There’s not a whole lot to say about this game. The outcome is what I think most people expected. Bartolo Colon beat Juan Dominguez. But it took a 20 game winner and potential Cy Young candidate to beat Juan Dominguez. That’s a good thing. Their pitching lines were:
Dominguez: 7IP, 6H, 2R (1ER), 2K, 2BB, 98NP
Colon: 7IP, 4H, 1R (0ER), 4K, 0BB, 85NP
If you like pitching, this was a game to watch. In fact, the run we got was a gift. Colon & the Angels surived three errors by third baseman Macier Izturis. We had a total of five hits in the entire game, most definitely scattered. We couldn’t get anything going against Colon, which is no big surprise, we never seem to be able to do that.
Mike Young watch: 1 for 4 with 1 run scored. Hitting streak at 17 games.
Phil Nevin watch: $58,596 paid to Nevin to warm that bench. (That’s taking his 2005 salary of $9,492,689, and dividing by 162).
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

I didn’t get to see any of this game. If you read my commentary for Saturday night’s game, my wife and I were holed up at a motel a couple of miles from our house due to our AC being broken. We got a call in the middle of the morning Sunday on my cel phone from the AC repair guy who wasn’t scheduled to come out until Monday morning. He says he can make it out. So I flew over to the house, and got the AC repaired. After we were all done with that, I went back to the motel, at this point we were about 30 minutes away from checkout time, and getting billed for the second day. We had a majorly huge scramble to get all of the stuff for us, the baby, and our two cats out of the motel and into the truck to get back home. We were fortunate that we got done in time. When we got home and finished unpacking, football was on, and I started watching the two games I had TiVoed on the Sunday Ticket package. As I pay a lot for that package, I feel compelled to watch them.
We’re all back home and safe, and cool. Which is good given the current heat wave we’re having here (to those reading outside the DFW area, it’s about 10-15 degrees above normal for this time of year, we should be at 82-85, and it’s around 95-97 now). I’m grateful for the guy who nice nice, friendly work for me on a Sunday morning no less. I didn’t get taken too, which was always good. :)
Anyway, about halfway through I realized the Rangers game was on as well, but at this point the game was already over. We got a sweep which let me use my sweep graphic which I haven’t done in awhile. The win also got us back to .500 which is a big goal. Now I wanted two games above .500 which seems reachable now. There’s twelve games left in the season. 3 vs the A’s, 3 vs the Mariners, and 6 vs the Angels. To finish 2 over .500 we’ll have to go 7-5 over that span. Doable, but with 6 against the Angels, one never knows.
Mike Young watch: 1 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Hitting streak at 16 games.
Phil Nevin watch: Still on the bench, still whining about it.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

This game was one of my season ticket games. Unfortunately, I could not attend due to an emergency at home. It was cool in the morning, so I decided to save some electricity for a few hours and air out the house by turning off the AC. I did that. But once it got warm again, I turned the AC back on again, and it never came on! Well, the unit outside never came on, I should say. Due to that, it kept getting hotter and hotter in the house. My wife got done working at 4, and when she got home, I wanted to move her and the baby over to a motel about a mile and a half from our house. So we started doing that around the time the game was getting started. I came back home to bring a few loads of things we’d need for the baby, and then decided I was going to move myself and the cats over there, too, as the house was about 90 degrees inside.
Due all of this, I only got to hear the briefest of bits when I was going back and forth from home to the motel, although I did get to hear the winning run score. As much as the site and going to games is, taking care of my family is definitely the priority in life there. If I had been there, I’m sure I would have a lot to write about given the way the game finished, but my mind was elsewhere this night.
Mike Young watch: 2 for 5, with 1 RBI, and 1 game winning run scored. Hitting streak at 15.
Phil Nevin watch: Still on the bench, still whining about it.
Jason Botts watch: 3 for 4 with an RBI in the Nevin DH spot.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

This game was billed as a Ranger kid getting a look-see with a major league debut against the Mariners’ Godlike phenom. The way it was in the press, we were going to get a perfect game thrown against us, and give up 13 runs or so. Hernandez went 3IP, and gave up 5ER on 8H, and 3BB. Not a good outing. Josh Rupe went 5IP, and gave up 2ER on 6H, and 1BB to get his first major league win in his first major league start. That was good. He also was the 30th different pitcher we’ve used this year, tying last year’s record. We are still a few behind the number of starters we used last year, and I don’t think we’ll get to that one, though.
We added another home run (Barajas) to continue our assault on the team home run records this season. Offensively, we had a total of 9 hits, which was less than the Mariners had, but ours worked better, as we got the win.
Mike Young watch: 2 for 4, with a run scored.
Phil Nevin watch: Still on bench. Still whining about it.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

The Rangers won their second game in a row, which very recently is something unusual. Our streaks lately have been mostly in the backwards direction.
Kameron Loe started this game, and with the exception of one really unusual statistic, had a great line. 5.1IP, 2R (1ER). He did allow 6 hits, walked four, and committed three errors of his own, yet still left with the lead, and got the win. The errors is the unusual bit. It definitely was a tightrope walk, but the damage was minimal. Shouse, Benoit, & Wilson kept it scoreless until the ninth. Coco came in, and was 2005 Coco, not the really shutdown one from last year. He gave up another run. Stats say his season ERA is 3.75, but wow it feels like it’s 6 or 7, he seems to give up a run most every time. Obviously that’s not true, but that’s what it feels like, anyway. The Mariners left 13 men on base for the game.
Offensively, we had no home runs, but had a couple of doubles (Mench, Blalock). This was another game where we didn’t have a lot of offense. We had a total of five hits in the game. The aforementioned two doubles, plus three hits. One of the hits was by Michael Young who extended his hitting streak to 13 games. It also was his 200th hit of the season, which was a nice milestone to get at home. He continues to lead the batting race, but if you read this article on ESPN by Jayson Stark, the actual batting champion should be Placido Polanco of the Tigers. Read it. Folks who hate Bud Selig and the way Interleague play has “eroded” statistics will get a kick out of that.
Anyway, we got a win, and are back to three under .500. Josh Rupe makes his major league debut on Friday night. Odd that after going so long this season with the initial 5 man rotation we broke camp with that since June, we seem to be in a hurry to make up ground on the record 17 starters we used in 2004. I think (without looking it up), that Rupe will be #13 this year.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.

Usually on day games during the week, I don’t get a good listen because I’m busy doing something at work. Well, on this one, I forgot the game was even on until it was two hours into the game. I turned it on, but only got to listen for about 5 minutes, and had to bail – too busy at work yesterday. I had the game on my TiVo at home, so when I got back home from my bowling league I turned it on and watched from the bottom of the 9th onwards. Kind of nice watching the end of a game knowing you’re gonna win. :)
But we can thank David Dellucci here, for his pinch hit, two out, bottom of the ninth, two run, game tying home run. That’s pretty much what this game was about for me, not having seen the vast majority of it.
Again, attendance was listed as 18,077 – it looked like half that from what I saw on TV.
We’re back to four games under .500. There’s 16 games left in the season, and to reach my goal of two games over .500, we’ll have to go 12-4 over the remainder of the season, which is unlikely, as six of the 16 are against the Angels. Even ending at .500 will require 10-6. Ugh.

2004’s Home Opener starting pitcher R.A. Dickey finally made his first appearance of the 2005 season, in game 145. Only this time he showed up with a different pitch, a knuckleball. Something the Rangers haven’t really (seriously) had since Charlie Hough last was in a Ranger uniform in 1990. My wife and daughter were with me in this game. We had some comp tickets in Sec 229 Row 2. We almost got a foul ball, the closest one came was that it hit the red railing right in front of us, and the bounced back downstairs. The section two to our right got about half a dozen fouls over the night.
Aside from the first inning, Dickey was pretty good. His total line was 7IP, 5H, 3ER. Two of those runs and three of the hits were all in the first inning (along with a walk). So yeah, I’d say Dickey did pretty good. I’ll write off the first inning to jitters, as it was the first time he’d pitched in the majors with a knuckleball. The problem this game had was that the Orioles kid was better. John Maine went 6.1IP, giving up just two hits – both solo home runs (Mench, Blalock). In fact, outside of those home runs, we had only two other hits total the whole night (double – Soriano, single – M Young). We were pretty inept at the plate.
Still, I had a great time at the game with my family. Took some pictures of that, they’re online here if you want to see ’em.
The attendance was listed at 21,167. It looked like a lot less than that to me.

Another game I didn’t watch much of. It was Monday Night Football. I was doing the same thing that I’m sure Kevin Mench would have been doing had the Rangers been off, watching the Eagles on Monday Night Football.
It was surprising to read in the local press that Rafael Palmeiro was “sent home” to rehab an injury, and then when his team gets here, he doesn’t hang out with them. Seems odd – I’d be stunned if Raffy plays another game with Baltimore. Sosa wasn’t there too, probably for mostly the same reason, they’re doing better without them. Sosa & Raffy was one of the primary reasons I wanted to see the Orioles in town this year. As it stands, it’s a couple of fading teams playing a mostly worthless game in mid September.
This game was mostly lost on a big two run error by Kevin Mench in right field. Edison Volquez went 4 innings, and gave up just 1 earned run (3 total, due to that error). But the real reason I suppose was Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera, who only allowed 2 earned runs, and the 4 relievers who followed him gave up none. Mike Young kept his hitting streak going with another hit.
No home runs, though.

Didn’t watch much of this game, as it was Week 1 in the NFL, and I was watching the Steelers / Titans game on NFL Sunday Ticket. Yeah, I’m a bigger baseball fan than a football fan, but there’s something about first weekend that makes the games “unskippable” to me. Given there was early, late, and night games, I didn’t TiVo the Rangers game, as I wouldn’t have time to watch all of it.
Was nice to get a win, though – although we should have won the other two in this series, too. Kenny Rogers got the win, his first in awhile, going 6 innings, giving up 7 hits and 3 ER. John Wasdin tossed three scoreless innings behind Rogers for the save.
Mike Young went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI. He continues to lead the AL (not sure about the NL too) in batting average, he’s about 6 or 7 points above Arod and Johnny Damon with a couple of weeks to go. The other player we have in the lead or close to it is Tex who is close to the HR lead, and is leading in RBI’s. Tex only had one hit tonight, but it was a three run home run. Mark DeRosa also had a home run again, showing some surprising consistency. I know bench player is always a role that’s hard to fill, and there’s lots of candidates – I wonder if he’ll return next year. He’s been really solid whenever he’s been used.

This was one of the windier nights I’ve been to at the ballpark in quite a long time. And thanks to Mr Hicks’ quest for more money, the A’s won the game tonight. I speak of course of the jet stream created by the Gold Club behind home plate. It most DEFINITELY gave Dan Johnson a grand slam in the second inning. He hit a ball to right that was admittedly well hit, but was NOT a home run off the bat. Watching Mench glide backwards and keep going was an “uh-oh” moment. In fact, I said that as soon as he hit the ball, and I was right. Wind assisted grand slam. Where have you gone, Tom Schieffer?
Anyway, other than that grand slam ball that shouldn’t have been, I thought Kameron Loe was good. If you take away that hit, his record would have been 6.2IP with 7H and 1ER, but that’s not how it played out. He gave up 8 hits and 5 earned runs. I felt he got ripped off by the conditions. His apparent appendage reliever CJ Wilson came on and finished the game, with 2.1IP and no hits, no runs. But we couldn’t get it done against their pen. Witasik, Rincon, & Street didn’t give up any runs. Oakland starter Joe Blanton did give up 4 though.
Our home run barrage continues unabated. We had three (Young – 1st, Dellucci – 3rd, Teixeira – 6th). I forget what the number is at the moment, but we’ve set a new team record for “home” home runs. At the rate we’re going, we will pass the all time major league record. Fat lot of good that does. But remember, chicks dig the longball, and they’ll come to the park and spend money in the Gold Club, right?
My wife said the other day I seem more sarcastic than usual lately. I don’t see it, do you? ;)