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Under a constant threat of rain, the Rangers won their first game in 1999 at the Ballpark in Arlington. I was there – Section 225, row 1. It was cool being close to the TV & radio guys. I even asked Eric & Vince if the kettle corn thing they were talking about all the time in Spring Training was real. They said it was. Eric said it was popcorn covered with something – couldn’t hear them very well.
Mark McLemore pulled something in his hamstring in the first inning going after a foul ball, he was pinch hit for in the first inning (he was slated to lead off). Overall it was a good feel for the Rangers, even though they didn’t win by a whole lot. Pudge had a triple, which was cool, and of course, when they announced Palmiero, the place went nuts. There did seem to be a bunch of people up from Houston in Astros garb. Ruben Mateo did play, but I didn’t know it as it wasn’t announced – he pinch ran for Raffy after a double Raffy had gotten.
I’m still on vacation, so I won’t say much, but there is some new stuff at the Ballpark. Mainly advertising. There is a new third rotating sign in left field, and the TX lotto ad to the right of the manual scoreboard is gone. There are two new ads on the outfield wall, both for Dodge trucks, and the ad on the back wall of the Rangers bullpen is now a very noticeable white ad (I forget who it is at the moment). Also, the high outfield wall ads by the Coke scoreboard have changed slightly. There is one all the way to the right that I think is different, and the Radio Shack ad with the lighted ball for Home Runs is still there, but it has a Channel 39 logo on it instead of the Radio Shack ad.
But the one totally NEW thing that I liked was a new scoreboard that shows speed of pitch and type of pitch. It’s located in left field to the right of the already existing dotpanel scoreboard (that shows out of town scores and updates during the game).
Well, I ended up writing more than I thought – sorry I didn’t write much about teh game itself – check out Jim’s commentary.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers edged the Astros 6-5 Friday in Arlington, scoring 3 runs off Houston pitcher Scott Elarton late in the game.
Rusty Greer and Jon Shave each had two runs batted in and Pudge Rodirguez and Royce Clayton has two hits each.
Mark Clark had his final tune-up of the spring and while he wasn’t overpowering, he was effective (3 ER in 6 IP with 6 SO).
Texas plays their final exhibition Saturday versus the Mets.

I’m out on vacation, and found 10 minutes to update this page – no commentary from me today. However, I am going to the game at the Ballpark tonight (Friday 4/2). Should be fun!
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers beat the Red 6-4 to close out their Grapefruit portion of the exhibition season Thursday, but more importantly, they got some great news from the rehab department.
John Wetteland, who’s been shelved for most of the spring with a bum ankle, started the game for Texas and pitched one scoreless inning. I have no idea how good his velocity was or anything, since the game with AWOL as far as radio goes, but the Rangers obviously had him facing the top of the Cincy lineup for a purpose – a test. It appears as though he’s passed it. He’s pitched on consecutive days (yesterday, he pitched an inning in a minor league game). This is tremendous news for the Rangers.
The good news didn’t stop there. Rafael Palmeiro, down with 2 seperate knee injuries all spring, made his Grapefruit League debut Thursday and hit a home run, serving as the DH. While he’s not running at 100%, he says in two weeks he thinks he will be running full speed. Batting fifth, it’s his bat that the Rangers froth over, not his speed.
Aaron Sele pitched decently for Texas. All in all, he’s had an acceptable spring training – much like Rick Helling, Mark Clark and John Burkett. Nothing to write home about, but with this Texas offense, you don’t have to be Cy Young, you just have to be Mike Young.
It was good news day all around in camp and with the final two exhibitions switching to Arlington, the entire team must be pretty excited about the health of Wetteland and Palmeiro.
The final roster spots are still on the table…who will be the utilty infielder? Will Ruben Mateo make the team or will Melvin insist he be sent to AAA? Will Johnny Oates take Zimmerman over Mike Munoz or perhaps Eric Gunderson in the bullpen? We’ll soon find out. Opening Day is just 4 days away!

I’m pretty busy getting ready for a short vacation while I have some relatives in this weekend, so I am not writing much today. It was nice to see the offense back, even though it was only against the Twins.
No errors again, which is nice to see. Without looking it up, there’s been a few no error game since the obscene 5 error game last week.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Rangers’ righthander Rick Helling hurled 7 innings Wednesday and the Ranger bats were once again alive and well, as the Rangers shelled the Twins 11-4.
Helling gave up two 2-run homers to Ron Coomer (surprisingly, his 5th and 6th homers of the spring) in back-to-back innings but that was the extent of the Twinkies’ damage. Helling’s outing was the longest by any Rangers’ pitcher this spring to date.
Tim Crabtree and Eric Gunderson each had a scoreless inning of work. Gunderson has been especially effective as of late and Crabtree seems to be bouncing back now after a poor outing last week.
Offensively, the Rangers banged out 17 hits with Roberto Kelly, Juan Gonzalez and Royce Clayton doing the major damage. Kelly hit a 3-run shot and Gonzo and Clayton added a couple hits each. The team collected 6 extra base hits. Every Rangers’ hitter got a hit except Milt Cuyler (0 for his last 19) an it appears he’s lost any chance he had to make the team.
The Rangers did not commit an error on Wednesday, the 3rd time in 4 games they have gone errorless.

Rangers signed Rafael Bournigal this morning. He played a morning practice game, and hit a home run, and was in uniform for today’s MLB game, but will be sent to AAA. No errors last season – batted around .250. The Rangers site hasn’t had any media notes in over a week now. Hope that gets going again once the new season starts up.
We gave up a run very quickly in the first inning – it was weird, they had scored and got three outs on a foul sacrifice fly, which is pretty rare. The runner was a fluke bloop double. The second run seemed like a Loaiza manufactured run, as he fell behind hitters, and then gave up a double and then a single for a few more runs. And then a few more runs… Ugh… I think today shows that Loaiza is out of the starting rotation. Loaiza went 5 innings, gave up 5 runs. Munoz went two innings and gave up two runs. Johnson & Patterson each went 1 inning, giving up nothing.
At the start of the 6th, Bournigal came into the MLB game at shortstop. At this point, we were losing 5-1. The 1 was thanks of a Juan Gonzalez home run the inning before. Bournigal got his first Ranger at bat and got a hit for it, so he’s batting 1.000 so far with the Rangers. :)
The 7th run by the Red Sox was a squeeze play, which you don’t see very often, and you didn’t get to see it here either, as this was a radio only game. :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers lost their 5th game in their last 6 tries Tuesday. If there ever was a question since last Wednesday who the Rangers’ fifth starter was, it was answered in this game.
Esteban Loaiza continued his terrible spring, giving up another 5 earned runs in 5 innings (bringing his spring ERA ever closer to 9.00). Mike Morgan will be the 5th starter, there’s no doubt, barring injury. Loaiza just might find himself traded, if the Rangers can find the right deal, allowing Jeff Zimmerman to make the staff.
The Rangers’ offense was missing for the 2nd day in a row. Only Juan Gonzalez (who homered in the 4th) and Lee Stevens (a double) managed extra-base hits. The Rangers had only 8 hits and no player had more than 1 hit.
It’s almost time to play for keeps, so this team had better wake up soon or it’s going to be a long season.