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Wow. I started this site in December 1998, and 12 full seasons and a handful of playoff games later, I finally got to write this..
The Rangers have won their playoff series and have advanced to the ALCS.
I mean WOW. It almost seems so surreal. I’m actually at a loss for words right now. Although I wasn’t during the game. I burned it up on Twitter a bunch. I’ll be posting my game summary in the form of my twitter updates below. But a few bullet points to mention.
Twice we scored runs with a runner on second with a ball that did not leave the infield. That was pretty darned cool. That we got enough runs to win the game that way? Even more amazing.
Cliff Lee. Saw a funny tweet during the game about giving him the entire amount of money from the new Fox Sports Southwest contract. :) I mean wow. I think most Ranger fans are ready for Greenberg/Ryan to give him a blank check to stay. He had some nice curveballs working tonight.
Hamilton looks like the 2009 version of himself at the moment. Looks weak and lost at the plate. Not good.
We now have a record for most strikeouts in a division series by team, and an AL record for a single pitcher. Wheeee!
Carlos Pena looked bad too. Strikeouts all over the place. You’d think he was Brad Wilkerson or something.
My hometown Phillies and my adopted team the Rangers are in the final four. Uh-oh. I’m getting dangerously close to not knowing what to do with myself in the World Series. :)
Below is my tweet list. There’s some cool stuff in there. I’ll be out at the park on Friday for Game 1. Hope to see you out there, too!

• Ok, here we go. Game 5. Twitter ready. iPad scoring software ready. Go #Rangers
• MLBN: Ripken, Leiter, and Larkin all picking #Rays to win. The host picked the #Rangers though.
• RT @aandro: In-game guy @ The Trop is awful. 30-year-old men don’t need to flip cap backwards, act like teenagers. >> Did you say Tony Romo?
• Good that Elvis wasn’t greedy rounding first. #Rangers
• RT @VictorRojas29: Catwalk overkill…please stop. #txrangers v. #rays
• Andrus scores on a 3-1 groundout that never leaves the infield. Run Run #Rangers
• Nice catch to get the foul out by Moreland. Nice job not falling on his face, too. #Rangers #ShutdownInningInFirst
• Price had 18 pitches in this 1st inning, as opposed to 24 in Game 1. #Rangers
• Kinsler got a single, but Frenchy grounded into a DP. Oh well. #Rangers
• Easy 1-2-3 for Cliff Lee in the second. That’s why we got him. Give this man a blank check! #Rangers
• Three k’s the first time through the lineup for Price. #RaysStillLosing. #Rangers
• Bengie Molina breaks out the Antlers! #Rangers – His first stolen base since 2006!
• David Price has 51 pitches through 3 innings. #WorkThoseCounts #Rangers
• Infield hit by Bartlett gets two on against Lee in third. Weak hits like that annoy me. #Rangers
• Hamilton totally airmails a throw to the plate, allowing the runner to get to second. Bad idea there, Josh. #Rangers
• Nice fielding by the #Rangers to tag out the runner heading to the plate, but also to keep the runner at second. #HeWasTagged
• #Rays tie the game in the third on a few singles. Could have been a heck of a lot worse. #NoThanksToHamilton #Rangers
• Man that double by Cruz went to the only place it couldn’t have gone out. His watching the ball cost him a triple, though. #Rangers
• And there’s the payback. Cruz steals third, Shoppach airmails it into left, we score second run. #Rangers #AntlersAllOverThePlace
• The pitches by Price after the airmailed throw to third look a lot less controlled. Here comes Price’s emotions. #Rangers #PourItOn
• Watching Jeff Franceour at the plate.. He looks like ol Dumpmaster D himself, Mark DeRosa. #Rangers
• Nice curveball by Cliff Lee to strike out Carlos Pena again on a called strike three. #Rangers
• “@DFishDesign: Nice curveball by Cliff Lee to strike out Carlos Pena again on a called strike three. #Rangers”. Ditto for Upton.
• There’s the strikeouts for Lee. Struck out the side in the fourth. Looking good. #Rangers
• Nice atbat for Elvis after coming back from an 0-2 count. #Rangers
• Impressive at bat by Jason Bartlett against Lee in the fifth. #Rangers
• 5 out of last 6 outs by Lee being k’s sets the record for K’s by a staff in the division series. #Rangers #MoveOverPadres
• That’s a home run by Hamilton in our park. Darnit. #Rangers
• Is it just me, or did Guerrero seem to be swinging harder than usual at this at bat? #Rangers
• #Rangers get another run on a grounder that didn’t leave the infield scoring a guy from second. #AntlersAllOverThePlace
• Unless Price’s foot was off the back of bag, it looked like Kinsler was out on the play that scored Guerrero. Rays didn’t argue. #Rangers
• RT @Evan_P_Grant: Lee just set AL Division Series record with 17 strikeouts in the series. Mussina, Randy Johnson each had 16.
• Carlos Pena is striking out so much, you’d think Brad Wilkerson was wearing his uniform. #Rangers #GoCliffLee
• Very quick 7 pitch 1-2-3 inning by Grant Balfour in the 7th to shut down the #Rangers – much better than Price.
• Is anyone watching the 2003 MLB Season Summary show on MLBN right now? #RatingsOfZero
• My 5yr old daughter colored a bunch of #Rangers Captain pages for me to have when I watched the game tonight. I love my kids!
• RT @aandro: Someone may need to start Kelly Shoppach’s car for him tonight if the #Rays lose.
• We’re through seven innings, up 3-1. Cliff Lee struck out a million. CJ & O’Day up in pen, one’s got to be coming in next inning. #Rangers
• Longoria needs to stop worrying about who has his hat, and start worrying about catching the ball. #Rangers #Thanks
• The second inning ending double play for the #Rangers this game – Grrrrrrrr.
• Jason Bartlett if finally out, after going 3-3 with a double up to this point. #Rangers
• Ten strikeouts by Cliff Lee through 7.2 innings! #Rangers
• And Cliff Lee follows up the 10th strikeout with a 1-2-3 10 pitch bottom of the 8th. #Rangers #WhoIsClosingGame
• HUGE FREAKIN INSURANCE runs there with a two run home run by Capt Uppercut! #Rangers #ICanSmellItNow
• RT d_a_cameron: Really happy for @NewbergReport.
• We win. Wow. Just freaking wow. Thank you to Jack Zduriencik. #Rangers
• The #Phillies and #Rangers are both in the final four in MLB. My head inches closer to disappearance in a baseball black hole.
• RT BattingStanceG: Tonight, even Justin Smoak’s family & friends are thinking Rangers were brilliant for ditching him. #MLB #CliffLee

Oh man, that was annoying. I think you can chalk this game up to one big thing.
Evan Longoria woke up. He went 3-4 with two runs scored and two RBI’s. Was the most potent offensive guy on the Rays Sunday afternoon. Two doubles and a home run. His power stroke was going, for sure. While he didn’t account for all the runs, he was part of a bunch of them.
It’s weird that through the four games played so far, the visitors played like the home team should play. You’re expected to win at home, and in both cases, the home team played like they were the timid team visiting the other park. An odd feeling. Hopefully that carries over to Game 5.
Not going to say a bunch about this one as its almost 1AM, and I’m tired, don’t feel like writing a bunch now. We looked flat. While I don’t think Cliff Lee will give us that in Game 5, I didn’t want to burn him twice in the second round, as he won’t get used to the max potential in Round 2, assuming we go deep in that.
Nelson Cruz did have a home run that my 5 year old daughter liked watching. :)
One good offset to this. The Cowboys lost, so they’re 1-3. Cowboys in last place is ALWAYS good, no matter what else is going on.

Yeah, I know they’re not called the Devil Rays any more. But it bugged me we didn’t beat them, so I’m calling them the Devil Rays. :) Oh, and you can view the photo gallery of mine from this game here.
This was the third Rangers playoff game I had attended. I was at the Oct 2, 1998 game and the Oct 9, 1999 games as well. Unfortunately, my playoff streak is now 0-3. We lost this game. I had picked the Rangers to win the series in 5 before any games were played, but I think a lot of people (myself included) smelled a sweep coming back home. The stage was set on Saturday for that. But before I get into the game, I wanted to say something else.
A big thanks to Mike Gonterwitz (sp?) for inviting me to his pre-game tailgate. I spent about three and a half hours out there. I was a bit worried at first, because I really didn’t know anyone else other than him. However, I brought some dogs, buns, and some Shiner Bock, and I fit in pretty well. There was a minor panic when the propane ran out, and it was discovered that the spare was left at the house (!), but a friend showed up about 15-20 minutes later with a charcoal ‘que in his truck, so the party was back on again. That dude cooked up some badass fajita steaks, and other sausages and whatnot. I had a great time – a few hours spent outside the game eating meat and drinking beer? Hell yeah, you’re gonna have a good time. :) So thanks Mike – I seriously had a great time. Thanks for the invite, hope to do it again sometime.

Once I got in, it was bloody packed. I mean so packed that the area behind the lower home run porch was packed like LBJ during rush hour. You literally stopped out there. Was by far and a way the worst people traffic jam I’d EVER seen in the 16 years the park’s been open. No contest. Was really awful. Eventually made it to my seat, had a decent vantage point, and settled in to watch the game.
The Rangers had their usual pre-game goodies. Charlie Pride sang the National Anthem, but for me, the best moment was Johnny Oates’ grandson throwing out the first pitch. Long time readers here know my affinity for Johnny Oates (links here and here if you don’t). But I got a kick out of seeing the kid out there (was just 8 as I recall). He was escorted by Rusty Greer & Mark McLemore. Liked that. Nice nod to the Rangers’ past glory there.
Once the game got started, it was OK through the first few. There were no runs scored until the bottom of the third, but Colby Lewis looked a little wobbly. It’s one of those things that won’t exactly turn up in the box score. His overall line isn’t that bad, really. Five innings pitched, two hits, no walks. However, he walked five guys – which is more than he’s walked in any game in 2010. That part wasn’t good. But he didn’t break. Still, this is the playoffs, and had it been a mid season game, he would have stayed out there, I’m sure. But you need to win THIS GAME NOW in October, so I understood him coming out. What I did NOT understand was Darren O’Day being taken out later on in the game after just one out. Lewis was immediately followed by Derek Holland (0.2IP), Alexi Ogando (0.1IP, BS), and then Darren Oliver (who was technically tagged with the loss). Compared to the three bullpen guys who came before him, O’Day was sparkling, yet he was taken out immediately. To me, that was the mistake of the game there. They brought in Feliz to get four outs. I would have left O’Day in to finish the inning he was in, as Feliz was meh. While Feliz didn’t get credited with the blown save or the loss, he probably deserved it. Our pen was not good. It just seemed out of whack, given the way it usually performs.
We had a little life at the end when Nelson Cruz jacked a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to make it 6-3, but by that point the damage was done.
The offense we did have was limited to just three solo runs (3rd, 7th, 9th). The 9th I already mentioned. The other two were on a small ball manufactured run in the third, and the other was another solo home run, that one by “Capt. Uppercut” himself, Ian Kinsler. But really, there was no sustained attack. Six hits overall. No Ranger had more than one hit. To be honest, I expected that with Matt Garza. I was more worried about our performance against Garza than I was against David Price, tell you the truth.
Finally, it doesn’t help when there’s guys on either side of you who are totally non chatty to people they don’t know. *AND* to make matters worse, sigh and groan at every single ball thrown. If it wasn’t a strike, the dude on my right was complaining. That got old after a couple of innings. Come on dude, even Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, & Cy Young threw 100% strikes. Give it a rest, doofus.
Leaving the park, I was bummed at the loss for sure, but as much as Ranger pride might have wanted the sweep, I doubt many people truly expected it to happen. No problem, though.. There’s Sunday’s game.
P.S. The place looked good in all red!

Yesterday I wrote a lot about the game on Twitter, and I did the same thing again for Game 2, so I’ll repeat what I did yesterday, which was post a list of all my Twitter comments (including a few retweets from other people), as it’s mostly a stream of thoughts while watching the game. I had to go pick up my kid from school in the middle, so I got about 35-40 minutes behind live TV, but I had caught up by the end of the game thanks to TiVo letting me skip all the boring stuff (and the commercials).

• MLBN’s Larkin and John Hart pick the #Rangers to win Game 2. Al Leiter picked the #Rays. Ready for more tweeting.
• #Rangers #Rays – My wife just handed me a home made roast beef sandwich as I sit here watching MLBN pre-game coverage. I love this woman!
• Minor panic. Time Warner Cable told me TBS HD was not available two mins b4 first pitch! aaaaaaaaaa! #Rangers #Rays – it’s back, though.
• After the first, Shields looks a lot better than their “Ace” from yesterday. #Rangers
• Really nice dive by Moreland to catch the foul ball. Love the dive. #Rangers #NotRyanGarko
• A couple of really good catches including a dive in center for Josh Hamilton! #Rangers #WhatRibs?
• Much better second inning for CJ Wilson. #Rangers
• Free gift run from Shields. Think Pena would have muffed that throw? Probably not. #Rangers #ThanksJoeMaddon
• Anyone else tired of hearing that the #Rangers are not just a power team anymore? We know that. #Duh #SoundsLikeJoeMorganDuh
• Treanors run was a double gift from Shields. First it was a hit by pitch. Second, he scored on Shields’ throwing error. Thanks Jim! #Rangers
• Had to pick up my kid from school. Now behind about 40min in #Rangers game. At least TiVo will let me skip commercials & pitching changes.
• No doubter home run by Ian Kinsler. Capt uppercut comes through. #Rangers
• Complete muff job for Kinsler on the routine grounder. Fortunately, didn’t amount to anything. CJ still shutting out Rays thru 4. #Rangers
• Treanor gets hit in the back again by Shields. Looks like the same spot. If it happens again, charge the mound! :) #Rangers
• Shields looks pissed off in the dugout after coming out. Let’s score the two inherited runners and really make him steam. #Rangers
• All they’re doing is focusing on Shields being mad in the dugout. Got worse after Michael Young’s home run. Hahahaha! #Rangers #Shieldssux
• Michael Young did appear to go around. We appear to have gotten a gift. Led to Joe Maddon’s ejection. #Hahahahaha. #ByeByeMaddon
• Can’t wait to see the post game whining by the Rays. You know it’s coming. #Rangers
• Kinsler gets another RBI, chasing Qualls, who was completely ineffective. #ShieldsInDugoutIsFunny #Rangers #Rays
• 27 min wait for CJ Wilson in top of 5th, didn’t affect him, though. One walk, no runs. Go #Rangers
• I wouldn’t have thought we’d be up 6-0 after six before this game started. #Rangers #BringYourBroomsSaturday
• Nice try by Young going to second on the Hamilton flyball. Gotta hand it to Upton; great throw. #Rangers #Rays
• CJ is mimicking Lee well. In top of 7th, he’s got first pitch strikes to 12 of last 15 batters. #Rangers
• More pissed off Rays. This time Shoppach, on a ball that looked like strike 3 to me. #Rangers #hahahahaha
• Nice job by O’Day and Oliver in the 7th, keeping it scoreless after 2nd/3rd and no outs. #Rangers #RaysCantScore
• RT Evan_P_Grant: Joe Maddon ejected and I counted at least 10 F-bombs in tirade directed at Jim Wolf. Rays may have gotten jobbed, but Rays have lost poise.
• Why did Niemann do good? He wasn’t acting like a whiny brat. He kept his cool, unlike several other #Rays – We’ll take it, though. #Rangers
• Darren Oliver makes the #Rays look bad in the 8th. #GoodNightRays. #Rangers
• Unless i missed it, it took till the 9th inning of game 2 for the Claw and Antlers stuff to be mentioned. #Rangers #WayToCoverTeamTBS
• The #Rangers now have more wins in two games of 2010 series than 96, 98, & 99 combined. This is good! I have a ticket to Game 3. Brooms!

I have to say before the series started, I was worried about CJ Wilson given his “meh” September. Shouldn’t have doubted him, he was every bit as good as Cliff Lee yesterday. CJ went 6.1 innings, gave up just two hits and two walks. No runs, struck out seven. Threw 104 pitches. He probably would have stayed in had this not been a playoff game, but you can’t take chances now.
Our pen was awesome too. O’Day faced one guy, got him out, and Oliver finished the game with 2.1 innings pitched, no hits allowed by any of them, although Oliver allowed one walk. They basically stood on the Rays throats, but the Rays didn’t help themselves by getting so mad after a seemingly blown call didn’t go their way.
They’re now down 2-0 to Texas, which in and of itself is very cool. We have more wins in the first two games of this series than we do in the 1996, 1998, & 1999 series COMBINED – which is quite sad. While the game isn’t over, and Colby Lewis can still lay an egg on Saturday, one gets the feeling the momentum will carry the team on Saturday to a series sweep!
And I have a ticket. Man, it’s gonna be cool! Although I won’t be able to do the tweet thing from there, can’t type that fast on an iPhone. :)