No comment.

You know, for awhile there the game was 8-1. We were losing, and it was obvious we were losing. I stopped watching, because quite frankly, I’m sick of watching the Yankees win. Yankees lose, I’ll watch anyday. Decided to spend some time talking to my wife.
After a time, I peeked back in to see what was going on, and saw we had gotten back in it 8-7 in the bottom of the 8th, so I backed up the Tivo a bit, and watched all that. I got all excited, thinking we’d come back and win.
I almost wished we had lost 8-1, that would have been easier to take.

The Baltimore Orioles could only muster four hits against Ranger ace, Kevin Milwood. Kevin pitched a complete game, the first such game for a Ranger pitcher this season, only a day after John Koronka set that record with 8.1IP. It’s the kind of pitching performance I’m sure everyone envisioned when he signed with us. The kind of thing that Chan Ho never really did in his time here.
Milwood did give up a home run to Jay Gibbons, the second such hit for Jay in two games. Kevin also walked two and struck out one. The Orioles didn’t get much, but they did bunch the couple they got together aside from the home run, as it did produce some small offense.
Our offence bombed Bruce Chen, a player whom I’ve never much cared for since he was in Philly. Chen was blitzed for 11 hits and 8 runs (7ER) over 4 innings pitched. The remaining four innings were handled by two guys out of the Baltimore pen who didn’t give up any more, so this was all on Chen (11 of the 14 hits were Chen’s, too).
This was our sixth win in a row, and a really nice one to have, although my gut tells me we might need it against the Yankees, too bad Kevin won’t face them this weekend.

You think I’d learn not to be messing with my laptop online when I am watching a time shifted Rangers game on my TiVo. But do I learn from that? Nope. I’m in the fifth or sixth inning, and there pops up my Gmail notifier with an email from Jamey Newberg titled “Newberg Report Walkoff Flash”. Great, there goes that game for me. I don’t blame Jamey, I blame myself for being dumb and not protecting myself against finding out ahead of time.
Having said that, what I saw was pretty darn good. John Koronka has turned out to be a major steal, if he ends up continuing to pitch the way he has so far. 8.1 Innings pitched, only 6 hits, and no walks with 4 strikeouts. In fact, the only run he gave up was a solo home run to Jay Gibbons in the fourth inning. Koronka was brilliant. The four pitchers behind him also deserve credit for combining on 3.2IP of shutout relief. A masterful pitching performance by “your Texas Rangers”. Gotta love that.
On the flip side, Baltimore’s pitching was almost as good. Daniel Cabrera went 6 innings, giving up just one run himself on a sacrifice fly. Their pen threw five relievers, and the only mistake was by John Halama at the end. He gave up a line drive home run by Mark DeRosa in the bottom of the 12th inning to win it in walkoff fashion for the Rangers. Was a thrilling win on a definite pitcher’s duel night.
Just wished I hadn’t ruined it for myself by finding out the score ahead of time. :(

Robinson Tejeda made his Rangers debut tonight, and pitched fairly decently, except he allowed more walks than innings pitched, which is NEVER good. He did dance along on a tightrope tonight, giving up just two runs in his 5 innings pitched (on said walks plus three hits). I remember him when the Rangers were in Philly last year for interleague, he annihilated us. OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but he did seem good. I know a lot of people are waiting for him to dominate, as he cost us David Dellucci in a trade. I think he’ll be fine, probably not an uber stud pitcher, but good indeed. Course, I’m just a fan, so what the hell do I know?
Tejeda was backed up by six relief pitchers over a span of 4 innings (Mahay, Benoit, Wilson, Alfonseca, Cordero, & Otsuka). Cordero in a setup role, and Otsuka, who got his third save of the season.
Offensively, Mark DeRosa continues to flourish since coming back from the “fake DL” :) He was 3 for 4 with a home run and a double. He’s definitely swinging a hot bat at the moment, and I wonder if it will impact Ian Kinsler’s return which should be soon as well. Brad Wilkerson also had a good night going 2 for 2 with a home run, three runs scored, and two walks. He’s raised his batting average to .242 after a horrific start to the season.
We “swept” the Rays in this series, but does it really count as a sweep in a two game series? Yeah, I know by the definition of a sweep it does, but two game series never feel like “series sweeps” to me. Not a lot of Rays fans around to see it, as their attendance was 7,147. Yikes.
Nice to come back home off a 4-1 road trip.

After his last start, and ending up the first month of the season without a single win, I dropped Kameron Loe from several fantasy teams I had him on. That’s usually a sign that something good will happen to him, and it did.
Kameron Loe sparkled tonight in St. Petersburg against the Rays. Kam went seven innings, giving up no runs on four hits, striking out 3, and walking none. He looked great, the game moved quickly, it was probably his best performance of the season. Following him up were Francisco Cordero (8th) & Akinori Otsuka (9th). Both relief pitchers tossed a perfect inning to keep the shutout in place.
Seth McClung, who gave up about 85 runs the last time he was on the mound against Texas, was just as a good as Loe. In fact, McClung went 7, gave up just five hits, and three strikeouts. However, McClung had two walks, and gave up two runs. One was the first run of the game on a home run to Rod Barajas in the fith. Even after that, he still seemed pretty good. We didn’t score again until the eighth when McClung came out, put someone on, and then Lugo allowed the inherited runner, and one of his own to score.
The total pitching line:
Texas Pitchers: 9IP, 4H, 0R, 5K, 0BB, 0HR
Tampa Pitchers: 9IP, 6H, 3ER, 3K, 4BB, 1HR
Was definitely a pitcher’s duel. Definitely an enjoyable game. We’ll end today in first place, too. :)

No time to write an update, but we did win another road series. And we are in first place after Sunday’s action. :)

No time to write an update.

Josh Lewin kept calling this game a game of inches, and from what I saw, it was.
In the first inning, Mark Teixeira was called out at the plate on a really close call that looked safe.
In the ninth inning, Mark Teixeira almost had a home run to tie the game, missing clearning by inches
In the ninth inning, there was a wild pitch with Tex on third that didn’t get away quite far enough.
In the ninth inning, there was a fly to right that just missed being far enough to score Tex by inches.
In the ninth inning, Kevin Mench checked his swing, and it was a close call – by inches.
And then there was that catch by Grady Sizemore that if the ball was just a couple of inches further, we would have scored at least one more run.
We lost the game, and while it never felt in our control, it did “feel” like it was something we’d pull out. John Koronka started, and went 5.2IP, giving up 6 hits, and four walks. Amazingly with all that, only four runs. Could have been a lot worse there. Rick Bauer, who was tagged for the loss, gave up two unearned runs in his 0.2 IP. Ron Mahay followed, and din’t give up anything. Francisco Cordero finished up, not in the ninth, but in the 8th, in his new role as a setup man. However, he gave up a run on two hits. Additionally, combined Rangers pitching gave up seven walks. Far too many.
On the other side, Cleveland starter Jason Johnson went 6 innings, and gave up twelve hits (!) and walked two, giving up just four. In fact, the overall line was odd. The Rangers had 15 hits and the Tribe had just 8, but we lost the game 7-6.
Kevin Mench extended his home run streak to seven. He’s now the only righthander in baseball history to hit home runs in seven straight games. I would love for him to get home runs on Sat & Sunday and set a new major league record. I’m sure most Rangers fans would. :)

I was really feeling high on this game. I did something I never do – I did an update during the game. Kevin Mench had another grand slam, giving him a home run in six straight games, setting a Ranger record.
However, we went into the ninth with the lead, 4-3, and Buck Showalter decided to let Cordero get back on the horse after yesterday’s disappointing loss. Then Cordero gave up another home run, to let the game get tied. We couldn’t pull off any more runs, yet gave up two more in the 10th, and we lost the game 6-4.
As high as I was over Mench’s record setting grand slam, the loss at the back end was extremely disheartening. It reminds me of when we were in Cincinnatti a couple of years ago and Coco blew a few saves, a few to keep Rogers from winning 20, if I remember right. So shortly after the game, it was announced that Cordero was being “relieved” of his closer duties for the time being, and Otsuka would get that job. It’s probably not the end of the world, but when you change your closer, it’s never really a good thing.