When you’re doing recaps for games a week after they happen, and you see the same score two days in a row, it always makes you think, “Now wait, that can’t be right”. Not near impossible, but the same score two days in a row to the same team usually doesn’t happen. That’s what happened here.
Despite our scoring three runs, this game was dominated by John Lackey. He didn’t even allow a hit until the fifth inning, and in his six innings of work overall, he struck out 12 Rangers. Gave up three walks and two hits, and no runs at all. It was quite the dominating performance, one we’ve seen from him many times in Arlington. I was there in person when he made his major league debut a few years back, and recalled then thinking this guy is going to be some kind of spectacular. If there was a downside to his game, it was that he wasn’t efficient. He threw six innings, but also tossed 110 pitches. That’s been a major plus to the 2008 Rangers, they’re acting like the late 90’s Yankees, or the A’s. Take a lot. This is a good thing, and as I recall one of the things Ron Washington said he wanted to instill in our hitters when he took over as manager. Glad to see it is taking hold.
We had six hits in all. Two by Teagarden (one a double), two by Blalock (one a double), and just one hit each by Marlon Byrd (double), and Milton Bradley. That’s it. The fact we managed to score three runs at all was a testament to efficiency. That and Mark Bulger’s lack of command in relief, leading to the three runs all coming in the bottom of the ninth, making things a bit exciting there.
But this really was John Lackey’s game. Simple as that.
Oh yeah, Scott Feldman is out of gas. They better start limiting his pitches.