Both starters seemed to be struggling throughout the game. Jeremy Guthrie threw a little better than he did in his first outing for us. He was responsible for only three of the Rangers’ five runs. He threw three shutout innings. But he’s still struggling a lot with control. He walked two in the first on the heels of a lead-off single, so we were lucky to limit the damage that inning to one run.
In the bottom of the second we managed to do something similar against Rangers starter Matt Harrison. He also seemed to be fighting his control, though all the pitchers may have been up against a tight strike zone from rookie umpire Jordan Baker. In all we saw 308 pitches, including eight walks and ten full counts.
Nor was the strike zone the end of it. In the bottom of the third, Alcides Escobar fouled a ball off his foot. But for some bizarre reason the ball was ruled in play, and he was thrown out while still standing in the batter’s box. Now, the simple physics of the ball’s trajectory strongly suggested that it had hit some part of the batter’s body in foul territory. But in Baker’s defense, the plate umpire isn’t in the best position to make a call like that. Either the first or third base umpire should have been on it.
In this particular case, that meant crew chief Tim “Grecian Formula” McClelland at first. But then why should he start watching ballgames now? Seriously, this guy could devote himself to becoming the best umpire in the history of the game, second in reputation for excellence only to the great Steve Palermo himself, and history will still remember him solely for making The Call in the Pine Tar Game.
Maybe he should consider retiring from umpiring and go in search of endorsement deals. I’ll bet Depends would be happy to have him. “When I saw George Brett come charging out of that dugout, I wished like hell I’d had Depends on. Depends, because you never know when you’ll need to go.”
On the other hand, a call in the sixth dropped more directly at Baker’s doorstep. Adrian Beltre swung away at what should have been strike three, but the umpire called it a foul. Bizarre.
On the plus side, we kept it close for most of the game. We were trailing by only one when Ned Yost went to the bullpen. In came Jose Mijares to get one out, walk a batter and then cough up a home run ball to Mitch Moreland.
That proved to be the real back-breaker. We got one run and stranded two runners in scoring position in both the seventh and the eighth inning. I promised Amy that I wouldn’t point out that it’s hard to strand nine runners in a game and still come out on top. So pretend you didn’t just read that.
Despite further wronging by the umpires, Escobar was the Player of the Game. He made a !-worthy play in the third, and in the seventh he stayed in the game despite injuring himself with a mis-planted foot that prevented him from making another outstanding throw to first.
Of course win or lose, it’s hard to beat Retro Night. The free lunch boxes were actually kinda cool. No cheerleaders. No exhortations to clap our hands. Minimal Sluggerrr. And best of all, no reminder about where Garth Brooks’s friends can be found.
The box score:
RANGERS (5) AT ROYALS (3) RANGERS AB R H BI ROYALS AB R H BI Ian Kinsler 3 1 1 0 Alex Gordon 5 0 1 0 Elvis Andrus 3 0 1 0 Alcides Escobar 5 0 1 1 Josh Hamilton 4 0 1 0 Lorenzo Cain 4 0 1 0 Adrian Beltre 3 1 1 0 Billy Butler 3 0 1 0 Nelson Cruz 3 0 0 1 Salvador Perez 4 1 3 0 Michael Young 4 1 1 0 Jeff Francoeur 3 1 0 0 David Murphy 4 0 1 1 Eric Hosmer 3 0 1 0 Geovany Soto 3 1 0 0 Yuniesky Betancourt 4 0 1 1 Mitch Moreland 3 1 1 3 Chris Getz 4 1 1 0 TOTALS 30 5 7 5 TOTALS 35 3 10 2 RANGERS 100 100 300 -- 5 ROYALS 010 000 110 -- 3 LOB--RANGERS 3, ROYALS 9. 2B--Yuniesky Betancourt. HR--Mitch Moreland. SACF--Nelson Cruz. SB--Jeff Francoeur. RANGERS IP H R ER BB SO HR Matt Harrison 6 2-3 8 2 2 3 3 0 Tanner Scheppers 0 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mike Adams 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 Alexi Ogando 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 ROYALS Jeremy Guthrie 6 6 3 3 2 4 0 Jose Mijares 0 1-3 1 2 2 1 0 1 Louis Coleman 1 2-3 0 0 0 1 1 0 Jeremy Jeffress 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 WP--Tanner Scheppers, Jeremy Guthrie. SO--Geovany Soto, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton (2), Mitch Moreland, Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer (2). BB--Geovany Soto, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler, Jeff Francoeur, Billy Butler, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer. NOTES: Retro Night LOCATION: The K CONDITION: Dry WEATHER: Hot, Clear Buck seat: W- Guard: KUAFROTC Anthem: Actually not too bad Umpires: H - Baker 1 - Mr. Pine Tar 2 - Barrett 3 - Hudson Time: 7:10 Temp: 93
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