Rangers' struggles at Target Field continue
Texas is 0-6 at the brand new Target Field in Minneapolis. When they were still playing in the Metrodome, I only had to worry about a few stiff backs after the series was over. I'm not sure if that's worse than losing or not. Scratch that. Nothing's worse than losing, and unfortunately, my boys have been doing a lot of that lately. August was pretty ugly, and the fortunes haven't changed with the turn of the calendar.
I didn't get to see much of this series due to other commitments and TV blackout rules. Based on what I heard and did see, however, I'm not all that mad about the lack of baseball. Then again, when I get into those cold days of December and January, I'll be begging for any baseball -- bad or good. I guess I should stop complaining and just hang in there. Besides, it's not like my boys are playing in the basement, even if their level of play lately has felt like they have. They have a semi-comfortable lead in the division race, but I pray they quit taking it for granted and start playing like they're 10 games back instead of nearly 10 games up.
Today was the worst outing and the first loss for C.J. Wilson since the all-star break. Prior to this, he was 7-0 with a 1.99 ERA in those starts. He gave up six earned runs in 5.1 innings. His final inning was a real mood-killer. It included three hits and two walks (including one with the bases loaded), and he left the bags loaded up with just one out for Michael Kirkman to handle. Kirkman surrendered one of those runs to get a flyout, but was able to stifle the damage a bit.
The Rangers offense tried to rally in the 9th, and certainly looked like they were surging back to make the game interesting. Ian Kinsler hit a lead-off single and then scored on a Julio Borbon double to bring the Rangers within three runs. Borbon later scored on a Cristian Guzman single. Michael Young singled and David Murphy walked to load the bases up for Vlad Guerrero with two outs. Guerrero hit a single up the middle to push Guzman across home plate, but Young was called out for "incidentally" making contact with 3B coach Dave Anderson. It was a strange way to end the game, and Young argued his case, but the replay shows it was indeed a good call. A very deflating one as well. Young represented the tying run and Nelson Cruz had a bat in his hand. It would have been nice to have another chance to escape the sweep. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, and now the boys head off to Toronto, which hasn't been very favorable to them either.
KISS: I'm going with David Murphy, who had one hit and two walks, including that well-earned one in the 9th to extend the game. He really made the Twins pitcher work hard, fouling off two good pitches on a 3-2 count. Murph won out and trotted to first.
MISS: I don't know. Young's out to end the game was awful, but he did have two good hits in the game. It's hard to give him a miss for that. And I don't know if I feel like Wilson earned it either.
FINAL SCORE
Rangers - 5 R, 11 H, 13 LOB
Twins - 6 R, 7 H, 1E, 11 LOB
Monday's pitching match-up: Tommy Hunter (12-2, 3.64 ERA) vs. Ricky Romero (11-8, 3.60 ERA)
Day game on Labor Day. I'm pretty happy about that. And I'm actually off work. That doesn't happen often.
