I drove to the game actually not knowing who was starting for the Rangers, which is odd for me - as I'm usually up on this. Been rather busy with a few things of late, and haven't been paying as much attention to the Rangers at this stage of the game (let's say that a crappy season wears on the fan web sites too - it's hard to write about a bad team as much. I suppose if I was getting paid for it, I'd be doing it, but since I do this for my own fun, eh..
Anyway, when I found out that Darren Oliver was pitching, I thought "OH god, we'll be down 7-2 by the fourth". Well, guess what? We weren't. Darren actually pitched well, and looked like he belonged here. Darren gave up a bunch of hits, but seemed to get the outs when he needed 'em. When he came out of the game, I felt like he could have stayed in - which was an odd feeling for 2000 - or for 1998, too. :D However, our bullpen was crap. Darwin Cubillan was totally ineffective, and when Jeff Zimmerman came on, he inherited three baserunners. One pitch later, and all four were home, along with the batter - a first pitch salami ball to Damon. Mike Venafro, who came in later, threw one pitch - that pitch hitting Damon (who later scored). What a mess.
We blew our rather large lead, which we had built up with a 5 run first, and a few runs over the next few for a 9-1 lead in the top of the 6th. Our first five batters all scored - it was 5-0 with no outs in the bottom of the first, and with no outs, too! After the fifth, we were up 9-1, and life was feeling pretty good. Then the rails fell off - we gave up a 7 spot in the top of the 6th to bring the Royals to within one. We then topped off the fiasco with two more runs in the top of the 8th, giving the Royals a lead - setting up the worst loss we'd ever given up a lead to get.
However, we came through with one run in the bottom of the 9th. Just when we were feeling good about ourselves again, the Royals went and got yet another run in the top of 10th off and increasingly ineffective John Wetteland. Given the way we usually perform in extra inning games, I figured that was it. Another Wetteland gaffe, and we lose.
However, we showed some spirit in the bottom of the 10th when Pedro Valdes reached first on an infield single, and then went to third on a double by Raffy. Gabe "Mr. RBI" came up, and sac flied to right, scoring Valdes to tie the game. After Ricky Ledee was intentionally walked, Kelly Dransfeldt came up, and slapped a single to left, scoring a rambling Rafael Palmeiro, who chugged all the way from second to score the winning run.
We used a ton of players in this game - we used every position player except Bill Haselman, who was unofficially done for the season anyway with surgery scheduled for Monday. Boy, I have to say that if we make a coaching change with Dick Bosman, I'd love to see Bill Haselman take over - I think he'd be a great pitching coach.
Overall a great game to sit in the ballpark and watch - but I would have rather won without giving up quite so many runs.
Didn't watch any of this game - was busy late at work.
Didn't get to see any of this game, I was taping some other things on the TiVo, and besides, I had just sat through a double header the night before. Starting to reach the point of burnout for the season. Probably would be less burnout if we were playing better, I suppose. :)
Was nice to see that Cal had a great night - too bad it didn't happen last night when I was there, though.
Aaahhh.. Nothing better than a doubleheader. Two games. Same night. Gotta love that. And we won both of them!
The Rangers and Kenny Rogers won the second game of the doubleheader against the Orioles by a 6-5 score. Our offense again provided the thrust of this game, and it was capped off by a 3 run home run by Pedro Valdes in the first inning - his first ever home run.
The lineup for this game was different than the first, the only two players that were the same were Raffy & Alicea. All the other starters were different players than the first - including Randy Knorr who I had never seen before. Given the sparse crowd (24,000), we were able to move around, and ended up three rows from the on deck circle, which afforded my wife a great close up shot of Gabe Kapler when he pinch hit in the bottom of the eighth. :) (She'll probably kill me for saying that)
Heart Attack Wetteland came in and gave up two runs, making the final score much closer than the entire game was. We won, which was great, and the Rangers were handing out free passes to anyone who walked in the door for a game in April or May of 2001 season. Gotta love that. :)
Well, my wife and I got to the doubleheader right as the game started. We figured we'd be there for like 6 or 7 hours anyway, so there was no point in sitting around for an hour before the game started - it's not like we don't know the Ballpark pretty well, anyway. :)
It's been awhile since I went to a doubleheader, and while my wife likes going to games with me, I thought a doubleheader would be pushing it with her. She didn't seem to have the dreaded "Wife/Girlfriend totally bored look" that I've seen on several women in the stands on TV. That is good.
Anyway, it was a nice game. Rick Helling had a bit of the long ball scare early, with a leadoff home run, but that was the only run he gave up, and the only hit till the seventh inning. He pitched wonderfully, and I felt should have pitched a complete game, as his pitch count was way down, leaving after eight innings. Tim Crabtree came on, and didn't give up anything for a change, and preserved the 9-1 win.
Offensively, we had a lot - we tied the game in the bottom of the first to match the longball by Baltimore. We then busted it open with a four spot in the second inning against rookie pitcher John Parrish, two coming on a double by Raffy. Bill Haselman added a solo home run later in the game to cap off a really nice game on both sides of the coin. Too bad we couldn't do this more often this year. :(
Not available - no time.
Not available - no time.
Not available - no time.
Didn't watch this game past the first few innings - however, the 2000 Rangers bullpen did it's usual thing - totally blowing a lead. :)
Well, Rick Helling was the Rick Helling of last season tonight. Gave up a lot of home runs balls, and put us way behind 7-0 in the first inning, and then we were down 10-1 after two.
That set the stage for Scott Sheldon. Johnny Oates had been threatening to play Scott Sheldon in all 9 positions in a game this season, but the word was that it was going to be at home. However, with being blown out so early in this game, that let Johnny have some fun with the lineup.
Scott Sheldon came in during the fourth inning at catcher, and over the rest of the game, he moved all over the place, with the last two places he played being pitcher and third base. Scott even struck out the only batter he faced! :) Scott was the third person in history to do it, and is the FIRST player ever to do it in less than 9 innings (he did it in 5).
I couldn't see the game, due to my long problems with my lame ass cable company, Optel. However, I probably would have tuned out anyway before Scott started his historic moves around the diamond. :)
Dammit - why are we winning against the White Sox? Stop that! I do not want to be helping the Indians. Because we've beaten Chicago the last two nights, their lead is now only 6.5 games. Should be 8.5, if it wasn't for our winning. :(
This was one of those games where both my wife and I expected a big Ranger loss, mostly because of who was pitching this night - Dead Arm Oliver. It took 3+ innings for dead arm to give up a run. In fact, it was his only run. He pitched 6 innings, and probably would have gone further, but his pitch count was way up there. A rather interesting surprise there - I doubt anyone expected Dead Arm to pitch well at all. However, let's see if it happens a few times in a row - remember that dazzling start he had in rehab at AAA, just to be followed by the pasting he got at Tulsa. :) Jonathan Johnson went two innings to get the win in relief, and Wetteland got a save, although he lived up to his reputation of not making it easy at all.
Offensively, we didn't have much else - we only scored two - and neither was an easy run. One in the 5th on a Scott Sheldon double, scoring Ledee. The other was in the top of the 9th on a Chad Curtis single, scoring Frank Catalnotto.
It was nice to get the win, but it was not nice to get it against the White Sox. I also found it interesting (although I can't say why) that two "names" from earlier in Ranger history were playing in the same game, Ruben Sierra & Harold Baines.
You know, with all the losses we've had lately, I actually game into Chicago wanting the Rangers to get swept. A few more wouldn't make any difference now. Why? Lord knows I don't want to help the Cleveland Indians by beating the White Sox. The Indians need to be out of the playoffs. They're starting to become rather annoying just like the Yankees by winning all the time.
This is one more game I missed - I got called into work on an emergency situation when the game was on - I only got to see the start of the game, when we went down 2-0 early.
We called up four players from AAA Oklahoma who finished their season on Monday the 4th. The four are: catcher Randy Knorr, Darwin Cubillan, Kelly Dransfeldt, & old time Ranger Ruben Sierra. Will be interesting to see Sierra up in the bigs. I'll have to make sure to watch the pre-game show Tue night, I'm sure there will be something on him.
Not available - This is the third game in a row I missed. Why? I was out at Texas Stadium seeing the Cryboys get annihilated by the Philadelphia Eagles. Boy, it was a thing of wonder, wasn't it? I hate the Cowboys. :)
On the Rangers side, it was nice to see Ryan Glynn put up this kind of start. Looked good from the box score.
Not available - I didn't see or hear the game at all, I was out at a cat show in Ft. Worth. My wife and I lost our cat to kidney disease a couple of months ago, and we were checking out some of the breeds we were looking at relative to getting a new cat.
Not available - I didn't see or hear the game at all, I was out at an Iron Maiden / Queensryche concert this evening. :)
How come they couldn't have done this the night before when I was there? :)
I'm sorry, but I don't have the time today to write about this - but it was nice to see the Rangers get out there with a big win for a change. I found myself rooting against Wetteland in the top of the 9th, though - I wanted the game to break the all time record - it missed by just a minute. :(
Well, I went to this game, and given the way the Rangers were playing, I wasn't expecting much in the way of attendance. This was one of my season ticket games, and I had heard on TV the other night that the Rangers were offering complimentary upgrades to folks who had tickets in the upper levels. Normally, I sit in Section 326, but I got a free upgrade to Sec 237. What was funny was that the section Lynn & I were in was the most populated section in the stadium it looked like (as it was one of the upgrade sections). Just 20 minutes from game time, it seemed like there was only 5,000 people in the stands. It eventually filled up to 24,000, but still - rather empty. I wasn't a season ticket holder (or even a Ranger fan) the last time the Rangers were playing this bad in the late 70's, but I can just imagine. Hell, I wonder what the players feel like in Montreal night after night.
Anyway, a third straight solid performance by Doug Davis led the Ranger charge. He pitched wonderfully through the first six innings. In the seventh, he ran into a little trouble, giving up two runs, and then our bullpen led the charge to defeat. Crabtree gave up the other three earned runs, although sitting in the stands, it didn't feel like he pitched that badly. Dave Burba on the other side pitched better, unfortunately. He went 6 innings, giving up one (unearned) run, and the other Cleveland bullpen pitchers pitched well (except for Ricardo Rincon). It was just hard to get anything going offensively.
Raffy was ejected in the bottom of the 8th, giving some rise from the spartan crowd. In reading about this game, someone said that it was the first time in Raffy's career that he was ejected (I find that hard to believe), but it was definitely the first player ejection of a Ranger this season - that's not bad at all, considering this was game 132 of 162.
Overall a very warm night, and even though the Rangers lost, and it was a spartan crowd, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I just wish that it wasn't so hot down here - would make coming out more enjoyable, I would think.
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No commentary on this one either. I was on the highways of Texas headed towards the best sausage I've ever had in my life from the Southside Market & BBQ. It's "Elgin Hot Sausage". Check it out.
This is the kind of loss that makes you want to say "Oh, it's not all that bad, we only lost by one, if we had that one extra hit, if we..." But we know better. This season is just bad, so this is the kind of thing that happens all the time. Our bullpen crashed yet again, and we lost the game late.
Wait a minute. Didn't I just say the same thing about yesterday's game? Yeah, I did. This one felt exactly like yesterday's game. Same feel, same thing. We lost to the Yankees in the Bronx by a one run score. Sigh again.
This is more like the Rangers of 2000. That 1-0 win last night had to be a dream. This team couldn't sustain that for more than a game at a time, and even then, only once in awhile.
I actually didn't see any of this game, I was at the Dell Diamond seeing the Round Rock Express beat up on Darren Oliver in a rehab start. If you get a chance to get down to Round Rock next season, go for it. It's a great little park!
I did tune in for a minute to listen to the Rangers game, but they were losing 4-1, so I turned it back off, and watched the game in front of me. :)
I saw the last few innings of this one. Lynn & I were down in the Austin/Round Rock area to see the Drillers play the Round Rock Express on Saturday. We went down on Friday, and after we got in from dinner, and a look around 6th Street in Austin, I caught the end of this one. Going into it, I figured we'd get blown out. David Wells always pitches good at the Ballpark against us, and Doug Davis was the inexperienced rookie going up against him. I figured we'd lose something like 8-1 or so. I was rather shocked to see the score 0-0 when I tuned in around the 8th inning.
Wells went eight innings, giving up eight hits, and no runs. However, Doug Davis was even better, going 8 innings, giving up only four hits, and no runs. For a change, our bullpen managed to keep it going - Wetteland pitched two innings, giving up just one hit, one walk, and nothing else. Mike Venafro came on to pitch the 11th, and didn't give up a thing.
We managed to get to Billy "I have the stupidest beard in all of baseball" Koch for a run in the bottom of the 11th to pull out a 1-0 win in extra innings. A win this season is rare. A win in extra innings is even rarer! This was a spectacular ballgame, one I wish I could have seen in person. The game winning hit was by Rusty Greer, who delivered a game ending winning hit for the 17th time since 1995.
One funny thing - it looked odd to see the umpires in makeshift uniforms - their equipment hadn't arrived, and one of them wore a Rangers cap. It looked silly. :)
This is the kind of loss that makes you want to say "Oh, it's not all that bad, we only lost by one, if we had that one extra hit, if we..." But we know better. This season is just bad, so this is the kind of thing that happens all the time. Our bullpen crashed yet again, and we lost the game late. Sigh.
Man, did it look like Rick Helling was going to cruise to a no hitter. I haven't seen him look so dominating in awhile, and he has been pitching pretty well lately. Unfortunately, he got done in by his old nemesis, the long ball. The Yankees led off with a double to start the game, but then Rick set down the next 17 in a row. However, NY scored three runs on two jacks in the 6th. They added another in the 7th, and Rick was pulled. I felt awful, as he really deserved the win, even though he didn't get it (Crabtree did).
Our offense was in the first, when Denny Neagle pitched really wildly, and we were assisted by two errors, although all four runs in the first inning were earned. We batted around, and had the chance for more (we left two on). Still - I'll take whatever we can get in the Bronx. Raffy put us back on top with a solo home run in the 8th - driving Neagle from the game.
From that point on, there wasn't any more scoring, and John Wetteland had a moment of brilliance to get a save (his first in about a month).
Well, at the start of the game, Brian Sikorski looked like the same pitcher we had on the mound a few days ago in Arlington. Today in the Bronx, he was - for the start of the game, and that's about it. He got bombed by the Bronx Bombers 12-3. It started out OK, and we even got off to a 1-0 lead (on a Raffy home run). However, the 2000 Rangers quickly reared their heads.
We committed two errors, allowed SIX unearned runs, and basically shot ourselves in the foot the entire game. I thought we had a chance at the start of the game, but that quickly went away. Actually, after the score got to 9-1, I had to stop listening, because this game was on during the day, and I was listening at work.
Good thing, as I didn't miss anything.
Doug Davis started this game, and based on his performance in the last few starts of his, I was expecting another problem. Well, this time, we didn't get a problem, we got a really well pitched game from Davis. He pitched the first complete game win of the season for a Rangers pitcher - we had two complete games from Rogers, but they were 8 inning losses.
A complete game win - Quite frankly, at the start of the game, that's what I felt we'd get pitched against us. Not that I'm a big fan of Jeff Fassero, but I was feeling the curse of the former Ranger pitcher pitching against us. However, we finally broke through that in the fifth inning, and took a 6-1 lead.
Of the two runs that Boston did get, only one was earned, so the line will really help Davis' ERA. I'm really hoping that Davis can build on this, and do some other good stuff between now and the end of the year.
What can you say about this game? Pedro Martinez pitched, and that was about all she wrote. We gave up 9 runs, and Pedro gave up nothing at all. End of story. :)
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Figures. David Cone gets it together against us. He was 2-10 before this game. Not anymore. :(
Was nice to see Gabe get his hit late, though.
Well, I thought this game was well in hand, but our 9th inning heart attack (John Wetteland) came in again. And again he blew a game. That's too bad, because Rick Helling got robbed - he should have gotten a win in this game. Actually, it wasn't totally Wetteland's fault, either. Royce Clayton committed an error with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, giving the Red Sox another out, and a win (eventually).
I'm a bit busy in writing this, but I did notice that Bill Haselman got a nice round of applause when he came up to bad (he was a Red Sox catcher for 3 years 95-97).
Of all the things I thought would happen this series, what happened this night is NOT what I ever expected to happen. When this game started, I was feeling pretty down on the Ranger rookie pitchers. I was starting to think "Oh god, there isn't going to be any real help from the farm at all". I was feeling pretty bad about our rookie pitchers.
Then comes Brian Sikorski. The man runs onto the mound and pitches an absolute gem. Is it beginner's luck? Is it that the Yankees don't know anything about him? I'm sure that has something to do with it. However, it's always nice to see such an awesome performance by a kid making his first ever start in the majors. Going 7+ innings, giving up four hits, and no runs. You really can't ask for better than that. It also saved us from being swept at home in a season by the Yankees in our entire club history! Gotta love that, too. :) It was very cool that he got a standing O when finally taken out of the game in the 8th. I loved that Sikorski came in, pitched well, and looked like he belonged there. He didn't look frightened - but if his first start was in Yankee Stadium, that might have changed things.
However, Gabe Kapler's hitting streak came to an end, unfortunately. Still, it was a great light in the recent darkness that is our season. I hope that it didn't get to him so much that he goes back into his shell - he's been awesome since the All Star break, and I hope it continues.
Well, it's the Yankees. We always lose to them, and in a season like this, I expect to get swept in all the games we play (except possibly tomorrow's game - as David Cone is pitching almost as bad as Jose Lima this season). Anyway, the Rangers didn't disappoint.
We were losing 9 pitches into the game 2-0. Actually, I felt Matt Perisho pitched OK the first couple, but couldn't hold it past the 5th. We were only losing 3-0 after 5, and then it was 6-0. At that point, I stopped watching the game, and watched a couple of Star Trek episodes that had piled up on my TiVo. I tuned in late to see that we had scored 3 runs, but as usual, it wasn't enough.
We're now 0-9 in our last 9 games against the Bronx bombers, including last year's sweep in the playoffs. :(
This game lived up to my usual expectations for a Rangers / Red Sox game. Close game, where both teams had chances, and the final score wasn't a 1990's artificially inflated score. The final was 4-2. What was interesting about the scoring was that both teams scored all their runs at once. All the other innings were goose eggs - although the Rangers tried.
I saw the inning where Kenny Rogers gave up four runs. It was the top of the third. As usual, it seems that Kenny was just "this much away" from getting out of the inning and then it breaks open with something. This was the same. It didn't really feel like an inning where he should have given up four runs. But he did. We managed to tack two of our own on in the fourth, but I didn't see that.
The reason was that I was on the Jumbotron for the birthday announcements after the fifth inning. I left my seats in the top of the fourth to make sure I was there at the top of the fifth for the setup for that. If anyone was at the game, I was the guy with the small sized Pooh bear doll dressed in a small baseball outfit.
Anyway, the rest of the game was rather uneventful, with the sole exception of Gabe Kapler's further extending his newly owned hitting streak record to 26. He got a standing ovation from what I could see. We had a shot of getting back into the game, as we had the bases loaded - but a pop out into the Red Sox dugout was caught by a falling Ed Sprague for the final out of the inning - and our final chance at some runs for this game.
When a knuckleball pitcher is on the mound, he's either totally unhittable, or gives up a ton of runs. On this night, Tim Wakefield was both. For the first three innings, Wakefield put up donuts on the board. Then in the fourth, it came apart for him. Wakefield walked the bases full (two of them on 4 pitch walks). He went 2-0 on Ricky Ledee, and then Ledee jacked a pitch into the right field stands for a grand slam, and a quick 4-0 lead. Wakefield then promptly walked the next batter with four pitches, and was yanked. Those four runs were all we needed for the win, which was nice.
Rick Helling deserved it, after getting screwed in a 2-0 loss the last time out. Rick's now alone in second place with wins in the AL, and is in third place in ERA with 3.61. I'm glad Rick is pitching this well - if he keeps it up next year too, he's in for a great payday as his contract is up after the 2001 season. :)
Gabe Kapler was the other big story of this game. He broke Mickey Rivers' 24 game hitting streak, and now stands alone in the Ranger record books with that hit. In watching the hit, it was the kind of play that Nomar Garciaparra always makes - a little part of me wonders if Nomar didn't intentionally let the ball go under his glove, knowing what it meant to Kapler.
Usually, when the Rangers play the Boston Red Sox, we have a great game. We win, or we lose, but we always seem to play a good game. Not tonight - this game was an exception to that rule. My wife and I love it when we play the Red Sox, as she can cheer for Nomar (she got into baseball in 1997, when Nomar was in his rookie season), and the overall good play we always seem to get when playing the Red Sox.
There wasn't much to cheer about in this game. Especially when Ryan Glynn came out of the game. The next inning started, and someone was passed out on the ground. After seeing what happened with Larry Dierker last season, I wasn't too thrilled at seeing it happen again - much less in our own dugout. The game was stopped, and since I have TiVo, I paused the action (gotta love that feature), and went and got my wife to check this out. We watched as they worked on Ryan in the dugout - and the one thing both of us had to say was this.. If he was passed out unconsious on the dugout floor, why on earth was everyone cramming around him? Wouldn't giving him more space be better than crowding him? Yeesh. Anyway, he eventually got up off the floor, and was wheeled out on a wheelchair - they didn't use the truck that had driven in from left field with a stretcher. It was a bad thing to see - I wouldn't wish anything like that on my most disliked player (mostly Atlanta Braves), hope it all works out well for Ryan.
Anyway, the only really great thing that happened this game was Gabe Kapler tying Mickey Rivers' 20 year old Ranger record for 24 consecutive games with a hit. That's a nice thing to do - hope he breaks it tomorrow night. This was by far the brightest spot of the night for the Rangers.
No update available from me. I had a hard drive crash on Wednesday, which took me two days to recover from. No time on Friday to do an update for this game.
No update available from me. I had a hard drive crash on Wednesday, which took me two days to recover from. No time on Friday to do an update for this game.
You know, after we loaded the bases the first time and didn't score anything, I had a feeling that it probably would come back and haunt us. After the second time in two innings we loaded the bases and didn't score, I was sure it would come back and haunt us. It did.
We got shut out by the Indians 2-0 in a game that Rick Helling really REALLY got screwed into a loss. He pitched probably the best, most dominating game I've seen him pitch probably all year, and he got nothing at all back from our team. For some reason, we always seem to pitch well in Cleveland, unfortunately, so did they tonight. This is one of those games you don't mind losing, because it was a great game of baseball - but DAMMIT! We couldn't push anything across.
The tag by Haselman in the 7th that was somewhat controversial looked to either be a tie or a good call by the ump in calling him safe. It was one of those calls that could really have gone both ways. Either side would have argued.
Some good did come out of this game. A wonderfully pitched game by Helling - Rusty Greer got his 1000th career hit - and Gabe Kapler extended his hitting streak to 21. The longest in the majors this year is 22, and the longest by a Ranger all time is 24. Just a couple more to go - that would be very cool, considering how poor his first half was hitting wise.
A nice win. Ryan Glynn pitched really well, I thought - and other than the gopher balls to Dave Martinez & Carlos Delgado, he kept the ball down, got outs, and generally pitched like he belonged here. Was nice to see him get teh win, even though our bullpen tried to blow it for him.
Gabe Kapler extended his hitting streak to 20 this game, which is very cool. He's hovering at about .280 - which would be a career high for him. Mike Lamb got three doubles in the game, and B.J. Waszgis had a lot of firsts.. First major league start, first major league hit, first major league RBI, and first major league run scored, and first major league win. :)
Not a whole lot else to say, but it was nice to keep ourselves from losing our first four game sweep since 1997.
I didn't get to see much of this game, as I was at a surprise birthday party for a co-worker's wife during the afternoon.
However, I appear to not have missed a lot. We got beat by David Wells (again). From looking at the scores, it didn't appear that we were that bad, and Doug Davis wasn't awful, but he needs to learn.
Gabe Kapler got his hitting streak to 19 - which is very cool. Team record is 24.
Well, another game that's indicative of the problems of the 2000 Rangers. Our bullpen.
Matt Perisho pitched OK, if not awesome as a starter. He went 6 innings, allowing 3 earned runs (2 unearned). He walked three and struck out two. Then comes our bullpen. Fransisco Cordero (who to me is starting to look like he needs to spend extended time at AAA), only pitched one inning, and gave up three earned runs. Venafro (who got the loss) pitched only 2/3 of an inning, and gave up two earned runs. Sigh. The only person not to give up any runs was Crabtree, who only pitched 1/3 of an inning.
Offensively, we scored 8, which isn't bad, but when you give up 10.... We had two home runs (one by Haselman, one by Raffy), two doubles (one by Raffy, one by Kapler), and a bunch of singles. Speaking of Kapler, his hitting streak is now at 18, passing Todd Zeile on the Rangers list (Todd had 17).
We are definitely a mediocre team. That's for sure. The goal now has to be .500 for the end of the year.
After the game, we traded Dave Martinez to the Blue Jays - his fourth team this year - for the infamous PTBNL. We called up outfielder Pedro Valdez at the same time.
There's not a whole lot to say about this one. We were outpitched. Plain and simple.
Gabe Kapler blasted a solo home run in the second inning - extending his hitting streak to 17. However, that was it for our offense. Nothing more.
Kenny Rogers pitched fairly well, going six innings, allowing two earned runs, but got no run support and lost the game. Frank Castillo pitched extremely well, and the Kapler jack was the only blemish of the day for him.
One of those games you don't mind losing, was a great game.
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I was at this game, and going into it, I felt like we'd get shut out 2 or 3 to nothing. James Baldwin always seems to kill us. And for the first several innings, it felt like that was going to come true. We were shut out for about 4.2 innings. We finally managed to scratch a run out of him in the bottom of the fifth with a Haselman double, and a Lamb single. That tied the game at one.
Ryan Glynn pitched equally well as Baldwin - also giving up just 1 run on 5 hits. Unfortunately, he was matched against Baldwin, or he would have gotten a win. Glynn went seven innings, allowing 6 hits and one run. An outstandingly excellent performance. Then came the downfall of the 2000 season - the bullpen. Doug Davis came in to only two batters (a strikeout and a single). Zimmerman came in and was awful, allowing the inherited runner to score, as well as one of his own. Actually, Zim probably should have had a lot more runs scored on him - he just didn't have anything.
In the bottom of the 8th, we managed to get to Baldwin a bit - we got some runners on, and then the Chisox started playing bullpen magical chairs. Kelly Wunsch came on, only pitched 1/3 of an inning, and then Bobby Howry came on - and we got to him. We managed to load the bases, and then Gabe Kapler came through with a single, scoring two runs to tie the game up. However, Raffy made another ill advised attempt to take an extra base, ending the inning at third.
In the ninth, John Wetteland came on, and gave up a gopher ball - but retired the three outs in pretty quick fashion. However, the longball by Ranger killer Charles Johnson won the game for Chicago - we started to mount a comeback in the 9th, but Scar Green was thrown out when he overslid second base on a successful steal attempt.
I totally forgot this game was on, I was watching the Pittsburgh Steelers whoop the Dallas Cowboys' asses. :) That was fun.
I saw the ninth inning - that was it. Was nice to come back against a pitcher who hadn't given up a run since May, but our rally fell short.
I didn't see much of this game - as I was out shooting pool with a few friends. In reading about it, the only really interesting things were these:
Gabe Kapler extended his hitting streak to 13, and is now batting over .270. B.J. Waszgis made it into his first ever major league game, and Ricky Ledee got into his first Ranger game.
That's about all I have to say about this one. :)
The club continues to play good the last week or so. This game had a lot of things, except great starting pitching. Ours was OK, theirs wasn't good at all. Rick Helling looked positively Loaizaish in this game. He didn't have anything going, he couldn't strike people out, and was generally sloppy. Quite frankly, it's amazing he didn't give up more than he did. Detroit's starter, Brian Moehler, was a pitcher that the Rangers always had problems with in the past - not tonight. We put up an eight spot in the third inning - which was the main offense of the game. That was our largest single inning output of the season so far, and it's always nice to see things like that in person. We probably would have had more, but Jerry Narron waved Raffy around third, and he was way WAY out - not even close. That out was the end of the inning.
However, those weren't the only fireworks of the evening. In the 7th, Tim Crabtree came on, and was pitching to Juan Gonzalez. His first pitch was pretty inside - and Juan extremely over-reacted. He jabbered and pointed at the mound, took a step towards the mound, then Bill Haselman got in front of him, and then both of them started shouting at each other. At this point, both dugouts and both bullpens emptied. That's about all that happened. Both him and Crabree stayed in the game - to some EXTREME booing from the stands. I felt that all the goodwill that was created by Juan the previous night with his helmet waiving, and the cheers were wiped out. Juan eventually made an out that inning, and it was one of the loudest cheers I'd heard for an out in a long time.
One other thing. I was at this game, and had written down the lineups - and then a minute before the game started, I noticed 3 or 4 people had changed. So, I made the changes, and noticed Segui wasn't there. I thought something might be up, so I had my wife get out the small portable radio I have in our "Baseball bag", and started listening. Eric Nadel said Segui was scratched 12 minutes before the start of the game - which really led to me thinking he was gone. It wasn't till about the 6th inning or so that they announced Segui had been traded for Ricky Ledee. I announced that rather loudly in my section, and it got quite a reaction from the folks around me - I was apparently the only person who was listening on the radio, in addition to watching the game. :)
Gabe Kapler kept his hitting streak alive - I think he'll be the new #5 hitter in the lineup now with Pudge out, and Segui traded. Was a nice balanced offensive night. Every starter had at least one hit, and everyone except Raffy scored at least one run. In addition, everyone except Alicea drove in a run, too!
Overall, was a great game to watch in person. Always nice when your team wins, and the added flavor of Juan in the other uniform (despite the fracas in the seventh) made it for a really enjoyable game.
We're now 3-0 in the Post Pudge Era. :) Gabe Kapler has also homered in the last four straight games, tying a club record - in addition to having a 10 game hitting streak. Looks like he's finally come out of his shell.
Ryan Glynn looked pretty good - his only mistake was a home run ball served up to Juan Gonzalez. I kind of figured he'd hit at least one home run during this trip back - didn't think it would be in the second at bat.
Speaking of that - Juan's tip of the cap to the fans was pretty nice - I wasn't sure what kind of reception he'd get - the TV guys said there were a few boos, but I didn't hear 'em on TV. I'm going to Friday's game, I wonder if the reaction will be the same.
Was the night of home run balls off your former club. Juan did it, as did Gabe Kapler & Bill Haselman. Raffy also joined in with a three run home run of his own to match Juan's.
Surprisingly, the entire AL West lost besides us - we've made up three games on the Mariners in the last 3 days. I still don't think we have a shot at doing anything, but it's nice to see us not roll over and die after the Pudge injury.
There's been a lot of talk in the press lately about bringing Juan back. Quite frankly, if we bring him back, I see it as at the expense of Gabe Kapler. If they can figure out a way to keep Kapler and bring back Juan, I'd be for it. Otherwise, I don't want him back.
We're now 2-0 in the Post Pudge Era. :)
I didn't see most of this game, as I fell asleep on the couch (I'm still on the medicine my doctor prescribed a few weeks back - it makes me sleepy sometimes). I did get to see the start of it, when we jumped out to a lead early, and I saw the end of the game. Disappointing to see Wetteland blow another save, but it was great to see the win in the bottom of the ninth from Rusty. He was overdue for that kind of thing. :)
It was also funny to hear Tom Grieve getting hysterical over the "They're in hot pursuit" (over the Cat triple that went careening across the outfield).
It was really nice to see the big sticks come out last night. It was not nice to see Darren Oliver not be able to hold anything. Darren is turning out to be a big disappointment - which is a shocker, considering he pitched fairly decently in St. Louis this past season. I'm no expert here - I just have the gut fan reaction, but I don't know what his problem is. He really seems like the pitcher we sent away in 1998. I'm sure he'll last this season - I doubt anyone would want him now - he doesn't have a lot of trade value - but next year? Who knows.
I was a bit disappointed when the Angels got off to a one run lead in the first, but we took it back in the bottom, with the first of our two jacks last night - one from Catalnotto, and another from Raffy (a second level shot). We had another home run in the third from Rusty Greer, and we were up 5-1. However, that's where Oliver couldn't hold the lead. He was pulled before the lead got totally away, but before he could get a win. Gabe Kapler followed up with his second home run in as many days (looks like he's finally gotten it together) in the fourth - but that was it for our scoring (and our baserunners actually) until the bottom of the 8th.
At that point, we were tied at 6, and Bert Green got on as a pinch runner for David Segui. Bill Haselman hit a single to left on a hit and run, and Green made it all the way to third, arriving at the same time as the ball, more or less forcing the throw to be off, and the ball to get away, allowing Green to run home and score. Personally, I felt Green should have been out for being so wildly out of the basepaths, but I'll take it. :) Gabe Kapler finished off the scoring with a two run triple to put us up three.
Wetteland came in, got three outs, and another save. Was a nice win - the first without Pudge.
This might very well be the worst Rangers game I've ever watched. Both from the loss standpoint and from the Pudge standpoint. I also felt that this game was a very good microcosm of the problems the Rangers have had the entire season.
I felt we had it won early, there was just a good vibe, even after the Pudge injury (which we didn't know the severity of yet). It just felt good. Then Wetteland lost the save in the ninth, and I felt that we caught a break with the balk call in the 10th. Then it was reversed, and I just felt that we'd lose the game after that - we did. It was interesting to see Scott Sheldon in as catcher in the extra innings. He didn't look all that bad out there, and almost gunned down a base stealer - was a pretty close play!
Plus Pudge being announced as being out for the season was just horrible. We've lost a lot of players for the entire season this year - and whatever thin thread the Rangers were still hanging on to this year was just cut. Start for next year. And make it work next year, as there may very well be another player's strike after the 2001 season. :(
Due to work pressures, I won't have time to write about this game.
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I didn't get to see the game again due to the oft told incompetence of my cable company. I was so irritated, that I didn't want to listen on the radio. I eventually did, and heard Gabe Kapler's home run, and the rest onwards. Was nice to see the bullpen hold on to one after awhile. Gabe's home run was the first in awhile, and the first one he's hit (as a Ranger) that my wife and I didn't witness with our own eyes. :) His new bald look must be doing something, as he's batting something like .370 since the All-Star break, and has raised his batting average to .261.
Also, it seems that the Rangers made the right decision with the Scar Green / Jason McDonald choice a few weeks ago in keeping Scar. I'm hoping he can hold on beyond this year - I've always liked him for some reason - although his numbers have never set anyone on fire. The throw he made in the bottom of the ninth to win the game was awesome!