Rangerfans.com

Figures. The Rangers play the Astros six times each year. This year they lose only one game. Guess which one I went to? That’s right, the one they lost. Since I don’t really feel about writing in detail on this one, I’ll go for a few bullet points:

• Vicente Padilla seemed sluggish, even though he technically had a quality start
• Chris Davis still strikes out too much, he should have been pinch hit for in the 9th
• We made some noise in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn’t bring it home
• Row 37 of Section 117 is really dark, given how far back it is under the overhang
• Darren Erstad in left? Man the Astros must be hurting.

I spoke with an Astros fan for a bit who was wearing a rainbow Astros jersey. Addressed myself as a Phillies fan, so we could talk some old Houston / Phillies rivalries. :)
On to San Francisco….

Two big things happened in tonight’s game. If you’re a real Rangers fan, you knew about them already, but just the same..

• Pudge Rodriguez became the all time #1 catcher with most games caught in the majors. Nobody else has caught more than Pudge. That’s an impressive number. First.
• Omar Vizquel tied Luis Apricio for all time hits for a player from Venezuela.

Those two are impressive feats. That Pudge did it in Arlington was as Josh Lewin called it “a gift from the baseball gods”. I was there with my wife the game that Pudge played his last as a Ranger. The applause for him on June 19, 2009 was just as great as it was on September 29, 2002.

The actual game itself seemed kind of “meh” other than the walkoff when compared to the stuff above. Matt Harrison came off the DL and pitched OK. Salty & Nelson Cruz had home runs. Kinsler stole two bases. Even Omar Vizquel stole one! The two new pen additions (Jason Grilli & Darren O’Day) tossed a few more shutout innings.

The walkoff was a bloop hit down the left field line. Was your usual fun walkoff win. But even this pales in comparison to me to the events of the rest of the game. It was just major for me. Only thing that would have made it better is if Vizquel also broke the record at the same time. But since he merely tied it, he’ll now have a chance to beat it back in San Francisco where he played for awhile. That will be nice for him, I’m sure.

Kevin Millwood continues to roll along in his attempt to play 2009 like he played when he was with Cleveland. Another strong outing of seven innings, just four hits, three walks, six strikeouts, and more importantly just a single earned run. Which came on a fifth inning solo home run by Pudge. Millwood looks really great, and you have to start wondering if he’ll get consideration for the All-Star game. I mean in mid June he’s 7-4 with an ERA of 2.62. He really does seemingly deserve consideration for the All-Star staff. That will seem quite weird, having a good Rangers pitcher in the All-Star game. If he does get in, you know it will garner more attention for us, as the announcers will go on about “The Rangers? Pitching?” To that, Jason Jennings followed up with two scoreless innings of his own to cap the victory.
Offensively, the Rangers were led by Ian Kinsler, who had two solo home runs – one in the first and one in the second. He also had a third hit (single), and scored on that hit, too. Nice night for him, after being in a slump for awhile. Kinsler wasn’t the only one with home runs. David Murphy also had a solo home run in the third. The three home runs were half of our runs. Michael Young also had a couple of RBI’s in the game, and Marlon Byrd had one, too. The hits were not very spread out. They were mostly bunched at the top of the lineup. Five of our nine hits were from the first two batters. The other four were from the fifth and sixth place batters. So nine hits were from four batters. The other five took ofers. The win was nice, the balance was not.
This officially claimed the silver boot for the Rangers for another season. I like playing the Astros, but does anyone really care about the boot? Outside of when we play the Astros, you never hear about it.

This was one of those “growing pains” games for Derek Holland. Most Rangers fans expect him to be great, but he is 22, and there won’t be games. Actually,it wasn’t totally awful, but the line wasn’t particuarly great, either. Five innings, five hits (not too bad), four walks (bad), and a home run. Derek gave up four earned runs in his five innings, which is certainly not good.
The Dodgers also tacked on two against Eddie Guardado in his 2/3 of an inning. He seems to be way more inconsistent this year. There’s still outings where he was good like he was in 2008, but the 2009 version isn’t nearly as automatic. Certainly he isn’t “everyday”.
Darren O’Day’s ERA is 0.82. Just sayin’… ;)
Offensively, I wanted to start with Ian Kinsler. His slump continues, with his batting average now at .260 after a 0-4 game. This game featured just six hits from Ranger players, two of them from Andruw Jones, everyone else just one. In fact, the only run of the game came from the only hit that wasn’t a single, that being Jones’ fourth inning solo home run.
There’s no shame in losing to the team with the best record in baseball, and it’s not like they were run over like roadkill, either. They played well as a team in the two losses, but you’d rather see 2-1 than 1-2 for sure.

I’ve seen the lights go out on Arlington
I saw the Lone Star State laid low.
And life went on beyond the Galleria,
They all bought bright Leuxes-
And left there long ago.
They held a concert out in Arlington-
To watch the Ballpark lights blow.
They turned our power down,
And drove us underground-
But we went right on with the show…
Feldman & Wolf were rolling on now..
Lookin like a classic pitcher’s duel
Then the right field lights went out
We sat and waited
For lights that never came…
We sat at home for hours
Watching Rain Delay shows
The fun was going away
I wanted to hit fast forward..
And we lost all hope of the game
When finally out of nowhere
The lights in right just turned right on.
The players took the field
All the pitching was lost
Both teams ran out the bullpens.
Homer by Kemp
Doubles by more Dodgers
Ran the score up three to one
Guardado, Grilli, & O’Day,
Even Moscosco couldn’t help
The Rangers lost the game!
I’ve seen the lights go out in Arlington-
I saw the ruins at my feet,
You know we almost didn’t notice it-
We’d see it all the time on Randol Mill Rd.
They burned the churches up in Oak Cliff-
Like in that Spanish Civil War-
The flames were everywhere,
But no one really cared-
It always burned up there before….
I saw the lights go out on Arlington-
I watched the mighty skyline fall.
The boats were waiting at Ray Hubbard,
The union went on strike-
They never sailed at all.
They sent a carrier out from Norfolk-
And picked the Yankees up for free.
They said that Queens could stay,
They blew the Bronx away-
And sank Manhattan out to sea….
You know those lights were bright on Arlington-
But that was so many years ago…
Before we all lived here in Texas-
Before the Mafia took over Mexico.
There are not many who remember-
They say a handful still survive…
To tell the world about…
The way the lights went out,
And keep the memory alive….

First off, I didn’t see hardly any of this game, as we had a few friends over to watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Was a lot of fun, and a friend bought some of my favorite (Blonde) beer, which I haven’t been able to find lately around me.
The Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles swept into town, bringing with them the overall best record of any team in baseball. They finished the game with the same condition, but not before being shown that the little ol team from Arlington can play with them.
Vicente Padilla, coming off a stint on the waiver wire, didn’t allow anything, although he was all over the place. Threw just five innings, but also 108 pitches. Walked three, gave up four hits, but more importantly, no runs. One wonders if he pitches really good between now and the end of July he’ll get moved. I don’t think anyone thinks Padilla will be wearing Texas in 2010, so it could make sense.
He was followed by Jason Jennings, who threw three innings of scoreless relief, and Jason Grilli (who I expect won’t stay long either) who threw a scoreless inning, preserving the shutout.
Offensively, we got some runs across the plate, which has been a problem the last few games. We had nine hits in all. Three doubles (two by Teagarden), a triple (Byrd), a home run (Blalock), and four singles. I missed all of it, just saw highlights on Baseball Tonight. But it was nice to get some runs across.
But more importantly getting a dominating win against one of the big boys. That was very cool.

A lot was written about how the 1-0 win in Arlington is a rare occurrence. It is. You almost never see the Rangers win 1-0 at home. If there’s zero in the score like that, the other number is frequently a nine or something like that.
But not this night. Kevin Millwood was quite good again. While I didn’t get to see the game, his line looks impressive. 7.2 innings pitched, five hits, no walks, and NO RUNS. Kevin left with 105 pitches thrown, which is below his usual workload for 2009. Still, you can’t argue with the results.
Darren O’Day & CJ Wilson both threw two thirds of an inning, also giving up no runs. Wilson gave up a hit, but that was it. The Blue Jays scattered their six hits, with only Aaron Hill getting more than one.
On our side, it wasn’t great to see us shut down offensively again, but thanks to our pitching, the one run we got was all we needed. The Rangers actually had fewer hits than Toronto did (five to their six). David Murphy was the only Ranger with two (one a double). The other hits were by Chris Davis (double), and singles by Chris Davis, Jarrod Saltamacchia, & Nelson Cruz. The lone run actually was driven in by Marlon Byrd, who had a sac fly in the second.
Overall, an extremely impressive game. I wish I was out there for it. Would have been great to see!