Game 138: Sep 6, 1999 (W: 8-6)
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My Commentary

Well, after last night's rainout, Jeff Fassero got pushed off to game 2 of the double header.  The starter was Rick Helling.  

After an extremely quick top of the first, we blew out to a big lead in a hurry.  After a passed ball that let Alicea score (and Juan to first on strike three), Jim Parque plunked Raffy in the hand to load the bases.  Todd Zeile came up, and smacked one over the center field wall.  It wasn't a monster home run, it didn't get up onto Green's hill, but it was enough to get over the fence for a grand slam!  That put us up 5-0 after the first inning, and it was 6-0 after the start of the second when Royce Clayton belted one over the 407 sign in right center field - the deepest part of the park.  We also got two more in the 6th when Pudge doubled home two runners.  However, the runs in the first and second seemed more dramatic to me.  - It was nice to get Rick Helling some run support, though - something he's not gotten all year, and has kept his win loss record down.

Rick Helling was doing really well - his only mistake through 6 innings was a solo home run ball in the fifth inning to Chris Singleton, and another solo shot by Carlos Lee to lead off the seventh.  After the start of the seventh, Rick seemed to lose it a bit, allowing a few more hits, and two more runs.  Venafro came on to finish out the 7th, and start the 8th.  After a triple, Zimmerman came on, and would have gotten out of the inning unscathed, but an error by Royce Clayton allowed another run to score.

Scarborough Green came into the game as a pinch runner and was promptly picked off first.  D'oh!

That closed out the scoring at 8-6.  This is a game where we let the White Sox get back in it by small stupid things, when they shouldn't have.  We outplayed them for the most part, and let 'em creep back into the game.  Fortunately, we had enough going offensively to overcome it.  Wetteland came in and allowed only a single to get his 38th save of the year.

-- Joe Siegler

Game Recap

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) -- Todd Zeile smacked a first-inning grand slam and Rick Helling won his seventh straight decision as the Texas Rangers held on for an 8-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox in the first game of a doubleheader.

Zeile remained hot, lining a 1-1 pitch from Jim Parque (9-12) over the center-field fence to cap a five-run first inning. In his last 10 games, Zeile is 12-for-38 with four home runs and 10 RBI.

Helling (13-7) has been hotter longer. Despite giving up four runs and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings, he remained unbeaten in 14 starts since June 21. The righthander walked one, struck out five and surrendered two home runs but avenged a 5-2 loss on May 10 at Chicago in which he posted similar statistics.

"You can always throw better, but I'm throwing real well right now," Helling said. "If I can go seven or eight innings, that's great. I've got confidence in our bullpen. We've got a lot of great arms. My goal is to get the team on and off the field as quick as possible."

Royce Clayton also homered and Ivan Rodriguez reached another milestone for the Rangers, who defeated the White Sox for only the fourth time in nine meetings this season.

"We're on a nice roll right now," Helling said. "I'm just trying to help the team win and we're trying to get home-field advantage."

Parque suffered his sixth straight loss, yielding eight runs -- seven earned -- and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. Rookies Chris Singleton and Carlos Lee homered for Chicago, which swept a twinbill from Texas at home on August 13.

"The bottom line is I was aggressive, I had confidence and I had good stuff. But the outcome (stinks)," Parque said. "Tonight I had one bad pitch. I'm not pleased with my performance, but I'm not down either."

After falling behind by seven runs, the White Sox rallied within 8-6. But John Wetteland tossed a scoreless ninth for his 38th save in 45 chances.

Luis Alicea and Rodriguez started the bottom of the first with singles and were at second and third with one out when Juan Gonzalez struck out but reached on a passed ball. Rafael Palmeiro was hit by a pitch to set the stage for Zeile.

"When I get home, I'm going to make a call and try to get Zeile thrown out of the UCLA Hall of Fame," joked Parque, a fellow product of the Pac-10 school.

Rodriguez scored on the slam, becoming the second catcher with 100 runs in more than one season. Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane is the other.

Clayton's leadoff homer in the second made it 6-0, but Singleton homered in the fourth. The Rangers stretched their lead to 8-1 and chased in the sixth as Rodriguez delivered a two-out, two-run double.

Chicago started its comeback in the seventh as Lee's leadoff homer extended his hitting streak to 14 games. Helling gave up a single to Magglio Ordonez and a run-scoring double to Paul Konerko before retiring Singleton and Chris Norton.

But Craig Wilson's RBI single trimmed the margin to 8-4 and chased Helling for Mike Venafro.

In the ninth, Liu Rodriguez tripled with one out and Jeff Zimmerman came out of the bullpen. Clayton's error at shortstop allowed Rodriguez to score as Lee reached safely and Ordonez followed with a single. Konerko lifted a sacrifice fly, but Ordonez was thrown out at second to end the inning.

Recap #2

Not available. 

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

Luis Alicea scores on a wild pitch in the first	Todd Zeile's grand slam swing	Greens hill behind Todd's grand slam trot	Todd getting congrats at home	Chicago pitcher Jim (butter?) Parque after escaping the first inning

Box Score

Line Score
AL  FINAL   (1ST GAME)
                    1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9     R  H  E
                    -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -     -  -  -
CHI WHITE SOX       0  0  0   0  1  0   3  2  0     6 10  0
TEXAS               5  1  0   0  0  2   0  0  x     8  9  1   (FINAL)

BATTERIES:  CHA - JIM PARQUE, SEAN LOWE (6TH), BILL SIMAS (8TH)
                  AND MARK JOHNSON, BROOK FORDYCE (7TH)
            TEX - RICK HELLING, MIKE VENAFRO (7TH), JEFF
                  ZIMMERMAN (8TH), JOHN WETTELAND (9TH) AND IVAN
                  RODRIGUEZ

             WP - RICK HELLING (13-7)
             LP - JIM PARQUE (9-12)
           SAVE - JOHN WETTELAND (38)

HOME RUNS:  CHA - CHRIS SINGLETON (13) OFF HELLING IN THE 5TH, 0 ON
                  CARLOS LEE (12) OFF HELLING IN THE 7TH, 0 ON
            TEX - TODD ZEILE (21) OFF PARQUE IN THE 1ST, 3 ON
                  ROYCE CLAYTON (9) OFF PARQUE IN THE 2ND, 0 ON

     TIME:  3:04

PROBABLES:  CHA - MIKE SIROTKA (8-12, 3.94)
            ANA - BRIAN COOPER (NR)

            CLE - CHARLES NAGY (15-9, 4.59)
            TEX - AARON SELE (15-7, 4.97)

Box Score
CHI WHITE SOX (6) AT TEXAS (8) - FINAL (1ST GAME)

CHI WHITE SOX          ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
M Caruso ss             4  0  0  0   0  1   2  .259
L Rodriguez 2b          4  1  2  0   0  1   0  .246
Ca Lee lf               4  2  1  2   0  0   2  .313
M Ordonez rf            4  1  2  0   0  0   1  .301
Konerko dh              3  1  1  2   0  1   1  .295
Singleton cf            4  1  1  1   0  1   1  .307
Norton 1b               4  0  2  0   0  0   0  .244
C Wilson 3b             3  0  1  1   0  0   0  .230
 b-F Thomas ph          1  0  0  0   0  1   1  .305
M Johnson c             1  0  0  0   1  1   0  .220
 a-B Fordyce ph-c       2  0  0  0   0  0   2  .296

Totals                 34  6 10  6   1  6  10

a-flied to center for M Johnson in the 7th; b-struck out for
C Wilson in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - Norton (21, Helling); Konerko (25, Helling).
3B - L Rodriguez (1, Venafro). HR - Singleton (13, 5th inning off
Helling 0 on, 1 out); Ca Lee (12, 7th inning off Helling 0 on, 0 out).
SF - Konerko. RBI - Singleton (65), Ca Lee 2 (69), Konerko 2 (70),
C Wilson (24). 2-out RBI - C Wilson. GIDP - M Caruso, M Ordonez.
Team LOB - 3.

FIELDING: PB - M Johnson. DP: 1 (L Rodriguez-M Caruso-Norton).

TEXAS                  ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
Alicea 2b               4  1  2  0   0  0   3  .199
I Rodriguez c           4  1  2  2   0  0   2  .329
Greer lf                4  0  0  0   0  1   4  .301
J Gonzalez rf           4  1  0  0   0  2   3  .309
R Palmeiro 1b           1  1  0  0   2  1   0  .338
Zeile 3b                4  1  1  4   0  0   2  .301
R Kelly cf              4  1  1  0   0  0   0  .314
L Stevens dh            4  0  1  0   0  2   1  .289
 Sc Green pr            0  0  0  0   0  0   0  .500
Clayton ss              3  2  2  1   1  1   0  .271

Totals                 32  8  9  7   3  7  15

BATTING: 2B - Alicea (9, Parque); I Rodriguez (24, S Lowe).
HR - Zeile (21, 1st inning off Parque 3 on, 1 out); Clayton (9,
2nd inning off Parque 0 on, 0 out). RBI - Zeile 4 (86), Clayton (40),
I Rodriguez 2 (95). 2-out RBI - I Rodriguez 2. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - J Gonzalez 1, Greer 1. GIDP - Zeile.  Team LOB - 4.

BASERUNNING: SB - R Kelly (6, 2nd base off Parque/M Johnson).
Picked off - Sc Green (1st base, Simas).

FIELDING: E - Clayton (20, ground ball). DP: 2 (Alicea-Clayton-R Palmeiro,
Zeile-Alicea-R Palmeiro).

CHI WHITE SOX                ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Parque (L, 9-12)              5 1/3   7   8   7   2   5   2   4.97
S Lowe                        1 2/3   1   0   0   1   1   0   3.40
Simas                         1       1   0   0   0   1   0   3.84

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Helling (W, 13-7)             6 2/3   7   4   4   1   5   2   4.36
Venafro                         2/3   1   1   1   0   0   0   3.41
Je Zimmerman                    2/3   1   1   0   0   0   0   2.04
Wetteland (S, 38)             1       1   0   0   0   1   0   4.02

HBP - R Palmeiro (by Parque).  Pitches-strikes: Helling 127-82;
Venafro 11-9; Je Zimmerman 10-7; Wetteland 15-11; Parque 122-72;
S Lowe 27-16; Simas 13-9.  Ground balls-fly balls: Helling 6-9;
Venafro 1-1; Je Zimmerman 0-1; Wetteland 0-2; Parque 6-6; S Lowe 2-2;
Simas 0-1.  Batters faced: Helling 26; Venafro 3; Je Zimmerman 3;
Wetteland 4; Parque 27; S Lowe 6; Simas 3.

UMPIRES: HP--Tim Welke. 1B--Mike Dimuro. 3B--Terry Craft.
T--3:04.  Weather: 87 degrees, partly cloudy.  Wind: 8 mph, right to left.

AL       CHI WHITE SOX AT TEXAS  (1ST GAME)
         NOTE:  THE GAME WILL BE UMPIRED BY A THREE-MAN CREW.  JIM JOYCE
                WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE DUE TO PERSONAL REASONS.

AL       CHI WHITE SOX AT TEXAS  (1ST GAME)
         NOTE:  CHICAGO'S CARLOS LEE HOMERED IN THE TOP OF THE SEVENTH
                INNING TO EXTEND HIS HITTING STREAK TO 14 GAMES.

Game Log

Chi White Sox Starting Lineups -- Mike Caruso SS, Liu Rodriguez 2B, Carlos Lee LF, Magglio Ordonez RF, Paul Konerko DH, Chris Singleton CF, Greg Norton 1B, Craig Wilson 3B, Mark Johnson C, Jim Parque LHP.

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

Umpires -- T Welke (HP), M Dimuro (1B), T Craft (3B).

Gametime Weather: 87 degrees, Partly Cloudy, wind right to left at 8 mph.

CHI WHITE SOX 1ST: M Caruso struck out swinging. L Rodriguez struck out looking. Ca Lee fouled out to catcher. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 0.

TEXAS 1ST: Alicea singled to center. I Rodriguez singled to right, Alicea to third. I Rodriguez to second advancing on throw. Greer grounded out to pitcher. J Gonzalez struck out swinging, Alicea scored on M Johnson passed ball, J Gonzalez safe at first. R Palmeiro hit by pitch, I Rodriguez to third, J Gonzalez to second. Zeile homered to center, I Rodriguez, J Gonzalez and R Palmeiro scored. R Kelly popped out to first. L Stevens struck out swinging. (5 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 5.

CHI WHITE SOX 2ND: M Ordonez flied out to center. Konerko lined out to second. Singleton struck out looking. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 5.

TEXAS 2ND: Clayton homered to right center. Alicea doubled to right. I Rodriguez flied out to right. Greer lined out to center. J Gonzalez flied out to left. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 6.

CHI WHITE SOX 3RD: Norton doubled to right. C Wilson grounded out to second, Norton to third. M Johnson walked. M Caruso grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, M Johnson out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 6.

TEXAS 3RD: R Palmeiro struck out swinging. Zeile grounded out to first. R Kelly grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 6.

CHI WHITE SOX 4TH: L Rodriguez singled to center. Ca Lee fouled out to first. M Ordonez grounded into double play, third to second to first, L Rodriguez out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 6.

TEXAS 4TH: L Stevens grounded out to second. Clayton singled to shallow right center. Alicea flied out to center. I Rodriguez grounded out to pitcher. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 0, TEXAS 6.

CHI WHITE SOX 5TH: Konerko struck out swinging. Singleton homered to right. Norton flied out to left. C Wilson popped out to shortstop. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 1, TEXAS 6.

TEXAS 5TH: Greer lined out to center. J Gonzalez struck out swinging. R Palmeiro walked. Zeile grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, R Palmeiro out at second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 1, TEXAS 6.

CHI WHITE SOX 6TH: M Johnson struck out looking. M Caruso grounded out to shortstop. L Rodriguez flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 1, TEXAS 6.

TEXAS 6TH: R Kelly singled to center. L Stevens struck out swinging. R Kelly stole second. Clayton walked. Sean Lowe relieved Jim Parque. Alicea popped out to third. I Rodriguez doubled to left, R Kelly and Clayton scored. Greer struck out swinging. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 1, TEXAS 8.

CHI WHITE SOX 7TH: Ca Lee homered to left center. M Ordonez singled to right. Konerko doubled to left, M Ordonez scored. Singleton flied out to shallow center. Norton flied out to center, Konerko to third. C Wilson singled to right, Konerko scored. Mike Venafro relieved Rick Helling. B Fordyce hit for M Johnson. B Fordyce flied out to center. (3 Runs, 4 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 4, TEXAS 8.

TEXAS 7TH: B Fordyce catching. J Gonzalez popped out to shallow right center. R Palmeiro walked. Zeile grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, R Palmeiro out at second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 4, TEXAS 8.

CHI WHITE SOX 8TH: M Caruso grounded out to second. L Rodriguez tripled to left center. Jeff Zimmerman relieved Mike Venafro. Ca Lee safe at first on shortstop Clayton's fielding error, L Rodriguez scored. M Ordonez singled to right, Ca Lee to third. Konerko hit sacrifice fly to left, Ca Lee scored. M Ordonez out at second on runners fielder's choice. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Error) CHI WHITE SOX 6, TEXAS 8.

TEXAS 8TH: Bill Simas relieved Sean Lowe. R Kelly flied out to deep right. L Stevens singled to right. Sc Green ran for L Stevens. Sc Green picked off at first, pitcher to first. Clayton struck out looking. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 6, TEXAS 8.

CHI WHITE SOX 9TH: John Wetteland relieved Jeff Zimmerman. Singleton flied out to right. Norton singled to right. F Thomas hit for C Wilson. F Thomas struck out swinging. B Fordyce flied out to right. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHI WHITE SOX 6, TEXAS 8.