This one was totally down to Miguel Batista. A pitcher I was hoping we would have tried to acquire a few years back when he was with Toronto. Batista looked really good this year for a well traveled pitcher (Pirates 92, Marlins 96, Cubs 97, Expos 98-00, Royals 00, Diamondbacks 01-03, Blue Jays 04-05, Diamondbacks 06, Mariners 07). His career numbers don’t indicate the level of pitching he showed on Saturday, but I always got the feeling when he was a Blue Jay that if he could “just figure it out”, he’d be incredible, and he looked it today.
Batista went eight innings, giving up just three hits and one run while walking two and k’ing five. Was quite the starting pitching performance. Unlike Kevin Millwood, who is our “ace”. Our guy went 7, giving up 11 hits, 3 walks, 5 runs (4 earned).. The only really positive thing is that he went 7. Oooh. That’s important in Game #161 of the season. :)
Offensively, we were closed down quite good. Three hits. Two singles (Sosa, Botts) and a double (Cruz). Brad Wilkerson had a sac fly for the only run we got. But… meh. A flaccid performance for sure on behalf of the team from Texas.