2-4 in 6 Games on the Road...What the Hell, Man?!?!

You know you really care about someone when you do something for them and just them saying thank you is all the reward you need.

I realized this last night when a little something I did to brighten someone’s day came to completion. I’ve never felt so satisfied by something so simple. It was the type of reward that you dream of really. When you hear people say that their job is really rewarding, you imagine that they have this type of feeling every day. And sitting at home, watching TV and having a beer, I got this great voicemail from someone miles away and it just warmed my heart a little. Or maybe it was the alcohol kicking in. Soulful satisfaction like that should last forever…but, alas, it does not.

I wanted to talk today about something of great importance to me. To talk about something that has been weighing heavily on my mind for several days now. To discuss something which threatens to throw my life into oblivion. But, there really isn’t anything like that going on in my live. So let’s talk about…The Rangers. For you readers outside the Metroplex (DFW, Dallas/Ft. Worth), those are The Texas Rangers of baseball. Having dropped two on the road to those pail-hosers from the windy city, the Chicago White Sox, the Rangers are threatening to get on my bad side. Last night’s loss was a little irritating for me to say the least. Sammy Sosa hit his 592nd career home run in the second inning, but the Rangers still lost for the fifth time in their last seven games. They finished 2-4 on the current road trip, and they are heading into a five-game homestand. Rangers starter Vicente Padilla, who gave up a three-run home run to A.J. Pierzynski in the fourth, is still looking for his first victory. He went 6 1/3 innings and only allowed four hits, but he tied a career high with six walks. Rangers pitchers walked 10 on the night, including Jim Thome five times. Thome and Paul Konerko both walked to start the fourth, and that set up Pierzynski's three-run home run. That gave the White Sox a 3-1 lead, but Michael Young, snapping an 0-for-18 skid, drove in a run with a double in the sixth. Texas then tied it in the seventh as Sosa doubled, went to third on Hank Blalock's blooper that fell into left field and scored on Kinsler's sacrifice fly. Feldman then kept it that way in the bottom of the seventh when he came in and struck out Konerko with the bases loaded for the third out. Instead, Feldman fell behind with two quick balls to Dye. Then he came in with a fastball, and Dye lined it into the right-center-field gap for a leadoff double. Pierzynski lined out to center, but Crede smacked a 1-2 pitch up the middle for a hit that scored Dye with the go-ahead run. That brought up Rob Mackowiak, a left-handed hitter, and Washington had left-handed reliever C.J. Wilson ready in the bullpen. But he stayed with Feldman, and Mackowiak hit a 1-2 pitch into the seats in right to break the game open. Rangers manager Ron Washington blamed one person for this one. Himself. Washington was the one second-guessing the manager for the way he used his bullpen. Scott Feldman may have been the losing pitcher, but Washington made it clear that he could have done a better job managing his bullpen in that eighth inning. Leaving Feldman in to face Mackowiak was what bothered Washington the most when it was all over. The Rangers only made him feel worse when they scratched out a run against White Sox closer Bobby Jenks in the ninth. It just bothers me that we actually woke the bats up last night to get some hits and it was all for not because the pitching took a huge nosedive.

Is this what we have to look forward to in the next 150 games or can the Rangers actually knock off the dust and make something happen? I know I speak for a lot of Rangers fans out there who aren’t ready to hang up there jerseys in mothballs just yet, but are skeptical of what the Rangers will do. They are a team in flux, so to speak. New management was supposed to bring new life to this team, but now it just seems like they are up to their old tricks again. I’ve got some advice for them, games are not won on good offense or good defense alone. It takes the perfect mix of offense and defense to win in baseball (and maybe some luck). Let’s see what this five game homestand will do to these boys.