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Well, I can’t say I was thrilled at seeing Jamey Wright back in the starting rotation. But I cannot argue with the results. He went 3.2 innings before allowing his first hit, and only allowed three overall in his 5.2 innings of work. He allowed two earned runs, the only runs the Astros got all game. He did walk six though, which is not very good, but managed to get around it.
Who would have guessed that when they saw Jamey Wright vs Roy Oswalt in the game previews? I mean honestly – who thought we were winning this? But it worked. I’m almost stunned.
Oswalt was beat up by his usual standards against the Rangers. While technically a quality start, Oswalt usually is much more stingier with the Rangers. He went 6.1 innings, giving up 8 hits and 4 walks, while striking out 2. Was a positively pedestrian performance by him.
The Houston bullpen gave up a bunch – In the 1.2 ip the three relivers went, they each gave up at least one run (total of 4). The Texas bullpen was darn near perfect. Of the four Texas relievers (Francisco, Wilson, Otsuka, Gagne), only one gave up any hits or walks. That was Francisco, who gave up one walk, and one hit, but NO runs. In fact, the other three WERE perfect. Was a nice performance by our bullpen.
Tomorrow we go for the sweep.

I was at this game. Ever since Interleague play started, I wanted the Astros to play here. And some years ago a regular series was added (although at the expense of a move to the AL Central – THANKS HICKS). I enjoy Interleague anyway, and I usually make at least one of the games each year. I like the Astros too, but I don’t follow them as closely as I do the Rangers, but I know enough to say I’m a casual fan of the Astros, so its’ a cool thing when they play. I don’t think it’s the “rivalry” that other natural rivals (Cubs/ChiSox, Yanks/Mets) are, but I don’t want it to go away, either.
I parked my backside in my seat, which was right up against the foul pole in right field – I was right up against the fence. Heck, you could see me on TV in the coverage of the Wilkerson & Sosa home runs in the fifth inning. :) I kind of like sitting there, it’s a cool spot, even if the bottom most part of the Jumbotron is not visible. Chatted with some guys I didn’t know – had a lot of fun with them.
The game itself started off with the Rangers behind, after a solo home run to Lance Berkman. No shame there, he hits a lot of them. We did however, pick it right up in the bottom of the first when Ian Kinsler doubled down the line, and Mike Young singled him home. We got another in the second when Lofton doubled down the right field line – it was cool because I could look over the rail and look straight down and see the play below me. Luke Scott had some troubles with the ball, and I thought that a younger Lofton would have had a triple easy on that when Scott slightly misplayed it. Still, it gave us the lead.
Houston took the lead back in the fifth when Biggio got hit #2,993, and was doubled home by Houston phenom Hunter Pence (who I have on several fantasy teams). Also saw a “Welcome home Hunter” sign in the outfield, that was nice. Pence himself scored when he was singled home by Lance Berkman which gave the Astros the lead again.
And then the floodgates opened. The Rangers put up an 8 spot in the bottom of the fifth. We sent 13 men to the plate that inning. The inning went like this: single, home run, home run, walk, strikeout, home run, double, single, walk, walk, single, fly out, strike out. The home run by Sosa was another thing that happened right below me. I had a fantastic view of the ball skipping on top of the wall in front of the wedgie and bouncing up into the seats. I missed #600 the other night, but did see #601. :) Then Marlon Byrd destroyed another ball way up into the bleachers in left center. Nice to see back to back jacks. Wilkkkkkkkkkerson also had a home run that passed me in right and went about 10 rows up in the seats, not too far away from where Raffy hit #500 if I remember that correctly. It was a great inning. In fact, Sosa had two hits and four RBI’s in this inning.
I have to say, while I’ve been screaming for Botts (as have most fans), Sosa’s production is hard to argue with. I’ve seen a few people suggest that he might stay here all season, and possibly beyond. While his average is not great (242 I think), he’s on a pace for 120RBI in a season, and I think around 25 home runs or so. If people had said that’s what Sosa would have after 2007 was over when we signed him, we’d all be jumping up and down happy. There’s no doubt he’s blocking Botts, but if Sosa ends up with a decent average and sustains the power numbers, it might be hard to argue against keeping him. Steroids talk be damned, as I sit here writing, I have to say the 600 thing was fun to see. Yeah, it seems to contradict my previous statements about Botts & Sosa, but this is how I feel right now.
Millwood had a decent outing. Not stellar, he went six innings on 102 pitches, giving up three earned runs. It earned him his fourth win of the year, and lowered his ERA to 7.31 – yikes. Far cry from the year he lead the league in ERA with Cleveland. Jack Benoit & Frank Francisco followed up with three innings of perfect relief. The coolest part about the Ranger pitching staff this night is that they gave up NO walks at all. That’s quite unusual. Zero walks. Houston on the other hand, gave up 9 walks. Including Houston reliever Stephen Randolph who gave up four walks in two innings (with 5ER).
All in all, it was quite a fun night to be out at the ballpark.

I’m actually writing this at 5:30PM the day after the game, when I realized I forgot to write something, so I’m not going to have a lot to say. Just a few random remarks.
I think the thing that most people will want to remember is Frank Catalanotto’s walk off hit. As bad as this season has gone, we need a few like this. It was great.
Kenny Lofton’s evading of being caught in a rundown was quite impressive. You knew that once he escaped that, something good was coming from it. :)
We’ve now won 5 out of the last 7 games. That’s pretty impressive given how horrible we have started. Now I hold no illusions on the outcome of the season overall, but it’s nice to have a GOOD stat to point to.
Padilla still doesn’t look good. Blech.
Couple of more home runs – one from Victor Diaz and one from Adam Melhuse. Melhuse is probably a good acquisition for backup catcher. Probably better than what we had before, anyway.
Nice to see Ron Washington nominated to the All-Star game coaching staff. Guess that means there will be two Ranger uniforms in San Francisco in July, as our players haven’t really earned it; we’ll get the minimum one.
Sosa didn’t play. I wonder how much he celebrated the night before. :)

It was really hard not to write about Sosa in the headline. :)

First. DARNIT! I missed it by one night. I was there last night. Oh well. :)

Second, I figure I couldn’t go too long after the title without writing about “600”. There’s the picture. I particularly like Gerald Laird holding up six fingers as Sammy approaches home plate. That was a cool gesture. I also really liked the clip they showed of Lou Piniella acknowledging Sammy Sosa from the Cubs dugout. That was cool. I normally love Rangers broadcast choices, but they showed Sammy’s family just a few too many times, I would have loved to have seen more player and fan reactions. OK, Sammy’s family is crying, and they are happy. We got it after the fourth or fifth cutaway to them. I did also get a kick out of the ball ending up in the bullpen, where there wasn’t 600 security guards, and some fan holding it hostage for $500,000 or something like that. Akinori Otsuka got the ball, and seemed to be really happy about it from the TV coverage we saw.
There will be a lot written about the 600th home run, asterisks, steroids, and all that, but I have to say, I didn’t quite get the “tingle” I got when McGuire got 62, but as much as I’ve called for Botts, this was a very cool moment. I enjoyed this a bunch. A few quotes in the press this past week about Sosa playing more than just this year, and even talking about 5 more (but that was probably a joke). I’m not sure what to make of Sosa in 08, (or even past the All-Star game), but this was a very fun moment to watch. When I said “There it goes, 600” – my wife came in from the other room to see it. Gotta love TiVo. :)

Then Frank Catalanotto followed up Sosa’s home run with a shot of his own. That was pretty well enjoyable. :)

Mike Young went 3-4, raising his average to .289. Catalanotto was 2-4 with the aforementioned jack. Other than that, we had just four more hits as a team. In all, we didn’t dominate the Cubs, and seven runs seems like a lot given how much (aka little) we put together offensively. Of course, we were helped by four walks by Chicago starter Jason Marquis. Actually, the Cubs had more hits than we did, but ours obviously counted more than theirs did.

And then there was Kameron Loe. Coming off by far the best pitching performance by a Ranger this season, he followed up with this. While his overall line is not as dominating (6.2IP, 3ER, 6H, 1BB, 4K), he looked just as crisp to my unprofessional eyes. In fact, two of his three earned runs came on the last pitch he threw, a two run home run to catcher Koyie Hill. In fact, the other run was a home run to Alfonso Soriano that (so we’re told, I couldn’t see it) grazed the left field foul pole. So Loe, while not as lights out as he was in Pittsburgh, certainly put in a great performance. Was very good, and that storyline will probably get lost

That’s OK. I’m sure Kameron Loe will have more wins in his career going forward than Sammy Sosa will have home runs, so this night really belonged to Sammy Sosa. I think Kameron Loe probably will really enjoy both things tonight.

Random Comment: Remember about 10 years ago when Ted Kennedy honored Sosa & McGwire with something, only he botched both names? He called Sammy “Sammy Sooser”. I wish I could find a clip of that now.

I was at this game tonight, and boy was it humid. Made me feel like I was back home in Philly, or in a game at Baltimore. It was really bad. Of course, I was out there to see Sosa hit his 600th. I actually bought the ticket back in March, so it wasn’t a “600 only” thing. There were a lot of Cubs fans, and they were pretty well behaved, unlike Yankees fans, or Red Sox fans (since they won the Series). I spent most of the game talking to a Cubs fan who was sitting behind me about old teams, baseball books – it was nice.
Robinson Tejeda started off the game not too bad – had 29 pitches through two innings, and had the lead 1-0, on a first inning home run by Ian Kinsler. He then gave up the lead, although not completely of his own doing after two unearned runs that scored after Gerald Laird botched Alfonso Soriano’s bunt attempt. OK. We’re down 2-1. No problem. Brad Wilkkkkkkkerson hit a home run into the upper deck in the home run porch, and tied it at two.
Tejeda gave it back in the fourth – one of which was a bases loaded walk. At this point, Tejeda looked out of gas, or out of control or just out of it, as he had nothing. He was just all over the place. Didn’t look good at all, except for the first inning or so. He did go back out for the fifth, which was a suprise, and did get out of that inning without scoring a run, but it was QUITE shaky.
In the bottom of the fifth, Ian Kinsler homered for the second time in the game, this time a two run shot, which made the score 4-4 again. That was, however, the last scoring the Rangers did. In fact, it was the last baserunner at all, because the Cubs bullpen was PERFECT. They didn’t allow anything at all. It was quite a surprise. After the second Kinsler home run, it broke down like this:
Cubs bring in Chris Marmol who struck out the side (Young, Sosa, Byrd). Marmol comes back out for the sixth, Diaz struck out (fourth in a row for Marmol), Laird flied out, and Wilkkkkkkerson fouled out. Marmol again for the 7th, and Metcalf flied out, Lofton grounded out, & Kinsler struck out. Bobby Howry came in, got Young to fly out, Sosa to fly out, and Byrd to strike out. Ryan Dempster came in and closed it out, getting Catalanotto to strike out, Laird to strike out, and Wilkkkkkkerson to strike out. Gah. In all we struck out 13 times this game. over half of them were from the 5th inning on. Gotta tip your hat to the Cubs bullpen. Not much we can do when they’re perfect against you.
Ron Mahay looked quite good out of the bullpen. Didn’t realize he’s been here 5 years, and is only beat by two players for seniority here (Mike Young & Joaquin Benoit). There was a lot of talk on the radio post game show about him being showcased. I know we need help, but our bullpen is good again. With CJ Wilson we have two decent/good left handers, I’d hate to give ’em up again.
Sosa 600 watch: Three strikeouts and a flyout. No home run. After the first three strikeouts, I actually found myself wishing if he didn’t get the home run that he’d strike out so I could use my golden sombrero image I used for Victor Diaz a few games back. :)
One thing that pissed me off after the game, and really made me angry is that someone had dumped about half a dozen empty beer cans in the back of my pickup truck – plus two giant empty glass bottles (of beer). I didn’t realize it until I got home what was in there (I could hear rattling while I was driving home), but I’ve never had that happen to me at the Ballpark before. Are we turning into f’in bums where we use any old receptable (like my truck) for a trashcan? What the heck is up with that?

I won’t have time to write about these two games. I was planning on doing it today (Monday), but my company released information about a new product, so that took up almost all of my time today, so I decided to just sacrifice those two updates. :)
I’m sure the world won’t collapse with me not doing those two updates.

The Rangers did something they haven’t done in ages. Win two games in a row on the road. It also had a few other things we aren’t doing often. Those are scoring first, coming back from behind to win, and a bunt hit by a Rangers pitcher. It was a game of “oh yeah, I remember when we did that”.
Sammy Sosa got it started early with a single to right, scoring Michael Young. That run was backed up by a solo home run ball by Ramon Vazquez in the second, putting us up 2. Cincinnati got one back off of a pair of doubles in the second, and then on a couple more hits in he third. That tied it up. OK, 2-2 is doable. I can live with that, unlike the 7-1 deficits we’ve been having almost immediately lately. Padilla then gave up a tater in the fourth, as well as a couple of more hits for a two spot, putting us down two. Two is manageable, but I’m tired of us having to come from behind. Padilla is really earning his paycheck here.
The top of the fifth is when Padilla’s bunt hit made an appearance. Was kind of funny to watch him lumber out of the box. Fortunately he was helped out when Cincinnati’s pitcher and catcher tripped over each other, allowing Padilla to be safe. He might have beat it out anyway – it wasn’t the greatest bunt ever, but it was a good one, but the trip up certainly helped. Padilla scored two batters later in a rather ungraceful maneuver going around third. Michael Young walked to load the bases, and then Slammin’ slammed one over the right field wall to pick up four runs. It was nice, and it was his 599th. Course, I’m going to be going to the game on Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see if he keeps #600 for that game. As much as a I have ragged on him the last week, 600 is an impressive number, and it would be kind of cool to see it. Anyway, since it was the fifth, Victor Rojas was announcing this, and while I didn’t hear it (I was watching this on TV), I’m sure Victor did his usual grand slam call by sounding like his lungs were being forcibly ejected from his mouth onto his microphone. :)
The Reds followed up with a two spot in the bottom of the fifth on one of the more impressive looking home runs I’ve seen – an absolute monster of a blast from Adam Dunn – it looked like it was going to completely clear the seats in right field – a task that would have put the ball well over 500 ft. I didn’t even mind that it was such a bomb of a blast.
Anyway, that was it – no more scoring after the fifth. Our pen was solid – five guys (Benoit, Wilson, Francisco, Otsuka, Gagne) did not allow any runs (and only two hits as wel) in their four frames on the hill. Can’t say the same for Padilla, who gave up 6 runs on 12 hits in his 5 innings. Blech. He got a win, but did not pitch like he deserved it. He needs to start hitting people again to at least make it interesting to watch him.
But you have to give congrats to Sosa for this game. 2 for 4 with 5 RBI and a home run (a slam). That was probably the reason we won this one. :)