I have to say, I wasn’t a big fan of Jeff Fassero coming here. And I suppose I’m still not. But, after last night, he didn’t seem any worse than some of the pitching we’ve thrown out there. Plus he’s a lefty, so I guess that can help. Jeff went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and two earned runs. Not all that bad, really. He wasn’t pitching poorly when he was pulled, so I was surprised that he was. Read this morning in the DMN that Johnny Oates had him on a pitch count total, which was the reason he came out when he did.
Danny Kolb came on to relieve Fassero, and gave up just about as much as Fassero did, but in only 2/3 of an inning – not a good outing here. After him came the forgotten man in the bullpen, Mike Muñoz. Mike pitched very well, going 1 2/3, giving up just one hit, and nothing else. Tim Crabtree also pitched, giving up nothing, and Wetteland got his second save of the day (For some reason, the box score doesn’t list Wetteland as having pitched). Overall a decently pitched (if not great) game by the Rangers. Was a little surprised by Fassero, but given his history in ’99, I’ll save my excitement for later – like a shutout against the Yankees in the playoffs. :)
Our offense this game came from the longball. A three run shot by Rusty in the third gave us the lead, and a huge shot by Juan with Rusty on in the 5th was all we needed. There was another one in between these runs (a sac fly in the 4th), but game two seemed to be long ball offense. Was nice to see Rusty get another, and Juan to hit one instead of his usual swing and miss on a slider low and away. :)
A long night of watching baseball – was slightly over 6.5 hours. I would have sat through it at the Ballpark, but hey, I don’t want to torture my wife that much. It was enough she watched through most of it with me on TV. She’s great. :)