As good as game #1 went, game 2 went better. Why? Well, no matter how the game turned out, something cool happened. As it had been raining with a lot of lightning, there was a PA announcement at the ballpark right as they were starting to announce the lineups for Game 2. They told everyone in the upper deck to go downstairs. So I think everyone did except for a few lone souls. Anyway, I ended up sitting in the third row right behind home plate. Not bad. :) I was on TV quite a few times, too.
Having said that, the game was spectacular. Quite honestly, that couldn’t have been Dave Burba out there pitching. No runs given up until the seventh? That couldn’t have been him at all – no walks! Yeesh. I’ll take the pitching performance, but quite honestly, I was hoping he’d pitch bad this outing and last, so we could release him as was talked about in the papers. Of course, now we could trade him, so he may yet go. In the bottom of the first inning, I got a much different view of a home run ball. I’m used to seeing home run balls from upstairs, but Arod’s monster home run in the bottom of the first was quite spectacular to watch from directly behind home plate.
I expected us to score a ton, because Anaheim’s pitcher John Lackey was making his major league debut. And other than the home run ball to Arod, not a lot was done against him, which is impressive. Sure, he got burnt by Arod, but then a lot of people get burnt by him, and if you’re gonna get burnt, it might as well be against someone of his stature. Our other two runs came on a couple of doubles and a groundout in the fourth – and that was it from our offense. But it was enough.
Our pitching was quite quite good. Jay Powell came in to relieve Burba, and did allow an inherited runner to score on a ground ball, but that’s it. Rocker came in, and was lights out (as he was the first game). He got an EXTREMELY GOOD reception as he came running in from the bullpen in the 8th. Rocker got an extremely impressive strikeout of Tim Salmon which really energized the crowd as well as Rocker too (see the reaction shot in the photo section from this game).
We now have won 7 in a row – a season high. The two wins came in our own division which is good. Seattle lost too, so we picked up a game and a half in the standings tonight. I doubt it will make much difference in the complete season standings, but this helps in putting us back to respectability, I think. Would be nice if we could get some of these runs tomorrow night for Ismael Valdes. :)

Well, Game 1 of the DH went well. Despite me getting out there in 95 degree weather, and having to sit in the sun for a couple of innings, the day went well. :)
Seriously though. Joaqun Benoit started the game, and was really REALLY wild in the first inning. However, we could have gotten out of it with no runs scoring at all despite bases loaded and nobody out if Rob Bell hadn’t thrown a ball wild to the plate for a force at home causing Pudge to come off the plate. Benoit then gave up a two run HR to Erstad in the second inning, but otherwise calmed down. He didn’t pitch TOO bad, but his 35 pitch first inning probably got him out of the game faster.
Herbert Perry had a great game, going 3-5. Arod was 2-3 with two walks. Arod scored four times himself, and overall, we had a nice offensive game against our old friend Aaron Sele.
John Rocker pitched well, as did most of the rest of the pen. However, Cordero came in in the 9th, and pulled a muscle after a few pitches, and had to come out. It’s not looking good there, even if Jerry Narron put up a brave face in the post game show. Irabu came in and gave up a home run (in the rain!) – but we prevailed for our sixth in a row.

I’m fairly sure this is only the second time this year I’ve been able to use this graphic to the left. Still, it’s nice to be able to use it.
The Rangers picked on my wife’s hometown team today with a 10-4 win, which actually wasn’t even that close. We were winning 10-2 until the bottom of the ninth when the Pirates’ Rob Machowiak dumped a home run over the right field bleachers, and bounced it into the Allegheny river, the first Pirate to actually do that in a year and a half. Still, was a nice easy win. Arod finally got out of his extra base drought with a no doubt home run to left center (which is REALLY deep here, and on three balls I thought were home runs off the bat earlier in the series were caught for easy outs). The Mench Man (my wife’s new favorite player) also hit a home run, and is making a real case to stick around when some of our “regulars” come off the DL. Speaking of that, can we PLEASE let Carl Everett go? I really want to see Ludwick, Romano, & Mench stick around, and I can’t see that happening when Mr Slow ass comes off the DL. :(
Chan Ho Park looked pretty decent (especially compared to the rest of this season), but was pulled after six innings. He had given up only two hits and two runs during his time on the hill today. Technically a quality start, and I suppose he was pulled due to having pitched 98 pitches, but I would have liked to have seen him stick around for seven.
A nice sweep in Pittsburgh. Let’s see if we can carry the momentum of the five game winning streak into the series against Anaheim, starting with a DH on Monday that I’ll be at.

DARRYL KILE 1968-2002

There was a good Rangers game today, but I’d wager most people were busy thinking about Darryl Kile. If you’re reading this, then it can not be news to you that Darryl Kile, 33 year old pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals died today – appearing to be in his sleep (which is the way to go). What more can be said about this? Lots of folks have expressed sorrow in a far more eloquent way than I could. Click on the picture to your right for some coverage from the Cardinals site. Sad day. The Cardinals/Cubs game was cancelled by Bud Selig.

Pudge won this game again with a game winning RBI double in the seventh. Rob Bell pitched well, although I admit in the first inning I thought he was going to tank, as I’m sure a lot of people did. Our pen worked well, too. Telford, Rocker, & Irabu followed up Bell to preserve the win for a streak now of four in a row.
Again, it’s hard to write about this game at my computer staring at the picture of Darryl Kile over on the right. :(

Well, the day started interestingly enough. Oscar Acosta was fired. I always felt that something was odd with the Acosta/Narron combination from the start when they were fighting in spring training. I can’t say this move surprises me at all. Jamie Quirk is the pitching coach for now. I doubt that will last long, though. Frontrunners are Orel Hershiser and Lee Tunnell. Gut says it’s Orel.
About this game, there’s really only two stories here. The pitching and Pudge. In fact, both runs were driven in by Pudge. One on a home run to right center, and the other on a double driving in Mike Young. That’s about all there was to this game. Was a very well pitched game on both sides, including another save by Francisco Cordero, who seems to have finally gotten it together. Nice start to the Pittsburgh series, and we’re three in a row now. Look out, we’re makin’ a move! :)

Ismael Valdes got screwed. Once again he pitched well enough to win (he probably should have 10 wins by now), but was let down by someone else on the team. In fact, Valdes retired something like 17 or 18 batters in a row at one point.
We did end up winning the game – today mostly by the long ball. Raffy got another for 3 in the series – one in each game. The Menchman got two this game, and Todd Greene also chipped in. Was a nice offensive output. Would have been better if we could have keep the Cubs off the board so Valdes could get a win. Other than Kenny Rogers’ re-emergence this season, I think Valdes is our best pitching story. I really hope we reup him for next season.
After the game, we fired Oscar Acosta – given his remarks in the newspapers, I’m not surprised. The picture painted in the papers makes him seem like a real hard person to get along with.

Wrigley looked great again, and unfortunately, Dave Burba pitched good. Quite honestly, I never wanted him here, and when I read that he had two starts before he’s gone (which may yet happen), I thought good. Let him pitch crappy in those games, so he can go. Of course, he pitches decent (if not spectacular). Sigh.
As for the game in hand, we went extra innings again, which so far to this point has meant loss. However, we scored 3 (our call up kids doing the work) in the top of hte 10th for a win. Francisco Cordero got a save, and looked good getting it.
Don’t have time to sit and think and write about this one a lot today, but it was nice to see Raffy get a home run two games in a row. Hope that continues!

Wrigley looked gorgeous, and before this game I was saying this was probably our best chance to win a game in Chicago as Bere was pitching. He had the worst record of the three pitchers pitching against us. I should stop doing that, because whenever I saw we’re up against a bad pitcher, he does great, and boy was tonight a night for Bere. With the exception of a Rafael Palmeiro home run in the second (which didn’t look fair to me), Bere was pitching a perfect game into the 8th. Fred McGriff bobbled a popup and then we scored some runs to tie the game. Things were looking good, especially when Rocker was called in and threw three strikes, absolute bullets over the plate, freezing Todd Hundley who never swung his bat. Rocker was EXTREMELY impressive there.
But that’s where it ended. Gonzalez grounded out into a double play, which killed our base runner in the ninth, and then Rocker gave up a home run ball in the bottom of the ninth to lose it. I knew when we tied but didn’t go ahead, we’d lose in the bottom of the ninth. I just knew it.
2.5 seasons of this last place crap is really starting to get annoying. But Wrigley looked nice, so that was something, eh?