Recently in 2002 Game Recaps Category

This game definitely seemed like the Pudge show. I figured the fans would give Pudge some love here, and they did. Pudge got a standing ovation when he came to bat for the first time. He tipped his helmet to everyone, and then got to business. The fans gave him a standing ovation every time he came up. Surprised me, but was nice to see. Pudge actually wasn't having a great game, as he tossed a ball into center on a steal attempt, and a ball got by him. However, he "redeemed" himself at the end of the game with a home run in his penultimate at bat of the game, and then a double, which was almost a second home run to right center. He got thunderous applause after the home run, and Kevin Mench would not get into the batter's box after him until he came out for a curtain call, which he did. In his final at bat, after the double, he stood at second base to another round of applause, and he got yet anothere standing O when he was taken out of the game for a pinch runner. Major Pudge love-fest going on at the Ballpark this day.

We were behind early (no shock there), especially after a Tejada grand slam. We were down 8-1 after 6.5 innings, and we put up a couple of runs in the 7th, one in the 8th, and then it got really interesting in the bottom of the ninth. We scored 3 runs to make it 8-7, and actually Todd Greene, who ran for Pudge, came up to bat. Had Pudge stayed in the game, he might have had a chance to hit a home run and win the game. It didn't happen, but I don't think it lessened anyone's feelings for what happened today. Great game.

The one thing that concerned me was that the scoreboard said "Thanks Pudge" after his home run. It probably means nothing. It's probably just one of the scoreboard folks putting some text up there. But still - the fact that the Rangers own scoreboard said Thanks Pudge was kind of an eerie omen!

Oh yeah - hi to the woman who came over and said hi to me at the game. She said she reads my site regularly, and I'm sorry I forgot your name, but it was nice to say hi to someone who reads the site! :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

There were two games left in the season, so I decided to go to both of them. I already had tickets for Sunday's game, but Saturday's game I went and took a new digital camera and retook all the pics for my seat selector, and I'll be putting them online this offseason.

Anyway, this was one of those games that was typical of the Rangers season. Crappy bullpen pitching, giving up more runs than the several we scored ourselves. We got out to a big lead early, but couldn't hold it. We scored 7 in the first two innings, and then didn't get any more until one late, but by that point, our pitching had let the game get away. :(

Miguel Tejada hit two home runs - to exactly the same spot in left field. In fact, the same guy got both balls - that was kind of cool! I did like being at the game, even though we lost. Kind of sad, as it was the last night game of the season. I'm going back again tomorrow for the finale, but this was an odd feeling, even though I have one more. Kind of the impending "Aaah - no more baseball games to go to" feeling I always have at the end of September.

Three games to go. All against the A's. The A's are .5 games behind the Yankees for best overall record in the AL, and homefield advantage. Do I want the Rangers to win any of these games and help the Yankees? Hell no! I want us to lose all three of these, and give the Yankees a big pfffft. Of course, I'd like to see Arod hit his three home runs to get to 60, but he didn't get any tonight, so he needs three in the last two games. Unlikely, but you never know.

Overall, this was a pitching game again. Chan Ho Park was sloppy in the first, giving up two runs, but that was it, really. While he did give up one more run later on, he was pretty good after the first inning. Mark Mulder on the other hand, gave up nothing. He went 7 innings, giving up only 3 hits. We didn't score anything until we made it very interesting in the bottom of the 9th, putting two runs up on the board. I was actually scared we'd win! :)

Two more to go.

Day games are hard for me (as regular readers know), because I'm working. I have it on on the radio, but it's hard to pay attention. Plus when we went down by a lot of runs yesterday, I just kind of tuned out. :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

Didn't see much of this, as it was my bowling league night. However, I saw enough. Kenny Rogers pitched pretty well, in what could be his final start as a Ranger. Arod got #57, and Raffy got a HR, too. I could look at the box score and make up stories, but at the end of this bad season, I don't really have the urge to write a lot. :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

I was at the Ballpark for this game, and when it started, I told my wife this was either going to be a well pitched game, or a total fiasco. We got the well pitched game. I really didn't think Benoit would hold on - I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for him to give up 6 runs in an inning. However, he didn't. He got some really key strikeouts to get out of some jams, and looked every bit the well seasoned major league pitcher would be. Thing is, we need to keep playing teams that are good. When Benoit plays the Tampa Bays or the Baltimores (this months Baltimore), he plays bad.

However, last night he was great. Anaheim's pitching was great too, especially Ben Weber out of the bullpen (come to think of it all the bullpen folks used (even my nemesis Rich Rodriguez) pitched well). There were three runs scored, two of them on solo home runs (Anaheim's Garret Anderson & Pudge). In fact, Pudge scored both runs, and threw out a runner attempting to steal in the 9th, which was huge.

A nice game, and while there were 16 men left on base for both teams, one that seemed to be an old style pitching duel - nice to see in the surprisingly cool weather of late September 2002.

Additional game commentary is available here.

We lost three over the weekend to the A's. Too many walks, poor pitching. What more needs to be said? Oh yeah, we had better not have Rich Rodriguez on this team next year, or I'll be pissed.

Additional game commentary is available here.

We lost three over the weekend to the A's. Too many walks, poor pitching. What more needs to be said? Oh yeah, we had better not have Rich Rodriguez on this team next year, or I'll be pissed.

Additional game commentary is available here.

We lost three over the weekend to the A's. Too many walks, poor pitching. What more needs to be said? Oh yeah, we had better not have Rich Rodriguez on this team next year, or I'll be pissed.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Our last game of the year against Seattle ended in a win - our 70th of the year. Unfortunately, it happened to come at Game 153 of the season, which means we've lost 83! Eek! It was pretty funny that the pregame show showed Lou Piniella's blowup two or three times, and the game intro did as well. Still got a lot of mileage out of that. :)

While it was nice that we busted out the big bats in support of Ben Kozlowski - who pitched pretty decently considering the situation. (Raffy Grand Slam, and Arod 3 run home run), we let it get away again after Kozlowski got out of the inning. Jamey Newberg reported today that Pudge was looking sloppy, and I have to agree. If that's the kind of catching we'll get if we give him a new contract, then hey, let's jack up Todd Greene to #1, and have Haselman as his backup. We busted out for 5 runs in the top of 10th, in our fourth straight extra inning game against the Mariners. Nice to see that.

I was astonished to see the total number of walks by both teams in these four games - SIXTY EIGHT!

I was a bit concerned about the goings on in Kansas City, though. Those two mental zeroes that attacked the Royals' coach should be prosecuted fairly heavily. Also, did you get a look at these idiots? Neither of them looked like they had enough brain cells to even comprehend baseball. Do a Google Image search for 'William Ligue Gamboa' - you'll see what I'm talking about.

Additional game commentary is available here.

This is the time of year that folks who root for bad baseball teams find ways to do other things. I'm no different. Last night I spent a lot of time watching the Monsters Inc. DVD that I got in yesterday. :)

I tuned in late to the game, and guess what? We lost in extra innings again. However, by far and away the most entertaining thing of the game that I watched was Lou Piniella's blow up after Mike Young made a spectacular play at second to get (at least by the umpire's call) an out. Lou of course came out and had a major Lou meltdown. Quite funny to watch, ESPECIALLY as the umpire kept his cool and didn't say a word, just kind of stood there and let Lou spew. I'm fairly sure that egged Lou on a bit more than he might have. Was also nice of the TV folks to leave the game on Lou, and not cut away to commercials, so we could see it all. There's only one picture below of this, wish there were more stills. Quite quite funny.

He didn't pitch in this game, but I still don't like Rich Rodriguez. Oh yeah, Arod didn't start the game, but did pinch hit late. Would have liked to have seen the entire night off for him, but one pinch hit isn't that bad, I guess.

Additional game commentary is available here.

You know, when a game is played close, and you lose late, you're supposed to say "I don't mind losing that because it was a good game". I've gotten tired of saying that over the last three years. I want to win again. I'm sure the Rangers do too, but as a fan, hey, all I can do is bitch about it, right? I can't actually make decisions that impact the games, right? :)

Anyway, Chan Ho Park looked good, even though he walked 8 batters, it didn't seem to impact him too much. Park has done a complete turn around lately, and he seems to be the pitcher we had signed, not that guy wearing #61 for the first half of the season. This is good, as I hope he can carry this over into next season. It does show he doesn't come back well from an injury, though.

Arod looks beat out there, I think he needs a day off. Also, I still don't like Rich Rodriguez.

Additional game commentary is available here.

I didn't see most of this game, as I was watching my hometown Philadelphia Eagles whoop up on the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. I did see the latter stages of the game though. I was bummed I missed Pudge getting ejected, it looked like quite a scene, especially with him flipping off the umpire. The DMN says that he could be in line for a suspension, but we'll see if that happens.

Anyway, we managed a comeback against Kaz Sasaki in the 9th (who doesn't look as impressive this year for some reason). However, our usual problem turned itself up late. Too many walks. In fact, we had 13 walks over the 11 innings, the last one being the worst, as it gave the Mariners the win. Normally I don't like saying "Let's end this season", but since the Rangers seem unwilling to NOT use Rich Rodriguez, I'll be glad when the season is over so I don't have to look at him pitch for us (hopefully never again). In fact, all 6 of our pitchers walked at least one Mariner - yeesh.

No home runs at all in this game, which isn't surprising with the ballpark we were playing in, but what was surprising was how ineffective Arod was last night. He had several opportunities to drive in quite a few runs, and did nothing - that was a bummer. Always love to see Arod stick it to the Mariners. In fact, if he's gonna hit 60, he needs to get going, as there's now 12 games left for him to get 5 home runs. 6 home runs to tie Maris' AL record for home runs.

Additional game commentary is available here.

No time to write about this game as I sit here and do this page on Monday afternoon. Too busy at work. Besides, we got swept. :) Additional game commentary is available here.

No time to write about this game as I sit here and do this page on Monday afternoon. Too busy at work. Besides, we got swept. :) Additional game commentary is available here.

No time to write about this game as I sit here and do this page on Monday afternoon. Too busy at work. Besides, we got swept. :) Additional game commentary is available here.

Listened to this game at work, and as such, I didn't get much listening done. I rarely do when at work.

Was really nice to see a win, and a sweep of the Mariners, who really got hurt by losing all four in Texas. It also brings us that much closer to actually getting to .500 before the end of the season. It's not out of the question, but is definitely a tough project with so few games left in the season. It's the first time we've swept Seattle in a four game series since around 1992, I think, and the first time at home since 1986. We're also 30-30 since the All-Star Break. 19-9 Since August 4th, and 5 games above 500 at home. w00t! :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

I'm not going to touch on the September 11th stuff, as there's been a lot written by a lot of people who could write about it a lot better than I.

As for this game, Colby Lewis was far more impressive than I anticipated him being. I didn't see most of the game, because Wed is my bowling league, and missed most of it, but t was nice to see Arod jack another one, for 54 now, as well as a nice finish in the bottom of the ninth, damaging the Mariners chances some more - bet they thought coming to Texas would be a cakewalk. :)

Dare we think sweep? :) Additional game commentary is available here.

Well, I was at this game, and for a game that featured only 13 hits and 5 runs, it ran awfully long. I know the box score said 2:59, but it seemed to be awfully slow and boring, even for a game that (barely) had a time under three hours. Anyway, it was still nice to see some good pitching. Kenny pitched well, although he wasn't sharp, throwing about 110 pitches or so in 6 innings. Kenny's only mistake was a throwing error, which allowed his only run to score. Rudy Seanez was NOT good - his line doesn't look THAT bad, but sitting at the Ballpark, he looked really "eh". My least favorite Ranger, Rich Rodriguez came on, and threw two pitches to get out of the Seanez inning, and Cordero was absolutely lights out, striking out the side in the 9th for the save.

Was a nice night at the ballpark, saw a good win, and there was less than 20,000 there - well, announced, anyway. We broke our home run streak of 27 consecutive games, as we didn't have any tonight. There was a short video tribute to the home run streak before the game, which was nice to see.

Also, what's with the HORRIBLE music at the Ballpark anymore? They are playing music before the game that is just a) not baseball music and b) just atrocious anyway. We really need Chuck Morgan back. Give him a massive pay raise, and fire the three people they replaced Chuck with. YEESH!

Additional game commentary is available here.

I only saw a few minutes of this game, as I was watching Monday Night Football (damn Steelers lost - Grrrr). Anyway, the only bit I saw was when I flipped to the game in the bottom of the 6th, and Arod was at bat. Decided to stick around to watch him bat, and given that I only saw about 3 minutes of the game, I watched the right 3 minutes - got to see a great home run by Arod. Then I see by the box scores that he hit another, as well as Raffy hitting #40.

Also saw where Arod & Raffy are the first two players ever to hit 50 & 40 home runs two years in a row. No one else has ever done that. Nice job, guys!

I think that might be it for Aaron Myette. Probably pitched himself out of a job.

Additional game commentary is available here.

I didn't watch much of this game, as like most people I was watching football on Sunday afternoon. It was Week 1, and I had to be watching football. :) I did peek in on the Rangers game, and after they got behind, I stopped peeking very much. I did see Raffy's record breaking home run, though.

Back home to play Seattle. The cakewalk teams are done. Our remaining 20 games are against our own division, all of which are much better than us, so we'll either gain some respect, or sink even further back in the hole.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Well, I was going to write about this one, but I didn't see or hear virtually any of it. The reason why is that I was out for the afternoon, so I recorded the game on my TiVo. I sat down on the bed to start watching it, and after the first inning, one of my cats decided to pay me a visit. Unfortunately, she stepped ON the remote, and hit the "end of program" button. At the time, it was the bottom of the ninth, and I saw the score. Oh well, so much for watching that one.

We tied the HR record, with a few of them. Herb Perry had another great game - 2 HR, 5 RBI. And Chan Ho Park looked really good again. That bodes well for next season. Just hope he doesn't get hurt again during the offseason.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Don't have time to write about this on Monday morning, but it was nice to see a win where we were supposed to get one. :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

Arod's the only Ranger player ever to have 50 home runs, and he's done it the two years he's been a Ranger. He's also played in every game the Rangers have played since he signed up. Again, don't know if anyone's worth a quarter of a billion dollars, but there's no denying how good he's been for this team. When he hit his second home run, my wife and I were watching the game while eating dinner, and I almost spewed my food when I said "Holy Crap" when he hit the second one. Off the bat, it looked like it was headed to the upper deck. Didn't get there, but was still very impressive. It's not unrealistic to think he might get 60 - as there are 23 games left; he needs 10. His two weren't the only home runs of the night, we also had jacks from Carl Everett, Todd Hollandsworth, & Mike Young (all in the 5th). The Orioles never really made any noise this game, this was ours from the start.

Our pitching was pretty decent, too. Kenny went 7 innings, giving up the two runs, and Kolb & Cordero pitched an inning of hitless, scoreless baseball each. Cordero also had two strikeouts, and has looked very impressive this year. With Zimmerman out till middle of next year (and there's a possibility he may NEVER come back), this is a good time for Cordero to finally figure it out.

We go on to Tampa Bay tomorrow. Hopefully, we can exact some revenge for that horrible series in Arlington a week ago when we got swept by the Rays.

Well, as good as the previous game was, this one was equally flat and blah. Aaron Myette, making two starts in two games, due to his only throwing two pitches in the last one didn't go that great again. He seems the weakest link in our young pitchers (although Doug Davis fell pretty good, too). The TV guys keep saying he's got great, above average stuff, but I can't say I've seen it. I wonder if he'll be here next year. If not, he'll probably figure it out somewhere else.

On the positive side, our home run streak reached a new record - 22 games in a row, with a Pudge blast into the Rangers bullpen 425 feet to left center. That's about it good, except for a Todd Greene solo HR late in the game.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Sorry for the delay in getting going again. My brother was in town, and I didn't watch much baseball at all when he was here, and then I got bogged down getting caught up at work, and then there was the sorry Tampa Bay series, which I just didn't feel like writing about. Thought I'd give it a fresh start at the start of the Baltimore series. And what a good game it was to start up with.

I missed the top of the first inning, as I had neglected to record the game on my TiVo at home. As I was listening on the radio on the ride home from work, I heard they were making a pitching change - that was odd - first batter in the bottom of the first. I didn't know Arod had gotten plunked, and Myette was retaliating (not officially, of course). So Myette got tossed after the first two pitches went behind Melvin Mora's back. In came Todd Van Poppel who walked the batter Myette started, then one of his own. Then he got down to business, striking out five in the two innings he pitched (including everyone in the first inning). Then they brought in Benoit.

Man was he spectacular! Going 7 innings, and not allowing anything, except one hit batter, a walk, and a triple in the 9th inning to break up the no hitter bid. That would have been nice, and Benoit was the lead story on the ESPN baseball site on Wednesday (as it should have been). Still, Benoit set a major league record though as he got a 7 inning save, which I found humorous. I didn't even think about that during the game. :)

Oh yeah, we extended our HR streak to 21 games in a row - the second time this year we've done that. Also, I was mad at myself for not recording the pre-game, as I missed an interview with Johnny Oates. I REALLY wanted to see that. Damn.

Additional game commentary here.

I have to admit, going into this game, I didn't think we had a chance. Derek Lowe has been spectacular all season, and we were tossing out an inconsistant rookie who likes to walk lots of batters. Not a good combination. However, we instead got a wonderful pitching duel. Benoit went six innings, allowing 2 earned runs - and that's all the Red Sox got, because our bullpen (Alvarez, Powell, Kolb, Rodriguez, & Cordero) combined for four innings of shutout relief. It wasn't a cakewalk, but they got it done. In fact, Rich Rodriguez (why is he still here?) threw just one pitch to get the win.

Derek Lowe was even better, going 7 innings, and allowing just one unearned run. He deserved the win, but Boston's bullpen let 'em down, by allowing a solo home run to Todd Hollandsworth in the 9th inning, and another solo home run to Pudge in the 10th to win it. Cordero nailed it down, and we got a nice come from behind win in Boston.

Carl Everett got the predicted reaction in Boston. Interesting that the umpire he head butted is here, too, although he won't work the plate during the series. Arod didn't get a home run, so his mega streak of consecutive games is over, but I attribute a lot of that to Derek Lowe - although Arod came close on one ball hit to the deeper parts of Fenway.

Nice game - nice win; on my birthday, too. :) Five in a row now. Would be nice to sweep all the way through Boston & New York without losing, but somehow I don't see that happening. :)

Additional game commentary here.

It's Arod again - hitting two more home runs, rocketing past Sammy Sosa for the ML lead with 44 now. That's 6 home runs over the last 3 games - with 1 on Friday, 3 on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday. In fact, he almost had three Sunday too - putting one just short of the right field fence during the game.

Aaron Myette was really wild this game. He got the win, but walked 7 in 5 innings, and threw 116 pitches through 5 innings as well - quite frankly, he didn't deserve the win, I felt. The game was pretty much in hand until late when we almost blew it in the 9th, giving away four runs, and requiring Cordero to come in and save the bacon.

We also had a home run by Raffy, and Carl Everett had a good night with three hits. Our offense is clicking very well - it's too bad it happened this late in the season.

It was also nice to be at the park to see the ML debut of Jason Hart, who walked. Not an eventful debut, but at least it wasn't an out! And he technically doesn't have any at bats, either.

Additional game commentary here.

What can you say about this one? Arod does it again. And Again. And again. Three more home runs for Arod were the story of this game. He had 3 home runs in three straight at bats going into the previous game. He ended up with three home runs for hte night - and was left on deck in the bottom of the 8th.

We also had hoem runs by Herbert Perry & Raffy, but the story of this game was Arod - no doubt about it.

There was a lot to like about this game. First off, I had just finished working on my fence in my back yard, so being able to sit on the sofa after 3.5 hours of manual labor in the back yard was great. Thank god for TiVo, so I could watch the game from the start. :)

I really got a kick out of seeing Buck O'Neil at the game last night. Was really nice to hear a few stories of his, plus it was a blast hearing him go "Come on Arod - Come on Arod". Al Oliver was before my time, so I didn't enjoy his speech as much, but it was still nice to see the guys from the past here. Sometimes think I want to go to Kansas City and check out the Negro League baseball museum. Watching Buck O'Neill in the Ken Burns baseball documentary was a lot of fun. Man certainly loves his baseball - and like a lot of old timers, he doesn't seem to have a distaste for today's game too - which is nice to see.

Anyway, about this game - Kenny Rogers was pitching again on the day a strike date was announced. The last time he did that, he pitched a perfect game. Not to happen here, as Kenny was nowhere near as sharp as he was last Friday in Cleveland, but was "OK". He gave up 5 runs over 7 innings - not great, but not totally horrid, either. Danny Kolb, however was great coming out of the pen, pitching the final two innings and giving up a big fat donut.

Our offense was led by Arod (who else) who was 4 for 4 with 3 RBI's and two runs scored. It was capped off by a game winning home run in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. I have to say I wish Buck O'Neil was still around then to see the home run - boy does Buck get excited about baseball, that's for sure. Anyway, the problem here was that we had two players get hit on the hands by pitches. Kevin Mench (who stayed in the game), and Frank Catalanotto, who came out immediately, and has a broken hand, and very well could be done for the year. Not sure who we're calling up for that, but it's a bummer that Cat is out again.

However, given the way the season has gone, I can't say I'm totally surprised, either.

Additional game commentary here.

Nice to see a win, even though it seemed it might slip away at one point. Mike Young sprained his ankle ending the game. Didn't look good at the time. Somehow doubt he'll play this weekend, though.

Well, I have the time to write about this game, but quite frankly, I don't want to. What is there to say, really?

Additional game commentary here.

No time to write commentary. Too busy. Additional game commentary here.

No time to write commentary. Too busy.

No time to write commentary. Too busy.

Wow - I never expected this kind of pitching performance by Jose Lima against us. The Valdes curse continues, too.

There really isn't much else to say about this one, except it was REAL nice hearing Ernie Harwell on the TV!

Joaquin Benoit went a long way to helping his own cause last night by pitching 7.1 innings, giving up 8 hits, but only two runs (with 2 BB & 6 K's). He looked really good, but unfortunately, so did Mark Redmond of the Tigers. They both pitched well, and the scoring was deadlocked at 2-2 after the fourth, and it stayed that way for another 7 innings. Benoit had a bit of the Ismael Valdes curse of not getting any real run support, otherwise Benoit would get the win - he deserved it. Our bullpen kept it at 2 for Detroit, with Rodriguez, Cordero, & Kolb pitching a total of 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. Between the three of them, they only gave up one hit (Cordero).

We stayed tied into extra innings, which is usually a nightmare for us, but we put up 5 on the scoreboard in the top of the 11th - it started on a miscue by Robert Fick in right field, allowing two to score. Was nice to see some extra inning runs. Would have been even better to see them earlier, so Benoit could have gotten the win.

Anyway, the story of the night for me was Travis Hafner. Travis (who REALLY looks like Mike Morgan) made his major league first start (he came in late as a PH the previous night), and struck out early - but delivered after that. His first major league hit was an RBI triple - and then he almost got his first home run, too. He looked like a big kid, with almost McGwire-ish (or Kaplerish) muscles, but didn't seem like the kind that would raise eyebrows over steroids or something like that. I know he comes very highly touted, and it's nice to see him get going in his first start.

Was also nice to see us beat the Tigers in Detroit, something we haven't done in quite awhile, unfortunately. Anybody else notice that the two games in Detroit had really quick game times?

Additional game commentary here.

I'm tired of the Rangers losing to teams that they have no business losing to. I got disgusted after the first couple of innings, and actually switched the game off. It's rare that I do that.

Additional game commentary here.

Aaron Myette continues to stink up the joint, giving up 8 earned runs in 3.2 innings. It's puzzling, as he does well in AAA, just not up here. Rob Bell came out of the pen and did well, giving up one run in 3.1 innings. Dennys Reyes went two and gave up two. So far Reyes hasn't been anything special, although he's left handed - I guess that's something.

However, the story here was Pedro. He went 7 innings, giving up one walk, striking out 10, and just three hits - with no runs. Very much the pitcher advertised. In fact, I was annoyed that he was pulled from the game, I wanted to see him go nine and shut us out. :)

We got three late, but the game really wasn't as close as 11-3 sounds (as if that's close). It really should have been 11-0. :)

Additional game commentary here.

A big back and forth game, and a nice finish by Texas to win the game 8-6. We tried to give it away, but a surprising bunt by Carl Everett sparked the final push to win the game.

Some of the highlights were another home run by Arod, his 37th of the year, leading all of MLB. Kevin Mench's 3 run home run late to give us a lead (and prompting some nice emotion from Kevin on the basepaths). Carl Everett's aforementioned bunt.

Todd Hollandsworth joined the injury parade as he appeared to pull a hamstring running to first. He's probably headed towards the DL. Sigh.

Anyway, it was a nice game to watch a comeback. I said I wished we had lost all four games to the Red Sox, as I wanted that to help them against the Yankees, but it's always nice to see one's team win. :)

What can you say about this? Derek Lowe shut us down good. We gave up far too many runs again, but it didn't really matter. One was enough.

Additional game commentary here.

Well, after last night's game against the Yankees that I missed, I figured I'd miss the best offensive game of the season. Wrong.

I was at this game, and boy, was it fun to watch as a Rangers fan. I was actually looking forward to seeing former Ranger John Burkett pitch, as he's done pretty well since leaving the Rangers a couple of years ago (that sounds familiar). Anyway, he plunked the first two batters of teh game, and that pretty much set the tone. Carl Everett jacked a three run home run to cap off the scoring - 6 runs in all in the first frame. Actually, I thought it was gonna be bad as Johnny Damon hit a solo home run on the second pitch of the game, but that was pretty much it for Boston for awhile.

However, that wasn't it for us in the second. We scored another 6 runs, capped off by a grand slam by Carl Everett - 7 RBI's in the first two innings - a total of 12 runs for us after the second (and we were up 13-1 after the third). We picked up 6 more elsewhere, but the first three innings were the story of the game. Carl Everett also missed two MORE home runs, both by a foot or two - both were caught at the fence. Big night for him. He said in the press the fact it was against Boston meant nothing to him, but I have a hard time believing he didn't feel ANYTHING special over that. :)

Todd Hollandsworth made a nice first impression - with a double, a home run and 4 RBI's as well as a nice running catch in center. The popular opinion is that he probably won't be here next year, but it was nice to see someone be able to play center field and hit as well. I really liked Ruben Rivera, Jason Romano, Ryan Ludwick, & Calvin Murray out there, but Hollandsworth appears to be able to run balls down and hit too, which is something we haven't had from any of our centerfielders so far this year.

Chan Ho Park was great until he developed a blister, and then headed south in a big hurry. However, he had a big fan section out in right field - a group of folks who had some Korean signs out there where whooping it up like the drum guys in Oakland do. Any time Park did anything good, they made a nice noise out there. I really really loved seeing that, as for the most part this town doesn't have any regular fans like that, except for Zonk at games. I really wished I was back in my original season tickets that I had from 1997-1999 in Section 39, as they were in Section 40 making all this noise. :) Don't know if anyone in that group would read this, but if you did, I really enjoyed that - hope y'all come back.

By far the best game I've been to this year.

Additional game commentary here.

Man, did I pick the wrong game to go to in the Yankees series. Two of my bosses at work, who are admittedly casual baseball fans, and would much rather watch the Cowboys were at a luxury box for this game. Grrrr..... :(

Anyway, this explosion was really nice to see anytime, but was ESPECIALLY sweet against the Yankees. I really wish I could have been there, but I did watch the entire thing on TV, including the funny bit where the TV guys made fun of Josh Lewin, calling him the "Yammering Announcer". :)

The game was in hand early with a 6 spot in the second inning with 6 doubles and a home run leading the charge. The 6 doubles in an inning tied a record, and we also tied our own record for extra base hits in the game. Was really sweet to watch, but was also bittersweet considering the way the rest of the season has gone. :( Arod's HR in the second really did NOT look like a home run off the bat, looked like a pop out to right, but ended up going out of the deepest part of the park (right center). Nice to see. I really REALLY hope we don't have a strike, because I want to see Arod play this out and get a full season - I would love to see him make a run at the MVP award. What can you say about a season high 17 runs and 21 hits other than you're glad it was against the Yankees. We were on national TV on Monday night, I wish THIS was on national TV.

Gabe the babe is gone, with his trade to Colorado. I'll miss him, I liked him as a player and a person (from what I could gauge), but he never put it together here, and perhaps it was time for a change. Too bad, he was a great guy to have on a team.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Well, that sucked, too. The Yankees win too much, I don't like writing about them winning, so I won't.

Well, that sucked. Additional game commentary is available here.

This game was going brilliantly. We were winning 2-1 through the end of the 7th inning. I was at this game, and wondered at the time why Valdes came out of the game after 6 innings, having thrown only (by my count) 87 pitches. Turns out it was a blister. It's too bad as he was pitching brilliantly.

My wife wasn't feeling good this evening, so we left early. Right before she went to use the bathroom before we left, Dave Burba was called on to pitch. As she was leaving, I screamed out loud "That's it - game's over. Three run home run from Burba". And of course, that's exactly what happened. We left after that, but not FOR that reason, we left because my wife wasn't feeling good, and needed to go home. So we started driving home. We hit I30 when the top of the ninth started. When we got home back into Garland, the top of the 9th had JUST finished. That's pretty bad when you can drive from Arlington to Garland in the span of half an inning!

Anyway, I got out of there just in time, what a meltdown of epic proportions. We gave up 11 runs in the 8th & 9th. A side note is that when it all started, we were four outs away from the win. But hey, I at least got a free hat for going, eh? :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

Chan Ho Park gave up four runs in the first inning, but shouldn't have given up any, I think. We were "this close" to getting out of the first with no runs scored, and then bam, the A's had four up. Given the way the season has gone, I figured the game was lost already. We did put up one in the bottom of the first (on an Arod solo HR), but I still didn't feel good. Not until the third inning, when we put up a 5 spot, and were up 6-4. Carl Everett, who suddenly has discovered his power stroke this weekend chimed in with a massive three run HR that went over the seats in right field's Section 44 and into the walkway.

We then pissed away the lead, and let the A's tie it in the 6th at 6-6, and it remained that way (despite a few close calls) until the bottom of the 10th when Arod came up with the bases loaded against Billy "I still have the stupidest beard ever" Koch. Arod jacked a ball to right center field, and I figured the game was over, but it kept traveling, and he ended up with a grand slam in the 10th to win it 10-6. Was a nice finish to this one, for sure. :)

This game started off good - with a three spot in the first inning against Mark Mulder. At that time I felt that we had better hold it, because three against Mulder is an accomplishment - and I was right - he didn't give up anything else - at least not until the 7th. In the 7th, we had fallen behind 4-3, but then we had what can only be called an explosion of epic proportions, scoring 9 runs in the 7th inning, capped off by TWO home runs by Carl Everett. That's something that no other Ranger in history has ever done. Everett probably won't have much longer in a Ranger uniform, but he did etch out a piece of history while he was here.

Wish I could have been there to see this in person, from what I saw on TV, it looked like a fun time that inning. :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

We gave away the lead in the bottom of the first inning, and while we tied it back up in the top of the second, we gave it away for good, and never looked "back" after the second, when we gave up a five spot, which actually felt worse than it looked. I actually got disgusted, and turned the game off. As it was a 9PM start, and I felt we weren't doing anything more after that (I was right), I wanted to go do some other things around the house. :)

Additional game commentary is available here.

We picked up a win in Seattle behind the strong pitching of Kenny Rogers, also rumoured to be going to Seattle. Kenny looked great again this year, getting his 11th win. If he manages to stick with us for the rest of the season (doubtful), he'll probably easily get 17 wins.

Anyway, we went ahead on the second pitch of the game, and never gave up the lead. Frank Catalanotto hit a home run on the second pitch over Ichiro into the stands, and we never looked back. Well, maybe we did late, when the Mariners made it 4-3, but it was still nice to get a win.

Valdes pitched great. We got no runs, lost it late. Yadda yadda yadda...

Additional game commentary is available here.

Great pitching. Park looked great, our bullpen tried to give it away, but managed to keep it together. Great great win late.

I'd write more, but I'm busy trying to catch up with weekend work backlog and getting over being sick.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Oh gee. We lose yet another one run game. About the only thing worth mentioning is HOW it happened - at least it was different.

Dave (can we get rid of this guy now) Burba plunked a batter with the bases loaded and the game tied in the bottom of the ninth. Sigh.

Well, what more can you say about this one except Cory Lidle? He pitched a masterpiece, giving up just one hit and one walk the whole game. Faced 28 batters total, and was brilliant. His only mistake was the double that Juan hit to lead off the eighth. After the 6th, I was actually rooting for Lidle to pitch a no hitter. Especially after we gave up a 7 spot. Figure, once you're down like that, you might as well get a no hitter pitched against you.

Hate to lose, but when something like this is pitched against you, doesn't matter when you give up 1 run of 50. Lidle was the name of this game.

Oh yeah, the retro uniforms were kind of goofy looking. For the first two innings, it didn't look like the Rangers at all, but I agree with Tom Grieve, it had a very good classic feel to them. Too bad more teams don't have uniforms like that. I think the Yankees are the only ones left doing that, aren't they?

It was funny, when Jerry Narron came out to take out Kenny Rogers, the place booed pretty loudly. I didn't see the need to bring in the bullpen at the point he did either, and joined in the booing, but Kenny got a standing O coming off the field, as he really deserved the win. I knew the moment Narron came out, the game was over. Our bullpen feels like the Mariners' looked like about 3 years ago when they couldn't win anything late at all. :(

Our bullpen blowing an extremely well pitched game by Kenny Rogers is the bottom line here.

Another loss. Not a surprise anymore, I guess. I suppose the only fun thing was that Valdes pitched well again, and we had several home runs. However, that's about all we had, can't win on HR alone. Especially when the usual culprit (bullpen) let us down again.

Additional game commentary is available here.

No mas! No Mas!

¡Alguien satisface te hace la parada! (That's supposed to be Someone, please make it stop!)

Additional game commentary is available here.

Two double headers in Kansas City. Four losses. This is really REALLY bad. Bye bye team. Roll up the truck and start shipping 'em out. Unfortunately that's probably what is going to happen. Carl Everett can drive the truck.

Another loss to the Royals in KC. Can we not go there anymore?

About the only really nice thing was hearing Chuck Morgan's voice again. Chuck - come back!

The game wasn't anywhere near as close as the score indicates. We picked up three in the 9th to make it somewhat close (and actually almost tied it), but we were outplayed totally.

Additional game commentary is available here.

So much for yesterday's commentary. Another one run loss. By my count, that's 15 this year. Turn those around to wins, and we'd be 55-35. Sigh.

Another bullpen letdown. Don't feel like writing about another one of those. Wait - Arod had two home runs, and is now the major league HR leader, and leads the AL in RBI's, too (and slugging percentage, I think).

Additional game commentary is available here.

Well, I guess we got tired of one run losses (and there's been a lot of them). In fact, I decided to look up the one run losses so far this season:

Apr: 5 (15 total)
May: 3 (16 total)
Jun: 4 (13 total)
Jul: 2 (4 total so far)

My count appears to be off one somewhere on total losses (I counted 48 and there's 49), but you get the point. 14 of our 49 losses have been by a single run. If we had those back, we'd have a much different record and be in a way different position. The bulk of those can be summed up as bullpen.

Anyway, this game was pitched well by Kenny Rogers, who will probably be traded, even though I don't want that to happen. He made a most specactular play on a ball, diving into first base to make a putout. He's one of the best fielding pitchers I've ever seen with my own eyes. Arod had another home run, and Raffy had a few RBI doubles led the way to the 8-1 win. Was nice to get one of these, but given the way we've been playing, I doubt it will translate into much beyond today.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Oh look. Another Rangers loss. And by the same score as the previous night's game, too. :(

The most exciting parts of this game for me were the home run by Arod (which is always great to see), and the almost inside the park home run by Pudge. However, Pudge appeared to totally run out of gas around third, and it appeared like he was almost stopped coming into home. Too bad, as once it got by Hunter, I thought Pudge's ball was a sure inside the park home run.

However, we managed to overcome that disappointment and tied the game up in the ninth. Unfortunately, we blew it again against our usual nemesis, "extra innings". That Extra Innings guy really has it in for us, and we never can seem to beat him. Methinks the blowup of the team will be happening shortly.

Additional game commentary is available here.

Not discussing the All Star game, as there's been a ton said. I absolutely agree with the decision made to stop it. No more pitchers, time to stop. The fans really irritated me, and I felt Selig didn't deserve this. I'm no major Selig fan, but I don't see what other choice he really had. Biggest mistake was announcing it DURING the bottom of the 11th inning. Wait till it was over, and then make the decision. Whoever decided that was an idiot.

As for last night's game.. I thought Chan Ho Park did pitch better than he had been. He went 6.1 and gave up 3 earned runs (4 in all). Not bad. Technically a quality start, but he's still got a lot of work to go. His out pitch seemed to be good yesterday, and while he wasn't dominating, it looked good. Combined with the start before this being about the same kind, and it appears he's headed in the right direction.

Major roster overhaul yesterday with a total of 7 moves (although one was a rehab assignment). We brought up troubled CF Ruben Rivera who got a hit last night, and showed why I call Carl Everett "Slow Ass". It was nice to hear Jerry Narron say that Rivera will get the bulk of the playing time in center given that I want Everett released. I suspect the Rangers do too, but I've bought into the notion I've read that the Rangers are waiting to see if the players strike. If the players strike, then we can save a few bucks on Everett's release. Anyway, Rivera made a spectacular catch up against the baggie in right center that Everett wouldn't have gotten anywhere near. That play alone showed why we can't have Everett in the field, and with him batting less than .200, we can't have him at the plate, either.

Kevin Mench had a huge home run early, but then had a major base running blunder late when he got picked off trying to make it back to first on a wide turn. He was removed from the game, but I don't feel there will be any permanent repercussions from that. Eric Milton was extremely good from the third inning to the sixth, striking out 6 Rangers in a row, and a total of 10 for his 7 innings of work. That was really spectacular to watch.

I know the Rangers aren't going anywhere, and given we're playing one of the contraction teams, I don't mind losing to them, because it helps them. Still, I'd like to see some wins - we had better beat up KC when we get there Monday, or there probably will be even more roster overhaul.

Additional game commentary is available here.

N/A

Great ninth inning win. Felt like a playoff game, actually! :)

My wife and I have been at the last 4 or 5 July 4th games in a row. This year we decided to stay home. Should have gone, it was a great game. Anyway, as my wife & I just hung around the house for the evening doing things like drinking beer, sitting on the patio watching the world go by, etc.. I didn't start watching the game until it was over (on my TiVo). Anyway, after the top of the first, I was disgusted. Down 6-0 before we even batted. Needless to say, I skimmed through the game, not actually watching the Devil Rays bat at all. Just watched the Rangers bat - and also skipped the stuff between pitches, too. Watched the game in about 45 minutes that way. :)

This was the longball night, with a total of 5 home runs for the Rangers (total of 7 if you count the two by Tampa). We had home runs by Kevin Mench, Todd Greene, Arod, Pudge, & Raffy - with Raffy's winning the game in the bottom of the 8th. I suppose I would have been more into this if we were there. But the best part I think was Rob Bell settling down and not giving up anything after the horrid 6 run first inning. Quite surprised to see him out there in the second, but nice to see that he stepped up and carried the team from that point.

Three in a row, and while it's just Tampa Bay is nice to see. Unfortunately, we can't gain any ground on Seattle. :(

Additional game commentary is available here.

A very thrilling win. A game that we won clutch in the end, that we shouldn't have had to win. We started off big, putting up a four spot in the first - it could have been more, but Arod was thrown out at the plate during the first. Pudge capped the four run inning with a two run home run. It felt good after the first. However, Tampa's pitching shut us down for almost the entire rest of the game. We didn't have any runs (or much else) after the first, and didn't score again until the eighth. However, Tampa did. They picked away at the lead (including a couple of home runs - one from Ben Grieve), and in the top of the ninth, tied the game 5-5.

Then Pudge stepped up in the bottom of the ninth, and jacked a home run ball over the fence for the win. It was really nice to see the Rangers come out and mob him at home plate, all jubilant (except Carl Everett, who probably thought that was beneath him and was being Mr Slow ass even there).

A really nice win over Tampa Bay. Ismael Valdes had to come out of the game early, which is not a good sign. Especially if we're trying to trade him. I don't want to, but we may end up doing so.

Before the game started, I told my wife that this is a game we should win. By 2002 standards, we were tossing our best pitcher out there, and TB had their worst. Of course, whenever I say that, we usually lose. And given the way Tanyon Sturtze pitched, we should have lost. Sturtze pitched an 8 inning complete game loss, giving up just 9 hits (mostly scattered), and three earned runs. He really deserved better, and is probably a better pitcher than his 1-9 record says he is.

On the other hand, he did give up three, and Kenny Rogers gave up just one - a solo shot to David McCarty. Our pitching was better than theirs, and that combo will win you a lot of games - unfortunately we usually can't say that. Even Rocker was good. :)

This was a game of solo home runs, mostly. McCarty had one for Tampa, and we got ones from Juan Gonzalez & Rafael Palmeiro. Arod also had an RBI elsewhere in the game. A nice game to watch - crisp, moved quickly, too. What a shock. :)

I was at this game. Sat there two hours and got rained out. Can I get my parking fee back?

Too busy at work - no time for summary.

Too busy at work - no time for summary.

Too busy at work - no time for summary.

Dammit! Don't feel like writing about this. Too frustrating.

Well, when this game started, I wasn't feeling good about the prospects of a win. We got down early (3-0), and with Valdes on the mound, I figured we wouldn't score much. However, a few solo shots in the second (Raffy) and third (Ludwick - his first ever) gave me a little better feeling. OK, it's now 4-2 (as Anaheim scored another in the third).

The game went on, and then we busted out bigtime for our first eight spot of the season in the fifth. It was helped majorly by the fact that the Angels walked five Rangers in that inning (all of whom which scored). There was a major home run by Todd Greene - into the second level of the ballpark right past the left field foul pole. Furthermore, the inning was capped off by a three run jack by Kevin Mench. We scored another in the 6th, as did Anaheim in the 8th, but the game was pretty put away after the 8 spot in the fifth.

Nice to get some runs for Valdes. We're now at 8 in a row, and I'm feeling good. Unfortunately, we're gonna start getting some players back from the DL that will definitely interfere with what's happened. Specifically Carl Everett. I really wish we'd just eat his contract and cut him. The kids are playing far better than he had at any point in the season - and are a hell of a lot cheaper.

BTW, that catch in left field by a fan of Ryan Ludwick's first ever home run got coverage nationally on ESPN's Baseball Tonight. They showed the HR obviously, but replayed the fan's catch on Baseball Tonight in slo-mo and got commentary from the guys doing the show, too. Hope that kid had someone taping it. :)

As good as game #1 went, game 2 went better. Why? Well, no matter how the game turned out, something cool happened. As it had been raining with a lot of lightning, there was a PA announcement at the ballpark right as they were starting to announce the lineups for Game 2. They told everyone in the upper deck to go downstairs. So I think everyone did except for a few lone souls. Anyway, I ended up sitting in the third row right behind home plate. Not bad. :) I was on TV quite a few times, too.

Having said that, the game was spectacular. Quite honestly, that couldn't have been Dave Burba out there pitching. No runs given up until the seventh? That couldn't have been him at all - no walks! Yeesh. I'll take the pitching performance, but quite honestly, I was hoping he'd pitch bad this outing and last, so we could release him as was talked about in the papers. Of course, now we could trade him, so he may yet go. In the bottom of the first inning, I got a much different view of a home run ball. I'm used to seeing home run balls from upstairs, but Arod's monster home run in the bottom of the first was quite spectacular to watch from directly behind home plate.

I expected us to score a ton, because Anaheim's pitcher John Lackey was making his major league debut. And other than the home run ball to Arod, not a lot was done against him, which is impressive. Sure, he got burnt by Arod, but then a lot of people get burnt by him, and if you're gonna get burnt, it might as well be against someone of his stature. Our other two runs came on a couple of doubles and a groundout in the fourth - and that was it from our offense. But it was enough.

Our pitching was quite quite good. Jay Powell came in to relieve Burba, and did allow an inherited runner to score on a ground ball, but that's it. Rocker came in, and was lights out (as he was the first game). He got an EXTREMELY GOOD reception as he came running in from the bullpen in the 8th. Rocker got an extremely impressive strikeout of Tim Salmon which really energized the crowd as well as Rocker too (see the reaction shot in the photo section from this game).

We now have won 7 in a row - a season high. The two wins came in our own division which is good. Seattle lost too, so we picked up a game and a half in the standings tonight. I doubt it will make much difference in the complete season standings, but this helps in putting us back to respectability, I think. Would be nice if we could get some of these runs tomorrow night for Ismael Valdes. :)

Well, Game 1 of the DH went well. Despite me getting out there in 95 degree weather, and having to sit in the sun for a couple of innings, the day went well. :)

Seriously though. Joaqun Benoit started the game, and was really REALLY wild in the first inning. However, we could have gotten out of it with no runs scoring at all despite bases loaded and nobody out if Rob Bell hadn't thrown a ball wild to the plate for a force at home causing Pudge to come off the plate. Benoit then gave up a two run HR to Erstad in the second inning, but otherwise calmed down. He didn't pitch TOO bad, but his 35 pitch first inning probably got him out of the game faster.

Herbert Perry had a great game, going 3-5. Arod was 2-3 with two walks. Arod scored four times himself, and overall, we had a nice offensive game against our old friend Aaron Sele.

John Rocker pitched well, as did most of the rest of the pen. However, Cordero came in in the 9th, and pulled a muscle after a few pitches, and had to come out. It's not looking good there, even if Jerry Narron put up a brave face in the post game show. Irabu came in and gave up a home run (in the rain!) - but we prevailed for our sixth in a row.

I'm fairly sure this is only the second time this year I've been able to use this graphic to the left. Still, it's nice to be able to use it.

The Rangers picked on my wife's hometown team today with a 10-4 win, which actually wasn't even that close. We were winning 10-2 until the bottom of the ninth when the Pirates' Rob Machowiak dumped a home run over the right field bleachers, and bounced it into the Allegheny river, the first Pirate to actually do that in a year and a half. Still, was a nice easy win. Arod finally got out of his extra base drought with a no doubt home run to left center (which is REALLY deep here, and on three balls I thought were home runs off the bat earlier in the series were caught for easy outs). The Mench Man (my wife's new favorite player) also hit a home run, and is making a real case to stick around when some of our "regulars" come off the DL. Speaking of that, can we PLEASE let Carl Everett go? I really want to see Ludwick, Romano, & Mench stick around, and I can't see that happening when Mr Slow ass comes off the DL. :(

Chan Ho Park looked pretty decent (especially compared to the rest of this season), but was pulled after six innings. He had given up only two hits and two runs during his time on the hill today. Technically a quality start, and I suppose he was pulled due to having pitched 98 pitches, but I would have liked to have seen him stick around for seven.

A nice sweep in Pittsburgh. Let's see if we can carry the momentum of the five game winning streak into the series against Anaheim, starting with a DH on Monday that I'll be at.

DARRYL KILE 1968-2002

Pudge won this game again with a game winning RBI double in the seventh. Rob Bell pitched well, although I admit in the first inning I thought he was going to tank, as I'm sure a lot of people did. Our pen worked well, too. Telford, Rocker, & Irabu followed up Bell to preserve the win for a streak now of four in a row.

Again, it's hard to write about this game at my computer staring at the picture of Darryl Kile over on the right. :(

Well, the day started interestingly enough. Oscar Acosta was fired. I always felt that something was odd with the Acosta/Narron combination from the start when they were fighting in spring training. I can't say this move surprises me at all. Jamie Quirk is the pitching coach for now. I doubt that will last long, though. Frontrunners are Orel Hershiser and Lee Tunnell. Gut says it's Orel.

About this game, there's really only two stories here. The pitching and Pudge. In fact, both runs were driven in by Pudge. One on a home run to right center, and the other on a double driving in Mike Young. That's about all there was to this game. Was a very well pitched game on both sides, including another save by Francisco Cordero, who seems to have finally gotten it together. Nice start to the Pittsburgh series, and we're three in a row now. Look out, we're makin' a move! :)

Ismael Valdes got screwed. Once again he pitched well enough to win (he probably should have 10 wins by now), but was let down by someone else on the team. In fact, Valdes retired something like 17 or 18 batters in a row at one point.

We did end up winning the game - today mostly by the long ball. Raffy got another for 3 in the series - one in each game. The Menchman got two this game, and Todd Greene also chipped in. Was a nice offensive output. Would have been better if we could have keep the Cubs off the board so Valdes could get a win. Other than Kenny Rogers' re-emergence this season, I think Valdes is our best pitching story. I really hope we reup him for next season.

After the game, we fired Oscar Acosta - given his remarks in the newspapers, I'm not surprised. The picture painted in the papers makes him seem like a real hard person to get along with.

Wrigley looked great again, and unfortunately, Dave Burba pitched good. Quite honestly, I never wanted him here, and when I read that he had two starts before he's gone (which may yet happen), I thought good. Let him pitch crappy in those games, so he can go. Of course, he pitches decent (if not spectacular). Sigh.

As for the game in hand, we went extra innings again, which so far to this point has meant loss. However, we scored 3 (our call up kids doing the work) in the top of hte 10th for a win. Francisco Cordero got a save, and looked good getting it.

Don't have time to sit and think and write about this one a lot today, but it was nice to see Raffy get a home run two games in a row. Hope that continues!

Wrigley looked gorgeous, and before this game I was saying this was probably our best chance to win a game in Chicago as Bere was pitching. He had the worst record of the three pitchers pitching against us. I should stop doing that, because whenever I saw we're up against a bad pitcher, he does great, and boy was tonight a night for Bere. With the exception of a Rafael Palmeiro home run in the second (which didn't look fair to me), Bere was pitching a perfect game into the 8th. Fred McGriff bobbled a popup and then we scored some runs to tie the game. Things were looking good, especially when Rocker was called in and threw three strikes, absolute bullets over the plate, freezing Todd Hundley who never swung his bat. Rocker was EXTREMELY impressive there.

But that's where it ended. Gonzalez grounded out into a double play, which killed our base runner in the ninth, and then Rocker gave up a home run ball in the bottom of the ninth to lose it. I knew when we tied but didn't go ahead, we'd lose in the bottom of the ninth. I just knew it.

2.5 seasons of this last place crap is really starting to get annoying. But Wrigley looked nice, so that was something, eh?

Well, I have to admit, that when the game got to 6-4 in the bottom of the 6th, I had gotten disgusted. It's not that a two run lead was insurmountable, but I didn't feel like watching anymore. I went off to do some work on the Internet on non baseball things. I kept my eye on the game though with the live "Game day" pitch by pitch count on MLB.com. When I saw us climbing back, I decided to go watch the 9th on TV. I should have known better. :(

We clawed back and tied the game in the 9th against Billy Wagner which was enough of a feat. But when Pudge was thrown out in the top of the 9th trying to take the lead (at the plate), I knew we'd lose. This team just doesn't seem (to me as a fan, anyway) to have the heart to come back against stuff like that. It's kind of like when I was growing up watching Pete Rose play. You knew if Rose was anywhere near coming up, you had a chance to win. This team doesn't seem to have that feel to it. That's unfortunate, because I like most everyone on the team, but it doesn't seem to "have it", which is why I think this season (and most likely next, too) is lost, and we should dump big name players (Uh, Everett) and just go with kids. I think we'll do better in the long haul - look at what has happened with the Twins the last year or two. They went through some hell, but did it with a bunch of kids, and now they're winning.

Oh yeah, for the first time as a Ranger, Arod did not start the game at shortstop. Mike Young did. Arod did come in and pinch hit late, but he didn't start, which was a surprise.

Additional commentary about the game is available here.

Wow - what can you say about this one except Wade Miller was awesome? A three hit shutout with help from Octavio Dotel & Billy Wagner. That's all she wrote for this game.

The thing to like most about this game, and the thing that was reported on the most in the local media was Mike Young's game. He was 5-5 with two home runs. Going back into the last game, he's 7 for 7 in his last 7 at bats. Most nice. Should help raise his stock in John "My second baseman has to hit as good as Arod usually does" Hart.

I don't have much time to write about today's game (Monday is usually a hard day for me), but I couldn't let this go by without praising Mike Young's efforts.

Oh, and Pudge at the end picking off Hidalgo to end the game. That was very sweet.

Well, this game was fun for me for a few reasons. First, it was dollar hot dog night, which is always good to be able to get FOUR hot dogs for the price of one of them ($3.75) any other time. Walked up to the hot dog stand and said "Here's something you'll probably hear a lot tonight - 3 hot dogs!". :)

Second, I was by myself. Normally I go with my wife, and I really love going to games with my wife (even games I go to by myself seem to be lacking something because my wife isn't there). But when I go by myself it feels different (and not just because I'm by myself). There's always something about sitting in the stands by yourself, listening to the game on the radio and scoring the game that seems, well, cool.

Third - we won. The big story on this one of course was the 8th inning when we put up a seven spot - with something like 6 or 7 straight Rangers reaching base. I thought that Chan Ho Park pitched better than before, but nowhere near what he should be. This felt like a spring training game for him (to me). After he came out though - our relief pitching didn't give up anything at all (runs wise), which was nice to see. Especially Rocker, who was the beneficiary of a very fortunate deflection off himself for a DP. We had gotten a few runs here and there, and we were down 4-3 starting the 8th, which wasn't bad, but after we had scored one in the 7th, and left two on base, you always get the feeling that we won't get anymore. Boy, was that wrong - it was capped off by a bases clearing 3 run triple by Mike Young, giving us (at that time) a 9-4 lead. We tacked on one more, giving John Rocker his first win as a Texas Ranger, and getting Park off the hook again.

One thing did bother me about the fans in the stands. We were booing Ken Griffey Jr when he came up to pinch hit in the ninth. I know he's not our player, but he is most definitely one of the game's greats, and quite frankly, I saw no reason to boo him. I even said that when I called in to the post game show (yeah, that was me on there talking about Griffey & our fans). I might understand it if Griffey was going to Seattle, but there really is no beef with him here. One caller after me on the post game show said something about "He's in our house". Well, duh - but that wasn't my point. He was one of the game's greats - and I felt it was very disrespectful to be booing him - it just bothered me.

Finally, I almost wished I wasn't at the park for this one - because there was a very fun broadcast on TV with Josh Lewin & Tom Grieve in the stands broadcasting. I hope they do that more often. I TiVo'ed the game at home, and watched pieces of it when I got back. I'm more convinced Josh Lewin is one of the most fun broadcasters I've seen in awhile. His doing the word scramble, jumping in the dogpile for a home run ball was very fun to watch.

Also, when I was leaving the game, someone stopped me and said Hi. I had said on my site that if you saw me with a Siegler 20 Rangers Jersey, say hi, so someone did. To that person - I'm afraid I cannot remember your name. I'm really bad with names until I've met someone several times. It was nice chatting with you, if you ever want to say hi or chat about the Rangers, drop me a line. :)

Should have known better than to expect to win two in a row from a first place team. :) I felt good starting the game. I had just grilled up a steak on the BBQ, was sitting down to eat dinner in front of the Ranger game, and then the Reds' 22 year old players Dunn & Kearns decided it was time to open up a can of whoop ass on us. Unfortunately, that whoop ass can has been opened on us too many times - I'm getting tired of seeing it.

Their kids did look good - I can see why the Reds are excited about them, they look like great young kids to have. Radio guys made a point that one is making the major league minimum, and one just barely over it. Also, their entire starting rotation is making about two million combined! Yeesh! Park's getting $400,000 per game to start for us. I'd rather have the Reds guys about now. I have to admit, after we went down 6-0, I pretty much tuned out, and started doing some other things around the house. I did tune in again in the bottom of the ninth, and saw an attempt at coming back, but all it really did was make the score look closer than it should have been.

Jay Powell finally pitched for us, and looked good. Hope that holds up. Also, Ryan Ludwick is making a case to stick around when Carl (I'm now in the way of some really good kids) Everett comes back. Makes me wish we'd eat Everett's contract and release him. Can't trade him, unfortunately - he's untradable given the way he's played.

Well, this game went right for us in just about every way. We scored runs - got great pitching from Ismael Valdes (who I really hope is still here next year - he's been awesome), and we didn't screw up late, even after having brought in John Rocker (whose sprint in from the dugout got him to the pitching mound before Valdes was in the dugout, I've never seen that happen before). We had home runs from Mike Young, Herbert Perry, & Kevin Mench (just called up again). Cincinatti had some problems with pitching. Their first guy was normally a reliever, and had to come out after just .2 of the first inning with what turned out to be a broken finger. They ended up going through five pitchers (they were on Pitcher #3 in the third inning already!). Hopefully it strains their pen for the rest of the series.

There were some great comical moments, too. Mike Young's HR that he didn't know was a home run and slid into third base, then heard the Natural music was one. Arod's trip and tumble to score in the first inning was great (provided he doesn't get hurt from it), and the third was Johnny Bench on the TV coverage asking a cameraman for an autograph. That was totally awesome. Was kind of hoping we'd get Griffey & Arod, but Griffey's hurt again. Also, the stat about 33 gold gloves (all from catchers) being in the house last night was great too. Bench with 10, Pudge with 10, Jim Sundberg with 7, and Bob Boone with 6. Was nice to see my old friend Bob Boone (who won a series ring with the Phillies in 1980 - my home town team

Dave Burba didn't give up a first inning run at all - quite a departure from the norm. However, just two days later, I can't say I remember anything else from this game, except two images from the TV coverage. Some fans in the stands with brooms, and some fans doing that stupid Braves "chop" things. That irritates me more than the wave!

Hideki Irabu. Extra Innings. Home Runs. Lost Game. That's about all that will be remembered about this - despite some good pitching by Rob Bell.

OK, what's wrong with Chan Ho Park? I can't BELIEVE he's this terrible. I figured he'd have some dropoff this year going to the AL for the first time, but I never imagined he'd be this bad. I was outside digging holes in the ground in my back yard, as I'm building a fence, and was listening to the game. More than one use of the hole digging tool was followed by "Stupid ass Rangers!" as the tool got thrust into the ground. It was nice to see Pudge break out big time in his first game back, though.

After I was done digging, I decided I wasn't going to listen/watch this game anymore - I decided the Texas Rangers team I have on my Xbox was more entertaining than the real one. :)

Well, we keep TRYING to lose games, but this time we managed to find a way to hang on and get a win - saving us from a sweep against the Angels in four games (something that's never happened ever). I guess that's something.

However, on a more positive note, some of the good things to come out of this game were Juan Gonzalez finally getting a "good" HR - and by that I mean one with men on base. He jacked a three run home run as part of a big 7 spot inning early on. Was nice to see that.

Also good was the hitting debut of Ryan Ludwick - who went 2-5 with a run scored. He looked good at the plate, especially against Appier - but then again Appier was off. Still, it's always nice to get a hit in your first at bat, and he got two! Nice debut, although I'm sure it further clouds our already crowded OF position - although I expect we'll probably release Calvin Murray. He's fast, but can't hit. Ludwick is fast, and can hit - or so his rep says he can.

Holy crap what an annoying game. Ismael Valdes finally gets some runs where he can win, and he doesn't win. Arod and Mike Young barely miss hitting home runs that die right at the base of the wall. We take the lead into the bottom of the ninth, and then Irabu melts down and lets the game get tied with more home runs. We take the lead again in the 10th, and then Irabu blows it again. Needless to say he got dumped on the 3 or 4 fantasy teams I have that he was on. :) Can't catch a frickin' break. Well, at least there's interleague play coming up - sigh.

About the only really positive thing of this game is that Juan Gonzalez finally got his 400th career home run. He's also not getting very many RBI opportunities batting behind Raffy & Arod - I think he needs to go back to 4th. Oh yeah, and Ryan Ludwick made his major league debut - I always like seeing kids get their debuts.

I'm almost to the point where I'm ready to write off the season. I know it's still June 6th, but we show no signs of turning it around steadily. Thought we had it figured out a few weeks ago, but then we slid, and haven't gotten back up since. Unless we turn it around for something like 2 or 3 weeks solid, I think we're close to being done again before the All-Star Break.

Ramon Ortiz. 'nuff said. Grrrrrr.....

We won the game mostly on the strength of a 5 run first inning. Although in typical fashion we tried to give it away, yet managed to hang on. :)

What more can you say about this one? Shutout by Scott Schoenweis, who was masterful. What's more surprising is that we didn't lose about 8-0 as Dave Burba pitched for us!

Kenny Rogers pitches a complete game and barely misses a shutout. Not much else to talk about here. :)

Didn't get to write about this game until almost a week later, so no commentary from me.

We won a game we certainly had no business winning. Rob Bell was very mediocre - I found myself yelling out "Doug Davis wasn't any worse than this, and he got sent down for it". We took the lead, gave it up, took it back, let it go again, etc - you know the drill. We did manage to pull the game out in the bottom of the ninth against a pitcher I didn't think we would score anything off of - J.C. Romero. Was nice to get a win. A really odd feeling - it's starting to feel like we're supposed to lose, and that's a bad feeling as a fan - I know it well growing up in Philadelphia.

However, I wanted to write a bit about the in stadium "entertainment" a bit.. After going to games two nights in a row, I find I really really REALLY miss Chuck Morgan. The new guy is still botching many player names, has called the player at bat out of order on several occasions, and the new music selections really SUCK! Most of the music played is bad cover songs of songs that I'd wager most no one wants to hear. It made it worse hearing all the "stuff" Chuck Morgan used to do in Kansas City. Not to mention the fact that the few times the ballpark entertainment staff tries to get the crowd into a game they either come in too late, or don't even bother - like last night starting the bottom of the ninth. Nothing. Also, as another side note - the sound is really BAD anymore in the ballpark. Used to be loud and clear, but video effects either have no sound at all, or if they do have sound, it sounds like you're hearing it as you would standing outside the ballpark. Or worse, it sometimes changes volume in the middle of the sound effect. The ballpark entertainment crew of three that replaced Chuck Morgan definitely gets a D-.

Another sad loss. I really felt as most people did in Rangers fandom that we should have pitched Rob Bell tonight, and Chan Ho Park on Wed. But Park was run out early, and he looked it. Not effective at all, threw a ton of pitches, and gave up a grand slam in the second, which we never recovered from. We lost 11-4, and it felt like it was a wider margin than that. The only good thing really was that recent call up Juan Alvarez looked good. I suppose the most entertaining thing from a fan standpoint was the fireworks in the 5th (not real fireworks, metaphoric fireworks) when Jerry Narron & Arod got ejected. There was a safe call at second which they briefly argued over, but then the game went on. At the end of the inning, Jerry Narron ran out and REALLY was animated with the 2nd base umpire. It was quite QUITE visible. Arod came over to help out with Narron, and then (at the time it seemed) for no reason at all took off running back to the second base umpire. Arod then got really livid, and to make it more interesting, Jerry Narron had to really restrain him. Rudy Jaramillo ran out and tried to run blocker for all that. To top it all off, Carl Everett got in the middle of it trying to break it up - I found that very humorous and ironic - Everett, who is known for his flare-ups out there playing peacekeeper.

Speaking of Carl, he needs to NOT be in center field. The fact that he lumbered after two balls, one of which was turned into a triple because he was too damn slow to cut it off really irritates me. We need at least Gabe Kapler out there, or Calvin Murray. Calvin isn't the greatest hitter, but he certainly seems most fit for the outfield. That was really shown up by the speed demons that the Twins have in the outfield. At least half a dozen good hit balls were run down by their outfielders (mostly center) - it really showed the defensive liability Everett is in center field. Problem is that we have Carl for next year too, and unless something drastic happens, I predict the same problems for next year we're having with him this year. I'm afraid that if this all continues for much longer, there will be a big fire sale at the end of July, unfortunately.

Also, I have to conclude that the new in stadium entertainment folks who took over for forced out Chuck Morgan do NOT know how to get a crowd going. The thought of using in stadium materials to rile up the fans is almost an afterthought. And when they DO do it, the sound is usually messed up. It's too loud, or it's too low, or it will change volume in the middle - it's as if a bunch of 5 year olds appear to be running the in stadium entertainment. The Rangers really screwed up when they didn't let Chuck have what he wanted (or so the stories go). It shows - it's most definitely NOT the same feel at the ballpark anymore. There's another story about how they treat the ushers that work there, but that's for another time.

Additional game notes are available here.

Home doesn't offer any consolation, as we lose to the Twins 5-2. I'm more annoyed at this game, because I had tickets, and could have gone, but decided to stay home because of the rain and missed the fireworks show. :( Raffy also missed a three run HR which would have radically changed the complexion of this game when he hit one right to the base of the triangle in right field - the Twins' right fielder was flush against the wall. DAMN! He did get one earlier in the game for his 1500th career RBI, which was nice to see.

Some shakeups before the game, big roster movements. Doug Davis was sent to AAA, which wasn't a big surprise. Steve Woodard was also designated for assignment which wasn't a big surprise either. Chris Michalak was designated too, which was a bit of a surprise (at least to me) - I didn't think he was doing that awful. Rob Bell was recalled, which was good, and I have to say I don't know much about the replacements - Anthony Telford & Juan Alvarez. Alvarez is probably only here until Jay Powell is ready to come off the DL at the end of the week.

There's probably a lot more changes to come, especially if we continue to lose..

The sad road trip comes to a close with another stinker of a game against the Royals. We went 2-9 on the road trip, and the momentum we had built up earlier this month is gone. At least Juan Gonzalez got a home run finally. :)

Starting to think there will be a major shakeup come July.

What a stinker. After coming back and taking the lead, we blow it late. Which wasn't a big problem generally for Seanez / Irabu. But it was today. That's about all I have to write about this one. :(

After finally getting in a game after a couple of rainouts, I wished for a third rainout in a row. I'm writing this knowing I still have to write about the DH and the Monday game against the Twins, I find it hard to come up with something for four games when they were all suck ass games.

Dave Burba continued his problems in the first inning. Makes me think we should pitch someone else for his games in the first inning, and let him come in in the second.

Losses are always bad, but against teams you're supposed to beat up on.. Ugh.

Rainout after two delays in the game - one for 30 mins at the start, and a much longer one in the top of the fourth. Too bad, as Raffy had a 2 run HR for his 1500th RBI of his career, and Chan Ho Park looked pretty good tonight, too. This one will be made up on July 15th as part of a DH.

Rainout. Will get made up on Sunday as part of a DH.

Didn't get to see much of this game, so no commentary from me. Nice to pick up a win and break the streak, though.

Didn't get to see much of this game, so no commentary from me. We did pick up a half game in the standings on the off day though as the A's lost when we were idle, so we're in sole possession of third - although still too far back for my tastes.

Well, I'd like to say our bullpen blew this one, but it didn't. Our offense didn't do anything again. The most amusing moment of this game was when Bill Haselman got hit on the head by a ball while he was sliding into home plate to score our only run of the game - and the ball went out of play.

Can't blame the pen for this one. Doug Davis didn't even pitch that bad, only gave up two runs in six, although he wasn't very dominating.

A sweep to the Tigers is a bad BAD way to head into Minnesota to face the best home record team in the majors. :(

Our bullpen reverted to it's April form, led by John Rocker, who was publicly insulted by Tom Hicks after the game. Methinks Rocker isn't long for the Rangers - I suspect he'll go when Powell comes back in a week or so.

Dave Burba early. What more do you need to know about this one? Sigh.

After the previous night's really late night due to seeing Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, I fell asleep watching this game. Didn't miss much, as we were shut out 4-0. Rogers was terrorized by a few bloops, I didn't think he pitched all that bad, but gave up just enough to lose because we didn't get anything. :)

As I write this today, Juan's been activated, so hopefully we can get some pop back, although I don't expect much in the Detroit series due to him being rusty and it being rather cold in Detroit.

I did not see or hear any of this game, as Wed night was my bowling night, and from there I headed to the movie theatre to wait in line to see a midnight showing of the new Star Wars flick. Still, was nice to see a win in the box scores, especially for Valdes, who should have a better record than he does. Also surprised to see that Arod was ejected.

Blech. Ugly. Best moment was early when Herb Perry jacked a two run HR. Also when the cat ran across the field. That was the most fun moment in the game. :)

A sweep! A sweep! Four in a row now, and we've escaped sole possession of the basement. We've come way back from our horrific April to be one game under .500, which is impressive given we haven't gotten our main team back. I was at this game, and dodged some raindrops. :)

Chan Ho Park came back today and pitched pretty well. Was nice to see him come out and be really sharp. It was odd, though the move we made to activate him from the DL - sending Hank Blalock to AAA. I was surprised by that move, yet I understand it at the same time. HE wasn't hitting here, so he needed to get back and get "in shape" hitting wise so he can come back better later this year. We did lose Raffy in the middle of the game though which is NOT good - while he's listed as day to day, it doesn't sound promising, and it's equally as annoying because we just got Park back, and Juan should come back on Friday if all goes well.

Chan Ho Park looked sharp his first four innings, and then labored in the 5th - that's probably due to his not having pitched in awhile. Chris Michalak looked really great, as did Todd Van Poppel, who combined to throw 4 shutout innings.

No home runs, but a nice even offense scoring five runs. Herbert Perry, our new regular third baseman (for now, anyway) had a nice day, going 3 for 4 and was robbed out of 4 for 4 on a spectacular play by Tigers CF Jose Macias.

Additional game notes are available here.

A big 7 run inning fueled this one. I was scared starting the game off because I hate playing against knuckleball pitchers. They either eat you up, or you score a ton against them - which is what happened this night. Steve Sparks didn't have anything in the second inning, and we had something like five consecutive hits against him, scoring a total of 7 that inning. Arod had two home runs this night - which is always good. :)

Dave Burba was his usual give up runs in the first inning pitcher - I really wish he could start in the second inning. ;) John Rocker gave up a two run home run, but other than that pitch, our relief pitching was good, earning Irabu another save. I don't like to give up six runs, but when you get 10, I'll take the win.

Boy, what an awesome game! I actually felt bad for the Tigers starting pitcher. Both he and Kenny Rogers went the first 7 innings before giving up any runs at all. In fact, Kenny went eight and gave up nothing. Jeff Weaver got in a little bit of trouble in the 8th inning and gave up two runs. I'd say 5 hits and two runs over eight innings is an awesome start, but Weaver got the loss because Kenny (& Hideki Irabu) were just that much better.

Ranger pitching allowed only eight scattered hits through nine innings, and no runs at all. I really wish I would have been there for this game, as it was not the kind of pitching performance you get in the AL all that often!

Not much more to say about this one - it was all Kenny Rogers! :)

This was a day game, they're always tough for me, as I do listen at work, but I can't pay a lot of attention to them. However, this time it didn't matter - the show belonged to Joaquin Benoit. He went 6 innings, giving up just one run on four hits. He looked great, and our bullpen was lights out for the final three frames. Rocker, Seanez, & Irabu combined to give up nothing at all, which was great to see.

We didn't get a lot of offense either, but today we got all we needed. We split with the White Sox, which is about what I figured would happen. One could always hope for more, but I'll take 2-2 against a division leader (well, almost). :)

I didn't get to see much of this game - Wed is my bowling league night, and I neglected to record the game. Got to see us try and come back late, but that was about it. It's a loss, although Mike Young played good.

Crappy, sloppy game. Got to talk to some nice folks up from Houston in the stands, though. That was nice. :)

At the start of this game, I said to a friend at the ballpark that I have a feeling that the Dave Burba we saw in the complete game his last outing wasn't the one we'll get here - and I was right - he gave up three runs in the top of the first in a mostly ineffective inning. However, what did surprise me is that we got them right back in the bottom of the first and the game was tied pretty quickly on a Raffy HR. The White Sox pulled ahead in the third 4-3, and we had SEVERAL chances over the next couple of innings to take the lead, and we didn't. We did tie the game up in the 6th, though.

However, in the 7th, Gabe committed the second of his two errors of the game and allowed the go ahead run to score. However, we managed to pull it together and tie the game in the bottom of the 8th, and finally win it in the bottom of the 9th on a sac fly by Gabe, atoning for his errors.

Not thrilled with Burba, although our pen did pretty good not allowing anything major. Nice to pull off this win, even though it helped the Indians as they too won.

Ugh. :(

No time to write commentary, but even if I did, what more needed to be said about this one than Bartolo Colon? :)

No time to write commentary, still way too busy at work. Nice to see 6 in a row, though!

No time to write commentary, too busy at work. Nice to see a sweep, though!

Dave Burba pitched a complete game - Dave Burba?!? Of all our pitchers this season, Burba was the one I least expected to pitch a complete game. Not that I'm not happy about it mind you, just more surprised at seeing that. Was nice to see us get out and get another win - this now makes three straight series we've won, and with the Indians reeling pretty good, I'm hoping we can step into Cleveland on Friday and take another one there. With Seattle losing too, we've pulled into a respectable last place position of only 6.5 games out. :)

Anyway, there's not much to say about this game except Burba was great, tossing only 104 pitches for the complete game, and our offense was good - with Arod getting another home run, and Raffy finally getting his 500th double - he really was hoofing it to get that one, too. :) Rusty Greer contuinues to play extremely well, going 4-5, scoring a couple of runs, and driving one in. This modified lineup that Narron has had out there the last couple of days has worked really well. Bill Haselman also had a few RBI's himself, and has done really well the last week or so.

We'll probably see Hector Ortiz catching tonight as Has needs a day off again.

A great way to start off the road trip - a big 10-2 win in Toronto, although I thought it was Montreal for all the empty seats they showed on TV up there (granted the Maple Leafs were in a Game 7 situation, but still..)

It was a night of historic home runs for us. Well, all but Bill Hasleman's. :) Arod finally hit his 250th, becoming the second youngest player in history to do that (about a week behind Jimmy Foxx). Raffy hit his 254th, I believe and is now in sole possession of 25th place all time. Also, Hank Blalock hit his first major league home run (after Arod made another one of his "predictions" that Blalock would bust out this series). Kenny Rogers looked superb again, and my least favorite remaining bullpen person Steve Woodard gave up a home run, but we limited Toronto to 3 runs on 5 hits.

The more I see him, the more I'm impressed with Calvin Murray - I suspect he'll bump Everett from the regular lineup once Gonzalez comes back. Speaking of Everett, was nice to see a big smile on his face when he and Murray crashed into each other in the field.

Overall, a great game - the bobblehead approves!

With this win, we have now won two series in a row, and are 4-2 over the last 6 games! Woo-hoo! :) Plus we're going to end the month less than 10 games out, which isn't great, but is still manageable - the season isn't over quite yet.

What a pitching performance! Ismael Valdes still isn't getting any run support - but this time it didn't matter, he won. I have to say, Valdes has been the biggest surprise of the season so far for me. The more I see him, the more I like him, and hope he does well enough to stick around for more than just this year.

Offensively we got next to nothing, but that's not a surprise given it's Bartolo Colon pitching against us. We got only two runs, but it was enough. Valdes combined with three other pitchers (Rocker, Seanez, & Irabu) to keep the Indians to a lone run with 7 scattered hits. A sweet sweet pitching performance, and if our offense ever comes around for real, we shouldn't have any trouble winning games with pitching like this! Plus it was nice to see this performance on national TV (ESPN covered this game).

As I write this on Monday's off day, Dan Miceli was designated for assignment. Good - I never wanted him here in the first place as a pitcher. He was ineffective, and I think the pen is better for his not being here at all.

Rob Bell returns, wearing a new uniform number, and also seems to be a much better pitcher than he was last year.

Rob looked really sharp tonight - curve ball was good, and was most definitely way better than the Rob Bell we had pitching for us last year. If he continues to pitch this way - then this will be a most welcome addition. I see that he's going to get another start, which is good - hopefully he can string it together and stay.

Overall our pitching was very good again this game, only giving up two runs on six hits. That's an ERA of 2.00 - which is Pedro Martinez territory - can't argue with that! Van Poppel & Irabu both pitched shutout frames, and over the last 6 games, our pitching has looked like what it was supposed to look like if we had Zimmerman & Powell from the start of the season. This month has been maddening, but it looks like we may be starting to turn the corner finally.

Time will tell. :)

This is one of those games that annoyed me to lose. Mostly because I had it in my head that we SHOULD win this one. The Indians are struggling right now even more than we are, and we always seem to beat up on Chuck Finley - plus Doug Davis has pitched pretty well overall this season. That combination in my head told me that we should win this game.

We didn't.

Davis struggled pretty good, and never seemed to get it going at all. We were down 4-1 after three (3-1 after 2), and never recovered. We had a few threats here and there, but it never seemed that we were in this game at all to me (I'm saying this writing the commentary on Monday for a Friday game). Davis gave up three home runs (never good), and we had none. Arod is stuck on 249 home runs for his career, I wonder if he's thinking about 250 too much, although he did go 2-4 tonight. Gabe Kapler also went 2-4.

Overall a pretty "blah" game.

I had gone to the first game of this series, and they lost. I had tickets to last night's game, but couldn't use 'em and gave 'em to a friend. They won. I figured that clinched it - they'd lose game 3. And after going down 6-0, I was pretty convinced of it.

This game can be called Mike Lamb's (not so) Excellent Adventure!

Mike Lamb actually got booed in the game - although I think it was more of a byproduct of the Rangers season than Lamb's performance in this game as such. I felt bad for him back there - he really never got it together with Burba - he should probably be learning this at AAA, but we don't have much choice at the moment, unfortunately. My wife even got mad with the booing and stood up and screamed "Give the kid a break!" :)

What a game - Lamb's passed ball, the three wild pitches allowing a bunch of runs to score, Lamb's general ineffectiveness behind the plate (they also stole two or three bases on him), plus other fun like 5 pitchers in an inning, John Rocker (any time he's there it's nothing if not interesting), Todd Van Poppel's trip off the front of the mound, and 5 consecutive hits capped with a home run as part of a 7 spot 5th inning.. Definitely a fun game to watch. Our offense finally woke up, let's see if we can carry it over to the Cleveland series.

We ended up winning a game we probably didn't deserve to and won our second series of the year, and only the second time we've won two games in a row - but then when you've won only 7 anyway, that's not all THAT surprising. A nice day out at the ballpark for the game, too. Was cloudy and a bit chilly, but afternoon baseball is always cool. I'm just lucky that I have a flexible job where I can go see these.

The Topes Win! The Topes Win! (Simpsons reference for the uninformed).

While I will always take a win, I have to be concerned that we only scored 3 to do it. Kenny Rogers continued his awesome start to the season, and overall, it was a well pitched game. I'm really starting to like Calvin Murray - even if he reminds me a lot of Tom Goodwin. Skinny dude, fast, doesn't hit a lot.

Our relief pitching was pretty good, too. Rudy Seanez allowed nothing, as did Hideki Irabu for a save. Toronto's pitching was pretty good too - our runs came in the first three innings, and then we couldn't get anything else the rest of the game - good thing we didn't need it.

I'm really getting tired of writing about losses. 14 of them already, and we're 11 back. I didn't think we could get off to a worse start than last year.

Big shakeup to the roster yesterday. Biggest problem is the Rocker situation. I was a Rocker fan, but his refusal to accept his minor league assignment and the subsequent allowing of him to come back without going down is a bad precedent. I really hope now he doesn't do well, so we can just dump him. I was a Rocker fan, but not anymore. And speaking of that - Twisted Sister had decreed that Rocker is not to use the "I Wanna Rock" song as an intro to him. I wonder if the Rangers know that. Or Twisted Sister for that matter.

Anyway, as was said on the post game show, I didn't think this lineup was the kind where we'd be tipping our hats to the other pitcher. What was it - 4 or 5 hits? 1 run? Yeesh. We need some offense back! Help!

A cute note - we now have more salary on the disabled list than a few teams do in total salary (Pirates, Expos, Twins, I think).

DAMMIT! That's about all I can think of to say as I sit here to write this!

Game notes are available here.

Sigh. Even given all that went wrong, I felt we had a chance to come back and win this until we brought in Dan Miceli. I even agreed with Narron's move on walking Ichiro. I did NOT agree with the choice of Miceli. The next time it comes time to drop someone, I hope he's first out the door. Sigh.

What a beautiful game. I admit going into this game, I was feeling distressed. After the slaughter we got from Seattle in the last series with them, the prospect of losing against them again (we could have conceivably been 11.5 games out after this series) didn't fill me with a lot of confidence. Kenny Rogers, however - had a lot of confidence.

And a lot of pitches. He was brilliant, throwing a 5 hit shutout against the best hitting team in the AL, the Mariners. There were a few double plays turned behind him, and a big night from Raffy (1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 Double). In fact, Raffy got his 450th home run, as well as his 499th career double. In fact, Raffy leads all the majors with I believe 11 doubles this year.

Mike Young also jacked a home run, and had a good day. Mike Lamb had a double, and Arod had a couple of RBI's too. A nice game, nice to see a big win. However, we have to take all three in Seattle, really. Two out of 3 would be nice, but all 3 would put us 5.5 games out when we get out of the AL West, which isn't all that bad, really.

No time to write commentary on this game today - too busy at work. Was nice to see a win, though.

This was totally disheartening. I really was sad after this game, and I generally don't get that swept up in my emotions (for real) - it is after all just a game. But I really was depressed after this game. Then I went and lost a game of baseball on my Xbox, too. :(

Anyway, Kevin Mench was the story of this game, after the good pitching performance by Doug Davis. It was amusing that Kevin Mench managed to trip over his own bat out of the batter's box - I had never seen that in 25+ years of watching baseball. :)

When I got up in the morning, I saw that John Rocker had been sent down. He deserved it, but quite frankly, I wish he pitched better, as I enjoyed watching Rocker on the mound. I hope he gets it together (although he should have done that in spring training).

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! I was at the game, too. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! The best part of the game was Mench, Arod's home run, and a baseball toss between James Baldwin and the home plate umpire (they had three balls going at once, and the umpire threw a ball into short center field - was pretty funny). Other than that, check out this line from our pitching.

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
D Burba                       5       7   6   6   1   6   2   6.89
C Lewis (B, 1)                1 1/3   4   4   4   4   1   0   7.36
C Michalak                      1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   6.75
T Van Poppel                  1 1/3   1   0   0   0   2   0   7.50
J Rocker                      1       1   1   0   1   0   0   6.75
D Miceli (L, 0-2)             1       2   2   2   2   1   0  11.11

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

What does a Rangers fan do after a sweep by the Mariners? He has to wear this "gift" given to him from some friends in Seattle. I tried to look excited doing it.

Additional game notes are available here.

We tried to win, but can we? Nooooooooooooo. Stupid bullpen. 9-7 loss to the M's.

Arod had 5 RBI's and two HR's, we turned a triple play, but was that good enough? No, of course not. Our stupid bullpen. :(

Additional game notes are available here.

Well, we lost this game too, but it wasn't as annoying as last night's (at least for me). We were winning for awhile, and I thought Irabu was pitching well. Our usual problem came into play - bullpen can't keep any runs off the board. :(

Seattle had an ejection two nights in a row, which was amusing.

Carl Everett had a pretty majestic looking home run into the upper deck in right field. Overall, one never likes to see losses, and I just had a feeling that this was going to slip away once we got to the bullpen. Hopefully we can take Sunday & Monday for a split.

Ugh. Down 5-0 in the first inning. I was driving around in my car with my wife, and I really really have a hard time getting into games when we're down this many early. When I got home, I didn't really pay attention to the game at all, and that's not a bad thing, as we lost anyway. :(

Now this was awesome. Started off with just being out at the ballpark for a day game. That was nice.

It then got better when we scored some runs off of Oakland starter Mark Mulder early. Something I didn't think would happen much at all today. Quite frankly, the way this game went, I thought it was backwards. We did what I thought the A's would do to us.

Doug Davis was spectacular. About halfway through the game, I told my wife that I hoped we scored more than three runs, so Davis could get a shot at a complete game. He got the chance, and he got it - pitching a two hit shutout. He only faced 3 batters over the minimum. He gave up two singles, and a hit batter. It was quite nice to see this kind of pitching from us. Nolan Ryan was in the stands watching the game, I'm sure he liked that, too. :)

The other big shine was Kevin Mench, who had four RBI's in the game, and made an awesome defensive play in the outfield. Speaking of defense, we had standout plays from Hank Blalock and Gabe Kapler too. Overall an awesome day for an awesome game of the most awesome sport there is. :)

Hey - a win! We've now got a whopping 2 wins for the season. Woo-hoo! Look out Yankees!

Seriously, it was nice to get a win, and we got good pitching, holding the A's to only 6 hits and two runs. Their runs all came in the first inning, and we put up a nice string of goose eggs after that. One of the nice things about this game was Colby Lewis coming on and pitching 2.1 innings of damn awesome baseball, giving up only a single hit. Lewis looked good, as did Rocker who struck out the side in the 9th for a save.

Offensively, we didn't murder the ball (didn't expect to with who they had pitching), but we got just enough, including a home run by Rusty Greer, and an RBI single by Kevin Mench (his first ever). Carl Everett & Pudge drove in the rest.

Tomorrow's a day game against Mark Mulder, that is never good to play against him.

This was really annoying. We were staying tight (great game). We took the lead, we blew the lead, we gave 'em the lead.. Back and forth, and we lost in the 11th. Very annoying, especially in bottom of 10th we had bases loaded, game tied, nobody out, and couldn't get the job done. That sucks. Don't feel like talking about this one anymore.

I was at this game, now I'm 0-3 for the three games I've gone to this year so far (counting spring training games, too).

The finale of the Angels/Rangers series was a rainout. Don't like rainouts - especially with a scheduled off day the next day. Waaah! :)

It's early on, and I know things will be different at the end of the season, but I'm tired of talking about this many losses this short into the season. Blech.

Was nice to see Arod break out with a couple of hits and a home run - damn that wind in the bottom of the 9th! :(

There are some addtl game notes here and here.

Opening day! Headed out to the Ballpark I noticed cops on every overpass on Rt. 30. I was walking around the ballpark - there were lines out the door down the street. I saw about 20 different motorcycle cops & a helicopter around. Then I remembered - the Vice President was here today. They even had metal detectors in the lower sections!

Anyway, the opening day ceremonies were cool. I normally do NOT like marching band stuff, but I got into the UT band - especially when they played Yellow Rose of Texas, with a group of helum filled yellow balloons being released at the same time. Also, after the Player intros, Raffy ran over to the band and stood in front of them moving his arms like a conductor - it was funny. :)

Anyway, the game itself took less time to play (2:17) than it took me to get HOME! Game was over around 4:20ish, and I didn't get home until about 6:50PM, and I live in Garland. That was nuts.

Great game - even though we lost. A rare pitcher's duel, with a total of 11 hits for both teams. Ismael Valdes was everything we wanted in a pitcher - unfortunately, Scott Schoenweis was a bit better. Valdes made one mistake to Troy Glaus, a two run HR shot in the 7th that lost the game for us. Yeah, I know we're 1-4, and it doesn't look good starting, but I still have a good feeling about this season, even if I can't back it up with any facts. :)

Day games during the week are tough for me, as I'm at work, and can't easily pay attention to them. Still, I listened to this game the best I could, and it appeared that the Rangers managed a good game finally. Arod broke out of his hitless streak, got hit by two pitches, and almost started a brawl. :) Bill Haselman also had a big three run home run, which was a game clincher (for the most part).

Doug Davis got the win, and Rocker came in, and pitched the same way I saw him pitch at the exhibition game last Friday night. He was very Wettelandesque in that he loaded the bases (and gave up a home run, too) before getting the save.

Nice to get a win - it will be nicer when we open at home tomorrow. I'll be there. I'll be in Sec 326 Row 3 if anyone wants to stop by and say hello. :)

I fell asleep watching this game, I was too tired to stay up. I went to bed before it was over, I was asleep before the 7th inning, so I didn't get to watch it. Plus, I'm really busy at work, a meeting is taking up most of my time today, don't have any time to spend writing about this game anyway. :)

Stayed up late watching this game, as I was watching the Expos / Marlins game on MLBEI. Both games had rousing wins in the bottom of the 9th. The Expos one made me feel good (nice to see Galarraga up there). The Rangers one did not.

Pitching was the order of this game. Kenny Rogers went 5, giving up only two runs. Probably could have gone more, but threw too many pitches in the first, going out of the game with about 100 pitches. Hideki Irabu & Rich Rodriguez looked good, both giving up nothing. Dan Miceli looked good, just not in the 9th. :)

On the other side, we did jack against Tim Hudson, and we got to Billy "Stupidest Beard in the universe" Koch. We always seem to get to him. Anyway, not a lot of offense, only 11 hits between both the teams, and it had a great finish. Not a great game for Ranger fans, but it was a great game.

Opening day. Opening day on the road, doesn't seem quite the same, and especially when the game is at 9PM. :)

Still, I was excited to see Ranger baseball again. I'd seen the players play (well, heard them) on the radio, plus saw them in person once already in the exhibition game I went to, so the big deal here was Josh Lewin. While I liked Bill Jones, and was sorry to see him go, Josh Lewin has an energy that ought to be very interesting. It's been but one game, but so far I like him!

On the field, well - we got beat by Mark Mulder, who was definitely on his game - Chan Ho Park was not. Park had moments of being on his game, but kept getting away from them. I think the tone was set by him hitting Randy Velarde as the second batter of the game. Park wasn't exactly awful, but his performance would have fit well with last year's team - not a good trend.

Offensively, we had little to nothing going on - except for Juan Gonzalez who had TWO infield singles. Hank Blalock on the first pitch he saw drived a single to center and got an RBI & a hit on his first major league pitch. Carl Everett made it a little less than lifeless in the 9th when he had a two run home run, but even at a score of 8-3, we seemed more out of it than that.

Ah well, there's more to go. Just hope this isn't a trend already.

Exhibition game against the Redhawks. Yawn. Rangers lost - doesn't really matter anyway - doesn't count in standings. Can't find a box score - don't care. On to Opening day! :)

I had a ticket to this game, and I debated all morning, up until about 40 minutes before gametime as to whether or not I'd go out there. I finally decided against it, too much rain. And then they played anyway. I hate that. Had a ticket (that I paid for, no less), and didn't go. Grrrrrrrr... (I ended up doing some housework)

Two straight games of great pitching - we won this one on an odd miscue in the bottom of the ninth. We also had another no doubter home run from Raffy, which was the first scoring of the game in the fith.

Was a pretty quick, almost National League game in it's score and it's speed. :)

It was certainly nice being back at the Ballpark last night. My wife had to work, so I went myself out to the exhibition game. I actually had a ticket to the Saturday afternoon game, but with the major forecast of rain on Saturday, I decided to hit the Friday night game, as I wanted to get in on the free yearbook promotion, so I nabbed a $5 seat, and hit the park. I will have more on my thoughts about the changes in the Ballpark that I noticed after my game report...

Well, the biggest question mark heading into the season is our pitching. Our starting pitching tonight was just "OK". Burba went three innings, allowing two earned runs. One was on an RBI single by Mike Piazza in the first. A first inning where Burba looked just "eh". Allowed a double to the first batter, then an RBI a few batters later. He also gave up a home run ball in the second. However, that was the extent of the offense against is. The Rangers used five more pitchers, although, I have to say, Colby Lewis was scintillating. He pitched two perfect innings, using a total of 15 pitches to do it. The kid looked real REAL good. It's tempting to keep him, but I think we should keep him in AAA so he can get regular work instead of the bullpen here. Rocker closed out, and got a much better reception than I thought he would. When he came (running) in from the bullpen, he got an ovation - some people standing. Was nice to see that, I really didn't know what he'd get. The test of course will be what happens when there is a full park. Anyway, he was very Wettelandesque in his relief, allowing the bases to get loaded, before he ended up striking out the side to get the save. Offensively, our runs were all provided by the longball. Juan got on with a single in the second, and Raffy hit a double play ball to Mo Vaughn, who very nicely sailed the ball into left field, allowing everyone to be safe. Pudge comes up next and jacks a ball over the left field fence, giving us a 3-2 lead we never gave up. Raffy added a solo HR a few innings later, and that was it!

Other notes - Hank Blalock, while not making any noise offensively, had a couple of good plays, including one that started a rundown that kept the Mets from scoring in the second. He lookd good, and Mike Lamb, who came in the game later and played first had a really nice play at second. In all fairness, Robbie Alomar showed why he's an awesome second baseman too, making a spectacular play on a sharp grounder by Pudge in the fourth.

As for the Ballpark itself..

First off, when they said parking was different, they weren't kidding. The best public parking places have gone up from $8 to $12. I told the guy taking my money that he had better bring earplugs the first few weeks of the season, and he kind of rolled his eyes. I haven't checked out all the parking options, but I'm told the parking out "in space" (which is what I call the area way out by Rt. 30) will still be $8 (and is the frickin hardest to get out of after the game). Also, their cooler policy (well, MLB's policy) instituted after September 11th is still in place. In fact, I think it's going to stay that way, because they now have signs erected at the parking entrances showing what you cannot bring into the park.

A walk around the ballpark showed some new advertising as usual - the old giant Target logo behind the visitor's bullpen is no longer there. It was replaced with something else - I can't recall what it is at the moment, but the big Target "target" is gone. One of the billboards to the left of the scoreboard in dead center is empty at the moment (It used to hold a baseball with a band-aid on it, and originally was a Fina board when the Ballpark opened). The Diamond Club restaurant appears to have been renamed the Bullpen Grill in a flyer that was handed out. The various food stands in the lower concourse all have new signs on them. Nothing spectacular, but they are a solid sign now, as opposed to the individual letters they used to have. My guess is that it's cheaper to replace a big board sign than the individual letters, so they switched. And of course, the biggest change was the lack of Chuck Morgan. His replacement (forget his name at the moment, something Christopher) did a servicable job. He lacks the immediate distinctiveness of Chuck, but that's really not a knock on Christopher - Chuck Morgan is the only voice this ballpark has ever known (if I'm not mistaken, Chuck NEVER missed a game in all his years here), and many of the in game things were Chuck's choice and style. Several times during announcements, he didn't seem to have his face in proper position with the mike, as he'd start talking, and then get MUCH LOUDER. Mr. Christopher did a serviceable job, but he did appear nervous - missing a pitching change for the Mets, didn't have enough conviction in his voice, but I suspect all that will change over time. Dots were handed out, but there was no dot race. Also, Juan's Star Wars music was played again, and was the only music that was played loudly at all. The volume of player music was toned down, I don't know if that was intentional or not, or if it's just pre-season. No real problems here, but just the simple change is what I'm noticing, I'm sure.

Anyway, it was very nice to have baseball back at the Ballpark. Again, I was supposed to go to the game on Saturday, but with major rain in the forecast, I'm not confident that game will come off. I'll be in front of the TV Sunday night watching the ESPN telecast of the opening game, and then as I have Brinks coming to install a security system in my house on Monday afternoon, I get to hang around and watch opening day baseball all Monday. :) Can't beat that.

The Rangers leave Florida in a big way with a 17-2 thrashing of the Red Sox. That makes a total of 33 runs scored over the last 3 games! Yeesh!

Busy with work this afternoon, don't have time to write any commentary. I am going to the two exhibition games in Arlington the next two nights - weather permitting. :)

YUCK! Our pitching health problems get worse. On the day that Zimmerman was officially put on the DL, Chan Ho Park has to leave the game with a "mild hamstring". Yuck - those never are good. I don't think we have a starting pitcher candidate now that doesn't have some sort of bangup to him! This is way not good. :(

Quite frankly, that's about all I can think of on this game. Yeah, we scored 8 runs again for the second day in a row, but when you give up more than that, what's the point?

We had a few home runs (Arod, Mike Young, & Ryan Ludwick). We also had a lot of bad pitching. Chris Michalak had to make a start in order to cover for our all of a sudden major health problems with our pitching. He was "eh". Gave up 4 runs (3 earned) in 3 innings. John Rocker followed, and was horrible giving up four runs without getting anyone out! We had five pitchers after that (Miceli, Pena, R Rodriguez, Moreno, & Telford), all of whom combined to give up three runs over 5 innings. Blech.

Offensively, Hank Blalock continues to shine, now having been given the starters role at 3B. Mike Lamb? I don't know what's going to happen with him. I hear move to catcher, I hear trade - I have no idea, truthfully. He'll probably start with Oklahoma, but I'd be surprised if he stays with us all year. Anyway, Blalock had our best offensive performance of the day, going 2 for 3, with two RBI's, and a run scored. He's looking good!

On the other side, Nomar Garciaparra (my wife's favorite player) lookd pretty good from the clips I saw on TV, and from the box score. I hope he bounces back, the Sox will need him.

Started listening to this game over the MLB feed via the Devil Rays, but after a couple of innings, the feed cut out - I got nothing but silence. Bummer. Anyway, while I was listening, I have to say I was mostly bored with their announcing. It seems that I can't really enjoy anyone except Harry Kalas in Philadelphia, or our guys here in Texas.

Doug Davis pitched well, going 6 innings, and giving up just one run on 5 hits, with 5K's and 1BB. Good line. Our relief is doing well, too - Seanez continues to do well, I think he'll stick. Juan Pena, who we just got in a trade gave up the other run - everyone else put up donuts (Cordero & Van Poppel).

Santiago Perez had the best day at the plate, going 3 for 4 and scoring two runs. Catalanotto was 2 for 4 as well. Looking good for opening day insofar as having a decent team put together. Just who that team will be is yet another story. :)

This game was good and bad for Dave Burba. Good that he pitched pretty well, great that he had some batting going on with a home run and a single that he stretched into a double - but bad in that he appeared to pull a hamstring running out the double. He came out of the game shortly after that, and it was announced as being a "minor" hamstring - no one seemed too concerned, but whenever you hear the word "hamstring", it's never good, IMHO.

On the other side, it was all Rangers. The two runs Burba allowed early on were all that was allowed. We sent quite a few pitchers to the hill including Rocker (who appeared to be very good), and none of them allowed anything.

For our offense we had two home runs, including the aforementioned home run by pitcher Dave Burba, as well as another by Juan Gonzalez. The other runs we got came mostly in big clumps, with 3 in the second, and 5 in the 4th. Nice to see a big win after losing quite a few, and three in a row. We now need to string together a few heading into the regular season.

Next Friday - baseball returns to the Ballpark! I'll be there Saturday afternoon; if anyone else is going, drop me an email, we might be able to say hi! :)

Kenny Rogers has probably been our most dominating pitcher this pre-season. Yesterday was not his best outing. He didn't pitch particularly bad, but he wasn't exactly crisp either. He gave up 4 runs in five innings off of 10 hits.

On the flip side, we had a few home runs which were good to hear. Carl Everett & ARod both homered (on consecutive pitches) in the first - and Juan followed with one of his own in the third. That was it for our offense, though. Four runs on three home runs. The Pirates pitching was a bit better than ours - their starter (Josh Fogg) also gave up four runs the same as Rogers, but their pen gave up nothing for the final 4 innings. We gave up one - Colby Lewis pitched the final 4 innings himself.

After our big stretch of winning games in a row, we now have a pretty big stretch of not winning much at all. :(

No commentary due to me being sick - don't remember much about this game 2 days later. :)

No commentary due to me being sick - don't remember much about this game 3 days later. :)

Got to listen to most of this game over the Internet via mlb.com while I was at work, as they carried the Rays radio coverage. Was pretty funny to hear Eric Nadel there, as he was a "guest" on the Rays coverage, he talked mostly about Hank Blalock. I suspect Blalock will start at third, unless he completely falls apart the next two weeks. Question is, do we keep Mike Lamb? If we could trade Lamb and the guy we just got yesterday for Justin Duchscherer for a decent middle of the rotation guy (someone from Baltimore? They need a young third baseman), it could work. Anyway, back to this game..

Dave Burba sounded decent here. He wasn't dominating (although it took less than 10 pitches his last inning of work), but he did have a good line. 6IP, 1ER, and only two hits. A good performance there. Rocker gave up a home run, and didn't look all that good, but Powell & Miceli weren't bad either. Overall, a good pitching day.

Was really nice to see us win in the bottom of the 9th with a HR by Gabe Kapler. I really hope we can find a way to make our outfield situation work, as I don't want to lose Kapler. Speaking of that, Carl Everett played DH today in a major league game and went 1 for 4. I suspect he'll be ready, but will be treated gingerly at the start. Can't wait for the start of the season - less than two weeks now!

Ugh. Four in a row. They can't make up their minds, can they? 6 straight wins, then 4 straight losses. No fun.

Didn't get to listen to the game, plus work combined for no commentary from me today.

This game started off great - the first batter (Ranger Jason Romano led off the game with a home run), the rest was pretty much blah. The opening home run was our only offense of the game, and our pitching again was "eh".

Hidecki Irabu once again just pitched "OK". Didn't exactly suck, but didn't set the world on fire, either. A pretty boring game for a Ranger fan, actually. :)

I was busy doing house stuff this afternoon, and totally forgot this game was on until there was about 5 minutes left. Oh well, didn't miss much - we lost for the second day in a row.

In looking at the scores, it was a tight game, but mostly because of Arod's grand slam. Todd Van Poppel's line was the worst of the pitchers we used. Rocker looked pretty unimpressive too, but I'm not worried - yet. We did have another HR, one by Herb Perry.

Found it interesting that Rob Bell was sent down today. I know he's not lighting the world on fire, but I find it surprising that this happened - figure if he was to be sent down, it would be late in camp.

This game can be summed up by just pointing the finger at two players. Vincente Padilla & Hank Blalock. Padilla because he pitched quite well for the Phillies, and Blalock for providing our offense with a two run hr in the 5th (yeah, we scored one in the 9th, but it was really over by then).

I follow the Phils too, and I was aware of Padilla (he came over in the Curt Schilling trade), but he certainly sounded good on the radio. As I have the MLB Extra Innings package on DirecTV this year, I'll probably get to see a few Phillies games. Anyway, he shut us down except for a monster home run by Blalock.

In listening to the game, I don't recall us doing anything really bad to deserve 8 runs scored against us. However, I was driving around at the time and went in and out of several stores, so I did miss a few minutes here and there. Anyway, after the big run of the last week, I suppose a loss here and there isn't too bad for the soul, eh? :)

The wins keep coming. We're now 12-3, we've won 6 in a row (actually, there's a tie game in the middle of that), and we're rolling along well in spring training. Seems the only questions are:

Who will be our starters past Park / Rogers / Davis - and who will open the season at third? Lamb is OK, but his defense is still suspect. I suspect it will still be Lamb, but whether he lasts the year is another question.

This game was long ball. It was being covered by MLB.com's MLB radio folks - although they cut out in the middle of the game to cover the Cubs / Giants game - Grrr... They read an email of mine on the air, too! If you were listening, I was the one who asked about Arod's salary). Longballs from Greer, Raffy, & Kevin Mench accounted for 4 of the 6 runs we got, and Rusty had a great day with a single, double, and a home run. Dave Burba pitched well, as did Rudy Seanez. Jeremi Gonzalez did not, but he's a kid, so I'm not gonna harp too much on that.

Can't wait for opening day - now only a couple of weeks away! :)

Two days - four wins. Gotta love that, especially when one of them is against the Yankees. There wasn't much coverage of this game online (no pictures, even - which is odd given that it was the Yankees).

Also, of the three runs we gave up, 2 of them were unearned. Unearned runs bug me, but at least they're not runs that "count" in the ERA stats - but I could do without unearned runs, too. (OK that sounded weird).

Anyway, always nice to see a win against the Yankees. Too bad they can't come in October instead of March.

The runs continue to come (two games in a row, 28 runs), and the wins continue to come - 4 straight, and a total record of 10-3 now. A couple of home runs, one by Bill Haselman, and the first of the year by Juan Gonzalez. Good pitching overall, with starter Rogers only allowing a single run in his four innings of work, and none from anyone else (Rocker, Miceli, Cordero).

It looks like a good team so far, but that's probably just spring training optimism speaking. :) Still, it's always nice to see your team do well, even if it is March.

My brother was in town visiting over the weekend, and as such, I didn't have any time to update the site or listen to the games on the radio over the weekend, short of a few minutes of the Phillies game on Sunday. Due to that, I won't be posting my own commentary for said games, but I will do update pages on them.

My brother was in town visiting over the weekend, and as such, I didn't have any time to update the site or listen to the games on the radio over the weekend, short of a few minutes of the Phillies game on Sunday. Due to that, I won't be posting my own commentary for said games, but I will do update pages on them.

My brother was in town visiting over the weekend, and as such, I didn't have any time to update the site or listen to the games on the radio over the weekend, short of a few minutes of the Phillies game on Sunday. Due to that, I won't be posting my own commentary for said games, but I will do update pages on them.

My brother was in town visiting over the weekend, and as such, I didn't have any time to update the site or listen to the games on the radio over the weekend, short of a few minutes of the Phillies game on Sunday. Due to that, I won't be posting my own commentary for said games, but I will do update pages on them.

My brother was in town visiting over the weekend, and as such, I didn't have any time to update the site or listen to the games on the radio over the weekend, short of a few minutes of the Phillies game on Sunday. Due to that, I won't be posting my own commentary for said games, but I will do update pages on them.

Game two of our SS DH was played to completion, and it ended with a Rangers win. It's not on KRLD, so I listened to the Blue Jays feed through MLB.com. While it's better than nothing, I have to find listening on the radio to non Rangers announcers doesn't get me all excited about the game, tell you the truth. Normally during a work day, I can't pay attention to the game because of what I'm doing. Today I could pay attention, and I was bored out of my skull listening to these guys.

Hideki Irabu did pitch three scoreless innings, and the runs we gave up appeared to be of the "bloop" kind. Overall, it reads like a very well pitched game, even though the line doesn't show it. We had scattered offense, including a home run from a player I've never heard of before (Jason Botts).

Nice to get the win - anytime of the year!

Almost a completely perfect game by Kenny Rogers' outing was definitely the bright spot in this game. Kenny didn't allow a hit or a run, but unfortunately, there was an error committed behind him, otherwise he would have had a perfect outing. He also struck out three - from the lines and the stories, it seems like Rogers was very much the awesome pitcher.

Couldn't say the same for Todd Van Poppel & Jay Powell. They weren't awful, but they did give up some runs - only three between 'em for the four innings they pitched total.

Mike Young & Arod both went 2 for 3. Of course, a lot of this stuff came in the 7 inning second inning we got yesterday. Was a really great looking game on the box score. :)

Rainout. Not a lot to talk about in a rainout. We did get a few innings of the game in, and Chan Ho Park pitched four innings, looking good from what I can read in the online accounts of teh game (as it wasn't broadcast anywhere).

We were winning 2-1 at the time of the cancellation of the game.

Yankees win. Not much time to write this one, as I'm about to leave for the day, but we didn't seem to have much of anything going on, except an Arod solo home run - at least not until the 9th when we scored 3 runs, but it wasn't enough to come back. Oh well. :(

Got in to the office late today after swinging by the Ballpark to buy some artwork from their gallery, as well as picking up an authentic jersey for myself for the new season (didn't get any specific player, put my own name on there, with the uniform number of 20 - for Mike Schmidt).

Anyway, when I got here, I saw the score was 2-0, and checked the MLB site, and fortunately, the Devil Rays radio folks were broadcasting the game, so I at least got to hear the last couple of innings, which seemed to really fly by in a hurry. The entire game took 2:06, but I suppose when there's a total of 13 hits the entire game, with the Devil Rays getting only 4, games go fast.

Haven't seen a box score again at the time I'm writing my summary, but I have to say, it doesn't matter. No runs allowed by anyone pitching today, and that's always good. Granted, it's against the Rays, but as I recall, most of our A players went to play the Yankees today in the other split squad game. Much better pitching then we got yesterday, but I guess that's the nature of spring training - even more wildness all over the place.

A split squad sweep! And against the Yankees, too! :)

This game was not on the radio or on the internet like the other game today was, so I had to rely on refreshing a line score on the net as my only source of info. Anyway, the scores were going back and forth in a major see saw battle. At first, I saw the Rangers winning 2-0, and at the time, we had just beaten the Rays by the same score, so I had visions of winning both games today via shutouts.

However, that was not to be, as I saw the Yankees had pulled ahead 3-2, and then it went back and forth until the Rangers pulled ahead 6-5 in the 7th to stay. We tacked on a few extra against the Yankees, which was nice to see.

Overall, a great baseball day for me. A doubleheader (ss) sweep, one of the Yankees, and I got the 02 media guide today. Baseball overload - and even without a regular season game, too!

Good thing I didn't get to hear this game on the radio, I probably would have tuned it out. This is the first day of many days of spring training that we don't get to listen to the games, the only recourse is leaning on the refresh key on some sports site's scoreboard page. :) As I write this, the box score has yet to be published, but given the fact that we gave up 22 hits and 15 runs, I can't say anyone's line will look good at all. :)

I don't know what I'm irritated at more.. The fact that the Rangers game was on the radio and I missed it, or the fact that I missed it and they also won 20-8! I was busy doing house stuff yesterday, and totally forgot that the game was on until around 1:45 or so. Missed it completely, and at that point, I had company over, and didn't really want to ignore them to listen to the game on the radio.

Still, in looking at the box score, our bats came alive in a way that they didn't the last few days. We ripped Brad Radke to shreds, getting eight runs in the first (and there was also a 7 spot elsewhere in the game). If you want offense, just go check out the box score below - has all you'll need to know.

Pitching wise, I'm not thrilled we gave up eight runs, either. Jay Powell had a perfect inning, and Todd Van Poppel & Rudy Seanez also had a scoreless frame, but everyone else (Irabu, Zimmerman, Miceli, Telford, & Cordero) gave up runs. Three were on a home run given up by Miceli, but I'm tired of giving up 8 runs in a game, even in an early spring training game. :)

Well, today was a doubleheader, although the first game was officially counted as the "B game", and wasn't broadcast, or even covered hardly at all in the press. I see from the notes that the Rangers won that game, getting the first home run of the season by outfielder Kevin Mench. As I didn't hear any of that game, I'm not going to comment on it (nor will I count B games in my standings - only offically recognized double headers).

Anyway, to the "A game".. After yesterday's shutdown offensively, I was wondering what would happen today, although Juan played today, and Pudge was supposed to, but didn't, as his mother was sick, and he flew home to be with her. We had nine hits this game, all of them singles. The best days were by Herbert Perry, who DH'ed and had two singles in 2 AB and an RBI, as well as Mike Lamb who went 2-3, also with an RBI. The rest of the hits were scattered over 5 other players, one of which came from Hank Blalock.

In listening to Chan Ho Park pitch on the radio, it seemed like he pitched well, and ran out of gas quickly, but that's not surprising, or of major concern the first game of spring training. Juan Moreno gave up a run in his inning of work, but that was it for giving up runs. We had 5 other pitchers, all pitching one inning, giving up nothing. It's early, I know - but it's always nice to see nice work out of the pitchers, whether it's the second game of spring training, or the 162nd game of the season. Can never get enough of good pitching.

The loss went to former Ranger Mike Judd, now trying to catch on with the Reds. Speaking of former Rangers, Ruben Mateo has underwhelmed so far in the two pre-season games against the Rangers. Given that Rob Bell too has underwhelmed, it seems like a "fair" trade now. :)

My wife and I have bought our first house this past month, and due to that, I totally forgot about this game even being on the air until my wife reminded me last night! I've been really wrapped up with my house - the preseason game snuck up on me, and when I started listening to it today, it seemed kind of surreal. My mind is still stuck in early February. I've seen the news, I've done updates, yet it still feels like Spring Training is two or three weeks away. :)

The Rangers pitching seemed pretty decently, especially from Ismael Valdes & Jeff Zimmerman. Rudy Seanez & Jay Powell didn't seem all that sharp, and given the amount of time available to the glut of pitchers, one has to wonder if some of the fringe guys like Seanez will get many chances to redeem after an "eh" outing.

However, the Reds pitching (all 7 of them) was much sharper, not allowing but a single hit to the Rangers, and totally shutting us down. Pudge & Juan didn't make the trip, although we should have been able to muster more than just a single hit! Yeesh.

Anyway, it was still nice to hear Eric & Vince broadcasting baseball again - but I don't like the day games as much, because I have to listen at work, and can never pay as close attention to the games as I'd wish. Nice to hear some names being called like Blalock, Hafner, & Teixeira. Hopefully we hear a lot from these guys in the years to come.

Another one on the radio tomorrow, and then starts the frustration of having spring training games played, but not on the radio. :(

"...Ranger Baseball is on the air!"