I didn’t get to see or hear any of this game, as I was still in Philadelphia at the time. Stayed over an extra day to do the family thing. I first went out to lunch at a place that’s got one of the best French Onion Soups I’ve ever had. The place is called Zoto’s Family Diner, and it’s in a Philly suburb called “Line Lexington, PA”. My brother and I got to hang out with one of our stepbrothers for lunch, so it was great to see him again. Wish we’d live closer, as Harry is a great guy to mess around with.
Hung out at my mom’s place, talked to my grandmother a bit, got to see my two nieces I don’t see too often, as well as my cousin and her husband. After most of the family left, I stayed over at my mom’s as she was taking me to the airport in the morning. A guy I worked with at three different companies back home and who was one of the ushers in my wedding came over, and we ended up talking for the better part of two hours, so that was all good. Had a great time there. It was definitely a good day spent visiting my family back home in the Philly area. All good.
I did get to see a little bit in the way of highlights at my mom’s, since I could get MLB Network, something I now lack at home. Anyway, it was nice to see Josh Hamilton & Nelson Cruz come off the disabled list. I don’t think anyone expected that both of them would hit home runs in their first games back. Oh, as a Rangers fan, you’d LIKE for that to happen, but realistically, you don’t expect it to happen. Josh’s was a solo shot in the first inning, to put us up 1-0. Nelson Cruz’s shot was in the sixth inning, a two run shot, which put us up 3-0 at the time.
Turns out Josh’s home run was all we needed due to Alexi Ogando, who seems to be the best starting pitcher we have at the moment. I mean, how do you argue with a complete game shutout? 9 innings pitched, just 5 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts on 115 pitches. Was a masterpiece, and I wish I would have been able to see it. Ogando is now 5-0, and it feels like he should be 8 or 9 and 0 given the way he’s pitched overall.
Thing is, John Danks for the Sox also pitched a complete game, obviously a loss. He’s now 0-7 with an ERA of 4.34. While I don’t follow the Sox that closely, you get the impression he should have a better record than that. This game alone is one he was good for long periods of time – he didn’t allow much of anything between Hamilton’s first inning home run and Cruz’s sixth inning home run.
Michael Young continues to rip it up, getting another three hits this game. His average is now .348 after this game, and has a total of 63 hits for the season. As a bit of a cheat, the next two games he took ofers. Normally if I have to write recaps for a few games at a time, I still write them as if I don’t know what’s happening in the future games. This one I wanted to look ahead. 63 hits in game 48 is a healthy clip. :)
If Ogando keeps doing what he’s doing, I wonder if he’ll get a shot at the All-Star Game. It doesn’t realy seem that outrageous to me.