I’m kinda busy today, so I’m not going to be able to write much. A few points I noticed..
- Juan continues to not come through in big RBI situations. He’s getting RBI’s, but he again didn’t get much of anything with a bases loaded situation.
- Burkett was great the first time through the lineup, but after that, no so much so. That’s too bad, I thought he looked great the first three innings.
- Jeff Zimmerman – where’s this guy been? I still maintain it’s only two MLB appearances, but damn – he looks spectacular so far!
- This is the second time in two straight nights the word “fuck” got out over the air on TV.
- Ken Griffey Jr. – Oh man, what a catch – looked awesome! Thought Juan was going to get a couple RBI’s there, but he did one of those back to the plate catches.
- Lynn (my wife) commented that it seemed like the Kingdome looks dirty – like they don’t care about “cleaning it up” this season.
- Rusty Greer continues to have a great run at the Kingdome!
- I really hope the Rangers can do some sort of realignment move so all of our division people aren’t on the West coast anymore. 1AM finishes bite. I suppose it would be worse if I lived back home in Philly, though. :)
- Bases loaded is becoming an Achillies Heel for us – we don’t seem to want to do anything with them loaded. :(
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Living here on the East Coast and being a morning person smile.gif (93 bytes), I didn’t get a chance to see or hear Wednesday’s game, so I’ll use this opportunity to reveal some things to you that you may have missed, by reviewing the boxscore and a few other notes:
Every 12.3 pitches John Burkett threw on Wednesday became a Mariners’ double…As badly as Burkett pitched Wednesday, his ERA actually lowered quite a bit…Every hitter in the Rangers’ lineup had at least one hit…Rusty Greer was on base 5 times for the second straight night, as he had a single, a double and 3 walks…Roberto Kelly hasn’t had the opportunity to play much this year, but perhaps he should play more often. He is hitting .615…the Rangers had 3 stolen bases, 2 by Goodwin and 1 by Clayton. Clayton should steal 20-25 bases…Juan Gonzalez left nine runners on base, although he was simply robbed by Ken Griffey on a line shot to the deepest part of the field (I did see that on ESPN’s Sportscenter)…Gonzalez has yet to homer this year, his longest drought ever, starting a season…As a team, the Rangers left 13 men on base, which is hard to fathom, considering they scored 9 runs on 17 hits…Seattle did give up 8 free passes on bases on balls…The Rangers are now hitting .322 as a team, with a whopping on-base percentage of .391…Anaheim lost again to the A’s, meaning the Rangers are back in first place all alone. The Rangers are the only team in the AL West with a winning record, not bad for a team that has horrible starting pitching…The Rangers have already won this series from Seattle. This is the second consecutive series the Rangers have beaten the Mariners in the Kingdome, something I don’t think they have accomplished since the early 1980’s…No midweek blues for the Red Shoes: Texas has played 2 games on Tuesday and 2 on Wednesday and have won all 4.
Lastly and without commentary, let’s have a look at Burkett’s two starts this season:
DATE ip h r er bb so hr April 9 2.2 7 5 5 0 2 2 April 14 4.1 8 4 4 1 6 0 --------------------------------------- totals 7.0 15 9 9 1 8 2 ERA-11.57