When Raul Ibanez got tossed out of the game in the first inning, my initial thought was "Yeah, you go Raul, give em' a piece of your mind." After all, it was a horrible call for strike three on a ball way down, and I figured that if Raul got thrown out for arguing a call that was obviously wrong, it would fire up the team and lead to an emotional victory.

As soon as I had the time to reflect on the situation, I began to wonder if maybe the strikeout wasn't Rauls fault anyhow. I mean, he did foul off some other decent pitches that he should have smacked for basehits. Sure, that's the way the cookie crumbles when things are going the way they are. But it poses the question all the same, was it the umps fault for calling a bad strike? Or Rauls fault for working himself into that situation?

Anyhow, the team was fired up. For all of three innings anyway. Until Gil Meche decided to let the Texas Rangers play long ball. Something they're well capable of, especially in "The Ballpark"

I didn't catch most of this game as I working, and it was competing with game 4 of the Suns/Mavericks (it's sad enough that my favorite sports franchise can't keep my interest away from two basketball teams I could care less about). But I'm sure I caught enough of it. i saw the bottom of the third, when the Rangers scored all six of their runs, via the long ball. Minutes before the inning started, a patron said to me "I don't trust a three run lead against these bats." I simply replied, "of course not"

I also saw Adreinne ground into a double play with the bases loaded and one down, his second at bat (after scorching a meaningless single his first at bat, he finished 1-4, raising his average ONE point to .222. He did score a run and draw a walk, but also stranded three runners.

I don't know how much longer I can do this