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Several things came to an end today.. Kenny Rogers’ streak of winning after a loss (although it wasn’t his fault). Our perfect record in extra inning games this year, Francisco Cordero’s streak of no blown saves, Hank Blalock’s streak of starting the games at third, Brad Fullmer’s not having played the field.. there were more, but I’ve forgotten them as I sit here to write this. Our pitching staff is all over the place at he moment, but tonight’s game didn’t seem that poorly pitched to me.
Kenny went 6 innings, and gave up 2 runs on 6 hits with 5 k’s. We used six other pitchers for a combined 4.1 innings pitched, and those guys gave up 3 runs on 8 hits – not terribly good. In fact, we would have lost the game sooner, if we didn’t have to magnificent plays to toss out Reds players at the plate. Barajas had a busy night back there behind the dish – and it looked good.
Alfonso Soriano had a huge 3 run jack, followed up by a solo shot from Herb Perry. But that was all our scoring – and it all came in the fourth. Looking at the starting pitcher and the bullpen situation for the Reds, I expected us to score 17 runs, but they shut us down pretty good overall, except for the fourth.
And the way we lost in the end was really frustrating. Doug Brocail was the last pitcher on the mound for us, but I didn’t think that loss was Brocail’s fault. He did what he was supposed to do. Get a ground ball. I think Showalter overmanaged that – the ball was hit to where Soriano was going, but EY as an extra infielder ran right in front of Soriano and booted it. I really don’t think tonight’s loss was Brocail’s fault.
Having said that – I don’t know why we’re even messing with him. He’s a reclamation project, and we don’t need reclamation projects at this point in the team’s history. Brocail will probably be the next pitcher to go when it’s time to bring someone else up after today’s move of Bierbrodt and Juan Dominguez.

No time to write today (busy Monday), but I was surprised at how much press the jackass who stole the ball from the little kid got. Tom Grieve really layed into him on the broadcast, but then I later saw John Kruk and the guys from Baseball Tonight talking about it, and it made all other kinds of national coverage, too. This link has a good summary of the events, plus a link to video of the ball fiasco and some commentary from players on it.
Reggie Sanders of the Cardinals did step up and get the kid some equipment. Here’s a picture of that.

No time to write today (busy Monday), but it was nice to see a grand slam. Those are always cool (when it’s your team).

I didn’t score the game – first time all season I voluntarily didn’t score a game.
The less said about this game, the better.

I love doubleheaders. Anyone who knows me, knows I love doubleheaders. I know why they’re not scheduled anymore (teams want extra gate $). But I always attend them when they happen. I don’t like the 4PM start, because I have to leave uber early from work, which can create problems for me. But anyway, I was there for the start of the doubleheader. And it was great! Game 2:
If you were a Jason Kendall fan, you loved the doubleheader, as Kendall went 7 for 8 in both games, scored a few runs, basically had an offensively great day. Too bad it was all wasted, though.
Kenny Rogers got off to a bad start in this one, giving up a two run home run in the first inning. He wasn’t super crisp, as he gave up 4 runs on 9 hits in his 7IP. But he pitched well enough – and made three really great defensive plays in the field – showing why he owns a Gold Glove for that position. Kenny is now 9-2 with an ERA of 3.76. It’s starting to look like he’ll get picked for the All-Star game, which is nice. Makes me wonder if they wouldn’t consider starting Kenny in Houston. Kenny Rogers vs. Roger Clemens to start the All-Star game. Now that would be interesting.
Offensively, we had a few big groupings of runs, with two four spots and two single run innings. The first one came on a throwing error by Ruben Mateo in the third, which was followed by an absolute bomb to right field by Teixeira – a three run blast. Tex’s HR cleared the seats in right field right down the line – and went into the concourse – a most impressive blast. As cool as that was, it didn’t compare to the blast by Brad Fullmer in the bottom of the fifth that scored Young, Blalock, & Soriano – a grand slam. It was the first slam in a Rangers game this year – by either team.
After the slam, we were up 9-3. Both teams added on one more run later, but it was inconsequential. It seemed the game was over after the grand slam.

I love doubleheaders. Anyone who knows me, knows I love doubleheaders. I know why they’re not scheduled anymore (teams want extra gate $). But I always attend them when they happen. I don’t like the 4PM start, because I have to leave uber early from work, which can create problems for me. But anyway, I was there for the start of the doubleheader. And it was great! Game 1:
This was one strange game. But before I get to that, let’s get the not strange out of the way. Joaquin Benoit. He pitched like himself. He went 4.1 innings, tossing 91 or so pitchers – not good. He actually only gave up two runs while he was on the mound (3 total), but his lack of control causes his pitch counts to go way up too fast. I still think this is his last year – if he doesn’t find it by the end of the season, we’ll probably leave him unprotected, or just let him go completely.
Benoit wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was the Rangers line score. Overall, we had 9 runs on a total of only 5 hits. We actually were mostly shut down by Oliver Perez, who struck out 12 Rangers in his six innings, allowing only 3 hits. He walked four though, and did hit two batters, and I believe all of them scored. Of our five hits, three of them were home runs. The first was by Mike Young, which scored Eric Young, who had walked. The second was by Gary Matthews which scored Mark Teixeira & Herbert Perry, both of which were hit by pitches. The third was a solo shot by Herb Perry. So that’s 6 of our 9 runs by the longball, and 3 of our 5 hits. We picked up a few more runs in the seventh thanks to a throwing error by Pittsburgh 3B Chris Stynes – oddly enough who was just brought in that inning for his defense.
Cordero notched his 19th save of the season, while Frank Francisco got his first major league win in the game. A nice “bombs away” come from behind win. :)

Rainout. Again. That’s two in a row, which rarely happens. They’re both being made up tomorrow. I’m hoping to be there, depends on how work goes.

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