Carpe Datum

Don't Look Now

Alfonso Soriano Belts a Two-Run Homer Over the Left Field Wall
in the Bottom of the 18th Inning

I turned on the TV yesterday afternoon to watch part of the last game of a series between the Rangers and Mariners. It was an afternoon game, starting at 1:05, and I watched the M's quickly get up 4-0 on an Ichiro bases-clearing triple. A half-inning later, the Rangers scored one, loaded the bases, and hit a long fly ball to deep left center field ... that was caught, almost exactly where Ichiro's triple landed. Drat. I figured it would be one of those days for the Rangers. They kept chipping away at the lead, but then Seattle would score again, and they didn't seem to be getting any breaks.

By the 8th, it was 7-5, and I figured it was time for the Rangers' five-game win streak to end. We switched off the game and watched a movie. Afterwards, the kids and I played poker (I won with a set of queens after Justin called my all-in bet while he held an 8-6 off-suit with no pair or straight possible on the board ... I'm embarrassed that I sometimes lose to these kids, but it happens.), then Michelle got home and we had a quick supper. I then sat down to the computer to look at the news, loaded up my Yahoo news page and checked to see what the final score of the Rangers game was.

It showed: Current score: Rangers 7, Mariners 7, bottom 18th.

It took about two seconds for the neurons to fire in my brain and run into the living room to get Michelle to change the channel back to the game. Not 10 seconds after I found the game again, Alfonso Soriano hit a 2-run homer to win the game. Incredible luck. Hell, if every baseball experience were like that, I might even be able to convince Michelle to be a fan. Heh.

Anyway, so that leaves the Rangers with a 6-game win streak, 11 games over .500 and a game ahead of the Hated Athletics for 1st place in the West. I can't believe they're in first and it's nearly the damn All-Star Break. Hard to figure out, because their offense has really fallen back to Earth. Their batting average is thoroughly middle-of-the-pack now, and their walks are still abysmal (12th out of 14 teams ... hell, in this game alone Edgar Martinez of the M's got five walks, and the Rangers got a grand total of four). Their pitching is average, which is actually amazingly good compared to typical Ranger pitching. Somehow that's good enough to be 11 games over .500, which projects out to over 100 wins on the season and a probably division title. If they keep it up.

Coming naturally with an unlikely win streak are unlikely theories. Things like the ARod curse or that Tom Hicks is a smart owner. People are talking about stupid stuff like clubhouse chemistry, largely because Buck Showalter has put together a cast of his favorite players from other teams he's coached, who were picked up off the scrapheap. It seems similar to what Parcells has done with the Cowboys and a bunch of his old players, and for crying out loud, I'm stupid enough to take it seriously.

Chan Ho is still out with the Sucks, and a couple of other good position players are currently injured (like starting catcher Gerald Laird, who is being very ably replaced by an old Showalter friend from Arizona named Rod Barajas, who hit two homers yesterday ... then there's Laynce Nix, due to come back real soon now). Once they're back (not Park), we could be even better. Rick Helling, bless his heart, finally had a decent start in AAA ball earlier this week. I mean, yeah, he gave up his usual pile of hits (11 in 7 innings), but he only allowed 4 runs, and our AAA team won 24-4. I really really really want him to kick it into gear and be in the rotation. I just know he'll be fun to watch, even if he doesn't do well, because he's a sentimental favorite.

I'm still in shock that after we traded Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees, what we got in return (at least for now) is even better and a lot cheaper. Hell, Soriano is leading the majors in all-star voting, and he pretty much deserves it for his play so far.

Speaking of win-streaks, I've started not playing the lottery again, and our win streak is at one. None of my numbers came up in Wednesday's drawing.

Posted by Observer at June 25, 2004 07:01 AM