Hideki Irabu. Extra Innings. Home Runs. Lost Game. That’s about all that will be remembered about this – despite some good pitching by Rob Bell.

OK, what’s wrong with Chan Ho Park? I can’t BELIEVE he’s this terrible. I figured he’d have some dropoff this year going to the AL for the first time, but I never imagined he’d be this bad. I was outside digging holes in the ground in my back yard, as I’m building a fence, and was listening to the game. More than one use of the hole digging tool was followed by “Stupid ass Rangers!” as the tool got thrust into the ground. It was nice to see Pudge break out big time in his first game back, though.
After I was done digging, I decided I wasn’t going to listen/watch this game anymore – I decided the Texas Rangers team I have on my Xbox was more entertaining than the real one. :)

Well, we keep TRYING to lose games, but this time we managed to find a way to hang on and get a win – saving us from a sweep against the Angels in four games (something that’s never happened ever). I guess that’s something.
However, on a more positive note, some of the good things to come out of this game were Juan Gonzalez finally getting a “good” HR – and by that I mean one with men on base. He jacked a three run home run as part of a big 7 spot inning early on. Was nice to see that.
Also good was the hitting debut of Ryan Ludwick – who went 2-5 with a run scored. He looked good at the plate, especially against Appier – but then again Appier was off. Still, it’s always nice to get a hit in your first at bat, and he got two! Nice debut, although I’m sure it further clouds our already crowded OF position – although I expect we’ll probably release Calvin Murray. He’s fast, but can’t hit. Ludwick is fast, and can hit – or so his rep says he can.

Holy crap what an annoying game. Ismael Valdes finally gets some runs where he can win, and he doesn’t win. Arod and Mike Young barely miss hitting home runs that die right at the base of the wall. We take the lead into the bottom of the ninth, and then Irabu melts down and lets the game get tied with more home runs. We take the lead again in the 10th, and then Irabu blows it again. Needless to say he got dumped on the 3 or 4 fantasy teams I have that he was on. :) Can’t catch a frickin’ break. Well, at least there’s interleague play coming up – sigh.
About the only really positive thing of this game is that Juan Gonzalez finally got his 400th career home run. He’s also not getting very many RBI opportunities batting behind Raffy & Arod – I think he needs to go back to 4th. Oh yeah, and Ryan Ludwick made his major league debut – I always like seeing kids get their debuts.
I’m almost to the point where I’m ready to write off the season. I know it’s still June 6th, but we show no signs of turning it around steadily. Thought we had it figured out a few weeks ago, but then we slid, and haven’t gotten back up since. Unless we turn it around for something like 2 or 3 weeks solid, I think we’re close to being done again before the All-Star Break.

Ramon Ortiz. ’nuff said. Grrrrrr…..

We won the game mostly on the strength of a 5 run first inning. Although in typical fashion we tried to give it away, yet managed to hang on. :)

Kenny Rogers pitches a complete game and barely misses a shutout. Not much else to talk about here. :)

What more can you say about this one? Shutout by Scott Schoenweis, who was masterful. What’s more surprising is that we didn’t lose about 8-0 as Dave Burba pitched for us!

Didn’t get to write about this game until almost a week later, so no commentary from me.

We won a game we certainly had no business winning. Rob Bell was very mediocre – I found myself yelling out “Doug Davis wasn’t any worse than this, and he got sent down for it”. We took the lead, gave it up, took it back, let it go again, etc – you know the drill. We did manage to pull the game out in the bottom of the ninth against a pitcher I didn’t think we would score anything off of – J.C. Romero. Was nice to get a win. A really odd feeling – it’s starting to feel like we’re supposed to lose, and that’s a bad feeling as a fan – I know it well growing up in Philadelphia.
However, I wanted to write a bit about the in stadium “entertainment” a bit.. After going to games two nights in a row, I find I really really REALLY miss Chuck Morgan. The new guy is still botching many player names, has called the player at bat out of order on several occasions, and the new music selections really SUCK! Most of the music played is bad cover songs of songs that I’d wager most no one wants to hear. It made it worse hearing all the “stuff” Chuck Morgan used to do in Kansas City. Not to mention the fact that the few times the ballpark entertainment staff tries to get the crowd into a game they either come in too late, or don’t even bother – like last night starting the bottom of the ninth. Nothing. Also, as another side note – the sound is really BAD anymore in the ballpark. Used to be loud and clear, but video effects either have no sound at all, or if they do have sound, it sounds like you’re hearing it as you would standing outside the ballpark. Or worse, it sometimes changes volume in the middle of the sound effect. The ballpark entertainment crew of three that replaced Chuck Morgan definitely gets a D-.