NOTE (Aug 5, 2007): When I moved my 2003 entries over into Movable Type’s blog format in the Summer of 2007, I discovered I stopped writing about the 2003 season on September 12th. I usually leave a note when I skip games, but I did no such thing this time. Don’t know why I ended it when I did. Probably got too disgusted with the way the season was going.

If I locate the games on a server somewhere later on, I’ll add them back in and remove this note. I am curious to see if anyone actually reads this, so if you do, please leave a comment just letting me know you read this. I have to admit to being curious to know if anyone ever looks in my old game recaps at all.

When this game started I figured we’d have no chance. Barry Zito vs. Ryan Drese. However, Drese hung with Zito, and in the third inning we did something unheard of and scored three runs at a time against Zito. Drese stayed with it, and gave up just one run through six innings, and was surprisingly looking like a good pitcher.
Then the wheels fell off in the 7th. We gave up a 5 spot in the 7th, and then three more in the 9th for good measure. We give up 6 walks, a sure recipe for disaster. The shame of this game is that Drese looked good, and pitched well enough for a win, save for the 7th inning. Disappointing, but I can’t say I’m surprised.
At least Anaheim lost, but I think if we rely on games solely against Anaheim to catch up to them, it’ll be bad. We have got to pick up more ground before we play them head to head.
Game notes are here.

Sigh. I watched this game, and we never got anything going. Outside of two sac flies by Arod, that’s all the offense we got, and the pitching was well…. Ranger pitching.
So I repeat.. Sigh. Game notes are here.

I started watching this game, but Wednesday is my bowling league night, and then I had to watch the season premiere of Enterprise last night, so by the time I started watching this, it was already pretty late, so I started zipping through it with my TiVo. The power outage in the fourth inning was fairly funny at least in the reactions and discussions of Josh & Tom to it.
I didn’t miss much, except a frustrating loss. Thomson pitched well, giving up just 3 runs in 6.2 innings. However, Joel Piniero was better (which figures since he’s been bad lately), giving up just one run on a complete game win. The one run was to Mr. Safeco, Raffy, who hit another home run here.
Interesting rumours the last few days that the Mariners might sign Raffy if Edgar retires after this season. I’d like to keep Raffy, but for Raffy’s stats, I see a move to Safeco being pretty good for him.
Game notes are here.

I didn’t watch a lot of this game as I was feeling bad today, I fell asleep early, and did wake up in time to see Raffy’s home run, but that’s almost all I saw, as I went to bed right after that. Game notes are here.

Well, this game started out with a great feeling. A leadoff home run, and some great pitching by John Thomson (perfect through 3+). But that’s about as far as it got. We never got any more runs, and while Thomson was pretty good, we didn’t get anything off the pitcher we were supposed to get in a trade with KC for Juan Gonzalez.
Darnit. The Angels lost, too – we missed a chance to pick up ground. Game notes are here.

I was at this game, and it was great, because I was there on free tickets won by my wife’s appearance on the TV on the Sonic Slam Inning contest. Great seats, Section 15 Row 17. Two foul balls landed a few seats away from us during the game, too. Was really nice weather too – which was a nice benefit.
The game didn’t start off all that great. Ismael Valdes, who appears to have lost it in the second half of the season, and probably eliminated any chance of him returning next year let the Royals get 3 in the first three innings, and we were pretty ineffective in scoring runners (what a shocker!) until the fifth inning when we put up a four spot capped by a Laynce Nix three run home run. We then put up another four spot in the next inning, on two 2 run scoring doubles, giving us our 8.
Cordero came in in the 8th and gave up a four spot to the Royals – we barely hung on to win, but we did get the win. Was definitely a page from the John Wetteland book of saves. :)
My wife also looked pretty good at the game. I always love my wife, but there’s times when your spouse looks better than they normally do. This night was one of those nights.
Game notes are here.

The rain from yesterday still seemed to be here today, as this game was played almost entirely in the rain – we certainly started in the rain.
However, it was a bombs away day, as the bulk of the offense was provided by the longball (there’s a shocker). Well, alright, maybe not, as only three of the runs came from the longball, but a couple more came off of what should have been Texieira’s third HR of the day – he missed a three run HR by about a foot, and drove in a couple more.
Our most schizophrenic pitcher (Colby Lewis) showed us the Dr. Jekyll side of himself again, but I get the feeling next time out Mr. Hyde will be there (or is the the other way around). Either way I’m confused, as I’m sure the Rangers are, because you never know what you’ll get when Lewis starts the game. Kind of a shame, as he should be further along than he is – I just keep hoping. But then again the Rangers keep hoping Justin Thompson will do something too. :)
Game notes are here.

This was a game I didn’t think we’d win. R.A. Dickey was “OK”, he wasn’t awful, but he wasn’t great, and we were behind. It’s odd, though as I look at the summary of the game writing this, we had a great offensive day in many categories, the only problem was that we also gave up 10 runs, otherwise it’d be a great game.
Played mostly in the rain (especially late), we were led by Alex Rodriguez (playing DH), who went 3-3 with his 40th HR (as well as 100th RBI) and had two walks. Hank Blalock was 4 for 5 with a home run. We had a lot of power today (HRs by Arod, Raffy, Blalock, Teixeira, & Jones), and in fact were up 10-7 after a 4 spot in the 7th inning, however, we gave it away, letting the Twins get back in it late. Arod’s HR gives him 6 straight years of 40+ home runs. Only one other player has ever done that before, Babe Ruth.
Einar Diaz was the hero, though. In the bottom of the 9th in a big rain, he had a 12 pitch at bat which finally scored Layne Nix on a single to the left field wall over a drawn in Minnesota team. It was a mob scene at home in the rain, and was a great win to a game that the last three years has told me we should have lost.
Game notes are here and here.

We had yet another starter this night – Mickey Calloway who we picked up off the scrap heap recently. However, he didn’t pitch like he belonged there, he kept the Twins to just two runs over 6 innings, and looked quite good. However, Johan Santana was much better, giving up donut until he had to leave the game with an injury. Hopefully Calloway can continue to pitch well.
I was at this game, and sat through the 1.5 hour rain delay. It was nice, because I talked to a father & son who were visiting the ballpark on one of those “See all the ballparks” tours (not a packaged one, they were doing it themselves). It was nice to talk to some folks who really knew baseball, and didn’t just know “Arod”.
Game notes are here.