Not available, but we certainly seem to like to let Tampa Bay get back into things late in the game, don’t we? :)
Loaiza looked weak at the start, but got much better after the first two innings.

Not available, but in the first inning that I did listen to on the radio, there was some really nice D all in the first inning:

• Mateo guns out runner going to third
• Pudge throws out an attempted steal
• Pudge throws out runner going to first on dropped third strike

Remember last week when the Rangers lost a game due to the sun in left field? Well, I got a big look first hand at this. I showed up at the ballpark at 4:30 when the gates opened to take some pictures at the ballpark that will show up on this web site shortly. Anyways, I spent a lot of time out in left field on all three levels of the ballpark, and JEEZ! It was friggin sunny as all hell, and I got a bit sunburnt. I can imagine how bad it was for Rusty, you can hardly see anything up high.

I had bought a cheap seat because my real purpose in going was to take pictures for my seat selector. So, I got in for $5, but I managed to get into the 200 level right before the game started, and I ended up sitting in section 225, one section over from Hornman. :) This was their “Christmas in July” game, there were Christmas trees and Christmas music being played before the game. It was pretty cute.

Anyway, the Angels struck fast, with Mo Vaughn rumbling all the way around from first base – in fact, Mo scored the first three runs! We were down 3-0, and with Burkett pitching, I didn’t have a good feeling when we went down 3-0. However, we busted out in the bottom of the third for a big six spot, which was highlighted by Rafael Palmeiro’s grand slam. This was the second grand slam that I’ve seen with my own eyes this year (also saw Roberto Kelly’s slam awhile back). That put us up 6-3, and in the 4th, we kept the Angels off the board, so I was thinking things were going to go well for Burkett, who didn’t pitch all that well, he needed to be rescued three times with inning ending double plays. The Angels crept back getting another run in each the 5th and 6th, bringing them back within one. We then scored two in the bottom of the sixth, which included a solo shot by Zeile. However, in the 7th and 8th, the Angels scored another run in each, bringing them back to within one run again. We picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th, and Zimmerman came in to close the game in the 9th (Wetteland is still having back spasms). In fact, the 9th was the only inning the Angels didn’t get a hit (they scored one run in every inning except the 4th and 9th).

We used a lot of pitchers tonight – Burkett went 5.1 and was just “eh”. We also used Venafro, Patterson, Munoz, Crabtree, & Jeff Zimmerman. This was a really exciting game for me, both from the grand slam I saw to the general “feel”. It was a great game to be at.

We swept the two game series, and Oakland finally lost, so we’re up 6 on the A’s, 9 on the Mariners, and 12.5 on the Angels, who are down for the count.

Well, the big 6 run third inning is what did it for us last night. We spanked Omar Olivares, who was charged with all 8 earned runs the Rangers got in the second and third innings. 5 singles, a double, and a triple did all the work in the third inning. Was very nice to see.
Again, however, we got our fifth win in a row without a home run. We’re scoring without the longball, and I like that, because I hate relying on the home run for runs. The last couple of nights on the TV, John Rhadigan was talking to the fireworks operator, who sits out in center field right under the big red Coca-Cola sign. They said that he’s been waiting to shoot off fireworks, but it hasn’t happened much – we’ve had only two home runs since the All-Star game, and they both came in in our lone loss of the second half so far.
Aaron Sele pitched OK – he wasn’t dominating at all, but it was enough for the win, his 9th of the season. He did give up two back to back home runs in the 4th, but that was about his worst stretch of pitching. I don’t think he’s going to get to 19 again, but I think 15 is definitely within reach for him by the end of the year. Munoz, Crabtree, & Zimmerman came on to finish up after Sele went 6. Crabtree gave up a couple of singles, but no runs again by the bullpen. Zim earned his second save, as Wetteland is having some back spasms, and is resting.
This win puts the Angels 11.5 games back of the Rangers in last place in the AL West – if we win tomorrow night too, I have a feeling Anaheim might “give up” on this season. Surprisingly the A’s are staying close to us, we’re only 5 games up on them, and have been exactly that for a couple of weeks. The A’s beat the Mariners last night, dropping Seattle to 9 games out. Did get a peek at Safeco Field on ESPN last night – looks REALLY gorgeous. Damn, we won’t get there till next season, and if this rumour about the Rangers going to the NL Central next season I heard two days ago is true, then we won’t see Safeco at all, probably!
I’m headed out to the ballpark tomorrow night, but I won’t be watching the game much. You’ll see what I mean shortly. :)

None available – too busy at work to write anything. I will say this about the game, though… (see graphic)

Where do I start with this one? 17 hits, 14 runs, 5 doubles, two stolen bases, two gift errors, etc… A big offensive display last night. Yeesh! The Giants starter got knocked around, pitching only 1.1 innings, giving up 5 runs and 6 hits.
I scored this game at home last night, and I picked an interesting game to do it to. :) However, after the top of the first, I wasn’t so thrilled at our chances. Ryan Glynn (who was recalled to make a start, and probably has made his last start for awhile) started off well, retiring the first two, but then a single and a walk preceded Mr. Bonds, who slapped a ball over the fence for a 3 run home run. What was interesting about the home run is how easily it went over the fence – it hardly looked like he hit the thing. Very deceptive power stroke he has.
Anyway, we answered back with a couple of runs in the bottom of the first, and then after Glynn got the job done in the second, we scored three more runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead – never giving it back. In the third, we almost had three straight doubles in a row (Zeile, Stevens, Mateo), but the Stevens hit was ruled an error, and it probably should have been a hit.
We scored in 6 of the 8 times we came to the plate, the only two we didn’t score were the fourth and the seventh. We were due for one of these “explosions”. :) In looking at my scorecard, everyone scored at least one run except Raffy (who was also the only person without a hit, going 0-4) and Royce Clayton – although Royce was on base in the bottom of the 8th, and could have scored if we had gotten another hit or two. Ruben Mateo went 4-5 with two RBI’s and two runs scored – definitely his best night so far. McLemore also went 3 for 5 with a run scored, and 3 RBI’s – I think everyone was expecting him to sink this year and be released, but he’s making us rethink our second base plans, I’m sure.
Ryan Glynn didn’t walk as many as he has in the past, but did walk 4 in 4.1 innings, which is still too many – his final two batters were walks, and at the time, the Rangers were only up two runs with Jeff Kent & Barry Bonds coming up. My gut feeling says that Glynn has pitched his last start for awhile, Loaiza will probably get moved back to the rotation, and Danny Kolb will get called up for the long relief job.
Loaiza did get his first win of the season and got pegged for 4 runs, which is more than Glynn gave up, actually. However, for some reason, Loaiza seemed better than Glynn did – it’s one of those “intangible” things I can’t put into words, even when you look at their lines:

TEXAS                        ip       h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
Glynn                         4 1/3   5   3   3   4   0   1   6.89
Loaiza (W, 1-1)               4 2/3   5   4   4   1   1   0   7.22

Still, a win is a win is a win no matter how you get them, and scoring 14 runs is always nice to see. :)

They say the best way to get going after you have problems is to get right back out there. John Wetteland got another save chance after blowing the last three in a row – this time he pulled it out. The newspaper said that he and Oates had a meeting to discuss what was going on, and for Oates to give him his “vote of confidence”. Whatever was said, it seemed to help, as he looked sharper than the last couple of days he was out there.
Mike Morgan pitched well this game, retiring something like 10 or 11 in a row on ground ball outs. He looked good, but once he got near 100 pitches, he seemed to crap out. He gave up 3 runs over 6.1 innings throwing 100 pitches and giving up 7 hits. Fairly decent outing, and the bullpen kept it close, giving up just one more run, which was inherited from Morgan and was an unearned run anyway.
Our five runs were driven in by five different people (Kelly, Greer, Zeile, Zaun, & Clayton). It was nice to see Gregg Zaun in there again – I have to admit, I didn’t think he’d be such a big deal at the start of the season, but he’s surprised me – I think this just about every time he plays. :)
We could have lost the game, as a controversial call by Mark Johnson. He ruled a Rich Auerlia hit ball a home run, but then Durwood Merrill said it was just a double. Replays showed it bounced off the absolute top of the left field wall just about the “A” in American League, and back into the field. It was the right call, but one more inch, and it would have been a home run, probably costing the Rangers the game.
The last four games on this homestand were decided by two runs or less, with three of them by one run. We’re now 17-9 in one run games this season.

The third time was not a charm, as John Wetteland blew another save, giving up two home runs in the ninth inning letting another game get by us. We did take the series against the Diamondbacks 2-1, but we should have swept – it felt that way all day.
We almost pulled it out in the bottom of the 10th, as Matt Mantei came in and had almost the same situation as the other day when we won after Randy Johnson came out of the game. This time, Matei did his job, and shut down the Rangers in the bottom of the 10th, but we did make a threat. John Wetteland gave up the two homers in the top of the 9th to let the game get tied at 6 (after Juan had put us up with a 3 run home run to make it at the time 6-3). The two home runs that Wetteland gave up were his 7th & 8th of the year – he gave up just 6 all of 1998.
Unfortunately, the strange start time of 3PM played a big factor, as Rusty Greer had a ball hit to him, but given the fact he was in blinding sunlight, he couldn’t see the ball till it was on the ground, allowing two runs to score. You really can’t blame him, I suppose, but the loss was hard to take. This was our first extra inning loss of the season, we’re now 4-1 in such games.
John Burkett pitched well again, if not as dominating as a few other recent appearances, but given how horrible he was at the start of the season, this is a big improvement. Mike Munoz is starting to look like one of the best off season pickups we’ve had in awhile. Unlike Mark Clark who also came in this year – I read something where if he doesn’t show improvement soon, he may need “Tommy John” surgery, and could be out all of 2000 in addition to this year!

With Johnny Oates away from the team attending his son’s college graduation, we had the second in two straight games in a row with a way cool ending.
I thought we were far enough out in front with the 7 spot we got in the fifth inning, but the Diamondbucks had a 5 spot of their own in the top of the 7th, and they creeped back and tied the game in the ninth when Wetteland gave up a run to blow another save opportunity. We ended up having a rather interesting bottom of the ninth. I’ll just copy the text from the game log here:
TEXAS 9TH: Greer singled to right. J Gonzalez singled to center, Greer to second. Dan Plesac relieved Bobby Chouinard. Greer to third, J Gonzalez to second on Stinnett passed ball. R Palmeiro intentionally walked. Zeile walked, Greer scored. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) ARIZONA 8, TEXAS 9.
Walking in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th is about the worst possible way I can think of for a team to lose the game. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ll definitely take this win. I’m writing this on Monday the 19th, so I don’t remember a whole lot about this game other than the bottom of the ninth finale, which makes two of these in a row. :) I’ll take it. This was the fifth time this season the Rangers have won in their final at bat at home this season, Palmeiro walked four times tonight (1 intentionally) – this tied a club record for walks by one player in a game. Aaron Sele retired 10 straight batters to start the game, a record for this season.

Well, there really wasn’t much to talk about in this game until the 9th inning. :)
We had some nice D in the field, with Ruben Mateo gunning down Tony Womack at the plate from way out in the outfield, Jon Shave making a great diving stop at first base (not his normal position). However, Pudge had an off night, he had two bad throws including one that sailed into center field. Bill Jones made a comment on TV that we get spoiled seeing Pudge throw, and expect that every one he throws will be perfect. I agree with that, but it still odd to see him throw two bad in the same game.
Rick Helling gave up a run in the first inning, but then didn’t allow anything more except a hit in the second, the Diamondbacks went hitless for like 4 or 5 innings or something before Helling gave up a solo shot in the 8th inning. All told, Rick Helling pitched very well, going 8 innings, giving up only two runs on 5 hits. I’ve been feeling bad for Helling, as he always seems to pitch this way, but he doesn’t get the win. I know everyone says “I’ts the pitcher’s job to keep the team in the game”, and it is, but damn, he has won like one of his last eight starts, while only losing two, I think. He needs more run support.
And speaking of run support, Randy Johnson got some, after the Dbacks have scored nothing in his previous four starts. Coming into this game, I figured we’d be the team that they crushed in support of Randy. Well, they got two in eight innings. Not exactly a “crush”, but the way Johnson was pitching, it seemed like it was going to be enough.
Randy left in the 9th inning for their new closer, Matt Matei. He got the first two outs, and it looked like game over. However, Mantei, for being such a highly regarded starter, pitched rather wild after getting two outs, walking the bases full to Greer, Palmeiro, & Stevens. After this, Mark McLemore came up. The count ran to 2-2, and Mark smacked a double up the center that was stopped by the Dbacks’ right fielder, but not enough to prevent all three runners from coming around for the win. Man, was this an exciting win in the bottom of the ninth. It was more interesting, since virtually every batter after the first two outs ran the count full. McLemore was 2-2 when he got the hit, so Matei was always “just about there” to getting the job done, but our hitters rode it out, and we won a really thrilling game.
One other thing – 6 of the 7 Ranger hits in this game came with two outs. The one other was Mac’s single in the 8th.
Matt Williams of the Dbacks did get his career 1,500th hit in the first inning, which is always nice to see.