Roller coaster ride continues

Round and round we go again
Upside down and back again
Confusion always gets the best of me
Knuckles turning red to white
Courage puttin' up a fight
As passion feeds upon the rest of me
Desperate for pure intoxication

It's the feeling of this ride we're on
It's making me crazy
Like a roller coaster we've been on too long

-- "Roller Coaster" by Tony Lucca

Tony Lucca might just have been singing about being a Rangers fan. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a roller coaster on this team. Alright, MOST of the time I feel like I'm on a roller coaster with this team. Take the lead, lose a lead, tie the game, give up a tying run....ahh. It makes me a bit crazy. But I suppose that's part of being a fan.

The Rangers scored two runs quickly -- solo home runs from Hamilton in the first and Kinsler in the third. Two was enough...until the fourth inning when a misplayed ball cost Scott Feldman three runs and a quality start. The wheels came off when Hamilton misplayed and then overthrew a ball. Then Feldman proceeded to give up a single, a walk and a wild pitch before finally getting Cuddyer to ground out and end the inning.

Minnesota had a 5-2 lead on Texas going into the 7th. Apparently, the number 5 is a strange one for the Rangers (and I'm not referring to Kinsler). More times than I can count, the Rangers have either blown a five-run lead or recovered from a five-run defecit. Fortunately, tonight, it was the latter. They piled on two runs in the 7th and two more in the 8th. They had men in scoring position in the 9th, but failed to add any insurance for C.J. Wilson to work with.

And C.J. could have used it. After getting Craig Monroe to ground out, Wilson seemed to get a bit lost as he walked Craig Monroe and then Adam Harris before facing Joe Mauer. Those walks came back to haunt him as the runners moved up on a wild pitch and Monroe scored when Mauer singled to center. It was a 6-6 tie with one out and runners at first and third with Justin Morneau up. A perennial BA and RBI leader for the Twins. All he needed was a sac fly to bring the win for the home team.

The game remained tied through two more innings and the Twins let their PITCHER, Korecky, bat. Insane. Frankie Francisco had sat too long and came out of the 'pen a bit stale. He got the first batter out but then surrendered a hit to the PITCHER. That, alone, was a sign we didn't deserve to win this game. Pair that with our regression back to lack of hits with RISP (and less than two outs), and it was just a bad combination for the Rangers.

Finally, the torture appeared to be nearly over in the bottom of the 11th as Francisco loaded the bases up for Morneau with one out. Korecky represented the winning run. But Francisco found his velocity...suddenly...and struck Morneau out. Relief for a few seconds, and then the agony continued as Cuddyer grounded out to third.

The Twins finally got the win when Hamilton misplayed a ball in the bottom of the 12th off the bat of Howie Clark. I don't really want to say more about it. This game was far too long.

Puke.

KISS: I don't really even know who to give the kiss to. I was pretty disappointed with tonight's game all around.

MISS: C.J. Wilson. He earned his second blown save of the year, and not by simply being outsmarted at the plate. He walked the tying and go ahead runs to face two of the toughest hitters in the AL -- Mauer and Morneau. It was just poor pitching, and I'm not sure what he was thinking out there.

I apologize for not keeping up with my Kam watch. He took the loss on Sunday, although that does not adequately represent his outing. He pitched three innings, giving up just one hit -- a solo homer -- as the RedHawks fell to the Redbirds 1-0. Since May 11, Kam has thrown six innings in which he's given up three runs on eight hits and struck out five. The best part of that line is NO WALKS. His ERA is currently 5.14 and falling. Hopefully he'll be able to knock it down even more this weekend in Des Moines.

That's right, the RedHawks are coming to my home state for Memorial Day weekend for a four-game set -- Friday through Monday. I have to cover graduation on Sunday, but I plan to be there on Friday, Saturday and Monday. I'm really looking forward to seeing Kam, Botts, Hurley and Nate again, and getting my first glimpse at Taylor Teagarden. You better believe there will be plenty of pics from the weekend.