Oh man, what an annoying loss.
Aaron Sele seemed to be rolling along, although he came out after the fifth inning. Our rookie phenom pitchers kept the middle up, not giving any runs, or much of anything in the 6th through the 8th. We were up 3-2 going into the ninth.
Unfortunately, John Wetteland had a meltdown in the top of the 9th, and gave up three runs. Now, that alone would have been bad enough on this loss. However, in the bottom of the ninth, two big things consipired against what was an apparent comeback for (at least) the tie. Tony Phillips, who had just been put into center field (he was playing second all the other 8 innings) made probably the catch of the season. Text doesn’t describe how awesome this catch was. That robbed Juan Gonzalez of an easy double, with two RBI’s to tie up the game. What made it worse was that Rusty Greer was called out for a major brainfart – he passed Pudge on the basepaths, which is a huge no-no. Actually, that was the second thing like that – Rafael Palmiero got caught in a rundown at third, and was thrown out – basically throwing away a run there. :(
Oh man. Not only did we give it up in the 9th, but we screwed ourselves in the bottom of the ninth. Did’t like this at all – but tomorrow night’s trip to the luxury boxes would have made up for it. Or so I thought – wait till you read tomorrow’s commentary by me!

Crap. First losing road trip of the year. I don’t have time to write anything, as I’ve been obscenely busy at work today.

No commentary – I was having lunch at a great Tex Mex place in Houston (two blocks down the street from NASA) when this game was on. :)

I was driving from Dallas to Houston when this game was on, and didn’t get to hear all of it, as I eventually drove out of range of KRLD.
I did get to hear Mark Clark give up another home run (a bit of a broken record with him, I think) and Todd Zeile hit a home run, but that was about it. No commentary from me, as I hardly heard any of the game.

I didn’t see much of this game, as my wife and went out and did some shopping before we headed out on our trip to Houston this weekend to see the Astros in Houston. I saw the first three innings, and when I left, it was 1-0 Red Sox.
When I came home, it was a much nicer game. Looking at the box score, we had some great pitching again – I’m surprised they didn’t give Wetteland a shot at another save, but I guess he needed a break in these situations.
Didn’t get to see much, but it’s nice to win 3 in a row again. I hope we can pull out at least 3 of 4 in Boston. Not going to update again until Monday afternoon, so I won’t have commentary for the next two days when I do get back to updating, as I’ll be out of touch and won’t be able to see any of the games.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Not available.

I didn’t think we had it in us to pull off the split. This game felt really good. Got a long ball, had small ball, had some nice defense, we did just about everything last night. Hell, we pulled off the first triple play in 22 years (only the second in Ranger history).
Roger Clemens was masterful early. He struck out ten in the first four innings, including everyone in the first two innings. However, we ended up getting to him (and the Yankees) in the latter part of the game.
I was flipping back and forth between this game and the Stars game, so I didn’t see everything, but I did see the triple play. What was funny was that the guy who hit into it (Chili Davis) also hit into a double play later. :)
I’ve been impressed with Gregg Zaun the last few days. He’s not the greatest catcher around, but he certainly did his part when called upon. I was very disappointed when Bill Haselman signed somewhere else after last year, but I have to say… Gregg Zaun has grown on me.
“It was a team effort” is so cliched, but here it meant something. This game was won by the team, not by any one player. This was spectacular baseball, the kind of stuff a hardcore baseball fan lives for.
We survived Yankee Stadium, breaking our 7 game losing streak there with a split. Now it’s on to Beantown for four more – I like playing Boston, we always seem to get good baseball playing them.

Oh my – we had some pitching! If I didn’t watch the game on TV, I would have thought it was a misprint!!
Rick Helling was totally masterful, going 7 innings, giving up no runs on just three hits. This is what we needed – let’s just hope it continues over past today. I didn’t feel like writing the last two nights, as what can you say? The Yankees beat us almost all the time in Yankee stadium. What was there to write about?
We won last night, which was really great. Our pitching was totally masterful, and is the kind of thing we’d need if we’re going to advance in the playoffs. Speaking of pitching, this morning’s (Thursday’s) Dallas Morning News seemed to imply that we might be going after Darren Oliver again in July. Ugh. While he’s pitching OK, he’s not totally what we need.
Honestly, there isn’t much to talk about with this game. Lee Stevens belted a two run home run, but other than that, we didn’t do much until Ruben Mateo batted in a run late. We ourselves only had 5 hits for the game, and if it wasn’t for the Stevens blast, this game would have been a complete and total pitcher’s duel (more than it already was).
Was really nice to see the Rangers pick up the win.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Not available.

None – don’t feel like talking about the Yankee curse. :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Oh oh.
The Rangers’ slump reached 4 games after the Yankees held the Rangers to just 4 hits. The Rangers lost 6-2.
Ryan Glynn, not to be confused with Nolan Ryan, hasn’t had a good outing yet. Glynn who been more like John Glenn – of the astronoimal ERA’s.
I think it’s time to try someone else on the mound in his stead. (Is Esteban Loaiza ready yet? Would Loaiza do any worse?).
The offense has gone on pre-summer vacation. And it doesn’t get any easier. There are 2 more games left with the “Rangers can’t beat you but everyone else can” Yankees and then 4 more with the Red Sox.
To top it off, Johnny Oates went nuts in the clubhouse after the game, erupting during a team meeting, ended by him throwing a baseball at a locker in disgust over his team’s recent play – especially against the Yankees. The previous time Oates held a closed door team meeting, the team responded positively.
Do they have enough pitching to respond positively again?

None – don’t feel like talking about the Yankee curse. :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
None available.