"Uhoh Coco" Loses it Again
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Rangers 6
Angels 7
23 - 22
If there is one prediction that most would not make going into this series, it would be that both bullpens would cause games to be exciting in their later stages by so spectacularly imploding. The Rangers bullpen would have brought that prediction, perhaps, but not the Angels. Yet, that is what we have seen the last two nights.
Monday night it was Scot Shields of the Angels not being able to shut down the Rangers with runners on in the 7th inning.
Tuesday night it was a team effort between Brendan Donnelly of the Angels, and Joaquin Benoit and Francisco Cordero of the Rangers. Mostly, though, it was Francisco Cordero. In fairness, I should mention that I am going to start calling Benoit, “Bailout” Benoit, because the only chance the Rangers have of winning if he comes into a game, is if a Ranger wielding a bat comes and bails him out. As was the case Tuesday night.
The game was tied up 4-4 going into the 6th inning. Vicente Padilla didn’t fare that well, and was pulled after just 5 innings, having thrown 92 pitches. Bailout Benoit came in and allowed a leadoff walk to Mike Napoli, followed by an Adam Kennedy single and a run-scoring ground-out by Orlando Cabrera.
The Rangers offense tried to bail out ol’ Bailout in the 7th, when Michael Young hit a two-run homer off reliever Donnelly before he could record an out.
With the Rangers back up by one, Buck turned to Coco Cordero in the 8th. Sadly, the 8th inning started exactly the same way the 6th inning did. Walk to Napoli. Single to Kennedy that moved the runner to third. A Cabrera sac fly and a Vladimir Guerrero groundout later, the Rangers were down for the count.
There was a bright moment that lasted about as long as it takes a fly ball to reach center field in the 9th inning. Mark Teixeira led off the inning against Francisco Rodriguez with a long fly ball to center. The ball appeard to be on its way out, until Tommy Murphy, who had come in to pinch run for Napoli the previous inning, lept up and tore the hearts out of the chests of Ranger fans. That flyout completed an ohfer-five night for Tex. Fitting that the man that scored the tying run in the 8th would prevent the Rangers from scoring the tying run in the 9th.
As for new callup Jason Botts, we went out of our way to make him feel welcome, but he did not immediately return the favor. As tonight’s DH in the 8th spot, he went o-for-2 with two walks.
Fortunately for the Rangers, the Oakland Athletics also lost Tuesday night to the Chicago White Sox, allowing Texas to maintain its one-game lead in the A.L. West.
The Rangers will attempt to take the series in the rubber match Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 CST. The Rangers will send Robinson Tejeda (1-1, 6.23) against Jeff Weaver (1-7, 7.30) in what is sure to be a slug-fest. Finally, the Rangers can play their style of ball.
Source
Date
Tue 05/23/06, 11:53 pm EST
