Odd quotes in the press by Kevin Millwood saying it was his best pitched game of the season. He may have felt like that, but the numbers don’t lie. 6 innings pitched, 5 earned runs, 2 walks. Did get five strikeouts, as well as ten hits. That doesn’t seem like his best game of the year to me. Although, it didn’t seem as bad as the line went. It felt like he was pitching better, but you can’t argue with the results.
Mahay, Feldman, & CJ Wilson did pitch well out of the pen. Not sure which of these guys was the closer today, as Gagne was put back on the DL (shocker), and Wash said in the pre-game that Aki was unavailable this game. Our three relievers went three innings, giving up just two hits and no walks combined. Not many strikeouts, but an out is an out.
Cha Seung Baek, who seems to be a second coming of Bartolo Colon vs the Rangers, was actually not as a good against us as he normally was. Baek went 4.1, giving up 4ER on 10H and 2BB. However, their pen was better than ours was. Using just two guys (Morrow & Putz), the M’s pen gave up just one hit and two walks with no runs over 4.2 innings (longer than Baek went by a little). Morrow looked particularly impressive. We were probably lucky we got the four runs we did.
Seattle’s offense was led by Ichiro who just needed a home run for the cycle. He was what he was supposed to be. I wonder where he’ll be after this year; I can’t imagine him sticking with Seattle. Unfortunately, he’ll probably end up a Yankee playing with Matsui when Abreu’s contract isn’t picked up.
Our offense was topped off by a home run by Hank Blalock into the wedgie in right, driving in two. We also had a triple by Calananotto, a double by Cruz, and six other scattered singles. However, the only person with more than one hit was Sammy Sosa. His .500 performance for this game now RAISES his batting average over the Mendoza line to .206. Blech. Actually, our hits were quite evenly spread out – everyone had one except Gerald Laird, whose season batting average has gone under .100 (.098). Is there a “Mendoza line” nickname for .100 batting averages? Wash has said many times that “whatever you hit is a bonus”. I’m wondering if that’s not the way to take it. Tell him “Dude, you need to get some hits”.
Disheartening loss, as it’s one we should have won. :(

I tuned in Sunday afternoon knowing I wouldn’t be able to watch this whole game. I had to leave for a Sunday evening event at my church at about 4:30, so I figured, OK, I’ll get 7 innings in or so. That’s about what I got. When I left, the game was in in the bottom of the seventh, and when I got to where I was going, it was just starting the bottom of the 8th. We were losing 3-1. It was a typical 2007 Rangers game so far; decent pitching, no hitting to speak of. It’s quite odd writing that. One of the guys who has regularly produced is Kenny Lofton, but the guys behind him (Cat, Young, Tex) aren’t doing much of anything at all, and Ian Kinsler is our only serious offensive threat.
Anyway, Oakland starter Chad Gaudin pitched well. He went six, giving up just one run (an RBI single to Kinsler in the second after a triple by Blalock) on four hits. He looked pretty decent. Noticed someone picked him up after the game in one of the fantasy leagues I am commissioner for through this site. That usually happens after some opponent pitches really well against us. :)
On the flip side, we got the good Robinson Tejeda. Outside of one mistake pitch to Shannon Stewart that was bopped over the fence, Tejeda was pretty good himself. Including the home run, his line was 6.1IP, 3ER, NO walks, and six strikeouts on nine hits. Now it’s not the kind of thing we saw the other day from Cole Hamels for the Phillies great, but this was a decent outing. It was a great outing if you took away the home run, so I’m satisfied with that. He was relieved by Willie Eyre, making his Rangers 07 debut, and Eyre was pretty good as well. Eyre finished the seventh, and pitched the 8th, allowing no runs and just one hit. He walked one, but it didn’t hurt him.
Then the offense clicked in the bottom of the eighth. Lofton led off with a single, and Catalanotto wasn’t the 2007 easy out, and he had a hustling double to right field. OK, now we’re good. Second and third, nobody out. Feeling good. Michael Young, who normally would drive those guys in struck out. Mark Texiera worked a walk, OK. Bases loaded, one out. Not feeling AS good, but still feeling good. That brings up Sammy Sosa, who I’m sure everyone would have loved to have earned his nickname, “Slammin”. He walked as well. OK, not a home run, but still gets a run in. That’s good. That brought in Oakland’s closer, Houston Street, who gave up an 0-2 single to Blalock, driving in Hairston (who pinch ran for Catalanotto) & Texiera, giving us the lead, and the eventual win. There was no more scoring, but that’s the kind of inning we haven’t had all season long, and the kind we need a lot more of going forward.
The ninth had some drama as Eric Gagne finally got to take the mound in Arlington in a save situation. He got Jason Kendall to ground out, but then Gagne hurt himself. He had to come out in the middle of the at bat to Mark Ellis; he was replaced by Akinori Otsuka, who did get the save. Can’t say I’m surprised by the Gagne thing – he still seems way to fragile to have offered 6 million guaranteed to.
Still, a win is a win, and we took the series from division rival Oakland. We now face a short two game series at home against Seattle against Cha Sueng Beck, who probably will be a hard game, and Jarrod Washburn, who we don’t seem to have a problem knocking around in Arlington. Good thing we’re missing Felix Hernandez. :)
We go into the series 8-10, one game behind Oakland and the Angels who are tied for first. Given how lethargic and crappy we’ve been playing overall, this could be a heck of a lot worse.

Yeah, I know. 7-0 isn’t a “close game” score. But for the longest time, this game was 1-0, and then 2-0 through 7 and a half innings. It wasn’t till we put up a five spot in the bottom of the 8th that it became the score it was. This really had the feeling of a 1-0 or 2-0 score, which it was for the longest time.
Well, after I read the good news earlier in the day that Bruce Chen had been DFA’ed, I was excited about Kam Loe’s start, as were most Ranger fans, I would imagine. I bet the guys up in the first row around Section 320 were excited to hang their Kam’s Snake pit sign again. :) Kameron went 5.1 innings, giving up 3 hits and no runs while walking one, and striking out 5. He left in a bit of a jam, CJ Wilson walked Nick Swisher to load the bases, and it had the makings of an ugly inning. However, Wilson showed some really great pitches to Oakland, and struck out both Eric Chavez & Milton Bradley. After Bradley was struck out, there were several guys, including Kam in the dugout who had some really good reactions to the end of that inning. That was probably the best moment of the game from a defensive side for the night.
In fact, our pitching looked absolutely like the staff it was the night before. The three hits that Loe gave up were it. Wilson and the remainder of the bullpen (Benoit, Otsuka, Gagne) gave up no hits at all. In fact, between the four relievers, they gave up just 3 walks in all. That’s it.
Offensively, it was nice to see Mark Teixeira get a double, but it didn’t amount to anything. He did, however get an RBI single in the fourth. But he needs A LOT more than that. No home runs and just 3 RBI’s for the season is starting to get a little troubling. I think we’re past the cheery optimism that Josh Lewin is still showing. I’m a tad concerned. I’m nowhere near panic mind you, but I think sticking one’s head in the sand and saying “it will get better” isn’t enough anymore. It’s been something like 75 at bats. That should be enough by now. It’s making his 9 home runs by the All Star break look like an offensive explosion.
Beyond Tex, we had a few hits scattered here and there, but the next offense was in the bottom of the seventh on a sac fly by Nelson Cruz. But through 7.5, it really felt like a really good old school NL close game. Then we blew it open in the bottom of the eighth, taking away Eric Gagne’s save opportunity. That was done when Matt Kata hit a three run home run to left, pretty much putting the game out of reach.
Gagne came in anyway, threw a scoreless inning, and sealed the win. Was nice to see that kind of game anyway, but especially after the fiasco that was Friday night’s game. Great win.
A few other random thoughts from the game:

• Nelson Cruz looked like he avoided the tag to me
• I’m not sure whether to laugh or be mad by that shot of Eric Gagne faking being asleep in the pen waiting to come into the game.
• Why didn’t Kinsler get an error in the 9th on his relay throw that got away? I know the runner didn’t advance, but he would have been out otherwise.
• That shot of Eric Chavez giving Ron Washington a replacement gold glove for the one that got washed away in Hurricane Katrina was a seriously classy move. I loved hearing that story, and even stopped the pre-game stuff to show my wife who was doing something else at the time. The Rangers site has a story about that here.

I’m writing this before the game is even over. Right now it’s in the top of the 7th, and we’re losing 10-3. Bleargh! I’m betting we’re not coming back on this one. :)
I bet the “Fire John Daniels” folks are gonna have a field day with this.
Edit: Got worse. They gave up a six spot in the 8th as well.
Edit 2: 16-4. That’s just horrendous. Not a good way to start the homestand.
Edit 3: I forgot to mention I had tickets to this game. I didn’t go. Didn’t miss anything. Saved myself a lot of money missing this mess.

I’m not going to write much, as I spent most of last night and this morning with a fever again. I thought I was well, but I guess I’m not.
Was nice to see another Sosa home run. I have to say I’m enjoying those more than I thought I would.
But again, it’s disturbing that we had only 5 hits. Three of them doubles, plus Sosa’s home run, but man, we’re not gonna win anything if we can’t hit.
Still, it’s not that bad, really. 6-9 only two games out isn’t the worst hole to be in.

I was out this evening, and unfortunately, I had come home from my bowling league and saw the score by accident before I had watched any of the game, darnit. But I didn’t miss any Rangers highlights; there weren’t any!
The only baserunner we had all game was Sammy Sosa, who walked to lead off the fifth, but was picked off. Mark Buehrle faced 27. If it wasn’t for Sosa, the game would have been perfect. The last time this happened was the final game of the 1984 season, when we had a no hitter thrown against us. Buehrle also struck out eight, throwing 106 pitches in all.
Gotta tip your hat to that. There’s really nothing else to say.

UPDATE: The White Sox fan site “Sox Machine” has a rather interesting breakdown of the no hitter. Check it out, even if he incorrectly refers to soda as “pop”. ;)