I didn’t get to see the game again due to the oft told incompetence of my cable company. I was so irritated, that I didn’t want to listen on the radio. I eventually did, and heard Gabe Kapler’s home run, and the rest onwards. Was nice to see the bullpen hold on to one after awhile. Gabe’s home run was the first in awhile, and the first one he’s hit (as a Ranger) that my wife and I didn’t witness with our own eyes. :) His new bald look must be doing something, as he’s batting something like .370 since the All-Star break, and has raised his batting average to .261.
Also, it seems that the Rangers made the right decision with the Scar Green / Jason McDonald choice a few weeks ago in keeping Scar. I’m hoping he can hold on beyond this year – I’ve always liked him for some reason – although his numbers have never set anyone on fire. The throw he made in the bottom of the ninth to win the game was awesome!

The night before this, I only got about two hours of sleep – I was dead tired before the game even started. About 11:45, I couldn’t take it anymore, and fell asleep. When I went to sleep, we were winning, but Rick Helling had just come out. We eventually lost Our bullpen gave away another game.
That’s a shame, because Rick Helling looked masterful. I felt he deserved to win his 11th game of the season. However, our bullpen couldn’t hold it again. I know I said yesterday I wanted to keep John Wetteland, and I still do. I hope he survives the pending shakedown. I really want him to stay. I’d like to keep Segui, too, but I can’t see both of them staying.
Anyway, it was an awesome pitching matchup in both sides until we finally broke through in the 7th inning. It almost wasn’t, that close, but with men on 2nd and 3rd, Mike Lamb made a spectacular play. Chopper to third, and he managed to tag the runner off the base at third, and then toss to first for a double play. One of the better plays made by a third baseman this year (well, at least a Ranger player).
This loss puts us back to 9.5 games back, and I think that unless we manage to sweep Anaheim & Seattle, that’s it – we’re done. Sure, some miracle could happen in the second half once the pressure is off, but even if we got that far, I don’t think the 2000 Rangers have what it takes to make it anywhere in the playoffs, anyway.

About halfway through this game, I said to my wife – “That’s it, season’s over, let’s start on next year”. My gut feeling is that this is it – we’re not going to make a big run at it. In spring training, I felt that this was a year for rebuilding (not a lot of it, just a little), but this year wouldn’t be our year. That’s been obvious both by the play all season, and by the play last night.
We almost pulled off our second most spectacular comeback of the roadtrip in the top of the 9th, but we fell two runs short. Our bullpen is just a mess now, totally unreliable.
In the forthcoming cleaning, I sincerely hope we keep one player. John Wetteland. I really want to keep him. A lot.

Pac Bell Park looked great. Esteban Loaiza did not. That about sums it up. :)
I have to say, the one thing I wanted to see in this series was Barry Bonds hit a ball into the water outside the park. Well, I did see that, but it was a foul ball. I didn’t think the Rangers played all that bad this game – I liked Chad Curtis in this game (despite the bobble in the outfield), but our pitching gave it away again.
I’m really starting to think that if we keep Loaiza, it’ll be in the bullpen – but I’d be curious to see what his reaction to a permanent move to the pen would bring. Worked for Burkett – it might work for Loaiza, too.
This was David Segui’s 1000th game played in his career at first base. Because of that, he can now count in the all time first base stats, which moves him into second place all time in fielding, behind Steve Garvey.

I didn’t think we had a prayer against Randy Johnson – but Matt Perisho pitched well enough to keep the game from getting out of hand. We actually managed to come back and tie the game against Randy Johnson. The Rangers have always hit him at the very least OK, if not great.
Pretty strange lineup against the Big Unit. What surprised me is that Haselman had two RBI hits off of Randy – that was impressive for a guy who doesn’t play a lot. I hope that Bill stays after this year. I know he deserves to have a great front line job, but I think he’s the absolute best backup we could get for Pudge.
That’s another game when Luis Alicea makes a great comeback come true with a late inning hit and RBI. I wonder if we’ll consider signing him again next year. Be curious to see what happens there.

There’s not a whole lot to say about this one. We were shut down by Armondo Reynoso. With the exception of Scott Sheldon’s fluke home run – we didn’t do jack on offense.
This doesn’t bode well, because tomorrow we face Randy Johnson. :(

All through this game, I kept thinking to myself, I’m going to be writing about how Jay Bell did us in, and how we were outpitched by Brian Anderson. Well, that did happen, but something else amazing happened. We pulled off a giant comeback in the 9th inning against B.H. Kim. It’s so amazing that I’m not even going to write about it – I’ll just post the game log from the top of the 9th. :)
TEXAS 9TH: T Lee at first. Conti in right. Byung Hyun Kim relieved Brian Anderson. Greer walked. I Rodriguez struck out swinging. R Palmeiro hit by pitch, Greer to second. Catalanotto hit for Curtis. Catalanotto singled to shallow right, Greer scored, R Palmeiro to third. Segui hit for Kapler. Segui tripled to center, R Palmeiro and Catalanotto scored. Sc Green ran for Segui. Lamb intentionally walked. R Clayton struck out swinging. Da Martinez hit for Je Zimmerman. Da Martinez walked, Lamb to second. Alicea singled to right, Sc Green and Lamb scored, Da Martinez to third. Dan Plesac relieved Byung Hyun Kim. Greer flied out to center. (5 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TEXAS 6, ARIZONA 4.

Not available. Barely have the time to update the page. The thing at the beginning of the game where the players had their kids on the field with them for announcements was cool, though.
ATLANTA (TICKER) — It’s not the first time a Yankee celebrated in Atlanta.
Derek Jeter became the first member of the New York Yankees to earn All-Star Game Most Valuable Player honors, going 3-for-3 with two RBI and overshadowing a strong performance by Atlanta’s Chipper Jones as the American League All-Stars posted a 6-3 triumph over their National League counterparts.
“Taking into consideration all the great players that have been in the Yankee organization, you’d think in the past that one would win,” Jeter said. “But if you’re in a game like this, you have to be in the right place at the right time, and I was very fortunate.
“In due time, when I sit down and get a chance to reflect on it, then you realize how special it is. And I wasn’t aware that no Yankee, no other Yankee, had won this award, and it’s kind of hard to believe.”
Further frustrating the 51,323 in attendance at Turner Field, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera allowed a meaningless run in the ninth to preserve the AL’s fourth straight victory in the series.
Since Turner Field opened in 1997, the Yankees are 6-2 here, including two World Series wins last year.
The 26-year-old Jeter, a cornerstone of the Yankees’ three world championships over the last four years, had a pivotal two-run single off New York Mets lefthander Al Leiter in the fourth. It gave the AL a 3-1 lead which it never surrendered.
“We’ve been watching that ever since (Jeter) came to the big leagues,” National League manager Bobby Cox said. “And somebody in the clubhouse asked me if he was getting better. He was just good when he first came up, so you know why he is here, he’s an All-Star.”
“Derek Jeter is a Yankee,” said Yankees manager Joe Torre, who improved to 3-0 as head of the AL squad. “If there ever was a young kid that even the veteran players looked up to, it’s Derek Jeter. So I think it’s a very proud time for the New York Yankees, because their future did a good thing tonight.”
Jeter’s heroics offset a great night by fan favorite Jones, who also had three hits, including a homer in the third inning off James Baldwin of the Chicago White Sox, who ended up the winning pitcher.
“It was awesome,” Jones said. “I mean, it’s every little boy’s dream. I’ve said it so many times this week, it’s not often that a player gets to play on his home field in an All-Star Game, much less start. To go out there and hit a home run, it was just awesome. I can’t explain it. It was something I’ll never forget.”
Jeter hurt Leiter with a single in a two-run first inning on Friday night in the opener of the “Subway Series” and did so again tonight in a two-run fourth. Kansas City’s Jermaine Dye led off with a walk and Cleveland’s Travis Fryman lined a single past the glove of San Francisco’s Jeff Kent at second.
Mike Sweeney, another first-time All-Star, bounced a potential double-play grounder to shortstop that Cincinnati’s Barry Larkin booted to load the bases. Leiter got Cleveland’s Roberto Alomar to pop out but Jeter looped a single into shallow left-center field for a 3-1 lead.
“The cutter, he throws it every time I face him,” Jeter said. “I try to lay off it. I didn’t hit it well, I just hit it in the right place. He’s a tough pitcher.”
The NL got within 3-2 in the fifth and delighted the crowd in the process. Gary Sheffield opened the inning against Oakland closer Jason Isringhausen with a walk and one out later Jones singled to right field. Braves teammate Andruw Jones, in his first All-Star bat, singled softly into center field to slice the deficit in half.
Isringhausen preserved the lead by retiring Sammy Sosa on a fly to right and, after falling behind former teammate Edgardo Alfonzo, came back to retire the Mets second baseman on a foul popout.
Neither starter factored in the decision as Arizona’s Randy Johnson, who pitched on Sunday, needed just eight pitches to get through a scoreless first inning. AL starter David Wells of Toronto allowed two hits over two innings in his second career All-Star start.
“Pitching on Sunday, I didn’t know how I was going to throw,” Johnson said. “So you can go out there and throw eight pitches, and you have to be pretty pleased about that.”
Preceding the game was a celebration of family as the All-Stars took their positions with their children. With wives along the third-base line, players were introduced with their children at their sides. The biggest ovation was reserved for hometown hero Andres Galarraga, who has overcome non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to earn a spot on the All-Star team.
Galarraga, named as a starter when St. Louis slugger Mark McGwire pulled out, was greeted with standing ovations when he was announced in the lineup and when he first came to the plate in the second inning. He wiped his eyes and tipped his cap to the crowd before hitting a rocket to left that was caught.
Galarraga earned a final standing ovation after a one-out single in the fourth. He was pulled for pinch-runner Todd Helton and the crowd roared as he left the field.
“No words can explain how happy, how excited I am today,” said Galarraga. “That’s a great moment in my career in baseball. Walking on to the field with my kids, and the ovation they gave to me, my fans here in Atlanta, that’s a really special moment.”
The AL used a three-run ninth against San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman to give Rivera some breathing room. Chicago’s Ray Durham and Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra opened the inning with singles and Minnesota’s Matt Lawton grounded an RBI single to right through a drawn-in infield. Chicago’s Magglio Ordonez lofted a sacrifice fly for a 5-2 lead before an error by Montreal second baseman Jose Vidro scored Lawton.
The NL countered with a run in the bottom of the ninth on Steve Finley’s RBI single but Rivera induced St. Louis’ Edgar Renteria to bounce into a game-ending double play.
Jeter got the first of his three hits in the opening inning, lining a double down the left-field line off Johnson. But the Arizona ace rebounded to retire Williams on a groundout and strike out Giambi.
Jones singled up the middle with one out in the first but Wells got Montreal’s Vladimir Guerrero on a line drive to second before striking out Home Run Derby champion Sosa looking.
“When you get ahead in the count you can throw anything,” Wells said. “If you have command of your pitches, they can’t sit on a certain pitch, and I had a good curveball working.”
The AL pushed across a run in the third against Kevin Brown, taking advantage of a rare bout of wildness by the Dodgers’ ace.
Pinch-hitter Mike Bordick of Baltimore was retired on a long fly ball to center field that Jim Edmonds of St. Louis ran down. Alomar walked and Jeter singled before Williams’ grounder forced Alomar at third. But Brown lost the plate, issuing consecutive free passes to Giambi and Boston’s Carl Everett to force home a run.
Brown had not issued a walk in his previous 3 2/3 All-Star innings before losing the plate tonight.
The NL got even in the bottom of the third on Jones’ first career All-Star homer. Jones became the 33rd player to record three hits in an All-Star Game, one inning after Jeter became the 32nd player to accomplish the feat.
Leiter took the loss for the NL, which still holds a 40-30-1 lead in the all-time series, which began in 1933.

Not available.

Since I’m writing this almost a week after the game, I’m not going to say much except this..
Back to 500 for the first time in awhile. Was nice to win for Rick Helling, too. :)