Sports Girl Next Door

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!!! Rangers sweep the Angels in Game 4, 6-2! Wow!!! What a game! What a series! What a whirlwind!!!  ~ Yu Darvish (starting pitcher) - he did well through the 5th inning... he gave up one home run to the prodigy child, Mike Trout on the Angels. In the 6th inning... Darvish started getting shaky and Ron Washington (Rangers Manager) pulled him from the game!  ~ Craig Gentry (Left Fielder)... Wow... that kid is doing a great job!!! Defensively and Offensively he is on fire right now! You could walk up to anyone tomorrow and say his name and you should just high five on another! ~ Geovany Soto (catcher) - He caught Yu Darvish today and hit a double that scored a run for the Rangers. He also hit a solo home run in the 8th inning! (Beltre also hit a solo home run) PLAYOFFS So - here's what went down... the Cleveland Indians won and secured the first Wild-card spot. The Tampa Bay Rays also won and now have to play us tomorrow night...

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!!! Rangers beat the Angles in Game 3, 7-4!  Wow... craziness! The Rangers keep winning! We knew they could take the Astros, and thought they could take the Angles... and they are!!! ~ Key Players... Ian Kinsler (2nd Baseman), Elvis Andrus (Short Stop), Craig Gentry (Left Field), Alex Rios (Right Field). All of these players have been hitting consistently and keeping us not only in the game, but scoring runs! Leonys Martin has also been a key player, when he plays!   ~ Joe Nathan (Closing Pitcher) - wow! He had a great finish in the pouring rain to get the W today! (W - win) How he keeps control of the ball in the rain, I will never know, but he got it done! Good times!  PLAYOFF RACE.. The Rangers HAVE TO WIN tomorrow!  Tampa Bay lost today.  Cleveland won today.  We have to win and need Cleveland to lose... or both to lose! :)  Game 4... Last Game of the Rangers Regular Season SEPTEM...

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!!! Rangers beat the Angles in Game 2, 5-3!  There were a lot of base hits! A lot of runs scored with us holding our breath! And an awesome ending!!  ~ Ian Kinsler ( 2nd Baseman ) did a great job all night! He kept us in the game on the field and at bat!  ~ Alex Rios ( Right Fielder ) not only did he have a few great catches, but he also stole a base and had a go-ahead hit  in the 7th, scoring an RBI! ( we wen't over RBI's, but a "go-ahead hit" means - the guy hit the ball and caused a run to score that put their team ahead of the other team. ) ~ Alexi Ogando (starting pitcher) did a decent job. He gave up a few hits that allowed the Angels to score 3 runs, but the Rangers were able to keep up and give Joe Nathan (closing pitcher) the lead in the 9th inning!!  ~ In Other News... Josh Hamilton hit his 1,000 career hit last night. Say what you want, but as an actual baseball player... that's a cool accomplishment!...

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!!! Rangers beat the Angles in Game 1, 5-6! ( are you dancing in your PJ's??? you should be!!! )  The majority of the Angles runs came in the 2nd inning when our infielders had a few mental breakdowns and had a record 4 Errors! This is not a good statistic to have... they tied some record in Rangers history for the amount of Errors in this game... boo!  HOWEVER... WE WON!!! They were able to pull themselves out of the slump after being down 2 runs going into the 3rd inning.  ~ A.J. Pierzynski (catcher - guy who catches the ball behind home plate) - had two hits an an RBI! He hasn't done much in the past month... so if he plans to come alive in the last 4 games of the regular season and give us Playoff hopes... game on!  ~ Joe Nathan (closing pitcher - same position as that Mariano Rivera guy I told you about yesterday) - His job is to NEVER... EVER allow runs. Bring the heat! Throw fast balls higher than 95 mph! Be lights out!...

GO COWBOYS!!! The Cowboys are 2-1... (Wins are always the first number - Losses are the 2nd number) Week 4 Matchup: Cowboys vs San Diego Chargers (in San Diego - since they're team is listed 2nd... remember...) - GAME TIME 3:15 PM CST Well - we had a superb showing last week from DeMarco Murray ( Running Back ) - our Offensive Line held up... we're not great, but good works too!  ~ Tony Romo (QB) - he seems to be healing from his bruised ribs in Game 1 vs the NY Giants! This is great news and means he should be able to throw well against the Chargers D! ( D = Defense ) Their D is ranked 32nd out of 32 teams in the NFL (last), against Opponents who Throw the Ball!!! ( Passing Yards - when you "pass" a football - you're "throwing" a football )  ~ DeMarco Murray (RB) - He is healthy and will hopefully carry his momentum into this game from the great game he had against the St. Louis Rams last week! Since we were talking about the Chargers D being...

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!!! Rangers beat the Houston Astros in Game 3, 7-3!!! We get the SWEEP (remember... a sweep is when you win every game in the series!) Part of me feels badly for Houston... they are so terrible - it's almost hard to watch... but we'll take the confidence boost down the stretch! :)  ~ Martin Perez... (the Rangers pitcher tonight) - he held is own... it got shaky in the beginning but he pulled it out! (he got breathing instructions in the dugout - dude was practicing his vinyasa) :) ha!  ~ The bottom of the 4th inning is when the Rangers Offense (hitters/batters/base-runners) were on fire! Craig Gentry (cute outfielder) got hit by a pitch (the pitcher actually hit him with the ball... it's debatable if it's ever "on purpose" but we'll let it slide tonight) Leonys Martin hit a deep ball with bases loaded and got 3 "RBI's."  ~ "RBI" - Runs Batted In - this is a statistic - pretty important for any d...

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!!! Rangers beat the Houston Astros in Game 2, 3-2! ~ Yu Darvish - he pitched a great game and only raised his ERA to 2.82 from 2.81. (Dominguez hit a HR off him in the 6th inning) - He had 9 K's (K means strikeout)! I think he will be ready when we make it into the Playoffs!  ~ Adrian Beltre - our 3rd baseman - The Rangers record is 24-3 when he hits a home run! (he hit a home run last night!) - he is one of the only "power hitters" left on our team that can help us down the stretch, and he hadn't hit a home run in 28 days!  ~ "power hitter" - a guy who typically hits home runs or deep balls so the runners can score!  We are still 1 game behind Cleveland to get the 2nd spot in the Playoffs. We have 5 games left... they're all Home Games!  Buy a ticket to one of the last games  - the LA Angels come in town starting tomorrow night... GO!!! this Sunday is our last game of the regular season! And if you don't go no...

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!!! Rangers win 12-0! Well... it's not a shock that the Rangers took the Astros in Game 1 of this 3 Game series. ("took" - is another term for "beat") ~ Derek Holland - our pitcher - well this game totally helped his ERA! He pitched a complete game, 112 pitches! (most pitchers only stay in until 100-115 pitches) He had his game face on... plus Houston is a horrible team... that always helps!  ~ Alex Rios - He hit for the "Cycle" - only the 8th player in Texas Rangers History to do this!!! "Cycle" - this is when a player gets on every base after a hit in the same game. So... Rios hit and got a Single (1st base), Double (2nd base), Triple (3rd base) and a Home Run! (it does not have to be in this order - just completed in the same game) We are still 1 1/2 games behind Cleveland to get the 2nd spot in the Playoffs. We have 6 games left... they're all Home Games!  Buy a ticket to one of the last game...

GO COWBOYS!!! The Cowboys win!!! They beat the St. Louis Rams 31-7 Welcome to the Cowboys of yesteryear ( early 1990's to be exact )!!! We are starting the season 2-1!!  ~ Romo (QB) was killin' me by not using Jason Witten (TE) in the "Red Zone" - but Fantasy Football aside... game on!!! He was able to target three different receivers for TD's!! And DeMarco Murray (RB) was able to score with the run game! ( "Red Zone" - this is the code word for the yards between the 20 yard line and the End Zone goal line" ) ~ Our Offensive Line ( guys who block for Romo ) were solid for the most part! Romo was able to throw and we were able to create holes for the Running Backs!  ~ Our Defense... wow... they were able to hold off Sam Bradford (Rams QB) and company!!! Demarcus Ware - just tell people he's a beast. Done and done!  ~ Side Note... Miles Austin (WR - wide receiver) is left the game with an injured hamstring... remember... I warned yall at t...

GO RANGERS!!! HELLO WIN COLUMN!!! The Rangers take the Royals in Game 2 - Winning 3-1.  ~ Matt Garza pitched his heart out! Props to him! (he was the pitcher for the Rangers) There weren't any home runs or major plays to get this W, but the "top of our line-up" continues to get on base and get in "scoring position!" Maximizing on this is something we haven't done well with all season... hopefully, how they played yesterday is a good sign of what we will see down the stretch.  "top of our line-up" - you usually put guys that can get on base consistently in the first 3 slots in your batting order... this is so you can put your "clean-up" batters at 4 and 5 to hopefully hit those guys home!  "scoring position" - when you have a runner on 2nd or 3rd base and they are ready to run home at any moment! The Rangers play Game 3 today in KC at 1:10 PM CST!!  Alexi Ogando is pitching for the Rangers!!! (3.15 ERA) Cheer Loudly...

GO RANGERS!!! Rangers lose to the Kansas City Royals, 2-1. Their pitching was spectacular. Our pitching wasn't too bad, but yet again, we couldn't hit against Santana! (that was KC's pitcher) The Rangers are 7 games behind Oakland to win the Division. Clearly we probably won't catch up to them, but we can still get a Wild Card spot if they ever start winning consistently!  Game 2 in KC is tomorrow night - Matt Garza is pitching for the Rangers!  Cheer Loudly!  GO COWBOYS!!! 12:00 PM - this Sunday - St. Louis Rams vs Dallas Cowboys.  Enjoy your family, friends and some football!!! :) "Day of Rest" Random Info: The two teams who have already secured a spot in the Playoffs are:  ~ Boston Red Sox (we used to have Mike Napoli  - he is a great Home Run hitter and now plays for Boston... his beard fits in perfectly there)  ~ LA Dodgers (We like their Manager - Don Mattingly  - he used to play for the NY Yankees back in the day!)  ...

GO RANGERS!!! RANGERS WIN!!! They won 2 games and Tampa Bay won 2. We are now tied again for 2nd place in the Playoffs. 6 1/2 games behind the Oakland A's.  Yuuuu... Darvish got the W for tonight! He only had 4 strike-outs, but he still got the job done!!!  We are holding onto hope!!! The Rangers are going into a 3 game series with the Kansas City Royals... In Kansas City!  Here is the pitching line-up for the next three games... SEPTEMBER 20, 7:10 PM CT Martin perez - 3.64 era SEPTEMBER 21, 6:10 PM CT matt garza - 4.94 era SEPTEMBER 22, 1:10 PM CT alexi ogando - 3.15 era I think we can keep this streak going... so far Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus and Alex Rios have been hitting consistently!! Let's hope it continues!!  Going to KC for the game??? Wear your red, white and blue!!! :)  Texas Rangers Shop GO COWBOYS!!! 12:00 PM - this Sunday - St. Louis Rams vs Dallas Cowboys.  Put all errands on hold!! Enjoy your Sunday!!! :)...

GO RANGERS!!! Well... I'm tired... the Rangers look tired... let's call the whole thing off. ( kidding ) The Rangers lose tonight in the 13th inning to the Tampa Bay Rays. This was Game 3 in a 4 game series. TB has won 2 out of the three, which puts us 3rd in the race now for the Playoffs!  Our guys fought hard, but clearly not enough for a W! Overall, Derek Holland's pitching was good and our guys were able to get on base. We just didn't have the power to drive runs in.  I'm afraid we don't have enough healthy guys on our team going into the home-stretch to get it done. Every game from here on is a MUST WIN!  We play our 4th game against Tampa Bay tomorrow at 6:10 PM. Yu Darvish is pitching. Our Offense had better score runs and not waste another Yu Darvish start! He is great at striking guys out, but we have to help him by putting points on the board. ( we've been over this... when you score - it shows on the big jumbo-tron looking thing - board ...

GO RANGERS!!! "Hello Win Column" ~ Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2!  I've had the title of this blog drafted for, oh about, 7 games... which is how long the Rangers losing streak lasted!  What does "Hello Win Column" mean?? I'm glad you asked... read on a bit more about the man who invented the phrase!  Mark Holtz All you really need to know is after every Texas Rangers win... you can yell out... "Hello Win Column" - high five a random stranger - then sit in a bit of traffic while listening to the post-game on the radio.  Back to tonights game... I've ranted about our "bats" not getting going the past few games (bats - not going - means we're not hitting - with a bat - hints "bats need to get going" - we need to start hitting)  As if this losing streak wasn't random enough... tonight, Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus and Leonys Martin all hit home runs! These guys are the typical batters who get on bas...

GO RANGERS!!! Well folks... here's how it went down... Pitching stunk... Hitting stunk... EVERYTHING stunk!  The Rangers had a "players only" team meeting before batting practice! I assume they were trying to rally the troops, pump each other up... get the ball rolling... but it just hasn't worked! They even brought Lance Berkman into the game to be our Designated Hitter - he went 0-4. (This is a position where a player only bats - they do not play a position in the field. This is only in the American League. In the National League - this position in the batting line-up is played by the Pitcher. Too much info???) We are quickly sliding into Yankee territory... (this is a metaphor - they haven't played well this year, but even they are over .500) Do I need to explain .500?? I will later! - bottom line... we're going backwards while other mediocre teams are moving forwards.  Matt Garza (our Pitcher tonight) had a poor showing and gave up 6 runs! The Pi...

GO DALLAS COWBOYS!!!  Mini-recap... Dallas lost to the Kansas City Chiefs this yesterday! We are now 1-1. (1 Win - 1 Loss) Alex Smith (KC's QB - quarterback) did a bit of running and spinning to try and confuse our Defense... but they held their own for most of the game! And it's totally weird seeing Andy Reid in Kansas City red!! He used to be the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles (our least favorite team ever)!!! This is his first year with KC and he's already 2-0!  As for Tony Romo (our QB) and the Offense... they looked out of rhythm! Romo had his ribs bruised last week during the game... he played last year with broken ribs... I know he's not in as much pain as last year, but the 4th quarter looked like he was feeling it! Pray dude heals by next Sunday!  We had two fumbles that gave great "field position" for the Chiefs!  Overall - the Kansas City Defense did what we thought they would do! Kept us off-balance, which shut-down our run g...

GO RANGERS!!! Rangers lose to Oakland... Games 1 & 2. We are now 5.5 games behind them to get a spot in the playoffs. This is not looking good!  Our Offense wasted Yu Darvish's last 5 starts by not hitting very well! The Pitcher's job is to keep the other team from hitting! Hints, no hitting, no scoring. The rest of the teams job is to HIT and SCORE! Which we're not doing.  If you're at the game tomorrow... once again... cheer loudly... no wave and pray we still make it into the playoffs!  **For a team to make it to the World Series... you have the have the perfect storm of GREAT Pitching, Good Hitting and Good Defense in the Field. (the players in the field are Defense... just making sure you know that... so when they're hitting... it's Offense.)** GO DALLAS COWBOYS!!!  The Cowboys play the Kansas City Chiefs tomorrow at 12:00 PM!!!  Don't complain about stuff not getting done around the house or errands being run... sit down next to your fa...

GO RANGERS!!! Games against Oakland start tonight! It's a 3 game series ( as most are in baseball ).  ***WE NEED TO WIN THESE GAMES!!!!*** We are now 3.5 games behind Oakland for the lead and a spot in the playoffs! We have to win to get even with them!  Derek Holland is "on the mound" tonight ( he's the pitcher... get it... pitching mound... guy "on the mound" - pitcher... )  For the full pitching line up - check out my last post... We are still missing a few of our "big bats" going into this series... but if Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler can get on base and Adrian Beltre can hit them home... we may survive! Come on Rangers! ("big bats" - guys that are clutch hitters in a pressure situation - hit home-runs - possibly a grand-slam, etc.) Oh and if you're going to the game... please review the "Random Info" section from my last post. This is critical information!! (" anti-wave" tips ) - Ladies - if you...

GO RANGERS!!!   Game 3 vs Pirates - Rangers lose... they got "swept" - for that definition - read the post titled "Overreaction Monday!" Pitching... sad.  Hitting... sad.  Defense... sad.  Player of the Game:   ~ Elvis Andrus (short stop - guy between 2nd base and the 3rd baseman) - he had a couple of good hits - tried to keep us in the game. It wasn't meant to be!  We are now 2.5 games behind the Oakland A's for the race for 1st place in the AL (American League) West. Oakland plays tonight... cheer for them to lose, it's okay - you won't hurt their feelings! "There's no crying in baseball!" There are a few key players we are playing without "down the stretch" (the last month/games leading up to the playoffs). Just tell someone it's Nelly Cruz' fault and see what they say - ha! Bad timing Nelly! (he used to hit a lot of home runs) Guess who we play starting Friday?? Yup - Oakland... here is the pitching l...