Eighteen hits. Fourteen runs. Six walks. Three doubles. Six home runs. There was offense all over the place for the Rangers this game. Kind of reminds me a game a couple years ago where we scored a boatload of runs in the final game down in Houston. If I remember right, Hank Blalock had a grand slam and a three run home run in that game.
Mark Teixeira had two home runs in this game, which is nice, he looks like he’s getting on track, which might help increase his trade value should we choose to go that route. Victor Diaz also had two home runs, both of them to right field, which was nice to see.
We had several guys with great days. Mark Teixeira was 4-6 with 2 home runs, 3 RBI’s. Victor Diaz was 4-5 with two home runs and 3 RBI’s. Gerald Laird was 3-4 with a walk, and Ramon Vazquez was 3-3 with 5 RBI’s. Nice bunches of offense there, plus there was enough to go around. Of the starters, only Brandon McCarthy had no hits, but he’s a pitcher. :)
Speaking of McCarthy, he had a good outing. He went 6, giving up just four hits and one run. This is probably the guy we traded for. Not the launching pad who was wearing #20 on his back in April. Brandon also struck out two, and walked two. His ERA is finally under 6, and I think has made what three, maybe four good starts in a row? That’s good to see.
Hopefully this kind of stuff can translate and stick on the road, as we need a LOT more road wins to get back to respectability.
I was hoping Sammy Sosa would have gotten a couple of home runs in Houston, so he would come back home with 599. I’m going to the game Monday night, so I was hoping he’d go into the game needing just one, as I doubt he’s hitting three of ’em on Monday night when I’ll be there to witness it. :)

John Koronka came up on Saturday for a spot start, and wasn’t terribly good, going 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 walks, and 3 earned runs. Not exactly horrible, but not a great line, either. Wandy Rodriguez was already here, and threw a good game against the Rangers, going 6 innings, 4 hits, two walks, and just one earned run.
Once again, that’s the story of the game, our offense couldn’t get anything going. In all, we had just six hits. Two were by Ian Kinsler, who seems to have come out of his uber slump a bit. The other hits were scattered amongst four other players (Young; a double, Cruz, Laird, Mahar). Cruz’ single was responsible for the lone Rangers run.
I also have to admit to not having the patience to watch entire games all the way through now considering how generally crappy the team is. I don’t think I watched more than a few minutes of this, I just skipped forward on my TiVo to see the end score.

Well, after the team left Orlando with just about every Rangers fan in existence feeling about as bad as you can probably feel, they headed to Houston to begin the first of six annual games against the Astros; Interleague play is back. I like Interleague play. Victor Rojas does not. It’s a good thing then that mlb thinks (they actually may) make more money during these games, that means it’s a lock that it won’t go anywhere.
Before the game started, we got the news that Hank Blalock is going to have to undergo that same “remove a rib” surgery that Kenny Rogers did a season or so ago. This will sideline him for quite awhile, they say 10-12 weeks or so, but realistically, it’s the season, I would think. Couple that with the fact that they put him straight on the 60 day DL, you figure it out. They don’t expect him back any time soon. So the parade of new callups continues. I have more roster pages to make. :)
Robinson Tejeda turned in a good outing. He took a no hitter into the sixth inning, which was busted up by Craig Biggio – no shame in that. Odd though that you take a no hitter into the sixth, don’t survive the inning, and only give up one run (which was actually given up by Scott Feldman). Just seemed odd that he would be brought out then. But Tejeda got the win, going to 4-3, with a season ERA of 4.53. Not awesome, but not as godawful as some of the other ERA’s we have on our staff. Frankie Francisco followed Feldman and gave up two runs (on top of Feldman’s run), and made the game feel closer than it really was. For the first time in ages, this FELT like a game we should win. Which is amusing, giving how hapzardly the lineup was put together (or so it felt).
Offensively, we were led by Ramon Vazquez, the callup from a day or so ago. In what I believe is his first action as Ranger, he went 3-4 with a home run. Actually, now that I look at the stats, he had one RBI, and one run. The solo home run. So his 3-4 wasn’t really THAT productive, but 3-4 always looks good in the box score. Nelson Cruz and Sammy Sosa both had two RBI’s, as did a few others (Vazquez, Lofton, & Young). The five spot in the third was the backbone of this game for us. Was nice to see that up there. And on the road no less, which I think brings our road win total this year to two. ;)
Also, Eric Gagne got a save. It was only his second opportunity all season, and this was Game 42. Bleargh.
With all the injuries, we’re about to see some strange lineups going forward. I wonder if all those changes will have any impact on our bottom line.

OK, NOW I give up. When’s opening day 2008?