Player of the Week 2

     Alrighty folks, it's time for our second Player of the Week. I apologize for being a bit late, but I was really busy today with baseball games and the like. Anyway, the guy I have chosen for today is not one you'd expect, and there's an interesting reason why I chose him.
    My second Player of the Week is......

    

    Walter Pennington.

    In case you didn't know, Pennington is a rookie relief pitcher who was acquired by the Rangers via a trade with the Royals (we traded Michael Lorenzen straight up for him). Pennington is my favorite relief pitcher of all time, so when I went to the Rangers/Yankees game on Wednesday I was really hoping that Pennington was going to make an appearance. I was dismayed when we jumped out to a 10-2 lead (not a high-leverage situation) and saw Andrew Chafin warming in the bullpen.
    But Pennington came on in the eighth nonetheless and fired 2/3 of a scoreless inning against the Brooklyn Bombers, his only flaw being a single to Juan Soto. 
    So that was a really special experience for me, and therefore I had to give him the title of Player of the Week for this week. 

    I took some live video of Pennington throwing to Juan Soto and Jazz Chisholm, but can't upload them on the computer. 

    That'll about do it for my second Player of the Week. As always, thank you for reading, have a great rest of your weekend, and happy collecting!

    P.S. The ninth inning of that game was insane! I was going to mention it in a separate post, but since Pennington pitched that game I figured I'd just post it here. If y'all aren't interested, skip the italicized part. But if you are, go ahead and check it out. It is very long though (😁).

    This is my personal account of Wednesday's ninth inning against the Yankees:

     The ninth inning was probably the most entertaining inning I've ever seen live at a baseball game (which isn't necessarily saying too much). Matt Festa is on the hill for the Rangers, with a more than comfortable 10-2 lead. The first two batters fly out to Travis Jankowski (Janko made a diving catch; they need a cage to contain him!). Then things got......messy.
    Festa walked pinch-hitter Oswaldo Cabrera (yikes) and then Jose Trevino. He proceeded to also walk lead-off man Gleyber Torres before heading to the clubhouse. The new pitcher was Grant Anderson who was set to face 2-3-4. Since they were down 10-2, Trent Grisham came in as a defensive replacement for the already 3-for-3 (with a home run) Juan Soto. So we're thinking it's the end for the Yanks, right?
    Wrong.
    Grisham hit a grand slam, making the game now 10-6. Then the defensive replacement for Aaron Judge, Duke Ellis, comes to the plate. The rookie was 0-for-4 in his career (9 games in 2024) before tonight. So the Yankees are really done this time and we can go home now, right?
    Wrong again.
    Ellis got his first big-league hit, a single to leftfield. Now Jazz Chisholm is batting, and we're starting to break out in a sweat just a little bit. Chisholm hits a 103 MPH comebacker off the leg of Grant Anderson, removing him from the game.
    It's a save situation now, so it's Kirby Yates time. All he has to do is get one little out so we can go home. 
    Well, he's facing Giancarlo Stanton.
    For the first time all night, Stanton decides to battle. The count is 2-2 when he hits an absolute shot to leftfield. Well, it's time to sit back down. It's not a happy house in Arlington yet.
    But gliding through the air like an angel is Wyatt Langford, who leaps the wall and takes a home run away from Stanton to end the game. It's a 10-6 Rangers win, and save number 26 for Kirby.