Recently in 2003 Game Recaps Category
NOTE (Aug 5, 2007): When I moved my 2003 entries over into Movable Type's blog format in the Summer of 2007, I discovered I stopped writing about the 2003 season on September 12th. I usually leave a note when I skip games, but I did no such thing this time. Don't know why I ended it when I did. Probably got too disgusted with the way the season was going.
If I locate the games on a server somewhere later on, I'll add them back in and remove this note. I am curious to see if anyone actually reads this, so if you do, please leave a comment just letting me know you read this. I have to admit to being curious to know if anyone ever looks in my old game recaps at all.
When this game started I figured we'd have no chance. Barry Zito vs. Ryan Drese. However, Drese hung with Zito, and in the third inning we did something unheard of and scored three runs at a time against Zito. Drese stayed with it, and gave up just one run through six innings, and was surprisingly looking like a good pitcher.
Then the wheels fell off in the 7th. We gave up a 5 spot in the 7th, and then three more in the 9th for good measure. We give up 6 walks, a sure recipe for disaster. The shame of this game is that Drese looked good, and pitched well enough for a win, save for the 7th inning. Disappointing, but I can't say I'm surprised.
At least Anaheim lost, but I think if we rely on games solely against Anaheim to catch up to them, it'll be bad. We have got to pick up more ground before we play them head to head.
Sigh. I watched this game, and we never got anything going. Outside of two sac flies by Arod, that's all the offense we got, and the pitching was well.... Ranger pitching.
So I repeat.. Sigh. Game notes are here.
I started watching this game, but Wednesday is my bowling league night, and then I had to watch the season premiere of Enterprise last night, so by the time I started watching this, it was already pretty late, so I started zipping through it with my TiVo. The power outage in the fourth inning was fairly funny at least in the reactions and discussions of Josh & Tom to it.
I didn't miss much, except a frustrating loss. Thomson pitched well, giving up just 3 runs in 6.2 innings. However, Joel Piniero was better (which figures since he's been bad lately), giving up just one run on a complete game win. The one run was to Mr. Safeco, Raffy, who hit another home run here.
Interesting rumours the last few days that the Mariners might sign Raffy if Edgar retires after this season. I'd like to keep Raffy, but for Raffy's stats, I see a move to Safeco being pretty good for him.
I didn't watch a lot of this game as I was feeling bad today, I fell asleep early, and did wake up in time to see Raffy's home run, but that's almost all I saw, as I went to bed right after that. Game notes are here.
Well, this game started out with a great feeling. A leadoff home run, and some great pitching by John Thomson (perfect through 3+). But that's about as far as it got. We never got any more runs, and while Thomson was pretty good, we didn't get anything off the pitcher we were supposed to get in a trade with KC for Juan Gonzalez.
Darnit. The Angels lost, too - we missed a chance to pick up ground. Game notes are here.
I was at this game, and it was great, because I was there on free tickets won by my wife's appearance on the TV on the Sonic Slam Inning contest. Great seats, Section 15 Row 17. Two foul balls landed a few seats away from us during the game, too. Was really nice weather too - which was a nice benefit.
The game didn't start off all that great. Ismael Valdes, who appears to have lost it in the second half of the season, and probably eliminated any chance of him returning next year let the Royals get 3 in the first three innings, and we were pretty ineffective in scoring runners (what a shocker!) until the fifth inning when we put up a four spot capped by a Laynce Nix three run home run. We then put up another four spot in the next inning, on two 2 run scoring doubles, giving us our 8.
Cordero came in in the 8th and gave up a four spot to the Royals - we barely hung on to win, but we did get the win. Was definitely a page from the John Wetteland book of saves. :)
My wife also looked pretty good at the game. I always love my wife, but there's times when your spouse looks better than they normally do. This night was one of those nights.
The rain from yesterday still seemed to be here today, as this game was played almost entirely in the rain - we certainly started in the rain.
However, it was a bombs away day, as the bulk of the offense was provided by the longball (there's a shocker). Well, alright, maybe not, as only three of the runs came from the longball, but a couple more came off of what should have been Texieira's third HR of the day - he missed a three run HR by about a foot, and drove in a couple more.
Our most schizophrenic pitcher (Colby Lewis) showed us the Dr. Jekyll side of himself again, but I get the feeling next time out Mr. Hyde will be there (or is the the other way around). Either way I'm confused, as I'm sure the Rangers are, because you never know what you'll get when Lewis starts the game. Kind of a shame, as he should be further along than he is - I just keep hoping. But then again the Rangers keep hoping Justin Thompson will do something too. :)
This was a game I didn't think we'd win. R.A. Dickey was "OK", he wasn't awful, but he wasn't great, and we were behind. It's odd, though as I look at the summary of the game writing this, we had a great offensive day in many categories, the only problem was that we also gave up 10 runs, otherwise it'd be a great game.
Played mostly in the rain (especially late), we were led by Alex Rodriguez (playing DH), who went 3-3 with his 40th HR (as well as 100th RBI) and had two walks. Hank Blalock was 4 for 5 with a home run. We had a lot of power today (HRs by Arod, Raffy, Blalock, Teixeira, & Jones), and in fact were up 10-7 after a 4 spot in the 7th inning, however, we gave it away, letting the Twins get back in it late. Arod's HR gives him 6 straight years of 40+ home runs. Only one other player has ever done that before, Babe Ruth.
Einar Diaz was the hero, though. In the bottom of the 9th in a big rain, he had a 12 pitch at bat which finally scored Layne Nix on a single to the left field wall over a drawn in Minnesota team. It was a mob scene at home in the rain, and was a great win to a game that the last three years has told me we should have lost.
We had yet another starter this night - Mickey Calloway who we picked up off the scrap heap recently. However, he didn't pitch like he belonged there, he kept the Twins to just two runs over 6 innings, and looked quite good. However, Johan Santana was much better, giving up donut until he had to leave the game with an injury. Hopefully Calloway can continue to pitch well.
I was at this game, and sat through the 1.5 hour rain delay. It was nice, because I talked to a father & son who were visiting the ballpark on one of those "See all the ballparks" tours (not a packaged one, they were doing it themselves). It was nice to talk to some folks who really knew baseball, and didn't just know "Arod".
This was a particularly annoying loss, mostly because John Thomson was cruising. Going into the 8th inning, we were up 5-3, and Thomson was pitching well. Then the wheels fell off. We gave up a total of 6 runs in the last two innings, we couldn't shut anything down they tried to do. Ugly, Ugly, UGLY!
On the positive side, Laynce Nix had a monster home run, something that looked really good, and quite honestly looks more "impressive" than most of Raffy's home runs.
This is a game that I felt we were going to lose all along. We were lifeless and pretty much not doing much of anything until the rain delay. When we came back, Arod had this absolute monster of a home run that got us jazzed, and we tied up the game 4-4 with a 4 spot. However, we gave it right back to them in the 8th, to which Arod hit another jack, tying Barry Bonds for the major league lead in home runs.
But then we dropped it in extra innings, which we're prone to do. Oh well. So much for the good streak, it was more or less wiped out by the bad games in Chicago & Kansas City.
Colby Lewis walked the first two batters of the game. That's about as good as I can get with this one, as it went downhill much faster from that point onwards. Bleargh.
(Skipped a few games, needed a short break).
Well, R.A. Dickey looked good for the first couple of innings, and then was pulled, to which the bullpen surrendered an ugly 6 spot in the 6th, which pretty much was the whole game, other than a Raffy two run home run earlier in the game.
Not much nice to talk about here. Game notes are here.
Well, I don't think anyone expected us to beat up on Bartolo Colon two starts in a row, and it didn't happen. Colon was his usual self against us this time, and we couldn't get much going except some fun midway through the game when Arod & Raffy went yard back to back. Not much else to cheer about except that, really.
If Arod gets another home run on Friday, he'll set a new record for number of games in a row with a HR as a Ranger - that record is currently held by Carl Everett, set earlier this year.
Not much else can be said about this game except RA Dickey was brilliant. A complete game shutout - what more needs be said? It was on my 38th birthday, though. That count for anything?
Oh yeah, Arod got another home run, has taken back the AL lead in HR's, and we're tied with the Angels for 3rd after extending our win streak to 8.
N/A - Took a break for my birthday which was the 20th. I will say this, though. After several years of trying to enter, my wife finally got picked for the Sonic Slam Inning contest on TV. It was a major shock, I even had to wake her up so she could come out and see. And, being the computer geek I am, I had to take a picture of it. :) No home runs, though - in fact our only baserunner got picked off. :(
When this game got into the 9th inning, I was going to write about Detroit pitcher Nate Robertson. He was a kid called up to pitch, and he was spectacular. He looked like he'd been pitching for a dozen years, and was a veteran. He was spectacular, and other than the one pitch to Shane Spencer in the fourth which was a home run, this kid was someone that should have gotten everyone's attention.
Speaking of home runs.. For a park that is well known for not giving up home runs, all 6 of the runs tonight were the result of a longball. The two runs for Detroit were solo shots, and our 4 runs were two two run home runs. Kind of a surprise that. Anyway, pitching was the name of the game here. Our pitching was superb, only giving up two runs on solo home runs on a total of 10 hits over 16 innings. This was definitely a pitcher's duel - no doubt about it. Kudos to our pitching staff for this game.
Oh yeah, for anyone who watched the game, thanks kid! I appreciate the help in keeping Detroit from scoring a run. :)
Anaheim also lost, so our 6 game winning streak now has us just two games behind the Angels for third place in the division, and we're now 9 games under .500.
Yeah, not the best pun for a sweep socks title, but its' the best I could come up with right now. When this game started, I didn't think we really had a chance of sweeping Chicago. I figured they were too good to lose all three against the Rangers. I guess that's the kind of mentality one gets after watching their team be in the basement for almost 3 years in a row.
However, we got out to a 3-0 lead after two innings, and it felt good, because there were several doubles in there, not just a 3 run home run. However, Juan "What's my name this start" Dominguez gave back the three plus one in the 3rd & 4th. So we're behind. Then nothing much happens in the middle innings there until the bottom of the 6th when Arod jacks a ball onto Greene's Hill to tie the game again. Actually, something did happen. Jay Powell came out of the bullpen and pitched like the guy we thought we were signing when we picked him up. Three innings, no runs, one hit. That was the longest outing of his career, too.
Arod came up again in the bottom of the 7th with two men on base, and tripled to right field, scoring both runners to take the lead back, and cap the scoring.
One nice moment in the 9th - Carl Everett got a hit, the 1,000th of his career. Too bad he wasn't still a Ranger, or they would have announced that over the PA. Game notes are here.
This game was destined to be a blowout from the start. While the usual south winds weren't going as much as normal, killing most of the jet stream (there were three other balls that could have been home runs, but died at the fence), the teams did manage to pile up twenty runs all told. We jumped out to a 5 run lead in the first inning, but coughed it up by giving the Sox a 6 spot in the 3rd. Fortunately, we took that right back, and never gave up the lead again, getting out to a 12-6 lead after the fourth. We never scored again, but did allow the Sox to get two more in the 7th.
Was definitely a night with something for everyone. Lots of offense early, and a bunch of pitching as well (after the fourth that is). I'm kind of surprised we're beating up on the Sox like this - I expected them to win the series, not us.
Tonight we go for a sweep. Game notes are here.
Not much time to write, but I will say this. Boy, was this a surprise. Esteban Loaiza returned to the ballpark, and pitched pretty much like he did when this ballpark was his home. He had flashes of brilliance, but was more remembered for what he gave up than what he got.
Colby Lewis on the other hand was marvelous. He ran out of gas a bit in the 7th and gave up a few, but he was the first pitcher in several years to strike out 10 in a game, and he looked awesome - can't say enough about him tonight.
I was at this game last night, and I went with a good friend of mine who I always end up talking with during the game, so while I was there, I even managed to score the game, for some reason it didn't feel like I was there paying attention to the game.
John Thomson went 7 innings, giving up three runs. He wasn't electric, but he certainly got the job done, and basically pitched us into the win. Fultz & Cordero came on and put up a couple of donuts to seal it out. Also on Thomson, there was a big thing on the Rangers post game show about resigning him afterwards. We got a home run by Shane Spencer, who I'm now thinking might be resigned next year to be the "Veteran outfielder" for this group, as it doesn't look like Rusty Greer can make an appearance until 2005, if ever again.
One amusing thing, Texas governor Rick Perry threw out the first ball, and when he was doing that, he yelled out "You suck, Perry!" to which the usher in Section 16 (where I was sitting) came over to us and told him "Uh, that is inappropriate language, please do not talk that way, someone might be offended". Boy, did she say that to the wrong person. While he was not a problem afterwards, it was a major rolling of the eyes after that. I tend to agree - the word "Suck" is offensive? Now if it was a profanity laced remark, I could understand that, but coming down on someone for the word "suck" is a bit of an overzealous usher, I think.
Oops, I said suck quite a few times, I think someone might now be offended. Sorry. Game notes are here.
Not available. Was at Iron Maiden concert, and didn't see any of this game. Just the total. :)
Juan "Don't call me Jose" Dominguez made his major league debut last night. And he seemed to breeze through the first four innings. In fact, so did Jeremy Bonderman for the Tigers. He did not look like a pitcher who was 5-15. There was some really great pitching on both sides for the first four innings. Then it fell apart in the top of the 5th. Dominguez lost it (right after Tom Grieve said "Buck just wants him to get through this inning and get a win" (or something like that)) and gave up four runs, and the lead. Shouse & Powell combined to give up three more in the sixth, and that was about all she wrote.
Sure the Tigers are a major league team, but I didn't want to lose to them, especially since the Angels also lost last night, that would have gotten us closer to getting out of last place. Darnit.
Still, it was nice to see Dominguez out there. Nice to see a young pitcher out there instead of all these young position players this season. Great to see young players, but I'd rather see young pitching that does well more than young position players, especially since our young position players now seem to be entrenched (referring to our "Roaring 20's" infield).
Oh, it was good to see our old buddy Danny Patterson out there again. He looked much better (skinnier) than he did with us, and the Vulcan was still there.
Well, my wife and I were at this game. We only actually got to see an inning and 2 outs. It started raining, which was the first rain delay I had to sit through in quite some time. It actually got to the point where I thought they might play. But then while they were tinkering with the tarp, it started raining again. During that Chuck Morgan came over the PA and said you could exchange tickets for this game for any other game whether the Rangers played or not. Given that my wife had to get up before 6AM to go to work, I decided to take 'em up on that offer, and head out early. They started playing almost before I got back home to Garland, so I checked it out on the TV.
We won the game, as we should against the Tigers, but it didn't feel like the dominating performance it should have been, even given the score of 9-3. Perhaps it was just me, but I was expecting something like 15-1 or something like that. :) I feel bad for the Tigers, I know I'd be there all the time if I lived in Detroit, I always support my team, but yeesh, that's a lot of losing. I also felt like we should have capitalized more on the bases loaded no one out in the first inning - we got just one.
I also noticed we had several former Rangers on the Tigers starting lineup (Warren Morris, Craig Monroe, & Carlos Pena). And if I'm not mistaken, there was one other in the bullpen (Danny Patterson), as well as one on the disabled list (Dean Palmer). Would have been nice to see Deano again, since I suspect he'll retire after this season.
Not much to say about this one. I watched it, but other than the goofy play in the first inning that we got an out on an appeal play, I don't recall anything particularly noteworthy.
For the record, the Jays hit a line drive that hit off of Colby Lewis and bounced to Hank Blalock for an out. Blalock then threw the ball to first expecting to double off the runner, but it sailed into the stands. Everyone seemed to think that was the end of it, that the Jays runner was awarded third. When play resumed, Buck Showalter appealed the play to second base, and their runner was called out. Apparently, the runner had to return to first base, then be awarded third. Since he didn't do that, he was called out. Quite a bizarre play.
Arod got another home run. We're only 3 games behind the Angels from escaping the f'in basement! :)
Two games in a row I botched the recording. I messed up watching this one, and given that I had to leave the house before the game was over, I didn't watch any of it (I was at a Pat Benatar concert that I had to leave around 5PM to get dinner before first).
I missed all the fun in this game. I turned on the radio when I was leaving work, and the score was already 5-2. All I got to hear myself was the Delgado HR. I got home and watched the first inning on my TiVo, and after that, it was pretty much pitching, and the Rangers hitting into double plays. :)
This weekend will be odd for me, as my wife and I have a houseguest, so I don't know much time I'll have online to update this weekend.
No time for a commentary - it's been a very rough last two days at work. Still, that grand slam did not help us at all. :(
I didn't get to see this game, because I forgot to tell my TiVo to record it. :) Because of that, I only got to see the 9th inning, but I turned it on just as Hank Blalock got a two run single in the top of the 9th to beat Mariano Rivera. A great moment. Not as a great as the Diamondbacks beating him in Game 7 a couple of years ago, but still, a great moment. :)
Cordero also did well in Yankee Stadium against the Yanks in the bottom of the 9th to earn a save. While I can't comment on specifics due to my not having seen the game, I can say that it was nice to finally come back and win one of these late inning games that we always lost before.
We're now 4-1 in Yankee Stadium this season. That's nice to be able to say. Just wish I could say we were 4-1 in Yankee stadium in post season, instead of 1-6 or something like that.
I thought this game was going to be good when Hank Blalock jacked a home run to right center to take the lead against the Yankees. But that was about it, really. The Yankees bombed us for 6 runs in 3 innings (1,2,5) - all on home runs. We did get another run in the 8th when Hank Blalock doubled, scoring Mike Young.
Not much else to write - the Bronx Bombers bombed us.
Three more home runs in this game brings our total over the last 25 innings in the three Cleveland games to 13! That powered us to a series sweep against Cleveland. Now it would be more impressive if we swept the Yankees (again, I might add) this year, but I'll take the sweep to go to 5 in a row. After the first inning when R.A. Dickey gave up three runs and pitched 35 odd pitches, I figured he was done. But surprisingly, he got it together and went a total of 7 innings, giving up 4 runs. Not writing much for two reasons - I am still mostly thinking about Johnny Oates again.
Oh wait - Ramon Nivar finally got his first major league hit, a triple. He was on base twice via errors before that, but it was nice to see a clean hit for his first one.
Hey, guess what? We're only 5.5 games behind Anaheim to get out of the basement. I think that's a VERY reachable goal, given the way Anaheim has been playing this season. It would be nice to pass them and not end up in the basement this year.
This day was one I had been looking forward to since the day Johnny Oates was diagnosed with cancer. Johnny Oates returned to the Ballpark as part of the inaugural Rangers Hall of Fame ceremonies. As I've said on this site before, Johnny Oates means a lot to me, because when I was a kid growing up in Philadelphia, Johnny Oates was the catcher for the Phillies for what I believe was my first game I attended. After that, I lost track of him, but I had heard his name from time to time. Then when I moved to Texas and he became the Rangers manager, it was a big deal for me emotionally. I loved him as a Rangers manager, and the illness he got after his time as a manager bothered me a lot, since he was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, and the personal connection made it worse for me. When he came out on the field, I was in the stands taking pictures (which will get posted Monday). I teared up like I'm sure most people did, but the tears were down my face - I lost it several times during the ceremony. It was nice to see Nolan Ryan, Sunny, & Charlie Hough too - but for me personally, it was all about Johnny Oates.
Johnny looked better than I thought he would look. I'd seem some pictures of him from time to time where he didn't look very good, but he did here, given the circumstances. When the inductees came out of their cars, Johnny had to be helped out of the car, but it appeared he wanted to walk to his seat himself. He needed a cane, but he could do it, albeit slowly. There were several times he broke down when folks were talking about him, and an already humble man seemed very humbled by the induction. It was both sad and awesome to see him there being held up by Tom Hicks (much like Tony Gwynn did for Ted Williams in the 99 All Star Game). Tom Grieve said on TV that it seemed great that Johnny's speech was all from his head, there were no notes, and he didn't have a bunch of pauses and "Uh... Uh..." in there. I hadn't thought of that at the time. I loved how he talked about the current Rangers, and spoke highly of Buck Showalter. While I think Buck Showalter is doing a wonderful job as our manager, there's still a part of me that misses hearing Chuck Morgan announce Johnny Oates' name as the manager at the start of the game. I really truly will miss Johnny when he passes. In fact, he had some levity about that in his speech saying that he agreed with Tom Hicks' sentiment that it's only a matter of time until a World Series game is played at the Ballpark, adding "And Buck, hurry up, because I want to see it!" A nice "funny" moment in his speech. He got numerous standing ovations, and for me was the singular attraction of the night. I would have paid my two bits just to see him, and would had been quite content had there been no game afterwards. One thing I was kind of disappointed in, and I admit up front it's because I had worked myself up thinking about it is this. I really wish they would have retired Johnny Oates' uniform number of 26. Since he's left, no one has gotten it (save for one guy a season ago during spring training). Someone (I forget who) said that they weren't giving out Johnny Oates' number during the regular season to anyone. If they don't intend on retiring it, I don't know why they are holding it back. Given that I can't see Johnny's condition getting BETTER, I don't see why they did not retire it last night while he was there. It would have been great for him to have been there for a uniform number retirement ceremony. I really don't want them to retire it after he passes and he wouldn't be able to see it. If they're not retiring the number, then give it out to someone else (and I don't really want that to happen, either). In closing, I really enjoyed the ceremony - I was glad I was there to see it, because I'd be surprised if I ever will see Johnny Oates in person again.
My pictures from this game are online now. You can view them here. This image here means a lot to me, though.
I covered the reasons why these cards mean a lot to me in the first paragraph here, but for some reason I felt kind of silly like I was a 6 year old clutching his baseball cards while his hero was "in the house". And then I took a picture of myself holding the cards. But still, these two cards in the picture meant a lot to me. It was to be the last time that I ever saw Johnny Oates, as he died about 15 months after this (this paragraph was added in Jun 2007).
Oh yeah, the Rangers won. It was a back and forth game, but I almost didn't care about the game - I was a bit too emotional from the pre-game ceremonies. Highlights of the game were 6 more home runs from both teams after 9 the night before. One from Arod, Layne Nix, & a 3 run from Raffy.
Today was a day when I came down to the ballpark for the sole purpose of getting the giveaway. My wife and I collect pins, and they gave out a set of Rangers HOF induction pins for each of the four 2003 inductees (Ryan, Sundberg, Hough, Oates). I ended up getting quite a show between the lines.
The Rangers belted seven home runs (6 in the first 3 innings), tying a club record for HR in a game - and the first time they did it at home. Mike Young led off the game with a home run, and we never looked back, jumping out to a 4 run lead in the first inning. In fact, all 10 of our runs came on the longball. While we're at it, 2 of the 3 runs that Cleveland scored were on the longball as well. :)
John Thomson looked great - going 8 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits - a great outing, and one we need a lot more of if Arod is going to be happy here. ;)
When this game started, I figured we didn't have a hope. Pedro Martinez was pitching against us, and that's usually enough reason to lose hope. He's got an ERA at the Ballpark under 2! However, Colby Lewis hung with Pedro, matching him almost in every category along the way which was a nice surprise.
It was a great battle up until the 6th when we got a two run hit from Shane Spencer to put us up, 3-2. It stayed that way until the 9th inning when Cordero came on for the save, and gave up a solo home run to Trot Nixon to tie it. We couldn't push anything across in the 9th and 10th, but in the 11th, we managed to load the bases against Boston reliever Todd Jones. That set the stage for Arod to come up - and given his frustrations, I was expecting a strikeout, but he got us the first walk off win of the 2003 season - and in style too, with a grand slam over the bullpen in right field. Was a great moment, and a great ending to a great game. Isn't that great? Can I say Great anymore? Great.
As much as I liked winning, I can't say I truly enjoyed taking 2 of 3 from Boston, as it helped the Yankees. Helping the Yankees is almost a crime, IMHO.
I do find it odd though that Arod came off the field after getting the traditional gang pile at home plate, and ran up the tunnel - he disappeared almost immediately, while the rest of the team was celebrating on the field. I wonder why he ran out so quickly? That just seemed odd.
What an interesting day. First there's the story about Alex being frustrated with losing (who wouldn't be?), and then there's the trade of Doug Glanville to the Cubs, allowing phenom Ramon Nivar to make his major league debut (Nivar did not get Pudge's vacant uniform number 7, he got 2 instead).
We then go out and show that our youth is probably the way to go, because three of them slammed home runs into the upper deck at the Ballpark. Was a night driven by the home run. Of the 11 runs in the game, a total of 8 of them came on the longball. Fortunately, we got more than they did. Robert Ellis pitched well, going 7 innings, and giving up just two runs. I don't think he's a pitcher of the future, but it's nice to see this from our staff. Ron Mahay pitched well, as did Francisco Cordero (although Cordero did allow a couple of baserunners).
Overall, a good win, and an odd feeling for me seeing the comments from Arod.
Game notes are here and here - the second with more on Arod's comments.
I did not write about the games from July 24th through July 29th as I was out of town most of the weekend, and didn't get to see or hear hardly any of the Ranger stuff. I did see Monday night's game, but I spent all of Tuesday catching up at work, and had no time at all for an update.
Well, I wasn't planning on writing about this game because of my rule about not writing about games we lose when the opponent scores over 10 runs, and I'm mostly sticking to that. However, I can't ignore Bill Mueller. He hit two grand slams (plus a solo third HR), for a total of 9 RBI's. He's the first player in major league history to hit two grand slams in the same game, one from each side of the plate. A masterful performance by him. Kudos to anyone who has him active on their fantasy leagues last night. :)
A wild game. A great game to win (Glanville's turned it around bigtime), but I really don't have time to write the commentary this game deserves today - got a meeting in an hour.
Game notes are here - including Juando to the DL. Sigh.
The only thing worth writing about was Hank Blalock's home run out onto Eutaw Street behind Camden Yards. I've been there, it's a gorgeous place, and even more impressive when a home run is hit out there. I'm tired of writing about games where we give up over 10 runs and lose.
It's always nice to see Camden Yards on my television. It's one of the best ballparks that exists today. My wife and I were there a couple of years ago, and it was positively awesome. Unfortunately, the Texas Ranger teams we've been sending there the last couple of years haven't been as spectacular (neither have the Oriole teams, either).
Overall, I can't say it was a bad game, as it was generally well pitched, had some great defense - things that generally contribute to a quick, fresh game. However, we came out on the bottom side of this game after it seemed we'd win early on. The best moment was probably the crash between Doug Glanville and Laynce Nix in right center. It looked bad when they crashed into each other, but neither seemed affected by it.
There isn't one moment that I can pin it to (other than the run the Orioles scored to take the lead) that says "Aha! That's where we lost". It just struck me as very "even" game. It's a shame we lost, as I thought our pitching was pretty good.
Well, this game was mass suckage. About the only interesting thing about this one is that Mark Teixeira hit a foul ball into a trash can in the picnic area at Tropicana Field.
Fairly decent pitching (I say fairly because Benoit did give up 3 in 5 innings) led to a 7-3 win over the Devil Rays. This game was interesting in that four of our batters got hit - which seems like a lot. Our bullpen pitched 4 innings of scoreless relief, we had some nice defense, turning three double plays, some stolen bases, some hitting - pretty much a nice balanced game.
Juan Gonzalez had to leave the game, and was replaced by newcomer Shane Spencer. He had an o-fer, and it really seemed odd seeing him in a Ranger uniform, considering what he did to us back when we were in the playoffs against the Yankees.
There's not a whole lot to say about this one. It was a wasted effort by Ismael Valdes, as we got totally shut out, losing 2-0. A shame, as Valdes pitched well. Game notes are here.
We start off the "second half" with a nice win that actually was more dominating than the 12-6 score would indicate. John Thomson was brilliant through seven innings. He scattered hits, and didn't give up much until the 8th inning when his total went to 3 runs over 7.2 innings. Still most definitely a "quality start". As many a Ranger fan has pointed out, his trade value only increases with these performances the last few weeks. I wonder who will want to trade for him. Our old "buddy" Jay Powell gave up three runs in the ninth to allow the DRays to get to 6 runs - far more then they should have gotten. We also came this close to breaking that "no pitcher has gotten 10 strikeouts for the Rangers" thing too, as Thomson had 9.
Offensively, we got some surprises. We got a 4-6 night out of Doug Glanville - we got a home run from Donnie Sadler and one from Marcus Thames, making his Ranger debut. There was also a big 3 run blast by Juan Gonzalez to shut up a guy who was REALLY riding Juan all game, and what's funny about that is the guy started doing the "We're not worthy" thing to Juan when he hit the home run. It was quite funny, and both Josh & Tom got a charge out of it.
A nice way to start the second half - plus the entire rest of our division lost, so we picked up ground on everyone! (Woo-hoo, now only 19 out)
What a game! After all the hype about "This time it counts" (my wife and I were almost to the point of making a drinking game out of the advertisements for that), and all the shtick about not playing all the players, what do we get? The absolute opposite of last year's All-Star Game. We got a wonderful game! Forget that Hank Blalock was the hero - and forget any specific single thing - it was just a great game to watch!
We got a bit of everything. Throughout the first four innings or so, we got great pitching on both sides. Loiaza & Schmidt were great in their starting roles, and the pitchers that followed also did great. Then the AL gave up 5 runs in the 5th inning to put the NL up 5-1. We picked up two more runs when Garret Anderson homered to score Arod to make it 5-3. However, Andruw Jones homered to make it 6-3, and you kind of got the feeling that it was over - especially when Dusty Baker changed every position on the field all at once - made for an interesting moment scoring the game at home. :)
Anyway, Jason Giambi came in in the 7th and just absolutely tatooed a home run into right field, to bring us back to within two. However, that this point, the NL was into their trio of closers (Wagner, Gagne, Smoltz), so I figured that was about it. However, the AL had some other ideas. IN the bottom of the 8th, Vernon Wells doubled in Melvin Mora (who was pinch running for MVP Garret Anderson, who had just doubled), and then Hank Blalock came in against Eric Gagne, who had not blown a save all season for the Dodgers. He did now - Blalock smacked a rather no doubter home run into right to give the AL the lead, and the win. I actually stood up in the living room with my hands in the air going "Yes!". I even teared up a bit at this moment. At that moment, I was ready to say Blalock should get MVP. Anderson deserved it, but the Ranger fan in me wanted it to go to Blalock. Watching Arod in the shots shown of him after Blalock's home run, it seemed that Arod was more excited than Hank was! The Rangers open on the road after the All-Star break, but I have a ticket to the next home game they play after the All-Star Break. I bet Hank Blalock gets a massive ovation when he's announced and comes to bat! :)
Overall, a wonderful game. We got great pitching early - we got a lot of home runs, and some nice defense in places, too. One of the better All Star games (as baseball games go, and not the ceremonies around it) in recent memory - a pleasure to watch.
Also, what was with that horrid person singing the national anthem? She wore a shirt that looked three sizes too small for her, and it really made her look awful. Thank god for TiVo, so I could skip it.
Hank Blalock made several web headlines right after the game was over - in most cases overshadowing game MVP Garret Anderson. Here are some screen captures I took:
We lost 8-2. Pitching sucked. Blew too many offensive chances. What more do I need to say? Yeah, I know it's the same commentary as yesterday's game. :) Game notes are here.
We lost 8-2. Pitching sucked. Blew too many offensive chances. What more do I need to say? Game notes are here.
Busy day to be a Ranger fan. We sign first round pick John Danks. We then turn around and trade closer Ugueth Urbina to the Marlins for three very good prospects. Then we get blown out. :)
Actually, the game wasn't as bad as the score seems. Yes, 13-3 is an ugly score, but it was only 4-3 after 7 innings. Giving up an 8 spot in the 8th inning will never be good. RA Dickey looked serviceable in starting, and Ron Mahay & Jay Powell didn't give up a thing in their innings. Aaron Fultz (just activated) & Victor Santos - well, that's a different story. In fact, it could have been a lot worse, as the Royals left the bases loaded in the 8th inning. I was starting to think we'd give up 10 runs in the inning!
Anyway, I think we got good value for Urbina. Some are saying that we didn't get enough pitching, but I say we got three great players, and you can never go wrong with getting many great players. If you find yourself with a logjam, you can always trade them, too.
Normally, you say you win games with pitching and defense. Well, tonight it wasn't exactly defense, as we made a couple of errors (one by Arod), but we did with pitching and offense. Our offense was home run driven - 8 of the nine runs scored by the long ball. Two home runs by Juan, and one each by Mike Young and Mark Teixeira.
Joaquin Benoit looked sharp again. Don't want to get too excited, because when I do that, someone starts pitching bad - but it was nice to see another good outing from him.
It was also really great to see Josh Lewin rendered totally speechless in the pre-game show when they had actor Burton Gilliam show up. Burton was in the movie Blazing Saddles, and that's Josh's all time favorite movie. Josh didn't know he was coming, and was rendered mute on two occasions - was a great moment.
I did miss a few minutes of the game here and there, as I had a power blackout, as well as some rain fade on my DirecTV system due to the heavy storms in Garland.
A wonderfully pitched ballgame. From both sides. It was nice to see old friend Kenny Rogers back here again, and not surprisingly, he picked the blue uniform top for the Twins - something he did all the time in Texas. I still wish he was here, and I bet he does too, despite the public claims to the contrary. That's twice now Scott Boras screwed him up in his dealings with the Rangers.
Anyway, the game was rare, a low scoring Rangers win. For the longest time it was just 1-0, off Mark Teixeira's solo HR in the second inning. Benot kept us in the lead until Torii Hunter jacked a mammoth home run to left, going over the seats in left field. That was it for the Twins, though - as our pen (Shouse, Cordero, Urbina) didn't give up any more runs on the way to Urbina's 200th career save.
Laynce Nix was called up to replace Kevin Mench on the roster, but didn't play.
I also got a big laugh out of the Rangers Captain being on TV in the "fake portion" of the hot dog eating contest. :)
No time to write commentary today. Great game, though! :) Game notes are here.
Another good day to be a Ranger fan. First off, we got a very nicely pitched 5-1 win against the best team in baseball at the moment. Ismael Valdes looked good, not like that train wreck he looked like the last few starts.
But the best news of the day was that two and a half Rangers were named to the All-Star team. Alex Rodriguez is the starting shortstop, and that's no surprise. The other player is Hank Blalock, who was picked as the backup in the players' vote. He really outdistanced his closest competition for the spot - that was really nice to see. The half was that Carl Everett was also named to the All-Star team as a DH. Carl's a White Sock now, but he got the award on his playing time with the Rangers - that was great.
Don't have a whole lot of time to write today - it being Monday at work and all. :)
A frustrating game. For some reason, extra inning games fill me with dread. We always seem to lose these - and for some reason, in the 10th. This one was no different. :(
John Thomson pitched surprisingly well - must be the fact that he now wears his pants legs up, and we can see his socks! :) He went 7 innings, giving up only two. Problem was that Jamie Moyer did basically the same thing. Ugueth Urbina gave up a run in the 10th, and we couldn't come back from that.
Juan Gonzalez had another home run - probably makes his trade stock higher.
The 4th of July brought with it this year the usual things. Stirring ceremony at the beginning with a bunch of kids being sworn into the Air Force, those little mini planes behind centerfield, a flyover (which was timed perfectly this year), fireworks, and the Seattle Mariners. My mini plan gave me a ticket to this game, and while I did not stay for the fireworks show, the game was great. I wasn't expecting much throwing Victor Santos out there against Freddy Garcia, Seattle's #1 pitcher. However, it turned out better than I thought.
Santos was wild in the first inning, tossing 34 pitches (by my count), and allowing a few runs to score, as well as another in the third. Santos had a total of 5 walks in his 4+ innings of work. However, in the bottom of the fourth we blew the game open - batting around, and scoring 5 runs, powered by a 3 run Juan Gonzalez home run. In fact, the Rangers as a team hit for the cycle that inning. We tacked on two later on on a couple of sac files to make the game 7-3.
Our bullpen threw scoreless baseball, although it got dicey in the ninth when Ron Mahay let a couple of guys get on. Mahay was brilliant in the 8th, striking out the side with some really dominating looking stuff. As was said on the postgame show, our lefthanders this season (Shouse, Mahay, Fultz) have done extremely well, and I remember there being talk of there not having much from the left side this year - a great surprise.
I ended up not staying for the fireworks because up until this year my wife and I have seen just about every fireworks show that the Rangers had over the last 5 years or so. I think it's safe to say "I've seen the show already". Plus it got me home faster. :)
One last comment. We've won two in a row and are now only 20 games back from the Mariners. After winning two in a row, isn't this the place where we usually lose the next 4?
It was a good night to be a Ranger fan (something I don't get to say much anymore). Tony Mounce looked really good again. He had a curveball that reminded me of Barry Zito's at times - it had some wonderful movement. I'm not claiming he's Barry Zito of course - I'm not that naive. It's just he looked awfully good at points. He went 5.1 innings, and got his first major league win. Rosman Garcia slipped a bit, giving up a couple in under an inning, but Shouse, Cordero, & Urbina gave up nothing, with Urbina getting his 22nd save. I know Urbina will be gone, but I wish we were a bit better - I've really enjoyed his time here.
However, I think the biggest story was Hank Blalock getting two home runs tonight, one to each side of the field. Juan Gonzalez came through with a two RBI hit (might help his rumored trade to the Dodgers with Mike Lamb). Overall, it was a good game to be a Ranger fan, and while we let the Angels back into the game, we hung on and got the win.
We split in Anaheim, won in Houston before that, and had a winning road trip. This can't be our Rangers, can it? :) Now we're home for awhile, and we play the Mariners. We're 21 games behind them in the standings. It could be much uglier after this weekend.
Well, we got shut out - not much more you can say. Only four hits, scattered. Our seventh shutout of the season. Not good, but then again we knew the 03 Rangers weren't going to be good, I guess.
Well, we lost this game, and it got out of hand in the first couple of innings, as Ismael Valdes gave up a bunch of runs again. He gave up 7 in 5 innings, and while the linescore says he only had 5 earned runs, that's still too many, and he really deserved all 7. RA Dickey, Brian Shouse, and Jay Powell (!!!) didn't give up anything, so I guess that's good.
We tried to mount a comeback in the 8th inning when we got the second home run of the game from Mike Young, as well as one from Arod to bring the game to 7-5, but all that did was bring out Troy Percival, which means there's nothing else to do except make outs.
However, the news of the day was the trade of Carl Everett to the White Sox. I have to admit, I really didn't want to see him go, and while I know it will help our club, I have had a major turn of heart on Everett. I still think he's too slow to play centerfield, but he's been a great citizen here, and hasn't caused any problems. I really was kind of hoping he'd stay. Instead, we're stuck with Gonzalez and no Everett for the rest of the season.
OK, we've won two in a row. This time John Thomson didn't have the ball up and all over the park, giving up just three hits and three runs over seven innings (98 pitches). He pitched pretty decently, and our offense worked, as opposed to the barely being able to get two runs a game crud we've been seeing a lot of lately. It was capped by home runs by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. What's better is that we got it against Ramon Ortiz, someone who has pretty much owned the Rangers, going 9-1 lifetime against us before tonight's game.
These 9PM starts are rough, as my wife and I had company over for dinner, and I didn't get to start watching the game until 11:30 - by that point I was so tired, I just started skipping through several sections on my TiVo - probably watched the whole thing in less than an hour. I really wish Hicks had let us move to the AL Central a couple of years ago when we had the chance.
The season is now halfway over. I said that to my wife last night. I said "That's it - it's just downhill towards the end of the season now" :)
Ramos was wild early, walking 7 in 3.1 innings, hitting one, yet only giving up 3 runs, on two hits. Had he had better control, he probably would have stayed in this game, and done well. After the three we gave up in the first inning, we didn't give up any more again until the bottom of the ninth. In the meantime, we scored 8 runs (all from the 5th onwards).
It was powered by home runs by Kevin Mench, Rafael Palmeiro, and a nice triple by Arod that Craig Biggio fell down running after. We also scored a couple on 2 RBI single by Juan Gonzalez in the 9th.
Victor Santos & Rosman Garcia pitched well - a combined 3.2 innings giving up nothing. That's nice to see. Cordero was good his first inning, but not good the second, which allowed Urbina to come in and get a save, which he was good at this time (no heart attack saves).
That's it for Interleague this season. We had a horrific record this time around, going 4-14. :(
Well, I didn't see much of this game - I came home and fell asleep watching the game. Woke up in the 9th inning, didn't see the point in backing up the TiVo to watch it. Didn't miss much, although Tony Mounce pitched really well again - that's promising.
Oh yeah, we formally lost the Silver Boot trophy today.
Juan Gonzalez is still a Ranger; he needs to go - release him!
As good as it was to see a win, I can't help but think of the fiasco up in Boston. A 25-8 game. It was 14-1 after one inning. The Red Sox got 10 runs before they got their first out. A Florida pitcher had to be carried off on a stretcher with his head immobilized because he got hit in the head. People were throwing at batters - there were two dugout empties, and at least one ejection. Man, if I was at that game, I'd certainly feel I got my money's worth. Here's the details of that game.
Anyway, my favorite moment of our game was actually the pinch hit appearance by David Matranga. My wife and I have checked out several Round Rock Express (Astros AA team) games over the last couple of years, and we always saw David Matranga down there. Well, he finally made it to the show last night. And he clocked a home run in his first major league at bat - I got all excited about that.
On our side, we were hitting the ball around the field like a pinball. We had several shots that hit a wall and went rolling - one was good for a triple for Arod. It was a back and forth and pretty close until the 9th inning, actually. Joaqin Benoit was OK - he got pulled probably earlier than he normally would, but that seemed to be a consequence of National League play. Raffy had a very nice, very majestic, and an absolute no doubter home run in the seventh inning, scoring three. The Astros had four home runs, but none were big problems. Raffy also turned in some nice defense in the field, too. Overall a nice game that felt more in the Rangers control to me watching it than the score indicated.
Overall for the Silver Boot contest, we're down 3-1, and a total of 12 runs. We need to win by a total of 12 runs over the next two games to take the series.
Juan Gonzalez is still a Ranger; he needs to go - release him Here's more on that mess.
I guess we got too high and mighty on that two game winning streak, and needed to be brought down. What other reason could there be for a game where we lose 13-0 and give up four home runs in the span of 10 batters? Certainly can't be our pitching. Feel free to insert a joke about our third round draft pick being in attendance to witness it. Feel free to insert a joke about the Rangers Captain pitching later this season.
Mark Mulder looked like a Cy Young award winner, that's for sure. He allowed only 3 hits all the time he pitched. Hard to do anything against him when he's on like that.
On the positive side, Ron Mahay was great. He gave up a single to his first batter, then nothing afterwards. Looked sweet!
The Juan Gonzalez trade is still undecided; he needs to go.
Game notes here; additional notes here.
We won, but God knows we tried to blow it giving up 2 runs in the top of the 9th. If that text looks familiar - it should. I wrote it about the previous night's game. It applied again. We went ahead big with a nice rally in the 6th, 7th, & 8th when we scored a total of 7 runs to take a 9-6 lead. So we bring in Urbina again. He proceeded to do what he did the night before - give up runs. Two this time, and then proceeded to get the save. It really reminded me of some of John Wetteland's saves. :)
We had the longball going, with a solo shot by Arod on the first pitch he saw in the first, as