Recently in 2001 Game Recaps Category
We finished out the 2001 season with a win. A big win, as it denied the Mariners the all time record for number of wins in a season. As impressive as 116 wins is, I quite honestly don't believe they deserved the all time record. The reason is that the 1906 Cubs who also have 116 wins did it much better, doing it in less games than the Mariners took to get 116. If the '06 Cubs had played 162 wins, I'd say it's a fair bet that they would have gotten to 120 wins, or given their percentage, possibly 125. Even if the Mariners had gotten 117, I don't know if it would have meant as much. For me, it would have been one of those asterisk awards.
Raffy got a home run, his 47th, and combined with Arod's 53, they had a total of 100 HR's, which was really nice to see from the #3 & #5 hitters! Overall, there's not a whole lot else to talk about for this game.
The only other story was the announced firing of Doug Melvin before the game. This came as a big surprise to me, and somewhat of a disappointment. I really liked Melvin, and I'm concerned that he'll go elsewhere, and finish the job he started here with someone else's team. :(
Didn't watch this game, even though there's only two left. I'm probably not watching Saturday's game either, but I will be watching the last one of the season on Sunday.
The less said about this one, the better.
Boy, what a time to lose a game like this. This is the kind of game that's made for the playoffs, and yet it's the 88th loss of our season. Doug Davis was marvelous, giving up only a solo home run, and going all the way.
Not much else to say about this one, except we were finally shut out for the first time this season - I was really hoping we could have pulled that one off. :(
Another game - another mediocre pitching performance by us, and another loss.
Sounds familiar, eh?
Oh yeah, we're forty one games out first now.
Well, normally you'd want to play baseball in October. However, when your team is this far out, and this far behind, it's not the kind of baseball you want to play.
Darren Oliver against Barry Zito. Gee, I wonder who will win this one? Zito was his usual great pitcher. Oliver was his usual not so great pitcher - giving up 7 runs and 9 hits in 5.1 innings.
It's getting pretty hard to write about these guys given what kind of season they've had. Yeah, I know they're playing hard and all, but as a fan, I'm a bit burnt out writing about them losing. :(
Didn't get to see any of this game, but it was nice to get a win. There's still an outside shot we could escape the basement this season, but we'd have to win just about all of our final six games, all against Oakland & Seattle. Most likely not happening.
Home runs all over the place on this one. Arod hit his 50th in the first, Carlos Pena got his third, Raffy had his 46th - hell, even Scott Sheldon got in the act!
I'm writing this 5 days later, I don't remember much about this one than all the home runs. :)
Didn't get to go to the final home game of the season, due to the fact that I have a bowling league that starts at 6PM, and there would have been no way to get from Arlington to Garland within an hour, especially at rush hour traffic. Turns out the game wasn't over until 5:35PM anyway, and unless Mr. Hicks was going to fly me by helicopter back to Garland, I couldn't go.
We ended up the home season 41-41. Not all that bad I guess considering our overall record. Hope we do better next year.
About the only positive thing you can say about this game is that we still have not been shut out this year. Oh yeah, Danny Kolb & Juan Moreno were really good out of the bullpen. Other than that - we sucked. :)
This was bittersweet for me, as it was the last baseball game I'll be going to until next April. I'll really miss it. I would have gone to the Wed final home game, but it's at 2PM. I have a bowling league on Wed, and I have to be there at 6PM. Not enough time to get from Arlington to Garland. :(
Well, after the sweep of Anaheim, I guess we're back to reality with the Mariners coming in.
We lost this game - and it showed - we lookd pretty bad out there. I was at the game, but I admit I didn't pay as much attention, as I was with a friend of mine who I tend to talk a lot with, so I was missing big chunks of the game.
Didn't miss much from the looks of the wire reports.
I didn't see or hear any of this game due to being over some friends' house and watching football.
However, it was really nice to see that Arod broke the HR records of both Ernie Banks, as well as the Ranger team record. Looking good for the first 50 HR season by any Ranger player ever. Raffy continues to hit HR's lately too, getting his 45th.
Rick Helling was great again, going 7 innings, and giving up only one run - he left with 98 pitches, I wonder why he left early?
I didn't see or hear any of this game, but in looking at the box score, I see Raffy really opened it up with two home runs, as well as 3 RBI's. Aaron Myette pitched pretty good, going 7 and giving up 4. Overall a nice win, although I didn't see any of it. :)
I was at this game, one of the last of the season I'm going to. Kind of bittersweet having baseball back after the national tragedy, yet being so close to being over for the season as well. I might feel different if the Rangers had any playoff hopes left.
Anyway, Rob Bell continued to pitch mediocre, he wasn't horrible, but he wasn't great. Arod on the other hand tied Ernie Banks' SS HR record with his 47th, and Carlos Pena had a real mixed bag. He fell a HR short of the cycle, but had a really rough time in the field. He's young, he'll put it together eventually.
I didn't see or hear any of this game - I was watching some other TV this evening - Whose Line is it Anyway, followed by the President, and then my wife watched Big Brother 2's finale - by that point, I wasn't interested in watching what was left of the game, and by the score, eh - I didn't miss anything. :)
Looking at the boxscore, I see Raffy had another home run, and Mike Young went 3 for 4, in addition to Ruben Sierra going 2 for 4 with an RBI. Not particularly stellar offensive performance overall, but still was nice to see another HR by the Rangers. Pitching wise, two folks who have turned out to be busts gave up the runs - Darren Oliver & Mark Petkovsek. Mark gave up three in one inning (on a HR to Eric Chavez).
I'm going to the game Friday night against the Angels. Hopefully we win that.
Game two back after the rather unscheduled break, and the Rangers big bats came out in a big way.
I didn't see much of this, as I was at my bowling league, and was 10 lanes away from the closest TV, but what little I saw looked good. Doug Davis continued to look good early. I'm very confident in him now - moreso than some of our regulars (Helling/Rogers). Arod hit his 46th HR of the year, which I think puts him one behind Jim Thome, as well as Ernie Banks for the all time HR record by a shortstop.
I got home from bowling, and turned the latter part of the game on, and saw the two home runs by Pena & Haselman. Overall a good game to win - kept the A's from clinching the Wild Card a little, although the Mariners officially clinched the West last night thanks to us. :)
NOTE: I had taken a break from doing game commentary again after the August 26th game, and I was going to start again around mid September, then 9/11 happened, so there was a larger than usual break. This was the first game the Rangers played after the 9/11 attacks.
Well, this game wasn't really about who won or lost. It was about playing baseball again. A lot has been said in the media about getting back to normal, and I agree with that - however, I also feel that baseball should carry on no matter what happens to this country. I also believe that the crisis in our nation right now will make a labor agreement much easier to reach - or at least it should be. I don't think anyone, even the biggest MLB supporters, will have the stomach for a bunch of millionaires whining and bitching at each other over how much more money they should make.
Last night however, my wife and I attended a Rangers & A's game in Arlington. My wife had found some US flag stickers, and I put one on the back of my Rangers cap (I wore the blue cap with red & white "T" lettering, as well as a red T-Shirt, so I was Red White & Blue). We also had brought a flag or two from home, as we weren't sure how many flags we'd get given at the Ballpark. Anyway, as we were walking up, I could see the gate in the distance, and it looked to me like Ranger players were at the gate - as we got closer, I could tell that Ranger players were at the gate. It didn't occur to me that the players might be handing out flags. But they were. It was very cool to see the Rangers handing out flags to folks entering the park. I got my first flag from Arod (who is MUCH MUCH taller than he seems on TV when you're standing right next to him). I also got one from Mike Lamb. I stood there and watched the players (I was at the first base gate) hand out flags for awhile, and it was pretty cool. I also went up and talked to Mike Lamb & Mike Young for a minute or two. Didn't want to bother them, but I did want to say hi. My wife got a flag from Kenny Rogers who also patted her on the back and said thanks for coming, which made my wife feel really good. Was nice to see the players handing out flags. One note though - there were a lot of cameras there, mostly all pointed at ARod. That's fine and all, but let's pay attention to some of the other players there. My wife and I then ended up walking to home plate and the third base entrance to see who was there. Home plate had Ruben Sierra, Raffy, & Pudge (on a crutch). Gabe Kapler was there, who is my wife's (and probably a lot of other women's) favorite player. He was just kind of walking around, not saying anything, so I walked up to him and wished him well on his baby on the way (which I had read in the paper) - he seemed appreciative of that and thanked me. Of course, my wife is just standing there going ah-ga-ga-ga, too afraid to say something, apparently. I tried to break the ice by saying hi to Gabe, but she still didn't say anything more than "Hello". :)
Anyway, it was great seeing the players there - and the pregame stuff was even more emotional. I'm not generally a person to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but I teared up pretty good with the pregame video - and I even sung the national anthem - most people don't. Also, for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like going "STARS" when they got to that part of the song. Overall, was a very nice ceremony, and I felt for Pat Mahomes, who had a NYPD cap on.
All in all a very emotional night, and I'm glad they still did the stuff after the hour rain delay to start the game. Don't even care much about the actual game itself, you can read the commentaries below for that - I was just glad to be back out at the Ballpark.
I didn't see any of this game as I was over a friend's house for a dinner party. Won't say anything suffice it to say that we beat Pedro. Even though he wasn't at his best, that's always good to beat one of the top pitchers.
Of course, taking 2 of 3 from Boston helps the Yankees which I didn't want to do. :(
Where do I go with this one? Yeesh!
I went to this game with my wife, who was a major trooper about the length of the thing. I was meeting some friends from online at this game. Turns out it was the first EVER baseball game for the woman who went. Boy, what a first ever game to go to, eh? 18 innings. We won in a spectacular fashion in the bottom of the 18th. Well, maybe not that spectacular, but given how long it'd been going on, we were kind of glad that it had ended. :)
I'm not going to recap the entire game, the summaries below do that well enough. However, there were two totally spectacular defensive plays in the 17th inning by our guys to keep it going - plus a great pickoff by Chris Michalak (two days in a row for that). Arod had the kind of defensive play you see in the first inning, and Chad Curtis had a dive that was also an early inning play, not a 17th inning play. Kudos to both those guys for running it out like that at 1AM!
One thing about this game.. I've always wondered during a game how many balls are used during a game. Tonight I decided to count. I kept track of all the balls that were used during the actual game itself. Not counting the ones that were tossed around between innings, just actual game balls. I don't have my scorecard with me as I write this, but I'm pretty sure it was around 145. I also counted the total pitches for the game, and I'd see three figures on ESPN, MLB, and the AP wire. My count was higher than all of them - all of the ones I listed were all different, too. I counted about 657. Someone else had 602, and someone else had 62something. Either way, it was a lot - I'm never doing that again!
What was interesting about this game is that after we got to the 14th and beyond it became a communal experience for those of us left in the stands (yeah, my wife and I (and my friends) were there till the end). My wife was ready to pass out, and was desperately hoping for the end of the game for quite awhile
Oh yeah, speaking of my wife... She really REALLY wanted to see Nomar play, and out of all the players Boston had, he was the only one not used (save for some starting pitchers). That really bummed her out, as Nomar is probably her favorite player.
Well, this was bobblehead night. I decided to attend this - figured I'd get one. I wanted the Nolan Ryan one, but the game started while I was in the air coming home from vacation. So I headed out early and got mine. I had bought a $5 ticket, but when I did, I was told the entire first 7 rows up in the $5 sections (341-345) were sold out. I wonder how many of those were people who came for the bobbleheads and left. Last time I checked, Pudge bobbleheads on Ebay were getting a few bucks. I'm keeping mine.
As for the game itself.. It was a really great game until the 8th inning. I've always said playing Boston brings out the best in both teams, and through 7, we had a great tight game. It was 4-3 Texas at that point, but then we blew it in the 8th giving up a grand slam to Trot Nixon. That pretty much sums it up. :)
Hideo Nomo was brilliant through 6 - not giving up much of anything. At one point, he had given up just two hits, both to Catalanotto. Aaron Myette didn't look bad, either. Went 5.1 innings, giving up three earned runs. Michalak looked good with his pickoff move. Kolb on the other hand gave up the gopher ball which lost the game for us. Too bad, as he wasn't awful, either.
The Yankees looked really un Yankee like in this game. Never mind the fact that they lost, they just looked sloppy as hell. They most certainly did NOT look like the three time defending World Champions. Not at all.
Darren Oliver looked like the Yankees usually look to us - which was his first win in almost a month. While we scored eight times, we didn't have any home runs, and only two extra base hits during this entire game.
Figures - if we end up winning on Thursday, I can say that I went to the one game the Yankees won this series. Bummer. :)
Why couldn't they have done this last night?
I was working again in the evening, so I couldn't pay a lot of attention to this, but it was nice to hear the Rangers blast off so many times against the Yankees and El Duque. In fact, I'm just going to list the home runs from the box score. THat about sums up this game pretty damn well, except for Ruben Sierra's 5-5 with 2 HR night. What a night for him!
ALEX RODRIGUEZ (38) OFF O HERNANDEZ IN THE 1ST, 1 ON
FRANK CATALANOTTO (9) OFF O HERNANDEZ IN THE 2ND, 1 ON
RAFAEL PALMEIRO (33) OFF O HERNANDEZ IN THE 3RD, 0 ON
RUBEN SIERRA (15) OFF O HERNANDEZ IN THE 3RD, 0 ON
RUBEN SIERRA (16) OFF WOHLERS IN THE 8TH, 0 ON
#@)(%*)@$%('ing Yankees!
Dammit! Today was my birthday. I've always had this tradition of going to a baseball game on my birthday (or as close to it as possible). Even though we were up against Roger Clemens, I thought we'd make a game out of it. And after the game started, I thought we were going to win it!
It was an awesome game up until the 8th inning. After that point it all fell apart. Rick Helling looked great - he gave up one home run ball, but then lost it after 5, and ended up giving up four runs. Danny Kolb came in, and was spectacular! He went 1.2 innings, with three strikeouts in a span of five batters. The usually good Juan Moreno came in and the Yankees lit him up bg time. A few home runs eliminated our lead, and we never recovered. The wind seemed to be gone. And to cap off the weirdness, Pat Mahomes came in and didn't give up anything. Go figure!
While Aaron Myette didn't sparkle, it was nice to see the Rangers get a win.
Seemed to be the hit batter game, as there was a total of 5 players hit on both sides. None seemed intentional to me, but the press is making it out to be a beanball fest. There was also five home runs in this game, three for the Rangers. Raffy, Arod, & Mike Lamb hit home runs.
Wasn't a terribly exciting game to watch (I kept flipping over to Astros/Pirates, which wasn't much better as it was a blowout). However, the wife was out seeing a movie with a friend, so it was nice seeing some baseball by myself. Sorry, not much commentary from me, today's yet another horribly busy day at work.
Also, we get Roger Clemens on Monday night (along with El Duque & Pedro Martinez) this coming week. Oh joy! :)
Rob Bell is starting to look like the player we traded away to get him. He's playing sloppy, has moments of brilliance, but hasn't ever put it together totally. However, I'm not down on him yet, I still feel he will be great, but with the performance today, it's hard to tell. Of the five runs the Jays scored, three were a direct result of Rob Bell's wild pitches. All three came with someone on third - who then scored. That is not good.
I missed the start of this game, as I was TiVoing the Astros/Pirates game, which overlapped the start of the Rangers game, so when I started watching, it was 1-0, and I came in just in time to see Bell's two wild pitch runs in the first. That didn't set me up in a good mood. However, I was OK with the game as it progressed - going into the bottom of the sixth, we were only down 3-1, with our sticks, I could deal with that. However, we then went down 5-1, which is also not that big of a deal, but the wind was kind of out of my sails. I started skipping through the game, but started watching again in the top of the 8th. Glad I did..
We put three across in the top of the eighth - although it should have been more, Raul Mondesi made a great catch on Pudge with the bases loaded in right, not allowing anyone to score, although Sierra came through right after that with a two run single.
Pudge got another chance in the ninth - Billy "I have the stupidest beard of all time" Koch was in, and I expected us to lose, being down 5-4. However, he was not himself. We scored the tying run on a Catalonotto single, and then after Arod was intentionally walked to load the bases, Raffy reached on an infield single, giving us the go ahead run. Then, Pudge coming up for the second straight inning with the bases loaded did not disappoint. A grand slam of epic proportions - it was one of those instant "Goodbye" balls - a serious grand slam, putting a major exclamation point on this win. I didn't get to see any more, as the program ended on my TiVo (there was something else I really wanted to watch at 6PM, which is about when this happened), but I see that there was another home run in the 9th, giving us two more runs, for a total of 12. Really nice finish, I'm glad I didn't bail out on the game earlier.
Having a TiVo affords you certain luxuries when watching a baseball game gone bad. When things are ugly, you can skip past bad parts in a hurry if you want. Lately I've found myself doing that more and more. When the Rangers fell behind, I started getting bored, and was skipping through a lot. It's to the point where I almost don't even want to watch the Rangers in the field, because the pitching is mostly horrible.
As the game started, I was underwhelmed by the pitching matchup - a mostly failed Rangers pitching duel - Loaiza vs. Oliver. Yawn. However, Loaiza pitched long, if not spectuacularly. He gave up a couple of runs in the first inning (as did Oliver), but that was all Loaiza gave up. Oliver, on the other hand, gave up a few. Then someone came on who I don't have a lot of confidence in anymore - Pat Mahomes. He gave up FOUR home runs in one inning. At this point, I was already watching the game in 60x speed, so I got to see him give them all up in the span of like 10 seconds. :)
That's about the only positive thing about this game other than Arod's two solo home runs.
Oh yeah, former Ranger Jeff Frye hit for the cycle - there was a lot of junk in the press about him holding up for a single when he clearly could have had a double. Feh - I think he did exactly what he should have done. At that point there was nothing left teamwise to go for, he should have eased up and stayed with the single for the cycle. Good for him.
Ugh - another loss. It's really hard to continue to write daily about a team that loses so much, but as I'm a fan, and not actually getting paid for this, I can decide if I don't want to write. However, I don't want to be like Dallas Cowboy fans and care only when their team is winning, so I plow on - but it is hard to write about a team that loses so much. :)
I watched the start of this game, feeling that we'd have a good shot at winning - because Doug Davis, our most reliable pitcher lately was on the mound. IN the start of the game it went pretty good, but in typical Ranger fashion they wore us down, but it again didn't feel like we got blown away, you're watching the game and you go, "just when did we lose this game"? I stopped watching for awhile, and then tuned back in, and we had taken the lead, but gave it back up again. Methinks there will be major changes in the bullpen during the offseason.
I don't have the time to write commentary for this game either, as I'm still working on the big project at work today. However, it was another Ranger loss - there's too many of them this year. 68 is about what you should have for an entire season, not your total at Aug 14th.
I'm back. First off, let me say that I was away on vacation from Aug 3rd to August 10th. I decided not to cover the games from that time, as well as the Indians series at home due to the fact that I wanted a break. Since returning, I've been obscenely busy (working a 20 hr day, and a 16 hour day back to back), and I felt I didn't have the time to go back and update these games.
Because of that, I have no actual commentary for this game either - as I was up at work, and couldn't pay attention to the game. I had it on, but I couldn't really listen to it, because I had so much going on at the time.
Oh my!
Day games are tough for me, because I have to work, so I can't always pay attention. TOday was no exception. However, I caught enough of it - what a blastfest! Four home runs to answer the Yanks 5 last night. We had 18 hits, they only had four. What a thumping!
Kapler had his first home run since June 21st, and overall, our offense was clicking very well. I wish I could have watched it on TV. :)
We won a series in NY for the first time since 1993 - it was really nice to see them win up in New York. Hopefully when we get back to the playoffs, we don't have such a problem up here.
I didn't get to hear much of this one, as I was busy prepping for a vacation - plus it wasn't on TV.
This one can be summed up in a bad performance by Rob Bell - giving up 5 home runs - not good. Surprisingly, we didn't lie down and die - we made an effort of it late, after we were down 8-1, but not enough of a comeback.
Oh, the joy of beating the Yankees in Yankee stadium! Oh, the irritation that the Red Sox lost, and couldn't take advantage of it.
When this game started, I feared the worst. Darren Oliver in Yankee Stadium? I had the feeling of 9-2 going into this game. And, the way it started, I felt I was right - Ted Lilly was perfect through the first four innings or so.
However, Raffy broke that up with a big majestic HR into the upper deck in right field. A couple of innings later, Arod jacked one, as did Pudge to put us up 4-2. We scored a few more runs in the ninth for insurance, and Venafro had some trouble in the bottom of the ninth, so Zim came in, and got a save anyway.
Great game - especially beating the Yankees!
I didn't get to see much of this game (only the 10th & 11th innings), as my wife had some company over. Still, it was nice seeing an extra inning win - usually extra innings means losses.
Hey - someone found Rick Helling! Where was he hiding, because that guy wearing #32 for the first two months of the season wasn't Rick Helling at all.
This is more like it - this is the kind of pitching we were supposed to be getting from Rick & Kenny. If that were the case, we might be making a push for the playoffs, instead of making a push for the playoffs in 2003 in 2001.
What more can you say about this game? Rick Helling was masterful, not allowing any runs. Craig Munroe hit his first major league hit - a home run with his family in attendance. Craig also made a really great defensive catch in right - while it initally looked like it saved a HR, it didn't - that ball wouldn't have gone over the fence, but it was a great catch anyway.
This was our first complete game shutout in quite some time - they were bandying around 1998 & 1999 on the TV. IT's been something like 300 some odd games since the last one. Yikes!
Tampa's Joe Kennedy looked really great, too - another good young pitcher they appear to have there. This was the game I thought I was going to last week, but I ended up going to Saturday's game - a loss. Figures. :)
The Rangers end up having a 6-1 homestand. Which game do I attend? That's right - the 1. Figures.
Going into this game, I figured we'd either have a well pitched game, or a fiasco. That's usually the case when you get two pretty young ptichers going at each other. And for awhile, that's what we got. Aaron Myette looked really good, not totally dominating, mind you - but still an impressive performance. Tampa's Nick Bierbrodt also pitched really well - so far looks like a great pickup for them.
We were losing, and going into the bottom of the ninth, we managed to pick up a couple of runs to tie it at 3 and send it into extra innings. However, Kevin Foster (who I doubt will be here next year) managed to completely blow the game - it all fell apart after he was covering first and came off the bag due to an errant throw. After that, we gave up some more runs for a total of 4 - it seemed to sap the life we got from tying the game in the bottom of the ninth. A wasted effort, but overall a pretty decently pitched game (except for Foster).
Ruben Sierra did have to go on the DL, and was replaced by Craig Munroe from AAA. His first game was tonight, but was pretty much a non factor, going 0-3, and not even having a defensive chance in right field.
Ben Grieve had a grand slam - he only ever seems to hit well when he's here - why not sign him up, and have him play right field? His lack of arm strength shouldn't be that big of an issue there.
The sticks were out for us - that's good, because Rob Bell had probably his weakest appearance as a Ranger, yet still won the game. Overall, it was a pretty sloppy contest, with Rob giving up 7ER in 7 innings, although Juan Moreno & Brandon Villafuerte nailed down the remaining two innings, not giving up anything.
Nice to see Mike Young with a triple, although it was NOT nice seeing Ruben Sierra have to come out of the game - that's probably a trip to the DL for him, which I did NOT want to see at all.
I don't have time to sit down and write a commentary on this one, as I'm terribly busy at work with Max Payne being released (I work for 3D Realms a PC computer game maker, if you didn't know).
Was nice to see Cal hit a home run - what an awesome player!
I don't have time to sit down and write a commentary on this one, as I'm terribly busy at work with Max Payne being released (I work for 3D Realms a PC computer game maker, if you didn't know).
All I'll say is Thank you Red Sox for Justin Duchscherer!
I don't have time to sit down and write a commentary on this one, as I'm terribly busy at work with Max Payne being released (I work for 3D Realms a PC computer game maker, if you didn't know).
I really want to write about this game, but at the moment, I can't. I've been up practically all night (it's 11:15AM as I write this) - I was here overnight at work shipping product.
However, I can say this. The Cal locker thing is bizarre, this was a big see-saw game, I really thought we'd lost it about three times, but we managed to come back and win on a pinch hit by Velarde, and Zimmerman really pulled a Wetteland before getting the save.
I started off watching this game on TV at home, then had to go to the office. When I got to the office, our Jeckyll & Hyde pitcher, Pat Mahomes gave up a grand slam. Blech. After that I didn't really care anymore, and started listening to the Phillies / Mets game on the Internet. :)
What an ugly, ugly game. What a great, great game.
I was watching this and was utterly shocked that Darren Oliver was perfect through 5+ innings. I actually started to think that he might pitch something special, and then he lost perfect, no hit, & shutout all at once with a solo home run given up in the 6th. He also gave up another solo home run later on, but pitched an 8 inning complete game, losing 2-1. Darren gave up only three hits the whole game, but unfortunately, two were solo home runs.
And, the Rays shut us down even more, allowing only a single Ranger run. I felt really really bad for Darren Oliver. This kind of pitching may have increased his stock for a trade. I wouldn't mind trading away that moeny, and giving some of it to Pudge, as the papers this morning are starting to sound ugly about the possibility of Pudge being out of here.
Again, a very annoying loss, but a great great baseball game.
BALTIMORE (TICKER) -- The second game of the Baltimore Orioles' day-night doubleheader with the Texas Rangers has been postponed due to a train derailment near the stadium that has forced the evacuation of the ballpark.
Citing the derailment and potential hydrochloric acid spill, the Orioles postponed Wednesday's game just hours after the completion of a 6-4 loss in the opener.
Wednesday's night game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on Thursday. The first game is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. with the night game getting underway at 7:05 p.m.
Pitching matchups for both games have not been detailed.
We get back to baseball after some delays in Baltimore. It seemed like a week, but it was actually only one day off. Anyway, we get back to the game with a nice 4-1 win in Tampa Bay. Now, granted, when you're playing the team with the worst record in all of ball, you're expected to win, but I'll take the win just the same.
There was a real nice game pitched by Doug Davis, who is looking really good lately, going 8 innings, and giving up just a single run. Jeff ZImmerman came in for the save, and was spectacular.
Don't know what else to say about this one - a real nice game all around.
Thursday's 12:05 p.m. game against Baltimore has been postponed because of a train derailment and water main breakage near Camden Yards that happened Wednesday. As of 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the 6:05 p.m. game still was scheduled to be played. The day game had been postponed from Wednesday because heavy, black smoke billowed above Oriole Park after three train cars derailed in a tunnel and began leaking hazardous materials. As of Thursday morning, the train cars were still leaking and on fire in the tunnel. Doug Davis (4-7, 4.95) is scheduled to pitch for the Rangers on Thursday. Aaron Myette was originally scheduled to pitch the second game of the Baltimore series. Texas defeated Baltimore, 6-4, on Wednesday afternoon in Game 1 of the series.
I didn't get to listen very well to this game, as I was working at the time, but it seemed that Rick Helling had a decent, if not great day, our bullpen is still going strong, and Catalanotto & Pudge had excellent games. Some nice defense too from both sides - looking forward to the old uniforms in Game 2. :)
Another stinker. Kenny Rogers is really starting to pitch poorly in his last few starts. With his back problems of late, I wonder if he's not hurt?
What else can you say about this one? Hello Rob Bell!
Rob comes within a single pitch of getting the first complete game shutout by a Rangers starter in a long long time. Jerry Narron pulled Bell after 8.2 innings for Zimmerman. I would have loved to have him stay in there (as would everyone else at the park by the booing), but ultimately, we got the win, the shutout, and Bell was masterful!
Allowing only 6 hits over 8.2 innings, Rob Bell was awesome! About the only negative thing you could say was that he walked five batters (three of which were Bonds), but it didn't seem to hurt him at all. At the moment, Melvin looks like a genius again, trading away Ruben Mateo, and getting a good, decent young pitcher in return. He must have worn out his welcome with the Reds, because the way he looked last night, I can't imagine why they'd trade him away.
Anyway, it was great! Really hope he can keep this up, now that he's had two great starts in a row.
I, along with lots of others at the Ballpark were here hoping for a Barry Bonds home run. Didn't get it. What we did get we didn't like, either.
This 7-6 loss was particularly annoying because it was one of those where we'd get some runs, and then give them right back. That kept on going on and on until late, when we had a chance to finish off the game, but couldn't come through for a win.
In fact, I wasn't feeling very good, and in a rare display of "weakness", I left the game early. I abhor when people leave, but I didn't get any sleep the night before - just about one hour. Was starting to not feel good. However, I didn't miss much - we still lost.
Of course - after having won 11-0, we then go and lose 11-2.
The only thing worth talking about for this one was the fact that we were almost shut out. However, we broke that up late to remain the only major league team that has not been shut out all year.
I was at this game, and had an interesting time of it. My wife wasn't feeling good, so I brought a friend of mine from work. He likes baseball, but had never been to a Rangers game at the Ballpark. He'd been at Arlington stadium, but in seven years, he's never been to the Ballpark! :)
Anyway, this game was pretty much in the Rangers' control all along - we had four home runs, two from my Rangers rookie of the year, Mike Young. Rick Helling had the Rockies pretty much in hand, allowing just one earned run over seven innings. Our team had an ERA of 2.00 for the entire game, which was great. Mike Hampton was shelled - which was a shock, I was expecting a 2-1 game. I didn't get it, but I'll certainly take the 10-2 victory. :)
Was nice to start the post all-star part of the season with a win. I don't have a whole lot of confidence in Kenny Rogers at the moment - he's pitching like an old man. Sometimes, he's brilliant, but most of the time he's just pitching "old". Tonight, however - he pitched pretty decently, going 7 innings, allowing only two earned runs - definitely a "quality start". Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the norm for Kenny lately. I'm open to trading him, but I don't know who would take him, quite honestly - same with Darren Oliver.
Arod was rather sloppy, comitting two of the three Ranger errors tonight. Looking good on the offensive side is Mike Young, who I think will be my Ranger player of the year - I'm really impressed with him this year. Speaking of that, Randy Velarde was activataed, and did not play, but basically has lost his starting job to Mike Young. I hope we keep Velarde around next year as a backup - he seems to be open to that from what I've read in the papers.
A home run from Pudge got things started, and a goofy play in the 8th also was in on the scoring (Kapler struck out, and a run scored on a ball that got away - I had never seen a run score on a strikeout before
UPDATE May 3, 2008: I did not write anything for this game, as I had surgery this day, and was really loopy and laid out on the sofa. I'm going to stick in an old wire story for this game. (I put the old format 2001 archives into Movable Type's Blog software in May of 2008, hence this update text).
SEATTLE (TICKER) -- Cal Ripken is no stranger to dramatic moments on a national stage. Derek Jeter is getting pretty used to them, too.
Participating in his 19th and final All-Star Game, Ripken homered in his first at-bat and Jeter added a solo shot as the American League posted its fifth straight win over the punchless National League, a 4-1 triumph at Safeco Field.
Honored Monday and following the sixth inning, Ripken provided the most memorable moment of the 72nd mid-summer classic by leading off the third inning against Los Angeles righthander Chan Ho Park with a line drive over the left-field wall.
Ripken, who will turn 41 on August 24, became the oldest player to homer in an All-Star Game. Stan Musial was 39 when he hit one in 1960.
The blast was reminiscent of his home run on September 6, 1995 -- the day he etched his name into baseball immortality by breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak.
The 47,364 fans at Safeco Field demanded a curtain call and Ripken obliged. For his efforts, Ripken was honored with the Most Valuable Player award for the second time in his career, having also won in 1991. He is the only American League player to win the award twice.
"I must have had a shot of adrenaline or long case of the goose bumps, I'm not sure what coming to the plate," Ripken said. "I went up there and said `God, it's hard to see.'
"The ovation, people standing up, and I came out and tried to acknowledge them quickly because I didn't want the game to be delayed for that. I got back in and just saw the first pitch, swung at it, and put a nice swing on it. I felt like I was flying around the bases."
Ripken's fellow All-Stars also felt the enormity of the moment.
"It was just one of those things for the fans and for Cal," Mariners second baseman Bret Boone said. "It was pretty fitting, Cal hits a home run. That's a pretty special moment."
"It's like a dream come true," Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa said. "Everybody was clapping and after that he comes up with the home run. It doesn't get much better than that as a human being. ... He is the man."
Jeter, the shortstop of the New York Yankees, made sure Ripken's moment would stand up. After the NL crept within 2-1 with a run in the top of the sixth, Jeter opened the bottom of the inning with a long home run over the center-field wall off Chicago Cubs righthander Jon Lieber. It was his only at-bat in the contest.
"I told him I think it took Hank Aaron 10 or 12 years to hit his first home run in an All-Star Game," AL manager Joe Torre said. "He said he was going to swing 3-0, he didn't care where it was."
Last year's All-Star and World Series MVP, Jeter went 3-for-3 in the 2000 game and hit .409 in the Fall Classic. Ripken often is credited with paving the way for bigger, more offensive-minded shortstops such as Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, the AL's elected starter at the position.
"It's fun, anytime you can play in an All-Star Game it is pretty exciting," Jeter said. "And to do something good makes it even more special."
Chicago's Magglio Ordonez followed Jeter's blast with a home run to right-center field. It marked just the fifth time in All-Star history that there have been back-to-back home runs.
Winless since 1996, the NL managed just three hits, none over the final 3 2/3 innings. The record for fewest hits is two by the NL in 1990.
"We didn't put any hits together and guys were not seeing the ball very well in the shadows and were complaining about it a bit," NL manager Bobby Valentine said. "When you have just one at-bat to adjust, it's a tough thing for the hitters and their pitchers made really good pitches."
The game featured a six-minute ceremony after the fifth inning in which Commissioner Bud Selig paid tribute to both Ripken and fellow legend Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres. The retiring superstars received the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award in the unprecedented stoppage.
"What a wonderful experience," said Gwynn, who was an honorary NL player and in uniform. "It turned out great. ... You want to say thank you because it's really the outpouring that has been unbelievable. I'm sure as we go along it is going to get tougher."
"I always thought the All-Star Game was a special time to celebrate baseball," Ripken added. "To have things go so great in the game, hit a home run, it's been special. It's a great feeling."
The delay nearly cost the AL its lead as Toronto setup man Paul Quantrill, making his first All-Star appearance, ran into immediate trouble following the break.
San Francisco's Jeff Kent doubled into the right-field corner and one out later, Houston's Lance Berkman singled off the glove of Jeter to put runners on the corners.
Torre, the New York Yankees' manager, called on his own Mike Stanton, who surrendered a sacrifice fly to San Diego's Ryan Klesko to halve the deficit.
After a broken bat by pinch hitter Vladimir Guerrero hit and knocked over NL honorary third base coach Tommy Lasorda in a lighthearted moment, Stanton got the Montreal Expos slugger on a flyout to left field.
Seattle ace Freddy Garcia tossed a perfect third inning to get the win and Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki notched the save. It was fitting as nearly all the All-Star festivities served as a celebration of baseball in Seattle. The Mariners had four starters and eight players in uniform, much to the delight of the 47,364 fans.
"I'm just relieved that everything went OK and that it came out OK," said Sasaki through an interpreter. "The way the game went, we were able to come out with a win and that was a great experience."
"I was really nervous," Garcia said. "My first All-Star game and I win it with only seven pitches. It was pretty emotional."
AL starter Roger Clemens was dominant over two innings. Making his second career All-Star start, Clemens retired all six batters he faced, including New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza.
Clemens and Piazza had not faced each other since Game Two of the 2000 World Series, a game that saw Clemens throw a broken bat in the direction of the All-Star backstop.
NL starter Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a late replacement for teammate Curt Schilling, was nearly as dominant. The former Mariner surrendered a leadoff single to Seattle rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki in the first but little else.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner struck out Alex Rodriguez of Texas and Manny Ramirez of Boston in the first and Seattle's Edgar Martinez to cap a perfect second.
It was the fourth career All-Star start for Johnson, who has allowed just a run and four hits with 11 strikeouts in 11 innings.
Andy Pettitte of the Yankees allowed a leadoff single in the fourth but retired sluggers Todd Helton, Barry Bonds and Sosa in order to escape further trouble. Atlanta's John Burkett tossed a perfect bottom of the fourth to keep the game at 1-0.
Minnesota's Joe Mays took over in the fifth for the AL, which took advantage of two-base error by Kent to tack on a run in the bottom of the frame.
With Colorado's Mike Hampton pitching, Seattle first baseman John Olerud grounded a ball up the middle that Kent threw away. Hampton retired the next two batters on grounders to shortstop but Ivan Rodriguez of Texas came through with a single up the middle that scored pinch runner Jason Giambi for a 2-0 lead.
After Stanton worked through the jam in the sixth, Seattle's Jeff Nelson, a late addition to the AL squad, held the NL in check in the seventh. Anaheim Angels closer Troy Percival fired a hitless eighth before giving way to Sasaki.
A nice Saturday afternoon win, although I watched most of the game in the evening, thanks to my TiVo. :)
It was nice to see Andres Galarraga & Gabe Kapler come through with pinch hit RBI's - both are in a major slump - the 40 year old now bench warmer is probably in his final days with the Rangers. I'd like for him to gracefully retire. I like the guy, I really like the guy, but it doesn't seem like he has any gas left in the tank. I'd like to see him retire, so we can have some great going away stuff for him.
Anyway, this game was one I thought was going to slip away until the aforementioned pinch hits. Nice to see that, but we also got a decent pitching performance by Doug Davis, who continues to pitch well. Our bullpen gave up nothing in the final three frames. Actually, I thought we were going to get destroyed by Bobby Jones, but he fell apart in the seventh, giving us our lead and the win.
Nice game to come back from - and apart from the 3 spot given up in the second inning, our pitching was pretty damn good!
I started watching this game, and saw the first few innings. I stopped watching after the top of the fourth, as I promised my wife we'd watch a movie. In the middle of the movie, I peeked in to the score, and it was 8-2! When I left, it was 2-0.
Oh well, guess I saw the best parts. :) Mike Young, who is rapidly heading for my fav Ranger player of the year got another home run on the West Coast in front of family. Someone start bringing them to every game we play, please! :)
14-2? Is this score backwards? Seems like it should be 14-2 the other way.
I'll take it. There isn't much to say except that the nine run inning was beautiful! :) I'll just let the log of that inning speak for itself...
TEXAS 4TH: Kapler reached on infield single. Lamb doubled to right, Kapler scored. Haselman doubled to right center, Lamb scored. M Young reached on infield single, Haselman to third. Brian Fuentes relieved Dennis Stark. Catalanotto hit by pitch, M Young to second. Ledee walked, Haselman scored, M Young to third, Catalanotto to second. A Rodriguez homered to left, M Young, Catalanotto and Ledee scored. R Palmeiro hit by pitch. Sierra homered to left center, R Palmeiro scored. Kapler flied out to right. Lamb singled to center. Haselman grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Lamb out at second. (9 Runs, 7 Hits, 0 Errors) SEATTLE 1, TEXAS 14.
My annual trip out to the Ballpark for the July 4th fireworks show was not disappointing. The fireworks show was one of the better ones I've seen at the Ballpark - and the show on the field was great, too!
We beat the Mariners who are what, about 200-3 this year? It was a great feeling, the crowd was really into it, especially when Raffy jacked a home run, as well as Mike Lamb's home run (first of the year). Game felt great, and Rob Bell looked pretty good this game. He's looked pretty uneven in his Ranger appearances so far this year, but this one looked good - probably the reason we traded for him was for pitching like this.
However, it wasn't a complete sail - in the 9th inning, we had Zim in to close, and when they started the inning, I said out loud "7 batters till Ichiro hits a home run". Had to explain it to my wife, and said something like "Well, it's a save situation, and Zim will be in. Ichiro has two BIG home runs off Zim this year". Sure enough, the inning got to Ichiro. Narron did something interesting, and pulled Zim to get to Venafro who got the job done.
Talk radio went nuts the next day over that move, but I agreed with it - Zim had already been burnt by Ichiro twice, might as well play for the win, instead of the heart attack. :)
The second half of the season started pretty much like the first half went. Darren Oliver pitched pretty mediocre in this game. He seemed more like last year than he did this year, although he wasn't TOTALLY awful. Ryan Glynn pitched in relief to do nothing to endear himself to the Rangers; turns out he was put on waivers and then assigned to AAA when no one else claimed him. I suspect he won't be here next year, or will be given a shot in spring training, but that's about it.
On the positive side, Arod & Pudge (I refuse to call him IRod) hit back to back jacks in the fourth - but that was the extent of the scoring for us. Yeah, we scored two more, but they weren't "exciting" runs. :)
This was a particularly annoying win. Going into the game I held a deep desire to see the Rangers sweep the Mariners. Didn't think it would really happen, but I thought I'd take a stab and hope anyway.
Into the ninth inning, I thought I was going to get it - at least the start of it. Then Zim put the first two runners on base, making it feel like Wetteland again. However, right after that, Pudge gunned down McLemore who was trying to steal, and then right after that, Zim got a K for two outs. We were down to almost the last strike when Ichiro came up and jacked a two run homer to tie the game.
We then blew it in the 10th by bringing out Petkovsek, who doesn't seem to handle pressure well (at least to my eyes). Oh well, a potential win for us turns into the 60th win of the season for the Mariners.
At least Mike Young continues to dazzle in the field - what a great pickup. Especially now that Loaiza has turned into Loaiza for the Blue Jays.
Another well pitched game. Excluding last night, we've gotten some really decent pitching (overall) lately. However, as the game progressed, I felt that we were going to go down to a 1-0 loss. Mark Mulder was spectacular, allowing only a couple of hits - at least until the 7th. Rick Helling too was awesome. He didn't get the win (as per usual), but he pitched brilliantly, allowing only one run over his 6.2 innings (and 125 pitches).
Bo Porter of all people managed to connect for a 3 run jimmy jack in the bottom of the 8th to put us up for the win. That certainly felt good - especially being there. Zimmerman got the save, but not before he pulled a Wetteland, and put two men on (second and third, no one out). He then popped out one guy, and struck out two more for the save and the win!
Got to sit through my first rain delay of the season. I was at this game, and it didn't start until 8:40 (1:35 after the posted start time). Had a friend with me who doesn't usually come to baseball games, so it was nice to shoot the shit with him.
This one started off early - two home runs in the first inning (Arod & Sierra), and we added another HR later in the game, one by Frank Catalanotto. However, the game was anything but an easy win. We got three in the bottom of the first, they got 3 in the top of the second. We scored in the 3rd, they scored in the fourth. It went on that way for a short while, leaving the game in a 6-5 lead for the A's going into the bottom of the 7th.
In the seventh, we busted out for a four spot. We tied the game up on a Raffy single, scoring Pudge. After that, the A's proceeded to allow the bases to get loaded, and then the most bizarre play I've seen in quite some time happened. Wild pitch by the Mike Magnante, allowing Raffy to score. However, the throw from the A's catcher to Magnante at the plate bounced off Raffy's foot into the Rangers' dugout, allowing the other two runners to score. I have never seen three runs score on a wild pitch before - and I bet most of the people at the ballpark (including the players) had never seen that before, either. :)
A nice gift win. I'll take it, of course.
The Rangers are starting to look like a major league baseball team! Another great pitching performance - this time by Darren Oliver. He went seven innings, giving up just 4 hits and 1 run. He walked a lot of guys (5), but had the defense and the pitching when he needed it - which I suppose is the name of the game, eh?
J.D. Smart - called up again because Cordero had to go back on the DL didn't fare so well, giving up a couple of runs on a home run in his lone inning. Zim came on and got the save in the 9th looking really sharp.
Offensively, the best star was Mike Lamb, going 3 for 4 with an RBI. Ricky Ledee also came through - with a double scoring a couple of runs. A great game - I'm going tonight to see them against the A's - I hope it continues! :)
I thought today was setting out to be a duplicate of the previous game. An extremely well pitched game by our starter. Doug Davis went 7.1 innings. He looked awesome - up until the seventh inning. He appeared to run out of gas, and gave up some runs, and the game was lost, unforutnately.
However, before that, he looked great! Since coming back up from the minors Doug Davis has pitched like he's capable of, and beyond, I think. I hope it keeps up - even though we lost, I have to qualify this as a success for Doug and the Rangers pitching staff. Can't go wrong with pitching performances (and defense again!) like this.
Oh my - what a spectacular game! The 7 run margin of winning does not do justice to the type of game it was. It was 1-1 through 10 full innings - that was the kind of game it was!
Rick Helling was the first Ranger pitcher to go nine innings this season. He looked good, he looked sharp. However, we couldn't get any offense for him - the game was tied 1-1 after the first inning, and it stayed that way until the 9th inning. It stayed that way until the 11th inning, when we finally broke it out.
There was some totally sparkling defense by the Rangers this game - including a great pitchout call by Pudge to get a runner at third - which probably prevented a run from scoring.
Then we go to extra innings. We bust out in a major way against the Angels bullpen, scoring 7 runs in the 11th inning. Usually when we go extra, I figure we'll blow it, but this time we came through.
This was a great game to be a Rangers fan. :)
Sorry - no commentary from me on this one. Too much to do at work to spend the time writing.
Sorry - no commentary from me on this one. Too much to do at work to spend the time writing.
Sorry - no commentary from me on this one. Too much to do at work to spend the time writing.
wo in a row for the second time this week! I'm getting spoiled! You'd think we were the Mariners or something. :)
When the game started - with a triple and a run scored early - I figured it would be another Rangers game. Boy, was I wrong. That was *ALL* the A's got. The one run. From that point on, Doug Davis was masterful, going 7 innings and giving up just 7 hits and one run. It was as if we were an experienced team, playing well like we had done for a long time. If this game is any judge, things are looking good!
Tim Hudson was also brilliant, going the complete game for the loss. He allowed only 5 hits over nine innings, and two runs - however... In the third inning, he gave up three straight hits, allowing for our two runs. Other than those three batters, Hudson was brilliant - it's just that our pitching staff didn't make as many mistakes. We even overcame a Mike Lamb throwing error.
Overall, a totally spectacular game - and played in only 2:44, too! I could get used to this.
What can you say about this one? Four runs - four solo home runs. That was all the offense. Arod, Gabe, & two from El Caballo, who looks to displace Andres Galarraga pretty quickly, I would think.
I didn't see this game either, but I was watching baseball tonight, and they showed all I really needed to see on this one - all the home runs, and the great game saving stop by Raffy to end the game in the 9th.
The team really is starting to look good, even if they're not winning all the time. Something nice to see. :)
I did not see this game - my cable company showed the Astros game instead of the Rangers game - long time readers of my site will know that pet peeve of mine.
Due to this, I watched some TV and a movie - so no commentary from me except to say that I didn't think we'd pull off three in a row - but it was close.
Rob Bell made his Rangers debut tonight wearing uniform number 6. The lowest ever for a Rangers pitcher during the regular season. And Rob pitched like... well... a Ranger pitcher. Was mostly mediocre in the first inning, but I attribute that to nerves. Was great for a couple innings, and then pitched mediocre again in the fifth. Overall, not bad. Overall, not great.
I was surprised that we managed to come through and get some runs - we usually choke when we need to. I was also surprised that Narron left Ledee in there and didn't pinch hit for him with Sierra. However Ledee came through, and it was great to see. It was all capped off by two solo home runs by Pudge late which made the difference.
Dare I hope for three in a row?