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Let’s see. The pitching. Well, I thought Aaron Sele was pitching great. Only gave up a couple of hits through the first few, one run. Seemed to be crusing along, and then Johnny Oates took him out. I didn’t catch the pitch count, but I’m hoping that’s the reason, as he didn’t seem to be in really huge trouble when he came out. Still, he got the win, which was nice. Would have been nice to see him get into the 7th, though. Zimmerman, while not as sharp as he usually was came in and got the job done.
The game was actually a tight game up until the top of the 8th – some good baseball, as the Rangers were up only 2-1, on two solo Home runs by Lee Stevens & Todd Zeile, who both seem to be having nice Aprils. We busted it open to 6-1 on a bloop double to right field by Roberto Kelly scoring two, and then another double by Rusty Greer scoring two more. Given the way we were pitching, I thought it was an easy cruise, especially going into the bottom of the 9th still up 6-1. We then had appearances by Munoz (who was OK and appeared in the 8th), and Crabtree (who wasn’t). Both Munoz & Crabtree pitched only 2/3 of an inning, giving up runs (1 for Munoz, 2 for Crabby). Crabtree was rather ineffective, allowing the Twins to get back in the game at 6-4. Wetteland, who wasn’t expected to show because of the score came in and got a save. I liked that we won, but I didn’t like the fall-apart in the bottom of the ninth.
However, the biggest story was Pudge getting wailed upon in the first inning. At the end of the inning, Mark McLemore threw home as Matt Lawton was attempting to score. As Matt hit the plate, he elbowed Pudge in the head trying to score. Pudge managed to hold on to the ball, and the inning was over, but after getting hit by Lawton, he also crashed into the home plate umpire, and then was laying flat on his back on the ground for a good couple of minutes. He eventually got up, and sat in the dugout for a minute or two before heading to the trainer’s room. He looked really dazed there. Later on we found out that he was hit in the same cheekbone that was fractured in 1993 – although Xrays didn’t show anything broken. Pudge reported feeling dizzy, and he’s listed as day to day. That’s good.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
Aaron Sele bounced back from a poor start last time out and the Rangers held off a 9th inning comeback bid by the Twins and beat them 6-4 Thursday.
Sele pitched almost 6 innings and gave up just 1 run in his stint. Historically, April is his favorite month to pitch and it’s showed this April as well.
The Rangers got homers from Rafael Palmeiro (his third) and Lee Stevens (his fifth). The Rangers however, managed only 6 hits and can now be officially labeled “in a hitting slump as a team”. The Yankees shut down Texas earlier this week.
This is going to sound like a broken record, but rookie Jeff Zimmerman continues to impress. Really good relief pitchers are extremely hard to find. His value to this team is phenomenal and should not be misused nor under appreciated.
It should also be noted that Rusty Greer and Roberto Kelly (who continues to play *well*) each drove in a couple of runs for the Red Shoe.
The Angels lost and Seattle was postponed on Thursday. The Angels, while playing just about each loss close the past week, are struggling offensively, even though Mo Vaughn is playing again. The Rangers remain in first place.

I thought we made out better than the game looked. I also thought Helling was pulled too quickly.
I’m really tired today – I don’t feel up to writing commentary.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
It’s the same song, the second verse. The Rangers just cannot beat the New York Yankees. They lost 4-2.
Wednesday, the Rangers and Rick Helling squared off against baseball’s premier pitcher, Roger Clemens.
Clemens was wild in the first inning. He uncharacteristically walked three hitters. Goodwin, who led off the game with a walk, stole second and third and came home on an error by catcher Joe Girardi. No hits, one run after one-half inning. The Rangers, however, couldn’t muster anything after this, except for a 4th inning solo homer by Todd Zeile (his 4th).
The Yankees really didn’t do much either, but they did hit 2 homers off of Helling. Helling has now given up a homer in each start this year – and two in each start but one.
Clemens settled down and wound up giving the Rangers just one earned run in 7+ innings.
One lone bright spot remains the pitching of Jeff Zimmerman, who threw zeroes for 2 innings. He’s been nothing short of remarkable.
The Rangers have lost 4 of their last 5 ball games, yet remain the leader in the A.L. West because the other teams are playing poorly also.

Once again, David Cone killed the Rangers. In the last two outings against the Rangers (the other being Game 3 of the playoffs last year), we were shut the hell down by him – totally. I have to say that when I saw Cone’s name as the pitcher here, I groaned, because he’s still a very underrated pitcher – I wouldn’t mind having him our our staff, that’s for sure.
Quite the opposite was John Burkett. I knew we were in trouble when the first pitch of the game hit Chuck Knoblauch. Was a definite eye-roller. And then Paul O’Neill gave the Yankees all they needed with the first of two home runs for him in the first inning. Burkett has had a major slide in quality this season. He hasn’t been a dominating pitcher since he was with the Giants severeal years ago, but at worst, he was just “OK”. This year, IMHO, he’s gone backwards into bad. That’s a shame, because I really like the guy. Today’s DMN is reporting that there might be a problem with Burkett physically, and he could have to go on the DL because of it. If that’s true, it might explain his problems – but if he does go on the DL, we don’t have a whole lot of options. I thought last night that Simms coming back might bump Burkett from the roster, as Loaiza is pitching decent, but if Burkett goes on the DL, I think that Loaiza would go back to the rotation. However, I agree with what Jim says below about Loaiza and the pen – I’d really hate to see Burkett go on the DL, but he’s not doing us all that good where he is. The bizarre thing is that I look at the scores here, and 4-0 isn’t all that bad, really. It’s just that Burkett got helped out by a double play in the first, and some good fielding. He seemed to struggle from the getgo. One bright spot was Esteban Loaiza. He seemed to pitch really good today, and I hope to god he can hold that up, as I want him to succeed, because if he doesn’t, it means we gave up Warren Morris for nothing. :)
We had a couple of threats going late, but they didn’t amount to anything. Our offense was non existant (only 4 hits total). Not much else to say about this game, other than we got shut down big time by David Cone.
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
As Yankee great Yogi Berra once said, “It’s deja vu all over again”.
Tuesday’s game brought back painful memories of the 1998 American League Playoffs to Rangers’ fans as the Yankees, behind a masterful David Cone, defeated the Rangers 4 to 0.
The Rangers managed just 4 hits the entire ball game – all singles. Cone came at the Rangers from every angle known to man and had them off balance the entire night.
Paul O’Neill did most of the damage for the Yanks, as he drove 2 John Burkett pitches out of the ballpark in less than 3 innings. Burkett actually did well to only give up 3 runs in his 2.0 innings as he was in trouble his entire short stay.
Esteban Loaiza may have found his niche for the Rangers. He pitched middle relief again and gave up just one earned run in 3.2 innings pitched. As much as we all seem to dislike Loaiza, he has saved the bullpen from a tough road of misery, eating up innings since Opening Day.
The Rangers try to rebound Wednesday behind Rick Helling, who pitched very well his last time out.

A much better game than the first two in the series – this looked like the Seattle series. There wasn’t a whole lot wrong with this game that I could tell other than Eric Gunderson, who looks like he probably pitched himself down to AAA when Mike Simms is ready to come back.
Mike Morgan is looking again like he’s going to be the steal of the offseason. Through 5 innings, Mike had pitched only 65 pitches with two hits (although one of them was a solo HR), and 85 pitches through 6 innings. There were a couple of 1-2-3 innings, and he looked pretty dominating. The seventh seems to be his limit so far this season – a double and then Ben Grieve singled in a run, so he got taken out before a whole lot of damage could be done. Was a great outing still, only giving up two runs on 4 hits. Jeff Zimmerman came in and pitched and retired just about everyone he faced, giving up only one hit over two innings, and 2 strikeouts. Once the hitters figure him out, he won’t be as dominating, but it’s still nice to have an arm like this. I’d be shocked if he was sent back down when Simms comes up.
The Rangers bats were a bit more awake than in the first two games of this series. Point in case.. The Rangers had nine hits through the first out in the fourth inning, which was more than they had in the first two games against the A’s combined! The fourth was a power inning for us. Todd Zeile had a big solo home run to left (there was a funny visual on TV of the ball bouncing down a flight of stairs), and then two pitches later, Lee Stevens hit what Bill Jones called a “titanic blast” to right field – the first back to back home runs by the Rangers for the year. Raffy also had a spectacular day; he was 4 for 4 with two RBI’s and a run scored – looked good. Probably would have had a double if he could run as fast as he normally does. Todd Zeile also had a great day on the field, making a couple of really great plays – lookd like the veteran third baseman we dealt for last year. :)
Silly play in the third – Goodwin was going to steal second, and the A’s shortstop (I think it was the shortstop) stood on the base waiting for the ball to come in, and the base itself came out of the ground and up in the air. Goodwin was called out (see photos below), but I have to wonder if the play would have gone the Rangers way if the base had stayed in the ground. Speaking of stolen bases, Lee Stevens had one, and it was his 5th in his career, and his first since 1997.
There was one really funny thing they did on the TV – they put Tom Grieve up on screen, and had a graphic that said “.000 batting average this season”. Thought that was rather funny. :) A great game – but our weak ass pitching is headed to Yankee Stadium next – I don’t feel very confident there at all. Can we have Sele & Morgan pitch there? :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
The Rangers’ salvaged what was almost a Lost Weekend by defeating the Oakland Athletics Sunday.
Paced by a great (for Texas pitching) outing by Mike Morgan, terrific defense from Todd Zeile and shutout relief from Jeff Zimmerman and John Wetteland, the Rangers held the A’s to 7 hits.
The Rangers’ banged out 15 hits, including 4 for Rafael Palmeiro, who finally saw his batting average eclipse .300 (he’s now hitting .333). Palmeiro also added a couple of RBI’s.
Texas hit back-to-back homers in the 4th when Zeile and Lee Stevens connected. That’s the first time this year they’ve done that.
With the pitching the Rangers got Sunday from Morgan, they could have beaten anyone. Here’s hoping it continues, as the Rangers travel to Yankee Stadium Tuesday to play the hated Yankees.

I was out during most of this game – didn’t see enough to make any commentary on it. Except this – man, Jason Giambi is killing us!
Commentary by Jim Weeks:
Jim was sick this weekend, and didn’t write any commentary for this game.

I was kinda tired when this game was on, and wasn’t really paying attention – I think I fell asleep twice watching it. Not to mention the fact it was a crap game – I don’t really feel like writing commentary about this game 3 days later. Now if we had WON by the score of 8-2, I might have felt like writing about it. :)
Commentary by Jim Meeks:
I can’t write a whole lot today. Then again, there’s not a lot to say about this game.
Aaron Sele, the most reliable Rangers’ starter so far this year, was rocked by the A’s Friday to pick up his first loss of the year.
The Rangers’ offense was missing as well – and final score: A’s 8, Rangers 2, was really more lopsided that it looks.
The Rangers managed only 3 hits (including a solo homer by Lee Stevens) while the A’s banged out 17, a season high for them.
Eric Gunderson would be in danger of losing his job if the Rangers had a reliable left-hander at AAA to replace him. Gunderson saw his ERA climb to over 11.00. The only alternatives are Mike Venafro, Rich Robertson and Matt Perisho; Perisho being the best of the lot. Still, a call-up seems unlikely.