Really busy day at work, didn’t get to this until 4:30PM. Was nice to get a big win, but again we bunched up in the first inning. Couple of homers over the green monster. Juan’s looked like it was going out of the ballpark completely! I thought Stevens played well at first base again.
Rick Helling pitched well, as did our relievers, although Venafro gave up his “out streak”. Nice to get a win.
Commentary from Jim Meeks:
Fenway Park is historically a favorite place for the Rangers to play. Wednesday, the Rangers began a road trip in Boston and seemed to enjoy themselves.
Although the team had some bad news before the ball game concerning Royce Clayton’s shoulder, the Rangers exploded for 5 runs in the first inning off Boston starter Pat Rapp. Pudge Rodriguez capped off the inning with a 3-run homer, his 5th of the year.
Rick Helling cruised, for once. In his 6.1 innings, he allowed no homers, the first time all year he’s accomplished that feat. The bullpen combo of Mike Venafro and Jeff Zimmerman held down the Sox to preserve an 8 to 3 win.
Juan Gonzalez homered for the 5th time Wednesday, in perhaps his favorite park to hit in. Expect a big series from him.

Very sloppy game, and our offense did the “get it all at once” theory which seems to be the norm so far this year. However, when the “all at once” is only 4, and you give up double digits, you can see what happened.
We committed four errors, and this was generally a rather bad played game overall. The Rangers historically always seem to be a rather bad team on a day game after a night game. Don’t know how much else to talk about this. To quote one of Jim’s earlier commentaries.. “Ugly, ugly, ugly!”. I had a more interesting time seeing “The Matrix” yesterday than I did listening to this game!
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers played sloppily Monday in all stages and lost to the Cleveland Indians 10-4.
Kenny Lofton was the big stars for the Indians, gathering 4 hits and 4 RBI, including a homer.
The Rangers had only 6 hits, none for extra bases. Rafael Palmeiro had 2 of the hits, raising his average to .329. Lee Stevens bounced into 2 double plays, effectively stymying whatever chance the Rangers had. At one point in the 3rd inning, the Rangers rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game, but that was all the runs they would get.
The Red Shoes also committed 4 errors, leading to 2 unearned runs.
Starter Mike Morgan was unusually bad, perhaps bothered with the flu or perhaps he just a bad outing. His 5 runs in 3 innings was by far his worst outing of the year, raising his ERA to 4.05.

Well, I was over some friends’ house for dinner last night, so I didn’t get to see or hear much of any of this game. However, he did have a cable modem, and I got to see score updates from time to time. Naturally, since I wasn’t there, they started doing good again. Saw that Raffy got his 2,000th career hit, which was cool.
Mark Clark went into the 8th inning tonight – virtually uncharted territory for a Rangers pitcher this year. His ERA is still way up in the stratosphere – upper 7’s. Not good.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Pitcher Mark Clark, taking a rotation turn on 3 days’ rest for the first time this season, won the ballgame Sunday, with help from Tom Goodwin, Juan Gonzalez and Raffy Palmeiro.
Clark once again laboured through the middle innings but hung on until the 8th inning. The Rangers’ bullpen – which has been near-flawless since Jeff Zimmerman has arrived – once again stopped the opponents.
Clark was not spectacular – only adequate. But adequacy will win you 15 games as a starter for the Rangers, who have an offense capable of burying any opponent (except the Yankees).
Goodwin had a rare good game, getting two hits, stealing a base and being a general nuisciance for the Indians. He refused to comment to reporters after the game, which makes you wonder what bird got into his craw?
Gonzalez ripped another homer and drove in another couple of runs. He’s on a binge right now, so the opponents better not throw him strikes. Gonzo now has 20 RBI’s and is on a pace to drive in 154 runs. Just a week ago – we all wondered aloud as to what destination Gonzalez’ bat had vacationed to.
Palmeiro had 3 hits including his 2000th Major League hit. He also drove in 2 runs.
The Rangers played solid defense behind Clark, who threw 11 ground ball outs.

Well, I was at this game, and I’m starting to think I’m not a good luck charm for the Rangers. They lost again. :(
In the beginning, it looked like Sele was going to dazzle – the first inning was great! We then went one pitch into the second, and there was a rain delay. My season ticket seats are just one row behind where the rain comes when it rains – it’s quite cool, we’ve never had to move from here because of rain. Twice last season (July 4 and the one playoff game) we had to sit through 3 and a half hour rain delays, so this 20 minute one was something to scoff at. :) Anyway, first pitch back was a home run – cripes! Still, I thought Sele pitched fairly well, but the box score doesn’t reflect that.
Doc Gooden pitched really great – figures. Coming in he had a 0-0 9.00ERA record, and wasn’t pitching well this season. Naturally, he picks a night I’m there to step it up.
Ranger bats were virtually silent the whole night – only coming alive in the 8th inning, but a bit too late. Raffy hit a two run home run that was really sweet, as did Todd Zeile to lead off the 9th, but that was it. Pudge almost had a home run earlier in the game, but it went just foul of the right field foul pole. :(
One nice thing – Kelly Dransfeldt played really well. It was his first major league game, going 2-4 and playing well in the infield. The first Indian batter hit a hot smash right at him, and when the play was over he was shown smiling on the jumbotron. Kelly also got a single on his first ever major league at bat, and I saw the ball being taken out of play, which was nice. Kelly was here because Clayton got put on the 15 day DL.
I’m getting tired of saying we lost when I go to a game. :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
None this game.

I’m getting ready to go out to tonight’s Ranger game, so I don’t have much time to write, but I do have a few memories from watching the game last night.
Home Run Derby! Cripes – for the second time this season against Helling, and I don’t know how many times, AND the second time in two nights, the leadoff guy for the other team had a home run. Juan had two, including one towering drive that looked from the camera angle that it was going out of the ballpark (of course, that wasn’t going to really happen). Juan hit his other into the Indians bullpen, which is where Lee Stevens hit one, too. The fourth was Rusty Greer who had his first of the season. The Indians also had four, including two by Roberto Alomar (the others by Lofton & Sexon).
Our pitching was a mixed bag. Helling was just “OK”, and Zimmerman continued to sparkle. Man, does this kid look good. However, we’re not seeing all that many of the other right handers now, so I start to wonder about burnout. Wetteland got another save, and is tied for the AL lead.
Royce Clayton had to come out of the game – he was scheduled for an MRI this morning (don’t know what happened), and the Dallas Morning News this morning said that he’s probably going on the DL. They also said that the Rangers don’t trust Shave to play the position for extended periods (we’re 1-3 with him starting SS this year), and were talking about making a roster move to bring up someone else. Hmm.. Could have used Bournigal. :)
The Indians have such an impressive team, they seem to match up against us very well. If I wasn’t a Ranger fan, I’d probably be a fan of this team – they have a lot going for them.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers used 4 home runs – including a multi-homer game by Juan Gonzalez – and fantastic relief pitching to defeat the Cleveland Indians Friday.
Gonzalez, who prior to Friday had just one round-tripper, drove in 3 runs. Rusty Greer hit his first homer and Lee Stevens hit his 8th. The Rangers banged out 13 hits.
Rick Helling again pitched poorly. For the fourth time this month against Rangers’ pitching – the lead-off hitter hit a home run. This is the second time it’s happened to Helling. He was behind in the count on just about every hitter as he labored through this game, throwing an incredible 119 pitches in just over 5 innings of work. He gave up 4 homers, the 5th time this year he’s given more than one homer in a start.
Jeff Zimmerman continues to be the Most Valuable Player of this team. Coming out of the bullpen in the 6th inning, he stopped the Indians cold, allowing just one hit in his 2.2 innings of work and lowering his already microscopic ERA to 0.55. There are no words that can be used to describe just how well Zimmerman has pitched this year.
John Wetteland allowed 2 baserunners in the 9th but preserved the victory for Helling, who surely did not deserve the win.