Mercy Rule

Yesterday the Texas Rangers settled in at Baltimore for a doubleheader with the Orioles. The Orioles went up 3-0 through the third. And then the steroids must have kicked in. Texas erupted with five runs in the fourth inning and went on to win 30 to 3. That’s what I said- 30 (three zero) to 3 (three, one less than four). Amazingly, the Rangers’ runs all came in four innings- five in the fourth, nine in the sixth, ten in the eighth, and six in the ninth.

The Orioles used four pitchers and each one of them got shelled. Daniel Cabrera made it through the first five innings, but after the five run fourth, was pulled for Brian Burres. Burres last two outs while giving up eight runs, and was pulled for Rob Bell. Bell put in a little more than an inning of work while giving up seven runs. Finally, Paul Shuey (who might as well have been drunk at that point, probably wouldn’t have mattered) pitched the final two innings, giving up nine runs on seven hits.

The Rangers used two pitchers, with Kason Gabbard getting the …….ahem…. “win”. Kason pitched six innings giving up all three runs on seven hits. And who was lucky enough to come in for the “save”? Right-hander Wes Littleton. When Wes entered the game, the game was still somewhat in question at 14-3. After the ten run eighth, Wes probably should have started pitching underhand.

To add insult to injury, the Rangers went ahead and beat down the O’s in the second game as well, this time by a respectable score of 9-7.

Here are some of the ridonc stats from the game:

*29 hits for the Rangers; that averages out to 3.2 hits per inning
*30 runs sets a modern day record (White Sox scored 29 runs in 1955)
*6 home runs hit including two players hitting two each, and two grand slams
*Amazingly, the Rangers left 19 men on base
*Texas had a total of 57 at-bats
*Last year in the NFL, two team failed to get to 30 points in any game during the season (Raiders and Texans). Five others only reached 30 points once and two of them needed overtime to do it. And home runs are worth six points in football.

ESPN Video link