Game 118: Edinson deals

Volquez turned in a stellar performance last night, but Benoit almost blew it. What a scare.

Now, in my inbox this morning, Jamey had these words to say:

Our baseball history isn't Yankees history or Cardinals history or Cowboys
history, but its best moments still mean everything to a lot of us.  The
Rangers are four games back but a lot can change in a week, as we learned 10
Septembers ago, and they can certainly change over 44 games.

Wow.

Millwood vs. Hernandez tonight with the Rangers riding a 4 game winning streak. Then, a two game set against the Angels and then off to a weekend set against the Tigers. Now would be a good time to stay hot...

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Game 112: Now starting for the Angels, Rob Drake.

Rob Drake inserted himself into the starting lineup for the Angels. Only one issue: he isn't on the Angels' 40-man roster. He also decreed that he could take it upon himself to also play Manager and remove the Rangers starting pitcher, Adam Eaton, after only two-thirds of an inning.

How can this be?

He was wearing blue. Umpire blue.

Ugh. What a joke.

(I'll leave the Google searches to Jamey and the scathing commentary to the folks over at the LSB gameday thread.)

We left after 5 innnings and went off to see Talladega Nights instead. The laugher starring Will Ferrell was far better than the one featuring Rob Drake.

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Game 111: Vlad gets free passes, Rangers pitchers sleep better

Nothing positive to say other than Vlad didn't get a hit (finally!) against Texas pitching.

Koronka didn't pitch very well (for a rookie 5th starter, I guess you live with the occassional bad outing), and the offense was in a funk. Salmon hit a HR which was good to see because he's getting so little playing time these days. Rivera hit another one again, but had a few sub-par defensive plays in the field. And, yah, all those Angels fans went to Hooters for dinner since they scored ten runs off Texas pitching. Given past years when I was eating at Hooters after every Texas game, once isn't bad (let's hope this doesn't start a trend).

BTW, did I mention Vlad didn't get a hit? That's the only thing I'll remember from this game in a week. Think good thoughts going into tomorrow's game... Eaton vs. Saunders.

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Game 110: Salami's for dinner

Dumpmaster hit a grand slam tonight. Padilla pitched really well - again, in constrast to the sub-par performance from the Angels pitching with Lackey. There were far fewer Rangers fans in the stands tonight than there were last night - when DeRosa hit the GS, only about four or five others in RF were cheering. Oh well.

Vlad still drools in delight whenever he sees a Rangers pitcher. It's just unreal. Buck needs to just give him free passes all night long and finish that absurd hit streak.

All in all, a much more pleasant (and less of a roller coaster) game than last night. Most importantly, Hello Win Column!

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Game 109: Departure at Inning 10.5

I left the Rangers/Angels game tonight as the game entered the bottom of the 11th - all knotted up at 6.

Millwood pitched well for 7 and 2/3rds (he was on the road after all!), the offense did their job scoring runs off a shaky Weaver, GMJ had a spectacular throw home to nail the runner. The bullpen - and, probably, more importantly - Buck didn't do theirs. Why not bring in Otsuka in the bottom of the 8th with two out? Instead they throw out roadkill in Mahay and Bauer with Bauer giving up the crushing 3-run shot to Rivera. Angel Stadium turned into a madhouse and I was cursing. Hey, but Buck did pinch hit for Pop-up with Stairs! Miracles never cease.

So, when it hit the 11th, there's just no way I could have kept my sanity if I saw the Rangers blow a once comfy four-run lead. Inevitably, this meant that I didn't see Teixeira continue his climb out of the power pit he fell into.

Hence..

And everything I had to know

I heard it on my radio.

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Go Michael!

Congrats to MY for being the All-Star MVP. Yay. Everyone else gets to see what we do game in and game out.

For kicks, see how the folks over at LSB felt about MY getting the game-winning triple in the 9th. Of course, Jamey also quickly sent a reminder about what he said back on Father's Day about Ozzie Guillen's drooling over Young.

The Rangers are in first place heading into the second half, but it's going to be a wild ride to the finish...let's just hope we're playing meaningful games at the end!

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