There’s something cool about a Saturday afternoon game. I watched it on TV, and then afterwards I thought I should have sat on the patio in my back yard with a beer and the radio – that seems rather “pure” to me for some reason. :)
We avoid the first three game losing streak of the season with a 6-1 win over Detroit. Powered by three home runs by Soriano, Blalock, & Mike Young, we won easily. We had only 9 hits, with Young, Perry, & Laird getting two, and the other three were from Blalock, Soriano, & Teixeira. We didn’t have a lot of bunched hits, but what we had was fairly efficient.
Nate Robertson looked good for Detroit, striking out 10 Rangers in 5.2 innings. Kenny Rogers only had two strikeouts, but he didn’t walk anyone, either. Carlos Almanzar looked great in relief, as did Jay Powell, which is good, as Jeff Nelson is out till August now. :(
Brett Carre: The mini-skid is over after a 6-1 win over the Tigers on Saturday. We had the long ball theme today with home runs by Young, Blalock, and Soriano.
Kenny Rogers pitched well today and Almanzar pitched great in relief. Hank Blalock also had some great plays at 3rd base today. I know A-rod is going to be the starter at 3rd in the All-Star game, but if Hank doesn’t make the team then that is just bull.
Another thing that is getting me pissed, everyone who is not a Ranger fan is saying that we are slowing down and we will be in last place soon. If we win tomorrow we will be 4-2 on this 6 game road trip. I can’t remember a time that a team that went 4-2 on a road trip was slowing down.
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - TEXAS 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 6 9 0 DETROIT 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 9 0 (FINAL) BATTERIES: TEX - KENNY ROGERS, CARLOS ALMANZAR (7TH), JAY POWELL (9TH) AND GERALD LAIRD DET - NATE ROBERTSON, CRAIG DINGMAN (6TH), STEVE COLYER (7TH), DANNY PATTERSON (8TH), JAMIE WALKER (9TH) AND IVAN RODRIGUEZ WP - KENNY ROGERS (5-2) LP - NATE ROBERTSON (2-3) SAVE - NONE HOME RUNS: TEX - ALFONSO SORIANO (5) OFF NATE ROBERTSON IN THE 1ST, 0 ON HANK BLALOCK (10) OFF STEVE COLYER IN THE 7TH, 0 ON MICHAEL YOUNG (8) OFF JAMIE WALKER IN THE 9TH, 1 ON DET - NONE TIME: 2:47 ATT: 26,120 PROBABLES: TEX - RYAN DRESE (2-0, 2.60) DET - JASON JOHNSON (1-5, 6.53) Box Score TEXAS (6) VS DETROIT (1) - FINAL TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg M Young ss 5 1 2 2 0 2 0 .369 H Blalock 3b 5 1 1 2 0 3 0 .301 A Soriano 2b 5 1 1 1 0 3 1 .302 H Perry dh 5 1 2 0 0 1 0 .276 M Teixeira 1b 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 .213 E Young cf 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 .295 B Jordan rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 5 .086 K Mench lf 4 0 0 1 0 0 5 .297 G Laird c 4 2 2 0 0 1 2 .313 Totals 36 6 9 6 3 12 15 BATTING: 2B - M Young (9, N Robertson); M Teixeira (5, N Robertson). HR - A Soriano (5, 1st inning off N Robertson 0 on, 2 Out), H Blalock (10, 7th inning off S Colyer 0 on, 2 Out), M Young (8, 9th inning off J Walker 1 on, 0 Out). RBI - A Soriano (28), H Blalock 2 (29), K Mench (18), M Young 2 (30). 2-out RBI - A Soriano, H Blalock. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - K Mench 2, A Soriano 1, G Laird 1. Team LOB - 7. FIELDING: PB - G Laird. DP: 1 (H Blalock-A Soriano-M Teixeira). DETROIT ab r h rbi bb so lob avg C Guillen ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .318 B Inge cf 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .291 I Rodriguez c 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .355 R White lf 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 .331 C Monroe rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 .232 b-J Smith ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 C Pena 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .216 G Norton 3b 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 .140 C Shelton dh 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .267 a-E Munson ph-dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .207 O Infante 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 .263 Totals 34 1 9 1 0 4 9 a-flied out to right for C Shelton in the 7th; b-flied out to left for C Monroe in the 9th. BATTING: 2B - B Inge (3, K Rogers); R White (9, J Powell). 3B - O Infante (2, K Rogers). RBI - R White (30). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - O Infante 2, G Norton 1, C Guillen 1. GIDP - C Monroe. Team LOB - 6. BASERUNNING: CS - C Guillen (2, 2nd base by K Rogers). ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS - 101 100 102 -- 6 DETROIT - 000 001 000 -- 1 ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era K Rogers (W, 5-2) 6 1/3 8 1 1 0 2 0 3.29 C Almanzar (H, 5) 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.20 J Powell 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.88 DETROIT ip h r er bb so hr era N Robertson (L, 2-3) 5 2/3 6 3 3 2 10 1 5.31 C Dingman 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 S Colyer 1/3 1 1 1 0 1 1 7.24 D Patterson 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.60 J Walker 1 2 2 2 0 1 1 2.16 WP - N Robertson, J Walker. HBP - E Young (by D Patterson). Pitches-strikes: K Rogers 105-67; C Almanzar 22-13; J Powell 11-8; N Robertson 110-68; C Dingman 7-4; S Colyer 7-4; D Patterson 15-7; J Walker 15-9. Ground balls-fly balls: K Rogers 10-6; C Almanzar 2-2; J Powell 1-1; N Robertson 3-4; C Dingman 2-1; S Colyer 0-0; D Patterson 2-1; J Walker 2-0. Batters faced: K Rogers 25; C Almanzar 5; J Powell 4; N Robertson 25; C Dingman 3; S Colyer 2; D Patterson 5; J Walker 5. UMPIRES: HP--Sam Holbrook. 1B--Paul Nauert. 2B--Matt Hollowell. 3B--Larry Vanover. T--2:47. Att--26,120. Weather: 51 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 7 mph, left to right.