You know, after the euphoria of last night, I didn’t know what to expect out of Marlon Byrd tonight. Sometimes after a night like that, you get a flat 0-4 or 1-5 or something like that. But tonight, Byrd continued his positive vibe from last night into this game. Marlon was 3-4 with a walk, and three runs scored. He also stole two bases. It was quite the night offensively for him. No big grand slam or anything, but he was definitely felt. One of the runs scored was a gamble shot – he was almost thrown out by Bobby Abreu. Nice night again for Byrd.
As good as Byrd’s night was, it was positively awful for CJ Wilson. I know I’m jumping ahead (I generally tend to do my commentaries in game order). A lot has been said about CJ in the last few days. We’re hearing quotes like “He’s still our closer”, and “we’re going to work on a few things and get him back out there”. These are not real strong votes of confidence. Of course, he’s not helping himself. There’s talk that he might be hurt a little, but he doesn’t have that air of “closer” at the moment. Tonight’s performance certainly didn’t help things. 0.1 innings pitched, 1 hit batter (Arod), two walks, and one hit. A big one – a grand slam by Richie Sexson. Ugh. It was announced after the game that CJ Wilson was going to go on the disabled list. This could explain things, but he just hasn’t that “swagger”. Guess it’s Guardado time for awhile.
We had another efficient night at the plate. Rangers had eight runs, and we had only eight hits. Three of them were Marlon Byrd, two were David Murphy, and the other three were one each by Hamilton, Boggs, & Crush Davis. We actually were held mostly in check, but Yankee pitching gave up eight walks. That is NEVER good, and it’s hard to win when you give up that many walks.
One of the best performances of the night was Rangers starter Matt Harrison. Facing some of the best hitters in the league, he was fantastic. 6.1 innings pitched, five hits, two earned runs. Now *THAT* is a quality start. Great job by Matt. Hope those keep coming.
One of the greatest bits of the night was the fact that Alex Rodriguez hit into two 5-4-3 double plays (including the one that ended the game). He also was doubled off on a 5-4 line drive out. Gotta love that.
The Rangers are now six games over .500, and have won three in a row. We’re now only a game and a half behind the Yankees in the Wild card race. We still would have a lot of work to do on Wed & Thursday, but if we by some chance sweep the Yankees, we’ll pass them in the standings. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet on that one.
BTW, if you want some entertaining posts, check out the Yankees forums on mlb.com. After both games, there’s a ton of posts calling Girardi every name you can think of, wondering why they have Arod, you know. The kind of dumbass remarks you see on call in shows. It’s almost as amusing as Cowboys forums after one of their losses. Calling Matt Harrison a nobody or a “bum” I can understand. HOWEVER, the Yankee fans do show some real tastelessness with several remarks about Josh Hamilton. Specifically junk like this. Or like this. And ESPECIALLY this one. I had almost forgotten how dominant Yankee fans can be in the category of jerkoffs. I was blinded by the meteoric rise in jerkoff Red Sox fans the last few years that it clouded the original jerkoffiness of Yankees fans. Thanks for restoring my faith you twonks. Sigh.
Oh yeah, SUCK IT AGAIN, YANKEES!
