What a cool game. First off, it was 70 degrees at game time! Why can’t we have that in Texas in August? :)
Seriously, John Burkett involved in a 1-1 pitcher’s due into the 7th inning? Man, what a game! He seemed to be pitching like he had his entire career to prove out there last night. An extremely well pitched game. John went 8 full innings, giving up a measly 5 hits with one run (RBI by who else – Manny Ramirez?) while striking out eight. Brilliant pitching, reminded me of the game he pitched last September in Anaheim to help us clinch the division. Wetteland came in just to get work, gave up a couple of hits, but no runs in the 9th. If we can get this kind of pitching out of arguably our worst starter, it’s a great plus for us.
These three games against Cleveland have certainly erased the ugly from last week’s 4 game losing streak. It’s really stunned me the way we’ve come out and opened up the big can of whoop-ass on the Indians. Before these games started, I figured we’d be lucky to leave The Jake with a split. Now, we’ve won the series, and can go for a sweep tonight, which is something the Rangers haven’t done in Cleveland in like forever.
Rafael Palmeiro came through again with a big three run blast to untie the game from 1-1. We had another 5 spot inning last night to put the game away for us. That’s 34 runs against the Indians in 3 games. 44 in 4 games if you count the game before this against the White Sox. Where was all this offense when we played the Yanks in October? :)