As a Rangers fan, the season is officially over.  It’s a tough one to swallow, b/c even though it’s practically a “playoff game”, it’s only one game instead of a series, so it’s only one pitcher instead of more of your rotation.

The Rays beat the Rangers 5-2 tonight.  It was a close game–the Rays did not score the 5th run until the top of the 9th.

• Longoria came up huge with a 2 run HR (2 RBI), a double, a single, and 2 runs scored.
• David Price, even though coming in with a record of 1-7 against Texas, grinded through the entire game, going the full 9 innings and giving up 2 ER.  His command was off at times and he gave up 7 hits, but he was effective enough.
• Martin Perez, on the other hand gave up 3 ER in 5 1/3 innings.  The homer by Longoria was killer b/c there were 2 outs, and it wasn’t a bad pitch either.  Not a bad outing by Perez, you would want better from him in this type of game.

Cruz came back tonight after a 50 game suspension, and the crowd went crazy for him with the “Cruuuuuz” chant as well as “Nellie, Nellie, Nellie”.  It was pretty cool seeing such a warm welcome for him.  Unfortunately, though, he went 0 for 4 on the night.

One thing I did like — Longoria said in an interview after the game that he savored beating Texas with Texas beating them in the postseason in 2010 and 2011, and he talked about how hard it was to play in Texas against the Rangers.  Props to him; you don’t hear the players give credit to the opposing team or fans like that much.  I have a higher respect for him after that comment.  David Price, on the other hand….well, he was jawing throughout his entire performance.  It was a gem of an outing for him, but I don’t like seeing a player’s mouth run that much.

The Rays now play in the AL Wild Card game on Wednesday night in Cleveland for a spot to take on the Red Sox.  The Reds play in Pittsburgh tmrw night for the NL Wild Card for the spot to play the Cardinals.