Game 129: Aug 27, 1999 (W: 8-2)
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My Commentary

Not available - didn't catch the game. 

-- Joe Siegler

Game Recap

TORONTO (TICKER) -- Rafael Palmeiro continued his torrid August with another homer and three RBI and Rick Helling fired a six-hitter as the Texas Rangers rolled to an 8-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Palmeiro belted his 40th homer, a solo shot in the sixth inning. He has 10 homers in his last 11 games and 15 in August, batting .333 (32-for-96) with 36 RBI.

Palmeiro, who reached 40 homers for the second straight season, also drove in runs with a sacrifice fly and groundout, giving him 124.

"I can't explain it, there's no difference for me, except when I get a pitch to hit, I'm not missing it," said Palmeiro. "This is the best-hitting lineup (that I've ever been in). The '96 Orioles were pretty good, but this is better, up and down."

Helling (11-7) extended his personal winning streak to five as he walked two and striking out eight. He recorded his third complete game of the season and has not lost since June 22.

Todd Zeile went 4-for-4 and Lee Stevens also homered for Texas, which has won nine of its last 12 games. The Rangers (77-52) are 25 games over .500 for the second time this season, one shy of the franchise record set at the end of 1977, when they were 94-68.

Chris Carpenter (9-8) was tagged for six runs and 10 hits over five-plus innings as the Blue Jays dropped their seventh straight home game. Toronto fell two games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League wild card chase.

"It's something that's been happening," said Stewart. "And I've been lucky enough to get a hit the last 24 games. But we're in a playoff hunt and it's more important to win games."

Shannon Stewart extended his career-high hitting streak to 24 games with a sixth-inning single.

The Rangers jumped to a 2-0 lead as Zeile laced a one-out double and Stevens hit his 21st homer three pitches later.

Texas tacked on three runs in the next inning. Mark McLemore led off with a double and Ivan Rodriguez drew a walk before Rusty Greer had a single to load the bases. Juan Gonzalez had an RBI single before sacrifice flies by Palmeiro and Zeile made it 5-0.

Helling faced the minimum 12 batters over the first four innings before Carlos Delgado hit a 1-0 pitch off the right-field foul pole for his 38th homer. Tony Fernandez and Darrin Fletcher followed with consecutive doubles, but Helling struck out Tony Batista and Willie Greene before Homer Bush grounded out to shortstop.

"I was able to move my fastball in and out, up and down," said Helling. "The first four innings went pretty well and the fifth inning was the first chance they had to break out and do damage. I made a bad pitch to Carlos and fell behind Tony 2-0, and he hits a line-drive double. After that, I felt like I made pretty good pitches."

Palmeiro made it 6-2 in the sixth with his homer and added an RBI groundout in the seventh. Zeile had a run-scoring single in the ninth.

"We had a couple of double plays in key situations and Rick did a great job," said Zeile, who had his sixth four-hit game. "And we got some hits with men in scoring position. We knew as a team that was important, given the way the Jays beat up on us at home."

Recap #2

TORONTO (AP) -- While the power focus is on Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro is putting up some pretty big numbers.

Palmeiro reached 40 homers for the second straight year, hitting his 10th in 11 games as the Texas Rangers routed the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 Friday night behind Rick Helling's six-hitter.

Palmeiro had three RBI, raising his season total to 124, second in the major leagues behind Cleveland's Manny Ramirez, who has 130. Palmeiro, who had a career-high 43 homers last season with Baltimore, hit a sacrifice fly in the third, a solo homer in the sixth and a RBI grounder in the seventh.

He is one short of Ken Griffey Jr. for the AL lead in homers, and his .341 average puts him among the top six.

Asked if he could win the Triple Crown, Palmeiro knocked on wood.

"One day when I'm when I'm out of this game, hopefully people will look down and see my numbers and say I had a pretty good career," Palmeiro said. "But that's not important to me, I'm happy in doing my job and helping my team win."

Helling (11-7), who hasn't lost in 13 starts since May 21, struck out eight and walked two in his eighth career complete game, his third this season.

"In my last 20 starts I feel like I've been pretty consistent," he said. "I've given my team a chance to win."

Helling allowed both runs in the fifth: Carlos Delgado's homer off the screen on the left-field foul pole and Darrin Fletcher's RBI double.

Toronto, which has lost seven straight home games, dropped two games back in the AL wild-card race.

Chris Carpenter (9-8) lost his third consecutive start, giving up six runs and 10 hits in five innings.

"A lot of the balls they hit found some holes, and I just threw a bad pitch to Lee Stevens," Carpenter said.

Lee Stevens' two run homer put Texas ahead in the second, and the Rangers made it 5-0 in the third on Juan Gonzalez's RBI single and consecutive sacrifice flies by Palmeiro and Todd Zeile.

Palmeiro's homer in the sixth, which barely cleared the wall in left, made it 6-2.

"He's having a very nice year, and he's quietly putting together a very nice career," Texas manager Johnny Oates said. "Another year of 40 home runs, and he'll get at least 140 RBI. He just keeps grinding it out."

Zeile who went 4-for-5, had an RBI single in the ninth.

GAME NOTES: Palmeiro has a club record 36 RBI in August. ... The Rangers have won nine of Helling's last 11 starts. ... Helling is 4-0 and has allowed just 11 earned runs in 48 1/3 innings against Toronto, a 2.05 ERA. ... Shannon Stewart extended his hitting streak to 24 games with a sixth-inning single.

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

Shaun Green tries to catch a foul	Lee Stevens gets congrats for his 2nd inning home run	Pudge eats dirt as he's tagged out at second in the 5th inning	Raffy gets congrats for his 6th inning home run	Helling gets congrats for the complete game win

Box Score

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

BATTERIES:  TEX - RICK HELLING AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ
            TOR - CHRIS CARPENTER, PAUL SPOLJARIC (6TH), PETER MUNRO (8TH)
                  AND DARRIN FLETCHER

             WP - RICK HELLING (11-7)
             LP - CHRIS CARPENTER (9-8)
           SAVE - NONE

HOME RUNS:  TEX - LEE STEVENS (21) OFF C CARPENTER IN THE 2ND, 1 ON
                  RAFAEL PALMEIRO (40) OFF C CARPENTER IN THE 6TH, 0 ON
            TOR - CARLOS DELGADO (38) OFF HELLING IN THE 5TH, 0 ON

     TIME:  2:50     ATT:  30,181

PROBABLES:  TEX - AARON SELE (14-7, 4.91)
            TOR - DAVID WELLS (12-8, 5.17)

Box Score
TEXAS (8) AT TORONTO (2) - FINAL

TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Mclemore 2b             5  1  2  0   0  2   2  .282
I Rodriguez c           4  2  2  0   1  0   1  .326
Greer lf                4  1  1  0   1  1   0  .301
J Gonzalez rf           4  1  1  1   1  1   3  .310
R Palmeiro dh           4  1  2  3   0  0   1  .341
Zeile 3b                4  1  4  2   0  0   1  .306
L Stevens 1b            4  1  2  2   0  2   3  .287
Clayton ss              4  0  0  0   0  2   2  .265
T Goodwin cf            4  0  0  0   0  1   2  .237

Totals                 37  8 14  8   3  9  15

BATTING: 2B - Mclemore 2 (18, C Carpenter 2); Zeile (35, C Carpenter);
L Stevens (24, C Carpenter). HR - L Stevens (21, 2nd inning off
C Carpenter 1 on, 1 out); R Palmeiro (40, 6th inning off C Carpenter
0 on, 0 out). SF - R Palmeiro, Zeile. RBI - L Stevens 2 (72),
J Gonzalez (104), R Palmeiro 3 (124), Zeile 2 (78). 2-out RBI - Zeile.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - J Gonzalez 1, Mclemore 2,
L Stevens 1.  Team LOB - 7.

BASERUNNING: SB - I Rodriguez (22, 3rd base off Spoljaric/Fletcher).
CS - I Rodriguez (9, 2nd base by C Carpenter/Fletcher).

FIELDING: DP: 3 (Mclemore-Clayton-L Stevens 2, Clayton-L Stevens).

TORONTO                ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Stewart lf              4  0  1  0   0  2   0  .307
Brumfield cf            4  0  0  0   0  0   1  .252
Sh Green rf             4  0  1  0   0  1   0  .316
C Delgado 1b            4  1  1  1   0  1   2  .270
T Fernandez 3b          3  1  1  0   1  0   1  .338
Fletcher c              3  0  2  1   0  1   0  .283
T Batista ss            3  0  0  0   0  2   3  .284
W Greene dh             2  0  0  0   1  1   3  .208
Bush 2b                 3  0  0  0   0  0   2  .317

Totals                 30  2  6  2   2  8  12

BATTING: 2B - T Fernandez (38, Helling); Fletcher (21, Helling).
HR - C Delgado (38, 5th inning off Helling 0 on, 0 out).
RBI - C Delgado (119), Fletcher (62). Runners left in scoring position,
2 out - Bush 1, C Delgado 1. GIDP - Bush, W Greene, T Fernandez.
Team LOB - 3.

FIELDING: Outfield assists - Sh Green (Zeile at 2nd base).

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Helling (W, 11-7)             9       6   2   2   2   8   1   4.19

TORONTO                      ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
C Carpenter (L, 9-8)          5      10   6   6   1   3   2   4.22
Spoljaric                     2       2   1   1   1   4   0   3.06
Munro                         2       2   1   1   1   2   0   5.11

C Carpenter pitched to 3 batters in the 6th.

WP - Helling.  Pitches-strikes: C Carpenter 100-66; Spoljaric
41-25; Munro 31-16; Helling 131-79.  Ground balls-fly balls:
C Carpenter 4-7; Spoljaric 1-1; Munro 2-1; Helling 13-6.  Batters faced:
C Carpenter 25; Spoljaric 9; Munro 8; Helling 32.

UMPIRES: HP--Ed Hickox. 1B--Bill Miller. 2B--Greg Kosc. 3B--Dan Morrison.
T--2:50.  Att--30,181.   Weather: 82 degrees, clear.   Wind: 7 mph,
in from center.

AL       TEXAS AT TORONTO
         NOTE:  TEXAS' RUSTY GREER EXTENDED HIS HITTING STREAK TO 10
                GAMES WITH A SINGLE IN THE TOP OF THE THIRD INNING.

AL       TEXAS AT TORONTO
         NOTE:  TORONTO'S SHANNON STEWART EXTENDED HIS HITTING STREAK TO
                24 GAMES WITH A SINGLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH INNING.

Game Log

Texas Starting Lineups -- Mark Mclemore 2B, Ivan Rodriguez C, Rusty Greer LF, Juan Gonzalez RF, Rafael Palmeiro DH, Todd Zeile 3B, Lee Stevens 1B, Royce Clayton SS, Tom Goodwin CF, Rick Helling RHP.

Toronto Starting Lineups -- Shannon Stewart LF, Jacob Brumfield CF, Shawn Green RF, Carlos Delgado 1B, Tony Fernandez 3B, Darrin Fletcher C, Tony Batista SS, Willie Greene DH, Homer Bush 2B, Chris Carpenter RHP.

Umpires -- Hickox (HP), Miller (1B), Kosc (2B), Morrison (3B).

Gametime Weather: 82 degrees, Clear, wind in from center at 7 mph.

TEXAS 1ST: Mclemore doubled to deep left. I Rodriguez popped out to shallow right center. Greer flied out to right, Mclemore to third. J Gonzalez struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 0, TORONTO 0.

TORONTO 1ST: Stewart grounded out to third. Brumfield flied out to left. Sh Green struck out looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 0, TORONTO 0.

TEXAS 2ND: R Palmeiro flied out to center. Zeile doubled to deep right. L Stevens homered to right center, Zeile scored. Clayton struck out swinging. T Goodwin flied out to shallow left. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 2, TORONTO 0.

TORONTO 2ND: C Delgado struck out looking. T Fernandez flied out to left center. Fletcher struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 2, TORONTO 0.

TEXAS 3RD: Mclemore doubled to deep right center. I Rodriguez walked. Greer singled to shallow left center, Mclemore to third, I Rodriguez to second. J Gonzalez singled to left, Mclemore scored, I Rodriguez to third, Greer to second. R Palmeiro hit sacrifice fly to center, I Rodriguez scored, Greer to third. Zeile hit sacrifice fly to right center, Greer scored. L Stevens struck out swinging. (3 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 5, TORONTO 0.

TORONTO 3RD: T Batista grounded out to shortstop. W Greene walked. Bush grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, W Greene out at second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 5, TORONTO 0.

TEXAS 4TH: Clayton grounded out to second. T Goodwin grounded out to second. Mclemore grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 5, TORONTO 0.

TORONTO 4TH: Stewart struck out swinging. Brumfield grounded out to third. Sh Green grounded out to pitcher. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 5, TORONTO 0.

TEXAS 5TH: I Rodriguez reached on infield single. I Rodriguez caught stealing, catcher to shortstop. Greer grounded out to pitcher. J Gonzalez popped out to shallow right. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 5, TORONTO 0.

TORONTO 5TH: C Delgado homered to right. T Fernandez doubled to right center. Fletcher doubled to shallow left, T Fernandez scored. T Batista struck out swinging. W Greene struck out swinging. Bush grounded out to shortstop. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 5, TORONTO 2.

TEXAS 6TH: R Palmeiro homered to left. Zeile singled to right. L Stevens doubled to left, Zeile to third. Paul Spoljaric relieved Chris Carpenter. Clayton struck out swinging. T Goodwin struck out swinging. Mclemore struck out swinging. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 6, TORONTO 2.

TORONTO 6TH: Stewart singled to center. Brumfield flied out to shallow center. Stewart to second on Helling wild pitch. Sh Green grounded out to shortstop, Stewart to third. C Delgado grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 6, TORONTO 2.

TEXAS 7TH: I Rodriguez singled to right. Greer walked, I Rodriguez to second. J Gonzalez lined out to second. I Rodriguez stole third. R Palmeiro grounded out to first, I Rodriguez scored, Greer to second. Zeile reached on infield single, Greer to third. L Stevens struck out looking. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 7, TORONTO 2.

TORONTO 7TH: T Fernandez walked. Fletcher singled to right, T Fernandez to third. T Batista struck out swinging. W Greene grounded into double play, shortstop to first, Fletcher out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 7, TORONTO 2.

TEXAS 8TH: Peter Munro relieved Paul Spoljaric. Clayton grounded out to second. T Goodwin flied out to left. Mclemore struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 7, TORONTO 2.

TORONTO 8TH: Bush flied out to right. Stewart struck out swinging. Brumfield popped out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 7, TORONTO 2.

TEXAS 9TH: I Rodriguez grounded out to second. Greer struck out swinging. J Gonzalez walked. R Palmeiro singled to left, J Gonzalez to second. Zeile singled to right center, J Gonzalez scored, R Palmeiro to third, Zeile out stretching at second. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 8, TORONTO 2.

TORONTO 9TH: Sh Green singled to left center. C Delgado flied out to right center. T Fernandez grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, Sh Green out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TEXAS 8, TORONTO 2.