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Kenny Rogers shut down the Indians during his 7 innings on the mound. He gave up no runs (extending his scoreless streak to 21), six hits along with four strikeouts, and four walks. Speaking of streaks, Mark Teixeira now has a 12 game hitting streak, too. Soriano didn’t have any more home runs, but Mike Young did in the first inning to put us up 2-0 after the second batter of the game. This game felt more in control than last night’s game.
There really isn’t much to write about here. Rogers gave up nothing, we got a bunch of timely hits, but no one player dominated offensively.
Pudge and the surprisingly good Tigers come into town Monday night. Let’s see how we fare. I don’t expect it will be easy at all.
One other remark. With Rogers pitching this well, Scott Boras has to be salivating at the chance for another contract, eh?
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I was at this game, and before the game started, I was talking to a few of the other season ticket holders in my area, and we pretty much all agreed that Drese had become a question mark. No one really knew what to expect from him tonight, as he had gotten not destroyed like Astacio did last night, but pretty much hit around well. Much to our surprise, Drese pitched like Drese from last year. His line was extremely impressive.. 9IP, 6H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K, 100PT. It also was his first complete game win of his career, despite having a few complete games under his belt already.
Offensively, we were lead by Alfonso Soriano, who for the second night in a row had two home runs, with 3 RBI’s, and three runs scored. The other two RBI’s came from Mike Young and Rod Barajas (the last run scored on a throwing error). We actually only had 9 hits, but they were placed together well. Young and Teixeira had two each, as well as Soriano’s 3. Nix & Barajas chipped in with one each.
Was a nice game to be at – we won. Always good, but the game felt “in control” since the bottom of the second. Nice to not have to sit in the stands going “Oh God, we need 4 runs in the last 2 innings to just tie it”.
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The picture below of Buck Showalter arguing with an umpire below pretty much sums up this game. Pedro Astacio pitched even worse than Chan Ho Park did the first three years here and allowed seven runs in the first inning, and exiting after .2 IP in the game. That’s an ERA of 94.5 for this game. Hell, Rangers Captain could probably pitch better than that. Nolan Ryan RIGHT NOW could pitch better than that. Hell, I bet even Jose Canseco could pitch better. OK, I think you get my point. There was a smell coming from the pitcher’s mound of epic proportions in the first inning. Oddly enough, that’s where it ended.
Joaquin Benoit allowed 4H and 1 run in his 4.1IP. Kameron Loe allowed no runs and a single hit in his two innings. Mahay and CoCo allowed a hit each, but no runs. Our bullpen was pretty spectacular, too bad Astacio was craptacular.
Offensively, Alfonso Soriano led the way with two home runs and four RBI’s. Blalock also had a homer, and Gary Matthews chipped in for the 6th RBI. But it wasn’t enough due to the craptacularlness of Pedro Astacio. Another of those, and we won’t be seeing anymore “Vote for Pedro” signs at the Ballpark, eh?
Buck Showalter got tossed for the first time as a Rangers manager. Was cool though to see him turn his hat around backwards and argue – the mark of a true manager/ump argument, IMO. That and Billy Martin’s old “Kicking dirt” piece which I’ve seen Lou Piniella do a few times. :)
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We had a 7 run fourth inning, and a 6 run 8th inning. That was pretty much the game in a nutshell. :)
Plus it rained a lot. Don’t have time to write about this one. Was nice to get a sweep inside our own division. Plus the Yankees are tied for last place with Tampa Bay. It’s all good.

We’re back to 500 again. 28 games in, we’re at .500 and are in second place, 2.5 games back. Not too bad. Not great, as we seem to be stuck in quicksand in both the pitching and hitting departments. Although you wouldn’t know it the last two games in Oakland. Let’s see if we can win 3 games in a row this season (a first) and get over .500. :)
Last night was an odd game offensively. We actually were outhit by Oakland 9-7. But we bunched a couple of hits behind a few walks, and a gift infield hit for a 5 spot in the 6th, which was the difference in the game. In fact, pitching wise, this game went much like the night before, with a pitcher doing really fabulously well until he just broke down and allowed a bunch of hits/runs.
Chris Young had a pretty decent line – he went 5.2 IP, 7H, 0R, 3BB, 3K. It’s always good when you don’t allow any runs, but he did have 10 baserunners during his 5.2IP, which means he was in hot water a couple of times. I liked he tossed a shutout during his time, a little disturbing his WHIP was almost 2. We used four relievers in this game (Regilio, Mahay, Brocail, Shouse), and the only blip between all of them was the HR that Ron Mahay allowed to Durazo to bust up the shutout. Overall, our entire pitching line was quite fabulous, with an ERA of 1.00 for the game.
I’m starting to hear rumblings that Soriano is whining about his being moved to fifth place. He doesn’t want to move to SS, he doesn’t want to play OF. He doesn’t want to bat anywhere else besides fifth, he doesn’t want to run unless it’s exactly right. Uh, it sounds like he’s a candidate to be moved with all the whining. Move him in July and play Esteban German or Ian Kinsler permanently at second. I think Mike Young probably is better served now staying at shortstop. I always assumed he’d go back to 2B after Soriano goes, but I now feel it’s better he stay where he is.
Yankees Watch: They got bombed 11-4 by the Devil Rays. Kevin Brown gave up 6 runs in the first – Buhahahaha!
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I thought for awhile there that Kenny Rogers might have had a chance at another perfect game. He started last night’s game retiring the first 14 batters in a row. That streak ended in the bottom of the fifth when Mark Ellis doubled to left with one out, ruining the no hitter and the perfect game. Kenny has pitched well this year so far, and last night was the pinnacle of his pitching this season. He very well could have 5 or 6 runs, but our team hasn’t rallied behind his pitching. His total line for Monday night:
8IP – 4H – 0R – 2BB – 5K – 109 Pitches
Kenny was masterful. We should have won this game three to nothing, but CoCo almost blew it in the bottom of the ninth. His line was nowhere near as pretty.
1IP – 1H – 2ER – 3BB – 2K – 38 Pitches
If CoCo had blown it, it wouldn’t have been the first time. Last year CoCo blew two games Kenny pitched on the road in June. But we got the win. Offensively we didn’t have much going on. We had a double in the first inning which was a total gift, as Bobby Kielty blew it, and the official scorer gave us a double when it clearly should have been an error. Hank Blalock will take the double and the RBI, thank you very much. Dellucci had a home run in the third for the second run, and we got an RBI single from Layne Nix in the ninth for the third, and as it turns out, important run. We only had six hits total, Rich Harden was quite good, just Kenny was a bit better.
We’re back to 13-14, and are two and a half games behind the Angels at 15-11. Given how sluggish and mediocre we’ve been playing overall, this is a major surprise to be in this place at the start of May.
Yankees watch: They’re 11-15 and firmly in fourth place, 6.5 games behind the Orioles. Random thought: If the Orioles do well, hang in there the entire season, and make the playoffs, I wonder if Peter Angelos will continue to whine about the Nationals in his back yard.
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I don’t have much time to write commentary on the games this weekend, but I have a few comments..
Fri: Win 7-2. Chan Ho Park? Who has been wearing his uniform?
Sat: Lose 9-2. I was at this game. I enjoyed being at the game. I didn’t enjoy our bullpen, though. :(
Sun: Lose 6-5. No time for a commentary.