Oh great. Another big inning against us. We were up 1-0 for awhile, and then in the fifth inning, we give up five runs. This is starting to become a disturbing pattern. We made a run at it towards the end of the game, and closed the big gap (at the time 8-1) to 9-7, but we still lost. A bit busy this afternoon – I don’t have the time to write much here. However, we did have another error. :( Mike Morgan is starting to look like someone who will stick, which is odd considering this would be his 11th team. :)
Was nice to see a rally in the making, makes we wish we had two more innings. :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Argh! If there’s one thing I have learned in all the years I have been a fan of the Rangers, it’s that losing two games in one day is no fun. The Rangers fell again to the Twins in the second half of today’s double-dip 9 to 7 (another 7 inning game).
There’s not a whole lot good to say about this game. It’s safe to say that Mike Morgan not only has a job for his 11th team (a MLB record) but that the Rangers will be counting on him to get them out of a lot of fires this year. Really good teams have a guy in the pen like Morgan, a guy who can come in and start when he is needed or break out the fire extinguisher in the 5th inning of a ballgame. Plus he can pitch almost anytime he’s needed. His nickname is “Rubberarm”. It looks like he pitched well again today and I’m not surprised.
The spring pyromaniacs (the scrapple from the bullpen who probably aren’t going to make the team) were at it again in game two. Matt Perisho, Jonathan Johnson and Mike Munoz all need to get out of the first-aid kit for their burns.
Hopefully, Perisho (who’s coming off arm surgery) and Johnson (who’s not coming off of anything but another lousy year in the minors) will probably be pining away at the AAA camp in a week or so. Who knows about Munoz; he’s someone Johnny Oates has said good things about in the papers, despite his rather lousy performances.
Gregg Zahn, who hit under .200 last year in Florida, remains hot, belting another homer today. Ruben Mateo remains red hot too, whipping out another couple of hits and knocking in another couple of runs. You know, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Mateo captures the imagination of Oates and Doug Melvin this spring and makes this ballclub. I read that there was serious talk in the winter about releasing Tom Goodwin outright, because Melvin was assured by the people at Tulsa that Mateo was ready to play in the big leagues. He might struggle offensively at first, but would he struggle any worse than when Tom Goodwin struggles? It’s something that Oates and Melvin will have to go over carefully in the next couple of weeks. My guess is that Mateo goes to AAA and if Goodwin struggles at all, then Goodwin will be benched or traded.