I didn’t realize that this game was on XM Radio right away, or I would have listened to it earlier. When I started listening, we were down 3-0 going into the top of the seventh. It was at that point we put together a two out rally to take the lead, 4-3. It was started on a two out two strike single by Gerald Laird, and then several other hits followed at that point. Right after that inning ended, I had to stop listening, as I had something I had to do. Good thing, as we immediately gave up the lead, and never scored again. So I got to hear the best part. :)
Of the 6 runs we gave up today, only two were earned. Kameron Loe gave up 3 runs, all unearned. Juan Domignuiez gave up 3 as well, two of his were earned. What’s more amusing is that the four runs we scored in the seventh were all unearned. Of the 10 runs scored by both teams, 8 of them were unearned. That doesn’t usually happen. Bartolo Colon looked in mid season form according to his box score. 4.2IP, 4H, 0ER, 5K.
Offensively, Gary Matthews Jr went 3 for 3 with a stolen base. That was the leading offensive performance by a Ranger today. On the flip side, Soriano still hasn’t gotten a hit in all of spring training. I think he’s 0-13 now or something like that.
This loss drops us under .500 for the spring.
You can view my recap page here.

I don’t have time for a full recap today. In fact, as I write this, the box scores haven’t shown up online anywhere, so I can’t even make one up (which is what I have to do when I don’t get to see or hear the game).
Didn’t look like a great game from watching the box scores while it was going on. The only bright spot from what I can tell was Adrian Gonzalez who had both Ranger RBI’s with a pinch hit double. Beyond that I don’t have any other info.
You can view my recap page here.

This was a refresh the line score game. I saw us take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, and I thought things would be fine. Then I saw the score after the bottom of the first. We were losing 3-1. Our good old buddy Chan Ho Park gave up three runs in the bottom of the first. In typical Park fashion, he had one stinker of an inning, and the rest were pretty decent. Overall Park gave up 3ER in his 3 innings of work. Not that good (that’s an ERA of 9), but the three in the first was a real eye roller. Jason Standridge, who got the win, also gave up 2ER in his 2 innings of work. The remainder of the pitchers we used (Shouse, Brocail, and Rupe) didn’t give up anything. Rupe also picked up a save. Oh yeah, there appeared to be the random hit batter by Park. That was something that Josh & Tom talked about a lot, the seemingly out of nowhere hit batter. There was one in Park’s line, I suspect it was the random kind. :)
Speaking of pitching, Kerry Wood started for the Cubs, and took himself out of the game after the second after feeling a strain in his right shoulder. Wood gave up a run in his two innings, but we staged a comeback against former Ranger prospect Ryan Dempster, picking up 3 runs (2ER), and finishing it off with two runs against Cubs reliever Roberto Novoa.
Offensively, no one really stood out. We had 5 RBI’s (one of our runs was unearned), and no one had more than one. Teixeira was 2 for 3, and Esteban German was 2 for 4. But everyone else had a single hit. We did also leave 14 runners on base, so it could have been an explosion; we just left too many guys out there to really dominate this game. Still, we got a win, and that’s all that really matters in the long run.
Also, Alfonso Soriano is 0-12 to start his spring training games. I don’t think it will be a problem in the long run, but seeing that stat did make me raise an eyebrow.
View my complete update for this game here.

The Rangers lost to the Giants this afternoon by the score of 5 to 1.
Offensively, we had virtually nothing. We had a total of 6 hits that were pretty scattered through the game, and we only had 2 up until the 7th inning. We had a home run by Richard Hidalgo in the 7th for our third hit, mounting effectively no offensive attack. We also didn’t have most of the regular lineup, either. No Teixeira, no Blalock, no Soriano. That’s ultimately no excuse, but when your biggest boppers aren’t in the lineup, you don’t expect to score as many runs as you have been the last few games (picking up 16 in one game and 17 in another over the last few). We did make it a little interesting in the 9th with a hit, and a walk, but didn’t mount anything serious.
Chris Young started the game, and did fairly well going three innings and not giving up anything. Carlos Almanzar was beat up a bit for two runs in the fourth to take the loss.
But basically, this day belonged to the Giants pitching. We got nothing really going, and other than Hidalgo’s HR, no Ranger passed home plate.
View my complete update for this game here.

This was the first time we got to see the Rangers on TV this season. However, it wasn’t our TV guys, it was the ESPN crew, none of which really excited me, as the guy they had doing play by play is their hockey guy, isn’t it?
Anyway, Nick Regilio, who had a looksee last year as one of the 17 guys we had start games in 2004 was the starter. He went 2.1 innings, and gave up just one run on 3 hits, although he walked two. In fact, I believe one of the walks was the run he gave up. However, the next two pitchers kind of stunk up the joint. Lou Pote, who I don’t expect to be on the roster come April gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in 1.2 innings, which included two HR’s. However, Nick Masset didn’t do much better. He also went 1.2, but gave up 7 hits, and 5ER! Eeek! The remaining three pitchers we used (Hughes, Bukvich, & Nunez) didn’t give up anything in the combined 3.1 IP between them.
Offensively, not a lot going on. The four RBI’s were from Kinsler, Dellucci, Colbrunn, & Kevin Mench. Mike Young was the only player with more than one hit (he went 2-3).
I’m feeling better, although not totally clear of the health issues I had this past week, so I should be a bit more timely in my updates.
View my complete update for this game here.

I was still sick, plus I had family in town this weekend for my wife’s baby shower, so there wasn’t much going on with me baseball wise. Was nice to see the can of whoop-ass opened up by the Rangers on another team. Too bad I couldn’t see or hear it. :)
We didn’t bash them into submission as there were only two home runs. We just hit them to death. We had 20 hits, and most of them seemed to do something. Gary Matthews (who probably isn’t a bad choice as starting CF if Nix doesn’t ratch up his hitting) went 3 for 3, and Adrian Gonzalez furthered his case some more going 3 for 5 with a home run and four RBI’s.
Not much to say as I’m trying to get back into the swing of things having been out of work for over a week.
View my complete update for this game here.