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 well as two of them by Raffy later in the game during the big rally. That was nice to see - hell, even Raffy got a bloop hit to left. He's also shown bunt a few times, so hopefully he's at least trying to beat the shift.
The Juan Gonzalez trade is still undecided, and while my virtriol from yesterday about my "no Juan" picture has calmed down, I still think he needs to go.
And finally, a very scary moment early when Carl Everett's bat went flying into the stands and hit two people. A 4 year old kid, as well as a 15 year old girl. Both were taken off the field. Carl was extremely shaken up, and my wife and I both commented that it's terribly obvious that he has feelings and a heart, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted the way he did when it happened. Play was stopped for awhile during which medical attention was given. We heard later on that the 4 year old went home fine, and the 15 year old was still at the hospital, but will most likely not need anything more than stitches. One comment I'll make about the situation. Folks who are down in those seats where things like this happen tend to be the least attentive fans there. They're what a friend of mine calls the "boob job & cocaine crowd". In other words, people who have too much money. Where I'm going with this is that they're on cel phones, talking about some biz thing and not paying attention, generally. In my opinion, four year olds should NOT be down there, because they have no clue what's going on, they're just "there". And as such, they have no comprehension of the danger they're in. I don't think parents should put kids THAT young in harm's way. I know I wouldn't.
Hey, two in a row, and we're only 21 games behind the Mariners now. Here we come! :)
Game notes here, and additional notes here.
We won, but God knows we tried to blow it giving up 3 runs in the top of the 9th. Mark Teixeira looks good, and I have to admit, I was on the bandwagon that said he should be in the minors. He's certainly turned it around, and I enjoy seeing him come up to bat. Carl Everett jacked a home run off of Chad Bradford again. That's Carl's third I believe, and Bradford has given up just 5 home runs total to everyone - I think Carl pretty much owns him.
Our kids have pitched awesome the last few nights. Ramos last night, Mounce before that, and Benoit (although he SHOULD pitch better as he has more experience). It's funny how a few good pitching performances change your outlook. We may not need the horse to pitch after all. :)
However, the news of the day was the Gonzalez (almost) trade. I wrote about it in my forums already, so you can just check out that thread here - don't really need to repeat myself here. I'm now firmly in the camp that Juan needs to go. If he decides to force the issue and stay here, he should be released.
Anyway, it's a sad state of affairs when a win gets zero talk at all - it's like "The Stars are letting Derian Hatcher walk - the Rangers tried to trade Juan - and oh yeah, we won".
Well, shit. Tony Mounce was great. That's about it.
Can we put this guy in to help out? Please?
Lost 7 in a row. Lost 19 of last 21. About to set a franchise record for futility going all the way back to 1972 when we first moved here from Washington DC. Jay Powell sucks. I think the horse can pitch better than what we throw out there. Pick one. As bad as it seems, I get the feeling it will get worse - I don't think we've hit rock bottom yet, as bad as things are. :(
Actually, Joaquin Benoit was quite good Sunday night. At the start of the game, I thought he had a shot at the 3 or 4 year old record of a Ranger pitcher not getting 10 strikeouts in a game. He came close (he had 8). He looked quite good, quite sharp until he appeared to run out of gas in the sixth - which is far more than we've gotten from a starter lately.
We got our only run on a very long Mark Teixeira home run the bottom of the first inning to (GASP) give us a lead. It actually stayed that way until Benoit gave up two runs in the 6th and was pulled.
Given there's not much else to write about, what's with the crappy player intro music? There's some really horrible player music now - what's that garbage that's being played before Kevin Mench's at bats? Ewwwww...
We made this a bit interesting late, but the game was nowhere near as close as the 9-5 score indicated. We were losing after the first pitch of the game, a home run to Craig Biggio, and that pretty much was it for the game. The Astros scored in innings 1-6, and we scored 4 in the 7th & 8th, but even with those, the game felt like it belonged to the Astros from the second Biggio hit the home run.
As usual, a team throws a kid making their major league debut against us, and he's great. Rodrigo Rosario went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs (only 1 earned), and overall had us baffled. When we do that, the other team gets 7 runs in 3 innings and 80 pitches off our guy. Sigh. Any chance we can take this team down for a server upgrade and a reboot? It might do some good, as would my suggestion about putting in the horse.
Also, I don't know if anyone noticed, but out in left field in this game from Sec 201 or 202 or so, someone had hung a white banner with nothing on it From where I was sitting, it really looked like someone was throwing in the towel - like it was a surrender flag. I called in to the post game show and asked them about it, they had a chuckle, but didn't see it themselves. If anyone knows who hung that, have them email me, I'd love to talk to them. :)
OK, the Astros come back to town for the Lone Star Series. Does the change in opponent make a difference? Hell no . We lost 12-3. It actually was closer than that until the 9th inning when the entire team seemed to Jay Powell; giving up 7 runs in the top of the 9th to effectively remove any real chance we had of coming back to win this.
I was there. There wasn't much else to write about - except I got a pretty decent hat as a giveaway item. Oh, and someone popped by again (dude, I'm sorry I keep forgetting your name) to say hello to me. I also seem to have abandoned scoring games on paper, and have gone to scoring games on my Palm PDA using a program called Scorepad.
What? Write about the game? Feh - there's nothing worth writing about, except maybe Arod had a home run. :)
Game notes here, and addtl notes here.
A daytime game during the week - that means that I don't get to listen to most of it. This was no different - I only heard the start, when Mario Ramos seemed to be pretty decent in his major league debut. Then Jay Powell came in later. He certainly seems like the next person to ride the train out of town - I wonder why we haven't made the call yet?
I think I've officially given up on this season. Up until our big recent slide, I thought we had a chance to at least be respectable this season - that's not happening. :(
Bring on the Astros. We'll sell tickets - which is what I guess it's all about, eh?
We lost again - by the same score (4-3) that we lost the night before. We actually got good pitching - Tony Mounce didn't give up anything in his 6 innings pitched. Alex Rodriguez broke out of his slump with an 2 run RBI home run. Ugueth Urbina had a meltdown, and let the A's back in the game, and then we lost it in extra innings.
I actually was thinking that Mounce looked pretty good. Plus he's a lefty - something we could use.
We lost again. I can't say I'm totally shocked. It was nice to see us hang in the game, and not lose like 8-0, 12-2, etc...
One very cool thing. Raffy laid down a bunt on the third base side for a hit. FINALLY. He complains about the shift, yet he doesn't try to beat it by laying down a bunt. He should do this more often!
Well, it was nice to see Pudge again. That's about as nice of a thing as I can say. We haven't scored at all in now over 18 innings!
I'm going to Saturday's game, I'm hoping they break out of it.
That was an f'in disgrace. :(
More info about this game on mlb.com here.
So much for that winning streak.
Victor Santos started for us, and pitched like well.. not Nolan Ryan. Seriously, he pitched like a kid who doesn't seem to believe he belongs here. I didn't feel the Rangers were really bad, but it was yet another in the long list of games that just got away, without anything massively huge happening. I suppose Cliff Floyd with his 5 RBI's was a big deal, but I never felt blown out in this one, even despite the score.
The Mets starter (Jae So, a Korean) did one thing I thought was very cool - and something our culture probably would never do. When an umpire gives him the ball, he removes his cap and bows to him. I rather liked that - nice to see someone with some respect for those in charge of the game. I wish more would have that kind of respect for the game.
We had a lot of balls that died on the warning track. We probably should have been right in this one score wise; maybe even have won it. However, we had quite a few die before going out, including one (who I forget hit it) get caught at the absolute deepest part of the park - the nook at the 407 sign in right center. :(
Oh well, another loss. Another day closer to the point where we're probably going to trade away a bunch of veterans.
More info about this game available on mlb.com here.
'Topes Win! 'Topes Win! 'Topes Win! :)
The losing streak is over, powered by a rather balanced attack - everyone had at least one hit, plus we had four home runs (Raffy, Teixeira, Young, & Blalock). Teixeira's one was quite impressive, going halfway up Green's hill - for a distance I think of 445 feet. The furthest by a Ranger this season.
Our pitching was pretty decent, except for Jay Powell, who I think is on the same train that Yan & Van Poppel rode out of town. Powell gave up 3 hits, three earned runs in ZERO innings pitched. His ERA was 9.9 before that, now it's 11.25. I think he needs to go, too. Thomson gave up 3 over 6, Fultz gave up 1 in 1.2, and Urbina had a four out save.
Not to mention I was sitting in the leather seats in the Gold Club - I won the KRLD Golden Moment contest, and had these seats. They were very cool in terms of comfort, both in the chair and the air conditioning. What I didn't consider at all before the game is that you can't hear Chuck Morgan in there, and while they do put the KRLD coverage on, the general chatter from the bar is so loud, that you can barely hear that. While it's a comfortable place to watch a game, it's certainly not the best in terms of baseball. You also cannot see the Jumbotron from in there. They do have TV's which can be switched to the Jumbotron coverage, but it's not quite the same. The tickets had a face value of $60 on them. I don't know if I'd ever actually buy them, but as a freebie, it was definitely worth checking out.
Sigh. Nine losses in a row. Too many sweeps in a row. Don't really need to write about these losses. Although we probably should have won.
I think a lot of changes are going to come soon, including some fans won't like. :(
I listened to the beginning of this game, but I was on my way to get my hair cut this evening, and when I got there, I stopped. I came back out, turned the car on, and we had just gone down 13-4, so I didn't bother to listen to any more of the game. I probably should have, as we scored 6 more runs, but didn't win. Oh well, major slide - I didn't think we'd slide this much when we were within one game of 500. /me sighs.
Anyway, I was a bit bummed, but I understood why we traded Ruben Sierra yesterday. We're trying to get younger, and he wasn't doing what he was supposedly here for (offense off the bench). He did take some shots at us on the way out of town, but I can't imagine he'll get a lot more playing time in New York - I think Ruben thinks he should be top of the line every day player, and I don't think he's that good anymore. Oh well. Maybe in a couple of years if he's still around, he could do a Rickey Henderson and come back for a fourth go around. :)
There's a story about Juan Gonzalez' return home for this series here.
Another game I didn't get to listen to, as I was working. I caught some of it, but I was distracted by work, so I hardly even remember any details.
I will say this. From what little I remember, Victor Santos didn't do too bad. Didn't set the house on fire, but he didn't "Chan Ho Park" up the joint, either. :)
Sigh. Actually, I thought all I was going to write was Greg Maddux' name. He was absolutely dominating until the 7th inning when he became a bit human and gave up two runs (almost three, but Juan was thrown out at the plate on a nice play by the Braves D). Maddux needed something like 48 pitches to get through 6 innings - rather amazing in this day and age.
John Thomson was - well, John Thomson. He wasn't horrible, but he wasn't great, either. And with Maddux on the other side, giving up the runs we did was too many, unfortunately.
Additional news on this game from mlb.com here.
Sigh. Another game that we looked to be winning, we lost. This looked like last year's bullpen, tell you the truth. We've now lost 4 in a row, and are 6 under .500. Remember a few games back when we got to within one game of 500? I said it was time for a slide? Looks like I was right. :(
There was an additional story available about the draft here on mlb.com.
Another game I fell asleep on on the couch and missed it. Good thing too, I didn't appear to actually miss anything worth watching. :(
I had to work late, and I wasn't going to be in the mood to start watching a game at 11PM, so I listened on the radio while I worked. Valdes won the game, and only gave up two, but I wasn't sure why he came out of the game when he did. At the time, I thought he could go longer - but hey, I'm not Buck. :)
Offensively, we had some spread out RBI's - a total of 8 amongst 5 players - capped by a 3 run HR by Ruben Sierra in the ninth, which kept Urbina off the field, and gave Cordero a save, because he stayed out there for the 9th and mowed 'em down.
I'm hoping we play better against the Orioles this weekend than we did last weekend.
I missed most of this game, because I got home late, and then fell asleep on the sofa.
I think this game can be summed up this way though.. Benes wasn't great. Ben Grieve was. :)
We're back on the winning track after taking the first of two in Tampa 4-2. We had three home runs in this game. We almost had four, but one of those freaky catwalk things caused an Arod ball to be called a home run, and then it was reversed, and he didn't get it. Still, we won, which is good. All four runs scored on home runs - one each by Teixeira, Gonzalez, & Palmeiro.
Our pitching was good. I was expecting Colby Lewis to stink up the joint again, but he pitched good. He went only 5 innings, but gave up just a single run. The four relievers we used (none of which was Van Poppel, who was essentially released before the game) combined for a total of one run. A nice pitching performance - hopefully we can win again Wednesday night, so we can get back to within one game of .500 and hopefully not lose when we get to Baltimore. :)
It was nice to see old friend Mike Venafro again - although I have to say he looked odd in a Tampa uniform - I wish he was still with the Rangers, I always liked him.
Well, we've got another streak - in the wrong direction. We lost a goofy one, 13-10, on a game that included crappy pitching all around, and a grand slam by Mark Teixeira (his first).
It was nice to see Rick Helling back at the Ballpark. That's about all I'll remember from this game, except the Teixeira slam. :)
The streak gets to seven with a 5-3 win over the Orioles at home. Ismael Valdes gave up 10 hits, but since all of them were singles, not a whole lot of damage was done. Our usual combination of Cordero & Urbina closed the game out on the pitching side.
Offensively, Raffy broke out and got HR #501. He also got #502 as well, but missed clearing the top of the wall by an inch or two. Mike Young, whose average has climbed to the best it's ever been lately, also had a nice home run to left in the 5th. Ruben Sierra, who hasn't lookd good this year, gave us an insurance run late.
Overall, a nice game - not a 13-10 fiasco, not a 1-0 pitcher's duel - but a nice baseball game. Wish I had been there.
No time for commentary today, as I've got two meetings today, but two straight sweeps - 6 in a row, and we're within two games of 500 again. Let's hope we can take at least 2 out of 3 against the Orioles. It will be nice. Oh yeah, Einar Diaz got his first HR as a Ranger, nice to see.
No time for commentary today. Nice to see 5 in a row! :)
It's four in a row now - but unfortunately, we can't gain any ground, because division leader Seattle has won their last 5 in a row, and we're still nine out. However, we've moved to within 4 games of 500 again. However, if history is a teacher, we'll get to within one game, and then lose 7 of our next 9 or something like that.
Anyway, Joaquin Benoit continued to stretch of great pitching with a fourth game in a row that was won by a Ranger starter who pitched pretty good. Benoit went 7 innings, giving up just two (earned) runs on a total of 4 hits. He also had 8 strikeouts and two walks. Overall, some great pitching - no complaints here.
Offensively, we got out to a 5-0 lead after two (with HR's by Hank Blalock & Arod), and that's all we'd get and Benoit made it hold up. Actually, after the second inning, I felt like we were going to score like 20 runs and totally stomp on the Devil Rays. That didn't happen, but I'll certainly take a good pitching performance and a win any day over a "stomp 'em into the ground" win. :)
When you're in last place for the better part of four years, you take particular pleasure in a series sweep of anyone. It's positively orgasmic when the series sweep is against the Yankees, and the cigarette afterwards is the fact that it happened in the Bronx! I can't say the losses came for a more deserving team. The Rangers pulled off a feat that they have never done in the 42 years this club has been in existence (counting the Senators days, too). That's take a series sweep of the Yankees in New York (of 3 games or more).
The story of today was John Thomson. He pitched a 3 hit complete game, giving up just a lone run. He walked 5 (a career high), and threw 134 pitches (also a career high). He lookd great, and quite frankly, he looked like the pitcher we're paying $13 million a year to who has given us squat. Thomson is starting to look like an awesome pickup - if he continues on like this, he should be signed to a couple of year contract! Of the three hits Thompson gave up, two were to Soriano - the entire rest of the Yankees lineup was held in check. Spectacular.
What's more surprising is that we scored as many runs as we did off Mike Mussina. Going into this game, he was 7-1 with an ERA of 2.02! He gave up four runs in his seven innings (3 earned). It raised his ERA to 2.22. ;) Arod came out of his slump going 2-4. Carl Everett & Raffy also had two hits each, but the big one was Juan Gonzalez' 2 run home run which gave us the lead we never relinquished.
A nice moment happened before the game when Roger Clemens presented Raffy with a plaque commemorating his 500th home run - and he got a standing O from the Yankee Stadium crowd of 50,000. I wish they would have shown all of that on TV.
We now have 12 games against the Devil Rays & the Orioles. We have a habit of playing down to teams we're supposed to beat. I hope that the sweep of the Yankees prevents that from happening, I'd really love to pick up some ground, and possibly come out of those 12 games at 500.
Ismael Valdes comes off the DL, and something I've been waiting to happen for awhile now happened because of that. We designated Esteban Yan for assignment. I cringed when we first signed him, and continued to have bitter beer face every time he came in to pitch. He certainly threw more gas on the fire when he pitched, or at least stunk up the joint. I cannot say I'm sad to see him go at all. Wish we'd do the same with Chan Ho Park, but one can only dream so much, eh?
Anyway, Valdes was great coming back from the DL. He went five innings, giving up two runs, and the bullpen was great. Brian Shouse is someone who I admit to thinking "Who the hell is this?" when he was signed, and even in spring training. I was wrong there, he's turned out to be pretty good. Cordero & Urbina closed it down to give us the first two in the Bronx, guaranteeing us a series win in New York. \o/
Offensively, we picked up 5 runs. No home runs, and it's been a few games since we had one. Arod's in a bad slump, he's now something like 0 for his last 14 or so. In fact, the only extra base hit was a double by Teixeira. Nice to see some runs put up with small ball.
Dare we hope for a series sweep tomorrow? :)
Boy, I have to say after the debacle in Boston, I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of facing the Yankees and Roger Clemens going for win #299.
However, early, Clemens was wild, and with five walks, going up 4-1 by the second inning. When we went up 5 to 1 in the fourth, I was feeling good. Hank Blalock had a 3 run double early, barely missing a grand slam by less than a foot. Not everything was great, as Juan Gonzalez struck out four times, and hit into a double play. Blalock also struck out four times, too.
The Yankees did what they did best again, coming back late to tie the game. However, surprisingly, in the 8th inning we didn't give up about 20 runs all at once (probably because Esteban Yan didn't pitch) and went behind. It carried into the 12th when we loaded the bases again for Hank Blalock who hit his SECOND three run triple, winning the game.
Was a really great win. Makes me wonder where all this was when we were in Boston, though. :)
This game irritated me so much, I don't want to write a thing about it. :mad:
I only saw a short piece of this game, as it was on during my bowling league, and then I went from there to go see Matrix: Reloaded. Didn't appear to miss much of anything, though. :)
This was frustrating. A nice, crisp fast moving game dissolves in the 8th inning when Cordero can't keep the Sox off the board. Dammit. :(
That's pretty much the bottom line of this game. Yeah, the Rangers scored 17 runs. Yeah, we gave up 10. Yeah, I got sunburned sitting at the game, but it all doesn't matter. Raffy got his 500th home run, and I was glad to say I was there to see it! It was funny, because when he popped out after the sixth inning, quite a few people left the stadium. Fools! I bet all of them that left will be telling folks that they were there to see it.
This was an odd game for me, because I always score the game. I had gotten comp tickets from my ticket agent, and was sitting in Sec 26 Row 23 - roughly 20 rows right behind home plate. However, I left the scorecard at home, and I can't score on the one in the program, because I feel the scorecard is too restrictive, I track far more info than the basic stuff. So I didn't score. I was watching the game, and as been chronicled, when Raffy came up for his final at bat, I had a feeling that he wasn't going to do it. Even moreso when he was down to two strikes.
But then he did it. It was quite the moment. My wife was jumping up and down, and was all excited. I was trying to be all excited while still taking pictures and making sure I didn't miss the moment. It was quite cool to be there (unlike the thousands of people that probably will say they were there when they weren't).
I took a bunch of pictures from the game, you can check 'em out here. I know I didn't write a lot, but it's one of those "moments" that lives in your mind, but you find it hard to describe. I did have two armfuls of goose bumps while it was happening, though. :)
OK, we lost again. Sigh. We lost again against CC Sabathia. As I sit to write this, I'm more interested in writing about Sunday's game. :)
It was really nice to see Todd Greene's cousin Ronald Young, the former Iraqi POW out there to throw out the first pitch. That was a great moment.
Getting a bit tiring writing about games with short outings, and crappy pitching performances. I guess I could say that Esteban Yan didn't give up 20 more runs after he came into the game, I guess that's something.
My wife & I were watching from home, and she told me that she really did not want Raffy to get #500 on Friday night because I have tickets for Saturday & Sunday - she said if Raffy got it on a day I wasn't there (I was there on Thu and saw #499), that I'd be moping around about it. She's probably right. :)
I actually stopped watching the game once we got behind a lot, and just skipped forward on the TiVo to Raffy's at bats. Hopefully he gets it today (Sat) or tomorrow. I'd like to be there for one of these things for a change. When Raffy got #400, I had tickets for Fri & Sun. He hit it Saturday. When Lynn & I were in Baltimore, we missed Cal Ripken's 400th HR - he went foul by about 2 or 3 feet. :(
I have a short day today, so I need to get through this as quick as possible - no real commentary. Nice to see a win.
Raffy watch - He got #499 yesterday, and struck out in the bottom of 9th to end the game on possible #500. I was at the game, and took some pics, but I left them at home, I'll have to update later.
The streak stops at 7 games. Why? We got to within one game of .500. That's usually when we start losing again. :(
Actually John Thomson pitched well, it's just at the end he had enough of a meltdown, and the bullpen (Todd Van Poppel) was total crap that we lost. I thought Thomson was great again.
Omar Daal looked surprisingly great - I followed him when he was in Philadelphia, and never thought he was that great of a pitcher.
That was one serious stink coming from the Ballpark. Don't want to write about it, it was so bad. One thing though - Carlos Delgado's second home run was some serious crap - it was hit into what looked like Section 251. That's a SERIOUS distance - was something like 455 feet, if I remember Josh right. Here's a pic of how far away home plate is looking in from that section.
I thought John Thomson pitched great this game, except for his minor meltdown which allowed 3 runs to score. But other than that, he was wonderful. Unfortunately, CC Sabathia was even better, not allowing an earned run.in his 8 innings (as opposed to the 3 that Thomson allowed in his complete game 8 inning loss). That pretty much was the entire game - CC Sabathia shut us down pretty good - not much else you can say about this one.
Raffy watch: He sat out the game, and only came in as a pinch hitter as the final batter of the game. He needs two, and I'm going to the game on Thursday, so I'm hopeful he can do it then. :)
I didn't get to see this game, and I could only barely pay attention, as I was at the office upgrading the web server's copy of Linux. Was nice to see a win, although quite frankly, we should have a winning streak of 6 now, the two losses against the Blue Jays & Indians the last couple of days are still annoying.
We had a lot of pitchers in this game (7 in all), with starter Todd Van Poppel (!) going 4 innings, giving up three earned runs. Jay Powell looked pretty good (I got to hear his part of the game), and it was nice that our bullpen didn't give up anything in the 5 innings they pitched.
Don't have a whole lot more to say, but it looks like Raffy will get #500 at home, as the Raffy watch stays at 498. My gut feeling is that if he gets 499 tomorrow, he'll come out of the game.
Ugh. That was highly annoying, especially given that we seemed to have it wrapped up. :(
Raffy watch stays at 498.
Overall, it wasn't a bad game. We just couldn't overcome the 6 spot the Blue Jays put up in the second inning. We didn't allow anything else besides a single run in the third - the rest were zeroes. But we didn't come back enough, even with the home runs by Juan (two of them again), Raffy, & Carl Everett. This was definitely a long ball hitting series, we had a zillion of them, and Juan had 5.
Not much else to say except the 6 runs that Colby Lewis gave up in the second were the game!
Well, the offensive onslaught continues. Over the last three games (26 innings), we've scored 37 runs including a bazillion home runs. I went into last night's game with a feeling of ambivalence - having just lost Doug Davis on waivers to the team we were playing. While Doug hasn't lit it up in awhile, I still liked the guy and held out hope he could get it going in a Ranger uniform. Oh well, that's in the past now. So as this game started, I figured after a few good offensive performances, we couldn't get another one, could we?
Yes, we could. Juan Gonzalez just continues to tear the hyde off the ball the last few days jacking a very impressive home run and hitting the ball around the field going 3 for 5 with 3 RBI's. In fact, the only other (Ranger) home run of the game came from Mike Young - a three run shot late in the game. The other recent hit machine, Alex Rodriguez didn't have any home runs, but went 3 for 6. Josh Lewin said something about his raising his batting average something like 60 points in the last two days because of his recent barrage of hits. Carl Everett & Hank BLalock both had doubles. We also left more men on base than scored, and when you score 11, it tells you that it could have been even bigger offensively.
On the pitching side, Ryan Drese didn't pitch wonderfully, but pitched a hell of a lot better than his brief experimentation with an ERA in the 100's showed! He did dance with trouble early, walking too many, but getting helped out by a few double plays early. R.A. Dickey went 2.2 innings giving up but a lone run, and Ramirez came in in the 9th to shut things down when Dickey looked like he started running out of gas.
Nice to see Erasmo Ramirez & Gerald Laird both make their major league debuts last night. They were in the game in the 9th at the same time - something I can't recall seeing much of in the past. And speaking of Laird, I really feel for Todd Greene getting hurt when he did - just as his playing time was about to increase as he got out from under the "three catcher" situation. :(
The Raffy watch is still stuck on 497. If he doesn't get any in the next couple of games, it looks like #500 might happen at home, something I didn't think possible when he went on the road needing 3 in 6 games.
We're now just one game under .500 at 13-14 ending the month of April. Considering who we were playing all month, and the fact we're only 4 games out, I'm actually feeling pretty good about where we are at the moment.
First off, sorry for not updating during the Yankees series. I attended all three games at the Ballpark, and when I came home on Sunday, I just felt like taking a break, like I didn't want to have to "force myself" to write about the games - I just wanted to go to the ballpark, watch the games without worrying about what I'd have to write about them. So I did. :)
Well, the big boppers were out in force tonight, and that's good given that we gave up rather a lot of runs. We got out early, and I thought the game was in hand quickly. I actually fell asleep on the sofa in the living room, and when I woke up, it was 13-11! I zipped backwards on my TiVo and saw what happened - our bullpen couldn't keep them off the board, which is fairly unusual. (which is a good thing, really) In the end we prevailed, but not from lack of letting the Blue Jays back into the game.
Alex Rodriguez continued his dominance of Skydome going 4 for 6 with a double, a home run, and four RBI's. Put that together with Sunday's performance, and he's 9 for his last 11 with 10 RBI's! Juan Gonzalez had two home runs, as did Carl Everett. It was the night for the longball with Todd Greene also getting one. All six home runs were bullet shots, no doubters that just flew out of the place.
Raffy didn't have any home runs, but did have an nice hit that beat the usual overshift we've been seeing against him lately. As much as I loved seeing us put up 16 runs, I really did not like seeing us give up 11.
I don't have much time on Friday to write - I'm going to the game tonight, and am leaving early.
However... was nice to see a major trouncing of someone else. There were runs all over the place. Raffy's 496th probably would be the standout moment for me. And it sounded like R.A. Dickey was wonderful. I wonder if we'll try him in the rotation?
Behind a nice pitching performance by John Thomson, the Rangers bounced back and beat the Red Sox 6-1 on a rainy night in Arlington. Some of the storms in the area affected my recording of the game, because my satellite feed got knocked out for pieces of the game (although I only missed about 10 minutes total) - plus I had one blackout while I was watching the game. Anyway, rain delay in the 7th aside, that's the end of my rain talk.
Going against a knuckleballer (there's only two in the AL - Tim Wakefield and Steve Sparks) can either be great or awful. You either score 20 runs or get nothing it seems. We did get off to a start that led me to believe there would be 20 runs, that being the leadoff home run by Ryan Christenson. The big hit was Juan Gonzalez' two run single with the bases loaded in the 6th to take the lead before the rain delay came. We picked up another run on a bases loaded walk that inning, and then scored a run in each of the two innings after the rain delay as well to take it to 6-1.
As said before, Thomson pitched well, going seven innings and giving up just one run, walking one and striking out three. Now if we can only get Park to do this all the time...
A frustrating game. I have to admit that before the game started, I predicted doom. The two highest paid AL pitchers went head to head, but since the pitching quality of said pitchers wasn't quite the same, I expected us to be losing something like 10-0 after 5 innings. We did have an ugly start early, but managed to get out of the first five innings only down 4-1. Not insurmountable, especially given that Pedro did not seem like Pedro. He gave up 6 walks in his time on the mound, threw 120 pitches, and seemed at least reachable, if not hittable, as we only had a hit or two through that time. Pedro was still pretty good.
However, their bullpen was not. After we gave up another run by Esteban (Oh NO) Yan in the 8th on a home run, we stormed back in the bottom of the eighth. We scored 3 times to make the score 5-4. That was capped by a two run home run by Juan Gonzalez, and we had two on with two outs. Kevin Mench hit what looked like a liner to left, but it didn't hook quite enough, and we were out. We almost won it again in the bottom of the 8th. Arod was on first with two outs after having reached there on a fielder's choice after BARELY beating out a double play ball.
Raffy jacked one to right field, and it died about 3 feet from the fence. We had a total of three balls that missed home runs by a few feet each. Blalock, Raffy, & I forget who else had one, but if we had the usual Texas wind, we would have had probably about 4 or 5 more runs, and won the game.
Carl Everett had another really nice play in left to take away a double - his being named AL Player of the Week seems to be carrying over so far into this week. :)
A nice game - one I wish we'd see more often, although it's already happened more this season than I thought it would. :)
Great pitching - we only gave up two runs with Colby Lewis getting his third (!) victory of the season already. Our bullpen didn't give up anything, and Urbina got his seventh save already. Really nice to see.
On the other side, the A's pitching was also great, only allowing two, but since it was more than the A's got, we won. We should have had a ton more, as we left something like 15 guys on base all night - should have had at least ten runs. However, Carl Everett's home run (he's had about 500 this week it seems) was the difference maker.
Nice to come home on a win, although the next game is Chan Ho Park vs. Pedro Martinez. That doesn't look good. :(
What more needs to be said about this one? Barry Zito dominated. Totally.
Again, no time to update - finishing up a project this week at work. Nice to take 3 out of 4 from the World Champs. Should have been a sweep, though.
Again, no time to update - finishing up a project this week at work. A frustrating loss. We were up, and had a big bullpen meltdown. :(
Bit busy at work today - no time to write commentary. Still, nice to see another win.
I went to this game tonight. Every baseball fan's dream came true over the weekend. My wife came to me and said "Hey, let's go to the baseball game on Monday". We did, took a couple of Dr. Pepper cans for $10 off tickets, and went. Got the best game I've seen pitched by a Ranger pitcher in quite awhile. Ismael Valdes was wonderful (contract extension is due guys!). He went 8 innings, and threw a 5 hit shutout. Was really masterful, and is something I wish we could see more often. Put that together with the way John Thompson has pitched the last two times out, and it makes a poor Ranger fan's heart go all aflutter - I don't know what to do with good pitching! :)
On the other side of the plate, we got three home runs - two from Carl Everett into the upper deck of the home run porch, and another by Blalock. We lead the majors again in home runs, but still have way too many of our runs from that. It's fine I suppose if you can keep it up, but if the power goes away, so does our offense. :(
It was also really great to hear Chuck Morgan at the ballpark again. This was my third game of the season, and it's great having Chuck back. My wife also really loved the Rangers Captain - said he was cute. I also like the mascot, too. Just wish he'd get around the ballpark more.
Anyway, we could use a few more games like this. Even though we're under 500 and in last place, we're only two games out of first as of today with the other three teams in our division all tied for first place. :)
Darnit. This one annoyed me for two reasons. First, we lost. Second, I missed the end of the game. I record Ranger games on my TiVo, and I pad them with an hour - because that's normally more than enough, even if they go an inning or two extra. However, 13 inning games are a problem. The game ran out for me in the top of the 13th right as Sasaki came in.
What a waste of a good pitching performance by John Thomson. Thomson is looking pretty good so far this year - so far the most consistent pitcher on the staff, which I thought would be Valdes (who isn't doing bad himself). Anyway, I hope Thompson can keep this up - if he does this the majority of the season, it'll be really cool to have someone like that pitch for us. Arod had another home run, as did Todd Greene - who had a great day, even if he had the worst baseball day of his life (referring to his cousin, the former Iraq POW). Anyway, Bret Boone had TWO home runs. One to take the lead which Greene countered, but one in the bottom of the 13th.
Would have liked to have had a win to take the series, but given our track record the last few years, I'll take playing good, I suppose. :)
OK, that sucked. As bad as Park has been, Drese was MILES worse in this game, not even getting two outs in the first inning, and only pitching .1 of an inning. His ERA is something like 125! About the only good thing really was Arod's home run in Seattle.
Beyond that, I gave up watching the game after four innings and switched to listening to the radio (I seem to be able to pay attention to blowouts on the radio better than on TV).
Don't want to write much about another huge blowout that ends at 12:30AM. :(
Earlier in the day, my wife asked me who was pitching. I replied with "Chan Ho Park", to which she said "Oh boy, there's a loss". And after the first couple of innings, oh boy did I think that was true. Chan Ho Park walked something like 5 batters in the first two innings - including the first seven pitches of the game for a ball! However, due to some luck, and an awesome fielding play by Carl Everett in left, Chan Ho escaped unscathed. The Mariners (without Edgar Martinez, I might add) left the bases loaded in the first two innings. Chan Ho ended up going 5 innings, walking 7 and throwing 114 pitches all told. Boy did he luck out in getting the win tonight. CJ Nitkowski gave up the other run, and Cordero & Urbina were lights out again - something nice to see. If I had to categorize this pitching performance by Park, it's "lucky".
Fourth save for Urbina. Assuming he stays the entire season, and isn't traded in July, at this rate, he might beat the team record for saves in a season.
On the other side of the ball, Rafael Palmeiro continued his apparent love of Safeco Field with a big two run jack in the 5th inning to right center field. At the time, that gave us the lead in the game, and we never gave it up again. The only other RBI (one run wasn't credited as such) was by Carl Everett, who had a nice game overall.
I have to say, a very surprising win. I certainly wasn't expecting a win when Chan Ho went into Seattle, and I'm still pretty down on him, but it was very nice to get.
The game started off ugly - like just about every game so far this year. Colby Lewis walked 8 batters in his 3.2 innings of work. Far too many. However, the bullpen was great. In the bullpens 5.1 innings, they pitched shutout ball, giving up just two hits - both by Yan. Fultz, Cordero, & Urbina gave up squat. And speaking of Urbina, he has three saves. We have three wins so far.
On the other side, unfortunately, four of our five runs came off the longball. While it's nice to see homeruns, I'm a bit worried that such a radically high percentage of our total runs scored are that way. It seems that if we don't hit home runs, we're not winning - I don't like that trend. Still, Mark Teixeira hit his first major league home run, scoring three. And Carl Everett hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 8th to win the game.
Overall, a great comeback win - great pitching from our bullpen. Makes me wish I was there. :)
This one was more annoying than the 2-1 loss yesterday. Not for the obvious reason that we lost by giving up 10+ runs. My point is that Ismael Valdes was brilliant the first three innings. Even the two home runs he gave up in the third didn't feel like a big deal at all, since he was pitching well otherwise. Then the floodgates opened up.
On the positive side, Mark Teixeira finally got his first major league hit (a double), and his first RBI (a single driving in Todd Greene). Juan Gonzalez had another home run, as did Raffy (his 493rd).
I knew this season wouldn't be that great going in, but damn - it's annoying to be disenfranchised this early in the season. I wonder how Twins fans dealt with it all those years.
John Thomson looked like a pitcher that could win 20 games last night. Unfortunately, a pitcher that DID win 23 games last year was his opponent. Zito was masterful, his only mistake was a longball to Rafael Palmeiro. It's our lot. Whenever we get a great pitching performance, we always seem to get outpitched by someone better.
We had a total of 5 hits (two of them by Mike Young, our "weak" offensive second baseman). Overall, it was a great BASEBALL game, but not a great Rangers game. :(
Of course, anything's better than what Chan Ho Park has been doing. :)
Didn't watch any of this game, for two reasons.
1) As my brother was still in town, I was out doing some things with him.
2) Chan Ho Park was pitching. I'm sorry, but I have a hard time getting up for his games anymore.
I went to Opening Day on Friday, and I also went to Opening Night on Saturday. I actually spent most of this game worrying about the weather, especially when I was in the bathroom and heard "Tornado touchdown" over the radio. Anyway, it turned out to be fine other than some heavy winds, and the Rangers got out the big bats. In the early trend of the season, the longball provided just about all the offense in the game. 7 of the 8 were off a home run. We had four of them - two by Juan Gonzalez, the others by Arod, and one by Hank Blalock. All of them were no doubters, too. Probably helped a bit by the wind, but eh? :)
Colby Lewis wasn't spectacular, but he was serviceable, and this year that will be more than good enough, I think. I enjoyed being at the ballpark again, and I have to say that my pitching fantasies were dashed early on this season, I suspect we'll still play well, despite that. I do wish we were a bit less dependant on the longball, though - even if chicks dig 'em. :)
There never is quite anything like opening day, is there? Even if you lose (which we did), there's something nice about visiting the park again for a game. :)
It was also a special day for me because my brother was visiting in from out of town. I picked him up at the airport at 10:30, and we headed straight to the ballpark. Got there early, took in the sights of the new things at the park. The new scoreboards were gorgeous, much better than before - the mats outside the stadium were a tad gimmicky, but still OK, the banners of players were nice, although I would have liked them not to have the Donruss logo on them. The food stand signage is new and a needed improvement. The concourses seem less cluttered, but the frickin "Sign up for a credit card and get a towel" people REALLY NEED TO GO. I didn't find the famed garlic fries, so I'll have to try them the next time I'm out there. I even thought the Rangers mascot was cute. I'm not one of these baseball zealots (like on some web forums) who think that anything that deviates from their perceived "mantra of baseball" is bad. I even thought the Ranger Captain was cool. Overall, a definite improvement - but the best "new" thing about the Ballpark was the return of Chuck Morgan. Games go so much better with him there - it really was painful at times last year without him.
The game? Well, we lost. Ismael Valdes looked pretty decent again, if not spectacular. All our offense came from home runs again (one by Blalock, one by Sierra). Was a nice back and forth game which we lost, but my excitement at being at the Ballpark again really overshadowed the game. Even the sunburn I got was no big deal. Seeing friends again (Hi Tina!) was really nice.
Is game 3 of the season too quick to totally give up on our pitching staff? :) This was ugly - even worse than last night's game. We gave up 21 runs to the Angels in two games - blech. I bet you if we could bring Nolan Ryan out of retirement (his last season was TEN years ago now), he'd probably be as good or better than what we have. John Thomson, who I thought looked good most of his outing, gave up 6 in 4.1 innings. Fultz gave up two more in less than an inning, Garcia gave up one, and Jay Powell gave up one. The only pitcher who was good was Cordero who gave up nothing in his inning of work.
Doug Glanville continues his early season good form, going 3 for 5 with a home run, as well as some fine defensive play. He's also got an OBP of .429 and a slugging percentage of .615 at the moment - if he keeps this up, he'll be an absolute steal at the price we paid for him.
The story of the night was Arod's 300th home run. He now became the youngest all time to reach 300 home runs - breaking the previous record held by Jimmy Foxx by about 80-90 days or so. Was also nice he got the ball thrown back by some doofus in the stands (they called him Nimrod on the TV). Also, Raffy got #491 last night too - his first (and so far only) hit of the season.
Anyway, for some reason, this 1-2 start seems depressing, because it shows just how weak our pitching staff is - I have a feeling it will be a long season. :(
Well, I guess the only good thing you could say about this game is that you didn't get to see the stupid rally monkey. Even only 2 games into 162, these midnight games when we get blown out 10-0 are hard to watch. There goes matching the 72 Dolphins with an unbeaten record. ;)
Chan Ho Park reverted to the form he had before the final three starts and most of last season. There goes the Chad Kreuter theory. I didn't buy into that, anyway. Just makes me feel even worse about his season, as his ERA is now over TWENTY! :( (CJ Nitkowski's is over TEN too after just this game).
Offensively, there's little to talk about, except we left a ton of people (5 in the first two innings) on base in the first two innings. If we had scored any of them, one never knows how much it might have changed the outlook of the game. It was kind of nice to see the setup for Mark Teixeira in his first major league at bat with the bases loaded. I had visions there - as I'm sure most everyone (including Teixeira, too) did. Oh well, I'm sure he'll do fine in time.
OK, I hate the Rally Monkey. It was cute when it was just a jumping monkey on the Angels' Jumbotron. But now it's a stupid commercialized piece of crap - the commercial they showed on ESPN really irritated me - and I except I'll hate it more once they hand out their Rally Monkey bobble head later this year in Anaheim. :(
We start the season and the Showalter regime with a win Sunday night in Anaheim against the defending world Series champions. The 6-3 win was fueled by three longballs - two by usual suspects (Arod & Gonzalez) and the third by Mike Young. Young's was the turning point in the game, we were down 2-1 at that point, and we went up 4-2, and never looked back after that point. I also liked Mike Young's home run as a big middle finger to "My second baseman must have godzilla like offensive numbers" GM John Hart. Mike Young is the best thing we've had come along in ages, and to mess with him like this really bothers me.
Anyway, we also got decent pitching too - although I'm not sure why Valdes was pulled after five innings and 65 odd pitches. Our pen was great, giving up no runs, and only a couple hits over four innings. Newcomer Aaron Fultz looked great, and Cordero & Urbina were both lights out.
It's only one game, but it's something to enjoy - I was ready for a real baseball game after playing several games of World Series Baseball 2K3 on my Xbox earlier in the day, driving around to several bookstores in Dallas to find a copy of the Ft. Worth Star Telegram so I could get their (far better than the Dallas paper) baseball preview section, watching the Rangers/Astros preview show from Fox Sports Southwest that was on my TiVo from Friday evening, watching the 90 minute Baseball Tonight show. :)
My wife said now that baseball season is started again, that I will be a happier person. I'm not sure I like the implications that I'm an unhappy person during the offseason, but baseball season HAS started again. :)
That's it. Spring training is over. We finish up 16-14-1 with a 6-5 win over the Mariners. I was busy doing some "house stuff", so I only got to listen to the 9th inning of this game, but it's nice to say that the regular season is here finally. Tomorrow night it all starts up for real. I can't wait! :)
I didn't realize this game was on the radio, or I would have listened to all of it. I checked the MLB site around 10:45 and saw there was a feed, so I started listening to it. When I started, the game was already 4-4, but I still got to see some of the Juan Gonzalez show. :)
Nice to see a big offensive outburst like this - 6RBI for Juan, but I hope this carries over. These are nice to see, but I want to see 'em when they count.
John Thomson came out of the game iwth an injury, and how it will impact the roster is not yet known. However, other than John, the rest of our pitching was quite good - The team of Powell / Cordero / Urbina / Santos / Garcia combined for 6.1 innings, giving up just one run. As we wind down, I'm a bit concerned about Esteban Yan - he hasn't seemed to have gotten it together yet. :(
Not available, but it was nice to see Chan Ho Park pitch good three times in a row. Hope it holds up. :)
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Once again, work prevented me from listening to much of this game, but I did get to hear the best part - the six run uprising in the seventh inning to win the game 8-5.
It was also nice to see that the big 6 spot wasn't with three run home runs - in fact, no home runs were involved!
It was also NOT nice to see us give up 5 runs in a game yet again.
I was busy doing some other things, and didn't hear anything about this game, but from looking at the box score, I didn't miss much. John Thomson was decent, giving up just two earned runs over five innings. Of course, when you don't score any, it doesn't matter how many you give up (when the number is greater than zero).
One week from this game and they count, and we can see/hear every game again! \o/
Whoa! A spring training game on television. I cannot recall the last time the Rangers had a spring training game on television - it's got to be around 4 or 5 years or so. It was really nice seeing Tom & Josh on the TV again. Was also nice to get a view of the new facility in Surprise. I suspect that was the purpose of this telecast, since there was a lot of "Come check the place out" Ra-ra-isms. That was OK, but it struck me as an attempt to sell tickets and to get people to visit Surprise. :)
In terms of the game, it was nice to see Chan Ho Park have a nice outing two times in a row. He gave up just one run in five innings, and had 6 K's during that time. The rest of our pitchers were pretty good too except Cordero who tried to give the game away in the 9th, but still managed to hold onto it.
It was, of course, a big tease - I want the real season to start, and I don't want to wait till Sunday! Waaaah! :)
I didn't get a chance to listen to this game, but from what I can see, the Teixeira push to make the club continues unabated. It's looking more and more likely that he'll start the season in the majors. I'm a bit unsure as to how I feel about that. He's having the same spring that Blalock had last year, and he didn't handle it well. Time will tell - it always does.
Our misery against the Royals continues. While this game was on during the evening, I forgot about it until the game was mostly over, and we only scored a single run during the time I was listening to the game. Once again, I need to point out that I have a hard time paying attention to the game when it's not our guys doing the announcing. I'm hoping that the Rangers TV (!) game that is on the schedule for this coming Saturday has our guys doing the announcing.
Our pitching again was distressing, with Powell, Benoit, & Mahay giving up too much for the time they were in the game. The rest of the guys didn't give up much, but the feeling is still (to me, anyway) that we're giving up too much. I don't have a lot of confidence going into the season here.
On the other side, I see we jacked a few home runs from two that are going to be on the opening day roster (I think) - Blalock & Sierra. I just hope we can keep the runs coming, although we'll have to not give up NINE at the same time.
This game wasn't even supposed to happen - this was a scheduled day off, but with the Mariners/A's canceling their trip to Japan because of the war in Iraq, they were available, so we played them. I forgot the game was even on, as it started much earlier than usual, and I only heard the bottom of the 9th, when the Rangers scored their one run, which wasn't really deserved, anyway.
I'm really starting to get distressed about our pitching. So far the only name that I've heard consistently bright spots about is Aaron Fultz. Beyond that, it seems that most everyone is having problems.
Yet another spring training game I didn't get to see or hear anything of. And from the looks of it, if I tried to score it, my scorecard would have been a nightmare! :)
I tuned into this game on the net right after our 8 run inning, and missed everything. :)
Chan Ho Park gave up a home run on the first pitch, but then nothing else, pitching 4+ innings of scoreless after that incident. Sounds good to me. I can't wait for the real season - these teases are getting annoying. :)
Rainout. Nothing to report.
Didn't see anything about this game at all, so no commentary from me.
What a mess. That's about all I feel about writing for this one.
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Holy crap - we're over .500! How long has it been since we were that way - a couple of years now? :)
Anyway, it was nice to see one of the kids (Teixeira) lead us to a victory, especially with the troubling reports out of Texas this morning that Arod is going to stay in Texas logner than expected for medical treatments. Tex had two home runs, one from each side of the plate. Couldn't see it, couldn't hear it - but it was nice to see in the game reports online.
Our pitching was pretty good today, despite the 8 runs. 6 of the 8 were by Jay Powell, who got absolutely scorched, giving up 6ER in less than an inning of work. The other two were unearned, so overall, I'd say our pitching was pretty good, despite all the runs given up.
Glanville was 2 for 5, and is really making a push to be the leadoff hitter. Assuming, and I say assuming he can keep it up, it will be good for us. As of right now, he's batting .333 with an OBP of.. well, I can't find that on the Rangers site, but his slugging is .452. Have to imagine that his OBP is where we want a leadoff guy to be at.
I like Carl Everett, but it's not without reason I nicknamed him "slow ass" last season. Hopefully Glanville gets to play center.
Figures. The only spring training night game during the week, and I was already occupied. My bowling league had to stay late, and all I got to hear of the game was the bottom of the 9th and the abbreviated post game show. Made me wish for the regular season even more. :)
Didn't get to listen to much of this game at all - too busy at work. Hate day games for that reason - have I said that already? :)
I've come to the conclusion that I don't like listening to my own team with the mlb.com broadcast team. The reason is that these guys spend most of their time talking about something else besides the game, or when they take emails, it's a question that anyone who follows the team already knows. I realize their audience is wider than that, but I"d rather hear Eric & Vince, thank you.
Having said that, it was nice to see a win, but I still don't like giving up that many runs and still winning. Won't win any ERA titles, but a win is a win. Nice three run homer by Ruben Sierra, and the game went back and forth a few times - which is always nice to see. We've scored 71 runs over the last 6 games - rather a lot. I'd rather win 3-1 games, though. :)
I didn't get to hear any of this game, as it was a "spend the day with the wife" day. Which was fine, but I sacrificed a Ranger game for that. :) Was nice to see us come out on top, although I would have preferred we not give up 8 runs doing it.
I started listening to this game on the radio, as I had a fantasy baseball league draft that was on at the same time. However, I did not finish listening to the game. Our pitching was horrible, giving up a lot of runs (12), and well... that's all I can remember. If we had anything good in this game, it was overshadowed by another crappy Texas pitching performance.
As I sit here to write this on Monday, I can't remember a thing about this game. Friday I went home from work sick, and I normally update the page in the morning before I get started with my work - but I wasn't feeling up to it, and now 4 days later, I can't recall a thing about the game, so no commentary from me. Was nice to see 3 in a row. :)
As I sit here to write this on Monday, I can't remember a thing about this game. Friday I went home from work sick, and I normally update the page in the morning before I get started with my work - but I wasn't feeling up to it, and now 4 days later, I can't recall a thing about the game, so no commentary from me.
This game was not broadcast anywhere, but it was nice to see a win for a change this spring. No commentary from me as I didn't hear any of it.
Forgot this was on, and when I turned it in, we were winning something like 7-1. Then I got to hear the Rangers give it all back, and then lose it in extra innings.
Don't have time to write about this on Wednesday, but given as I didn't hear the Rangers score all their runs anyway, all I can comment on is bad pitching, and I don't feel like doing that. :)
Another game I didn't get to listen to much (the feed was available from mlb.com with the Padres radio guys). Although I can say that the Padres radio guys made almost no effort to research Ranger player names - they mispronounced almost everyone's name that had more than a couple of syllables, it seemed.
Was a back and forth game that we ended up on the wrong end of. I don't have a lot of memories of this game as I write it the next day except that it seemed that we had a problem with balls in the outfield - seemed like too many got over our guys' heads, or off gloves, or things of that nature.
I got to listen to the start of this game, because I left the house early tonight - I went to the Stars/Penguins game, and went out to dinner beforehand.
Anyway, this is the stereotypical Arizona Spring Training game - a ton of runs scored (22 of them - including a score of 7-5 after 3 innings). A few home run balls, and generally very high ERA's. Chan Ho Park sounded really ineffective, giving up several runs before even getting the first out in the first inning. The reports after the game say that no one was concerned, that they were just "working" on things, but you always hate to see your "ace" give up that many runs at once. Considering how inconsistant he was last season.
We got a few home runs, including a solo shot by Kevin Mench. There was a three run home run by Ruben Sierra late in the game that gave us the lead for good, which was the point I stopped listening. Doug Glanville continues to sound great in spring - batting well, and if I'm not mistaken making no flubs in the field, which is one of his strong points. I always liked Glanville in Philly, so I hope that he picks it back up here.
As a short side note, I was surprised to hear so many former Rangers in Brewers camp. I suppose I shouldn't be, with Doug Melvin running the show up there, but it still struck me as surprising. :)
I got a chance to really listen to this game, since my wife was working on Saturday afternoon, and I was home by myself, so I fired up some hot dogs on the grill, grabbed a Coke (in my Rangers mug, of course), and sat down with the radio and a scorecard to listen to the game. Normally I don't score spring training games, because there's too many changes to keep track of, but I was testing out a new scorecard I had just picked up from the sporting goods store, and since I only scored the Rangers, it wasn't that bad. Oh yeah, the game...
Our spring starts out 0-3 with another loss. There's a joke about only being able to beat a college team, but I won't go there. From the get-go, our pitching really seemed craptacular today. Never really got it going - in fact, I believe only Colby Lewis pitched good - our only pitcher not to allow anything.
We got down early on a Charles Johnson home run, and we never really clicked after that. Mike Young made some noise with a 3 run home run, but our offense never really got going. Ah well, most of the guys pitching today aren't going to be with the club come spring anyway, so I'm not really concerned at all. I'm just happy to have a game to listen to after months of football. :)
Our problems with the KC Royals continue into this season. We were beaten quite well during the 2002 season by them, and the trend continues. Of the three games we've played so far, we've lost both of them. While it's too early to get really concerned, it's never a good trend.
Again, I didn't get to listen to this game, but not because I didn't want to try - I was sent out of the office on an assignment during the time the game was on, and didn't get to listen - the Royals feed was being carried on mlb.com. I got back in time to hear the ninth inning, when we made it interesting in the bottom of the 9th, loaded the bases with 1 out and behind by two, but two straight strikeouts ended that. In looking at the box score, it appears the CoCo & Rob Bell didn't have great outings, and everyone else who pitched (Valdes, Drese, Shouse, & RA Dickey didn't give up any runs. Was nice to see a Ranger home run, although it came from a non surprising power source - Doug Glanville. I like Glanville from his days in Philly, I hope he sticks on here.
Tomorrow's game is on the radio, so I'll be listening to that. :)
Well, the annual spring training tradition of not being able to hear games starts early. Day #1 was a double header, and we didn't get to hear the second game against the UT Longhorns. I actually would have liked to have heard this game instead of the one against the Royals, and not because of the fact that we lost Game #1. I just felt this game was more interesting.
I didn't see much on this game, except for the line score - scoring 10 runs over the last two innings. However, the clip that most everyone probably saw was Arod's at bats. First was his strikeout (which I'm sure the UT pitcher will forever remember), and the massive home run he hit which casued a few fans out in center to go RUNNING after the ball. A 500 footer - I don't think he's done anything like that in Texas, but this IS Arizona spring training, after all. :) Makes me wonder what Arod would do if he played in Coors Field for 81 games!
Can't say much about this game since I don't have any first hand listening or viewing of it to draw from.
NOTE: This game did not count in the standings.
Ranger baseball is on the air!
Today was the first Ranger baseball game of the year - in a few ways, because weather wrecked the intrasquad games meant for earlier this week. Unfortunately again, the first game was a day game, and day games are problem for me because I have to listen at work, and I can rarely pay attention to the games. This one was no exception. Was really nice to hear Eric & Vince again, but I didn't get to pay much attention. I listened from the top of the second to the point where the game was tied 2-2 (bottom of the fourth), then had an emergency at work, and didn't get to hear anything else except the end of game when we lost.
Still, I'm looking forward to a great season, and overall I didn't think we played that bad. The home run given up by us was by a pitcher I'd be shocked if we still have on the major league roster, so I'm not too worried about that.
