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A lot has been made about how bad Cliff Lee has pitched his last few outings, and that if it continued, he’d be disinclined to stay here. I think the biggest thing that can help us stay here is not Chuck Greenberg’s money, it’s us getting into the playoffs and doing something once we get there. Not just repeat the 96-98-99 performances. So it was quite gratifying to see Cliff Lee pitch like Cliff Lee on Sunday. He weight eight innings plus, throwing just two hits, and allowing one run. He walked a few too many for Cliff Lee (three), but when he came out of the game, it didn’t look like he HAD to come out, but I understand why. His last batter was a call that was really quite a bad call by the home plate umpire. Should have been a strike. It was called a ball, and Lee came out. The whole walk from the mound to the dugout, Lee was glaring at Alfonso Marquez. The amusing thing is when the game was over, and Lee was walking to the mound for the celebration, there was more glaring in the direction of Marquez. Not that I think Lee really NEEDS motivation, but that kind of thing probably can’t hurt. Hopefully his back really is better, and we get this Cliff Lee as the rest of the season and into the post season gets here. It will be needed, that’s for sure.
On paper, assuming the good Cliff Lee showed up, I figured this was the easy win of the series. Moseley? Oh come on. That’s not a real Yankees pitcher. That shouldn’t have a been a problem, but it was. Through six, we hadn’t managed a lot, the game was tied 1-1. Then Moseley ran out of gas, and we got to him. In the seventh, we had four straight two out singles, which pushed across the three runs which gave us the series sweep.
I know a lot in the press is being made about how we didn’t face Andy Pettite, how we didn’t face CC Sabathia. No, we didn’t. BUT, we swept the Yankees. That helps in the “head game” department, and it made things difficult for the Yankees against the Rays, who are hot on their heels.
Wow. Swept the Yankees. Now if we can only do it in October, I might have to be come forth with a Philly style response to the Yankees ghost of the playoffs, since I found out that more people than I knew got a kick out of a msg I left for the Yankees during the World Series last October.

When you think of all the ways there are to win a game, the way that we won this game was not the way you’d think. Yeah, I know Mariano Rivera is still around 15 seasons later. That’s not to say he’s an over the hill hack, he’s still a major threat. But it’s not quite the castle wall he used to be say 10 years ago. He can be beat yes, but he will still beat you more often than not.
Which is why the fact that we won on a walkoff hit by pitch was so odd. The entire bottom of the ninth was out of character, but the HBP was something you’d expect a far lesser pitcher to do, not the last guy in the majors who is allowed to wear #42 (unless for some reason Butch Husky makes a comeback).
This was another one of those close, back and forth jobs.
Rangers up 1-0
Yankees up 2-1
Game tied 2-2
Rangers up 4-2
Rangers up 4-3
Rangers up 5-3
Yankees up 6-5
Rangers win 7-6
Those were all the lead changes. The interesting thing about this game is that with the 13 hits the Rangers got, 11 of them were singles, and only two were anything else (both doubles). And of course a big hit by pitch. :)
This isn’t one of those games where I remember there being a ton of memorable events. Just the back and forth and the closeness of the game was what made it good.
Oh yeah, and just in case you didn’t know.. Mariano Rivera gifted us the win by hitting Jeff Franceour. Oh yeah. :)

I’ve been off from writing about the Rangers for about two weeks. I almost started the night before, but I thought, “pick a series, and start there”. For some reason I picked the Yankees. Which is odd, because had the Rangers lost, it would have been the same as the last two weeks, as I don’t write about losses to the Yankees.

Having said that, I sat down last night to watch the Yankees game. No way did I want to try braving that crowd. First off, because it was the Yankees (their fans suck), and then there was the concert next door at JerryLand. The parking was going to be a nightmare. Blue Man Group being there almost made me reconsider, but the traffic problems would have been just too much.

I was feeling good about the game at the start – CJ Wilson’s been pitching pretty well. At least very early on. It didn’t last. CJ gave up a four spot in the third to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. It was ugly, CJ couldn’t get anyone out during a stretch there. CJ came out after the third, and it began a parade of pitchers like the Rangers have never seen before. This game set a new franchise record for most pitchers used in a game. It wouldn’t have been possible without the 1-2 punch of extra innings and September callups, but set a new record we did. In order:

CJ Wilson – 3 IP
Matt Harrison – 2.2 IP
Pedro Strop – 0.1 IP
Alexi Ogando – 0.1 IP
Michael Kirkman – 1 IP
Dustin Nippert – 0.1 IP
Clay Rapada – 0.1 IP
Neftali Feliz – 1 IP
Darren O’Day – 1.1 IP
Darren Oliver – 1.2 IP
Scott Feldman – 1 IP

The only reliever not used was Rich Harden, and he was probably being held back should the game have gone like 17 innings or something. What’s interesting about all those relievers is that only the first one (Matt Harrison) gave up any runs – just one. It wasn’t always easy – Scott Feldman bent pretty darned good – a walk and two hits in his inning. But in the end, the guys got it done, and didn’t let the Yankees back in the game. That’s an impressive feat, actually. It’s one thing the Yankees are annoyingly good at. Coming back late in a game to steal it from you.

The Rangers scoring was early on nothing spectacular. A ground out run in the second. A squeaker double right down the line in the fourth scoring two. A groundout RBI in the sixth. What WAS spectacular about all four of those RBI’s is they all belonged to Julio Borbon. Borbon had a great game overall. Made some great plays in the field (including a few right at the wall on long fly balls), and his four RBI’s. Nice to see a great game from him.

Then came the fun stuff. The bottom of the eighth – the Yankees brought in Joba Chamberlin, who was treated very rudely by Nelson Cruz. Cruz deposited the first pitch way into the left field bleachers for a game tying home run. That was a great moment, felt good.

What didn’t feel nearly as good was all the attempts to score in the ninth through twelfth innings. The Rangers didn’t quite get so far as bases loaded, nobody out, but they had many chances, and didn’t get it done. One thought either the Yankees were going to take it, or we’d have to win with a home run.

The Yankees had several chances too, the best one being in the 12th. Chad Moeller led off with a double, he was sacrificed to third with just one out. Jeter grounded out and Colin Curtis (who??!?) struck out. The 13th for the Yankees started off with a strikeout, then a couple of singles. Another man at third with one out. Posada lined out, Granderson walked, and Moeller flew out. That was the worst one, as bases were loaded, and that’s a place where the Yankees usually get the job done.

Chad Gaudin, who pitched a perfect 12th inning, wasn’t nearly as perfect in the 13th. Harnassing his best Tim Wakefield, he served up a ball to Nelson Cruz that he hit into the Rangers bullpen for a first pitch, leadoff home run to win the game. What was cool about the home run trot, is right before Cruz got into the pile of guys at home plate he gave the whole group “the claw”, which seemed pretty darned funny.

The best part about it is The Yankees Lose. Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Yankees lose!

Skipped this game, as I started a new job, and was super busy there for a bit. This is here as a placeholder for my schedule page.

Skipped this game, as I started a new job, and was super busy there for a bit. This is here as a placeholder for my schedule page.

Skipped this game, as I started a new job, and was super busy there for a bit. This is here as a placeholder for my schedule page.

Skipped this game, as I started a new job, and was super busy there for a bit. This is here as a placeholder for my schedule page.

Skipped this game, as I started a new job, and was super busy there for a bit. This is here as a placeholder for my schedule page.