The Rangers lost last night. I only got to see the first part of it, and I’ve been too busy at work today to write an update.
I’ll probalby have something to say later tonight when I update for tonight’s game, too.

John Koronka did not pitch well. He gave up hits to 8 of the first 11 batters, and then, well – it was too late. Well, actually it wasn’t, but the game felt out of hand almost immediately. Especially when going up against someone like Jose Contreras.
We had 32 at bats, and only got 6 hits out of all that. Barajas had two hits, and nobody else had more than 1. Barajas did have a two run homer in the fifth to make the score 6-3 at the time, but even then the game never felt that close at all. Just felt like we lost the game in the first inning.
Koronka stunk up the joint, giving up 6ER on 9H with 3BB over 4.2IP. Ugh. Benoit also gave up 2ER in his 3IP. Bauer finished up with 1.1IP and didn’t give up any runs, but by that point it was all over.
It’d be nice to blame it on a lack of rest after the travel fiasco involved in getting out of Boston after a DH, but I wouldn’t actually believe that.

After the rain on Saturday, we actually played a doubleheader on Sunday. Given I have several games to update tonight I won’t write a lot about each.
Game 1: The early game started at 11AM, which means I didn’t see much of it. I was at church when the game started, and since I had something scheduled to do in the afternoon, I didn’t have the time to watch all of this game, in fact, I only saw less than an hour of this one. But this game can be boiled down to essentially two home runs. Kevin Mench jacked a two run home run ove the Monstah off Josh Beckett which broke a 2-2 tie. The game was going well until the ninth inning when Otsuka blew a save, which has been rather unusual this year. It was however on a three run walk off home run to David Ortiz. Giving up a home run to Ortiz isn’t that unusual, but the game felt like ours – even when we were just tied. Just “felt” like we were going to come back and win. And that did happen, until the final pitch of the game. Here is the MLB.com update for this game.
Game 2: When Game two started I was in a movie theatre in Plano seeing the new Pixar flick Cars on a DLP screen (which I highly recommend over a conventional movie theatre). I didn’t get to see this game until later in the evening, and I accidentally saw the score before I finished watching ghe game, so that got ruined for me. I then flew threw the game in about 20 minutes on TiVo.
We had SIX more doubles this game. But outside those doubles, we had 16 more hits this game, all singles apparently. Mark DeRosa was 4-6, Tex was 3-6, there were hits all over the place. All of our starters had at least one hit (Matthews & DeRosa each had four). This one was a nice bounceback after the major disappointment of game one. Given I saw so little of teh games today, I’m gonna leave it at this, but since this was all about offense and numbers, I suggest checking out the box score below and reading that. Here is the MLB.com update for this game.

After a few attempts to play, and after a rather lengthy rain delay, the Rangers and the Red Sox finally got a game in on Saturday. As just about every angle of the game’s weather conditions has been covered, I’ll try not to write about that.
Johnny R pitched for us (I still have a hard time typing in and getting right the name Rheinecker), and didn’t pitch as good as his first couple of outings, but then again, nobody else has pitched like that, either. Rhein went only 5.2 innings in this one, giving up 3ER on 9 hits with three strikeouts. With those kinds of numbers, I’m surprised he didn’t give up more than three. Given the odd timing of the game due to weather, I didn’t get to see all of it; but from what I saw, he seemed what his line indicated – just “OK”.
However, right after that came Bryan Corey. When he was called up, I made a snide comment about him, not exactly rude, but not exactly pleasant, either. However, at least for this game, he silenced all critics. He faced four batters, struck out all four of them. I did see this, it looked great. Obviously that kind of record won’t hold up, but wow did that look good. :) Cordero & Otsuka followed up, and Cordero gave up a run, Otsuka got the save.
Offensively, we were led by Blalock & DeRosa, who were 3-4 & 2-5 respectively. The remainder of the team garnered just four hits collectively. Blalock had a home run off of former Sox closer Keith Foulke in the ninth inning. We also had three more doubles, which really seems like our strength this season.
I wrote the above text on Monday night around 10:30PM, so my memory is a bit foggy. I did write some text on Saturday when this originally happened; that text is here:
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Rangers beat the Sox in the one game that was actually played today. I’ll have something about it later. Wouldn’t mind a free hot dog or two, though.
The other one that was supposed to be played today was postponed and there will be a doublehader tomorrow. The first game starts at 11AM Dallas time, and the second at 4PM (presuming there isn’t a 16 inning game or something).
Both games will be on Fox Sports Southwest according to Josh Lewin during tonight’s game.
Here’s the official Rangers press release.

Well, today we had a day night doubleheader. The day game was technically a rainout makeup game from a few weeks back, and tonight’s game was the regularly scheduled game.
About half an hour ago, tonight’s game was postponed. As of right now, they’re still supposed to play the technical makeup game from the first part of the doubleheader.
The regularly scheduled game for tonight (which is now not being played) has no makeup date left. It’s amusing, as the games a few weeks back had two makeups. One was today, the other one was a date in the future (which I can’t recall at the moment). That game was also as I recall on one of the lone common off days the two teams had. No clue when they’re gonna make up the postponed game from tonight.
Tomorrow, perhaps? Course we then have to come back home for a 6PM game in Arlington on Monday. Yeesh, what a mess.

Well, we lost our second game in a row, 4-3 to the Red Sox. While no one ever truly likes losing, this 4-3 loss to the Sox is far more pallatlable than that complete stinkbomb in Kansas City the night before. Mr Yuck, indeed!
I had forgotten the game started at 6PM, so when I was driving home from work, I tuned in about 6:50 for the pre-game stuff, and the game was in the bottom of the second, and we were down 3-0 already. Not a good way to start. We did pick up a couple when Michael Young jacked a Tim Wakefield ball over the Monstah for a two run home run. That was pretty much it for offense, save for an RBI single by Hank Blalock over closer of the year Jonathan Papplebon in the 8th. In all we had eight hits, half of them by Gary Matthews & Mike Young. The other four were scattered amongs four players who got one each. We did get two more doubles tonight (DeRosa, Matthews) to extend our MLB leading lead in that category.
Vicente Pidente Padilla took the mound for us tonight. His start reminded me of Kevin Millwood’s the other day – not dominating, in fact bordering on falling over the edge, but when you look at the total line, it was a decent game, and that’s the bottom line, I guess. Well, no, wins and losses are, but that’s not completely under the control of the pitcher. Padilla went 7 giving up 3ER (all in the first) on 9 hits, 6 strikeouts, and one walk. Not a bad outing at all.
Still, it ended up as a loss. We go into a day night doubleheader saturday. I love doubleheaders. I hate day night doubleheaders, though. Especially at home. Blech. Speaking of that, have the Rangers ever done a day/night doubleheader? I can’t recall one in recent memory – can you?
I’ll say this, Sox fans seem to really love Kevin Youkilis by the reaction of them to just about anything he did. I always wished we had some guy like that where the whole place got excited about no matter what. Been awhile.
Anyone think that we’ll extend Gary Matthews & Mark DeRosa at the end of this season? I think Matthews has played himself into a possible long term solution in center. As much as I like Laynce Nix, I can’t argue against what Matthews has done up here – sustained success is something Nix has yet to achieve, unfortunately.
Anyone think that the thing with Jason Grimsley sounds like something from a CSI episode or something? There seems like a lot more “drama” then there has been with some of the other big names that have gotten in “trouble” (unofficially, of course)?

What the HELL was that mess? I mean…

As I’ve said many many times before, I detest going up against young pitchers on other teams, making either their major league debuts, or have only pitched a game or two. These guys knock us out. Tonight was no different.
We went up against KC rookie Bobby Keppel. who I believe was making only his third or fourth start. And, true to form, he kept us off the board. It wasn’t for a lack of trying though; we had several balls to the warning track that died just before going over the fence. Still, we were shut out for 8+ innings.
Keppel went into the ninth, and gave up a single to the first batter he faced, Hank Blalock. Following that, Buddy Bell went to his bullpen and brought in Ambiroix Burgos. While I understand Bell’s decision to go to the pen in the ninth with your rookie protecting just a two run lead, the Royals’ pen has the worst ERA in the American League (what a stunner), with about a 6. Burgos came in, gave up a single to DeRosa, struck out Wilkerson, and then hit Mench, loading the bases. Kinsler hit a sac fly to break up the shutout, making it 2-1. Barajas was down to 0-2 with two outs, and blooped a single into left, tying the game at two.
Bell brought in Elmer Dessens to try and stop the bleeding, but it didn’t help. Gary Matthews Jr, who I hope gets an All-Star nod, doubled to left, scoring Barajas & Hairston (who had run for Mench). That put us up 4-2 for the eventual win, amidst rather a lot of boos from the few fans who were there in Kansas City.
John Koronka had the ball for us. Koronka, who has been one of 2006′ better surprises has slipped a bit his last couple of starts. He did however pitch pretty well this game. He went 6.1 innings, giving up two runs (QS) on 6 hits with 2BB, and 1K. He got a no decision, but i think he needed to have a good outing line score wise. I don’t think he was in danger of losing his job or anything – but you don’t want to have too many bad starts in a row.
Our bullpen was much better than KC’s (again, not hard). Alfonseca, Otsuka, & Cordero pitched, and din’t give up any runs. Now Otsuka set up Cordero, but I think that only happened because we scored a bunch of runs in the top of the 9th to take the lead, I think the idea was to get Otsuka work in the 8th, and that was it. I don’t think this was a formal change back to Corder as closer.
Oakland lost, so our lead in the West is back to 4 and a half games. I still maintain it’s not great, as we have the worst record of any of the six division leaders, but it’s still nice to say “First place Rangers” again. Been awhile since I could say that.
Also, I got a laugh out of what MLB.com’s game wrapup had as a headline for this game.. Fab four sings in No. 9 I doubt whoever wrote that will see this text, but if you do, it made me laugh. :)

First off, let me say it was nice to see the Rangers win in Kansas City. It seems to me that we’ve had this mental block there where we can’t win in recent years. Course this year with the Royals already 150 games back and 0-500 this season it seems, we had a shot. :)
Texas retains their hold on first place with a win in Kansas City. Kevin Millwood took the hill for Texas. On the road this year, he’s been the same pitcher he was last year, no walks at all (until tonight), and a bunch of strikeouts with an ERA under 3. At home he’s been well, not that pitcher. But on the road, he’s been great. Tonight he labored a lot. His overall line shows a quality start (7 innings pitched, 2 earned runs, 7 hits, 5 K, 1 BB), but he really labored. He had I think over 60 pitches (or clsoe to it) after 3, and from some of the camera shots they were showing of him in the dugout between innings, he seemed flushed, like the heat was a bother to him. Still, you can’t argue with the ultimate line, and that’s the mark of a good top of the rotation guy. Even when he’s not dominating, he finds a way to get the job done, and he did. A well deserved win, I thought.
Offensively, we got several more doubles (4, Young, Tex, Mench, & Laird) – we’re leading the AL in doubles as a team. Our home runs are down this year, but our doubles are way up. Speaking of home runs, we got a couple of those, too. One from Brad Wilkerson (filling the 666 nonsense we’re hearing about today – Uniform #6 got a HR out of the 6 hole on 6/6/06), and one from Ian Kinsler. Kinsler’s double was alomst another home run, so he had some nice power tonight, as well as three RBI’s. We had 11 hits in all, and they were nicely scattered – only Mark Teixeira didn’t get at least one hit.
As for Kansas City? Well, they still have a nice ballpark even if it’s been bombed with advertisements the last 5 years or so. It is still a park I want to travel to see. Oh yeah, the other memorable moment for Kansas City reliever Danny Bautista uncorked a wild pitch that bounced off the ground and ended up (according to Josh Lewin) about twenty rows into the stands. That reminds me of that old classic baseball clip you see in blooper reels of a Yankees pitcher (forget who now) who goes to pitch, and the ball goes flying way out of his hands straight up, and lands on that screen that is behind home plate in Yankee Stadium, and rolls back down towards the field of play. If you’ve watched enough blooper reels, you should know that pitch. It’s been that kind of year for the Royals when I remember that kind of thing for them in a game, and not anything “good”.

I got pretty sick on Friday evening, and it carried over through Saturday and into Sunday.
Because of that, I fell asleep watching Friday night’s game three seperate times, and Saturday night’s wasn’t much better. While I was conciuous I was dealing with some issues that decorum prohibits me from discussing here. Suffice it to say my mind wasn’t all there. I’ll look back at the games, and write something quick about them.
Friday: (W: 4-3) Kameron Loe & Jon Garland had similar lines, going 6 or so innings, giving up 3 earned runs (although Loe gave up twice as many hits (10-5) as Garland did). The bullpens were the story here. Chicago’s gave up one run, ours none. That was the difference. We had one home run (Wilkerson), and three doubles tonight (Tex, Young, & Matthews). Francisco Cordero picked up the win (his 5th), and I think puts him up there with our team leaders in wins. Otsuka got his 10th save. [ MLB.com Recap ]
Saturday: (L: 8-6) Vicente Padilla was pulled early in this game after throwing only 3.1IP. He gave up 7 hits and 7ER on 3BB and 4K. That was pretty much the game there. Chicago put up a rather ugly 7 spot in the fourth inning, and while we got a ltitle momentum back with a 3 spot in the top of the fifth, we couldn’t rally enough. We lost the game 8-6. Gary Matthews continued to be hot going 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, and a run scored. Blalock & Young were also 3-5. We had 13 hits overall, but it just wasn’t enough, we couldn’t overcome the pitching of Padilla tonight. [ MLB.com Recap ]
Sunday: (W: 10-2): This was the game I knew the least about actually. I was feeling better Sunday, so I did some errands. I did hear parts of the game as I was driving around town, but it’s hard to get a grasp when you hear half an inning here, a few batters there. Looking at the line, John Rheinecker pitched his second great start in a row, and is now 2-0 with us. Rhien went 8 innings, giving up just 2ER on 7 hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Another well pitched game from him; hopefully that can conitnue, as I can’t see us sending out someone who is pitching that well. We bombed Mark Buehrle to the tune of 6 earned runs over 7 innings pitched. Mark didn’t help himself with four walks, either. Jerry Hairston Jr got into the action, and did make an error in his first Ranger game. Hairston went 0-4, but did walk once and scored. Mark Teixeira was red hot this game, going 4-5 with two doubles. But as hot as he was, it didn’t compare to Gerald Laird. Laird was 4 for 5 also, but had two doubles AND two home runs with 4 RBI’s. A great day for Gerald – hopefully the tide starts to turn back to him, as I don’t think Barajas will be here next year. Time to give Gerald his job back that he lost due to injury. [ MLB.com Recap ]
Tomorrow night we go into Kansas City for game against the woeful Royals. I’m sure we’ll lose 2 out of 3, as we seem to have a mental block that disallows us from playing good there.