56 games. 59 scoreless innings, 2,632 games. Kenny’s streak wasn’t anywhere near those ones, but it certainly was impressive while it lasted. Kenny’s scoreless streak was broken up after 31.1 innings pitched. I think most everyone assumed it wouldn’t get near Orel’s record 59 (which Josh said on TV last night was in the mid 60’s if you count playoffs, too). I think people probably expected it to go a little deeper than 4 outs last night. But that’s OK – it was still a great game for Kenny, a win for the Rangers, and it was nice that it was broken up at home, so he could get an ovation.
But to me, the biggest event of the night wasn’t Kenny’s streak, it was Laynce Nix, who basically was the Texas Rangers last night. Laynce went 2 for 4 last night, but wow, was it productive. He had a total of 6 RBI’s (a career high) with a home run and a run scored. He definitely carried our team. In fact, if you take Nix out of the game, we had just 7 hits outside of him, and only one other RBI (Mench). This was definitely Kenny & Laynce’s nights.
We’re even hearing in the local press now that the Rangers want to extend his contract. Gee, I wonder why. Would be nice if it could get done in season, so we don’t have the crap of Boras holding us hostage with other teams’ (phantom, usually) offers. I wouldn’t mind picking up Kenny for another year or two.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the spectacular defense in the game turned in by the Rangers in the second. After Kenny’s streak was broken, our guys in the field kept it from getting a lot worse with TWO runners thrown out at the plate. One was on a throw from Laynce Nix direct to Alomar, and the other was from Mench in left to Mike Young as a cutoff. Both were great to watch, and the second I thought he was out, but a nice swipe tag from Alomar saved it. Was really odd to see two outs at the plate in the same inning like that.
It was also nice to see Nolan Ryan again – he was in the booth with Josh & Tom for awhile. Miss seeing him around the park.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.
G41: Rangers shut out on Thursday, 7-0
There’s not much to say about this one. Mark Buehrle was great (7.1IP, 0ER). Ryan Drese was not (5.1IP, 5ER). We had a total of nine hits that were scattered all over the place, never got anything going, leaving 10 men on base.
Andres Torres got his first start as a Ranger, and went 1 for 5. That was about the most interesting thing to me about this game, and that’s about all I can think of to write about this one at the moment. :)
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.
G40: Rangers lose to White Sox & Jon Garland on Tuesday, 5-2
I expected us to lose this game. A 1-4 pitcher who has been shaky against a 7-0 pitcher who has been totally dominant? I expected the score to be like 17-1. We lost alright, but we didn’t fall out totally. Never seemed to get it going against Garland, which is the story of the day. Garland beat us to his major league leading eighth win of the season. He deserved the win, he pitched well, going 7 runs, giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits.
It did feel like we were behind the 8 ball however early however. It was because of some extra help from the umpire at third who CLEARLY blew a call calling Aaron Rowand safe at third when every replay showed he was out – and it was really obvious, too. That directly led to their first run, and while that one run didn’t decide the game, it came in the first, so one never knows what kind of mental tone that set for everything else that followed. It did lead to Steve Smith being ejected – he definitely is our most ejected coach. :)
Offensively, we didn’t mount much of an attack. We only had 6 hits, and three of them came from Mark Teixeira – and two of those 3 were doubles. The remaining three hits were from Blalock, Nix, & Hidalgo. Only two RBI’s were Tex and Hidalgo (who now has his average way up to .212).
I’m glad the old Ranger farmhand Scott Podsednik has gotten a good career together. He’s not a Carlos Beltran, or even a Cliff Floyd – but he’s a good solid respectable player, and from what I remember, a pretty nice guy, too. Good for him – the sport needs more good solid players like that. I like seeing him now that he’s in Chicago, I couldn’t see him when he was in Milwaukee.
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Riley, Karsay, Matthews, Torres, Selig & Steroids
Hi gang. I’m caught up with the games since last Wednesday now. I had family in town this past weekend (I’m in Texas, my family is all in Pennsylvania) for my daughter’s christening this past Sunday. It was great having them all in, but it severely restricted my time for watching Rangers games. I only saw bits and pieces of all the games, so my commentary on them wasn’t as great as I would have liked. Still, one has to take care of what’s important first. Having said that, there’s been a few events since my last update, so I’ll have a few words on each.
1) Matt Riley: Riley didn’t do a lot for me before he was DFA’ed. Apparently he didn’t do a whole lot for the other 29 teams either, as he cleared waivers on the 11th, and was assigned to AAA. His ERA was pretty atrocious when he was up with the big club. Hopefully he can get it together and be a useful piece. Although I’ll take being a useful piece of the bullpen from just about anyone right now.
2) Rangers sign Steve Karsay: Steve Karsay was signed to a minor league contract, and was assigned to AA Frisco to pitch for the Rangers. Karsay hasn’t pitched much this season in the majors, pitching just six innings over a total of six outings for the Yankees, with an ERA of 6.0 :) He’s been around for awhile, making his debut in 1993 with the A’s. Since then, he’s pitched for the Indians, Braves, & Yankees. It’s probably his time with the Indians and John Hart that convinced him to come to Texas. From 1999 through 2004, he’s had a pretty good ERA – the highest it was during that period was 3.76 (in 2000). He had a terrible start in 2005, but not totally awful if you look at his numbers. I Know I just said this about Riley, but I hope he can come up and do well for us, if for no other reason than you can stick it to the Yankees. :) Given we are only on the hook or a pro-rated portion of his 2005 salary (the Yankees pay the rest), this is a pretty good move for us, I would think.
3) Matthews to DL, Torres up: On Sunday Gary Matthews was placed on the DL with an apparent hamstring problem. I didn’t see it happen, but the reports say he came up gimpy holding his hamstring after running across first. I’ve seen that happen several times in the past, and it’s never good. I think he’ll probably be out for awhile. I’m saying that without seeing any medical updates, but I’ve seen that “pulling on the back of his leg running across first” enough in my years watching baseball to know that’s never good. I feel bad for Gary, as this was the first year he really seemed to find a home, got it together and all that. I hope he comes back soon, and comes back well. In the meantime, we’ve called up Andres Torres to take his place on the roster. Torres was a big spring training surprise, with an obscenely high batting average (I forget the number at the moment, but it was around 375 or something I think). He will probably do pretty well, although being a fifth outfielder means you don’t get a WHOLE LOT of playing time.
4) Steroids again: I have always felt that the drug testing plans we’ve had in place recently have been too weak. The first set was a joke, having to get busted a few times before you’re suspended. The current one is a little better, but still is weak when it comes to REAL penalties. I mean does a 10 day suspension really have that much impact on a player? Not really. So it was with great anticipation that I read Selig’s proposed new changes to the drug testing rules; a “three strikes and you’re out” policy. First offense, a 50 game suspension. Second offense, a 100 game suspension. Third, you’re permanently banned for life. I rather like that. I think that has a few balls, although I feel if it gets passed with those numbers, I see the union (more to the point union leadership, not so much the players) whining and putting in place an appeal system that will de-teeth it. But the other day, I was QUITE STUNNED to read where the government is talking about putting some sort of thing in place of their own where if you’re caught using the stuff, you’re given a TWO YEAR suspension from the sport, and the second offense is a permanent ban. Now I think that’s a little TOO MUCH going the other way, but I think just the fact that this thing is out there might push Fehr and the union to adpot Selig’s idea of 50/100/gone when they might not want to. Selig is saying that if they can’t negotiate an update with Fehr over his 50/100/gone idea, he’s open to the government’s idea, which really puts the pressure on Fehr and the union leadership. I have to say, I’m rather enjoying seeing the player’s union leadership being pushed into doing something they obviously don’t want to be doing because of ego and posturing. Screw ’em. This needs to be in there. I don’t have a whole lot of patience for these clowns who use this stuff, and as a new father, I have a different insight on this. Once my daughter is old enough to understand these things, I hope all this has been taken care of so I can put it in a nice little box and say “There was a problem with people cheating, but it’s been dealt with”. Although I probably shouldn’t put that much faith in the folks running baseball to help out the parents of America that well.
So as of now, I’m all caught up. My daughter however, doesn’t seem to want to respect my update schedule, so if I miss a game or two here and there, that’s probably what’s done it. Lack of sleep causing a desire not to want to update. Hopefully that goes away soon. :)
G39: Rangers ride Mench’s power to a 7-6 win on Monday
This game definitely had some rollercoaster moments. We started off early with Dellucci getting on base. Then he got thrown out stealing. Then Mench hit a home run. Then in the bottom of the first, Chan Ho Park gave up a grand slam which was fueled by a couple of walks. I got immediately disgusted. Even with our habit of coming back, a grand slam in the first inning is pretty much a statement made by a team, and even though we ended up winning the game, I still felt down because of the grand slam.
Speaking of Dellucci, he did have an odd trifecta of making outs this game. IN the first, he walked and was caught stealing. Later he walked again, but was picked off of first. And finally, in an odd way of finishing that, Dellucci was attempting to steal second again when Kevin Mench struck out, and David was called out on (rather obvious) batter’s interference on Mench’s part. All we needed was for him to get hit by a batted ball and be called out. :)
Kevin Mench did make up for his interference outs by hitting a game winning home run in the top of the 9th, which led to a 1-2-3 league leading 13th save by CoCo Cordero. But Kevin wasn’t absent from the goofiness tonight, even taking the interference call into play. There was one point where he was just taking his practice swing inbetween pitches, and on one of them, he went and wailed on AJ Pierzynski’s catcher’s mask, and knocked it clean off his face. Was an amusing clip, as you don’t normally see things like that. Reminded me of that bit from a couple of seasons ago when Arod was doing his “tap the bat on the plate” to start his at bat, and the bat shattered on the plate. Just the kind of thing you don’t normally see.
Tomorrow’s game looks like a lopsided win for the White Sox on paper. Pedro Astacio who has been uneven at best goes against Jon Garland, who has been nothing short of brilliant this season. The potential for an ugly night on Tuesday really exists. :)
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.
G38: Rangers lose series finale Sunday to Twins, 5-2
Before this game, Gary Matthews Jr was placed on the DL with a hamstring problem (prompting the calling up of Andres Torres, a spring training surprise). While one never feels good about players going on the DL, I have to say the injury problem that cropped up during Sunday’s game was a bit worse than Matthews trip. Perhaps not “worse”, but more troubling, as it was Mike Young. He left the game with lower back stiffness. He’s day to day, but it can’t be good. Hopefully it’s not something that will carry on long. I’m sure Mark DeRosa can be a capable SS, but I doubt he’s a long term answer if Mike Young has to go on the DL or something.
As for this game, Chris Young showed a bit of why we wanted him signed and not let to go play basketball at the end of last season. CY went only five innings, but allowed just two runs, and probably pitched well enough to carry a win, but Ron Mahay let that go by the waysides with 3ER in his 1.2 IP. CY did have a really high pitch count, he tossed 96 through five innings. Not good there, but if you overlook his pitch count, he was pretty decent from what little of the game I did get to watch. The game was definitely a letdown as we could have swept the Twins, who are not playing terribly well right now. Wasn’t helped by Brad Radke only allowing 2 runs over his seven innings. Joe Nathan bounced back from his fiasco on Friday night to nail down a save.
Hidalgo went 1 for 3 – nothing special, but it raised his batting average a few more points. In fact, none of our hitters had more than one hit apiece, although Kevin Mench did have a home run, and both Mike Young and Dellucci had doubles, so we weren’t totally dominated, it just felt that way. :)
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Roster Transaction
G37: Kenny Rogers is masterful in 5-0 shutout of Twins Saturday
This night (and the last few he’s been out there) have belonged to Kenny Rogers. The only bad thing about all his recent success is that I see Scott Boras seeing more dollar signs from this performance. That scares me. But in the meantime, we have to be enjoying his 30 straight innings of shutout ball. On this night, Kenny tossed a 6 hit complete game shutout with no walks and 2K’s, and 104P. Mostly due to Kenny, this was an extremely crisp game, coming in at only two hours and seven minutes. What else can you say about that? Rogers was magnificent.
On the other side of the coin, Hidalgo had a good night for two nights in a row, going 2-4 with one run scored. His average after this game is now “up to” .200. He’ll need another dozen or so of these nights to make a major change in his batting average. I really want him to do well. But he’s seemed sluggish all season.
But this night was about Kenny. Couldn’t be a whole lot better. Makes me wonder if he has another no hitter or a perfect game in him, as he’s danced with both a few times in the last few years. I wonder how many more scoreless innings Kenny has to toss before we start seeing footage of Orel Hershisher’s streak. :)
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G36: Rangers win in extra innings against Twins Friday, 9-6
If the bullpen lost the game for us in the last game, in this one it was the saviour. Ryan Drese was looking like the 2003 and earlier edition of himself again (another disturbing trend I’ll get into when I have more time). Drese gave up 6ER on 9H in his 3.2IP. But the bullpen allowed us to win the game. The bullpen pitched 7 innings of shutout ball, giving up just 3 hits and 2 BB with 8 K’s. An impressive performance by our gang. Too bad Drese appears to be regressing, and can’t match the performance that got him off the hook.
Richard Hidalgo had the kind of game we brought him in to have in this one. He was 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored, and 2 RBI. He’s still below the Mendoza line, which is sad, as it’s where Jordan was last year when he was considered a failure. If this carries on much longer, I wonder how long we’ll continue with Hidalgo. It’s a shame, as it doesn’t seem like he’s really awful, but when you look at his numbers, you have to shrug your shoulders. If we talke Hidalgo out of the lineup, that means we’d probably go with an outfield of Mench, Nix, & Matthews.
We did get to Twins closer Joe Nathan for 3 runs in the 11th inning, something that was definitely out of the ordinary, as Nathan hadn’t allowed an earned run up until that point all season. That was nice to see. We’re back to two games over .500 – about where we seem to have gotten – not too far up, not too far down. Feels like a .500 year at the moment, doesn’t it?
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G35: Rangers lose Thursday, 6-5 to Tigers
So far this season, we’ve done pretty well in daytime games. This was a getaway day afternoon game. I forget what our record is, something like 7-3 or something – I’m really not sure of the numbers. But we didn’t help that record today, losing 6-5 to the Tigers, to drop the series to them in the rubber game.
Pedro Astacio, who by all accounts was on thin ice with his last few pitching performances, saved his spot in the starting rotation – for now. He went six innings, giving up two runs on 6 hits. Additionally, he had 4K’s, and no walks – the no walks probably was the biggest point since the runs came on a home run – could have been worse with walks.
Offensively, we were pretty efficient, getting 5 runs on 7 hits. Alomar & Mench both had multi hit games. Dellucci had a pinch hit home run – which is always exciting to see.
Overall, it was a pretty decent game, until the bullpen came in. Our relievers (Loe, Mahay, Brocail) gave up 4 runs (3ER) in their 3IP. None of them was unscathed, and basically lost the game for us. Overall, our bullpen hasn’t been great this year, but it’s kind of felt (to me) that it’s come around a little lately, so this was a step backwards in my eyes.
Thursday is an offday (hate ’em), but with my family coming in town for my daughter’s christening, I likely won’t get to watch much baseball this weekend anyway.
You can view my full update for this game here, or you can leave a comment about this game below.
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