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My last game of the season was going to be Friday night, but I fell sick on Friday afternoon, so I ate that ticket, and bought a cheapie one for tonight’s game (and moved to a better seat). Speaking of that, Victor Rojas said there was just over 30,000 at the park. No way. That might have been the number sold, but no way were there 30,000 in the park. I was there. Gotta love those numbers. :)
Anyway, I drove to the park expecting Jamey Wright to start. When I got there, I saw that AJ Murray was starting. OK, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, since he’s not one of my favorite pitchers, but I don’t actively dislike him, either. So OK, he’s starting. But he’s not a starter as such, so he won’t have a ton of stamina. Four innings, 70-75 pitches is probably what I figure he’d get. Well, we got better than that from Arlington John. His line was five innings pitched, five hits, one earned run, one walk, and four strikeouts on 73 pitches. His only blemish was a solo home run to Erick Aybar, which was his first career home run.
The home run by Aybar was actually the only extra base hit by either team. Combined the Rangers and Angels had 16 hits, all but one were singles.
Dustin Moseley started for the Angels, and he, like AJ Murray was making his first career start. Moseley was bit better in some regards than Murray, as Moseley didn’t give up any runs on four hits, although he pitched one less inning than Murray did. Then came old Rangers friend Darren Oliver. Oliver, who has been pitching well after the All Star break did not really pitch well tonight. He was’t awful, but the Rangers had just enough in the right places to combine it with a gift from Darren to get all three Rangers runs. The first Ranger run came on a balk by Oliver, scoring Kinsler. The other two runs came on subsequent singles by Blalock & Murphy. That was it for the Ranger scoring.
Michael Young was hitless, which was a bummer, I was hoping he’d go 3-4 while I was there to get 200 hits. Still, he needs 3 hits in four games, I’d say it’s a safe bet. Ian Kinsler however, did go 3-4 with three singles to left field. That was nice.
Bonehead move of the game goes to Reggie Willits who was on first when Orlando Cabrera flied out to David Murphy in right. For some reason, Willits had full jets on and was all the way at third when Murphy caught the ball, and he probably could have walked to first to double off Willits for an unassisted double play by the right fielder. He of course tossed it to Catalanotto for the Nelson Muntz double play at first.
It was a nice game. Well pitched, just enough offense to win, and the weather was pretty good, too. Plus I picked up a few of those free passes they were handing out so it will cover the games I go to in April & May (save for opening day).
On another note, JerryLandâ„¢ is starting to look more and more like a stadium. I’ve been watching it go up since they started real construction, and I can just imagine how much more finished it will look the next time I’m out in Arlington in early April. I will say this though. In the program tonight was a 6 page spread showing all the development that will happen inbetween and around the Ballpark and JerryLandâ„¢. I am NOT happy about it, as they’re eliminating almost all the really close parking. I need to digest it a bit more, but they’re calling this project “Glorypark”, and you can see some maps at the website for the overall project here. It will seriously change parking at the Ballpark. If you remember what it was like in 2003 going to games at Arlington Stadium when the Ballpark was being built, I imagine it will be those kind of nightmares all over again. I’m going to contact one of my friends at the Rangers and ask for permission to use some of the charts and diagrams and all that. At that point I’ll have a larger article on Glorypark with more to say.

“The other guy” in the Alfonso Soriano trade started for the Rangers tonight (Armando Galarraga), and was quite good, at last before the fifth. He took a no hitter into the fifth inning. His overall line isn’t great, but he did have a major “wheels off” fifth. When he exited after 4.2, his line was 4.2IP, 4H, 5ER, 4BB, 4K, 1HR, 87P. But before that he looked great. I don’t think he’s a realistic option to make the rotation next year, but he’s shown enough decent stuff (in my opinion, but I’m no expert) to warrant a look in Surprise next March.
On the other side, we got to Ervin Santana, who gave up six earned runs in his 5 innings of work. Five of them were on two longballs. One to Michael Young (a three run shot), and another to Marlon Byrd (a two run home run). Santana’s line was actually worse than Galarraga’s; 5IP, 8H, 6ER, 2BB, 4K, 2HR, 102P. Chris Bootcheck and Jason Bulger followed, giving up one run each in their one inning of work each. That was all the Rangers scoring.
Offensively, the highlights were the aforementioned home runs. Besides that, we also had an almost cycle by Gerald Laird who was missing the home run. Salty also had a triple; two triples for the Rangers in one game is pretty rare, but they were both hit to that 407′ part of the park in right center, so it wasn’t a huge surprise in that regard.
Mike Wood tried to give the game back to Anaheim (sorry, not calling them Los Angeles. They’re not) with two runs in the eighth, but we managed to hang on and get the win. Wes Littleton got a fairly conventional save in this one, unlike the one he got a month ago in Baltimore in the 30-3 game.
Michael Young watch: 2-4, total of 197. Needs 3 hits in five remaining games.
Speaking of Galarraga, anyone know what the Big Cat Galarraga is up to? I know he retired, but is he still in ball anywhere? Anyone know?

Kevin Millwood finally pitched the way his “#1” tag says he’s supposed to pitch. Seven innings, seven hits, ZERO runs, ZERO walks, five strikeouts. A great outing for Kevin. What’s sad about 2007 is that he’s our team leader in wins. WITH FRIGGIN’ TEN! TEN! Kevin is making $7.5 million this year, so that’s $750,000 per win this year, assuming he doesn’t get anymore (he’s got what, one more start – maybe two)? Anyway, it was a great outing today – it’s just a shame we didn’t get 15 of them this year. Benoit & Wilson also worked they way they were supposed to, as opposed to the guys wearing #36 & #53 the last two weeks or so.
The Orioles pitcher (Jon Leicester) wasn’t all that bad either, really. Eight innings, seven hits, three earned runs – a quality start. This was just one of those games where one pitcher was better than the other. Surprisingly, it was the Rangers pitcher on the better side of the ledger.
Michael Young went 1-4, now needs five hits in the final six games. Barring injury, this should not be a problem.
The last week of the season. Bummer.

I was pretty darned sick on Saturday, and as such, fell asleep two separate times on this game. Due to that, I’m claiming illness and not writing about this game. :) A couple of quickie remarks, though:
Nice to see 20HR from Kinsler. The 20/20 thing is cool.
1/5 for Mike Young. Six more to go.
The Orioles starter’s name was one of the more bizarre ones I’ve seen in awhile – Radhames Liz.
The first O’s reliever wasn’t much better; he’s an ice cream flavor – Rocky Cherry.
The pitching mostly sucked in this game.

I actually had a ticket to this game, and had left early to go to the game. However, 5 minutes after driving away from work to head there, I felt sick, so I turned around and came back. I’m currently trying to fight off an oncoming fever, and I knew if I drove out to Arlington, sat out there, I’d feel utterly miserable by the time the end of the game came around. I was right, half way through watching the game, I felt sick. Ugh.
I did miss a good one. I really did want to go to the game for two reasons. First was the calendar giveaway. Second was the fact that Luis Mendoza was starting; I wanted to see him in person. He got his first major league win, even if he could have pitched longer than he did. He only threw five innings, for a total of 71 pitches, giving up just one run on four hits and a walk. It has been theorized that he was on a pitch count given it’s the end of the season, and he’s pitched more than he’s pitched before. Possible, but it’s always an eyebrow raiser when you take out a guy for no injury for no other apparent reason. Mike Wood followed up with two scoreless frames.
However, CJ Wilson & Joaquin Benoit followed him, and while their lines don’t show it, they weren’t really that great. CJ gave up just one hit, no runs, and no walks. However, only 8 of his 16 pitches were strikes, and it felt he was constantly in trouble. Benoit was worse. A walk, a hit, and another walk loaded up the bases. Benoit threw 22 pitches in all, and 13 of them were balls. Blech. He lucked out by allowing just a sac fly, and then a strike ’em out throw ’em out to end the game. If you saw Baseball Tonight on Friday night, there was a look that Roy Halladay had watching his game fly away to the Yankees. I don’t imagine Mendoza was quite that crazed looking, but one wonders how much Mendoza was thinking “Aw no, not that again”.
Still, we got the win 3-2. Can’t argue with the bottom line, I suppose. Nelson Cruz, getting a rare (lately) start, jacked a big home run into the left field seats for his highlight of the game, going 3-3 in all. Michael Young got one hit, so he needs 7 more for 200.
Nice to get the win, although I was disappointed I didn’t get to go.

You know, after I issued the statement saying I was going to stop, I actually feel like writing again once I made the decision to take a break when the season is over. Except today. I feel like I’m coming down with a fever, and the brain is like pudding today. So I’ll just have something really short about Thursday’s game.
The bullpen blew it. Simple as that. I hate 10 inning games, we almost always lose.
Two hits for Michael Young. He’s at 192 now. Nine games to go.

So much for that thought from the last game. I said we needed to run the table to finish at .500. Forget it. Best we can do now is 80-82 if we run the table; again rather unlikely to happen. Rangers lost.
In what was probably his final start of the season, and if Evan Grant has anything to do about it, his final game as a Ranger completely, Vicente Pidente appealed his suspension, and having only thrown to (or at) two batters the other day, was “fresh” enough to make this start. (An explanation for my usage of Pidente is here. So out he goes. Five innings, 97 pitches, three hits, three earned runs, but five freakin walks. So yeah, he deserved the loss. You know, assuming this is his last start of the year, it means it cost us $1.5 Million for each of the six wins Pidente got in 2007. Course on the other hand, that’s the same number as Roger Clemens has this year, and he’s making several truckloads of dough. :)
Andreas Galarraga (whoops, Armando – anyone else have that flashback every time Armando pitches) was the only other pitcher the Rangers used. He went three innings. Four hits, one run, 2 walks, 2 k. Not bad. I’m sure he’ll be in the mix for the pen in the spring, although I think it’s probably going to end up in AAA.
Offensively, we had seven hits in all. None by Mike Young who still needs ten for 200. David Murphy, who is more and more looking like a real option for a front line starter in ’08 led with two hits; a double and a single. Marlon Byrd had a double, and all the rest were scattered amongst other players. Cat had a home run, but that was the only RBI of the night. The box score seems to show a rather flat team. In fact… Our old buddy Brad Wilkkkkkkkkerson has earned the golden sombrero for this game by striking out four times! Thanks for making me bust out Photoshop to edit the sombrero image for you buddy. ;)
Now I didn’t watch the game, I was at my bowling league night. The game was on, but is almost impossible to pay attention to, so I didn’t see any of Pidente’s outing. I did see the remark by Adam over at Lone Star Ball this afternoon that said this:

Was listening to the game tonight on the radio.
Vicente Padilla walked Garrett Jones (a rookie hitting well below .200) after starting out 2-0 with a couple of what Eric Nadel referred to as “blooper balls.”
Nadel wondered, after the walk, why Padilla would throw two of those in a row, at the start of the count, to someone like Jones.
Victor Rojas said, “Because Padilla is the biggest mental midget in the major leagues. He just doesn’t get it.” Rojas, a couple of batters later, said it was “pathetic” having to watch Padilla, and that if he were Ron Washington, he’d pull him and tell him to start serving his suspension if he didn’t want to be out there.
I’ve never heard a home team’s announcer be so harsh about one of the team’s own players.

I wish I had heard that. It’s the kind of honesty we haven’t heard since Tom Grieve was busted saying rude things about Hideki Irabu a couple of years ago when he thought his mike was closed, and it was not. It’s really REALLY nice to see that kind of honesty from a broadcaster. In reading around today, I see a few remarks from fans that seem to think it means that Victor is going to be fired over it. If Victor is fired over that, I’ll seriously protest, that’s the kind of thing we should be ENCOURAGING from our broadcasters, not shirking away from. The story went that Vince Cotroneo was let go before Vic because Vince didn’t want to be a “team cheerleader”. In emails I’ve had with Victor, I’ve gotten the opinion that Victor doesn’t like being a cheerleader either, and one would think they would have asked that coming in. I really hope nothing happens to Victor over this. It shouldn’t. It better not.