Where do I start with this one? 17 hits, 14 runs, 5 doubles, two stolen bases, two gift errors, etc… A big offensive display last night. Yeesh! The Giants starter got knocked around, pitching only 1.1 innings, giving up 5 runs and 6 hits.
I scored this game at home last night, and I picked an interesting game to do it to. :) However, after the top of the first, I wasn’t so thrilled at our chances. Ryan Glynn (who was recalled to make a start, and probably has made his last start for awhile) started off well, retiring the first two, but then a single and a walk preceded Mr. Bonds, who slapped a ball over the fence for a 3 run home run. What was interesting about the home run is how easily it went over the fence – it hardly looked like he hit the thing. Very deceptive power stroke he has.
Anyway, we answered back with a couple of runs in the bottom of the first, and then after Glynn got the job done in the second, we scored three more runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead – never giving it back. In the third, we almost had three straight doubles in a row (Zeile, Stevens, Mateo), but the Stevens hit was ruled an error, and it probably should have been a hit.
We scored in 6 of the 8 times we came to the plate, the only two we didn’t score were the fourth and the seventh. We were due for one of these “explosions”. :) In looking at my scorecard, everyone scored at least one run except Raffy (who was also the only person without a hit, going 0-4) and Royce Clayton – although Royce was on base in the bottom of the 8th, and could have scored if we had gotten another hit or two. Ruben Mateo went 4-5 with two RBI’s and two runs scored – definitely his best night so far. McLemore also went 3 for 5 with a run scored, and 3 RBI’s – I think everyone was expecting him to sink this year and be released, but he’s making us rethink our second base plans, I’m sure.
Ryan Glynn didn’t walk as many as he has in the past, but did walk 4 in 4.1 innings, which is still too many – his final two batters were walks, and at the time, the Rangers were only up two runs with Jeff Kent & Barry Bonds coming up. My gut feeling says that Glynn has pitched his last start for awhile, Loaiza will probably get moved back to the rotation, and Danny Kolb will get called up for the long relief job.
Loaiza did get his first win of the season and got pegged for 4 runs, which is more than Glynn gave up, actually. However, for some reason, Loaiza seemed better than Glynn did – it’s one of those “intangible” things I can’t put into words, even when you look at their lines:
TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era Glynn 4 1/3 5 3 3 4 0 1 6.89 Loaiza (W, 1-1) 4 2/3 5 4 4 1 1 0 7.22
Still, a win is a win is a win no matter how you get them, and scoring 14 runs is always nice to see. :)