The Rangers won this game, although they tried not to. And the fact that we still won the game despite the couple of attempts to toss it away tells me that this team is way different than the last couple of seasons.
We were cruising along nicely, in a rather fast paced game, too. RA Dickey had given up just one run through 6 innings. His pitch count was low, and thanks to three runs we got through the first 7, we were up 3-1, and generally I felt good, even though we left about 4 guys on base the previous two innings. It could have been more for us offensively. We definitely got burnt by the new deeper walls in KC, with three balls either being outs, or doubles off the wall/warning track, which would have been out at the old configuration.
However, in the bottom of the seventh, the wheels came off a bit, but not totally off. Dickey walked two, and gave way to Powell. Powell gave up a single that loaded the bases, and he walked in KC’s second run. However, after that, we got a force out at the plate, and a strikeout to end that threat. Nothing more happened until the bottom of the ninth when Cordero proceeded to give up a hit and two walks to load the bases with no one out in the bottom of the ninth. We got another force out at the plate, and then a spectacular game ending DP by Soriano to Gonzalez, and I was off the couch with a fist pump. Great way to end the game; in fact Soriano had a hand in all three outs in the bottom of the ninth. That was definitely a Wetteland style save (as the late umpire Durwood Merrill used to say, Wetteland was a heart attack waiting to happen, the saves he got). But we got the win, and that’s the most important thing. We’re now 12-8 and still in first place.
Brian Jordan was an 0-fer coming off the DL, but that’s OK – I don’t expect guys coming off the DL to go 3 for 5 their first night back. Adrian Gonzalez is still here, although I’d expect he will go back to AAA once Texiera comes off the DL later this week.
And we finally won in KC, something we hadn’t done since 2001, snapping a nine game losing streak there. Bring on the Yankees! Nah, just kidding about that part, but it does feel good to be playing this way.
Welcome Brett Carre. Brett will be doing commentaries for the game along with me. When I first started the site, Jim Meeks would do commentaries with me. That lasted for awhile, and then Jim fell off the face of the earth (whatever happened to him, anyway?). This weekend Brett came to me and asked if I wanted someone to do commentaries. I wasn’t actively looking, but sure, I’ll do that. So here’s Brett..
Brett: First off, I would like to thank Joe for letting me write my comments along with his. Well, this game was one that we would not have pulled out in the past couple of years. This team is a totally different attitude then those teams.
Offensively, we left a lot of men on base. We managed to get 2 in the 3rd and in in the 7th. Hank had a great night with 3 hits and just missed another one on a great catch by Beltran.
R.A. pitched a hell of a game and is really starting to establish himself as a solid major league starter. R.A. went 6+ innings only giving up 2 runs. What a job by the pen getting out of jams tonight. Jay Powell came in and got a huge out when he got Sweeny to ground out. What can you say about Coco. He gets himself into a bases loaded 0 outs jam, then gets a force out at home, then gets Mendy Lopez to ground into a DP on a great play by Soriano.
All I can say is WOW!! and what a great W. Life is good!!
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - TEXAS 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 10 0 KANSAS CITY 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 7 1 (FINAL) BATTERIES: TEX - R.A. DICKEY, JAY POWELL (7TH), JEFF NELSON (8TH), FRANCISCO CORDERO (9TH) AND GERALD LAIRD KAN - JEREMY AFFELDT, JASON GRIMSLEY (8TH), CURTIS LESKANIC (9TH) AND BENITO SANTIAGO WP - R.A. DICKEY (3-1) LP - JEREMY AFFELDT (0-2) SAVE - FRANCISCO CORDERO (6) HOME RUNS: TEX - NONE KAN - NONE TIME: 2:43 ATT: 15,529 PROBABLES: TEX - KENNY ROGERS (3-0, 3.96) KAN - JIMMY GOBBLE (0-0, 2.65) Box Score TEXAS (3) VS KANSAS CITY (2) - FINAL TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg M Young ss 4 1 1 0 1 1 0 .372 H Blalock 3b 5 1 3 1 0 0 0 .341 A Soriano 2b 5 0 2 1 0 2 4 .342 H Perry dh 3 0 1 1 0 0 4 .267 B Jordan rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 .000 K Mench cf-lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .289 E Young lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 .364 L Nix cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .357 G Laird c 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .347 A Gonzalez 1b 4 1 0 0 0 0 2 .276 Totals 36 3 10 3 2 6 20 BATTING: 2B - K Mench (7, J Affeldt); H Blalock (7, J Affeldt); H Perry (2, J Affeldt). SF - H Perry. RBI - H Blalock (18), A Soriano (11), H Perry (4). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - A Gonzalez 1, H Perry 1, B Jordan 1, G Laird 2. GIDP - H Perry. Team LOB - 9. BASERUNNING: SB - A Soriano (4, 2nd base off J Affeldt/B Santiago). FIELDING: DP: 3 (A Soriano-M Young-A Gonzalez 2, A Soriano-A Gonzalez). KANSAS CITY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg T Graffanino 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .313 C Beltran cf 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 .313 J Randa 3b 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 .313 M Stairs dh 3 1 1 1 1 0 3 .302 K Harvey 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 .396 A Guiel lf 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 .218 B Santiago c 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .250 D DeJesus rf 3 0 0 1 1 0 1 .100 A Blanco ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .280 a-M Sweeney ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .316 M Lopez ss 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .111 Totals 30 2 7 2 6 2 14 a-grounded into fielder's choice to third for A Blanco in the 7th. BATTING: RBI - M Stairs (10), D DeJesus (1). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - T Graffanino 2. GIDP - M Stairs 2, M Lopez. Team LOB - 7. BASERUNNING: SB - C Beltran (7, 2nd base off R Dickey/G Laird). Picked Off - T Graffanino (1st base, R Dickey). FIELDING: E - K Harvey (2, ground ball). DP: 1 (T Graffanino-A Blanco-K Harvey). ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS - 002 000 100 -- 3 KANSAS CITY - 000 100 100 -- 2 ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era R Dickey (W, 3-1) 6 1/3 4 2 2 3 1 0 4.32 J Powell (H, 3) 2/3 1 0 0 1 1 0 2.00 J Nelson (H, 6) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.12 F Cordero (S, 6) 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 2.16 KANSAS CITY ip h r er bb so hr era J Affeldt (L, 0-2) 7 9 3 2 2 4 0 4.94 J Grimsley 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.32 C Leskanic 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 7.94 Pitches-strikes: R Dickey 95-59; J Powell 17-8; J Nelson 13-8; F Cordero 24-11; J Affeldt 98-65; J Grimsley 10-7; C Leskanic 12-7. Ground balls-fly balls: R Dickey 9-8; J Powell 1-0; J Nelson 2-1; F Cordero 3-0; J Affeldt 8-9; J Grimsley 2-0; C Leskanic 1-1. Batters faced: R Dickey 24; J Powell 4; J Nelson 3; F Cordero 5; J Affeldt 32; J Grimsley 3; C Leskanic 4. UMPIRES: HP--Tim Welke. 1B--Jim Reynolds. 2B--Gary Cederstrom. 3B--Andy Fletcher. T--2:43. Att--15,529. Weather: 69 degrees, clear. Wind: 18 mph, right to left.