The slide is over – at least for now. :)
The Rangers broke out of their funk today with a very well balanced win over the Orioles, 8-4. Well balanced because everyone in the lineup had at least one hit. Mateo had two and Pudge & Segui had 3. Speaking of Mateo, he had two hits in all three of the Baltimore games, and looked pretty good behind the plate. I hope he can hold himself together and avoid injury, because it looks like he’s starting to come together at this level finally. Pudge had the biggest day with two home runs, and three RBI’s (although Segui too had a couple of RBI’s). Kenny Rogers looked pretty good going 7.1 innings allowing four runs on 9 hits. Zimmerman & Venafro came in and pitched one out each in the eighth before turning it over to Wetteland in the ninth.
Wetteland lost a save opportunity when Pudge hit a two run home run in the top of the ninth, giving us a four run lead. Everyone looked good out there, there were no major blunders, and I enjoyed watching this game, unlike the last few.
Also, I wish we could have seen all of the pre-game Cal Ripken festivities. Our local coverage only showed a few minutes, and seeing that was cool, but I would have liked to have seen all of it. Also, when the Ripken family gets home, I wonder if Cal’s wife will be mortified to see that her son was picking his nose on national television? :)

Well, this was another game in the slide, but this one was one of those really well pitched games on both sides. The kind you want to win, but don’t terribly mind losing. Mike Mussina was perfect the first time through the lineup, and we didn’t get anything going until the fifth – and then it was snuffed out. We had to work hard for the one run we got, and we did have a threat going in the ninth – we loaded the bases, but we came away with only one run in that inning.
Darren Oliver pitched pretty well, too. Went 6 2/3 giving up 6 hits and three runs. Not all that shabby – Doug Davis came in to finish the rest of the game and gave up nothing in his 1 2/3 innings of work – looked good, especially compared to his 1999 appearances.
Not a whole lot else to say about this one other than it was some nice pitching, and it’d be nice to see the offense show up again.

Well, this was another game in the slide. We lost in a most bizarre fashion, balking in the final run. We missed opportunities again, and basically let the game get away from us. Our team is backwards this year from last year. Last year, we had great offense & a great bullpen, and just “so so” starting pitching. This year it’s the other way around – great starting pitching, but our offense is gone, and our bullpen is unreliable.
Loaiza pitched a great game – 8 innings, 6 hits, three runs. Our bullpen lost it again. Loaiza did give up two of his runs late, and via the longball, but other than that, he looked really sharp. Turning out to be one of our better pitchers – I’m glad – so our trade for him eventually turned out good. :) We left 7 on base again – far too many.
Raffy had to come out of the game early after sliding into second base attempting to steal. He didn’t look that bad to me, but you can never really tell with these things. Hopefully he won’t be out very long.
I got a laugh out of the ejection of B.J. Surhoff. He really looked like Paul O’Neill up there – which is not a good thing. O’Neill whines about everything (hence my calling him Mr. Whiny) – and thinks that every pitch should be a ball unless he swings at it. This is what Surhoff looked like when he was ejected in the first inning.

I could write about this one – but I just don’t want to! :(

No time to write about this game – way too busy at work. Sorry. Was nice seeing Pedro Martinez in person!

I love playing Boston. It’s always a great game, even if we lose. They’re probably my favourite opponent to play period. My wife loves it when we play Boston too, because one of her favorites is there, Nomar Garciaparra. Lynn also has a thing for Gabe Kapler, and we had brought the binoculars last night, and when Gabe was at second base, she could see Nomar & Gabe at once. :)
Anyway, enough teasing of the wife. It was an awesome game last night. After a shaky early start, Kenny Rogers got settled down, and other than the home run ball to Carl Everett, he looked pretty solid. He made the usual Kenny Rogers defensive plays that he makes, including one in the 7th that forced him out of the game early and to the X-ray machine (as I write this, the results have not been disclosed). Tim Crabtree came in and gave up a couple of runs, but was throwing some major heat last night. Even John Wetteland got in on the act, not allowing any runs, and getting a save. There was a bit of drama when he walked a batter, which brought Nomar up to the plate in the 9th as the go ahead run. Fortunately, he popped up the first pitch, and we won the game.
On the other side of the plate, our offense can really be chalked up to two players. Rafael Palmeiro and Luis Alicea. Raffy got us started with a two run home run in the third. Later on, Tim “Knuckleball” Wakefield (who we never do anything against) came in, and loaded up the bases. Recently, we have a very disturbing trend where we do nothing with the bases loaded (see the Twins series). Anyway, Luis came through with a two out two run single off of Wakefield. It felt good, and the radio show on KRLD after the game said that Luis had a big smile on his face – he deserved that one. Raffy came through with his 8th home run later in the game (a solo shot), which turned out to be the cushion we needed to win the game.
Overall, an awesome game, the weather was great, had some nice fans around me to talk baseball with, and it wasn’t too crowded (just a tad over 26,000). Plus it was $1 hot dog night. :)
Tonight I’m going back for my third trip to the Temple in three days, and it’ll be a treat. Pedro Martinez pitches, and while I’m not expecting to win this one, I expect I’ll really enjoy it.

Well, our early season slide continues. I remember saying when we started the season that we’d at best do .500, and it turns out I’m going to be more than right. We’d need to take 5 of the final 6 games of the month just to get to .500, and the way we’re playing, I don’t see it happening.
When I read that we’d be playing against Brad Radke, I kind of figured it would be a good pitching game, as Radke is the best they have, even though he hasn’t been terribly dominating against us lately. Still, he went out there and pitched really well, allowing only one run and a few scattered hits through the 8 innings he pitched. He allowed the first two batters in the 9th to get on, so he was pulled. Royce Clayton (more on him in a minute) hit a three run home run in the bottom of the 9th to make it 5-4, but quite honestly, the game was nowhere near as close as this score indicates. Most of our innings were 1-2-3, or if not, we only sent 4. Radke never pitched more than 16 pitches in any one inning, and he was not completely dominating, but dominating enough to keep the Rangers from getting on any kind of track offensively.
On the other side, Darren Oliver pitched, and also seemed to be pretty much in control. As I recall (I don’t have my scorecard with me now) the runs he gave up weren’t really of the bad nature – I know there was a bloop single to left that scored two runs with the bases loaded, but that was the worst thing that appeared to happen. I felt that Darren pitched a pretty good game, but was again the victim of no run support.
Frank Catalanotto was placed on the DL after yesterday’s game, and Mike Lamb was brought up, and he started third. He got a bloop single in his first ever ML at bat (which they announced at the Ballpark after it happened); however he also made his first ML error in the game. Was nice to see Lamb in his first at-bat. My wife loves rooting for underdogs, and new players, and she got a kick out of this. Two defensive gems – an awesome running catch by Gabe Kapler in right early in the game, where he dove for a ball got big applause. There was also a nice diving catch by Jason McDonald in left field. The Rangers also turned a few more double plays, which we seem to be doing a lot of this year. Raffy had his usual one triple per season this year – he barely missed a home run to left center – their left fielder missed the ball on the wall, and it rolled away from him, allowing the triple.
Even though we lost, I enjoyed the game, because I was there on free tickets (remember that contest the Rangers ran recently in the paper where you could win season tickets? I didn’t win, but I got four free tickets from them as a “Hey, thanks for entering” consolation. Gave two to a co-worker and friend of mine, and he brought his son), and even though it was a bright sunny day game, my seats were in the shade, so it wasn’t too bad. :) Can’t beat free tickets ever.