Game 93: July 20, 1999 (W: 6-3)
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Commentary (by me)

None available - too busy at work to write anything.  I will say this about the game, though... (see graphic)

Game Recap

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) -- Rick Helling earned his first victory in more than a month, tossing six scoreless innings before tiring in the seventh, as the Texas Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 6-3 victory.

Helling (7-7) allowed three runs and six hits over 6 2/3 innings with two walks and four strikeouts. He surrendered a two-run homer to Barry Bonds and left after giving up an infield single to Rich Aurilia.

"I wasn't as sharp as I could have been," Helling said. "It was one of those nights where I felt I could have thrown longer. Basically, I threw one bad pitch to Bonds."

The righthander settled for no-decisions in his previous four starts and had not won since tossing seven innings in a 3-0 victory over the New York Yankees on June 16.

"He is pitching very similar to last year," Texas manager Johnny Oates said, referring to Helling's 20-7 record in 1998. "His record isn't the same as last year but he is pitching the same."

Mike Venafro allowed an RBI single to Scott Servais, but pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings before fellow rookie Jeff Zimmerman recorded the final two outs.

Texas has won five of six since the All-Star break and maintained a five-game lead over second-place Oakland in the American League West.

"We wanted to get off to a good start after the break," Oates said. "Our offense hasn't been better than it has been over the last six games."

"They just beat us," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "Everything the Rangers were doing was right. We didn't play that good, they played very good."

Shawn Estes (6-6) suffered the loss, yielding six runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. The Giants dropped to 1-5 in the second half and have lost six of seven overall.

"We ran into a hot club," Estes said. "I threw some good pitches and they hit them. Against a team like this, you can't make mistakes. They have strong hitters. They just found the holes."

The Giants are looking forward to returing to National League competition after completing interleague play with a 7-8 record. The loss cut their lead to 1 1/2 games over second-place Arizona in the NL West.

"It's a different game," said Giants first baseman J.T. Snow, who started his career with the California Angels. "There's not much strategy (in the AL). I'm glad it's over."

The Rangers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Todd Zeile's bases-loaded single and doubled the margin in the fourth on an RBI double by Royce Clayton and a sacrifice fly by Ivan Rodriguez.

Rodriguez's run-scoring forceout and Juan Gonzalez's RBI single extended the Rangers' cushion to 6-0 in the sixth.

Roberto Kelly, Rusty Greer and Rafael Palmeiro had two hits apiece for the Rangers, who completed interleague play with a 10-8 mark.

"We've been playing good baseball," Greer said. "We got great pitching tonight from Rick. If we can continue to get pitching like that with the number of games we have here at home, we should put a lot of wins on the board."

Rodriguez registered his fourth pickoff of the season and 31st since 1996 when he caught Jeff Kent trying to get back to first in the top of the second.

"He's the best I've ever seen at picking runners off," Bonds said.

Photos
(Click on any of them for a larger image)

Ranger starter Rick Helling	Ranger starter Rick Helling	Roberto Kelly sits in the dirt (actually, he's sliding into second, but it looks like he's just sitting there in this picture)	Giants outfielders Marvin Bernard & FP Santangelo	Bill Mueller after making the last out of the game.  Not sure what the umpire is doing (Mmm.. Tasty!)

Jeff Zimmerman gets congrats from Pudge on the win

Box Score

Line Score
ML  FINAL
                    1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9     R  H  E
                    -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -     -  -  -
SAN FRANCISCO       0  0  0   0  0  0   3  0  0     3  7  0
TEXAS               2  0  0   2  0  2   0  0  x     6 10  0   (FINAL)

BATTERIES:  SFO - SHAWN ESTES, JERRY SPRADLIN (6TH) AND BRENT
                  MAYNE, SCOTT SERVAIS (7TH)
            TEX - RICK HELLING, MIKE VENAFRO (7TH), JEFF
                  ZIMMERMAN (9TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ

             WP - RICK HELLING (7-7)
             LP - SHAWN ESTES (6-6)
           SAVE - NONE

HOME RUNS:  SFO - BARRY BONDS (11) OFF HELLING IN THE 7TH, 1 ON
            TEX - NONE

     TIME:  2:54     ATT:  33,922

PROBABLES:  SDG - STERLING HITCHCOCK (9-6, 3.90)
            SFO - RUSS ORTIZ (11-6, 3.38)

            ANA - OMAR OLIVARES (8-7, 3.26)
            TEX - AARON SELE (8-6, 5.45)



Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO (3) AT TEXAS (6) - FINAL

SAN FRANCISCO          ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Benard cf               3  0  1  0   1  0   2  .295
Santangelo lf           4  0  0  0   0  2   2  .273
Snow 1b                 4  0  0  0   0  2   0  .289
Kent 2b                 4  1  2  0   0  0   0  .297
Bonds dh                4  1  1  2   0  0   1  .257
Javier rf               3  1  1  0   1  0   0  .279
Mueller 3b              4  0  0  0   0  0   2  .273
Aurilia ss              3  0  1  0   0  1   0  .302
Mayne c                 2  0  0  0   0  0   0  .294
 a-Servais ph-c         1  0  1  1   0  0   0  .274

Totals                 32  3  7  3   2  5   7

a-singled for Mayne in the 7th.

BATTING: HR - Bonds (11, 7th inning off Helling 1 on, 1 out).
RBI - Bonds 2 (35), Servais (16). 2-out RBI - Servais. Runners
left in scoring position, 2 out - Benard 1. Team LOB - 4.

BASERUNNING: CS - Benard (7, 2nd base by Helling/I Rodriguez).
Picked off - Kent (1st base, I Rodriguez).

FIELDING: DP: 2 (Aurilia-Kent-Snow, Mueller-Kent).

TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
R Kelly rf              4  0  2  0   1  0   2  .311
I Rodriguez c           4  2  0  2   0  0   5  .301
Greer lf                3  1  2  0   2  0   1  .278
J Gonzalez dh           3  0  1  1   1  1   3  .310
R Palmeiro 1b           4  0  2  0   0  2   5  .346
Zeile 3b                4  0  1  2   0  0   3  .286
Mateo cf                3  1  0  0   1  0   2  .242
Alicea 2b               3  1  1  0   0  0   0  .165
Clayton ss              2  1  1  1   2  1   0  .247

Totals                 30  6 10  6   7  4  21

BATTING: 2B - Greer (28, Estes); Clayton (10, Estes); Alicea (6, Estes).
S - Alicea. SF - I Rodriguez. RBI - Zeile 2 (52), Clayton (19),
I Rodriguez 2 (53), J Gonzalez (85). 2-out RBI - Zeile 2, J Gonzalez.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Mateo 1, Zeile 1, J Gonzalez 1,
R Palmeiro 1. GIDP - Zeile, I Rodriguez. Team LOB - 9.

--------------------------------------------------
    San Francisco  - 000 000 300  --  3
    Texas          - 200 202 00X  --  6

--------------------------------------------------

SAN FRANCISCO                ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Estes (L, 6-6)                5 2/3   8   6   6   6   3   0   5.37
Spradlin                      2 1/3   2   0   0   1   1   0   3.69

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Helling (W, 7-7)              6 2/3   6   3   3   2   4   1   4.47
Venafro (H, 8)                1 2/3   1   0   0   0   1   0   3.00
Je Zimmerman                    2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.81

WP - Estes. IBB - J Gonzalez (by Estes).  Pitches-strikes:
Helling 108-59; Venafro 17-12; Je Zimmerman 7-4; Estes 122-69;
Spradlin 32-17.  Ground balls-fly balls: Helling 5-9; Venafro
2-2; Je Zimmerman 0-2; Estes 10-4; Spradlin 5-1.  Batters faced:
Helling 26; Venafro 6; Je Zimmerman 2; Estes 30; Spradlin 9.

UMPIRES: HP--Ray Dimuro. 1B--Mike Reilly. 2B--Brian Onora.
3B--Rich Garcia.
T--2:54.  Att--33,922.   Weather: 89 degrees, cloudy.   Wind: 10 mph,
left to right.

Game Log

San Francisco Starting Lineups -- Marvin Benard CF, Fp Santangelo LF, Jt Snow 1B, Jeff Kent 2B, Barry Bonds DH, Stan Javier RF, Bill Mueller 3B, Rich Aurilia SS, Brent Mayne C, Shawn Estes LHP.

Texas Starting Lineups -- Roberto Kelly RF, Ivan Rodriguez C, Rusty Greer LF, Juan Gonzalez DH, Rafael Palmeiro 1B, Todd Zeile 3B, Ruben Mateo CF, Luis Alicea 2B, Royce Clayton SS, Rick Helling RHP.

Umpires -- R Dimuro (HP), Reilly (1B), Onora (2B), Garcia (3B).

Gametime Weather: 89 degrees, Cloudy, wind east at 10 mph.

SAN FRANCISCO 1ST: Benard fouled out to third. Santangelo struck out looking. Snow struck out looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 1ST: R Kelly singled to center. I Rodriguez grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, R Kelly out at second. Greer doubled to left center, I Rodriguez to third. J Gonzalez intentionally walked. R Palmeiro struck out swinging. Zeile singled to left, I Rodriguez and Greer scored, J Gonzalez to second. Mateo grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Zeile out at second. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 2.

SAN FRANCISCO 2ND: Kent singled to left. Bonds flied out to deep left. Kent picked off at second, catcher to first. Javier grounded out to shortstop. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 2.

TEXAS 2ND: Alicea grounded out to third. Clayton struck out looking. R Kelly grounded out to shortstop. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 2.

SAN FRANCISCO 3RD: Mueller popped out to third. Aurilia struck out looking. Mayne fouled out to left. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 2.

TEXAS 3RD: I Rodriguez lined out to shortstop. Greer walked. J Gonzalez flied out to shallow center. R Palmeiro singled to center, Greer to second. Zeile fouled out to first. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 2.

SAN FRANCISCO 4TH: Benard walked. Santangelo flied out to shallow right. Benard caught stealing, catcher to shortstop. Snow struck out looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 2.

TEXAS 4TH: Mateo walked. Alicea sacrificed Mateo to second. Clayton doubled to right, Mateo scored. Clayton to third on Estes wild pitch. R Kelly walked. I Rodriguez hit sacrifice fly to right center, Clayton scored. Greer singled to right, R Kelly to third. J Gonzalez struck out swinging. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 4.

SAN FRANCISCO 5TH: Kent flied out to right. Bonds grounded out to shortstop. Javier singled to left. Mueller grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Javier out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 4.

TEXAS 5TH: R Palmeiro singled to right. Zeile grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, R Palmeiro out at second. Mateo grounded out to pitcher. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 4.

SAN FRANCISCO 6TH: Aurilia grounded out to third. Mayne grounded out to first. Benard singled to right. Santangelo popped out to second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 4.

TEXAS 6TH: Alicea doubled to left. Clayton walked. R Kelly grounded into fielder's choice to third, Alicea to third, Clayton out at second. I Rodriguez grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Alicea scored, R Kelly out at second. Greer walked, I Rodriguez to second. Jerry Spradlin relieved Shawn Estes. J Gonzalez singled to center, I Rodriguez scored, Greer to second. R Palmeiro struck out swinging. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 0, TEXAS 6.

SAN FRANCISCO 7TH: Snow flied out to left. Kent singled to left. Bonds homered to right, Kent scored. Javier walked. Mueller flied out to center. Aurilia reached on infield single, Javier to second. Mike Venafro relieved Rick Helling. Servais hit for Mayne. Servais singled to center, Javier scored, Aurilia to second. Benard fouled out to third. (3 Runs, 4 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 3, TEXAS 6.

TEXAS 7TH: Servais catching. Zeile grounded out to shortstop. Mateo grounded out to shortstop. Alicea flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 3, TEXAS 6.

SAN FRANCISCO 8TH: Santangelo struck out looking. Snow grounded out to first. Kent flied out to right. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 3, TEXAS 6.

TEXAS 8TH: Clayton walked. R Kelly singled to left center, Clayton to second. I Rodriguez grounded into fielder's choice double play, third to second, Clayton out at third, R Kelly out at second. Greer grounded into fielder's choice to second, I Rodriguez out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 3, TEXAS 6.

SAN FRANCISCO 9TH: Bonds grounded out to second. Jeff Zimmerman relieved Mike Venafro. Javier flied out to left. Mueller flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) SAN FRANCISCO 3, TEXAS 6.