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Oh man, what a cool game.
From the start – this felt great. I felt that something good would happen when they said that Jose Canseco wouldn’t play – he always seems to be in a groove against the Rangers. Rick Helling confirmed this feeling and pitched a complete masterpiece. He went 7.1 innings, and gave up no earned runs (dropping his ERA under 3 to 2.82), and only a single hit – a single to the Crimedog. His pitch count was extremely high – in the 130’s, but that might have something to do with him walking six D’Rays. One run did score on Helling, but it was unearned due to an error by Mike Lamb. Otherwise, Helling was completely masterful (if a tad wild).
On the other side, the game was tight until the 6th when we went from a 2-0 lead (on two solo shots in the 2nd & 5th from Raffy & Curtis) to a 4-0 lead (via a 2 RBI single by Raffy). I know 4-0 is still considered by some to be “tight”, but the way Helling was pitching, it seemed like a huge lead. We then piled on some more runs with a three spot in the 8th, and another in the 9th on a home run by Pudge – his what, 40th in the last three games? :)
Gabe Kapler left the game with a strained muscle in the 6th – I’m really hoping he doesn’t go down for long – we have enough problems with injuries this season – we just “feel” like we’re coming around, we can’t afford to lose anyone else – even if he’s only batting around .200.
We just looked really good this game, I felt. This is the Rangers that we were supposed to be getting out of spring training. Unfortunately our modest winning streak is in jeopardy as Mark Clark takes the mound on Wednesday.

The slide is over – at least for now. :)
The Rangers broke out of their funk today with a very well balanced win over the Orioles, 8-4. Well balanced because everyone in the lineup had at least one hit. Mateo had two and Pudge & Segui had 3. Speaking of Mateo, he had two hits in all three of the Baltimore games, and looked pretty good behind the plate. I hope he can hold himself together and avoid injury, because it looks like he’s starting to come together at this level finally. Pudge had the biggest day with two home runs, and three RBI’s (although Segui too had a couple of RBI’s). Kenny Rogers looked pretty good going 7.1 innings allowing four runs on 9 hits. Zimmerman & Venafro came in and pitched one out each in the eighth before turning it over to Wetteland in the ninth.
Wetteland lost a save opportunity when Pudge hit a two run home run in the top of the ninth, giving us a four run lead. Everyone looked good out there, there were no major blunders, and I enjoyed watching this game, unlike the last few.
Also, I wish we could have seen all of the pre-game Cal Ripken festivities. Our local coverage only showed a few minutes, and seeing that was cool, but I would have liked to have seen all of it. Also, when the Ripken family gets home, I wonder if Cal’s wife will be mortified to see that her son was picking his nose on national television? :)

Well, this was another game in the slide, but this one was one of those really well pitched games on both sides. The kind you want to win, but don’t terribly mind losing. Mike Mussina was perfect the first time through the lineup, and we didn’t get anything going until the fifth – and then it was snuffed out. We had to work hard for the one run we got, and we did have a threat going in the ninth – we loaded the bases, but we came away with only one run in that inning.
Darren Oliver pitched pretty well, too. Went 6 2/3 giving up 6 hits and three runs. Not all that shabby – Doug Davis came in to finish the rest of the game and gave up nothing in his 1 2/3 innings of work – looked good, especially compared to his 1999 appearances.
Not a whole lot else to say about this one other than it was some nice pitching, and it’d be nice to see the offense show up again.

Well, this was another game in the slide. We lost in a most bizarre fashion, balking in the final run. We missed opportunities again, and basically let the game get away from us. Our team is backwards this year from last year. Last year, we had great offense & a great bullpen, and just “so so” starting pitching. This year it’s the other way around – great starting pitching, but our offense is gone, and our bullpen is unreliable.
Loaiza pitched a great game – 8 innings, 6 hits, three runs. Our bullpen lost it again. Loaiza did give up two of his runs late, and via the longball, but other than that, he looked really sharp. Turning out to be one of our better pitchers – I’m glad – so our trade for him eventually turned out good. :) We left 7 on base again – far too many.
Raffy had to come out of the game early after sliding into second base attempting to steal. He didn’t look that bad to me, but you can never really tell with these things. Hopefully he won’t be out very long.
I got a laugh out of the ejection of B.J. Surhoff. He really looked like Paul O’Neill up there – which is not a good thing. O’Neill whines about everything (hence my calling him Mr. Whiny) – and thinks that every pitch should be a ball unless he swings at it. This is what Surhoff looked like when he was ejected in the first inning.

I could write about this one – but I just don’t want to! :(

No time to write about this game – way too busy at work. Sorry. Was nice seeing Pedro Martinez in person!