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Well, we lost this game, and it got out of hand in the first couple of innings, as Ismael Valdes gave up a bunch of runs again. He gave up 7 in 5 innings, and while the linescore says he only had 5 earned runs, that’s still too many, and he really deserved all 7. RA Dickey, Brian Shouse, and Jay Powell (!!!) didn’t give up anything, so I guess that’s good.
We tried to mount a comeback in the 8th inning when we got the second home run of the game from Mike Young, as well as one from Arod to bring the game to 7-5, but all that did was bring out Troy Percival, which means there’s nothing else to do except make outs.
However, the news of the day was the trade of Carl Everett to the White Sox. I have to admit, I really didn’t want to see him go, and while I know it will help our club, I have had a major turn of heart on Everett. I still think he’s too slow to play centerfield, but he’s been a great citizen here, and hasn’t caused any problems. I really was kind of hoping he’d stay. Instead, we’re stuck with Gonzalez and no Everett for the rest of the season.

OK, we’ve won two in a row. This time John Thomson didn’t have the ball up and all over the park, giving up just three hits and three runs over seven innings (98 pitches). He pitched pretty decently, and our offense worked, as opposed to the barely being able to get two runs a game crud we’ve been seeing a lot of lately. It was capped by home runs by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. What’s better is that we got it against Ramon Ortiz, someone who has pretty much owned the Rangers, going 9-1 lifetime against us before tonight’s game.
These 9PM starts are rough, as my wife and I had company over for dinner, and I didn’t get to start watching the game until 11:30 – by that point I was so tired, I just started skipping through several sections on my TiVo – probably watched the whole thing in less than an hour. I really wish Hicks had let us move to the AL Central a couple of years ago when we had the chance.
The season is now halfway over. I said that to my wife last night. I said “That’s it – it’s just downhill towards the end of the season now” :)
Game notes here.

Ramos was wild early, walking 7 in 3.1 innings, hitting one, yet only giving up 3 runs, on two hits. Had he had better control, he probably would have stayed in this game, and done well. After the three we gave up in the first inning, we didn’t give up any more again until the bottom of the ninth. In the meantime, we scored 8 runs (all from the 5th onwards).
It was powered by home runs by Kevin Mench, Rafael Palmeiro, and a nice triple by Arod that Craig Biggio fell down running after. We also scored a couple on 2 RBI single by Juan Gonzalez in the 9th.
Victor Santos & Rosman Garcia pitched well – a combined 3.2 innings giving up nothing. That’s nice to see. Cordero was good his first inning, but not good the second, which allowed Urbina to come in and get a save, which he was good at this time (no heart attack saves).
That’s it for Interleague this season. We had a horrific record this time around, going 4-14. :(
Game notes here.

Well, I didn’t see much of this game – I came home and fell asleep watching the game. Woke up in the 9th inning, didn’t see the point in backing up the TiVo to watch it. Didn’t miss much, although Tony Mounce pitched really well again – that’s promising.
Oh yeah, we formally lost the Silver Boot trophy today.
Juan Gonzalez is still a Ranger; he needs to go – release him!
Game notes are here.

As good as it was to see a win, I can’t help but think of the fiasco up in Boston. A 25-8 game. It was 14-1 after one inning. The Red Sox got 10 runs before they got their first out. A Florida pitcher had to be carried off on a stretcher with his head immobilized because he got hit in the head. People were throwing at batters – there were two dugout empties, and at least one ejection. Man, if I was at that game, I’d certainly feel I got my money’s worth. Here’s the details of that game.
Anyway, my favorite moment of our game was actually the pinch hit appearance by David Matranga. My wife and I have checked out several Round Rock Express (Astros AA team) games over the last couple of years, and we always saw David Matranga down there. Well, he finally made it to the show last night. And he clocked a home run in his first major league at bat – I got all excited about that.
On our side, we were hitting the ball around the field like a pinball. We had several shots that hit a wall and went rolling – one was good for a triple for Arod. It was a back and forth and pretty close until the 9th inning, actually. Joaqin Benoit was OK – he got pulled probably earlier than he normally would, but that seemed to be a consequence of National League play. Raffy had a very nice, very majestic, and an absolute no doubter home run in the seventh inning, scoring three. The Astros had four home runs, but none were big problems. Raffy also turned in some nice defense in the field, too. Overall a nice game that felt more in the Rangers control to me watching it than the score indicated.
Overall for the Silver Boot contest, we’re down 3-1, and a total of 12 runs. We need to win by a total of 12 runs over the next two games to take the series.
Juan Gonzalez is still a Ranger; he needs to go – release him Here’s more on that mess.

I guess we got too high and mighty on that two game winning streak, and needed to be brought down. What other reason could there be for a game where we lose 13-0 and give up four home runs in the span of 10 batters? Certainly can’t be our pitching. Feel free to insert a joke about our third round draft pick being in attendance to witness it. Feel free to insert a joke about the Rangers Captain pitching later this season.
Mark Mulder looked like a Cy Young award winner, that’s for sure. He allowed only 3 hits all the time he pitched. Hard to do anything against him when he’s on like that.
On the positive side, Ron Mahay was great. He gave up a single to his first batter, then nothing afterwards. Looked sweet!
The Juan Gonzalez trade is still undecided; he needs to go.
Game notes here; additional notes here.

We won, but God knows we tried to blow it giving up 2 runs in the top of the 9th. If that text looks familiar – it should. I wrote it about the previous night’s game. It applied again. We went ahead big with a nice rally in the 6th, 7th, & 8th when we scored a total of 7 runs to take a 9-6 lead. So we bring in Urbina again. He proceeded to do what he did the night before – give up runs. Two this time, and then proceeded to get the save. It really reminded me of some of John Wetteland’s saves. :)
We had the longball going, with a solo shot by Arod on the first pitch he saw in the first, as well as two of them by Raffy later in the game during the big rally. That was nice to see – hell, even Raffy got a bloop hit to left. He’s also shown bunt a few times, so hopefully he’s at least trying to beat the shift.
The Juan Gonzalez trade is still undecided, and while my virtriol from yesterday about my “no Juan” picture has calmed down, I still think he needs to go.
And finally, a very scary moment early when Carl Everett’s bat went flying into the stands and hit two people. A 4 year old kid, as well as a 15 year old girl. Both were taken off the field. Carl was extremely shaken up, and my wife and I both commented that it’s terribly obvious that he has feelings and a heart, otherwise he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did when it happened. Play was stopped for awhile during which medical attention was given. We heard later on that the 4 year old went home fine, and the 15 year old was still at the hospital, but will most likely not need anything more than stitches. One comment I’ll make about the situation. Folks who are down in those seats where things like this happen tend to be the least attentive fans there. They’re what a friend of mine calls the “boob job & cocaine crowd”. In other words, people who have too much money. Where I’m going with this is that they’re on cel phones, talking about some biz thing and not paying attention, generally. In my opinion, four year olds should NOT be down there, because they have no clue what’s going on, they’re just “there”. And as such, they have no comprehension of the danger they’re in. I don’t think parents should put kids THAT young in harm’s way. I know I wouldn’t.
Hey, two in a row, and we’re only 21 games behind the Mariners now. Here we come! :)
Game notes here, and additional notes here.