The Good: Todd Zeile extended his hitting streak. We had three Ranger home runs.
The Bad: Mike Morgan seems more like what his record indicates he would be pitching like, not like the guy we saw in Anaheim the other week.
The Ugly: Two errors in the 9th inning leading to a total defensive meltdown, costing us the game.
Oh my, what an ugly way to lose a game. Not only did we commit one error (Rusty’s bobble of a ball he tried to basket catch), but the one by Wetteland to finish the game was obscene. Actually, he probably should have been charged with TWO errors, as on the play before it he failed to cover his part of the infield – Wetteland seemed asleep on defense, big time.
Scarborough Green made it into this game – he drew a walk. I tend to root for the guys who hardly ever get to play, I seemed to have picked this up from my wife Lynn who feels this way about all kinds of sports players. I’m wondering how much longer he stays around, especially if we make some sort of move before the end of the month.
The ending of this game really spoiled what was an otherwise good game. Mike Morgan looked sloppy again, and we ended up taking the lead on three home runs hit by our guys today, including a real dinger of a shot by Ruben Mateo (440 feet or so). Todd Zeile set a career high hitting streak for himself with 17, and I was feeling good going into the bottom of the ninth, especially after a baserunning blunder by the Padres left us with two outs and the lead. Then Wetteland has his meltdown.
It’s too bad, as I can’t think of anything else about this game except this.
Roster Transaction
- Ruben Mateo activated from disabled list.
- Ryan Glynn sent back to AAA Oklahoma (excepted
to be recalled after the All-Star break)
G85: Rangers beat Padres 7-2
Aaron Sele looked really good, like he had some of his best stuff going tonight. He was great through the first six innings, but seemed to crap out come the seventh – he had something like 115 pitches, if I’m not mistaken. He gave up two innings, before handing the ball over to Venafro, who ended the seventh inning. Jeff Zimmerman came in and got another scoreless inning – lowering his ERA from 0.89 to 0.88. It’s about at the point where it’s not going anywhere else. :) John Wetteland would have come in for the ninth, but we scored a couple of more runs in the top of the 9th, putting a save out of reach, so Tim Crabtree came in for the ninth, and did really well. Again, our bullpen led the way – giving up nothing.
Our offence got started early with a solo home run by Pudge in the first inning. We also had home runs from two others, a solo shot by Ruben Mateo, just back from the DL, and a two run shot by Royce Clayton (whose mother was shown in the stands cheering for him after the hr). Overall, it seemed like a very nice game – good pitching (2 runs on 9 hits), great offense (3 HR, 7 runs on 8 hits), and some awesome defense.
Twice Aaron Sele got out of bases loaded, once in a most cool factor. Bases were loaded with no one out, and Sele got a really big strikeout. Then he got Jackson to hit a ball back to him, and Sele converted a really cool pitcher to catcher to first double play ending the inning.
Todd Zeile did not play, he was “excused” from the game, as he had a personal matter to attend to at home (as his family is in Los Angeles).
Couple of interesting things about the game.. It seemed that every time Juan came up, he was booed (not terribly loudly, but you could hear it on TV), and when Pudge came into the dugout one time, there were two girls within earshot of a microphone screaming “Pudge, we came all the way from Texas, will you sign my ball? We love youuuuuuuuu!” Cute. :)
Tomorrow we’re on national Fox TV coverage – let’s see how bad they dump on Juan for his All-Star game stance.
Rookie reliever Zimmerman an improbable All-Star
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Two seasons ago, Jeff Zimmerman was out of organized baseball, faxing major league clubs pleading for a chance to try out. Now Zimmerman is in the spotlight as an All-Star and a bullpen ace for the Texas Rangers.
“If you had asked me about making the All-Star team two years ago, I would have just laughed,” he said. “I didn’t even make the all-star team when I was pitching in the independent Northern League in ’97.”
Now he’s 8-0 with a 0.89 ERA for the AL-West leading Rangers. He got the win in Wednesday’s 7-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics, pitching 2 1-3 innings to tie a club record with his 16th straight scoreless appearance.
Zimmerman, who has struck out 46 and walked only nine in 50 1-3 innings, has the lowest ERA and has allowed the lowest batting average (.110) in the major leagues.
Fellow Texas reliever and All-Star John Wetteland said Zimmerman’s numbers are hard to believe.
“Like 99 percent of the rest of baseball, I hadn’t heard of him before this year,” Wetteland said of his setup man. “Now, sometimes we look up there and he’s got Super Nintendo numbers or Little League numbers.”
It has not been an easy route to the majors for Zimmerman.
He played two seasons at Texas Christian, then spent 1994 pitching in France. He was a starter for the Canadian national team in 1995 and 1996 in hopes of pitching in the Olympics, but Canada failed to qualify.
Zimmerman was selected in 1997 for the Canadian team scheduled to play in the world championship qualifying tournament, but that was canceled.
So the right-hander went to Winnipeg of the Northern League, where he went 9-2 as a starter and led the league with a 2.82 ERA. In 1998, he was signed by the Rangers as a free agent and was made a reliever. He went to Single-A Charlotte, then was promoted to Double-A Tulsa.
He came to spring training this year as a non-roster invitee, and has turned into a top middle reliever. He has become the first Texas pitcher to begin his major league career with eight straight victories, and the Rangers are 28-5 in games in which he has appeared.
“I can’t think of anyone who came on the scene with less publicity and did as much,” Texas manager Johnny Oates said. “These things happen — not often, maybe once in a lifetime, and this is my once.”
Zimmerman, 26, has not allowed a run in his last 19 2-3 innings, the second longest streak in Rangers history.
“You look at hitters’ faces, and you can see they’re wondering, `How can he throw a slider at 2-and-0, how can he paint the plate on a 3-and-2 count?’ ” Oates said. “He exemplifies pitching instead of throwing.”
Oakland’s John Jaha, who also was selected to the All-Star team, was one of Zimmerman’s victims Wednesday. He struck out looking in the eighth inning.
“He has one of the best sliders I’ve seen this year,” Jaha said. “He’s got movement on everything he throws and he’s throwing 93-94 miles per hour. He’s one of the best pitchers I’ve faced.”
Though middle relievers rarely are chosen for the All-Star game, AL manager Joe Torre said he couldn’t ignore Zimmerman’s statistics.
“I was just hoping to get my teammates’ respect as a competitor,” Zimmerman said. “But to have Joe Torre of the Yankees show that same respect is unbelievable. This is the ultimate pinnacle to me.”
G84: Rangers drop 7-4 game to Oakland
Rick Helling doesn’t look like the pitcher he was last year. He’s had only one win in his last 8 starts. However, he does seem to be suffering from a lack of run support this year. Many a time, he’s pitched really well, only to be taken out late with a 2-1 deficit, or something like that. It’s too bad. Still, he is pitching well overall, but his record doesn’t show it, and his ERA was killed by his first couple of starts of the season.
However, our bullpen continues it’s masterpieces. Wetteland got his 26th save, and Zimmerman got his eighth win – At this rate, we have a chance of a bullpen pitcher having our most wins. I wonder what the record for any team for bullpen wins by one pitcher in a season is? Wetteland made it interesting in the 9th by allowing the bases to get loaded, but we ended up winning by 3.
I didn’t get to catch all of the game, as it was on during the day at work, and I sometimes can’t pay attention at work like I can at home. Still, it was a win, and we’ll always take that.
Nice day for the team – we have four All-Stars this year (Pudge, Raffy, Wetteland, & Zimmerman). We would have had five, for an all time Ranger record if Juan hadn’t decided to sulk.
The new Ranger killer, Ben Grieve hit another home run against us – this was his first one at home in about a year!
Dick Bosman released from hospital
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA (TICKER) — Texas Rangers pitching coach Dick Bosman was released from UC-Irvine Medical Center today after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured right hip suffered while in-line skating outside Edison Field on June 28.
Bosman, 55, had a screw and a plate inserted into his right hip. He has returned home to Texas and is expected to be limit his duties for four to six weeks after the All-Star break.
In Bosman’s absence, bullpen coach Larry Hardy has served as the Rangers’ pitching coach and minor league hitting instructor Butch Wynegar has assumed the role of bullpen coach.
Bosman is in his 28th year in professional baseball and fifth as a coach with Texas. He also served as the pitching coach under current Rangers manager Johnny Oates in Baltimore from 1992-94.
Roster Transaction
- Ruben Mateo assigned to AAA Oklahoma for a rehab
assignment. - Eric Gunderson recalled from AAA Oklahoma rehab
assignment, but remains on the DL.
G83: Rangers shut out by A’s, 4-0
This was just like the July 4th game. We were totally shut down by the opposing pitcher (this time it’s Jimmy Haynes). Although he didn’t pitch all 9 innings, he pitched really well, and got some nice support from the bullpen to shut down the Rangers, with a total of four hits over the nine innings. Again, we had a bit of a threat in the 9th, but nothing happened.
Ryan Glynn killed himself with a million walks, two of which came around for runs. Juan Gonzalez made an awesome defensive play in the game throwing out a runner trying to score at the plate on a rocket of a throw from the bullpen on the right hand side – there was no doubt, either, he was out by a mile. This double play saved Glynn’s butt when he had walked the bases loaded. This might be Glynn’s last appearance, my gut says he’ll be going back to AAA after the All-Star game.
Jimmy Haynes of Oakland really looked great – it’s tough to do anything against a pitcher that pitches this well against you. Mike Munoz pitched a few really good innings, I thought again last night that he was an excellent pickup in the past off-season. Loaiza made another short appearance in relief – he did his job, but he doesn’t seem to be hanging around long enough at one time to know how well he really looks.
Todd Zeile did extend his hitting streak to 15 – Pudge has the current season record of 20.
Loaiza activated, Kolb sent down
ARLINGTON, TEXAS (TICKER) — The Texas Rangers activated right-handed pitcher Esteban Loaiza from the disabled list and sent reliever Danny Kolb to Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League (AAA).
Loaiza was placn thsabled list on May 16 with a broken right hand and made a couple of rehabilitation starts wiOklahoma. In 4 1/3 scoreless innings, Loaiza allowed three hiand e walks with six strikeouts.
Loaiza has had a shaky season for the Rangers. Over 26 1/3 innings, he has allowed 22 runs and 38 hits with a 7.52 ERA in 11 appearances. Loaiza has 23 strikeouts and six walks.
In four relief appearances, Kolb gave up four runs — three earned — over 7 1/3 innings with a 3.68 ERA. He allowed a solo home run and three hits over three innings in a 6-0 loss to Seattle on Sunday.
Roster Transaction
- Esteban Loaiza activated from the DL.
- Danny Kolb sent back to AAA Oklahoma.
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