OAKLAND FORCES EXTRAS BUT FALLS SHORT

by Clive Dahlton

Tex --  Miguel Tejada continued his mastery of A.L West pitching, going 3-5, clubbing two doubles and raising his average to an astounding .556. The rest of the team, however, is underperforming, pitching aside. Chavez is hitting .257 and Hatteberg is on the verge of being taken out of the lineup, batting .121 on the season thus far.

The game was the Rangers to lose in the ninth with a two run lead, and they almost did just that. Graham pinch hit Saenz who stroked a single into the outfield. He called upon Frank Menechino to pinch run, and pinch hit Jeremy Giambi, who on an 0-2 pitch mashed a two run shot to tie the game in the ninth.

The Rangers heart of the order faultered in the bottom of the inning with A-Rod slicing a sharp single past a diving Ellis, but then standing helpless as he watched Palmeiro, Everett and Perry fly out to end the threat.

Tejada rapped a double off the left centerfield wall with one out in the 10th to put the potential winning run in scoring position, but a strike out by Pena and Menechino would end the inning. "Tejada can't do everything, our lineup is underperforming," Graham said. "The strength of this team is no doubt pitching, however, its ridiculous for us to hack at pitches in the dirt and swing at 3-0 pitches out of the zone. It's frustrating."

The Rangers ended the game with three well placed singles by Mench, Young and Pudge Rodriguez.    


Stoned Angels chick. No clue what the fuck is going on.
Shes holdin' her tummy, looks like tha' munchies.

The loss aside, people around the league are buzzing over Oakland's shortstop. New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter said he watched the game in the clubhouse before their start versus Toronto, and was amazed by Tejada's performance. "That guy is some kind of amazing, I'm still taking home the MVP and the World Series trophy, but its nice to know ill have some competition in the rear view mirror." Jeter continued on to say: "This kid's kind of exciting, I'll have to call my buddy A-Rod and have him hook me up with his 'premium baseball television package' that he's got goin on over there."

The Athletic's look to salvage the rubber game against Texas tomorrow, then head back home....sort of. The Athletic's will face off against divisional threat Anaheim. That's right folks! We're headin back to Cali, bitches in bikinis and bong hits in the bleachers, get your tickets now! Section 530, first base side is where all the stoned Cali chick's are at.

BOXSCORE: 2002 Oakland Athletics At 2002 Texas Rangers              4/10/2002

  Athletics          AB  R  H RBI AVG     Rangers            AB  R  H RBI AVG

  S.Hatteberg 1B      5  0  0  0 .121     M.Young 2B          5  0  1  0 .156 

  M.Ellis 2B          4  1  1  1 .200     I.Rodriguez C       6  0  2  1 .303 
  E.Chavez 3B         5  0  1  1 .257     A.Rodriguez SS      5  0  1  0 .242 
  M.Tejada SS         5  0  3  0 .556     R.Palmeiro 1B       4  0  0  0 .308 
  C.Pena DH           5  0  0  0 .182     C.Everett CF        5  1  2  0 .300 
  T.Long CF           3  0  0  0 .242     H.Perry 3B          4  2  2  0 .290 
A-O.Saenz PH          1  0  1  0 .231     K.Mench RF          3  1  1  0 .300 
B-F.Menechino PR,CF   1  1  0  0 .000   D-G.Kapler PR         0  0  0  0 .188 
  D.Justice RF        3  0  1  0 .324     H.Blalock DH        4  0  1  1 .300 
C-J.Giambi PH,LF      1  1  1  2 .533     R.Greer LF          4  0  1  3 .167 
  R.Hernandez C       4  0  1  0 .143   E-F.Catalanotto PR    0  1  0  0 .385 
  M.Colangelo LF,RF   3  1  2  0 .300                                         
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     
         Totals      40  4 11  4                 Totals      40  5 11  5

A-Pinch Hit For Long In 9th Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Saenz In 9th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Justice In 9th Inning
D-Pinch Ran For Mench In 10th Inning
E-Pinch Ran For Greer In 10th Inning

Athletics....... 1 0 0  0 1 0  0 0 2  0 -  4 11  2
Rangers......... 0 0 0  3 0 0  0 1 0  1 -  5 11  0

Athletics (6-3)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
C.Lidle                   4 1/3   6   3   3   1   2   0  93   7.71  A1 C5
J.Tam                     2 2/3   0   0   0   1   0   0  33   5.40  C6 D5
C.Bradford                1       2   1   1   2   0   0  25   3.18  D6 E3
M.Magnante                0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   5   0.00  E4 E4
J.Mecir LOSS(0-1)         1 1/3   3   1   1   0   0   0  26   1.69  E5
Totals                    9 2/3  11   5   5   4   2   0

Rangers (4-4)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
D.Burba                   7       6   2   2   1   1   0  94   4.76  A1 D1
C.Michalak HOLD(1st)      1       2   1   1   0   0   0  11   9.00  D2 D6
T.Van Poppel BS(1st)      0       1   1   1   0   0   1   3   8.10  D7 D7
R.Seanez WIN(1-0)         2       2   0   0   0   2   0  28   0.00  D8
Totals                   10      11   4   4   1   3   1

ATTENDANCE- 38,562 DATE- Wednesday, April 10th 2002 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
UMPIRES- Gary Cederstrom, Dale Scott, Ian Lamplugh, Marvin Hudson
T- 3:51
LEFT ON BASE- Athletics: 8  Rangers:12
DOUBLE PLAYS- Athletics: 0  Rangers: 0
ERRORS- M.Ellis, C.Lidle
DOUBLES- M.Ellis(2nd), E.Chavez(2nd), M.Tejada-2(3rd), D.Justice(3rd),
         M.Colangelo(1st), C.Everett(2nd), H.Blalock(1st)
HOME RUNS- J.Giambi(2nd)
SACRIFICE HITS- H.Blalock
SACRIFICE FLIES- R.Greer
WALKS- M.Ellis, M.Young, R.Palmeiro, H.Perry, K.Mench
HIT BY PITCH- M.Colangelo, K.Mench
STRIKE OUTS- C.Pena-2, F.Menechino, M.Young, A.Rodriguez
WILD PITCHES- R.Seanez
WEB GEMS- Bot 2nd: Mike Colangelo robbed Kevin Mench of an extra base hit.