Oakland, CA -- Barry Zito pitched brilliantly in his season debut, going 8 innings, allowing no runs and scattering two hits, while punching out three. XTRA 860 AM correspondent Ryan Kinn met with Zito in the clubhouse and asked why he was having trouble with striking out anyone. "First of all, the rangers lineup is stacked, so they're gonna get the bat on it, however, my curve wasn't biting the way it normally does, it didn't feel right all game long," Zito said. "Every time I was ahead in the count and threw it, it just held up for way to long, I induced alot of groundouts though, so I guess it didn't matter tonight."
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| Barry Zito signing graphs' pre-game |
Big numbers are coming from lesser known's so far this season. Chavez and Tejada were held in check against Rogers, 0-7 combined. Terrence long stepped in with a single hit, but that one hit cleared the gap in left center splitting the defenders, scoring two. "Timely hitting," Graham said. "The big boy's can't get it done every game, we need contributions from everyone." Graham later went on to talk about the defense struggling late in the game, commenting: "It looked like we were getting lackadaisical out there as the game progressed, and it could have cost us, especially when they threatened in the ninth."
Zito was on a 100 pitch watch this game, and was pulled at pitch 95 for reliever Jeff Tam in the ninth. Tam proceeded to make things more interesting than they probably had to be, managing to help plate three runs, two of which came off the bat of Alex Rodriguez, who smoked a bases clearing triple after Michael Young and Herbert Perry stroked singles to lead off the inning. Tam then walked Juan Gonzalez, putting the potential tying run in Rafael Palmeiro to the plate.
Graham immediatly made the call to the bullpen, for closer Billy Koch, who got Palmeiro to fly out to left, plating Rodriguez, to cut the lead to one. Koch got Texas backstop Ivan Rodriguez to hit into a game ending double play, preventing a ninth inning collapse. "It was closer than it had to be," Graham said after the game. "We just need to tighten up defensively."
BOXSCORE: 2002 Texas Rangers At 2002 Oakland Athletics 4/2/2002
Rangers AB R H RBI AVG Athletics AB R H RBI AVG
M.Young 2B 4 1 1 0 .250 S.Hatteberg DH 3 0 0 0 .000
H.Perry 3B 4 1 1 0 .125 D.Justice RF 4 1 1 0 .125
A.Rodriguez SS 4 1 1 2 .222 E.Chavez 3B 3 1 0 0 .167
J.Gonzalez RF 3 0 0 0 .000 M.Tejada SS 4 1 2 0 .667
R.Palmeiro 1B 3 0 0 1 .400 J.Giambi LF 3 1 2 1 .500
I.Rodriguez C 3 0 0 0 .125 T.Long CF 3 0 1 2 .286
C.Everett DH 3 0 1 0 .571 O.Saenz 1B 2 0 1 1 .500 R.Greer LF 3 0 1 0 .333 R.Hernandez C 3 0 0 0 .167
G.Kapler CF 3 0 0 0 .000 R.Velarde 2B 3 0 1 0 .333
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- --- Totals 30 3 5 3 Totals 28 4 8 4
Rangers......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 - 3 5 0
Athletics....... 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 4 8 0
Rangers (0-2) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET
K.Rogers LOSS(0-1) 8 8 4 4 3 2 0 136 4.50 A1
Totals 8 8 4 4 3 2 0
Athletics (2-0) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET
B.Zito WIN(1-0) 8 2 0 0 1 3 0 99 0.00 A1 C9
J.Tam 0 3 3 3 1 0 0 17 ---- D1 D4
B.Koch SAVE(1st) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.00 D5
Totals 9 5 3 3 2 3 0
UMPIRES- Tim Tschida, Greg Gibson, Chuck Meriwether, Tim Timmons
T- 2:32
LEFT ON BASE- Rangers: 3 Athletics: 5
DOUBLE PLAYS- Rangers: 1 Athletics: 1
DOUBLES- C.Everett(1st), D.Justice(1st), J.Giambi(1st), T.Long(2nd),
R.Velarde(1st)
TRIPLES- A.Rodriguez(1st)
SACRIFICE FLIES- R.Palmeiro, T.Long, O.Saenz
WALKS- J.Gonzalez, I.Rodriguez, S.Hatteberg, E.Chavez, J.Giambi
STRIKE OUTS- A.Rodriguez, J.Gonzalez, C.Everett, E.Chavez, R.Velarde
GIDP- I.Rodriguez, T.Long
WEB GEMS- Top 2nd: Eric Chavez robbed Rafael Palmeiro of a base hit.
Bot 6th: Ivan Rodriguez blocked the plate, saving a run!
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