Due to the rainout, I had something I really enjoy – a doubleheader. I love these, although I have a complaint. I live in Garland. It normally takes me about 45-50 minutes to drive to the ballpark. Yesterday, I left at 2:30PM, and I didn’t get to the ballpark until about 4:40. Why? Because a tanker truck overturned, and I30 was closed in every direction. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I listened to about 4 or 5 traffic reports on KRLD. THERE WAS NO FRIGGIN MENTION OF THIS ON THE TRAFFIC REPORTS! I mean, what kind of traffic report doesn’t mention a the biggest traffic problem the city has seen in quite awhile? That seriously pissed me off. I had to go across Dallas, UP 35, over past Texas Stadium, and across whatever that highway is to 360 and down. What a mess.
Anyway, Game 1. Going into tonight, I figured with Pedro pitching game 2, that we had better get this guy. And through 6 innings, I have to say it felt like Pedro was pitching. Through six, we managed one run, and only a couple of hits. We had next to nothing against this guy. Ryan Drese through 6 only gave up 2 runs. However, he walked 5 (struck out 6, though), and was generally wild. It’s a testament to his improvement this year (plus our defense) that he gave up 5 walks, and 7 hits in 6 innings, and only two runs. He also stuck out Manny Ramirez three times, which was nice.
In the seventh, EY was hit (barely) by a pitch for a second time, which he wasn’t thrilled with, but it seemed the catalyst for the inning. Dellucci (who is batting very well lately) singled, as did Laird. This was followed by a sac fly and a double, putting three runs on the board. All of those against a Boston bullpen that hadn’t given up a run in something like 30+ innings.
We needed all of those, as Cordero had a shaky save in the ninth, but we did win the game. The sun even came out 3/4 of the way through the game, which was nice at the ballpark, as it started in a light rain/mist. By the time they started working on the field for the second game, there were blue skies.
Turns out the blue skies were an omen. ;)
Brett Carre: Well, I couldn’t watch this game because for some odd reason the people at my cable company didn’t put it on. However, I did hear parts on the radio and from what I heard it was a very entertaining game. We were down 2-1 when we broke through for 3 in the 7th off of the so called invincible Boston bullpen. Cordero came on in the 9th for his 8th save.
Wish I could have have seen it, but a nice win for the 1st place Texas Rangers.
Game 2 didn’t come on here either. By, now I was extremely pissed, but it was nice to listen to the radio guys for a change. We roughed up Pedro. He have up 6 runs in only 4 innings pitched. Everyone got into the act offensively. Hank went deep in the 1st to tie that game at 1 at we never looked back.
The 9th was a but of the problem. We had a 8-2 lead going into the 9th. Almanzar started the 9th and gave up a couple of hits and a run. He was pulled for Jay Powell who walked a batter and then struck out a man. Powell then faced Johnny Damon who doubled to score two runs to make it a 8-5 game. Buck pulled Powell and gave the ball to Coco. Coco got the final two outs for his 2nd save of the day and 9th of the year.
We are getting a lot of national attention now. Let’s keep it up!!
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - BOSTON 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 9 0 TEXAS 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 x 4 6 0 (FINAL) BATTERIES: BOS - BRONSON ARROYO, MARK MALASKA (7TH), SCOTT WILLIAMSON (7TH) AND DOUG MIRABELLI TEX - RYAN DRESE, ERASMO RAMIREZ (7TH), JEFF NELSON (8TH), FRANCISCO CORDERO (9TH) AND GERALD LAIRD WP - ERASMO RAMIREZ (1-1) LP - MARK MALASKA (1-1) SAVE - FRANCISCO CORDERO (8) HOME RUNS: BOS - NONE TEX - NONE TIME: 2:51 Box Score BOSTON (3) VS TEXAS (4) - FINAL (1ST GAME) BOSTON ab r h rbi bb so lob avg J Damon cf 4 0 1 1 1 0 2 .263 B Mueller 3b 5 0 0 0 0 2 4 .253 D Ortiz dh 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 .302 M Ramirez lf 4 0 0 0 0 4 3 .371 B Daubach 1b 3 1 1 0 1 1 0 .286 K Millar rf 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 .232 M Bellhorn 2b 3 1 2 1 1 1 0 .215 D Mirabelli c 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 .429 a-D McCarty ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .176 P Reese ss 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 .226 b-J Varitek ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .288 Totals 32 3 9 3 6 10 15 a-singled to left for D Mirabelli in the 9th; b-struck out swinging for P Reese in the 9th. BATTING: 2B - M Bellhorn (3, R Drese); J Damon (6, F Cordero). RBI - M Bellhorn (9), P Reese (8), J Damon (11). 2-out RBI - J Damon. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Mueller 2, M Ramirez 1. GIDP - D Mirabelli, P Reese, K Millar. Team LOB - 8. TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg M Young ss 4 0 0 1 0 2 2 .354 H Blalock 3b 2 0 0 1 1 0 3 .330 A Soriano 2b 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 .337 B Fullmer dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .247 K Mench rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .295 M Teixeira 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .242 E Young lf 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 .372 D Dellucci cf 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 .327 G Laird c 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 .352 Totals 29 4 6 4 2 7 10 BATTING: 2B - A Soriano (6, S Williamson). SF - H Blalock. RBI - M Young (15), G Laird (6), H Blalock (19), A Soriano (14). 2-out RBI - A Soriano. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - K Mench 1, H Blalock 2, B Fullmer 1. Team LOB - 6. FIELDING: Outfield assists - K Mench (K Millar at 2nd base). DP: 3 (A Soriano-M Young-M Teixeira, M Young-A Soriano-M Teixeira 2). ---------------------------------------------------- BOSTON - 000 200 001 -- 3 TEXAS - 000 010 30x -- 4 ---------------------------------------------------- BOSTON ip h r er bb so hr era B Arroyo 6 3 2 2 2 5 0 5.11 M Malaska (L, 1-1; H, 2) 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1.35 S Williamson (B, 1) 2 2 1 1 0 2 0 0.77 TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era R Drese 6 7 2 2 5 6 0 2.91 E Ramirez (W, 1-1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.91 J Nelson (H, 7) 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 2.79 F Cordero (S, 8) 1 2 1 1 0 3 0 2.61 B Arroyo pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. M Malaska pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. HBP - E Young 2 (by B Arroyo 2). Pitches-strikes: B Arroyo 85-52; M Malaska 4-2; S Williamson 40-26; R Drese 118-78; E Ramirez 12-10; J Nelson 14-8; F Cordero 23-15. Ground balls-fly balls: B Arroyo 8-5; M Malaska 0-0; S Williamson 0-4; R Drese 8-3; E Ramirez 1-2; J Nelson 2-0; F Cordero 0-0. Batters faced: B Arroyo 25; M Malaska 1; S Williamson 8; R Drese 27; E Ramirez 3; J Nelson 3; F Cordero 5. UMPIRES: HP--Bruce Dreckman. 1B--Greg Gibson. 2B--Larry Poncino. 3B--Ramon Armendariz. T--2:51. Weather: 54 degrees, overcast. Wind: 18 mph, out to right.