Rangers win 4-0 over the Twins
The Battle for 2nd place in the A.L.
Cedric Bailey
Photo By Joe Bob Ritter, Cedar Hill Sports
Arlington TX: The Texas Rangers are home from a road trip against Tampa Bay and Baltimore. The outcome was 2 win and 5 losses. However they still have an 8 game lead in the A.L. West. Now Ron Washington ball club is at home for seven games, 4 with the Twins and 4 with the A’s. This series is very important to the Rangers because it would allow the club to have home field advantage during the Division Series in October.
Meanwhile let’s take a look at what happen on Monday night. Ranger’s right-hander Rich Harden was fresh off his latest trip to the disabled list to mend a creaky shoulder. His stuff was at its best as he nearly was part of history.
Harden no-hit the Twins for 6 2/3 innings before leaving the game with 111 pitches thrown. Matt Harrison retired Jim Thome to end the seventh inning, and Darren O'Day pitched a perfect eighth. But Joe Mauer's seeing-eye single up the middle off Neftali Feliz with one out in the ninth kept the Twins from making history. Feliz struck out Jason Kubel and got Michael Cuddyer to tap back to the mound to finish off a 4-0 victory.
Mauer also broke up the previous no-hit attempt against the Twins to last into the ninth inning, hitting a one-out double off White Sox right-hander Gavin Floyd on May 6, 2008. It would have been the sixth no-hitter in Rangers history and first since Kenny Rogers' perfect game July 28, 1994. It would have been the fifth time the Twins have been no-hit, the first since the Yankees' David Wells threw a perfect game at them on May 17, 1998.
And calling the game Monday behind home plate was Jim Joyce, whose incorrect call with two outs in the ninth cost Detroit's Armando Galarraga a perfect game on June 2.
Harden more or less rolled through the Twins lineup, even though he issued five walks and fought through some deep counts. Harden was piling up the outs but piling up the pitches, and manager Ron Washington was booed by the announced crowd of 22,757 as he went to the mound and pulled Harden from the game after a brief conversation. Harrison replaced Harden and got Jim Thome to fly out to center to end the inning. O'Day followed that up with a 1-2-3 eighth. Delmon Young grounded out to first, as Mitch Moreland handled a tricky hop when the ball hit the bag. Danny Valencia and J.J. Hardy struck out as the crowd rose to its feet and roared.
After the game I had the opportunity to talk with Rangers President Nolan Ryan about the team’s performance. He stated that he found himself cheering as a fan to the no-hitter. However he is very pleased with the team support and knows that his organization is looking better each day. To hear the entire interview log on to www.cedricbailey.podomatic.com
