What can you say about this? Derek Lowe shut us down good. We gave up far too many runs again, but it didn’t really matter. One was enough.
Additional game commentary here.

Well, after last night’s game against the Yankees that I missed, I figured I’d miss the best offensive game of the season. Wrong.
I was at this game, and boy, was it fun to watch as a Rangers fan. I was actually looking forward to seeing former Ranger John Burkett pitch, as he’s done pretty well since leaving the Rangers a couple of years ago (that sounds familiar). Anyway, he plunked the first two batters of teh game, and that pretty much set the tone. Carl Everett jacked a three run home run to cap off the scoring – 6 runs in all in the first frame. Actually, I thought it was gonna be bad as Johnny Damon hit a solo home run on the second pitch of the game, but that was pretty much it for Boston for awhile.
However, that wasn’t it for us in the second. We scored another 6 runs, capped off by a grand slam by Carl Everett – 7 RBI’s in the first two innings – a total of 12 runs for us after the second (and we were up 13-1 after the third). We picked up 6 more elsewhere, but the first three innings were the story of the game. Carl Everett also missed two MORE home runs, both by a foot or two – both were caught at the fence. Big night for him. He said in the press the fact it was against Boston meant nothing to him, but I have a hard time believing he didn’t feel ANYTHING special over that. :)
Todd Hollandsworth made a nice first impression – with a double, a home run and 4 RBI’s as well as a nice running catch in center. The popular opinion is that he probably won’t be here next year, but it was nice to see someone be able to play center field and hit as well. I really liked Ruben Rivera, Jason Romano, Ryan Ludwick, & Calvin Murray out there, but Hollandsworth appears to be able to run balls down and hit too, which is something we haven’t had from any of our centerfielders so far this year.
Chan Ho Park was great until he developed a blister, and then headed south in a big hurry. However, he had a big fan section out in right field – a group of folks who had some Korean signs out there where whooping it up like the drum guys in Oakland do. Any time Park did anything good, they made a nice noise out there. I really really loved seeing that, as for the most part this town doesn’t have any regular fans like that, except for Zonk at games. I really wished I was back in my original season tickets that I had from 1997-1999 in Section 39, as they were in Section 40 making all this noise. :) Don’t know if anyone in that group would read this, but if you did, I really enjoyed that – hope y’all come back.
By far the best game I’ve been to this year.
Additional game commentary here.

Man, did I pick the wrong game to go to in the Yankees series. Two of my bosses at work, who are admittedly casual baseball fans, and would much rather watch the Cowboys were at a luxury box for this game. Grrrr….. :(
Anyway, this explosion was really nice to see anytime, but was ESPECIALLY sweet against the Yankees. I really wish I could have been there, but I did watch the entire thing on TV, including the funny bit where the TV guys made fun of Josh Lewin, calling him the “Yammering Announcer”. :)
The game was in hand early with a 6 spot in the second inning with 6 doubles and a home run leading the charge. The 6 doubles in an inning tied a record, and we also tied our own record for extra base hits in the game. Was really sweet to watch, but was also bittersweet considering the way the rest of the season has gone. :( Arod’s HR in the second really did NOT look like a home run off the bat, looked like a pop out to right, but ended up going out of the deepest part of the park (right center). Nice to see. I really REALLY hope we don’t have a strike, because I want to see Arod play this out and get a full season – I would love to see him make a run at the MVP award. What can you say about a season high 17 runs and 21 hits other than you’re glad it was against the Yankees. We were on national TV on Monday night, I wish THIS was on national TV.
Gabe the babe is gone, with his trade to Colorado. I’ll miss him, I liked him as a player and a person (from what I could gauge), but he never put it together here, and perhaps it was time for a change. Too bad, he was a great guy to have on a team.
Additional game commentary is available here.

Well, that sucked, too. The Yankees win too much, I don’t like writing about them winning, so I won’t.

Well, that sucked. Additional game commentary is available here.

This game was going brilliantly. We were winning 2-1 through the end of the 7th inning. I was at this game, and wondered at the time why Valdes came out of the game after 6 innings, having thrown only (by my count) 87 pitches. Turns out it was a blister. It’s too bad as he was pitching brilliantly.
My wife wasn’t feeling good this evening, so we left early. Right before she went to use the bathroom before we left, Dave Burba was called on to pitch. As she was leaving, I screamed out loud “That’s it – game’s over. Three run home run from Burba”. And of course, that’s exactly what happened. We left after that, but not FOR that reason, we left because my wife wasn’t feeling good, and needed to go home. So we started driving home. We hit I30 when the top of the ninth started. When we got home back into Garland, the top of the 9th had JUST finished. That’s pretty bad when you can drive from Arlington to Garland in the span of half an inning!
Anyway, I got out of there just in time, what a meltdown of epic proportions. We gave up 11 runs in the 8th & 9th. A side note is that when it all started, we were four outs away from the win. But hey, I at least got a free hat for going, eh? :)
Additional game commentary is available here.

Chan Ho Park gave up four runs in the first inning, but shouldn’t have given up any, I think. We were “this close” to getting out of the first with no runs scored, and then bam, the A’s had four up. Given the way the season has gone, I figured the game was lost already. We did put up one in the bottom of the first (on an Arod solo HR), but I still didn’t feel good. Not until the third inning, when we put up a 5 spot, and were up 6-4. Carl Everett, who suddenly has discovered his power stroke this weekend chimed in with a massive three run HR that went over the seats in right field’s Section 44 and into the walkway.
We then pissed away the lead, and let the A’s tie it in the 6th at 6-6, and it remained that way (despite a few close calls) until the bottom of the 10th when Arod came up with the bases loaded against Billy “I still have the stupidest beard ever” Koch. Arod jacked a ball to right center field, and I figured the game was over, but it kept traveling, and he ended up with a grand slam in the 10th to win it 10-6. Was a nice finish to this one, for sure. :)

This game started off good – with a three spot in the first inning against Mark Mulder. At that time I felt that we had better hold it, because three against Mulder is an accomplishment – and I was right – he didn’t give up anything else – at least not until the 7th. In the 7th, we had fallen behind 4-3, but then we had what can only be called an explosion of epic proportions, scoring 9 runs in the 7th inning, capped off by TWO home runs by Carl Everett. That’s something that no other Ranger in history has ever done. Everett probably won’t have much longer in a Ranger uniform, but he did etch out a piece of history while he was here.
Wish I could have been there to see this in person, from what I saw on TV, it looked like a fun time that inning. :)
Additional game commentary is available here.

We gave away the lead in the bottom of the first inning, and while we tied it back up in the top of the second, we gave it away for good, and never looked “back” after the second, when we gave up a five spot, which actually felt worse than it looked. I actually got disgusted, and turned the game off. As it was a 9PM start, and I felt we weren’t doing anything more after that (I was right), I wanted to go do some other things around the house. :)
Additional game commentary is available here.

We picked up a win in Seattle behind the strong pitching of Kenny Rogers, also rumoured to be going to Seattle. Kenny looked great again this year, getting his 11th win. If he manages to stick with us for the rest of the season (doubtful), he’ll probably easily get 17 wins.
Anyway, we went ahead on the second pitch of the game, and never gave up the lead. Frank Catalanotto hit a home run on the second pitch over Ichiro into the stands, and we never looked back. Well, maybe we did late, when the Mariners made it 4-3, but it was still nice to get a win.