“Rangers Baseball is on the air!”
Those are the words I wait to hear from the moment the last game is over during the season till now. The year 2004 has finally gotten started with baseball coming out of the speaker in my radio. Today was a great day outside. Nice weather, was doing some yardwork, and was washing my truck while the Rangers game was on. It was glorious! Eric & Vince er, Victor Rojas were on my radio, and that alone would have made the day great, even if the weather was terrible, which it wasn’t.
Anyway, a quick word about Victor. The fact that he’s visited my site has no bearing on my statement. He seemed OK to me. Certainly competent, but it’s damn near impossible to get a handle on the new guy after a single game. I will say this though – there was more than once where it sounded like Vince. I didn’t think from listening to the first game that his voice was a 180 degree turn from what we had before. Also, I kept listening for Mike Cramer’s “passion for the game”. That’s got absolutely zero to do with Victor, but that’s all I could think of when I listened to the first game.. “Cramer said the new guy has to have a passion for the game”.
About the game. Well, Chan Ho Park came out and pitched like Texas Chan Ho in the first inning, throwing a lot of pitches, giving up a run, and being somewhat ineffective. Then in innings two and three, he pitched lie L.A. Chan Ho. That was rather encouraging to see. Mike Bascik and Eric Sabel both got bombed, but Ryan Snare & Carlos Almanzar sounded good. Ron Mahay also pitched, and gave up a run.
“Leadfoot” Soriano gave up another error this game, his second in as many days. Is it too late to call the Mets back? :) However, the offensive start was Ramon Nivar, who went 3 for 4, scoring twice, and driving in one. He had the best numbers day offensively. Jason Tyner also went 2-3. We’re getting a bunch of offense so far, what with 26 runs in the first three games (as many as Oakland had in ONE game today). I know it’s spring, and I know things are in flux, and don’t count, bla, bla, bla. Was nice to see us score some runs. Was not nice to see us give up more runs.
There goes the perfect record in the spring. ;)
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Two in a row! Here we come playoffs! ;)
Will have more to say once I see a box score. Tony Pena can’t be happy about four errors by the Royals. I wonder if any of them were Garth Brooks. ;)
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Several months after Juan Gonzalez didn’t help the Rangers by going to Kansas City, he finally does help the Rangers. Not quite as much, and it was only to the tune of three runs on a dropped ball error in the first inning, but hey – thanks Juan!
The box score showed something I didn’t like – two innings no runs by Ryan Drese. I’d really rather he go. Powell stunk up the joint (what a shock), as did Doug Brocail, which is odd, as Brocail got the win in the game. The Eraser had a good frame, as did Edwin Moreno (who I don’t know anything about). The box score looks like one of those that you look at it and go “Blech”, but when you actually look at the numbers, it’s not too bad.
Hank Blalock, Chad Allen, & Manny Alexander seemed to have the best offensive days, although with 10 hits and 10 runs, there’s some more to be spread around. One home run, by Alexander, who is likely not to be with the club come April.
One stolen base, by Jason Tyner. Actually when Tyner was with Tampa, I rather liked him. He’s not going to be the biggest of big name players, but there was just “something” I liked about him. Can’t put it into words, really one of those gut things. If things develop where he’s on the major league roster, I can’t say I’ll be disappointed. He’s not a #1, but a pretty worthy backup. Probably better than Doug Glanville was for us last year, I’d wager.
Still, nice to see a win. Those are always good, no matter when during the season they come.
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Spring Training Baseball is back! Again, it’s the kind of game where you have to sit on the MLB.com scoreboard and just hit refresh, because it’s not on the radio, nor is it on an Internet broadcast, either. Still, it’s nice to have games going again. It’ll be better once I can hear them or see ’em. :)
Watching it on the scoreboard, I saw us give up a run in the top of the first right away, and that wasn’t fun, then we went down 2-0, but took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a 3 spot. We then followed it in the sixth with a four spot, and finishing up with 2 in the bottom of the eighth for a 9-5 win.
Soriano started off well, going 1-3 with a stolen base, and two double plays in the field. He did have a called third strike on him at one point, but from what I can read had a solid Ranger debut. Herbert Perry was scratched, which isn’t a good sign, as reports going into the games say that he’s still not ready to play third base, after all this time. Fresh off his new contract, Hank Blalock hit a solo home run in the fifth, and Mike Young had no problems in his first game at shortstop.
Oh, and singer Garth Brooks stuck out against us. :) I’m sure we’ll see his strikeout on the local news tonight. :)
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