Rangerfans.com

Rod Barajas was hot this game. He had two more home runs (that’s 5 in the last 3 games), and 3 RBI’s this game. Coco Cordero was not, blowing another save.
Chris Young looked good, even if his outing was short (5.1IP, 8H, 3R (1ER). Brocail & Cordero blew this game, forcing it into extra innings. We won on Barajas’ second home run of the game in the 10th. John Wasdin nailed it down for the save. Shame about the blown save, as it would have given Scott Feldman his first major league win.
Again, nice to see a win, but it really feels like too little too late.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

Another game where the bulk of our runs (4 out of 5) came in a clump. We put up a four spot on the board in the fourth inning. It was capped off by Rod Barajas’ three run home run following an RBI double by Hank Blalock. Rod also followed up with another home run in the 7th, so Rod himself accounted for four of the five runs we had.
Kenny Rogers got his first win since the suspension, and he had to dance to get it, as he gave up 11 hits and one walk in his 7 innings pitched. He did only allow 4 runs (3ER). Karsay, Shouse, & Coco combined to throw two innings of shutout ball to seal the win. Coco got his 30th save, and Kenny his 12th win.
It’s nice to see a win, even though it’s just the Royals.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

This was actually a pretty well pitched game through the first 5 and a half innings. The Sox were up 2-1 at that point, and both El Duque & Kameron Loe were pitching well.
Loe had gone 6 innings, giving up two runs on four hits with 3K, and 1BB. A pretty good outing. El Duque was just a little bit better until the bottom fell out in the 6th inning for him. His line when he exited the game was 5IP, 6 hits, 6 earned runs, 1 walk, 6K. He also allowed three home runs. Two of them came in the 6th (Young, Soriano). The other was a leadoff HR to David Dellucci in the first inning. We did tack on three more runs in the bottom of the 8th, but the game was essentially over.
Scott Feldman made his major league debut in this game, pitching the ninth. He was perfect. Struck out two, got a flyball out. Nice start there.
It seems we are back on a bit of a roll in terms of winning. Too bad it’s too late.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

We had nothing this game. In fact, we didn’t score any runs since the fifth inning of the first game of the DH. So our bats went pretty quiet for the last 12 half innings they batted. Jermaine Dye did Mark Teixeira’s thing in this game, having two home runs and 6 RBI’s.
Brandon McCarthy looked pretty good. He went 7.2IP and gave up no runs on just two hits. He was spectacular. I think the only thing that kept him from a complete game was his pitch count, which was 117 when he was pulled. It was nice to see Ranger fans applauding him – I know there were Sox fans there, but there was more applause than that. Hell, I applauded him, although I know he couldn’t see me. :)
Edison Volquez, a guy who seems to make Jamey Newberg go all gooey made his major league debut last night. I was at the park for the recent major league debuts and wins of Justin Duchscherer & Brian Sikorski. But my luck didn’t extend to Volquez. He looked like a rookie making his debut. He seemed to be trying to overthrow a lot of his pitches. There were flashes of brilliance, and as rookie debuts go, I would have to say it went pretty well. Not great, but not awful, either. Volquez went 4.2IP, allowed 6 hits, 5ER, walked two, and struck out three. I would hope he’d get another look before we sent him back. There were moments where you could see the electric stuff, and why the team is high on him. But he is after all a kid making his major league debut. Have to factor that in there as well.
From the “Oh, shut up” department comes another whine from the White Sox. This time it was the usual suspect, Ozzie Guillen who complained about Jermaine Dye being hit. I know you need to stick up for your players and all that, but I don’t think anyone thought that we were throwing at the White Sox batters (in particular Dye). There was nothing to be gained by it, and the guy throwing the pitch (Erasmo Ramirez) wasn’t even touched up by Dye – it made no sense. So Ozzie Guillen can join Mark Buehrle in taking a sip from a big cup of “Shut the hell up”. Obviously the lights weren’t working.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

This game can be summed up with just a few short words. Crappy starting pitching. Mark Teixeira.
Neither starter could hold a lead – both teams scored in the first 5 half innings, and through the end of the fifth, only the bottom of the third and the top of the fourth went scoreless. Jon Garland went 4.1IP, and gave up 7 hits, 8 runs (5 earned), and 3 walks. Not a stellar performance. Coudln’t have been the lights, as it was all daytime. Joaquin Benoit didn’t fare much better. He was pulled after three innings, and during his time, he gave up 5ER on 9 hits in 3IP. Not good on either side.
However, pulling Benoit was a good move, as he was replaced by CJ Wilson, who seems to have figured it out the last few apperances, as he’s been outstanding. He was really great in this game, too. He went 5 innings, giving up just two hits and one run. He looked sharp, threw strikes – was everything you want in a pitcher. He even got his first major league win in the game, which was nice.
Mark Teixeira was the star of this one. He went 3 for his first 3 at bats. Two home runs, a double, and six RBI’s. Definitely lead our team in this one.
Funny thing is that after the fifth, we couldn’t score anymore. That continued into game, two as well!
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

The kid vs. the Cy Young winner. That’s how I started the report on Sunday’s game. It’s close to being the same for Monday’s game, too. Juan Dominguez vs. Mark Buehrle was not something you expected a positive outing from, but that is definitely what we got. Here’s another comparison of pitching lines:
Dominguez: 8IP, 7H, 2ER, 2BB, 3K
Buehrle: 7IP, 9H, 4ER, 1BB, 4K (3 unearned runs, too)
These lines just feel “backwards”. But we’ve gotten good young starting pitching recently, and that’s good. I think the goal now should be to end the season at .500.
We got to Mark Buehrle early, scoring two in the first, another in the second, and then three more in the fourth. We capped the scoring with an additional run in the fifth. Buehrle didn’t seem sharp at all, and then came out in the press afterwards claiming the Rangers “cheat” at home. That seems like whining about losing to me. I’m not claiming any team is beyond cheating, but to claim the other team cheated right after you lost just strikes me as sour grapes. The White Sox didn’t help themselves either by comitting four errors in the field, and allowing three unearned runs. That’s probably where the difference in this game was.
Tex continues to be hot, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI’s in this game. One of the RBI’s was his 100th, which makes him the fifth Ranger to have consecutive 100 RBI seasons. We had a couple more home runs this game, one was from Kevin Mench, and the other was one from Mark DeRosa which was most definitely wind assisted. DeRosa has done a nice job this past week. I’m not sure if he fits in for 2006, but for the remainder of this season anyway, he seems to be doing his job well.
Edison Volquez pitches today for the first time ever as a Ranger. I bet Jamey Newberg is more excited than he probably is letting on. :)
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.