I didn’t get to see all of this game, as my wife and I were out to dinner to celebrate my birthday yesterday. Would have gone yesterday, but hey, I was at the Ranger game! :) Anyway, it was a sellout, and it was nice to see the place packed for a change. It was John Wetteland’s birthday, and TV coverage showed the bullpen guys giving him a hard time – I wish I was home earlier to see that – it looked funny.
When we got home from dinner in the third inning, Raffy was just coming up and hit his home run to put us up 3-1, which is all we really needed, but we did get some “padding”. :) Rusty started off the fifth with a solo home run to left field. In the 7th, we really put it away when Raffy mashed a three run home run to right, giving him two home runs in each of the last two games, and 6 home runs in his last 6 games overall. Just to make sure, Rusty chimed in again with a two run shot in the bottom of the 8th to give us nine runs.
Our pitching seemed pretty decent, if not overpowering. Rick Helling finally got a win , and seemed to be battling all night. He didn’t seem dominating at all, but still pitched good. He walked the first batter in the 7th, which brought in Tim Crabtree, who loaded the bases. With no one out and the bases loaded, Venafro came in, and got a sac fly, and then retired the rest allowing Boston only one run.
Overall another good game, and it was nice to see a sellout at the Ballpark – although I’m glad I didn’t have to drive away from the park in it, either. :)

The Rangers passed the 2 million mark in attendance on this night, and I was part of it, because I was there. I’m always at a baseball game August 20th, as that’s my birthday (this year, my 34th). Since I was about 6 or 7, I’d always go to a game on my birthday. Back then, I was living in Philadelphia, and it was the Phillies at the Vet for me. As a kid, I loved it. I kept this tradition up all these years, I think only missing one or two along the way. Now that I’m married (that happened in 96), these seemed to mean a lot more to me. My wife and I have always loved watching the Rangers play the Red Sox, and it always seems to be good baseball when we play the Bosox. This was no exception.
We got there to a surprisingly cool night at the ballpark (well, relatively cool, it was still 99 degrees when the game started, but it did NOT feel that way. Esteban Loaiza was the starter, and given his performance the last several outings, he seemed to have been the starter we’ve been looking for him to be ever since we got him for Todd Van Poppel & Warren Morris (the Pirates’ starting second baseman all year, and a possible Rookie of the Year player) last July. Esteban looked sharp, and even managed to battle out of a jam, which has always been his undoing in the past (losing his cool when in a jam). He went 6 innings (and 1 batter in the 7th) giving up 5 hits and 3 runs, but he seemed more dominating than that, at least to me he did. Our bullpen was again excellent, allowing nothing in the final 3 innings of the game. Wetteland pitched for the first time in a save situation in some time, and came though. Even if he did back up Durwood Merrill’s remark about him being a “heart attack waiting to happen”.
Our offense was again mostly powered by Rafael Palmeiro. I think now the question (if there ever really was one) as to which first baseman we should have had from 1994-1998 has been answered. Oh man, are the Orioles kicking themselves for not signing him after last year. This guy is awesome! A few weeks back, I saw him hit a grand slam, and the two run shot tonight gave us two of our four runs. Raffy also supplied one of the others with a single. However, the four runs we had after the third inning was it. Boston’s bullpen took over and did a great job shutting us down for longer than we shut them down for.
I always like playing Boston, and this game was no different. I was there, it was a great ballgame, and they won on my birthday. I loved it so much, my wife and I decided to come back on Sunday night. They’re giving away some decent looking baseball caps, so I walked down to the ticket office around 8:30 and got a couple of seats up in Section 342 for a total price of $10. Both of us in the door for $10 plus we get two baseball caps? You can still get in the damn door for a decent price. Sure, they’ve raised the ticket prices three years in a row, but you can still get in and get a bargain if you know how to play the game.

Well, the other shoe had to fall. It seemed that the Rangers spent themselves in the first three games, not even showing up for this one, losing it 8-0. If we had anything at all this night, it was left behind in the rain delay at the start of the game.
Not a whole lot to talk about Ranger wise. Mike Morgan continued to be ineffective for the most part in the second half of the season (damn). Other than that, there isn’t anything to talk about here from a Ranger fan perspective, except one nice pickoff by Pudge of Jim Thome at third. Oh yeah, and Danny Kolb looked pretty good in his 5 1/3 innings in relief of Morgan.
Mike Morgan has definitely taken the title of “Most disgusting cap” from John Wetteland – it’s no contest.

What a cool game. First off, it was 70 degrees at game time! Why can’t we have that in Texas in August? :)
Seriously, John Burkett involved in a 1-1 pitcher’s due into the 7th inning? Man, what a game! He seemed to be pitching like he had his entire career to prove out there last night. An extremely well pitched game. John went 8 full innings, giving up a measly 5 hits with one run (RBI by who else – Manny Ramirez?) while striking out eight. Brilliant pitching, reminded me of the game he pitched last September in Anaheim to help us clinch the division. Wetteland came in just to get work, gave up a couple of hits, but no runs in the 9th. If we can get this kind of pitching out of arguably our worst starter, it’s a great plus for us.
These three games against Cleveland have certainly erased the ugly from last week’s 4 game losing streak. It’s really stunned me the way we’ve come out and opened up the big can of whoop-ass on the Indians. Before these games started, I figured we’d be lucky to leave The Jake with a split. Now, we’ve won the series, and can go for a sweep tonight, which is something the Rangers haven’t done in Cleveland in like forever.
Rafael Palmeiro came through again with a big three run blast to untie the game from 1-1. We had another 5 spot inning last night to put the game away for us. That’s 34 runs against the Indians in 3 games. 44 in 4 games if you count the game before this against the White Sox. Where was all this offense when we played the Yanks in October? :)

I won’t be writing commentary for this game – I forgot all about my daily update due to a few projects at my real job. I remembered about 10 minutes before the end of the day, so I don’t have any time for an update. Suffice it to say.. CRIPES!
38 runs in the last 3 games. 28 of them in two against the Indians – what a pasting!

Oh my! I was watching this game at home, and I thought Rick Helling was pitching well – I thought it was going to be another great Helling game. Helling pitched well the first two innings, but then had a meltdown in the third, allowing five runs. That was a shame, as I really thought he looked sharp in the first couple of innings, even though he allowed a few walks. He bounced back for a good fourth, but was pulled early in the fifth in place of Mike Munoz, who along with Zimmerman & Venafro shut down the Indians after the third.
Now, our offense. :) Jeez! We went up 2-0 (on a Pudge solo home run in the 1st and a gift error by Vizquel), and I thought that was an OK start. We then let them tie the game in the third, and I thought… “OK – these are the Indians, you don’t keep them down very much”. But then I look up, and we’re down 3. I thought we were screwed.
However, in the sixth, Royce Clayton had a solo home run – showing some more power to left field (most of his homers have seen to have been to right). Not long after that in the top of the 7th, unlikely home run hitter Mark McLemore belted a ball over the wall to bring the score to 5-4. My wife, who was watching with me mentioned the “John Blake peck-away theory”. :)
Anyways, it got much much better after that. After a Pudge single and Juan single, Lee Stevens belted another single bringing in Pudge to tie the game. A pitching change by Cleveland brought up Rafael Palmeiro who hit the first pinch hit home run for the Rangers all season, a 3 run shot, giving us an 8-5 lead. In the 8th, Lee Stevens again batted in Pudge, giving us a 4 run lead, and then Jon Shave, playing for Luis Alicea (who was already playing for Todd Zeile, who had food poisioning) who had moved to second to replace Mark McLemore (who had moved to right to replace Roberto Kelly who was pinch hit for by Raffy) drove in two runs with a double. Shave doesn’t get to play much, it was really nice to see him get into the fray here.
That wasn’t all. In the 9th, Tom Goodwin singled, and Pudge hit yet ANOTHER home run, a two run shot. That gave him 2 for the game. We had a total of 5 home runs this game. Two by Pudge, and one each by Raffy, Royce, & Mac. What a game. I didn’t expect to do well here, and we blow them out 13-5. I felt bad for Helling, other than the one meltdown inning, we had great pitching tonight. That’s 23 runs we scored in the last two games. Let’s hope we can keep this up for the next few (at least).

Now this is more like it. Avoiding a record fifth loss in a row, and a sweep to the Chisox (shudder), we broke out and won 10-0.
This game seemed like ours from the start. We scored in every inning except the 5th and 6th. We went up 1-0 in the first inning, and it turns out that’s all we needed.
Esteban Loaiza pitched like he’s capable of, throwing eight innings, allowing no runs on only 5 hits. He looked good, sharp, and is the kind of pitcher we wanted him to be when he came here last year. I’m really hoping (along with everyone else, I’m sure) he can keep this up, and this is the kind of pitching we get from him. He almost got decapitated in the first inning when Frank Thomas had a screaming liner right as his head. However, Esteban ducked out of the way and caught it – a very impressive play.
Rusty Greer had yet another home run in Chicago – that brings his total there to about a million. :) Pudge had two home runs in this game too, increasing his home run total this year to 26, I believe.
Danny Kolb pitched the 9th, allowing just one hit and preserving the shutout. We looked good yesterday – we needed that going into Cleveland tonight where I’m hoping we can come away with a split. I don’t have a particularly good feeling right now.

As bad as losing both games of a double header to go to a 3 game losing streak is, losing a walk-off loss in the bottom of the ninth to go to a four game losing streak was even worse.
My wife and I were out when this game was on (we saw Runaway Bride, a very funny movie), but when I came home, I saw the score, and got disgusted. As I didn’t see or hear any of this game, I’m not going to do commentary, but hell. Four in a row? To the Tigers and the White Sox? Yeah, this makes me feel good going into Cleveland on Monday, even if we do win the last game.
Pudge got his 20th steal of the season, giving him a first in all of MLB history – the first catcher to steal 20 bases and hit 20 RBI’s in one season. I wonder if he’ll get 20 doubles as well. :)
Glynn was activated, and I’m sure he’ll be sent back down after this. Probably not seen again in 1999. Especially if we’re in a pennant race in late September.