This was a game that was notable in the wire stories about Sammy Sosa’s “return” to a Cubs game, but in a Rangers uniform. Do any Rangers fans really care about that? I mean honestly. I certainly don’t.
The biggest story of this game to Ranger fans is the regression of Jamey Wright in this game. As I’m sure you’ll read or hear everywhere, this is the time of year where guys on the bubble can’t afford to have games like that. Jamey’s line was 8H, 4ER, 2BB, 2K in 3.1IP. Not good. He has pitched well during the spring, but as has been said, you’re only as good as your last start. I’ve felt for awhile that Kameron Loe will be the fifth starter anyway – I’m also not thrilled with the other candidate (Bruce Chen). Loe hasn’t pitched bad at all, but he’ll probably win by default – I think (I hope, really) that Chen won’t get it based on his past track record.
Rick Bauer appears to have crashed and burned – after doing well last year, I don’t think he had a really good outing at all this spring, did he? Without looking it up, today’s line (1.2IP, 6H, 3ER, 1BB) isn’t the only one like that he’s had, so he’s probably off the club, and is also untradeable due to his performances, too.
Jack Benoit was told he had all but made the club – so I saw in an article a day or two ago. That’s not a surprise, after almost being given up on when he was out of options, he seems to have developed into a rather good bullpen guy, surviving several managers here in Texas (Narron, Showalter, and now Washington). He had a good line today as well.
Gerald Laird has come on strong at the end of spring training. Today he hit two home runs – both off of Jason Marquis. Texas also had another home run, this one by Ramon Vazquez.
Chicago had two home runs as well, but the second one was the backbreaker. The second one was a grand slam by Daryle Ward in the bottom of the ninth to give the Cubs the win 11-7.
CAC FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - TEXAS 0 3 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 7 14 0 CHICAGO CUBS 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 11 17 0 FINAL
WP - MIKE WUERTZ (1-0) LP - JESSE INGRAM (0-1)
HOME RUNS: TEX - GERALD LAIRD (3) OFF JASON MARQUIS IN THE 2ND RAMON VAZQUEZ (2) OFF JASON MARQUIS IN THE 2ND GERALD LAIRD (4) OFF JASON MARQUIS IN THE 5TH CHN - JACQUE JONES (2) OFF RICK BAUER IN THE 7TH DARYLE WARD (2) OFF JESSE INGRAM IN THE 9TH
TIME: 3:29 ATT: 11,674
TEXAS (7) AT CHICAGO CUBS (11)
TEXAS AB R H BI CHICAGO CUBS AB R H BI M Kata cf 5 2 2 0 A Soriano cf 4 0 1 0 F Catalanotto lf 3 0 1 0 D Ward 1b 2 1 2 5 R Bauer p 1 0 0 0 R Theriot 2b 4 1 1 0 D Relaford ph 0 0 0 0 L Walrond p 0 0 0 0 J Benoit p 0 0 0 0 M Wuertz p 0 0 0 0 M Byrd pr 0 0 0 0 D Lee 1b 4 0 2 3 J Ingram p 0 0 0 0 R Novoa p 0 0 0 0 I Kinsler 2b 5 0 3 2 S Eyre p 0 0 0 0 M Teixeira 1b 4 0 2 0 C Floyd lf 4 0 2 0 S Sosa rf 3 0 1 0 A Pagan pr-rf 1 1 0 0 N Cruz ph-rf 2 0 1 0 J Jones rf 4 1 2 2 H Blalock 3b 2 2 1 0 B Coats lf 1 0 0 0 D Meyer 3b 1 0 0 0 M DeRosa 3b 3 0 2 0 G Laird c 3 2 2 4 T Perez 3b 1 1 1 0 G Quiroz ph-c 1 0 0 0 R Cedeno ss 2 3 1 0 R Vazquez ss 3 1 1 1 H Blanco c 3 1 1 0 J Wright p 1 0 0 0 K Hill c 1 1 1 0 R Williams p 0 0 0 0 J Marquis p 2 1 1 1 C Gentry ph 1 0 0 0 R Cherry p 0 0 0 0 F Guzman lf 2 0 0 0 F Pie ph-cf 3 0 0 0 G Cates 2b 1 0 0 0 TOTALS 37 7 14 7 TOTALS 40 11 17 11
TEXAS 030 021 001 -- 7 CHICAGO CUBS 130 000 304 -- 11
ONE OUT WHEN WINNING RUN SCORED. E--D Meyer. DP--CHICAGO CUBS 1. LOB--TEXAS 14, CHICAGO CUBS 10. 2B--D Lee, J Jones, R Theriot, H Blalock. HR--D Ward 1 (2) (off J Ingram), J Jones 1 (2) (off R Bauer), G Laird 2 (4) (off J Marquis), R Vazquez 1 (2) (off J Marquis). SB--A Soriano 1 (3), R Theriot 1 (3), I Kinsler 1 (2), N Cruz 1 (1). CS--M DeRosa. S--R Cedeno 2, J Wright. SF--I Kinsler. IP H R ER BB SO HR TEXAS J Wright 3 1-3 8 4 4 2 2 0 R Williams 1 2-3 1 0 0 0 0 0 R Bauer 1 2-3 6 3 3 1 2 1 J Benoit 1 1-3 0 0 0 0 2 0 J Ingram (L,0-1) 1-3 2 4 4 1 0 1 CHICAGO CUBS J Marquis 5 9 5 5 3 4 3 R Cherry 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 R Novoa 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 S Eyre 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 L Walrond 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 M Wuertz (W,1-0) 1 2 1 1 1 1 0
SO--TEX: R Vazquez 2, M Teixeira 2, J Wright, G Quiroz, C Gentry, G Laird, M Kata, R Bauer. CHN: D Lee, A Soriano, J Marquis, A Pagan, B Coats, F Pie. BB--TEX: R Vazquez 2, D Relaford, G Quiroz, H Blalock, M Teixeira, D Meyer, M Kata, F Catalanotto. CHN: M DeRosa, R Cedeno, R Theriot, K Hill. T--3:29. A--11,674.
