Double ugh. If we looked asleep in the first game, this one was worse. I don’t know if it was the actual game itself, or the fact that we lost both ends of a doubleheader to the White Sox, but I was really disgusted with this one. :(
Rusty had another home run in Chicago – his best home run hitting city by far.

Ugh. That’s about all I have to say about this game. :)
In all seriousness, we got in a hole early, and couldn’t get out. Burkett pitched fair, but their guys pitched a lot better. Considering this was the first game of a doubleheader, I was surprised they used 5 pitchers. Their starter went 5 innings, giving up 1 earned run on 3 hits. The remaining pitchers gave up the same – 1 run on 3 hits (one of which was a Rusty home run).
However, we just never got it going, and we looked asleep.

I was at this game, and it turned out to be not as hot as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, it was hot, but it wasn’t that bad – but I was in the shade the whole time. :)
Aaron Sele pitched extremely well throughout 8th innings (actually, 7 innings and a batter). He struck out a career high 13 batters, but unfortunately, the Tigers pitcher(s) pitched better. We only had 5 hits, and one run. Detroit had 8 hits with 3 runs, one of which was a solo home run, but this struck me as a rather well pitched games on both sides.
I did score the game, but I was busy taking pictures again – just in case you didn’t think I’ve taken enough. :)
Not a whole lot to say about this game, except there was some great pitching on both sides – and we never really got going offensively.

Rick Helling threw a 6 hit complete game win. It’s nice that Rick finally got some run support. He’s been pitching very well in the last two months, but the team just has not been getting it done for him. Or, if they have, it’s been after he’s left the game, the win usually going to Jeff Zimmerman. :)
This game started off pretty well, and that more or less set the tone for the entire game to follow. Rick Helling struck out the first batter, then walked the next one. After a popout to Pudge, Helling erased his walk by picking off the runner to end the first.
Our side started well, too. Mac tripled to start the game, and scored a couple of batters later when Rusty grounded out, bringing Mac in. Add to that a Raffy solo shot to centerfield, and we were off to a 2-0 lead. We added a few more in the next inning, and that put us ahead for good. We also followed with a home run by Roberto Kelly in the 5th, and we picked up the rest of our runs in the 6th, the highlight was a two run double by Tom Goodwin.
The only two runs Detroit got were both on solo home runs by Juan Encarnacion & Damion Easley. If you remember, Encarnacion also had another homer against Rick Helling on opening day. The first pitch of the season, to be more precise! Helling seemed to get a bit weaker towards the end of teh game, but he pitched wonderfully, a great win for him and the team.
We seemed to dominate this one, but then again, we should dominate teams like the Tigers. I just wish we could perform like this regularly against someone like, oh… the Yankees!
I’m going tomorrow to the game that starts at 6:05. Ugh, 104º – no fun :(

Couple of comments.

• What a turnaround from last night’s fiasco
• Goodbye Carlos Delgado!

Pudge Rodriguez continued his hot streak at the plate with a three run home run in the bottom of the second inning, but that was about it for the next ten innings. We didn’t mount much of any offense after that until we won the game in the bottom of the 12th on a run scoring single by Royce Clayton, scoring Roberto Kelly.
Esteban Loaiza was himself. Decent stuff, but erratic again. Once you stack all his innings together, he’s not pitching all that bad (got a no decision tonight), but he’s not a pitcher that fills you with a whole lot of confidence. I wish he’d do better, it certainly looks like he can, but he doesn’t seem to be as dominating as he could be.
On the flip side, Brad Ausmus had four hits last night, and had a great offensive game. No home runs, so it wasn’t all THAT bad. :)
Juan “B.B.” Gonzalez left the game after four innings with a pulled hamstring muscle, and is listed as day to day. All of our regular outfielders this season have gone down with some sort of injury. Now that Roberto Kelly is playing regularly out there, I expect him to get hurt now. The Rangers 99 Outfielders curse.

Oh my god. 19-4. What a complete, utter, and total fiasco. Make it worse, I was there! My wife and I stuck it out, we didn’t miss any of this exciting action. :)
Not a whole lot to say about this one, other than we sucked. Roger Delgado continued his assault here with a three run home run in the first inning that put the Jays up for good immediately.
It was the MLB debut of Doug Davis, who gave up 10 runs in 2 1/3 innings giving him an ERA of 38.57! Davis’ runs were one run short of the Ranger record for most runs allowed by one pitcher in a game. And of course, Davis was sent back down to AAA after this. That’s too bad, I hate to see young kids get lit up like this. We also set a record by allowing 25 hits in a 9 inning game.
About the only Ranger highlights were a Pudge home run, a Raffy home run, and Mike Morgan striking out the side in the 5th. That’s about it. A mess all around. :(
This was the first in the last eight series that the Rangers lost the series.

A game of back and forth home runs. I really thought we had this one in hand early, but our pitching faltered and let us down. I was really tired when this game was on, and wasn’t totally paying attention. Check out the game resources for this one, as I’m not going to be writing commentary. :)

A totally masterful appearance by Aaron Sele. Complete game shutout, allowing only 6 hits, 10 strikeouts, and no walks. I don’t think I’ve seen him ever pitch as good, and this is the best pitching outing by a Ranger pitcher all year (although the complete game by Mike Morgan in Anaheim not that long ago was really close).
There’s not a whole lot else to say about this one. Sele was totally dominating, and Pudge was Pudge again lately, 2-5 with 3 RBI’s on a 3 run home run. Mark McLemore almost hit for the cycle getting a double, triple, and a single in his first three at bats. Didn’t get a homer though. Still, was an awesome game all around.
I got to see it on TV, and it was wonderful to see Sele pitch this well – hope he can keep it up through October :)

We were almost singlehandedly beat by Carlos Delgado in this game – he had three home runs, only the second time an opponent has ever done that at the Ballpark in Arlington.
Jeff Zimmerman showed that he was a human being, getting his first ever loss, dropping to (oh damn ) 9-1, and his ERA is now a whopping 1.25.
Rick Helling continues to be the hard luck pitcher this season – he’s pitched as good as he did last year when he won 20 games, but got another no decision in this one, and his ERA is lower this year than it was last, it’s currently at 4.31.
Pudge had some great D again tonight with a pickoff and two caught stealings. He certainly increased his value in my eye as the team MVP. Zim is great, but I think Pudge brings more to the table.
Billy “stupidest beard in the majors” Koch looked good. Threw hard, and did his job. Still, he has the lamest excuse for a beard I’ve ever seen, though.

Due to my clueless cable company, and Fox Sports Southwest, I didn’t get to see the game. I wasn’t in the mood to listen to it on the radio, since I was so annoyed about that – I ended up watching “The Fifth Element” on DVD instead.
I did peek in from time to time to get a score update, and from all reports Loaiza was Loaiza. Was inconsistent, but had good stuff. Where have we heard that before? I feel comfortable about our starting pitching. It isn’t the greatest in the world, but it seems to be doing a decent enough of a job, especially with our pen doing so great. We’re now 23 games over 500, a number I never thought I’d see given my opinion of the state of the pitching at the start of the season.
After seeing the Twins for the last few days, I have to admit, I rather like Jacque Jones – he looks like a great kid, and if I was living in Minnesota, I’d be excited about seeing the team, even if they lose a lot. I like watching teams made up of young kids who try.
I’m really hoping we can keep this up the last two months, and end up with a situation where we don’t have to play the Yankees in the first round with the first two games in NY. Off day tomorrow, and then we’re back with more against the Toronto Blue Jays, who have made some recent noise in the AL East.