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Well, the season is over now. We finished under .500 again, going 80-82 and finishing third again. I suppose it’s something that we didn’t finish last. But it’s not much of something. I have to admit I barely paid attention to any of the Seattle games this weekend, so I’ll have just a short update for the games. I’ll probably take a break from updating for awhile like I usually do during the playoffs. That is unless we make a managerial change, which seems like a possibility from reading the various local media.
G160: Rangers win Friday night, 6-5 over Mariners: Vicente Padilla only went 5.1 innings this game, but really threw a LOT of pitches for that few innings. His pitch count was 118! He got the win, but really was not anything remotely close to dominating by the looks of the box score. Feldman, Rheinecker, Francisco, Littleton, & CJ Wilson all relieved. In fact, Wilson got his first save of the year. Offensively, we got three more doubles (2 Young, 1 Tex) and a bunch of singles (nothing more than a double in this one) to account for our 6 runs. [ Game Recap on mlb.com ]
G161: Rangers lose to Mariners, 3-1: Kevin Millwood turned in another quality start this game, going six innings, giving up three runs on 6 hits with no walks. But it wasn’t enough, as Felix Hernandez of the Mariners only gave up one run in his seven innings of work. In fact, the lone Rangers run was a solo home run by Mark Teixeira in the seventh. The Seattle pen threw two more innings of scoreless relief to keep the three runs enough for Seattle to get the win. Millwood ended up with a record of 16-12. Not bad. Would have liked to have seen 17-19, but 16 isn’t all that bad, I s’pose. [ Game Recap on mlb.com ]
G162: Rangers lose to Mariners in season finale, 3-2: Robinson Tejeda took the hill in the finale of the 2006 season for Texas. He went 5 innings, gave up three runs, including two solo home runs. Not great, but “OK”. In fact, the only two runs we got were like yesterday’s game, on the longball. Our two came way of a two run home run by Ian Kinsler in the second inning. We actually outhit Seattle, 10-7, but could only push across runs on Kinsler’s longball. A slightly annoying way to end the season from the looks of the box score (I didn’t see any of this game, I was involved with church stuff all day). [ Game Recap on mlb.com ]
I think this picture of Rod Barajas in the finale on Sunday pretty much sums it up:

I have to admit, I didn’t watch this game. I could have, but I didn’t. I came home from my bowling league, and the game was just starting, and I just wasn’t interested. I’m ready for the offseason. A few notes from what little I did see, though.
Long time Ranger nemesis did it to us again in the first inning. That would be Tim Salmon’s first inning HR. Fortunately it will be his final one, as we don’t play the Angels anymore in 2006, and he’s retiring after this season.
My gut feeling is that Adam Eaton has played his last game in a Ranger uniform. I have no facts at all to base that off of, it’s just a “feeling”.
Mark Teixeira has definitely killed the first half slump he had. He had two home runs tonight which accounted for all 5 of our runs. Take Tex’s home runs out, and we have seven hits, no runs.
While I didn’t see it, an Angels lead did make for one good thing. No darned Rally Monkey!

Early on, this game looked like it was going to be a “revenge” kind of game. We lose a few, and then beat the crap out of an opponent. We put up a two spot in the first inning on a Mark Teixeira home run. We then put up three more in the second inning on the strength of four consecutive hits off of Kelvim Escobar. In fact, all our second inning runs were on singles. So we’re up 5-0 after two innings, and feeling pretty good. However, that was it. We figured out Escobar immediately. However, the remainder of the Anaheim relievers (three of ’em) didn’t allow us any more runs, and also held us to four hits over the 7.1 innings they tossed.
It’s fortunate then that Robinson Tejeda pitched like the guy he’s always been touted to be. 6.2IP, one earned run, no walks. The one run was a solo home run to Rivera. Ron Mahay did give up another run, but that was all. A great performance by us. The World Baseball Classic has raised it’s head at the end of the season here, as word out of the team is that they were worried about Otsuka’s workload, going back into the spring. Due to this, Wes Littleton got his first major league save, a two inning affair in that department.
Four to go and then we start rooting against the Yankees for real.

The Rangers had eight hits.
The Angels had eighteen hits.
The Rangers had three runs.
The Angels had eight runs.
Vlad Guerrero had two home runs.
The Texas Rangers had none.
On the less sarcastic side, Joaquin Arias got his first major league start (at short). He went 2-3, which makes his major league batting average .750 now. Michael Young got his 100th RBI of the season, which was a positive.
It was a disheartening game. Uno on my Xbox 360 had more of a draw this night.

Kevin Millwood ended the home 2006 season the same way he started it. On the mound in Arlington, getting beat pretty well.
Apr 02: 5IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 3K
Sep 24: 4.2IP, 7H, 6ER, 5BB, 6K
Most of us remember the bad home opener, the finale was actually worse. Thing is I was at this game. It was frickin long! I don’t have the inning breakdowns in front of me, but I had a committment in the evening that I could not be late for, and my drop dead have to leave time was 4:15. Game started at one. After about 4 innings, I realized I would not be seeing the whole game – boy was this a slow one! The official time was 3:27, but it felt way longer than that. The last 2.5 innings went by pretty quickly, but if they had the pace of the others, it probably would have been about a 4:15 game. I ended up leaving right around the top of the 8th, and I didn’t miss anything, except some more sun – it was a georgeous day. Sunshine, 70 degrees. Really awesome weather.
One interesting thing is that Carlos Lee got booed pretty well. There was a ball that dropped in front of him for an out which he didn’t make a lot of effort to get. Then there was the ball he DID dive for which got past him for an inside the park home run. After the inside the parker, he got booed, and he got booed pretty loudly the next time up to the plate (which I think was a groundout to short). Lee’s got a great bat, but he’s like the second coming of Juan Gonzalez. Great offense, a liability on defense, though. Take some of that money you’d spend on Carlos Lee, and give it to Matthews, and some pitching. I think that’s a better way to deal with Carlos Lee. I always saw him as a renter, anyway.
Felt bad for Ron Mahay, he came into the game, and immediately got hit with a batted ball, and had to come out. Hopefully no long term injury comes from that.
Was nice to see Brian Sikorski still pitching, I remember well his performance against the Yankees in a Rangers uniform about 6 years ago or so.
Not good to have a losing record at home. We had something like 70 less home runs this year over last? Oh well. At least I got my 2007 pocket schedule. :)