April 14, 2002
"If baseball was a fantasy game, you wanted to be Alex Rodriguez yesterday. Two home runs. Five RBIs. Baseball is a reality game. Therefore, it was much better to be Ruben Sierra. Five hits, one RBI. And, oh yes, one victory." -John Hickey, sportswriter
"Personally, I think it's always better not to be Alex Rodriguez." -Laura
So here it is my Mom's birthday and we are on the last day of vacation and nearly home as this game begins and I'm trying to listen to it on the radio only for some reason that only seems to work when the motorhome is not MOVING which really sucked a great deal, but anyway, Ichiro led off with a double, and then Carlos Guillen grounded him over to third and then Bret Boone grounded out but scored him and we end up heading to the bottom half leading 1-0 as John Halama retired the side in order, including Alex Rodriguez, and that of course made me very happy as I've still yet to recover from The Ordeal That Was ARod's Free Agency last year, like I will never get over that as long as I live I don't think, when he got all bent out of shape with hurt feelings over the M's ownership not flying down for the meeting he had at his home in FLORIDA nevermind that HE flew to all the other places, and according to Chuck Armstrong (and I quote), "[Alex] couldn't travel two hours (during a visit to the west coast) by plane to Seattle. We offered to meet with him here, or in Newport Beach (Calif.), where Scott (agent Scott Boras) has his office. They said they were busy", and Alex later on (and I quote again) was all "In the last weekend it was Texas 1, Seattle 2 and Atlanta 3 in my mind. Texas really won it, but the Mariners made it a lot easier by the way they treated me" AS IF, and his attitude, which he maintains to this very day, is made even more ridiculous when you stop to consider the words of Howard Lincoln himself (yep, I'm quoting some more), who was like "That (the meeting between the Mariners & Alex) was arranged just for our baseball people, a meeting to discuss the organization, the prospects and such. It was not to negotiate a contract. Scott was clear there was no need for me to go. To say otherwise now is wrong. If I had felt my appearance anywhere on this earth would have made a scintilla of difference in our chances of signing Alex Rodriguez, I'd have been there. It was obvious for weeks that we were merely being used as a stalking horse in a set of sophisticated negotiations. Alex did not want to come back to Safeco Field, nor return to the Mariners. We were used as a stalking horse to get Texas to pay more, and we were not prepared to put money on the table to do that, because it would have guaranteed we would not have had a winning team. [Lincoln's understanding was that Alex] wanted to be with a competitive team, to be the leader of that competitive team. We expected Alex to make some sacrifice to that end, too, as any leader would. The risk is too great in a one-sided contract they demanded, to provide that the player remains the highest-paid in the game for that period of time. It is a one-sided recipe for disaster. It is silly. We have an obligation to our fans and organization to remain competitive, and no way any team on this earth can pay $200 million and do that. Alex said all those things about being competitive, and said them repeatedly. But it is clear now we were being used. It is clear Alex was not interested in anything but money. Amazing greed was what this was all about" I mean GO HOWARD LINCOLN and "no choice but to leave" MY ASS, ALEX RODRIGUEZ.
Okay, second inning and Ruben Sierra singled to lead things off and then John Olerud walked but we somehow manage not to score and move instead to the bottom half where Texas is down in order again, so third inning and we waste Bret Boone's 2-out single, so then Kevin Mench singled to lead things off for the Rangers but a fly out and a double play later and nobody really gave much of a crap since that brought us right to the fourth inning, where Ruben just ripped a big nasty double to lead things off and then John Olerud singled... and... and... OH MY GOD THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN. A... triple play later, and it is the bottom of the fourth and Mike Young doubled and then an out later and I violently threw up as somehow Alex Rodriguez knocked one out to give Texas a 2-1 lead and I'm sure Alex is just so happy with his decision to play in the Ballpark In Arlington, where he without a doubt can hit homeruns, and yes that was a big sarcastic shoutout to the fit he threw about how you couldn't hit homeruns at Safeco Field and was all AND I QUOTE "If you hit it 430 feet, it should be a home run, not an out like it is now" and as sportswriter Michael Cox would say, "Would those be imperial feet, perhaps? The Safe's largest dimension is 405, so those opposing outfielders must be pretty acrobatic" and as if his whining about homeruns wasn't preposterous enough on it's own, it is made even more so when you stop to revisit and I QUOTE AGAIN when Safeco was first built how he was all "we don't have to hit home runs to win in Safeco. We're playing better baseball now. I like it in Seattle" which leaves us all wondering what happened to the nice guy wearing number 3 for the M's who showed up so excited and team oriented and honest and inspiring?
Where and how did this vile, sanctimonious sellout take over? WHAT HAPPENED? How did it get to be all about ALEX and ALEX'S numbers and ALEX'S bank accounts and NOT about winning and NOT about commitment and NOT about farm systems and NOT about management like he said? I know EXACTLY what happened, and I could tell you, but I really couldn't say it any better than Michael Cox: "Forget the billboards, the conference rooms and the learjets. Forget outfield fences and farm systems and ownership - it was all about the Benjamins. Going into the offseason a team leader and coming out of it a solo player is anyone who needs a contract that big and outlandish is probably compensating for their shortcomings in other areas if you know what I mean. So anyway, fifth inning and with 1 out, Charles Gipson doubled and then Ichiro grounded him over to third and Carlos Guillen walked and then Bret Boone walked and then OH NEVERMIND and we head to the bottom half where Gabe Kapler singled and then a strikeout later and Bill Haselman singled but Kapler was thrown out trying to get to third and another strikeout later and it is the sixth inning where Ruben Sierra singled and then John Olerud singled and then OH NEVERMIND and it is the bottom half and... Mike Young singled and then Rusty Greer had an infield single and... OH THE HUMANITY. I refuse, I absolutely REFUSE to say what Alex did and three outs after that and it is 5-1 Texas and I am just nauseated, yet strangely enough not worried, as we are playing the Texas Rangers.
So seventh inning and Woodard relieved Kenny Rogers and I can't really help but like Kenny because he said such nice things about Edgar when he found out Edgar was hurt, like "You're talking about one of the best hitters in the game. On top of that, he doesn't even have to hit to have an impact. He's a threat, even if he goes 0-for-4. He makes that team better just by being there. And I'll tell you this -- even if he's just sitting on the bench, he'll find a way to help that team." So anyway, Charles leads things off by ripping a big nasty double and then Ichiro reached on an infield single which moved Charles to third and then Carlos TRIPLED to score them both and Miceli relieved poor Woodard and Bret Boone singled and scored Carlos and then Ruben singled and then John Olerud singled which scored Bret and moved Ruben to third and then Mark McLemore hit for poor Ron Wright that was not having the best of of luck ("I'll look at all this, this way. I'm a good-luck charm. We're 3-0 since I got here." -Ron Wright; "If we'd had three more like him, the game would have been over in an hour and 20 minutes. I just patted him on the back.", -Lou Piniella) and Seanez relieved Miceli and an out later and John went to second on a wild pitch and then then Ben Davis reached on an infield single and John went to third and Ruben scored and then Charles singled but we settle for the 6 runs and take the lead, 7-5 to head into the bottom half.
"They have a good team and if you make a mistake, they hit it." -Jerry Narron, Texas manager
So Ryan Franklin relieved John Halama and... walked the first two batters he faced... so Shiggy Hasegawa came in and a strikeout, a ground out, a throwing error that scored a run and an RBI single later and it is all tied at seven and then Shiggy nailed A-Rod with a pitch which is the only acceptable reason for him to be on base and then Rafael Palmeiro lined out to finally end the inning.
So here we are in the eighth inning and with 2 outs, Mike Cameron walked and then went to second on a wild pitch and then Ruben singled which scored Cam and then John Rocker relieved Seanez and Desi Relaford ran for Ruben and then went to second on a passed ball and then John Olerud singled which scored Desi and we end up heading to the bottom half leading 9-7 and Desi takes over at third and Charles moves to left and with 1 out, Kapler doubled and then Mench grounded him over and then Carl Everett hit for Bill Haselman and Kazuhiro Sasaki came in and promptly got him to ground out and we head to the ninth to finish off the Rangers as Gipson walked with 1 out but we don't score and Texas is down all 1-2-3 like and we win it 9-7 which rocks a great deal.
Photo - Linda Kaye - AP
"We beaned him with a pitch and he looks like Rafael
Palmeiro popped a couple viagra and snuck up behind him." - Laura being tacky but
amusing Shel greatly.
"Money may not buy happiness, though in Texas it works fine on shortstops. What $105 million in payroll hasn't afforded the Rangers this year is a bullpen, and the lack of one burned them again as the Mariners spotted them a 5-1 lead before rolling out 18 hits for a 9-7 victory Sunday. 'It's not a lot of fun, Rangers manager Jerry Narron said. Most of the Northwest might disagree." -Larry LaRue, sportswriter
"It's one thing to have a great day, but what really makes it fun is to do that and to win. It's unbelievable what this team does." -Ruben Sierra, 5-for-5 with run batted in
"We've already come back seven times in our 13 games. After a while, you get used to it. This team has spoiled me." -Bret Boone
"It can't be Boone and Ichiro every game. What makes us a good offensive team is you have to work hard one through nine in our lineup -look what Gipson did today. We wear you down. Texas has more power, but we just keep getting hits, stealing bases, stuff like that. We've got guys doing the job up and down the lineup, so there's pressure on the pitcher every inning. That's tough." -John Olerud
"Everything we do goes wrong, everything they do goes right." -Rafael Palmeiro, 1st baseman for the Rangers and irrelevantly, spokesperson for viagra
"It's amazing to watch our team. I mean, (the Rangers) take a four-run lead in the sixth and an inning later they're behind. You almost feel sorry for them." -John Halama
"Yeah. Almost." -Laura
"You win three in a row from a team, you get greedy. We want that fourth game. Win that, go into Oakland on a serious roll. Why not?" -Bret Boone
.