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It’s always a sad day when the last game of the season arrives. There’s no more (meaningful) baseball for another 5 months or so. So it was with both sadness and joy that I headed out to the Ballpark for the final game of the 2005 season. Sadness because it was the last game, we had a sub 500 record, and we would probably lose this one, too (we did).
Joy because I had won a contest a few days ago from the Rangers for a luxury box for the final game of the season. I rounded up some family and some friends, and hit the ballpark. Due to having a box, I wanted to be there when the gates opened, so I could get maximum use out of the time in the box. It was good because I had a 5 month old daughter and my mother in law was with us. Both do much better not being in the heat. So the suite AC was nice. In fact, whenever I’m in a suite (this was only my fourth game in one), I rarely pay much attention to the game. I spent most of my time talking to my guests. I did see however Mike Young’s hit and removal from the game, which was a nice touch (screw you Yankees for whining about it). Was nice to see the ovation he got when Chuck Morgan announced that Young had the batting title. Congratulations to Mike Young for that. He became a father and was AL batting champ. Nice year for him, although I’m sure he’s saddened by not being in the playoffs.
I will write about the season in general later on, but I wanted to say I had an awesome time at the game.

It’s a sad thing when you can say that up until the sixth inning, the most interesting thing that happened at the game was when Rangers Captain visited your section.
Juan Dominguez didn’t even get out of the first inning, giving up four runs on 6 hits with 1BB in 0.2IP. Not good. Set a tone for the night. As I said above, not much good happened until the sixth except for Rangers Captain showing up. In the sixth we had a quick strike score, when Soriano hit a three run home run (a no doubter, too). We did score one in the third, but I think I was paying attention to Captain at that time. We did make it interesting in the bottom of the ninth with two triples, but couldn’t finish the job off, losing 7-6, guaranteeing a losing season. :(

Well, three games to go. I was at this one, as I tend to panic when there’s single digit games left in the season, and I need to go to them. :)
RA Dickey was all over the place with his knuckleball, and didn’t have any kind of control in the first inning, and it cost him. He gave up two runs in the first, and it could have been a boatload more. It was an ugly inning. He actually settled down until the fifth when it fell apart again, and he gave up three more runs. Edison Volquez, one of the relievers also tanked, giving up two runs in 0.2IP. Ramirez, Shouse, & Feldman also pitched, and were good. Problem is that John Lackey was a lot better. He only went 5 innings, but gave up no runs on three hits. Kelvim Escobar followed that with two shutout innings of his own. We only got a run against former Ranger Esteban Yan.
We only had 5 hits this game, and two of ’em were from Kevin Mench. Unfortunately, none of them were from Mike Young, so his hitting streak stopped at 25 games. He’s almost assured of winning the batting title, unless he has a complete ofer the rest of the season, and Arod gets like 15 hits.
On the really good side, Alfonso Soriano stole second base and then third in the same inning, and became the only 30/30 guy in Ranger franchise history.

We lost. Kenny Rogers got a “quality start” in his final performance as a Ranger (barring some major change of Hart (har-har) somewhere). He went 6, giving up 4R (3ER) on 9H. He ended up losing the game, as Ryan Franklin who we usually destroy pitched well. That leaves Kenny with a record of 14-8. Probably not what Scott Bora$ wanted going into what is likely Kenny’s final contract negotiation. At this point, I think the only way Kenny comes back is if Hart moves aside. Not that Hart would move aside for any player, but that’s probably what will have to happen. I personally wouldn’t mind Kenny coming back. As has been said many times in many places, he knows how to pitch in Arlington, and doesn’t seem to mind being here (except in contract years).
Things aren’t looking good for finishing with an over 500 record. That means we now have to sweep the Angels at home over the last three games, which will give us a record of 82-80. If we take two, we end up at 500. Offensively, only six hits. Four were by Dellucci & Tex. The others were Mike Young & Shrek. Not much happening offensively for us really. Except we got a home run from David Dellucci in this one. We now need 6 over the last 3 games to break the all time record. Fairly doable, but we have to be consistent about it, don’t want to have to go into the last game needing five.

No time for an big update, but we’re back to .500 again. We’re falling behind in the race to get the home run title. We had better tee off at home in the last three games if we still want that. Mike Young’s hitting streak is at 24 games now. I’m tired of the Phil Nevin watch.
Great article in the DMN about Mike Young being a new dad. As a new dad myself, I can relate.

No time for an big update, but it was nice to see some good pitching in this game. Was also really nice to see Mike Young take care of business and break his own hit record for the Rangers in his first two at bats. He’s a virtual lock for the batting crown.