Final Score: Yankees 3, Rangers 0 Winning Pitcher: Mike Mussina(15-7) Losing Pitcher: Scott Feldman(4-5) Save: Mariano Rivera(28)
Game summary: The Rangers have played 116 games this year, and out of them, this could have been the most bland one yet. A Ranger offense who leads the league in runs scored per game(somewhere in the 6-6.5 range) put up a huge goose egg tonight. Mike Mussina proved that he deserved to win, throwing 7 innings of great stuff. Scott Feldman was fairly consistant, only allowing two earned runs. However, with an offense deader than a 20 year old car battery behind him, his quality start was useless tonight. The runs were not scored in an exciting way, minus the first inning solo home run of Derek Jeter(7).
The Good: The pitching from both squads. The Rangers only allowing only 3 runs in a game is great. They normally are good for 5 or 6, so this shows marked improvement. Also, kudos for the Ranger defense. They executed 3 double plays to prevent any more damage than 3 runs. The defense was by far the best quality of the Rangers on this night.
The Bad: Oh God where do I start? Maybe the offense shared a bottle of Jose Cuervo with Randy Galloway(who proclaimed Tony Romo just as good as Aikman, Staubach, and White in his Fort-Worth Star Telegram column today). Because being hung over is the only excuse I can think of for being awful tonight. The Yankees left more men on base than the Rangers, yet they still beat the Rangers. That shows just how stagnant the offense was.
The Ugly: Marlon Byrd's Cinderella last couple of games came to an end tonight. Byrd proved once again that, while he is up in the majors, his baserunning fundamentals were that of the Southlake Carrol Boys Varsity team(if that good). He cost the Rangers an out and a possible run by trying to advance to third on a ball that was hit directly to the pitcher. There is an outfielder in Oklahoma City named Nelson Cruz Jr. who is tearing up the Pacific Coast League. Surely he can not be as bad as Byrd on the base paths. Send Byrd down, and bring Cruz up. That simple.
Series Recap: For the Rangers, who had not won in Arlington against the Yankees in 10 games coming into this series, this can be called mild success. Splitting a series with a team that has made the playoffs the last 13 years in a row is nothing to spit at. While not gaining ground in the Wild Card race, they proved they can hang with the big boys, even if its only for two games. The pitching gave me hope, limiting a potent offense to the lower end of the number line for the most part. Hopefully the new regime at the helm as far as pitching goes can straighten the current staff out. If the offense performs like they are supposed to, and the pitching can perform like it has, this team could possibly be playing in October. Possibly.
Preview for next game-8/8 vs. Baltimore Orioles(54-59): This could be a good series for the Rangers. After starting out hot, Baltimore is cooling down quickly. With 8-8 Jeremie Guthrie going for the O's, and 3-4 Luis Mendoza going for the Rangers, this game could go either way. Both teams are young, and not expected to do much this year. Look for the Rangers to hopefully wake up this weekend, and see if they can't blast the Birds out of the sky with their power bats. A three game sweep of the Orioles could be exactly what the doctor ordered for this team as they try to push for the Wild Card.
I am a junior at Azle High School, and sports editor of the AHS newspaper. I enjoy watching, listening to, and writing about all the sports that I am interested in. I hope you enjoy what I write, and even if you do not enjoy it I hope you think about what you read. Then I have done my job in the world. Thanks ahead of time for reading.
