The Rangers lost to the Giants this afternoon by the score of 5 to 1.
Offensively, we had virtually nothing. We had a total of 6 hits that were pretty scattered through the game, and we only had 2 up until the 7th inning. We had a home run by Richard Hidalgo in the 7th for our third hit, mounting effectively no offensive attack. We also didn’t have most of the regular lineup, either. No Teixeira, no Blalock, no Soriano. That’s ultimately no excuse, but when your biggest boppers aren’t in the lineup, you don’t expect to score as many runs as you have been the last few games (picking up 16 in one game and 17 in another over the last few). We did make it a little interesting in the 9th with a hit, and a walk, but didn’t mount anything serious.
Chris Young started the game, and did fairly well going three innings and not giving up anything. Carlos Almanzar was beat up a bit for two runs in the fourth to take the loss.
But basically, this day belonged to the Giants pitching. We got nothing really going, and other than Hidalgo’s HR, no Ranger passed home plate.
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This was the first time we got to see the Rangers on TV this season. However, it wasn’t our TV guys, it was the ESPN crew, none of which really excited me, as the guy they had doing play by play is their hockey guy, isn’t it?
Anyway, Nick Regilio, who had a looksee last year as one of the 17 guys we had start games in 2004 was the starter. He went 2.1 innings, and gave up just one run on 3 hits, although he walked two. In fact, I believe one of the walks was the run he gave up. However, the next two pitchers kind of stunk up the joint. Lou Pote, who I don’t expect to be on the roster come April gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in 1.2 innings, which included two HR’s. However, Nick Masset didn’t do much better. He also went 1.2, but gave up 7 hits, and 5ER! Eeek! The remaining three pitchers we used (Hughes, Bukvich, & Nunez) didn’t give up anything in the combined 3.1 IP between them.
Offensively, not a lot going on. The four RBI’s were from Kinsler, Dellucci, Colbrunn, & Kevin Mench. Mike Young was the only player with more than one hit (he went 2-3).
I’m feeling better, although not totally clear of the health issues I had this past week, so I should be a bit more timely in my updates.
View my complete update for this game here.

I was still sick, plus I had family in town this weekend for my wife’s baby shower, so there wasn’t much going on with me baseball wise. Was nice to see the can of whoop-ass opened up by the Rangers on another team. Too bad I couldn’t see or hear it. :)
We didn’t bash them into submission as there were only two home runs. We just hit them to death. We had 20 hits, and most of them seemed to do something. Gary Matthews (who probably isn’t a bad choice as starting CF if Nix doesn’t ratch up his hitting) went 3 for 3, and Adrian Gonzalez furthered his case some more going 3 for 5 with a home run and four RBI’s.
Not much to say as I’m trying to get back into the swing of things having been out of work for over a week.
View my complete update for this game here.

This game was the first Rangers game to be on the radio with our Ranger broadcasters! That is a moment of great celebration for me. However, for the 2005 season, I had to miss it. The reason is that this afternoon, my wife had a baby shower, and it was at our house, so I had to spend the afternoon dodging estrogen, and baseball wasn’t really on the radar. :)
From reading the boxscore, I see that Soriano had his first action of the spring, although he didn’t do anything, he had a big ofer. Ricardo Rodriguez looks like he’s coming along extremely well, possibly headed towards a spot in the starting rotation based on today’s performance and his work so far this spring. That’s really nice considered how his season ended last year. Big shame that was in 04 for RicRod. He went two innings, and had no runs scored, and struck out 4, which was nice to see. In fact, all of our pitching today was great, except for Veras, who gave up all three runs the Royals scored. Wasdin, Mahay, Hughes, & Erasmo Ramirez all gave up nothing in their sessions. Nice to see that.
Offensivesly, we didn’t have the 17 run explosion that happened yesterday, but we had 5 runs, and both Mike Young and Richard Hidalgo led the charge, both going 2 for 3. Gerald Laird also added a solo home run. Seems like a pretty balanced attack.
I would have liked to have listened to the game, though, even though we got a boatload of baby stuff from some VERY generous friends and family members.
View my complete update for this game here.

Ranger management is on record as saying that Chan Ho Park has to earn his roster spot this year, that he’s not going to be guaranteed it just because he has a boatload of cash invested. He did not help himself on Friday. Chan Ho went two innings, gave up 3ER, 5 hits, including one home run. Now granted, we gave up a total of 13 runs, so Park wasn’t the only one with a bad line. But of the 5 Ranger pitchers who gave up runs (we had 7 total), Park is the only one threatened with a loss of a roster spot if he doesn’t pitch well. And I’m sure most Ranger fans would probably cheer his release. I’m kind of ambivalent towards it. Sure, I want to team to do good, and he’s not helping, but I saw the festive atmosphere from the Korean fans when he WAS doing good, and I wished it could have been something that worked. Oh well. If he has another of these, I suspect the talk will probably start in earnest about letting him go.
If I read the box score right, we only actually had two home runs to account for the 17 runs we had. Mench & Adrian Gonzalez were both 3 for 4, and …. aw hell, there’s too much offense to just list it – check the box score below. I didn’t write this until about 36 hours after the game was played, so I have not much to add, but it definitely was nice to see a win, even if we did give up a boatload ourselves.
View my complete update for this game here.

Official Spring training games start! Unfortunately, as anyone who has read my site for the last few years knows, these games are torture, since they’re not on TV or on radio. You can sit on one of the major baseball sites and refresh the scoreboard, but that’s nowhere near as much fun. It also makes it hard to write about the games. :)
We lost the opener 6-4 against our Arizona roomates the KC Royals. We used five pitchers in this game. Two of them (Chris Young, Erasmo Ramirez) gave up nothing in their innings of work. Starter Kenny Rogers gave up one, and RA Dickey gave up two, but only one was earned. Kameron Loe however, didn’t fare too well. In his 1.2 innings of work, he gave up 5 hits, and 3 earned runs. Loe did have three strikeouts, though.
Offensively, newcomer Richard Hidalgo made a mark with a home run and a sac fly, for 2 RBI’s. We only had 10 hits, and no one player had more than one, which might have contributed to the 11 runners we left on base. Soriano didn’t play, but otherwise, the starting lineup appeared to be what the projected starting day lineup will be. Kinsler and Arias had doubles, and Ruddy Yan was caught stealing.
From what I can read from the boxscore, a lackluster start to the official beginning of spring training.
View my complete update for this game here.

The last game of the season ended on both a bright note and a scary note. Unfortunately, they’re the same thing. Chan Ho Park pitched the way he should have been pitching. Which means we’ll probably try and go with him again next season. Damn. On the other hand, he pitched really well again in a park that he always pitches well in – Seattle. I wonder if something could be worked out where we send Park to Seattle for something. Park does well there, Seattle has to know that. Park went 7 innings, gave up no runs on 2 hits (3 BB/3K). A stellar performance (unfortunately).
Francisco Cordero got his final save of the season, his 49th. A record breaking season for him, as no Ranger reliever has ever had that many saves. He looked good, and fans seemed to like it when he came in. I think we have this position solved for awhile. :)
We didn’t have a lot of offense ourselves, but we had enough to get three runs across. Texas 2-4, but didn’t score, or get an RBI. Nix had a HR, and Huckaby had a double. Mike Young drove in the other two that Nix did not. As I said, not a lot of offense, but enough.
And the season comes to a close. By every account, this was a huge success, we didn’t drop out of the race until after Game #158 of the season – a major accomplishment. Buck Showalter should be manager of the year.
I also sincerely hope that Rudy Jaramillo comes back next year. He’s a great portion of our success, and I would hate to have him leave. As I’ve said before, if he left to get a manger’s job, I can’t fault him for leaving for that. However, if he leaves and becomes a hitting coach somewhere else, then I’ll be pissed. If he takes a lateral move, it means the Rangers didn’t do enough to keep him.
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