Season defining game

How many times can you legitimately say you went to a season-defining game for your favorite team?

It was a sign that I wasn't scheduled to work today or tomorrow. It was a sign two of my friends from work said they'd go to the game. It was a sign it happened to be dollar hot dog night. It was a sign we were playing the hated Angles. The gods were telling me to go to the game.

Going to the game, I was expecting Double-A Rough Riders pitcher Michael Ballard to be getting the starting nod. Surprisingly Warner "Mad Dog" Madrigal made the Wednesday start and pitched 3 solid innings giving up only 1 run.

Eventually, the Rangers manufactured a lone run and Chris "Hulk" Davis couldn't do anything with Angels pitching tonight. It got to the seventh inning and Javier and Jesse went to grab some cokes and use the restroom, so I sat alone in our seats in left field. Juan Rivera, fucking Juan Rivera, hit a 2-run bomb pretty close to where I was. We were right next to the Angels bullpen and the next section a few rows down was where the homer landed. The dude that caught the ball, "this fucking guy..." would not throw the damn thing back on the field, yet he was wearing a Rangers hat and jersey shirt. It's one thing to go to a Rangers game and catch an opposing team's homerun ball but it's completely different when it's the fucking Angels and you're wearing Ranger gear from head to toe. Needless to say I joined the chorus of "throw it back" and gave him the big boo. Fucker.

So we were down two runs going into the ninth with Fransisco Rodriguez, the All-Star closer coming into the game. We had the ninth spot up but there was just an unexplainable energy wrapping the stadium. I felt it. I'm sure others felt it. So I looked at Javier who was cheering for K-Rod to save the game for the Angels and said, "Dude, I bet you five bucks we win this game." Of course he agreed. Who wouldn't with K-Rod coming in to shut down the game?

So Razor Ramon Vazquez comes to bat and gets a walk from a strangely erratic K-Rod. Kinsler struck out. Catalonotto hit a grounder which ended up being a fielder's choice, but luckily it moved Vazquez to second. So we have a runner in scoring position, the tying run at the plate and two outs.

Michael Michael Michael Michael Michael Young came up and drove a single through the third base-shortstop hole which scored Vazquez. So the game on the line with Josh Hamilton coming up to bat. Young steals second after a fouled off hit-and-run attempt. The count 3 balls 1 strike. I looked at Javier and said, "He's gotta throw him a fastball. It's 3-1. It's gotta be a fastball." Next pitch Hamilton jacks it into the right field stands for a walkoff homerun.

All I know is I was jumping up and down and screaming at the top of my lungs and clapping until my hands turned red. Watching Hamilton round the bases and jump into the pile of Rangers at home plate literally gave me goosebumps. It was that electricity within the stadium, within Texas Ranger baseball that's never been here before. It was something that I'll never forget. I remembered going to big Mavs games or the Stanley Cup playoffs when the Stars would win a game and Gates and I would be walking in the halls of the American Airlines Center and people would be chanting after the game. "Let's go Stars...(clap clap clap clap clap)" would be echoing throughout the stairwells. I remember saying to Gates, "Why can't it be this way at Ranger games? Why are people at the ballpark always so apathetic?"

Tonight as we were walking in the hallows of the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, aka The Temple, people were cheering and chanting for the Rangers. As much as I sound like a puss for saying it, my eyes teared up. Tonight I finally heard the sound I'd been dying to hear for most of my life. Tonight the electricity and excitement I feel from watching every Ranger game no matter how insignificant had spread throughout the entire stadium. Tonight put Ranger baseball on the map.