Well, as much as I’m sure everyone wanted the winning streak to continue, it didn’t. Although I can see some of the latecomers to the bandwagon jumping off already.
We lost to the Devil Rays tonight by a score of 5-4. It was all longball, as the Rays had five solo shots. Three of them were off Chan Ho Park, including one in the first inning. One was off the eraser, and one was off Jeff Nelson, the game’s loser. Only one I remember being tattooed – the rest (at least two, maybe three) were wind assisted, I thought. I don’t think we were horrible, even considering the usual inconsistency of Chan Ho Park.
Offensively, no one really stood out, although Mark Teixeira jacked one onto Greene’s Hill. Nothing seemed to click offensively. I saw the club in there that won the games, but they seemed flat tonight. Lots of popups, and lots of strikeouts (nine of them).
Thing is, I’m sure this club will be right back up on the horse again Wednesday night. And 17-10 is nothing to sneeze at, either. :)
Brett Carre: Ouch. This is a game that reminded me of last year.
Can’t write a lot today, but TB had 5 solo homers, wow. Chan Ho did his normal thing, not great but not bad at all. Bullpen let us down last night.
The Halos won last night, so we are both 17-10. Did everyone see Kevin’s Krew?? LOL
[ From Joe: I wanted to see the Mench Mambo! ]
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - TAMPA BAY 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 5 10 0 TEXAS 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 6 0 (FINAL) BATTERIES: TAM - VICTOR ZAMBRANO, LANCE CARTER (8TH), DANYS BAEZ (9TH) AND BROOK FORDYCE TEX - CHAN HO PARK, JAY POWELL (6TH), ERASMO RAMIREZ (7TH), JEFF NELSON (8TH) AND GERALD LAIRD WP - LANCE CARTER (1-1) LP - JEFF NELSON (0-2) SAVE - DANYS BAEZ (3) HOME RUNS: TAM - JULIO LUGO (3) OFF CHAN HO PARK IN THE 1ST, 0 ON GEOFF BLUM (1) OFF CHAN HO PARK IN THE 5TH, 0 ON TINO MARTINEZ (4) OFF CHAN HO PARK IN THE 6TH, 0 ON GEOFF BLUM (2) OFF ERASMO RAMIREZ IN THE 7TH, 0 ON TINO MARTINEZ (5) OFF JEFF NELSON IN THE 9TH, 0 ON TEX - MARK TEIXEIRA (3) OFF VICTOR ZAMBRANO IN THE 2ND, 0 ON TIME: 2:50 ATT: 20,228 PROBABLES: TAM - DOUG WAECHTER (1-1, 3.55) TEX - RYAN DRESE (1-0, 2.91) Box Score TAMPA BAY (5) VS TEXAS (4) - FINAL TAMPA BAY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg C Crawford cf 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 .320 J Lugo ss 4 1 1 1 0 2 1 .278 A Huff 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .196 J Cruz rf 2 0 1 0 2 1 1 .225 R Fick dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 .220 a-R Baldelli ph-dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .264 T Martinez 1b 3 2 2 2 1 0 0 .293 E Perez lf 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .194 B Fordyce c 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .179 G Blum 2b 4 2 2 2 0 1 2 .205 Totals 34 5 10 5 3 9 13 a-grounded to shortstop for R Fick in the 8th. BATTING: 3B - C Crawford (4, C Park). HR - J Lugo (3, 1st inning off C Park 0 on, 1 Out), G Blum 2 (2, 5th inning off C Park 0 on, 0 Out, 7th inning off E Ramirez 0 on, 1 Out), T Martinez 2 (5, 6th inning off C Park 0 on, 2 Out, 9th inning off J Nelson 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - J Lugo (15), G Blum 2 (2), T Martinez 2 (9). 2-out RBI - T Martinez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - R Fick 1, G Blum 1. GIDP - R Baldelli. Team LOB - 5. BASERUNNING: CS - T Martinez (1, 3rd base by C Park/G Laird). FIELDING: DP: 2 (J Lugo-T Martinez 2). TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg M Young ss 5 0 2 0 0 1 3 .356 H Blalock 3b 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 .316 A Soriano 2b 3 0 0 0 1 3 1 .315 B Fullmer dh 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .235 M Teixeira 1b 3 2 1 1 1 0 2 .209 D Dellucci lf 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 .324 K Mench rf 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 .324 L Nix cf 3 0 1 0 1 2 1 .364 G Laird c 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 .339 a-E Young ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .362 Totals 30 4 6 3 6 9 11 a-sacrificed to catcher for G Laird in the 9th. BATTING: 2B - L Nix (6, D Baez). HR - M Teixeira (3, 2nd inning off V Zambrano 0 on, 1 Out). S - E Young. RBI - M Teixeira (9), G Laird 2 (8). 2-out RBI - G Laird 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - H Blalock 1, A Soriano 1, M Young 1. GIDP - H Blalock, M Teixeira. Team LOB - 7. FIELDING: DP: 3 (G Laird-H Blalock, G Laird, A Soriano-M Young-M Teixeira). ---------------------------------------------------- TAMPA BAY - 100 011 101 -- 5 TEXAS - 011 200 000 -- 4 ---------------------------------------------------- TAMPA BAY ip h r er bb so hr era V Zambrano 7 5 4 4 5 8 1 4.06 L Carter (W, 1-1) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.63 D Baez (S, 3) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.64 TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era C Park 5 2/3 6 3 3 3 5 3 5.50 J Powell (H, 4) 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.69 E Ramirez (B, 2) 1 2 1 1 0 1 1 5.40 J Nelson (L, 0-2) 1 2/3 2 1 1 0 2 1 3.18 HBP - G Laird (by V Zambrano). Pitches-strikes: V Zambrano 134-76; L Carter 17-7; D Baez 11-9; C Park 103-56; J Powell 6-4; E Ramirez 15-9; J Nelson 26-17. Ground balls-fly balls: V Zambrano 7-6; L Carter 0-3; D Baez 1-1; C Park 5-5; J Powell 0-1; E Ramirez 1-1; J Nelson 2-1. Batters faced: V Zambrano 30; L Carter 4; D Baez 4; C Park 24; J Powell 2; E Ramirez 5; J Nelson 6. UMPIRES: HP--Jerry Layne. 1B--Chris Guccione. 2B--Paul Schrieber. 3B--Ed Montague. T--2:50. Att--20,228. Weather: 78 degrees, clear. Wind: 18 mph, in from right.