Game 39: May 18, 1999 (L: 5-4)
[ Previous Game | Next Game ]
[ Schedule Menu | Main Page ]

Commentary (by me)

Well, I was at this game, and I didn't feel like anything really bad was happening.   We went down 2-0 in the first inning, but other than a Canseco home run (like anyone could stop that right now), I didn't feel like Morgan pitched bad at all.

We just couldn't score.  We left something like 14 runners on base all told, and it was really obvious at the game we weren't connecting.   Your offense can't win every game, but you should get the runs when you get the chance.  We didn't last night. However, the double play killed us last night - we hit into five of them.  Pudge hit into two himself!  Ugh.

On another note, Zimmerman continues to impress.  Last night, when he struck out Canseco in the ninth, I haven't seen such a reaction.  Not only to the strikeout, but Canseco took a really huge swing and missed for the first strike - he almost fell over.  Man, did that get an ovation at the park!

Found out after the game that Burkett had been sent to the bullpen, and Mr. Cinderella story, Ryan Glynn had been given his spot in the rotation and will start next Tuesday in Tampa Bay.

Also, Mark McLemore left the game after the fourth with a sore knee.  I really hope that's not the same problem that's plagued him the last few years.  He's had a kickass season, and I don't want to see it ruined.  I was starting to have hope that Mac might turn it around and get resigned - I like him.

Commentary (by Jim Meeks)

Starting pitching has been the Rangers #1 enemy this year. They may have found out their #2 enemy in the game last night.

The Rangers grounded into a team-high 5 twin-killings Tuesday, including the ultimate deadly one in the bottom of the ninth, as the Rangers lost their third game in a row, 5-4 against the now-you-better-take-them-seriously Devil Rays.

Even though the Rangers had 14 hits and 4 bases on balls, they plated just 4 players. Texas leads the majors in grounding into double plays and last night was the first game of the year where you can point directly at the GIDP for this one.

Raffy Palmeiro went 4-5 with all 4 RBI and is now hitting .370. Rusty Greer had a hit and walked 3 times, driving up his OBA.

Mike Morgan, who pitched better than the numbers might indicate, was the games' losing pitcher.

Game Recap

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) -- Jose Canseco belted his major league-leading 15th homer, a two-run shot in the fifth inning, that helped the Tampa Bay Devil Rays record a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers had a chance to tie or win the game in the bottom of the ninth but could not come through with the big hit. With two outs, Rafael Palmeiro singled to center and pinch runner Jon Shave advanced to third on Todd Zeile's single to center.

Lee Stevens then walked to load the bases, but Roberto Kelly popped Roberto Hernandez's first pitch back to the mound, ending the contest. Hernandez leads the American League with 14 saves in 15 chances

"We had a lot of opportunities tonight, we just didn't get the hit at the right time," said Palmeiro, who drove in all of his team's runs. "We hit into a lot of double plays, and those will kill an inning. We had a lot of runners and its frustrating."

Canseco's homer staked the Devil Rays to a 4-1 lead. He stood alone atop the majors for approximately 30 minutes, until Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 15th against the Minnesota Twins.

"We are a much better team than we have been showing," said Canseco. "We have given away four or five games. We should be in first place right now."

Rolando Arrojo (2-4) allowed three runs and eight hits over seven innings to pick up the victory. He struck out four while walking five to snap a four-game winless streak.

"A lot better for him," Devil Rays manager Larry Rothschild said of Arrojo. "The results were as good as we could have anticipated after his last couple of starts. He needs to keep his fastball down. The double plays he got tonight were on fastballs down. He kept fighting and got some key double plays."

The Devil Rays turned five double plays, tying the team record they set on September 17 against the New York Yankees.

"I don't think there is any one reason (for the double plays)," said Rangers manger Johnny Oates. "I think we swing at a pitcher's pitch and press a little bit with runners on base. And we had some guys on base who don't run that well. We have hit into a lot of double plays this year."

Texas relievers Bryan Rekar, Scott Aldred, Esteban Yan and Hernandez combined to allow just one run and six hits over the final four innings.

Mike Morgan (6-3) absorbed the loss, surrendering five runs and nine hits over 5 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking three.

"(Morgan) kept us in the game," added Oates. "He gave up four earned runs in five-plus innings and that's considered OK in today's market. Mike gave us a chance to win."

Tampa Bay scored what was the eventually winning run in the top of the sixth inning. John Flaherty and Miguel Cairo both singled with none out and both advanced on Kevin Stocker's sacrifice. After Quinton McCracken walked, Mike Munoz relieved Morgan, who surrendered Dave Martinez's sacrifice fly that made it 5-3.

Texas got one run back in the seventh off Aldred, who failed to record an out. He walked Rusty Greer and allowed consecutive singles to Ivan Rodriguez and Palmeiro. Yan came on and pitched out of the inning.

The Rangers got leadoff singles from Kelly in the eighth and Rusty Greer in the ninth but could not push either across.

Tampa Bay jumped on top in the first on an RBI single from Fred McGriff and Herbert Perry's sacrifice fly before Palmeiro hit his ninth homer in the fourth to bring the Rangers within 2-1.

Martinez reached on an infield single in the fifth and Canseco followed by driving an 0-1 pitch over the center-field fence. It was his 35th career homer against the Rangers, moving him past Kansas City Royal great George Brett into second place for the most all-time versus the franchise.

"The pitch I threw to Canseco, I beat myself and I beat my team by throwing that pitch," Morgan said. "If I execute the pitch where I want to throw it, the count is 1-1 or maybe he pulls it foul and its 0-2. I didn't execute and I paid the price. That's the game right there. If I make the pitch we win."

Palmeiro's two-run single in the bottom of the inning scored Greer and Rodriguez as Texas drew within 4-3.

Photos
(Click on any of them for a larger image

Pudge scores in the fifth inning	Canseco after striking out in the ninth	Ranger fan Gary Gibson.	John Burkett in the dugout during the game

Box Score

Line Score
AL  FINAL
                    1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9     R  H  E
                    -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -     -  -  -
TAMPA BAY           2  0  0   0  2  1   0  0  0     5 10  0
TEXAS               0  0  0   1  2  0   1  0  0     4 14  2   (FINAL)

BATTERIES:  TAM - ROLANDO ARROJO, BRYAN REKAR (6TH), SCOTT
                  ALDRED (7TH), ESTEBAN YAN (7TH), ROBERTO
                  HERNANDEZ (9TH) AND JOHN FLAHERTY
            TEX - MIKE MORGAN, MIKE MUNOZ (6TH), TIM CRABTREE
                  (6TH), JEFF ZIMMERMAN (9TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ

             WP - ROLANDO ARROJO (2-4)
             LP - MIKE MORGAN (6-3)
           SAVE - ROBERTO HERNANDEZ (14)

HOME RUNS:  TAM - JOSE CANSECO (15) OFF MORGAN IN THE 5TH, 1 ON
            TEX - RAFAEL PALMEIRO (9) OFF ARROJO IN THE 4TH, 0 ON

     TIME:  2:55     ATT:  29,706

PROBABLES:  TAM - BOBBY WITT (3-1, 4.61)
            TEX - MARK CLARK (2-3, 7.53)



Box Score
TAMPA BAY (5) AT TEXAS (4) - FINAL

TAMPA BAY              ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Q Mccracken cf-lf       4  1  1  0   1  1   1  .257
Da Martinez rf          3  1  1  1   0  1   2  .317
Canseco dh              4  2  1  2   1  1   2  .295
Mcgriff 1b              2  0  1  1   2  0   0  .341
Perry 3b                3  0  1  1   0  0   3  .359
Sorrento lf             4  0  0  0   0  1   2  .286
 Winn cf                0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .270
Flaherty c              4  1  1  0   0  0   0  .267
Cairo 2b                4  0  3  0   0  0   0  .314
Stocker ss              3  0  1  0   0  0   1  .322

Totals                 31  5 10  5   4  4  11

BATTING: 2B - Q Mccracken (5, Morgan). HR - Canseco (15, 5th
inning off Morgan 1 on, 1 out). S - Da Martinez, Stocker. SF -
Perry, Da Martinez. RBI - Mcgriff (30), Perry (11), Canseco 2
(34), Da Martinez (21). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out
- Stocker 1, Canseco 1. GIDP - Perry.  Team LOB - 7.

BASERUNNING: SB - Cairo (6, 2nd base off Morgan/I Rodriguez). CS
- Cairo (1, 2nd base by Crabtree/I Rodriguez).

FIELDING: DP: 5 (Perry-Cairo-Mcgriff, Stocker-Cairo-Mcgriff 3,
Perry-Cairo).

TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
T Goodwin cf            4  0  1  0   1  0   1  .227
Mclemore 2b             2  0  2  0   0  0   0  .328
 Alicea 2b              3  0  0  0   0  0   4  .167
Greer lf                2  2  1  0   3  0   1  .309
I Rodriguez c           5  1  2  0   0  1   4  .321
R Palmeiro dh           5  1  4  4   0  1   0  .370
 Shave pr               0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .346
Zeile 3b                3  0  1  0   2  0   2  .248
L Stevens 1b            4  0  1  0   1  0   3  .326
R Kelly rf              4  0  2  0   0  1   4  .365
Dransfeldt ss           3  0  0  0   0  1   4  .196

Totals                 35  4 14  4   7  4  23

BATTING: 2B - Mclemore (7, Arrojo); I Rodriguez (7, Arrojo). HR
- R Palmeiro (9, 4th inning off Arrojo 0 on, 0 out). S -
Dransfeldt. RBI - R Palmeiro 4 (33). Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - Dransfeldt 1, I Rodriguez 1, Alicea 3, R Kelly
3. GIDP - I Rodriguez 2, Greer, L Stevens, Zeile.  Team LOB - 13.

FIELDING: E - I Rodriguez (1, throw); Morgan (1, throw). DP: 1
(Alicea-Dransfeldt-L Stevens).

TAMPA BAY                    ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Arrojo (W, 2-4)               5       8   3   3   5   4   1   6.54
Rekar (H, 1)                  1       0   0   0   0   0   0   4.94
Aldred (H, 4)                 0       2   1   1   1   0   0   2.70
Yan (H, 4)                    2       1   0   0   0   0   0   3.70
R Hernandez (S, 14)           1       3   0   0   1   0   0   3.74

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Morgan (L, 6-3)               5 1/3   9   5   4   3   2   1   4.89
M Munoz                         1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   5.19
Crabtree                      2 1/3   1   0   0   1   0   0   3.07
Je Zimmerman                  1       0   0   0   0   2   0   0.67

Aldred pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.

HBP - R Kelly (by Arrojo).  Pitches-strikes: Morgan 98-59; M
Munoz 2-1; Crabtree 24-16; Je Zimmerman 13-8; Arrojo 105-59;
Rekar 8-5; Aldred 10-5; Yan 25-16; R Hernandez 18-11.  Ground
balls-fly balls: Morgan 9-5; M Munoz 0-1; Crabtree 3-3; Je
Zimmerman 1-0; Arrojo 10-1; Rekar 2-1; Aldred 0-0; Yan 4-2; R
Hernandez 2-1.  Batters faced: Morgan 28; M Munoz 1; Crabtree 7;
Je Zimmerman 3; Arrojo 26; Rekar 3; Aldred 3; Yan 6; R Hernandez
6.

UMPIRES: HP--Tim Tschida. 1B--Eric Cooper. 2B--Rick Reed. 3B--Al
Clark.
T--2:55.  Att--29,706.   Weather: 78 degrees, clear.   Wind: 9
mph, out to right.

AL       TAMPA BAY AT TEXAS
         NOTE:  HOME PLATE UMPIRE LARRY YOUNG WILL NOT WORK TONIGHT'S
                GAME DUE TO A RIGHT KNEE INJURY. FIRST BASE TIM TSCHIDA
                MOVES BEHIND THE PLATE AND ERIC COOPER WILL WORK AT FIRST
                BASE.

AL       TAMPA BAY AT TEXAS
         NOTE:  TEXAS SECOND BASEMAN MARK MCLEMORE LEFT THE GAME AFTER
                THREE INNINGS WITH TIGHTNESS IN HIS LEFT KNEE.  HIS
                STATUS IS DAY-TO-DAY.

Game Log

Tampa Bay Starting Lineups -- Quinton Mccracken CF, Dave Martinez RF, Jose Canseco DH, Fred Mcgriff 1B, Herbert Perry 3B, Paul Sorrento LF, John Flaherty C, Miguel Cairo 2B, Kevin Stocker SS, Rolando Arrojo RHP.

Texas Starting Lineups -- Tom Goodwin CF, Mark Mclemore 2B, Rusty Greer LF, Ivan Rodriguez C, Rafael Palmeiro DH, Todd Zeile 3B, Lee Stevens 1B, Roberto Kelly RF, Kelly Dransfeldt SS, Mike Morgan RHP.

Umpires -- Tschida (HP), Cooper (1B), Reed (2B), Clark (3B).

Gametime Weather: 78 degrees, Clear, wind out to right at 9 mph.

TAMPA BAY 1ST: Q Mccracken doubled to deep left center. Da Martinez sacrificed Q Mccracken to third. Canseco walked. Mcgriff singled to right, Q Mccracken scored, Canseco to second. Canseco to third on catcher I Rodriguez's throwing error. Perry hit sacrifice fly to center, Canseco scored. Sorrento grounded out to second. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Error) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 1ST: T Goodwin lined out to third. Mclemore doubled to right. Greer walked. I Rodriguez grounded into double play, third to second to first, Greer out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 0.

TAMPA BAY 2ND: Flaherty grounded out to shortstop. Cairo grounded out to pitcher. Stocker singled to right. Q Mccracken flied out to deep right. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 2ND: R Palmeiro struck out looking. Zeile grounded out to second. L Stevens singled to right. R Kelly hit by pitch, L Stevens to second. Dransfeldt struck out looking. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 0.

TAMPA BAY 3RD: Da Martinez grounded out to second. Canseco flied out to center. Mcgriff walked. Perry grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 3RD: T Goodwin singled to right. Mclemore singled to left, T Goodwin to second. Greer grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Mclemore out at second, T Goodwin to third. I Rodriguez struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 0.

TAMPA BAY 4TH: Alicea at second. Sorrento struck out swinging. Flaherty popped out to shallow left. Cairo singled to center. Cairo stole second. Stocker grounded out to first. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 4TH: R Palmeiro homered to center. Zeile walked. L Stevens grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Zeile out at second. R Kelly reached on infield single, L Stevens to second. Dransfeldt grounded into fielder's choice to first, L Stevens to third, R Kelly out at second. T Goodwin walked, Dransfeldt to second. Alicea grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, T Goodwin out at second. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 2, TEXAS 1.

TAMPA BAY 5TH: Q Mccracken struck out looking. Da Martinez reached on infield single. Da Martinez to second on pitcher Morgan's throwing error. Canseco homered to center, Da Martinez scored. Mcgriff grounded out to second. Perry singled to center. Sorrento flied out to left. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Error) TAMPA BAY 4, TEXAS 1.

TEXAS 5TH: Greer walked. I Rodriguez doubled to deep right, Greer to third. R Palmeiro singled to right, Greer and I Rodriguez scored. Zeile walked, R Palmeiro to second. L Stevens grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Zeile out at second, R Palmeiro to third. R Kelly struck out swinging. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 4, TEXAS 3.

TAMPA BAY 6TH: Flaherty singled to left. Cairo singled to left, Flaherty to second. Stocker sacrificed Flaherty to third, Cairo to second. Q Mccracken walked. Mike Munoz relieved Mike Morgan. Da Martinez hit sacrifice fly to left, Flaherty scored. Tim Crabtree relieved Mike Munoz. Canseco grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Q Mccracken out at second. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 3.

TEXAS 6TH: Bryan Rekar relieved Rolando Arrojo. Dransfeldt grounded out to shortstop. T Goodwin flied out to left. Alicea grounded out to first. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 3.

TAMPA BAY 7TH: Mcgriff walked. Perry grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, Mcgriff out at second. Sorrento popped out to shallow right. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 3.

TEXAS 7TH: Scott Aldred relieved Bryan Rekar. Q Mccracken in left. Winn in center. Greer walked. I Rodriguez singled to right, Greer to second. R Palmeiro singled to left, Greer scored, I Rodriguez to second. Esteban Yan relieved Scott Aldred. Zeile grounded into fielder's choice double play, third to second, I Rodriguez out at third, R Palmeiro out at second. L Stevens grounded out to second. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 4.

TAMPA BAY 8TH: Flaherty flied out to center. Cairo singled to right. Cairo caught stealing, catcher to shortstop. Stocker flied out to center. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 4.

TEXAS 8TH: R Kelly singled to center. Dransfeldt sacrificed R Kelly to second. T Goodwin flied out to center. Alicea fouled out to catcher. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 4.

TAMPA BAY 9TH: Jeff Zimmerman relieved Tim Crabtree. Q Mccracken grounded out to first. Da Martinez struck out swinging. Canseco struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 4.

TEXAS 9TH: Roberto Hernandez relieved Esteban Yan. Greer singled to center. I Rodriguez grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Greer out at second. R Palmeiro singled to center. Shave ran for R Palmeiro. Zeile singled to center, Shave to third. L Stevens walked, Zeile to second. R Kelly popped out to pitcher. (0 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 5, TEXAS 4.