Game 2: A likely parable for a season.

I think the lesson from the 12-inning marathon victory tonight is as follows...

We will live by the home run. Small ball just isn't the Rangers style. The hitters don't know how to advance runners yet: too many runners get stranded.

The starting pitching tandem of Drese and Rogers might hold up. Couldn't really ask for more. (Another inning from Rogers perhaps, but geesh.) See how Young does tomorrow night.

The bullpen did an okay job with the exception of Cordero blowing the save in the 9th. Yah, but, he did get out of the bases-loaded jam in the bottom of 8th. I'm not really worried about Cordero though - he'll do fine in the long run.

What's the point of having a bench if you don't use it? Buck sure knows how to use lots of pitchers, but why not pinch hit for some of the weaker hitters (yes, I mean you Gary Matthews and Rod Barajas). Scioscia used his bench fairly well tonight - did Buck sub any hitter? No. Yikes!

The baserunning was ridiculous again. I believe it was Young got thrown out on an overslide (when he shouldn't have been running to begin with!), and Matthews made an out a home that was just silly.

The defense was scary bad. Mench flat-out misjudged the fly ball from Guerrero in the bottom of the 1st. He ran in, then started to run back. Ouch. Soriano is going to continue to be an adventure at 2nd. The mess in the 8th inning wouldn't have happened if Soriano hadn't bobbled the ball. Barajas also had an error on the throw to second. Teams just don't usually win by giving the other side extra outs.

On the token about giving the other side extra outs, I'm not sure I'm a fan of sacrifice bunting. Giving the other team one less out they have to work for is absurd. My dad and I chatted about the merits of 'Billy Ball' - screw the bunt. The out is more precious than moving the runners around when they might be likely to do that anyway. As Billy said, "You only have 27 precious outs."

Yet, Soriano redeemed himself with the homer. However, at that point, I wasn't sure who was left in the bullpen. Luckily, Shouse held on.

And, the Rangers are 1-1. Rubber match tomorrow night.

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