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A few complaints. Why take Chris Young out? As evidenced by what followed, he could have done better. And second, why do we keep putting Cordero in with huge leads? He always gives up a few runs. That’s starting to annoy me.
But the rest of the night was great. We were led by Chris Young, who seems to be the #2 of the staff. He’s got that feel about him the last several starts that he’s a big time big league pitcher. Sure, he’s young (har), and he’s got a lot to go through still, but you can’t help but feel good about the way he’s pitched lately. He pitched a 7 inning 2 hit shutout with just one walk and seven strikeouts. I would have left him in for more, but you can’t argue with how well he pitched last night. It was fabulous!
And Alfonso Soriano led the charge with two home runs, and 4 RBI’s. Soriano’s swing looked great all night – he actually had two more swings that looked like home run balls off the bat. One died on the track in center field just to the edge of Greene’s Hill. The other one REALLY looked like a HR ball, but died on the track in front of the scoreboard, and was caught by Ryan Langerhands for an out in one of the best outfielder catches I’ve seen in this ballpark. One handed over the head, crash into the scoreboard, and land face down in the dirt on the track. Was very impressive. Was also nice to see the Ranger fans giving him a hand on TV for that. Classy move.
Mike Young went 1 for 3, and is now batting .309 after being pretty slow early in the season. Teixeira is at .286, although his power numbers seem fine, and seems to be a pretty good candidate to get elected to the All Star game by his peers, as the moron fans seem to be electing Tino Martinez, who doesn’t deserve it. My gut feeling says we’re sending Mike Young & Mark Teixeira, along with Kenny Rogers & Chris Young to the All-Star game. I feel that we’re not sending Blalock this year – have no hard facts on that, just a feeling.
It’s nice to finally beat the Braves. We’re now 1-6 lifetime against them.
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The losing streak comes to an end with a 6-2 win on Sunday afternoon over the Marlins. After the way the road trip went, I personally find it hard to get excited after a win there, but a win is a win I suppose. We’re still only 2.5 games out of first, and seem to have enough to stay in contention (although likely not get anywhere in the playoffs should we get there).
RicRod was called up formally for Sunday’s game and went 5 innings, giving up just two runs on 7 hits and three walks with 7 strikeouts. That’s a terrible WHIP, but since only two crossed the plate, it’s not all bad. :) Another 2005 newcomer John Wasdin was perfect in his four innings of relief, getting the odd save. We had surprising pitching from a surprising source. Like most Ranger fans, I felt good about RicRod last year, then felt awful when he got wailed on with a batted ball, and it ended his season. I really hope he can rediscover that form of mid last year, as it would be a big help to us in the back half of the season. Can’t say I’m thrilled about Wasdin, even given what he did last night. I don’t see him as a permanent piece of the puzzle at all.
We go home now to play the Braves. Hopefully being at home helps out, as we could use several wins, and I’m not confident about getting ’em against the Braves and the surprisingly good Nationals this coming weekend.
(For those of you who don’t get the “Topes Win” reference, it’s a Simpsons gag.)
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Looks like the Philly stink carried into this game, too. We lost when our bullpen couldn’t hold the lead. Kenny Rogers, our best pitcher this season by far had his worst outing of the year, giving up 5 runs in his 5.2IP. Rather un Kenny like, for sure. Juan Dominguez pitched in this game (his first appearance of 2005, I believe), and was OK. Not terrible, but he did give up a run.
Kevin Mench did stake us to a 4 run lead on an absolute no doubter grand slam in the second inning. But that was about it, really. We didn’t garner any sustainable offense, if my memory serves (I’m writing this two days after teh game).
The most amusing moment in the game came from Kenny Rogers. He tripled into the right field bermuda triangle, and after he called time out, immediately bent over with some heavy breathing – they showed video of the bullpen guys laughing at Kenny for his triple. Kenny also had an RBI in the game earlier, so he more than held his own offensively. :)
The rest of the game was just annoying. :)
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After the debacle in Philadelphia (which my brother properly taunted me over), I figured we’d be OK. Nope. We went into Florida and continued to stink up the joint – dare I say, like rotten fish? Get it? Marlins? Fish? Har-har. :) The stink brigade was led by Doug Brocail, who gave up FIVE earned runs in his total of .1IP. Brian Shouse wasn’t far behind, giving up two runs in his 1.3 IP. And bringing up the rear in this stink brigade is good ol’ Chan Ho. He gave up 5ER in his 4.2 IP. Not horrible, but let’s face it. It’s Chan Ho. :)
The capper was Mike Lowell’s grand slam. Lowell was batting about .025 this season it seemed, but of course came up big against us.
Did I mention the total lack of deodorant for out pitchers tonight? Man, they STUNK! The roster overhaul of this past week continued before Friday night’s game, although the way I feel at the moment, it won’t make much difference. John Wasdin? Somehow I don’t think he’s the answer.
But hey, the Yankees are under .500 and in fourth place – so that’ll brighten up my day.
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Ugh. Will write more later.
Update: No I won’t. Game made me too mad.
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I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably say it again. Whenever you pitch against a guy who is making his major league first start, you either score 50 runs in the first inning, or what happened last night happens – you can’t do anything against them. It’s the nature of the beast with an unknown quantity like that.
We got shut out by Robinson Tejeda (not Tejada, guys!) last night. He went 5 innings of two hit shutout ball. In fact, the Phillies pen (former Ranger Aaron Fultz, Ryan Madson, Billy Wagner) went 4 more innings of shutout ball. Between the four Phillies pitchers, we managed just 5 hits the entire night, with Rod Barajas getting two (the others by Teixeira, Blalock, Hidalgo). That’s pretty much the story of the game. The Phillies pitchers closed us down.
On the flip side, our pitching was pretty decent, too. Starter Chris Young more and more looks like a really good rotation guy every time out this season. He went 5.1, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits (6K, 1BB). Our pen (Tejera, Regilio, Shouse) didn’t give up any runs in their time on the hill.
The highlight of the game for me was the opening of the 6th inning when they showed the Philly Phanatic and Rangers Captain dueling it out with lightsabers, in Jedi gowns. That was most amusing. Stupid me didn’t save the game on the TiVo, I deleted it before I got a chance to take a picture of that. Anyone get one?
But the big talk of the day had to have been the DFA’ing of Ryan Drese. I don’t think anyone following the team would have predicted THAT. A guy who was a 14 game winner just last year, and was this season’s opening day starter gets DFA’ed. I’m really surprised they didn’t carry on with him longer than that, especially since he has a guaranteed contract through next year (and an option for 07). Oh well, I seriously doubt we’ll be able to hang on to him and get him to the minors through waivers. It’s just a surprise to me. Hmm, I know we’re bringing up RicRod from AAA to take his place on Sunday, but an opening in the rotation, eh? Perhaps there’s more to those Roger Clemens rumours.. Nah, just joking. :)
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