I was busy almost all day and into the evening helping a friend downgrade his computer from Vista to XP, so I missed a bunch of this game. This will be a short one.
Luis Mendoza was a bit better than his last few starts where he got rocked. Seven innings, four earned runs, six hits, one walk. Not staller, but not horrendous, either. Pen was good too, with two innings of scoreless relief.
Offensively, the big shots were obviously Gerald Laird’s two two run home runs. That was huge. Chris Davis also had a big home run as well. That was the raw power in this game.
For the second night in a row, we had just seven hits. As noted above, three of them were home runs. There were two doubles and two singles, so it was leaning more towards extra base offense than the slower kind. Which helps when you have more runs than hits. :)
The dreaded Yankees (with Pudge – ugh) come to town starting tomorrow night. I will NOT be there.

For something like the seventh time this year, we tried to get to five games over .500, but failed. The problem we had was even getting one game over .500 for awhile. The bar has been raised a bit to getting stuck at five games over. Hopefully there’s enough time to get through that new ceiling so we can set another one at say 10 games over .500, which if we sustain that through the end of the season, we’ll have a better record than anyone expected at the start of the season, or probably most people when they get a look at our pitching staff ERA.
Scott Feldman may be out of gas, as he’s definitely not as snappy as he was earlier this year. There was a lot of talk of him going to the pen, and that may yet happen, but he doesn’t seem anywhere near as crisp as he was just a month ago, even. His line is five hits and three walks over 5.1 innings for a total of four runs (three earned). No home runs at least, but he just didn’t have it to my eyes. We could blame the heat, but I think it might be a lack of gas already. Jamey Wright followed, and didn’t help matters by giving up two earned runs in his .2 innings of work. Josh Rupe settled things down by throwing three shutout innings, but by then the damage was done – we weren’t coming back this time.
Offensively, we had just six hits, and only four players got them. Frank Catalanotto had a hit, and Josh Hamilton, David Murphy, & Gerald Laird each had two. Wasn’t a great game on our behalf, and while we only lost by two, I just didn’t feel we were in the game. Perhaps I was missing something, but my memory sitting here writing about it on Sunday night tells me that we just didn’t have it.
Oh well, try to take the series on Sunday afternoon.

When a team starts coming back all the time like the Rangers have been doing, you start hearing a lot about “We never quit”, and “This team just won’t give up”, and things like that. Fans sometimes get into it too, with the “There is no lead they can’t come back from”. Me, I’m not that blind with belief. I always assume we’ll do something wrong, and the rally will fizzle. That way when they DO come back for a win, it feels that much cooler.
That’s what we got tonight. Another walkoff win. Those are always fun. This wasn’t the kind where it ended with a home run, and you had the dancing pile of players at home plate. This was the kind that ended with a David Murphy single, so you had two piles. One at home plate for the winning run, and another over near first where David Murphy was. Those always seem both more exciting and less exciting. Less because of the impact that having all the players in one big mob generates. More, because you have some guys running all over the place, since they don’t know what to do, or which jumping pile of players to celebrate with. Either way, they’re fun, and that’s what happened at the end of this game.
It didn’t start off that way. Tommy Hunter made his major league debut pitching tonight, and his performance is generally the way ML debuts go for pitchers. They’re generally not going to go eight innings with four hits and one run. They go more like Hunter did – five innings, eight hits, two walks, and six earned runs. ERA of 10.80. His game did start quite odd, though. The first two batters were retired easily enough, but the third (Alex Rios) was awarded first base on pitcher’s interference. Hunter and Chris Davis kind of crashed into each other going after the ball, and by the time Rios got down the line, there was nowhere to go, Davis & Hunter blocked the path to the base. If that wasn’t goofy enough, the next batter (Lyle Overbay) also reached – this time due to catcher’s interference by Gerald Laird. Was a very odd way to get going in your first major league inning. Hunter got out of the inning, but that was about it. In the second, Scott Rolen hit a three run home run. In the next inning, Lyle Overbay hit a two run home run, putting the Jays up 5-0 in the third. They tacked on another in the fourth to go up 6-0.
Josh Hamilton drove in a couple more runs on a two run home run to dead center field, setting off one of the better pileups of kids on Greene’s Hill I’ve seen in awhile. The clip of the kid who got the ball out of the dogpile made it to the Top 10 plays of the night on ESPN’s SportsCenter too – that was rather amusing. A bunch of singles and a double or so mixed in all put together gave us a nice 4 spot to tie the game 6-6 after five.
It stayed that way until the ninth when the Blue Jays plated a pair to go up 8-6 in the top of the ninth. They did that on a single, a triple, and a ground out RBI (by Shrek, no less). That set the state for the bottom of the ninth, where the Rangers made a big run at Toronto closer, BJ Ryan. Salty walked, Michael Young singled, and then Brandon Boggs doubled, scoring Salty. Marlon Byrd was intentionally walked (to set up a double play at any base presumably). Thing is David Murphy singled down the left field line far enough away which allowed two runs to come across, winning the game, setting off the player excitement I talked about above.
Nice comeback win, although I’m getting tired of having to come back from 4 or 5 runs all the time. Turns out team management was too, as the rangers fired their pitching coach & bullpen coach after the game. Out are Mark Conner & Dom Chiti. Their replacements are Andy Hawkins & Jim Colburn respectively. Colburn I don’t know much about at all except he was a pitching coach for the Dodgers & Pirates under Jim Tracy. Andy Hawkins has worked with a lot of our current guys in AAA, so that should work well.
We try again to get to five over .500 on Saturday.

I don’t have the time to write, I’m going to have to skip this one.

I didn’t realize I missed reporting on this game, and now that I did, I don’t have the time to write, I’m going to have to skip this one.

Early on, this seemed like a runaway win. We went up 7-0 in the third inning.
Carlos Silva started the game for Seattle, and proved again how stupid his signing was. After this outing, Silva is now 4-12 with an ERA of 5.95. He’s lucky his team bailed him out for a no decision – he certainly deserved the loss. In all, Silva went 2.1 innings, gave up seven hits, one walk, and six earned runs. Not very good.
Thing is, the Rangers couldn’t hold it. Luis Mendoza had an almost equally outing. 5.1 innings, nine hits, and six runs allowed (1 unearned). Jamey Wright followed, and wasn’t that much better. Jamey finished up the sixth inning, going just 2/3 of an inning, and allowed three hits, two of which were home runs.
A cool note in this game was that Ichiro Suzuki collected his 3,000th career hit (if you count Japan too) on the first pitch of the game.
Both closers were pretty awful. CJ Wilson allowed two runs, although one was unearned. JJ Putz gave up three hits, and two earned runs.
Speaking of “awful”, Ramon Vazquez didn’t have a good night in the field, committing three errors himself. He did redeem himself with the game winning walk off double, however. Took a shot at the fans in the post game interviews over the errors and booing, too. :)

A few years back when Seattle brought in Adrian Beltre, it was with the promise that he’d provide a major stick to their lineup. Would be the big power masher. That never happened for the most part, but in this game it did. Adrian Beltre led the Mariners to the win over the Rangers. He went two for four this game. Both of the two were home runs. One was a three run shot in the first, and the other was a solo jack later in the game.
That wasn’t the only power from Seattle. Raul Ibanez & Bryan LaHair both had solo home runs. LaHair’s was his first career home run.
Scott Feldman started the game for Texas, and was definitely not the guy he’s been for this season. It will take more than one start to convince me, but there’s been some talk lately of moving Feldman to the pen because his innings are way up for him. It could be any number of things, but if there’s too many of these kinds of outings, it may be something to look into.
The Rangers offense got to Felix Hernandez a bit, touching him up for four runs (three earned) in six innings. Technically a quality start, but definitely not the kind of performance that Hernandez brings to the hill. The Rangers had six walks and eleven hits. Of all that, only two were extra base hits – both doubles by Ian Kinsler. It was single city this game.

As much as Saturday’s game was led by the longball for the Rangers win, Sunday’s game was led by the longball for the Rangers loss.
We did manage to start the game with a lead, going up 1-0 in the first inning on a Milton Bradley double.
Eric Hurley started the game for the Rangers, and ran into immediate problems. Jack Cust got Hurley for a two run shot in the first inning. Hurley got out of the inning without any more damage, but was tagged again in the second. A’s catcher Curt Suzuki jacked a three run home run, and combined with another run the A’s plated that frame, put them up 6-1 at that point. At that point I got digusted and took my daughter out for a ride around town after getting some ice cream. My wife needed a little bit of alone time, so we went out for a ride. While I was out, I had the scoreboard on my XM display, and saw the Rangers moving back in the top of the fifth.
When we eventually got back home, I flipped on the top of the fifth, and it was nice to see the Rangers make a game out of it. The big shot in this inning was a bases clearing double by Hank Blalock.
But outside of our four run top of the fifth, it actually was a pretty well pitched game. Rangers only scored in two innings, as did the A’s. The rest of the game was zeroes.
Really odd that we still can’t seal the deal on a series sweep.

Well, this was one of the games we couldn’t see on TV. Was radio only, which means no timeshifting for me. Until TiVo comes out with a “TiVo for radio”, I’m stuck listening to the game when it actually happens when it’s radio only. Since I almost NEVER watch anything when it’s really on, that concept is alien to me. Since I was spending the day with my three year old, sitting down and listening to a Rangers game on the radio was not an option, so I just opted out of the whole thing. This was a box score only game for me.
Rangers rookie Matt Harrison started this game, and did not appear to be all that bad, really. He only threw five innings, but gave up just one earned run. There were two more that were attributable to a Michael Young error, but in all, the linescore wasn’t that bad. Five innings, five hits, three walks. Josh Rupe followed up with three innings of scoreless relief. Warner Madrigal finished up, and allowed a solo home run in his one inning of work. In all, not bad. Just two earned runs over nine innings of work – not bad line for the staff at all.
The Rangers work at the plate was fairly efficient, as we had ten hits in all. Three of them were home runs. There were two solo shots (Chris Davis in the 7th & Marlon Byrd in the 8th), as well as the big one, a three run home run by Josh Hamilton in fifth. That’s five of our nine runs right there. Chris Davis also had a double, and got picked up by me on a couple of fantasy teams I’m on. :)
Nice job by the Rangers getting to former Ranger Justin Duchscherer. Before this game, his ERA was under 2, and had only given up three runs once all year. His ERA jumped to 2.37, and we tagged him for EIGHT runs – by far his worst performance of the year. It also guaranteed we’d leave Oakland with sole possession of second place in the AL West.

The best picture from the game:

First off, I want to shamelessly steal this line from the MLB.com Texas Rangers specific game recap from this one. When I read it, it’s pretty true. The article said, “This was the perfect get-well card for Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, who underwent knee replacement surgery on Friday in Dallas.“. Have to agree with that.

Secondly, it’s probably time to make more complaints about late games. I was watching this game, enjoying it until my wife came out to tell me she was going to sleep, and apparently I had fallen asleep on the sofa somewhere in the fifth or sixth innings. Woke me up in the top of the seventh, so I backed up the game (yay TiVo), and started watching. Well, apparently I was more tired than I realized, as I fell asleep again, only this time it was in the bottom of the eighth. I decided I was just going to go to bed, and stopped the recording, and well, went to bed. I get up this morning, sit at the dining room table with the paper and my coffee, and see the eight spot in the top of the ninth! DAMMIT! I missed it, both because I gave up and went to bed during the bottom of the 8th, and secondly because I stopped my TiVo from recording. I tried undeleting it on Saturday morning, but then I realized I had stopped it recording when I went to bed, which I almost never do. DAMMIT AGAIN! When I told all this to my wife, who was getting ready for work at the time, she said “Wow – that’s so not like you to miss it due to canceling a recording!” We need to get to the Central, and if we have to give up Hicks’ precious regular series against the Astros to do it, then I say go for it. I’m tired of falling asleep on the sofa during all our division games! OK, enough of that. Let’s get to the game.

Vicente Padilla took the hill, and most Rangers fans wondered which one we’d get. The good one from the first part of the season, or the one that seemed tentative and hurt his last two starts before the break. While his line won’t show it, we got the good one. You see, Vicente’s line shows six innings pitched, seven hits, four walks, and FIVE earned runs. He also struck out nine, which I believe is a season high for him. But the five earned runs all came in the same inning – the bottom of the third. The events of the game showed that the runs probably could have been unearned, but they were on the ledger of Padilla. Even the official transcripts and box scores don’t show anything that would have led you to think they should have been, but that’s how the game is played. Actually, it would have been worse, but David Murphy made a great throw, gunning down Hannahan at the plate for the final out of the inning.

Thing is, the Rangers responded in the next inning with a five spot of their own to tie the game. The first batter of the inning reached on a throwing error, which DID lead to unearned runs. Unlike Padilla, Oakland’s starter Sean Gallagher was the “beneficiary” of four unearned runs. Still, the inning was powered by the long ball. After Byrd reached on the error, David Murphy jacked a ball over the left center field power alley wall for a two run shot. After a single (Davis), awalk (Salty), and a bunt (Kinsler), Michael Young sac flied in the third run of the inning. Josh Hamilton followed with a home run to right field, tying the game at 5. It was also Hamilton’s 99th and 100th RBI’s of the season. Quite impressive numbers.

Vicente Padilla must have been energized by that, because he retired the remaining nine batters he faced in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings combined. Was quite the turnaround. Yeah, his third wasn’t too great, but he closed out his performance QUITE strongly to earn his 12th win of the season. There’s been a lot of talk this past week or so as to whether the Rangers would move Padilla. Given his overall turnaround, I find it hard to believe we’d give up our leader in wins, because Scott Feldman aside, we don’t really appear to have someone who can cover that slot in the starting rotation.

The Rangers pushed across the tying run in the top of the 7th when Chris Davis doubled, and was later singled in by Ian Kinsler. The Rangers never looked back at that point. Frank Francisco came in and threw a perfect bottom of the seventh. Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth, and was I believe the last thing I saw before I went to bed. In fact, as I type this, I now recall seeing the double play to end the bottom of the 8th where Kinsler turned it on a slightly bad hop. That’s when I stopped watching. Go figure. CJ Wilson started warming up here, and never came into the game.

That’s because the Rangers exploded in the top of the ninth inning when I (and a lot of other fans probably) had fallen asleep. While an eight run frame means offense all over the place, the highlights was another Chris Davis home run. It was one of those innings (from reading the play by play account) where there weren’t a lot of big moments, it was a ton of small stuff. Here, you read it:

Rangers 9th (Rangers 14, Athletics 5) — Pitcher Change: A. Embree replaces B. Ziegler. M. Byrd grounds out, M. Ellis to J. Hannahan. D. Murphy singles to first base. C. Davis hits a home run to right field on a 2-2 pitch, D. Murphy scores. J. Saltalamacchia singles to right-center field. I. Kinsler walks, J. Saltalamacchia to 2nd. Pitcher Change: A. Brown replaces A. Embree. M. Young hits a ground rule double to center field, J. Saltalamacchia scores; I. Kinsler to 3rd. A. Brown intentionally walks J. Hamilton. With M. Bradley batting, passed ball by K. Suzuki, I. Kinsler scores; M. Young to 3rd; J. Hamilton to 2nd. M. Bradley walks. H. Blalock singles to left-center field, M. Young scores; J. Hamilton scores; M. Bradley to 2nd. M. Byrd doubles to right-center field, M. Bradley scores; H. Blalock to 3rd. D. Murphy grounds out to J. Hannahan, H. Blalock scores; M. Byrd to 3rd. C. Davis grounds out, B. Crosby to J. Hannahan. (8 Runs, 6 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB)

Nice to see the Rangers win the game, something we have had issues doing this season for any sort of stretch of time. While it feels like we’re pretty much out of the running for the divison (we’re 10.5 games back), I also don’t feel we’re bound for the playoffs, but this has turned out to be a decent season because of all the kids we’re playing.
I wonder who we’re moving before this coming Thursday. Laird or Saltamacchia? Padilla? Catalanotto? We’ll see soon enough.
Speaking of “seeing”, Saturday’s game is one of those two mutant games in the schedule where it is not on TV here in the Metroplex. For the longest time, we’ve had 162 games on the TV, and I think about 3 years ago or so, we started having about 160. What’s the deal with the last two?

P.S. After I wrote all that, I realized I forgot to mention that this win put the Rangers in second place, passing the A’s. If we win either Saturday or Sunday (preferably both), we’ll retain second place when the series is over. This is a good thing. While I’m pretty convinced we’re not making the playoffs, I think second place is a good goal for 2008.