That's the way baseball go

ADSENSE Link Ads 200 x 90

ADSENSE 336 x 280

Mr. Freese: "Tonight, Hell freezes over!"

I do know several things:

1. I am emotionally spent. Drained. It's too much for me. Watching other teams that I have no rooting interest in is bad enough. Watching my favorite team squader two leads with less than nine outs left is heart wrenching. My heart beat out of my chest for a solid hour once all of the late-inning drama came down.

Coincidentally, I'm watching Shoah, one of the foremost documentaries of all time, a 10-hour film about the Holocaust. I remember one line from a witness very vividly: Talking about the Jews being transported via train without water, crammed into cattle cars, the witness said the Jews would escape for the sole purpose of sitting there, without a fight, and getting shot in the head.

I know this is a risky analogy. But I remembered that as I watched the Rangers give up a three--run and then a two-run lead to the Cardinals. I knew the Cardswere going to win. I just wanted it to end. David Freese's homer in the 11th was the bullet to the back of the head. I just wanted it to end.

In a few hours, we will learn a lot about our Texas Rangers. We will truly understand just how loose the team is. We will learn just how good of a manager Ron Washington. If they have any resiliency, it's going to show up tonight.

Frankly, they look spent. The body language sucked last night. Guys are aching. Body parts look like they're about to fall off. It feels like they invested so much emotionally into that game last night and to have it unravel unnecessarily would kill the strongest of teams.

In a few hours, we will witness the true resolve of the 2011 Texas Rangers.

Some thoughts:
1. I thought of all of Ron Washington's possible miscues, I think his quick yank on Colby Lewis and the relievers was the worst. I would have ridden Lewis longer. If you are going to make the decision of letting him bat in the fifth with the bases loaded, then you have to stick with him longer than the sixth inning. He'd just dealt a 1-2-3 fifth, struck out Albert Pujols to start the sixth (looking, no less) and was plagued by another Mike Young error. That was not worth the pull especially after walking Freese, which, in hindsight, is a fantastic idea.

Obviously, Ogando is off limits, and the fact that this is just now realized is crazy. HE WALKED IN A RUN. Forget the errors, the mismanagement, the bat at-bats or whatever. The Rangers had a reliever WALK IN A RUN. There's no bigger crime. See you in 2012, Alexi.

Holland was on an unfair short leash. He'd allowed two hits (one being a Allen Craig homer) and was yanked with the pitcher/pinch hitter coming up. For me, I'd let Holland get that last out (he did not seemed gassed or anything) and have Feliz come in for the ninth. Afterwards, that gives you Scott Feldman, Darren Oliver, Mike Adams and C.J. Wilson to pitch the extra innings. And Mark Lowe doesn't see the light of day.

You get the feeling that Wash knew the game was lost if he was keeping Wilson in the bullpen and bringing Lowe out.

2. I thought Josh Hamilton's 10th inning dinger was going to be one of the ages. Like we'd remember 15 years from now where we were when he hit it. I kept expecting him to pump his arm as he limped around the bases. I also thought Elvis Andrus was going to have to carry him to the dugout.

3. Twenty-seven outs. Got to get every one.

ADSENSE 336 x 280 dan ADSENSE Link Ads 200 x 90

Tweet