This was another game where I couldn’t pay very good attention to it, as I was busy doing work while the game was on. However, looking at the scores, I didn’t really miss much. Odd, as the parts I listened to didn’t seem all that bad, really. :)

You always expect to give up a ton of runs in spring training. It’s distressing when your opening day starter does that. Rogers gave up 7 runs (6 earned) on 10 hits over 3.1 innings. Not good. John Wasdin (is he still here?) gave up three more over his one inning of work. Three other pitchers pitched (none of which I expect to stick) – Williams, Almanzar, & Mabeus giving up one run amongst all three of ’em.

Offensively, we picked up a few runs, including some more home runs (which seem to be a missing thing so far this spring). Fullmer went 3 for 4 and Blalock went 2 for 4. However, the start of the day was Rod Barajas, who I might expect to make the club as a backup with Laird going to AAA for the season (unless of course Diaz is traded). Barajas went 3 for 4 with a HR, a triple, 4 RBI’s, and 2 runs scored. Great day for him.

I think after this weekend, I’ll be ready for the real thing. My season tickets arrived Monday, and I have my games planned out. I’m going to get to the “Oh come on, let’s start it” feeling. We do however have two games on TV the final week of spring training, and 4 games on the radio next week, so things will pick up a bit.

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We were shut down, and didn’t pitch well. Not a whole lot more needs to be said here. :)

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It was an interesting game for me, as it was on the radio, which is always good, but I was also walking around the Dallas Arboretum with my wife. We were taking pictures out there with a new digital camera we got for her, and I had a portable radio with me listening to the game while we walked around. For the record, I listened with only one earbud in, so I could still hear her. :)

The kind of game you never saw much of from Texas, let alone in spring, when offense is even higher than anywhere else. A rather well pitched game on both sides. Problem was that Seattle pitched just a little bit better. Pitching totally dominated this game, and there’s not a whole lot else to add for this one. We’ve had a lot of good pitching the last few games, I hope it’s not a spring training fluke.

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Where do you start with this one? The Rangers mashed thirteen runs, got twenty hits, and gave up not a whole lot of everything. A great effort all around.

With 20 hits, there’s bound to be several folks with a few of ’em. Blalock went 4 for 4, Adrian Gonzalez went 3 for 6, Gerald Laird was 2 for 4, as was Mike Young. There’s offense all over the place in this game, which was nice to see. The only problem was that the pitchers they did it against aren’t likely to be there come April, so that tempers the output a bit.

Pitching wise, RA Dickey continues to show to me that he deserves a starting rotation spot, going 4 innings, giving up just 1 run (on a solo home run), and walking just one. Mickey Calloway pitched very well against his former club. He went 4 innings, giving up squat. No runs, no hits, and getting two K’s. Erasmo Ramirez had a not particuarly great 9th inning, but between the three pitchers, we gave up 2 runs on 7 hits over 9 innings. A good day’s work.

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The ghost of Barry Zito’s $50,000 signing bonus with the Rangers continues to haunt us even in spring training. Zito shut us down. No surprise there, he always does that. But from what I heard, he sounded like he was in great regular season form. That’s mostly why we couldn’t get anything started, and pretty much set the table for the A’s pitchers that followed.

Glendon Rusch became the second Rangers pitcher to go four innings this spring, giving up just one run. Actually, our pitching was pretty good overall. The 5 guys we sent out there gave up just two runs over eight innings on 8 hits.

Soriano continued to have a great spring offensively, going 2 for 4, and driving in the only Ranger run. There were only three other hits scattered around the Ranger lineup for the rest of the game.

The Oakland pitching shut us down. I probably could have said just that, and it would have been enough. :)

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As yesterday was a busy day for me, I didn’t get to play refresh with the box score for this game.

Brian Jordan got to join the party in an A game, going 2 for 3 with an RBI. Hank Blalock was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s. Laynce Nix was also 2 for 4. Pitching wise, the Rangers site and the Dallas Morning News all say the Rangers were happy with Chan Ho yesterday. I don’t know if that was solely because he pitched “OK” after being hurt the day before, or if it was something I couldn’t see in a box score. Either way, Park went four innings, giving up 3 runs. Although the stories said a couple of his innings were brilliant. We’ll see.

Kenny Rogers was formally given the job of opening day pitcher in Oakland – I wonder who will pitch the home opener – might be Kenny again. Kenny went 3 innings, giving up just one run, and from what I can tell pitched pretty decently.

Brett Tomko, someone the Rangers were after, but I didn’t want, gave up 8 hits over three innings. How he escaped with just one run is a bit beyond me, but I still feel relieved he signed elsewhere.

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Another spring training game where you watch it hitting refresh on the box score page. Will have details probably in the morning.

Sorry, no time for commentary on the game – too busy on Thursday.

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