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G112: Rangers squeak by Tigers, 4-3

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Couple of comments.

  • What a turnaround from last night’s fiasco
  • Goodbye Carlos Delgado!

Pudge Rodriguez continued his hot streak at the plate with a three run home run in the bottom of the second inning, but that was about it for the next ten innings. We didn’t mount much of any offense after that until we won the game in the bottom of the 12th on a run scoring single by Royce Clayton, scoring Roberto Kelly.
Esteban Loaiza was himself. Decent stuff, but erratic again. Once you stack all his innings together, he’s not pitching all that bad (got a no decision tonight), but he’s not a pitcher that fills you with a whole lot of confidence. I wish he’d do better, it certainly looks like he can, but he doesn’t seem to be as dominating as he could be.
On the flip side, Brad Ausmus had four hits last night, and had a great offensive game. No home runs, so it wasn’t all THAT bad. :)
Juan “B.B.” Gonzalez left the game after four innings with a pulled hamstring muscle, and is listed as day to day. All of our regular outfielders this season have gone down with some sort of injury. Now that Roberto Kelly is playing regularly out there, I expect him to get hurt now. The Rangers 99 Outfielders curse.

G111: Rangers bombed out by Blue Jays, 19-4

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Oh my god. 19-4. What a complete, utter, and total fiasco. Make it worse, I was there! My wife and I stuck it out, we didn’t miss any of this exciting action. :)
Not a whole lot to say about this one, other than we sucked. Roger Delgado continued his assault here with a three run home run in the first inning that put the Jays up for good immediately.
It was the MLB debut of Doug Davis, who gave up 10 runs in 2 1/3 innings giving him an ERA of 38.57! Davis’ runs were one run short of the Ranger record for most runs allowed by one pitcher in a game. And of course, Davis was sent back down to AAA after this. That’s too bad, I hate to see young kids get lit up like this. We also set a record by allowing 25 hits in a 9 inning game.
About the only Ranger highlights were a Pudge home run, a Raffy home run, and Mike Morgan striking out the side in the 5th. That’s about it. A mess all around. :(
This was the first in the last eight series that the Rangers lost the series.

G110: Rangers lose back and forth game to Toronto, 8-7

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A game of back and forth home runs. I really thought we had this one in hand early, but our pitching faltered and let us down. I was really tired when this game was on, and wasn’t totally paying attention. Check out the game resources for this one, as I’m not going to be writing commentary. :)

G109: Rangers shut out Blue Jays 6-0

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A totally masterful appearance by Aaron Sele. Complete game shutout, allowing only 6 hits, 10 strikeouts, and no walks. I don’t think I’ve seen him ever pitch as good, and this is the best pitching outing by a Ranger pitcher all year (although the complete game by Mike Morgan in Anaheim not that long ago was really close).
There’s not a whole lot else to say about this one. Sele was totally dominating, and Pudge was Pudge again lately, 2-5 with 3 RBI’s on a 3 run home run. Mark McLemore almost hit for the cycle getting a double, triple, and a single in his first three at bats. Didn’t get a homer though. Still, was an awesome game all around.
I got to see it on TV, and it was wonderful to see Sele pitch this well – hope he can keep it up through October :)

G108: Rangers lose to Blue Jays, 5-4

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We were almost singlehandedly beat by Carlos Delgado in this game – he had three home runs, only the second time an opponent has ever done that at the Ballpark in Arlington.
Jeff Zimmerman showed that he was a human being, getting his first ever loss, dropping to (oh damn ) 9-1, and his ERA is now a whopping 1.25.
Rick Helling continues to be the hard luck pitcher this season – he’s pitched as good as he did last year when he won 20 games, but got another no decision in this one, and his ERA is lower this year than it was last, it’s currently at 4.31.
Pudge had some great D again tonight with a pickoff and two caught stealings. He certainly increased his value in my eye as the team MVP. Zim is great, but I think Pudge brings more to the table.
Billy “stupidest beard in the majors” Koch looked good. Threw hard, and did his job. Still, he has the lamest excuse for a beard I’ve ever seen, though.

Ruben Mateo out 6-8 weeks

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ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) — Texas Rangers center fielder Ruben Mateo, one of the top prospects in baseball, is expected to be sidelined six to eight weeks with a broken hamate bone in his left wrist.
Mateo returned to the 15-day disabled list today after suffering the injury while batting in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Minnesota Twins.
The Rangers plan to activate outfielder Tom Goodwin from the disabled list Friday to replace Mateo on the roster.
Preliminary X-rays on Mateo were negative but he was diagnosed with a fracture after an exam by hand specialist Dr. Bobby Wroten. Mateo will undergo surgery Friday to remove the broken bone.
Mateo, 21, homered in his major league debut June 12 against Colorado and is batting .238 with five homers and 18 RBI in 32 games. He was on the disabled list from June 23 to July 9 with a pulled left groin.
At the time of his recall, Mateo was one of the top players in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League with a .340 batting average, 17 homers, 58 RBI, 81 hits and 50 runs scored. Used as a center fielder and designated hitter, he was batting .434 (23-for-53) during a 13-game hitting streak for Oklahoma.
Signed as an undrafted free agent in 1994, Mateo was among the last players cut by Texas during spring training. The native of the Dominican Republic hit .283 with four homers and 11 RBI in 24 exhibition games.
Goodwin appeared in just one game after straining his left hip flexor muscle June 11. He was disabled from June 12-26, played on June 27, and went back on the DL the following day.
He is batting .241 with one homer, 12 RBI and 27 stolen bases in 56 games. He is tied for second in the American League in steals.

Rangers announce new Hispanic Marketing

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The Texas Rangers announced today that the club will undertake a new Hispanic marketing and community initiative through several different programs.
The first effort is the introduction of a new logo designed specially for the Hispanic market. The logo, which was unveiled at a press conference today at The Ballpark in Arlington, uses the Rangers’ existing secondary logo with the phrase, “Beisbol a lo grande”, meaning Major League Baseball. The red and blue logo will be used in a number of the team’s marketing programs over the next several months.
The inaugural program, which involves the Rangers, Coors Brewing Company, and the Lena Pope Home, was also announced today. Coors, a corporate partner of the Rangers, will utilize the logo to support its 21 Means 21 responsibility message underscored in the company’s national programs and advertising. Together with its local distributors, Coors encourages the responsible and legal consumption of malt beverage products.
Texas Rangers first baseman Rafael Palmeiro and the Rangers Hispanic logo will be featured on Coors point-of-sale materials that emphasize the 21 Means 21 responsible consumption message. These materials include posters, counter cards, mini stand-ups and will be used primarily in retail outlets with a strong Hispanic customer base in markets throughout Texas. The new program is expected to debut this month.
As part of this program, Coors will make a contribution to Palmeiro’s designated charity, the Lena Pope Home of Fort Worth. The Home provides services to meet the behavioral health care needs of more than 5,000 children and their families each year.
“We are proud to assist Rafael Palmeiro in his support of local youth and their families,” commented Coors Field Marketing Directing Randy Porter. “His efforts assisting the Lena Pope Home builds awareness and much-needed funds for behavioral health care services in Tarrant County.”
For more than 15 years, Coors has run television commercials promoting the responsible consumption of its products. The company first launched its 21 Means 21 campaign a year ago. Coors was instrumental in the idea of creating a specific Rangers’ logo for use in the Hispanic Community.
“The Texas Rangers are committed to being a part of the Hispanic community in Texas,” said club President Jim Lites. “We are very appreciative of our corporate partner, the Coors Brewing Company for their efforts in helping us achieve this goal. We are also very fortunate to have players such as Rafael Palmeiro, who give their time and energy back to the community.”
In addition, the Rangers announced that the club will hold its first Hispanic Night on Friday, September 17, when Texas plays the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at 7:35 p.m. On that night, the Rangers plan to honor the Hispanic players on both teams during a pre-game ceremony. One of the new inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Orlando Cepeda will be the guest of honor and will take part in the ceremonies. The club also plans to offer half price purchase of $14.00, $12.00, $10.00, and $7.00 tickets for that night’s game. Hispanic Night will be co-sponsored by KESS Radio, the Rangers’ Spanish flagship radio station, and Carnival Food Stores. Coupons for the discount tickets will be available at Carnival. The Rangers are currently finalizing the details for Hispanic Night and more information will be announced in the near future.

G107: Rangers beat Twins 3-1, I can’t see it again

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Due to my clueless cable company, and Fox Sports Southwest, I didn’t get to see the game. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to it on the radio, since I was so annoyed about that – I ended up watching “The Fifth Element” on DVD instead.
I did peek in from time to time to get a score update, and from all reports Loaiza was Loaiza. Was inconsistent, but had good stuff. Where have we heard that before? I feel comfortable about our starting pitching. It isn’t the greatest in the world, but it seems to be doing a decent enough of a job, especially with our pen doing so great. We’re now 23 games over 500, a number I never thought I’d see given my opinion of the state of the pitching at the start of the season.
After seeing the Twins for the last few days, I have to admit, I rather like Jacque Jones – he looks like a great kid, and if I was living in Minnesota, I’d be excited about seeing the team, even if they lose a lot. I like watching teams made up of young kids who try.
I’m really hoping we can keep this up the last two months, and end up with a situation where we don’t have to play the Yankees in the first round with the first two games in NY. Off day tomorrow, and then we’re back with more against the Toronto Blue Jays, who have made some recent noise in the AL East.