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Topes win! Topes win!
OK, it’s not quite that bad, but we managed to get out of Seattle without being swept. We did manage to have a winning record on this road trip against the West, which is good. We’re in second place, only 3.5 games out – so things aren’t as bad as some online folks would have you believe. :) We’re certainly scoring runs, but we’re giving up way too many. It appears that Ryan Glynn has lost his spot on the rotation. Let’s see what else happens.
Anyway, last night Raffy continued his surprising onslaught against Safeco field with another home run and a couple of RBI’s. Chad Curtis also had a jack – our offense is quite well. However, we again gave up too many, too many from the pen, and let the Mariners back in the game, when they had no business being in the game. That can be a huge problem.
Doug Davis got the win – he wasn’t stellar, though. That’s our problem so far. He only went 5.2 innings, which is killing our bullpen. Crabtree is on the DL now, and R.A. Dickey was called up from AAA to help out. My guess is he goes to the pen, and isn’t a rotation guy. On the other side, we roughed up Brett Tomko pretty good, so much so that Seattle had to bring in Aaron Sele from the bullpen – the first time he’s ever done that in his career.
Ichiro Suzuki continues to be hot, going 13 games now with his hitting streak. Is it just me, or does he appear to slap at everything to try to drive it to left field? Every time I see him hit, that’s what it seems like.
Back home – although we’ll be tired, not getting in until about 6AM on Thursday. :)

No commentary from me on this game.

What a circus atmosphere. I probably would have been really into it if I was in Seattle – I know I would have worn Ranger colors, too. For some reason, I just don’t see myself getting assaulted in Seattle. Now, I wouldn’t try that if say, Derek Jeter came to Texas, and we were going to the Bronx. :)
However, I was sitting in my living room, and that’s not the same thing as being there. I would have liked to have been there, but from what I could see, it was definitely a circus. You’ll see in the photos below some of it – but the loudness was surprising. I knew he’d be booed a lot, and cheered when he messed up, but it still didn’t compare – even though some of the cooler stuff was announced. My favorite thing a fan did was sit there with a fishing rod with a dollar bill attached, trying to reel in Arod. Now that was funny, yet uncool at the same time. I laughed at that one.
As for the game itself? Well, Ryan Glynn had NOTHING. He has always had a problem with walking a lot, and he did that tonight too. However, he just seemed to have even less than his usual mediocre to bad outing. If Helling has a night like this Tuesday, I can see the folks clamoring for a change. I have to admit I’m surprised at Glynn, as he didn’t pitch this way in spring training.
Our bats kept us in the game for the most part – Raffy did his best, hitting two home runs in the game – the first two in Safeco this season, but we just gave up too many. I have a feeling that will be the story of the season.

Hopefully, I get to use this graphic a lot this season. :)
It was really nice to see us bust out in this fashion, scoring over 30 runs against the A’s. I don’t like the fact that we’re giving up so many – we have the worst ERA in all of baseball so far. We won’t be able to carry the team that long on just the sticks. We need some better pitching. Still, a win is a win, and I’ll take as many as we can get. Especially when we have to chase the Twins (!) for best record in baseball. :)
Anyway, Arod continued his onslaught this weekend in Oakland, going 2 for 3 with 5 RBI’s for a total of 13 for the weekend. It was really awesome to see our offense wake up. Our pitching? Well, Oliver gave up too many and exited too short for a starter. Our bullpen let them back in the game when they shouldn’t have.
It seems that anyone pitching as closer has inherited John Wetteland. First off, Crabtree couldn’t pitch – he was having back spasms. Second, Venafro, who did pitch for a save, proceeded to walk the bases full before getting the job done. I wonder if we can have a closer that goes 1-2-3 anymore! :)

As I started watching this game, I felt good. Kenny Rogers looked pretty good early on. We jumped on Barry Zito for a bunch of runs early on, going up 8-0, on the strength of the bottom of the lineup, who really delivered well.
However, the biggest bat was Arod, who seemed to be the Arod that was envisioned when he was signed. He went 3 for 5, with six RBI’s, a 3 run home run, and some pretty good defense. This is the ARod that I suspect Seattle is so annoyed at losing. I know I would be. :)
However, as the game went on, our bullpen stupidly let the A’s back in the game – they tied the game up 8-8 in the 8th inning. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. When you’re up 8-0, you deserve to win. :) Anyway, ARod came through in the 9th again, delivering an RBI to put us up 9-8, after Curtis & Velarde (both great surprises so far this season) singled, setting the table.
Mr. Wetteland (ahem, excuse me, Tim Crabtree) got his fourth save in true “#35 fashion”. He put a couple on before getting the job done. Crabtree said he learned a lot from Wetteland, he wanted his uniform, and so far, he’s filling John’s shoes very well – taking all aspects of John’s pitching (especially the heart attack style of saving games). :)

This is the type of game that the 2001 Texas Rangers were supposed to have been playing all along. The big bats break out in a major, major way, and our pitching keeps ’em down.
Quite frankly, I expected to win this game, but not quite by this large of a margin. The game started off great enough, with home runs by Rusty Greer & Randy Velarde to lead off the first. That’s all we really needed. :)
However, we didn’t stop there, really teeing off on Cory Lidle. Arod finally got his first home run as a Ranger, which was nice to see. Geez, just about everyone had a contribution here, only Pudge was hitless, going 0-6.
We ended up getting 4 runs off of Mike Magnante, and one off of Jeff Tam. Our pitching on the other hand, was stellar. Doug Davis did our tired bullpen a job, going 6.2 innings, giving up just one run. Zimmerman & Venafro, who pitched the remaining 2.1 innings didn’t give up anything, which was nice to see.
I hope that these offensive stats are the start of something nice, not just an abberation.

Ewwwwwwwww… That’s about all I have to say about this one. Major stinker. As I’m writing this 3 days later, I don’t feel like jogging my memory to remember this piece of crap. :)