The slide is over – at least for now. :)
The Rangers broke out of their funk today with a very well balanced win over the Orioles, 8-4. Well balanced because everyone in the lineup had at least one hit. Mateo had two and Pudge & Segui had 3. Speaking of Mateo, he had two hits in all three of the Baltimore games, and looked pretty good behind the plate. I hope he can hold himself together and avoid injury, because it looks like he’s starting to come together at this level finally. Pudge had the biggest day with two home runs, and three RBI’s (although Segui too had a couple of RBI’s). Kenny Rogers looked pretty good going 7.1 innings allowing four runs on 9 hits. Zimmerman & Venafro came in and pitched one out each in the eighth before turning it over to Wetteland in the ninth.
Wetteland lost a save opportunity when Pudge hit a two run home run in the top of the ninth, giving us a four run lead. Everyone looked good out there, there were no major blunders, and I enjoyed watching this game, unlike the last few.
Also, I wish we could have seen all of the pre-game Cal Ripken festivities. Our local coverage only showed a few minutes, and seeing that was cool, but I would have liked to have seen all of it. Also, when the Ripken family gets home, I wonder if Cal’s wife will be mortified to see that her son was picking his nose on national television? :)