by Clive Dahlton
Oakland, CA -- Corey Lidle took the hill hoping to pitch the Athletics to a four game sweep against inter-divisional opponet Texas to cap off the opening series. Lidle went 5 innings, allowing 7 hits, 5 ER, and walked two. Those stats are a bit off in terms of how effective he was. "He gave us a chance," Graham said. "He got burned on a couple of real bad pitches, one up in the zone against Palmeiro, and that was the game."
If there is a silver lining to the game, Athletic's relief pitching (J. Tam, E. Hiljus, J. Mecir) came in and closed the floodgates, pitching four innings of scoreless baseball. The damage had already been done though, a solo shot off the bat of Rafael Palmeiro, and a pair of ribbies for Michael Young and Carl Everett put the Rangers up for good.
Graham rallied the troops in the ninth, with the bottom of the order looming. Terrence Long and Olmedo Saenz struck out to begin the ninth. Graham left David Justice in the game to swing the bat against reliever Todd Van Poppel, and promptly sent a 2-2 pitch into the right field bleachers. Pulling within three, Graham summoned Carlos Pena from the bench to pinch hit for catcher Ramon Hernandez. Pena fouled off 11 straight pitches to start the at bat, before depositing a 0-2 slide piece that hung across the plate for to long, into the stands.
Down by two with the top of the lineup on deck [Scott Hatteberg], fans inside the Coliseum grew louder, only to be stifled by Texas reliever Rich Rodriguez, who fired three straight fastballs down the middle of the plate, Hatteberg failed to lift the bat off his shoulders at the critical point in the game. "He needs to swing the bat," Graham said. "Odds were stacked heavily against us regardless, with the tying run still in the hole, however, you can't just sit up there and watch three fastballs blow right past you."
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
3. Rafael Palmeiro
2. Carl Everett
1. Doug DavisGOAT OF THE GAME:
OAK DH Scott Hatteberg, went 0-5 and struck out at seemingly the most innopourtune time during the game. Oakland manager Eric Graham said he "just looked lost" out there. He failed to keep the rally alive in the ninth, dropping his season average down to .077. "I guess its just kind of frustrating because, you like to get more production out of a 1B/DH spot, and he hasn't looked good all spring, and hasn't looked comfortable to start the season." Graham said. "We might have to re-adjust our lineup."
The Athletics now travel to seattle for a three game set versus the Mariners! Hear it on XTRA 860 AM, your home for ATHLETICS BASEBALL!
The Athletics now travel to seattle for a three game set versus the Mariners! Hear it on XTRA 860 AM, your home for ATHLETICS BASEBALL!
Rangers AB R H RBI AVG Athletics AB R H RBI AVG
M.Young 2B 4 1 1 0 .250 S.Hatteberg DH 5 0 0 0 .077
I.Rodriguez C 5 1 1 2 .176 M.Ellis 2B 4 0 2 0 .500
A.Rodriguez SS 4 0 0 0 .125 E.Chavez 3B 3 0 0 0 .231
R.Palmeiro 1B 4 1 3 1 .583 M.Tejada SS 4 1 1 1 .563
C.Everett RF 5 0 1 2 .313 J.Dye RF 4 0 0 0 .000
H.Perry 3B 4 0 1 0 .188 T.Long CF 4 0 2 0 .286
J.Gonzalez DH 4 0 2 0 .200 O.Saenz 1B 2 0 0 0 .250
F.Catalanotto LF 3 1 2 0 .500 D.Justice LF 4 1 2 1 .313
G.Kapler CF 4 1 1 0 .200 R.Hernandez C 1 0 0 0 .100
A-C.Pena PH 1 1 1 1 .222
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 37 5 12 5 Totals 32 3 8 3
A-Pinch Hit For Hernandez In 9th Inning
Rangers......... 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 - 5 12 0
Athletics....... 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 - 3 8 0
Rangers (1-3) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET
D.Davis WIN(1-0) 7 6 1 1 4 3 1 113 1.29 A1 D3
T.Van Poppel HOLD(1st) 1 2/3 2 2 2 0 2 2 20 6.75 D4 D9
R.Rodriguez SAVE(1st) 0 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0.00 E1
Totals 9 8 3 3 4 6 3
Athletics (3-1) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET
C.Lidle LOSS(0-1) 5 7 5 5 2 1 1 90 9.00 A1 C6
J.Tam 2 1/3 3 0 0 1 1 0 31 11.57 C7 D7
E.Hiljus 0 2/3 0 0 0 1 0 0 10 0.00 D8 D9
J.Mecir 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 20 0.00 E1
Totals 9 12 5 5 4 3 1
ATTENDANCE- 23,456 DATE- Thursday, April 4th 2002 TIME- Day WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Scott Higgins, Jim Reynolds, Charlie Williams, Travis Katzenmeier
T- 2:59
LEFT ON BASE- Rangers: 9 Athletics: 7
DOUBLE PLAYS- Rangers: 1 Athletics: 1
DOUBLES- F.Catalanotto(1st), M.Ellis(1st)
HOME RUNS- R.Palmeiro(1st), M.Tejada(2nd), D.Justice(2nd), C.Pena(2nd)
CAUGHT STEALING- J.Gonzalez, T.Long
SACRIFICE HITS- R.Hernandez
WALKS- M.Young, A.Rodriguez, R.Palmeiro, F.Catalanotto, E.Chavez, O.Saenz-2,
R.Hernandez
STRIKE OUTS- M.Young, I.Rodriguez, R.Palmeiro, S.Hatteberg, J.Dye-2, T.Long,
O.Saenz-2
GIDP- C.Everett, M.Tejada
BALKS- D.Davis
WEB GEMS- Top 4th: Miguel Tejada robbed Juan Gonzalez of a base hit.
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