The annual Phillies games against the Rangers in Spring bring up my usual thoughts that I don’t know who to root for, with both of my home town teams playing against each other. :) The Phillies ended up on top at the end, so I liked the win from that aspect. They just seemed to want it more than Texas did this day from the sounds of it on the radio.
Even though we had four runs, we only got four hits – we were really shut down for the most part by Philly’s pitching. Randy Wolf, a borderline pitcher shut us down completely – allowing just one hit over 5 2/3 innings, and one earned run. Carlos Reyes, who relieved him was really wild, throwing two straight wild pitches, leading to our first run (which I think was charged to Wolf). We fared a bit better against Jeff Brantley, scoring three more runs against him in one inning on three hits – but that was it. Actually, our first hit should have been an error, but Philly 2nd baseman Marlon Anderson was spared the call of an error.
A couple of notable things: David Segui made his Ranger debut in this game, wearing uniform #9. He said he’ll wear that until Spring’s over, and he sees what uniform numbers are available. Rick Helling struck out Scott Rolen swinging twice, which was about the only bright point for him in an otherwise blah appearance. Bill Haselman was hit on the knee with a pitch, and had to come out of the game. The Rangers hit into two double plays to end innings. Ruben Mateo showed some patience at the plate, which is uncommon for him to this point – he went 2 for 2. The other two hits we had were a hit by Edwin Diaz, and a solo home run by Jason McDonald.
Overall, a roller coaster game for me personally. The Rangers probably did not deserve the close score they got in the final tally in the box score – they seemed to be playing asleep to me.