Well, at the start of the game, Brian Sikorski looked like the same pitcher we had on the mound a few days ago in Arlington. Today in the Bronx, he was – for the start of the game, and that’s about it. He got bombed by the Bronx Bombers 12-3. It started out OK, and we even got off to a 1-0 lead (on a Raffy home run). However, the 2000 Rangers quickly reared their heads.
We committed two errors, allowed SIX unearned runs, and basically shot ourselves in the foot the entire game. I thought we had a chance at the start of the game, but that quickly went away. Actually, after the score got to 9-1, I had to stop listening, because this game was on during the day, and I was listening at work.
Good thing, as I didn’t miss anything.

Doug Davis started this game, and based on his performance in the last few starts of his, I was expecting another problem. Well, this time, we didn’t get a problem, we got a really well pitched game from Davis. He pitched the first complete game win of the season for a Rangers pitcher – we had two complete games from Rogers, but they were 8 inning losses.
A complete game win – Quite frankly, at the start of the game, that’s what I felt we’d get pitched against us. Not that I’m a big fan of Jeff Fassero, but I was feeling the curse of the former Ranger pitcher pitching against us. However, we finally broke through that in the fifth inning, and took a 6-1 lead.
Of the two runs that Boston did get, only one was earned, so the line will really help Davis’ ERA. I’m really hoping that Davis can build on this, and do some other good stuff between now and the end of the year.

What can you say about this game? Pedro Martinez pitched, and that was about all she wrote. We gave up 9 runs, and Pedro gave up nothing at all. End of story. :)

Not available.

Figures. David Cone gets it together against us. He was 2-10 before this game. Not anymore. :(
Was nice to see Gabe get his hit late, though.

Well, I thought this game was well in hand, but our 9th inning heart attack (John Wetteland) came in again. And again he blew a game. That’s too bad, because Rick Helling got robbed – he should have gotten a win in this game. Actually, it wasn’t totally Wetteland’s fault, either. Royce Clayton committed an error with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, giving the Red Sox another out, and a win (eventually).
I’m a bit busy in writing this, but I did notice that Bill Haselman got a nice round of applause when he came up to bad (he was a Red Sox catcher for 3 years 95-97).

Of all the things I thought would happen this series, what happened this night is NOT what I ever expected to happen. When this game started, I was feeling pretty down on the Ranger rookie pitchers. I was starting to think “Oh god, there isn’t going to be any real help from the farm at all”. I was feeling pretty bad about our rookie pitchers.

Then comes Brian Sikorski. The man runs onto the mound and pitches an absolute gem. Is it beginner’s luck? Is it that the Yankees don’t know anything about him? I’m sure that has something to do with it. However, it’s always nice to see such an awesome performance by a kid making his first ever start in the majors. Going 7+ innings, giving up four hits, and no runs. You really can’t ask for better than that. It also saved us from being swept at home in a season by the Yankees in our entire club history! Gotta love that, too. :) It was very cool that he got a standing O when finally taken out of the game in the 8th. I loved that Sikorski came in, pitched well, and looked like he belonged there. He didn’t look frightened – but if his first start was in Yankee Stadium, that might have changed things.

However, Gabe Kapler’s hitting streak came to an end, unfortunately. Still, it was a great light in the recent darkness that is our season. I hope that it didn’t get to him so much that he goes back into his shell – he’s been awesome since the All Star break, and I hope it continues.