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As per my policy, I do not write about losses to the Yankees.
Next game, please.

Thanks to everyone who sent in a message of condolence for the passing of my stepfather. Was kind of you. Usually when I have a break like that, I have some sort of large update for all the games I missed. This is said post. I decided to tackle this when my little girl was having some issues sleeping tonight, and I got woken up enough that I couldn’t go back to sleep. Decided to write some baseball during 5:00AM dead time. :) In all, I missed 10 games since my last regular update. I probably could have gotten started with the Blue Jays series over the weekend – in fact, I had a ticket to the bobblehead game on Friday, but I was so tired from the recent trip, that I did not feel like driving the 70 miles round trip to the ballpark from my house. I missed getting the bobblehead, though. :)
G22: Rangers beat Blue Jays, 5-3 (Apr 27)
This was an uncomplicated win. The Rangers hit three home runs in the third inning (Wilkerson, Texeira, & Sosa), which accounted for all five of their runs. Mark Teixeira’s was his FIRST of the season, and it came in the 22nd game. That’s not good. We all panicked when he only had 9HR at the All Star break last year. At this rate, he’ll get half of that! :( Robinson Tejeda wasn’t bad, but not great. He gave up 3ER in 5.1IP. He struck out 7 in that time, which is good. Tejeda seems to be a fairly serviceable player for us this year. Mike Young had a bad day on the bases, he was picked off, and was also caught stealing. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G23: Rangers beat Blue Jays, 9-8 (Apr 28)
In a game that saw twelve different pitchers used (5 for Tex, 7 for Tor), the Rangers outlasted the Blue Jays, and finally won an extra inning game – something we never seem to be able to do. Each team had 12 hits, and the Rangers added on a special bonus, two errors. Gerald Laird went 3-5, raising (snicker) his average to .177. He did lead the team with three RBI, though, and had a home run. Millwood wasn’t great, giving up 5 runs in 5.2IP. Willie Eyre also gave up 2ER in 1.2IP. Otsuka had a blown save – it wasn’t great in the pitching department. Mark Teixeira also had another home run; that’s two in two days – plus he had two doubles. Hopefully that’s a good sign. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G24: Rangers lose to Blue Jays, 7-3 (Apr 29)
Tomo Ohka. We lost to Tomo Ohka. That alone should be enough for this recap. McCarthy continued to stink up the joint, giving up 5ER in 3IP, with four walks sprinkled on top for extra flavor. Willie Eyre bounced back from his last outing to go three innings of scoreless relief. Ian Kinsler added his 9th home run. Somehow I doubt he’ll hit his current pace of 54HR, but that would be nice to see. ;) Mike Young is still around the Mendoza line, which is scary as we’ve had about a full month of play now. I just can’t get by.. “We lost to Tomo Ohka”. That’s like saying we lost to Mark Clark. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G25: Rangers lose to Blue Jays, 6-1 (Apr 30)
Vicente Padilla continues to pitch like a guy who has his contract, not one who is pitching for one. He’s now 0-4, with a 5.66 ERA. This is the Padilla the Phillies were eager to get rid of, I’m sure. Roy Halladay on the other hand, pitched like someone who has that kind of reputation should. Complete game win; 1ER on 5 hits with no walks, and 8 strikeouts. That’s pitching. Sammy Sosa was the only player who had any kind of offense here, going 2-4 with a double and an RBI. Halladay was this game. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G26: Rangers lose to Yankees, 10-1 (May 1)
As per my own self induced policy I started a couple of years ago, I do not write about losses to the Yankees. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
Rain out (May 2)
This game was a rain out – I was traveling home from the funeral services back home, and didn’t think it was raining that hard. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G27: Rangers lose, 4-3 (May 3 DH Game 1)
As per my own self induced policy I started a couple of years ago, I do not write about losses to the Yankees. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G28: Rangers lose, 5-2 (May 3 DH Game 2)
As per my own self induced policy I started a couple of years ago, I do not write about losses to the Yankees. I did have a great time at a Black Sabbath Heaven & Hell concert this night, though. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G29: Rangers beat Blue Jays, 7-1 May 4)
This is more like it. That’s the Tomo Ohka we know, the one that gives up a boatload of runs and hits, not the one who gave me nightmares a few nights ago in Toronto. Brandon McCarthy stemmed the tide a bit, and got a nice win, going 6 innings, giving up just one run on 2 hits. He still had too many walks, but it didn’t seem to hurt him here. I also got a kick out of Sal Fasano jacking the home run that was Toronto’s only run. Philly fans have a great imagination when it comes to “fan groups” at their home games (The Padilla Flotilla comes to mind), but the one they had for Fasano made me laugh (Sal’s Pals, who dressed up in the huge mustaches that Fasano has). Don’t know why, I always liked this guy. Anyway, we had two home runs from Hank Blalock and Kenny Lofton. Tex also had a double, and the rest of our hits were all singles. Blalock had the best night, going 3-4 with 3RBI, and 2 runs scored himself. This was the game I had a ticket for, but was just so tired after the trip, and the Black Sabbath concert the night before that I just couldn’t go. If anyone has an extra bobblehead that they gave away from this game, please email me. Thanks. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G30: Rangers beat Blue Jays, 11-4 (May 5)
This was a match up of 0-4 (Padilla) vs 4-0 (Halladay). On paper, we lost this one immediately. But Padilla pitched very well (7IP, 1ER, 6H, 3K, 1BB), and Halladay did NOT (5.1IP, 9ER, 12H, 2BB, 3K). It was quite the reversal of what I think just about everyone thought would happen. We had 15 hits in all, and it was nicely distributed. Of our starters, only Sosa was hitless. In all, we had four doubles (Young, Wilkerson, Kata, & Tex). Mike Young also had a home run in this game, and we had ten other singles. The big one was the third inning when we had something like 5 or 6 consecutive hits against Halladay – it was quite surprising to see him like that. Mike Young went 3-5, and it only raised his average to .225. He needs about two straight weeks of 3-5 games to get back to where he needs to be. Matt Kata went 3-3 as well. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
G31: Rangers beat Blue Jays, 3-2 (May 6)
Wow. The first usage of the sweep graphic this season! I missed most of this game due to church related events, but I did see enough. All three of our runs were on solo home runs. The first one was by Kenny Lofton in the fifth, the second was by Mark Teixeira in the sixth, and the game winner was by Michael Young in the bottom of the eighth. That was all we needed. Victor Diaz (who was batting cleanup – WTF) also had a double, but outside of the home runs, no other offense mattered, really. Kameron Loe pitched well enough for the win, but didn’t get it, as Benoit blew the save. Loe went 6.2IP, and gave up just the one run and had six strikeouts. That’s the guy who was so great in spring training, but seemed to lose it completely like most of the rest of the team once we came out of the gate. Still, the win is a win, and a sweep at home is very nice. [ Game Recap on MLB.com ]
We’re now 13-18, and still in last place, but it doesn’t feel that awful. The Angels are in first place at 17-15, which is not that big a deal. When first place is only two games over .500 and you’re just 3.5 games back, “last place” doesn’t seem so bad. Still, we have a lot of work to do, but I don’t feel as panicky as I did a week ago. Sweeps usually have something to do with that. :)
Hopefully I can now stay current with games going forward. I don’t want to have to take another week and a half break for the same reason I took this one.

Sigh. It’s a bit early in the season to be disenfranchised, and I really am not, but the road losses are getting rather annoying. We’re something 2-150 on the road this season so far. This franchise seems rather lethargic.
Everyone raise their hand when they thought that Sammy Sosa would be our most consistent offensive performer (in a power department) come April 25th. Sosa was the only real good thing to write about for Thursday’s game. He got his historic 44th different ballpark home run with two of them at Jacobs Field. I think I heard on the radio the only other current ballparks he hasn’t hit home runs in are RFK Stadium & New Busch. Unless it ends up being Rangers/Nats in the world series this year, he’s not getting one at RFK. :) Sosa also needs four more multi home run games to pass Babe Ruth for that record. Course, Barry Bonds is on that list too, one above Sosa at the moment.
We head to Toronto, where we’ll probably win one. Maybe. Sigh. At least it was nice seeing this image on ESPN’s site. That was fun. :)

You know there were a lot of great little moments in this game to talk about (Padilla’s first, Young’s RBI late, etc). There actually was a lot positive that happened. But the only thing I can think of about this game to say is…

SSSssssssshit!