Josh Lewin kept calling this game a game of inches, and from what I saw, it was.
In the first inning, Mark Teixeira was called out at the plate on a really close call that looked safe.
In the ninth inning, Mark Teixeira almost had a home run to tie the game, missing clearning by inches
In the ninth inning, there was a wild pitch with Tex on third that didn’t get away quite far enough.
In the ninth inning, there was a fly to right that just missed being far enough to score Tex by inches.
In the ninth inning, Kevin Mench checked his swing, and it was a close call – by inches.
And then there was that catch by Grady Sizemore that if the ball was just a couple of inches further, we would have scored at least one more run.
We lost the game, and while it never felt in our control, it did “feel” like it was something we’d pull out. John Koronka started, and went 5.2IP, giving up 6 hits, and four walks. Amazingly with all that, only four runs. Could have been a lot worse there. Rick Bauer, who was tagged for the loss, gave up two unearned runs in his 0.2 IP. Ron Mahay followed, and din’t give up anything. Francisco Cordero finished up, not in the ninth, but in the 8th, in his new role as a setup man. However, he gave up a run on two hits. Additionally, combined Rangers pitching gave up seven walks. Far too many.
On the other side, Cleveland starter Jason Johnson went 6 innings, and gave up twelve hits (!) and walked two, giving up just four. In fact, the overall line was odd. The Rangers had 15 hits and the Tribe had just 8, but we lost the game 7-6.
Kevin Mench extended his home run streak to seven. He’s now the only righthander in baseball history to hit home runs in seven straight games. I would love for him to get home runs on Sat & Sunday and set a new major league record. I’m sure most Rangers fans would. :)