Rangers - Texas 14, Seattle 2

Date:     Fri, 6 Jul 2001 00:08:18 -0500
Reply-To: Texas Rangers MLB Discussion <RANGERS@TAMU.EDU>
Sender:   Texas Rangers MLB Discussion <RANGERS@TAMU.EDU>
From:     Beau Sharbrough <beau@SHARBROUGH.NET>
Subject:  Texas 14, Seattle 2

Hello to the list,

Tonight was my first trip to the Temple this year. Looks like they ran out of fireworks. We got them for Raffy's two homers, but no more after that.

THE HITTING

Texas hit line drives and long balls all night. Ruben's homer was a monster. ARod's Slam was a stake in the heart. Raffy's two homers were ... okay it sounds silly but they were ... craftsmanlike. He just hit the ball like he was punching in at the plant. I looked closely while he ran the bases to see if there was a metal lunch bucket hanging from his belt, but I didn't see one. Young and Catalanotto (sp?) hit line drives all over. Still, the two hits that impressed me the most were Lamb's double - Seattle never expected him to turn on that ball and Cat scored from first so easily - and Ledee's triple - he hit the wall in the opposite field.

I'd like to add that Edgar jacked to the opposite field and it looked really easy. He also stole second once and I thought he was sending a message to Andres saying that old fat guys can steal bases too. Of course, he had a tired look after the steal and I thought that running 30 yards isn't such bad work if you can get it.

Wait! Before I'm done with hitting I gotta say one thing about Bill Haselman. He hit a nice double in the 3rd, and then he hustled over to 3rd base on a grounder in the hole between short and third. Most of the time the runner doesn't advance when the ball's hit in front of him. That hustle really changed the complexion of the inning. He put pressure on them by doing the unexpected - I like that kind of thing in baseball.

THE PITCHING

KRogers took the mound, and I instantly blurted to my daughter that we were going to get killed. I haven't told the list much about my kids, but they are walking and, since they're in college, they're driving and doing other things that would make Jamey's head swim - just like they did mine the first time! But when Bailey saw Ruben Sierra back in Ranger Blue she was ecstatic. Seeing him homer tonight was a big thrill for her. I know how she felt because I once believed that I'd never see the Eagles in concert again. But speaking of pitching, KRogers was exactly the opposite of what I expected. He gave up a wicked double that led to a first inning run, and then faced Cameron with 2 on. I thought for sure he'd homer and we'd be down 4-0 before we even batted. ARod was stretching in the field, bending over to touch his toes, and I thought, "He's already thinking that he's going to come up in the first down 3 or 4 runs."

I was wrong. I was wrong about the Eagles, and I was wrong about KRogers. I may be wrong about Jamey's head swimming too, but he's pretty flexible about that. KRogers pitched a great game. One inning the M's had men on 2nd and
3rd and one out - big burly men who could score runs without compunction - and Kenny struck out the next two and really slammed the door. It was the 4th inning, and we had just put up a crooked number, and the M's wanted to answer. Kenny's two K's were a lyrical prelude to the hard rock that followed when the Rangers ran around, scoring nine in the bottom of the 4th.

I would like to add that I fully expected the Rangers to score 16 runs in the 5th, because in the first four innings their linescore was composed of a series of perfect squares - 0,1,4,9 - and I'm, well, fond of squares, okay? Kenny pitched 7 strong innings and a really big guy with quads like the Incredible Hulk finished up - Myette. If leg strength helps a pitcher, this kid will make it!

THE CROWD

On the row behind me (I was in Sec 16 Row 2) were two women in green, with face paint and Mariner's signs. They got up and danced between innings and while they weren't that pretty, they danced okay, and I'm single so I watched a lot. There's a guy who goes up and down the foul lines firing rolled up tshirts from an air cannon, and after we got ahead by 13 runs, one of these Pudge Rodriguez t-shirts went to one of those Seattle fans, and the people around her shamed her into putting it on. I'm not going to say that she looked better in it or not, but I took some pleasure in watching her take it back off later. Her M-fatuation got old after a while.

The three guys in front of me, on Row 1, were from Chicago, had three or four kids with them, and had the great misfortune to have married three sisters. Right. What are the odds? The three guys in front of me all being married to sisters? I tell you it's a small world.

Bailey asked me if she could marry a ballplayer, and I said sure, she could marry anybody who was nice to her. She reminded me that I told her to never marry an actor, and I had to agree that I still think that's good advice. The kid in front of her, who had an Aggie ring so I had to introduce myself and found that he's from the class of 95, was laughing as he listened. Baseball is that kind of game - families can go out there and talk about things and other people can listen in and strike up a conversation about it and the next thing you know there's a community. That community wouldn't include the two guys behind me, who were talking on their cell phones about voting rules and proxies, and revoking proxies. I think that they played
tennis at a private college, I heard them complaining about left-handed tennis players. I would advise my daughter not to marry such men, either.

THE DEFENSE

There is something about watching ARod come across the bag on the 4-6-3 double play. He's in position in plenty of time, he takes the flip, he drags his foot across the sack, and he fires a rocket to first. It's really fluid, smooth. Like he could do it faster but he won't, like he likes doing it that way. The only other interesting things I saw defensively were outfielders running into walls and missing balls that hit them. Kapler ALMOST made a great running catch, but the ball squirted out of his glove. The runner on second didn't score though, go figure.

And one inning, after Mike Cameron made a routine catch in center field, he jogged in way up the 3rd base line, not toward the dugout but on a straight line to foul ground like a football player goes when he has to get off the field before they snap the ball, and handed the ball to a little girl with a ponytail, maybe 8 years old. Then he ran on down to the Mariner dugout. That girl will cheer for Mike Cameron for the rest of her life.

ICHIRO'S WEAKNESS

I've spotted what I'm certain is a weakness in Ichiro's game. I know that his teammates call him Wiz for being a wizard but I don't think he understands the fine art of "picking up." If a guy is on the bases when an inning ends, his fielding mates bring his glove out to him on their way out, along with his cap or sunglasses or whatever he needs, saving him the trip into the dugout and back again. But I watched closely, and when Ichiro grounded out to end an inning, did he run past first and then stand there, firing his batting helmet into the air and waiting for his mitt? No, he turned around, and jogged all the way into the Mariner dugout. I can't see into the dugout from my seat, maybe they have a team meeting between innings in there so I don't want to jump to any conclusions. But later, I saw Ichiro bring a glove out of the dugout to the left fielder who was stuck on the bases. Just as I was revising my assessment of Ichiro and Picking Up, I saw the left fielder run back toward the Mariner dugout and throw the glove in there. Another glove flew out, he caught it, and ran off to left field. Now maybe they have a thing they do with gloves in the Mariners' dugout between innings, like I say, I can't see in there - but I'm thinking that Ichiro,
the Wizard, brought out the wrong black glove. Man, that's going to go on his resume and make it hard to get a job someday.

THE HOME TEAM WON

I like to see the home team win, and I really wish that they would have sent up the rockets when my daughter's favorite Ranger hit a big bomb into the M's bullpen. I watched her face as she looked at the stands above center field, saw her waiting for the flash of the rockets and that short hot breeze on her face. The rockets never came, and I saw her realize that they weren't coming. The perfect moment she wanted wasn't perfect, and that's when I realized that she's already old enough that she doesn't even gripe when that happens. On to the next moment! I felt like a success as a father - my kid handles disappointment in stride. There's a life lesson for you.

Beau Sharbrough