I was at this game, only my second attended game of the season so far, which is some sort of record for me, I think. I’m just starting to get weary of the drive back and forth between Garland and Arlington. Anyway…
There was little to talk about for the longest part of this game. John Lackey allowed a first inning single to Mark Teixeira, and then did not allow another hit until the seventh inning. He retired I believe it was 16 in a row at one point. Lackey was outstanding. I knew he’d be when I was there to witness his debut a couple of years back here at the Ballpark. Lackey didn’t give up anything until the bottom of the ninth when he seemed hittable. Lofton led off with a single, Michael Young doubled, scoring Lofton in an odd looking play when Lofton ran through a stop sign, and SHOULD have been out by 15 feet. After Tex grounded out, Slammin’ got his 596th career home run, and that was it for Lackey. In fact, the home run to Slammin’ seemed like Lackey had been irritated at the way a play went in the inning, and seemed more a victim of his own emotions there than his skill at this juncture in the game. But that was all we got. Made things interesting a bit in the bottom of the ninth, but this was really John Lackey’s game. He utterly dominated us for eight innings.
Funny thing is Vicente Padilla wasn’t bad at all, either. He went 7 innings, allowing 3ER (4R total), and was not terribly crisp, but had some nice defense behind him – for the most part. I say that, because Ian Kinsler “bucknered” a ball in the fifth, allowing two runs to score. Now scoring rules only allowed one to be an unearned run, but IMO, both should have been. Fortunately, Padilla was helped out by four double plays in the inning, a couple of which he was involved in himself! Ron Mahay was roughed up a little in the ninth, but it didn’t really matter the way Lackey was pitching.
One amazing thing about this game is that Vlad Guerrero had NO hits. He did walk twice (once intentionally), but to see Guerrero with 0H in the box score is quite a feat!
Speaking of Sammy Sosa, did anyone else notice mlb.com set up a “Road to 600” section just for him? I’m not sure when they did this, but I first noticed it when putting together this writeup.