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This game ended up well, but there were a few warning signs in it for me. First, the obvious one. Mike Young. He had to sit out with a problem with his back. As the local media outlets are saying, no one really knows when he’ll be back. Hopefully it’s today, but if it’s not today, that’s a bigger flashing red light to me. He’s been the person who has almost always been good for a hit or three a game. He’s also the only player for which we don’t have a realistic option. If we have to put him on the DL, it creates another problem, as none of the other 25 man roster guys are true Shortstops, so we’d probably have to move someone else at the same time. Not good.
The other problem was Kenny Rogers. He seems to pitch well, then give up or let the lead get away, which is what he did last night. We ended up getting the win, but Buck had taken Kenny out before an inning was over, so Kenny couldn’t get the win. He’s still pitching well, and god knows he still plays his defense (he had three great defensive plays last night), but something is starting to scare me there.
Offensively, Eric Young did really well, going 3 for 5 with an RBI (the GW RBI), and a run scored. He wasn’t tested much in the field at SS, but offensively he provided the spark we needed. We had two home runs – one from Teixeira and one from Mench. The one from Tex was a “true” Comerica Park HR, the Mench one would have been an out in their old park configuration. Either way, those coupled with the EY hit were enough to give us the win – our pen was it’s usual stellar self in holding up the back end.

Not much time to write about this one, but there wasn’t much to write about anyway. We were shut down for the most part by Mark Redman. He allowed just one run on 6 hits over 7 innings. Nick Regilio for us didn’t pitch too badly, either, but we usually score more than that for our pitchers. :)

Well, the news of the day was the trading deadline, really. Oh yeah, the Rangers played, but they were really squeezed by the home plate umpire, and we likely lost because of it – or at least in part. We did get a home run out of Brian Jordan, which was a bit of a surprise.
Back to the trading. We got Scott Erickson from the Mets. He was already DFA’ed by the Mets, so it’s not like a huge trade – we’re only giving up a minor league PTBNL for this, so it’s not likely it will be anyone important. I like that for the most part we stood pat. We tried to trade Brad Fullmer, but his injury prevented that move to the Padres. We almost traded away AA 2B Ian Kinsler and another prospect for Larry Walker and a lot of cash. That’s the kind of move we didn’t need to be making. Fortunately, Walker rejected the trade with his no trade clause.
But the biggest story was the Nomar Garciaparra trade. I have to say I was a bit surprised by that. I figured he’d finish up in Boston and then walk in the off season. It’s a bit disappointing on one level, as Nomah is my wife’s favorite player, and he won’t be coming here anymore as he’s with the Cubs now. Of course, we could trade Soriano for pitching, move Mike Young back to second, and put Nomar at short here in Texas – yeah! ;)
This was also the induction ceremony for the second 2004 Rangers Hall of Fame game. While I never saw Fergie Jenkins pitch, or Buddy Bell play with my own eyes, I know them by reputation, and they both seem worthy candidates to be enshrined. There’s also Tom Vandergriff, who brought baseball here in the first place – all of us fans owe Mr Vandergriff a debt of thanks.

Well, tonight marked the major league debut of a former Ranger manager’s cousin – Sam Narron. I always like watching major league debuts. Partly because I like to see a kid get a shot, partially because of the chance that something very cool could happen (like Brian Sikorski against the Yankees a couple of years ago). Anyway, Sam didn’t fare too well tonight, going 2.2 innings and giving up four runs. I hope he’ll get another shot, as I can’t imagine a major league debut is good for a pitcher’s nerves.
He wasn’t helped by Eric Byrnes, who is batting something like .625 against us this year – Byrnes had two home runs, both against Narron. Byrnes also had a double in this game I believe, and was hit by a pitch, so he was on base most of the night. However, after Narron departed, that ended. Surprisingly, Joaquin Benoit came on, and pitched 4.1 innings, and gave up NO runs, on two hits. He was everything we always wanted him to be. Out of the bullpen. That seems to be where he does best anymore. Might be time to think about him being our long man for a long time. ;)
We didn’t get much going against Rich Harden for the longest time – we didn’t get any runs until the 5th inning when we pushed across two. One was on a Blalock single, and the other was a gift on a wild pitch. That was all the scoring on both sides until the bottom of the 8th, when we broke through for a 5 spot to take the lead on two two run singles by Laynce Nix & Mike Young. Tex also had a solo home run in that inning – so we had a nice win on a big inning, not powered by a big home run.
Two other small things. It was damn hot out there. Yeah, I know it’s Texas, but still – I never really feel uncomfortable out there, even on some of the hottest nights. Tonight I was so uncomfortable, I contemplated leaving the game early. I don’t know if it was where I was sitting (section 212), but I did not enjoy the game from that aspect. I did, however, enjoy the retro uniforms. Hell, even Rangers Captain had a retro uniform on, too, which made me chuckle.
The end result tonight? We’re back in first place.

This was an interesting game for me for a few reasons. First, I had just come back from a trip to Philadelphia. I visited the new Phillies park up there, and I was attending my first Ranger game in a bit. I didn’t see them on TV for a week, and haven’t listened on the radio, so I enjoyed being back at my home ballpark. Second, I was part of the group that was in the Ebbets Field Luxury Box (the second deck one out in left field) with a bunch of folks from Jamey Newberg’s site. That was cool.
I did score the game, but even with that, I felt kind of disconnected from the game, as a lot of time was spent talking to folks, and just generally hanging around. Because of that, I won’t write about the specifics of the game, but there is one good thing to add.
If there ever is a time to be in a luxury box, it’s when you are in a rain delay. :)
We did fall out of first place, and sad as that is – I’ll add this. If I told you we’d be in 2nd place only half a game out of first the day before the trading deadline, I bet you would have thought I was insane. Even if we never get back to first, and miss the playoffs, this will be a great season.