When Chan Ho Park pitches, two things seem destined to happen. He’ll hit someone, and he’ll give up a home run or three. Last night he actually hit three people, although one of them didn’t count because Juan Gonzalez swung at the same time. :) Juan did however, knock out the Rangers with a three run home run to left field.
Park actually looked good last night. He’s definitely better than the last two years, but rather annoyingly continues to give up the mistake ball or two which kills him. If he can knock out the one or two big mistake pitches, he’d probably been 4-2 with a 3.2 ERA or something like that. He does lead our team in strikeouts, and with all the injuries we’ve had this year to our pitching staff, the possibility of dumping him, or bumping him to the bullpen has probably gone away. :(
Speaking of the bullpen, Carlos Almanzar looks like the best pickup we made this offseason again. He went two scoreless innings – in fact I think he went two perfect innings. What were the Reds thinking?
Blalock continues to slump, although his last five hits have all been home runs. In fact, the entire team is in a bit of a rut lately. Not good with the Yankees rising coming in this weekend. :(
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - KANSAS CITY 0 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 5 4 0 TEXAS 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 7 0 (FINAL) BATTERIES: KAN - JIMMY GOBBLE, SHAWN CAMP (7TH), JAIME CERDA (7TH), JUSTIN HUISMAN (8TH) AND BENITO SANTIAGO TEX - CHAN HO PARK, BRIAN SHOUSE (7TH), CARLOS ALMANZAR (8TH) AND GERALD LAIRD WP - JIMMY GOBBLE (2-2) LP - CHAN HO PARK (2-4) SAVE - JUSTIN HUISMAN (1) HOME RUNS: KAN - ANGEL BERROA (2) OFF CHAN HO PARK IN THE 3RD, 0 ON KEN HARVEY (4) OFF CHAN HO PARK IN THE 4TH, 0 ON JUAN GONZALEZ (5) OFF CHAN HO PARK IN THE 7TH, 2 ON TEX - HANK BLALOCK (11) OFF JIMMY GOBBLE IN THE 4TH, 0 ON TIME: 2:28 ATT: 32,374 PROBABLES: KAN - DARRELL MAY (1-5, 5.66) TEX - KENNY ROGERS (5-2, 3.29) Box Score KANSAS CITY (5) VS TEXAS (3) - FINAL KANSAS CITY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg A Berroa ss 5 1 1 1 0 0 2 .214 C Beltran cf 3 1 0 0 2 0 0 .287 M Sweeney dh 2 1 1 0 1 1 1 .276 J Gonzalez rf 4 1 1 3 0 0 3 .279 M Stairs lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .269 A Brown lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143 J Randa 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282 K Harvey 1b 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 .314 B Santiago c 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .252 M Lopez 2b 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .103 Totals 31 5 4 5 4 4 8 BATTING: HR - A Berroa (2, 3rd inning off C Park 0 on, 1 Out), K Harvey (4, 4th inning off C Park 0 on, 2 Out), J Gonzalez (5, 7th inning off C Park 2 on, 2 Out). RBI - A Berroa (6), K Harvey (14), J Gonzalez 3 (17). 2-out RBI - K Harvey, J Gonzalez 3. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Santiago 1, A Berroa 1. Team LOB - 6. TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg M Young ss 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 .357 H Blalock 3b 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 .293 A Soriano 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .298 H Perry 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .269 B Jordan dh 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .116 E Young lf 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 .286 a-D Dellucci ph-lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .321 K Mench rf 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 .288 L Nix cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .318 G Laird c 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 .307 b-B Fullmer ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .245 Totals 33 3 7 3 1 2 9 a-grounded to first for E Young in the 8th; b-grounded to second for G Laird in the 9th. BATTING: HR - H Blalock (11, 4th inning off J Gobble 0 on, 0 Out). SF - M Young. RBI - H Blalock (30), G Laird (12), M Young (32). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - H Blalock 1, H Perry 1. Team LOB - 6. ---------------------------------------------------- KANSAS CITY - 001 100 300 -- 5 TEXAS - 000 100 200 -- 3 ---------------------------------------------------- KANSAS CITY ip h r er bb so hr era J Gobble (W, 2-2) 6 1/3 6 3 3 1 2 1 4.50 S Camp (H, 2) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.97 J Cerda (H, 2) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.82 J Huisman (S, 1) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era C Park (L, 2-4) 6 2/3 4 5 5 4 3 3 5.80 B Shouse 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 C Almanzar 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.91 HBP - M Stairs (by C Park); B Santiago (by C Park); M Sweeney (by C Park); G Laird (by S Camp). Pitches-strikes: J Gobble 74-50; S Camp 3-1; J Cerda 3-1; J Huisman 25-16; C Park 117-69; B Shouse 4-3; C Almanzar 22-15. Ground balls-fly balls: J Gobble 7-10; S Camp 0-1; J Cerda 0-1; J Huisman 5-1; C Park 8-9; B Shouse 1-0; C Almanzar 4-1. Batters faced: J Gobble 26; S Camp 2; J Cerda 1; J Huisman 7; C Park 31; B Shouse 1; C Almanzar 6. UMPIRES: HP--Alfonso Marquez. 1B--Rick Reed. 2B--Mike Fichter. 3B--Ted Barrett. T--2:28. Att--32,374. Weather: 83 degrees, clear. Wind: 15 mph, in from right.