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When you write a headline like that. you think of one thing. The Rangers won this game early on, and rode Tommy Hunter to the win. And to an extent that is right, but..
The pitcher that Seattle sent out there was Felix Hernandez, and to be honest, through the first six innings, it was a total pitcher’s duel. Neither team amounted much of anything, and to be honest, it was a game that was easy to watch, as it moved quickly, and had some crisp pitching.
Until the seventh, when Hernandez broke down. Vlad led off with a single, and after at Cruz fly out, David Murphy homered to left field, giving the Rangers all they really needed for the win. The Rangers tacked on another run this inning after a Moreland walk, a Blanco single, and an Andrus single. And then Felix Hernandez came out of the game. Tommy Hunter was still in the game.
We put up another three spot in the eighth. That was with singles by Hamilton & Guerrero, followed by a double by Cruz, scoring Hamilton. We got the other runs on a sac fly and a wild pitch. So we went up 6-0 in a very short span there late in the game, pretty much making most people forget that the Rangers had nothing until they got into the seventh inning.
Tommy Hunter, however, got his ninth win of the season, going to 9-1. He went 6.1 innings, actually less than Hernandez and gave up the same number of hits, too (8), and one more walk than Hernandez (2 vs 1), but the all important runs column was a big old donut. That was what made Hunter a far more dominant pitcher than Hernandez was. Seems weird, and when you examine the numbers, it doesn’t play out, but when you “feel” it, Tommy Hunter was better than Felix Hernandez.
So we got out of Seattle winning the series 2-1, but we probably should have swept ’em. Still, we have a huge lead over Oakland and Anaheim, and have a shot to put a dent in the A’s starting on Friday night.

This was a totally spectacular game, and one of the best days ever during my time running this website for the Rangers. I mean, we’ve had great wins over the now 12 seasons that have been during my time running this site. And truth be told, in terms of wins, this doesn’t really rate THAT high on the great wins list. But when you combine it with the events back in a Ft Worth courtroom, and what happened at the exact moment that GnR got their winning bid in, it elevates the game itself to a bit higher status.
Didn’t start out that great. After four innings, we were losing 5-2, and I wasn’t feeling that great about the game. It was compounded by the fact that at the time, things weren’t looking so great in the ol’ courthouse. But in the top of the fifth, David Murphy popped a huge home run out to right field scoring three. It was the big exclamation point to a five run fifth inning, that put us up 7-5, and we never gave up that lead.
The Rangers gave up another run in the bottom of the sixth, which let the Mariners back in the game a little, but we crushed it completely in the top of the seventh when Jose Lopez slacked off on a grounder to third, and he allowed the bases to be loaded, when they should have been off the field.
The next batter was Michael Young, and on the first pitch he saw, he deposited it into the bullpen for a grand slam. The coolest part about that slam was at the same time, the GnR group put in what turned out to be their winning bid for the Rangers in the Ft Worth courthouse. It was quite a cool moment overall. Obviously, at the time, you didn’t know of the connection, but it was figured out not too long after that.
I mean, that was the “end” of the day’s festivities. It wasn’t really, as there was a little more court time, a little more game, but the Michael Young grand slam was the spiritual “end” of the events of the day.
You gotta love that. That it’s the 10 year serviced Michael Young too makes things that much sweeter.
And after this night, I dared to entertain the thought that we might be able to keep Cliff Lee next season. Dreaming high, eh? :)
I will write about the sale of the transfer of the team in a separate post, but I will add this – thanks again to Scott Lucas for the idea.

The Rangers head to Seattle feeling good, and then early on we got the usual Seattle moves.

1. The footage of the train out back of the park.
2. Weather remarks.
3. Demolition footage of the Kingdome
4. Footage of Bill from Seattle, the old Mariners fan in the blue hat.

Sadly, early on in the broadcast, they showed the seats that Bill and his wife used to sit, and they were empty. They mentioned that Bill had died about three months ago or so, which was sad, because he was ALWAYS there. They mentioned that Bill had been put on the jumbotron at the Mariners park, so he must have been their version of Zonk or something like that. Shame, as it really will seem weird not seeing him there. Perhaps the Rangers TV team can show a clip of him anyway, just for old times sake when we go there. What made it sad for me I had just sent a tweet to Josh Lewin saying they should send John Rhadigan over to talk to him, as they don’t often take their own stadium guy on the road. and then almost immediately, that’s when Lewin talked about Bill having died. So I had to delete my tweet. I’ll still post this, however:

As for the game itself, the Rangers sent Colby Lewis out there, and was pretty decent, but wasn’t totally dominating. He sadly though pitched well enough to get the win, and didn’t. Went a total of six innings, gave up nine hits and one walk. Did strike out nine, and that was the mostly dominating part, but for me it didn’t feel like a totally dominating performance. Nothing I can point to, just a gut feeling sort of thing.
It’s hard to get much support for Lewis when the Rangers get only four hits total. Three singles (Elvis, Cantu, Molina), and a double by Mitch Moreland. Interestingly, both of the RBI’s we got were on sac flies (Molina, Young).
The Mariners didn’t dominate offensively, either, as they had three innings with single runs. But what they got was pretty much from their pretty darn awesome center fielder, Franklyn Guiterrez. He drove himself in with a solo home run, and another run on a squeeze play.
Colby Lewis did strike out nine. :)
Didn’t like losing to Seattle. They’re bad. We’re not this year.

I’ve spent the weekend of trade deadline mostly sick, so I’m taking a pass on writing about this one.
Some runs for Cliff Lee would be nice.

I’ve spent most of trade deadline day sick, so I’m taking a pass on writing about this one.
But still, wow. Where was this Rich Harden all year?

I’ve spent most of trade deadline day sick, so I’m taking a pass on writing about this one.