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Well, I went to this game, and given the way the Rangers were playing, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of attendance. This was one of my season ticket games, and I had heard on TV the other night that the Rangers were offering complimentary upgrades to folks who had tickets in the upper levels. Normally, I sit in Section 326, but I got a free upgrade to Sec 237. What was funny was that the section Lynn & I were in was the most populated section in the stadium it looked like (as it was one of the upgrade sections). Just 20 minutes from game time, it seemed like there was only 5,000 people in the stands. It eventually filled up to 24,000, but still – rather empty. I wasn’t a season ticket holder (or even a Ranger fan) the last time the Rangers were playing this bad in the late 70’s, but I can just imagine. Hell, I wonder what the players feel like in Montreal night after night.
Anyway, a third straight solid performance by Doug Davis led the Ranger charge. He pitched wonderfully through the first six innings. In the seventh, he ran into a little trouble, giving up two runs, and then our bullpen led the charge to defeat. Crabtree gave up the other three earned runs, although sitting in the stands, it didn’t feel like he pitched that badly. Dave Burba on the other side pitched better, unfortunately. He went 6 innings, giving up one (unearned) run, and the other Cleveland bullpen pitchers pitched well (except for Ricardo Rincon). It was just hard to get anything going offensively.
Raffy was ejected in the bottom of the 8th, giving some rise from the spartan crowd. In reading about this game, someone said that it was the first time in Raffy’s career that he was ejected (I find that hard to believe), but it was definitely the first player ejection of a Ranger this season – that’s not bad at all, considering this was game 132 of 162.
Overall a very warm night, and even though the Rangers lost, and it was a spartan crowd, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I just wish that it wasn’t so hot down here – would make coming out more enjoyable, I would think.

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No commentary on this one either. I was on the highways of Texas headed towards the best sausage I’ve ever had in my life from the Southside Market & BBQ. It’s “Elgin Hot Sausage”. Check it out.

This is more like the Rangers of 2000. That 1-0 win last night had to be a dream. This team couldn’t sustain that for more than a game at a time, and even then, only once in awhile.
I actually didn’t see any of this game, I was at the Dell Diamond seeing the Round Rock Express beat up on Darren Oliver in a rehab start. If you get a chance to get down to Round Rock next season, go for it. It’s a great little park!
I did tune in for a minute to listen to the Rangers game, but they were losing 4-1, so I turned it back off, and watched the game in front of me. :)

This is the kind of loss that makes you want to say “Oh, it’s not all that bad, we only lost by one, if we had that one extra hit, if we…” But we know better. This season is just bad, so this is the kind of thing that happens all the time. Our bullpen crashed yet again, and we lost the game late.
Wait a minute. Didn’t I just say the same thing about yesterday’s game? Yeah, I did. This one felt exactly like yesterday’s game. Same feel, same thing. We lost to the Yankees in the Bronx by a one run score. Sigh again.

I saw the last few innings of this one. Lynn & I were down in the Austin/Round Rock area to see the Drillers play the Round Rock Express on Saturday. We went down on Friday, and after we got in from dinner, and a look around 6th Street in Austin, I caught the end of this one. Going into it, I figured we’d get blown out. David Wells always pitches good at the Ballpark against us, and Doug Davis was the inexperienced rookie going up against him. I figured we’d lose something like 8-1 or so. I was rather shocked to see the score 0-0 when I tuned in around the 8th inning.
Wells went eight innings, giving up eight hits, and no runs. However, Doug Davis was even better, going 8 innings, giving up only four hits, and no runs. For a change, our bullpen managed to keep it going – Wetteland pitched two innings, giving up just one hit, one walk, and nothing else. Mike Venafro came on to pitch the 11th, and didn’t give up a thing.
We managed to get to Billy “I have the stupidest beard in all of baseball” Koch for a run in the bottom of the 11th to pull out a 1-0 win in extra innings. A win this season is rare. A win in extra innings is even rarer! This was a spectacular ballgame, one I wish I could have seen in person. The game winning hit was by Rusty Greer, who delivered a game ending winning hit for the 17th time since 1995.
One funny thing – it looked odd to see the umpires in makeshift uniforms – their equipment hadn’t arrived, and one of them wore a Rangers cap. It looked silly. :)