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Seems like an odd headline to say that a game with a score of 8-1 was a close game. But this was an odd game.
Early on, it was a no hitter for both sides into the third inning, when the first hit of the game was a bloop double to right field by Gerald Laird with two outs. But it remained scoreless with an obscenely high percentage of flyouts and popouts (as opposed to groundouts).
We get into the bottom of the fourth with a combined no runs and one hit (Laird’s double), and Jim Thome was at bat, and launched his bat into the stands, hitting a fan. After getting a new bat, Thome launched the right object into the stands (well, if you’re a Sox fan), the ball. Over Kenny Lofton’s head for a home run. That turned out to be the only run the Rangers surrendered, and if it’s a solo home run to Jim Thome, that’s not anything to be ashamed of. Odd that the Sox didn’t score more, as Tejeda did help ’em a bit by giving up four walks, but none of them hurt.
After Ian Kinsler reached base on a fielder’s choice in the fifth, Brad Wilkerson smacked a two run home run to right to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. That was a bit of a surprise for a guy who has really lacked any kind of consistent power since he came to Texas. Plus with the way the game was going, you weren’t expecting something like that. So it was nice to see. Turned out that was the game winning run, although you also wouldn’t have expected that, either.
Things pretty much stayed calm until the top of the seventh when Sammy Sosa doubled to deep right field. There was an outside chance it could have gone out, but it didn’t have that “Oh yeah, that’s a home run” feel to it. Still, double works. Man in scoring position with one out in a 2-1 game. Good thing to have. Hank Blalock squirted a single through to right field, and given the score (I assume), Don Wakamatsu held Sosa at third. Then Ian Kinsler did have one of those “Oh yeah, that’s a home run” swings. No doubter to left field which gave us a 5-1 lead, and keeps the Kinsler love fest going. While I have to admit I’m enjoying his early April stats (and I did like the clip they showed on TV which says that Kinsler has a better HR/At bat ratio right now than Arod), I have to admit to being mildly concerned that all his power is stuff being pulled to left field. I can’t say I recall much of it if any going to right. But that’s OK. I’ll enjoy it, anyway. :)
In the 8th, the Sox allowed a double to Kenny Lofton, which was the third time Lofton led off an inning this game. Usually your “leadoff” hitter only really leads off in the first, sometimes they get another, but this is at least the second time I can remember already where our leadoff hitter actually leads off three times in a game this year. Anyway, Frank Catalanotto moved Lofton to third on a fly ball, and Michael Young struck out with a man on third and one out. That didn’t feel good. Then Ozzie Guillen walked Mark Teixiera intentionally to get to Sammy Sosa. That was odd, as while Sosa isn’t exactly setting the world on fire right now, he’s warmer than Tex is, who is really pretty darned cold right now. Anyway, after going down 0-2, Sammy Sosa launched a home run to right center after doing a good sized bunny hop at the plate. I didn’t think off the bat it was automatically out, but it ended up going a couple rows over the fence. I have to admit to smiling when that happened. I rarely do that for home runs – the last time I recall smiling on a home run was that walk off one that Rod Barajas had against the Yankees at the Ballpark two seasons ago. That one made me smile. This one did, too. Also really shut up the Chicago crowd, who had been riding Sosa most of the game. That put us up 8-1, and ended the scoring for the evening.
Two home run fun facts. The home run by Wilkerson was his 100th career home run, and the one by Thome was his 475th.
In all, the Rangers had 9 hits, six of them were extra base hits. Three doubles (Sosa, Lofton, Laird) and three home runs (Sosa, Kinsler, Wilkerson). The Sox had only four hits in all. Their only offense was the Thome home run, and the other three hits were by just two batters, so they had not much going on at all.
That brings me to what I thought for most of the game would be the main story, Robinson Tejeda. He was pretty darned good, going seven innings, giving up three hits and the one run. I didn’t like the four walks, but as I said earlier, it didn’t hurt us. I get the feeling that we’ll see more of this Tejeda than the one we saw in Tampa Bay a few days back. It was also nice to see Sammy Sosa on the post game show not answer one of Tom Grieve’s questions, and pointing out how well Tejeda pitched before he actually got around to answering Grieve’s question.
So yeah, despite the score being 8-1, this really felt like a close game for the majority of the time it was being played, which itself was another nice surprise, only clocking in at 2:28.
Oh, and I wonder what happened to Brad Wilkerson that he had to be helped off the field to start the ninth?

Well, I was really sick this day. When I came home from church, I lied down on the sofa, and did not move for over five hours. I did turn on the game, but I was asleep for most of it, so I’m not going to write much, as I missed it all. Doing a commentary just on the box score when you lose 14-6 isn’t much fun.
Brandon McCarthy was rather Chan Ho Park with his pitching. 6ER in 2IP. Ugh. Even Mark Clark wasn’t that bad! (Yeah, I know, two Mark Clark references in two games) Course none of our pitching was really when you give up 14 runs.
Offensively, the real high point was Ian Kinsler’s 9th inning home run which led (I’m sure) to his being named AL Player of the Week (link).
I did TiVo the thing, but I saw the score, and wasn’t interested in watching any more. I just turned it off, and went back to sleep on my couch.

If I wasn’t sure before, I was now. This is the Vicente Padilla that wore out his welcome in Philly. We got the random hit batter (which we used to talk about with Chan Ho Park, too). Padilla went 6, which was more than I thought he was gonna get. He gave up 6R (4ER) on 6 hits and three walks during that time. Didn’t look at all like the guy who went 15-10 for us last year. He turned in another Mark Clark effort.
CJ Wilson didn’t fare much better, going just one frame, giving up 2ER on a home run.
Seattle starter Miguel Batista was pretty good, given all the time off he had with the snowouts in Cleveland that the Mariners had to sit through.
Course, we gave up three errors, which is never good. Even Kansas City or Pittsburgh could beat us that way. Heck, the kids who play in the Jr Rangers ballpark next door could have probably beat the Rangers.

Let’s see, we’re in Seattle, so watching the game on TV means..
1) Remark about weather – check.
2) Clip of train running behind ballpark – check.
3) Josh & Tom “pretending” to not notice the clip is taped – check.
4) Shot of old guy with blue hat in the stands – check.
5) Demolition footage of the Kingdome – check.
6) Great pitching by the Rangers seals the win – check. Wait, WHAT?
Eric Gagne was activated off the DL today, and immediately got in the flow of things. Kevin Millwood started the game, and while he wasn’t as crisp as I’d seen him in the past, he certainly got it done when he had to. It resulted in a great line for him, 6 innings pitched (only 82 pitches), 7 hits, and just one run. Benoit, Otsuka, & Gagne followed, and didn’t allow any runs, which is the way you draw it up. Combined, we had 9IP, 2ER, 11H. More than enough to get the job done.
Speaking of getting the job done, Ian Kinsler continues his great spring. He went 2-3 with 2RBI, and a run scored, with another home run (his club leading 5th). Mike Young was 2-4, and Matt Kata was 3-4. We only had two more hits total outside of those above, so it wasn’t a dominating offensive performance, but we had enough to get it done.
I didn’t see Gagne, unfortunately, as I fell asleep watching the game; when you’re sick you can’t force yourself to stay up as late as you want. :)
EDIT: I was reminded that Benoit did give up a run, but that’s what I get when trying to read box scores when I should be in bed sick. :)
EDIT 2: Thanks to commenter James for reminding me about the Kingdome footage being shown all the time too. Don’t know how I forgot that.

I didn’t write about this when the game happened, and as I sit here Friday afternoon, I don’t have much time to write either. I’ll just go with a few short remarks that would probably sum it up anyway.
At the time, I remember thinking “This must be the Tejeda that the Phillies decided they had enough of”. He still looked good overall, had a bad inning, but that’s what we saw a lot with when Chan Ho was here.
Michael Young broke out big time, with two home runs. That was good.
Kameron Loe was the best he’s been since the season started.
Jack seems to have found a good home as a reliever, which is nice, as you always kind of want one of your own to stick around and do good. I’ve said some ugly things about him in the past on this site, but it’s nice to see him figure it out.
We did only get five hits TOTAL all game, which (again) is not good.

Well, those who read my site know how I feel about Bruce Chen & Jamey Wright. They bookended the game last night, and both proved why the Rangers are the 9th and 6th different major league club respectively for each. I won’t rag on them too much, will just let the lines do the talking:
Jamey Wright: 2.2IP, 5H, 5ER, 3BB, 1K, 1HR
Bruce Chen: 2.0IP, 3H, 3R(0ER), 0BB, 2K, 1HR
Neither was particularly stellar. Chen’s runs weren’t technically earned, but the way he pitched it looked like they should have been. Yeah, I know rules about earned runs are there, but to me he didn’t look that stellar. Take away these two guys who I didn’t want here in the first place, and it would have been the lopsided game it felt like. Jamey Wright was actually OK in the first two innings, and then fell apart. Sounds like the definition of a middle innings relief guy. Go a couple, then out. But he seriously stunk up the joint in the third, giving up a 5 spot. I know Tampa Bay can hit a little, but it was ugly in the third.
Fortunately, Jae Seo for the Devil Rays stunk up the joint worse than Jamey Wright did in the third. Seo went three innings, giving up TEN RUNS (only 5 earned, technically). There was a span there where it seemed like I could jump out of the stands and hit a ball to the Rangers bullpen. When you have double digit runs before the end of the third inning, it feels like a runaway, not the somewhat close score the final turned out to be.
Funny thing is with all of that offense, we had three of our starters with no hits in the game. One was Michael Young, who did walk twice, though. The top of the lineup got their act in gear tonight. Kenny Lofton led off the game with a home run that didn’t look more than a bloop to right – it SERIOUSLY carried. In all, Lofton was 3-3 with a walk, scoring three times and getting three RBI’s. So you couldn’t ask for more from your leadoff guy. Frank Catalanotto followed him up with a 3-5 night, falling just a double short of a cycle. Tex was 2-5, Wilkerson was 2-3, so it was a good night for the offense in general. It is just Tampa Bay pitching, but I’ll take the runs and a win where I can get them. Just wished this was against Anaheim or Boston; would have made it more impressive.
We wrap up the series Wednesday night with Robinson Tejeda going against James Shields. It’s another of those “Uh-oh. A pitcher with next to no track record will probably kill us”. It always seems to happen.