Saturday, September 28, 2013

Go Rangers!

Finally, in the last week of the season, I got down to Arlington to watch a couple of baseball games. I had thought when I bought the tickets weeks ago that Ranger fans would be basking in the glow of a post-season appearance in which our chances of taking it all would be good. Fast forward to last Thursday night, September 26, when the Rangers were hosting the first of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, one game out of a chance to get into the post-season playoffs behind the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians. Texas has to win virtually all of its remaining games to have a chance at all.

The night before the Rangers had beaten the hapless Houston Astros, sweeping the 3-game series. The Angels are another story. They were looking to be spoilers, and all Ranger fans had good reason to bear them a special animus. For two former Rangers stalwarts, pitcher C.J. Wilson and outfielder Josh Hamilton, had gone for the money and signed fat contracts with these hated rivals in the AL Western Division.

I'm going to make a long story short. (You can follow the play by play in the link below.) It was a great baseball game. The Rangers came back to tie the game, surviving an inning in which they committed four errors, and then go ahead by a run . . . which they promptly gave back at the top of the very next frame. The game was tied going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Texas sent a pinch-hitter, Jurickson Profar, to the plate, and on a 1-1 count, he blasted the ball deep into the right-field stands. The crowd, as they say, went nuts. There is no sweeter treat in the game than a walk-off win. This was one of the best games I've ever seen. It was worth the wait. So the Rangers are still alive, even as I type this. They have won six in a row at this point, and we're now at the last game of the season. They have pulled into a tie for the playoff spot with Tampa. Fingers crossed all around.

Jurickson Profar hitting his 9th inning walk-off home run to beat the Angels
Boxscore and play-by-play of this glorious game is here.

No comments: