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The Rangers dropped their fifth in a row to the Angels this afternoon by the score of 10-6. It started out OK. In fact, it started out GREAT! Chan Ho Park pitched four innings, gave up no runs, one hit (which was a bunt single), and had two strikeouts. He even didn’t have his random hit by pitch he always seems to have. But I hate it when Park does this, because we all know he’ll be right back to the old ChoP we know and love and give up 600 runs the next time out. I’m tired of being teased like this by him. He might even put out a good performance next time. But it won’t last. Let’s cut him now. Put someone else in there.
The next two pitchers actually kept us in the game. Carlos Almanzar and Vlad Nunez gave up no earned runs, although Nunez had an unearned one. But then not only did the wheels fall off the wagon, but the wagon itself fell apart. Jason Stanridge gave up 7 runs (6ER) in his inning of work, and Kameron Loe gave up two runs (1ER) of his own following that. The wagon destroying 8th inning had the Angels had the first 9 batters reach without an out; they sent a total of 14 that inning. The Rangers comitted 3 errors, and gave up a total of 9 runs. We were winning the game 4-1 at that point, but were losing 10-4 at the end of the inning. This is the point where people who write about the team say that “it’s just spring training, and these guys aren’t going to be here come April anyway”. That’s true, but man, does a 9 spot look UGLY up there.
Offensively, we had a total of 12 hits. Rod Barajas went 3 for 3 with a double & Adrian Gonzalez was 2 for 4 and an RBI to lead the charge. No home runs, but Hank Blalock had a triple. Mike Young also had a double and two RBI’s. The offense was mostly scattered around.
We’re now down five in a row to 4-8.
You can view my complete update for this game here.

My wife and I were doing some stuff together yesterday, as we won’t have much time for that in a few weeks once the baby arrives. So we’re driving around, and I turned on the XM baseball schedule, and they said the Rangers were on Channel 181. I turned there, and it was Eric! I had forgotten the Rangers were on the radio. So we listened while we were driving around.
I tuned in when we were up 2-0. Then I got to hear Richard Hidalgo hit his second home run, and I got to hear Alfonso Soriano finally get his first hit of the spring – a home run as well. So we were up 5-0. Made a stop, and when we came out, it had gone to 5-3. Uh-oh. As we were driving around, we lost the lead due to some ineffective pitching in the middle innings. We picked up one in the bottom of the 8th to make it 7-6, but we couldn’t get the important tying run across the plate. Wasn’t really a see-saw game, as the lead only changed hands once. Seemed more like a “club the other guy” game. We scored 5. They scored 7, and then we had one late as a final whimper.
Pitching wise, Chris Young did really well his first three innings, not giving up anything. If I’m not mistaken, his entire line came in inning 4, when he likely ran out of gas, which isn’t too common in the first third of spring training games. Travis Hughes came on and poured more gasoline on the fire, giving up 4 runs in his one inning of work. The remaining pitchers we used (Brocail, Montero, Shouse) kept things at bay, not giving up anything else, but we couldn’t come all the way back.
That led us to our fourth spring loss in a row. Last win was last Wednesday against the Cubs. Hopefully Mondays’ game against the Angels will be different. :)
You can view my recap page here.

Last Saturday my wife had her baby shower, and today we had a birthing class to attend, so I didn’t get ot listen to much Eric & Vince on the radio so far this spring. I did hear them for a bit today, which was nice to hear after the ESPN guys calling Ranger games. Bleargh!
Anyway, in a move I wasn’t aware of ahead of time, last year’s first round pick Thomas Diamond started the game today. He walked the first two batters, then calmed down, and didn’t give up anything else except one hit (and no runs) in his two innings of work. I didn’t get to hear this part of the game, so I couldn’t get a guage as to how sharp he was, but it was nice to hear he did well overall. I seriously doubt he’s a contender for the rotation, this is probably just a nice look-see. I suspect we might see Diamond in September. Possibly next year.
That was the end of our good pitching for the day. The remaining pitchers we used (Regilio, Bukvich, Ramirez, & Rupe) all gave up runs. Bukvich gave up 5 (3ER). Most of this was in an ugly 6 spot we gave up in the bottom of the 6th. Crooked numbers in the linescore are never good when your opponent gets ’em. Never.
Offensively, we had a total of 9 hits, no one player with more than one. The three runs were batted in by Young, Matthews, & Blalock. On the plus side, four of our 9 hits were doubles (Colbrunn, Derosa, Blalock, & Young). Alfonso Soriano didn’t play today. I didn’t hear why, I don’t know if it’s health related, or they just gave him a day off. But Soriano is still hitless in spring training as far as I know.
The less drops us to 4-6 in Cactus league play, and we now have a three game losing streak.
You can view my recap page here.

I didn’t realize that this game was on XM Radio right away, or I would have listened to it earlier. When I started listening, we were down 3-0 going into the top of the seventh. It was at that point we put together a two out rally to take the lead, 4-3. It was started on a two out two strike single by Gerald Laird, and then several other hits followed at that point. Right after that inning ended, I had to stop listening, as I had something I had to do. Good thing, as we immediately gave up the lead, and never scored again. So I got to hear the best part. :)
Of the 6 runs we gave up today, only two were earned. Kameron Loe gave up 3 runs, all unearned. Juan Domignuiez gave up 3 as well, two of his were earned. What’s more amusing is that the four runs we scored in the seventh were all unearned. Of the 10 runs scored by both teams, 8 of them were unearned. That doesn’t usually happen. Bartolo Colon looked in mid season form according to his box score. 4.2IP, 4H, 0ER, 5K.
Offensively, Gary Matthews Jr went 3 for 3 with a stolen base. That was the leading offensive performance by a Ranger today. On the flip side, Soriano still hasn’t gotten a hit in all of spring training. I think he’s 0-13 now or something like that.
This loss drops us under .500 for the spring.
You can view my recap page here.

I don’t have time for a full recap today. In fact, as I write this, the box scores haven’t shown up online anywhere, so I can’t even make one up (which is what I have to do when I don’t get to see or hear the game).
Didn’t look like a great game from watching the box scores while it was going on. The only bright spot from what I can tell was Adrian Gonzalez who had both Ranger RBI’s with a pinch hit double. Beyond that I don’t have any other info.
You can view my recap page here.

This was a refresh the line score game. I saw us take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, and I thought things would be fine. Then I saw the score after the bottom of the first. We were losing 3-1. Our good old buddy Chan Ho Park gave up three runs in the bottom of the first. In typical Park fashion, he had one stinker of an inning, and the rest were pretty decent. Overall Park gave up 3ER in his 3 innings of work. Not that good (that’s an ERA of 9), but the three in the first was a real eye roller. Jason Standridge, who got the win, also gave up 2ER in his 2 innings of work. The remainder of the pitchers we used (Shouse, Brocail, and Rupe) didn’t give up anything. Rupe also picked up a save. Oh yeah, there appeared to be the random hit batter by Park. That was something that Josh & Tom talked about a lot, the seemingly out of nowhere hit batter. There was one in Park’s line, I suspect it was the random kind. :)
Speaking of pitching, Kerry Wood started for the Cubs, and took himself out of the game after the second after feeling a strain in his right shoulder. Wood gave up a run in his two innings, but we staged a comeback against former Ranger prospect Ryan Dempster, picking up 3 runs (2ER), and finishing it off with two runs against Cubs reliever Roberto Novoa.
Offensively, no one really stood out. We had 5 RBI’s (one of our runs was unearned), and no one had more than one. Teixeira was 2 for 3, and Esteban German was 2 for 4. But everyone else had a single hit. We did also leave 14 runners on base, so it could have been an explosion; we just left too many guys out there to really dominate this game. Still, we got a win, and that’s all that really matters in the long run.
Also, Alfonso Soriano is 0-12 to start his spring training games. I don’t think it will be a problem in the long run, but seeing that stat did make me raise an eyebrow.
View my complete update for this game here.