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This was better. A rather well pitched game by Loaiza (7innings, 3 earned runs), and against the Yankees. Some nice defense behind him, especially by Mark McLemore, who seemed to be playing the best I can ever remember seeing him play lately.
Rafael Palmeiro got yet another home run – he’s about to set offensive records for everything it seems by a Ranger, except probably Juan’s RBI record from last year – I don’t think Raffy will get to 158 there.
Was nice to see a win, although I would have rather have seen this more than once in the last three games. :( The Yankees don’t bother me in principle, but they bother me in the respect that we have that mental block with them still, it seems.

What a disappointment. :( We battled great in this game, overcome some great bullpen pitching by the Yankees to tie it up, and go to extra innings. However, Corey Lee making his major league debut gave up a three run home run in the top of the 11th. That was too bad, he didn’t look that bad for a kid making his first appearance under pressure against the Yankees.
We try and salvage the third game, which honestly, was the only game I thought we’d win coming into this anyway.

Oh dear god! That’s about all I have to say. Except the Rangers up there should be replaced by “Palmeiro” who had all 3 RBI’s.

My wife and I were at this game, and it was a most cool game to attend. First off, it was against the Red Sox, a team my wife and I love to see the Rangers play, because it’s usually good baseball. However, the main reason for us going tonight was that we didn’t have much else to do, so we decided to come here in the cheap seats. Both of us in the door for a total of $10, plus we both got a giveaway baseball cap. It was such an awesome deal, we couldn’t pass it up. I have some pictures of the giveaway hat in the pictures section below, if you want to see it – it’s a pretty well put together cap. For some reason, the Fina giveaway hats seem to be “cheaper”, but this is a good hat.
About the game… Aaron Sele was great last night. He wasn’t overpowering, as he only had a 1-2-3 inning once. However, the hits that the Red Sox got (8 in all) were scattered, and when they did manage to get more than one baserunner at a time, they couldn’t do anything with it. There was some nice defense in the field – Royce Clayton and Lee Stevens turned in some awesome plays. We also were helped by two double plays that were well timed.
On the flip side, our hits were scattered all over the place. Up until the end of the game, everyone had just a single hit, except B.B. Gonzalez who had nothing all night. “Mr. August” (Raffy) had yet another home run, and Rusty Greer just barely missed one in one of the most bizarrely hit balls I’ve seen at the Ballpark. Rusty hit the ball right in the corner of the black “New Dodge” sign in right center field. It went off the top of the wall and came back into the Ballpark. It certainly looked like a homer to me, until I saw the back back in play on the ground. He ended up with a triple, but missed a home run by literally one inch!
It was a great game, a pretty cool night, and my wife and I got in cheap, and came away with a hat. The Texas Rangers swept the Red Sox on this night, and it felt really great. I don’t know what else to say, I totally enjoyed this trip. I just wish I didn’t have to drive 38 miles to get to the Ballpark (all on Rt. 30). The Yankees are in town next. I don’t have a good feeling about this series, but then again, I didn’t have a good feeling about the Cleveland series, and we know what happened there. :)

I didn’t get to see all of this game, as my wife and I were out to dinner to celebrate my birthday yesterday. Would have gone yesterday, but hey, I was at the Ranger game! :) Anyway, it was a sellout, and it was nice to see the place packed for a change. It was John Wetteland’s birthday, and TV coverage showed the bullpen guys giving him a hard time – I wish I was home earlier to see that – it looked funny.
When we got home from dinner in the third inning, Raffy was just coming up and hit his home run to put us up 3-1, which is all we really needed, but we did get some “padding”. :) Rusty started off the fifth with a solo home run to left field. In the 7th, we really put it away when Raffy mashed a three run home run to right, giving him two home runs in each of the last two games, and 6 home runs in his last 6 games overall. Just to make sure, Rusty chimed in again with a two run shot in the bottom of the 8th to give us nine runs.
Our pitching seemed pretty decent, if not overpowering. Rick Helling finally got a win , and seemed to be battling all night. He didn’t seem dominating at all, but still pitched good. He walked the first batter in the 7th, which brought in Tim Crabtree, who loaded the bases. With no one out and the bases loaded, Venafro came in, and got a sac fly, and then retired the rest allowing Boston only one run.
Overall another good game, and it was nice to see a sellout at the Ballpark – although I’m glad I didn’t have to drive away from the park in it, either. :)

The Rangers passed the 2 million mark in attendance on this night, and I was part of it, because I was there. I’m always at a baseball game August 20th, as that’s my birthday (this year, my 34th). Since I was about 6 or 7, I’d always go to a game on my birthday. Back then, I was living in Philadelphia, and it was the Phillies at the Vet for me. As a kid, I loved it. I kept this tradition up all these years, I think only missing one or two along the way. Now that I’m married (that happened in 96), these seemed to mean a lot more to me. My wife and I have always loved watching the Rangers play the Red Sox, and it always seems to be good baseball when we play the Bosox. This was no exception.
We got there to a surprisingly cool night at the ballpark (well, relatively cool, it was still 99 degrees when the game started, but it did NOT feel that way. Esteban Loaiza was the starter, and given his performance the last several outings, he seemed to have been the starter we’ve been looking for him to be ever since we got him for Todd Van Poppel & Warren Morris (the Pirates’ starting second baseman all year, and a possible Rookie of the Year player) last July. Esteban looked sharp, and even managed to battle out of a jam, which has always been his undoing in the past (losing his cool when in a jam). He went 6 innings (and 1 batter in the 7th) giving up 5 hits and 3 runs, but he seemed more dominating than that, at least to me he did. Our bullpen was again excellent, allowing nothing in the final 3 innings of the game. Wetteland pitched for the first time in a save situation in some time, and came though. Even if he did back up Durwood Merrill’s remark about him being a “heart attack waiting to happen”.
Our offense was again mostly powered by Rafael Palmeiro. I think now the question (if there ever really was one) as to which first baseman we should have had from 1994-1998 has been answered. Oh man, are the Orioles kicking themselves for not signing him after last year. This guy is awesome! A few weeks back, I saw him hit a grand slam, and the two run shot tonight gave us two of our four runs. Raffy also supplied one of the others with a single. However, the four runs we had after the third inning was it. Boston’s bullpen took over and did a great job shutting us down for longer than we shut them down for.
I always like playing Boston, and this game was no different. I was there, it was a great ballgame, and they won on my birthday. I loved it so much, my wife and I decided to come back on Sunday night. They’re giving away some decent looking baseball caps, so I walked down to the ticket office around 8:30 and got a couple of seats up in Section 342 for a total price of $10. Both of us in the door for $10 plus we get two baseball caps? You can still get in the damn door for a decent price. Sure, they’ve raised the ticket prices three years in a row, but you can still get in and get a bargain if you know how to play the game.

Well, the other shoe had to fall. It seemed that the Rangers spent themselves in the first three games, not even showing up for this one, losing it 8-0. If we had anything at all this night, it was left behind in the rain delay at the start of the game.
Not a whole lot to talk about Ranger wise. Mike Morgan continued to be ineffective for the most part in the second half of the season (damn). Other than that, there isn’t anything to talk about here from a Ranger fan perspective, except one nice pickoff by Pudge of Jim Thome at third. Oh yeah, and Danny Kolb looked pretty good in his 5 1/3 innings in relief of Morgan.
Mike Morgan has definitely taken the title of “Most disgusting cap” from John Wetteland – it’s no contest.