As I watched the score on this game come in over the sportswire, I saw that we managed to put together a comeback, which was cool. I was thinking that comebacks are cool, but I hate to rely on them, as you generally get disappointed when you have to come back all the time. Then I saw we were going in to the bottom of the 9th, and then D’oh!, extra innings. Watched them go by, and once it got to the 12th, I figured there wouldn’t be any more. There weren’t, the game ended in a tie in the middle of the bottom of the 12th, but for a slightly different reason. According to the newswire, THE GAME WAS CALLED A TIE AFTER BOTH TEAMS RAN OUT OF PITCHERS. I thought that was pretty funny. I know things like that happen in pre-season, but it was still silly to see it reported that way. :)
Three hours and 38 minutes is a long time for a spring training game! It was nice to see several of our guys keep a hot streak going (where was that in the playoffs?
On a seperate note, the Rangers site hasn’t been updated with Media notes in the last couple of days. Hopefully they get that rolling again soon.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers and Phillies tied a spring contest today 6-6. The game wasn’t on the radio (this is not a recording!) again, so I just waited for the boxscore like a good little boy and tried to stay out of trouble in the meantime.
It looks like the Rangers ran out of pitchers in this 12 inning affair after lefty Mike Venafro took one off the arm. I hope he isn’t too seriously injured, although his chances of making the team dim everyday.
Gregg Zahn, Ruben Mateo, Juan Gonzalez and Rusty Greer all continued their hot streaks and it’s good to see Mark McLemore get a couple of hits. He’s a big key for the Rangers this year and if he doesn’t get on base like they expect him to, it might mean the Rangers will be forced to make a move for one until Kelly Dransfeldt is ready. Royce Clayton also had a couple hits for the good guys.
Esteban Loaiza, who reportedly pitched well in his last outing despite bad numbers, looks to have pitched pretty poorly today, considering he walked a couple of batters and gave up 3 runs in 3 innings.
Danny Patterson, Eric Gunderson, Tony Fossas and Venafro all had scoreless outings. Eric Gunderson seems to be locking up one of the lefty spots in the bullpen. Jeff Zimmerman pitched today as well and despite giving up a run, he still looks to have a hold of one spot in the pen. He might be the last cut of the spring.
The Rangers are hitting well as a team, as they are hitting about .296 after this game.