My annual trip out to the Ballpark for the July 4th fireworks show was not disappointing. The fireworks show was one of the better ones I’ve seen at the Ballpark – and the show on the field was great, too!
We beat the Mariners who are what, about 200-3 this year? It was a great feeling, the crowd was really into it, especially when Raffy jacked a home run, as well as Mike Lamb’s home run (first of the year). Game felt great, and Rob Bell looked pretty good this game. He’s looked pretty uneven in his Ranger appearances so far this year, but this one looked good – probably the reason we traded for him was for pitching like this.
However, it wasn’t a complete sail – in the 9th inning, we had Zim in to close, and when they started the inning, I said out loud “7 batters till Ichiro hits a home run”. Had to explain it to my wife, and said something like “Well, it’s a save situation, and Zim will be in. Ichiro has two BIG home runs off Zim this year”. Sure enough, the inning got to Ichiro. Narron did something interesting, and pulled Zim to get to Venafro who got the job done.
Talk radio went nuts the next day over that move, but I agreed with it – Zim had already been burnt by Ichiro twice, might as well play for the win, instead of the heart attack. :)