I felt so bad for Mike Morgan. One pitch away from a complete game shutout. He was totally masterful all through the game. It was the bottom of the ninth, two out, and two strikes. He made his one mistake of the entire night. Todd Greene screwed it up, and hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth. However, Mike did get the complete game win. It was the first such beast by any Ranger pitcher this year. It was only the second complete game by a Ranger pitcher all year (the other was an 8 inning pitched complete game loss by Rick Helling). It was Mike’s first complete game in a couple of years, and if he had gotten the shutout, it would have been his first CG shutout in 6 years. Still, he was absolutely dominating, getting his ninth win of the season. This guy has turned out to be the steal of the offseason. Can’t believe he’s been cast aside by so many teams. I know his run support is part of it, but still, the fact that we have a 39 year old starting pitcher that is with his 11th team, and has 9 wins is still impressive to me.
I was out getting a haircut, and missed the top of the first inning, so when I got in the car to drive home, it was already 2-0. I had missed Juan’s home run, and the announcement that Dick Bosman broke his hip. Now forgive me, but what exactly is Dick Bosman doing roller blading? That seems like an activity that is far too young for him. I know George Bush was skydiving for his 75th anniversary, but it just strikes me that rollerblading is not the best thing for Dick to be doing. They said during the game that he’s going to be out “indefinitely”, and that Larry Hardy has taken over as the pitching coach, with Butch Wynegar being called up from AAA
Our offense teed off on Chuck Finley, whom we always seem to do good against. We had three home runs again (Juan, Raffy, Royce), accounting for 6 of the 9 runs. We were up quickly, which probably is what gave Mike Morgan what he needed to pitch the way he did. I really want to sweep these guys, as we had such a problem gaining a lot of ground in Seattle, we’ll need all three to pick up some room. I’d love to have at least a 6 game lead over second place, and a 10 game lead over last place by the time the All-Star break comes around.