With July upon us, I think it is worth revisiting the summer of 1996.  For me, the most anticipated series in my history as a Rangers fan was in July 1996 (and really the top five anticipated series' were all from that summer and fall).  This Angels series doesn't rank up there, but it is probably the closest thing I've experienced since the first Rangers-Mariners series of 2001.

Number one of all time though, was the four game set versus Seattle from July 4 through July 7.  I was a 16 year old Rangers fan at the time, and my entire life of fandom was really the stuff of sport nightmare.  Obviously each Rangers fan felt the same way, I was lucky really to only remember the previous ten years or so.  The Star-Telegram had a great front page graphic they ran each day charting the series which I can still picture in my head - I haven't been able to find these pages from those dates on their archive, though.  

I'm going to setup the series tonight and recall game 1, before finishing with games 2-4 tomorrow.

Texas started off the series 6 games ahead of Seattle for first place.  I don't know for sure, but I think this was their biggest lead ever in July.  There was a potential to put Seattle away and to pretty much lock up the AL West - a Texas sweep would give us a 10 game lead with 75 games to go.  There was also the potential for Seattle to quickly close the gap - a Seattle sweep would pull them to within 2, and possibly crack the team for good.

The Rangers 1996 team lineup should still be familiar to most Rangers fans.  Longtime favorites Pudge, Juando, Palmer, McLemore, Rusty, and Clark anchored the lineup, 1996 out-of-nowhere star Kevin Elseter at SS, and Darryl Hamilton, Warren Newson , and Mickey Tettleton helped fill out the rest of the lineup. 

On July 4th, I listned to Eric Nadel call the action from the Ballpark in Arlington from my radio sitting next to me at Alliance Airport with my family ready to watch the fireworks.  Darrin Oliver would start the game of July 4, 1996.  Oliver was still a promising young pitcher, a 26 year old already in his fourth year as a Ranger though the first in which he'd get significant time in the rotation.  1996 would be the first of a two year stretch which was clearly his peak years, he averaged about 185 innings and 14 wins in those years, compiling an ERA+ of about 114 in both years.   The lineup featured the usual suspects, though Mickey Tettleton spelled Will Clark at first this night, with Juando getting a bit of rest at DH while Warren Newson filled in at RF.

Oliver would not have his best night, allowing ten runners, and 3 ER in 5.2 innings, putting Texas down 4-1.  Anyone familar with 1996 remembers that the bullpen was continuously suspect, however, this night, Mark Brandenburg, Ed Vosberg, and Jeff Russell were able to combine for 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, giving the offense time to chip back.

A Darryl Hamilton double, Pudge lineout, and Rusty groundout had given Texas its first run in the fifth.  In the seventh, Hamilton doubled again, Pudge lined out to send Hamilton to third, and Rusty singled to pull Texas to 4-2.  Juando lined out for the second out, before Mickely Tettleton reached on an error to bring up Dean Palmer. 
Palmer was finishing up the fourth of his four really good years with Texas (though he would have the distinction of ending the playoff series with New York by striking out, before being traded in the next season).   Tonight, Palmer would take Rafael Carmona deep to left to give Texas a 5-2 lead. 

Top of the ninth, Texas up 5-4.  Mike Henneman, who had a very solid career prior to 1996 but who would find himself out of baseball in 1997, came in, and most likely all of Rangers fandom was biting their fingernails.  Henneman didn't disappoint, allowing singles to Ranger Killer Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner (looking over the lineup, I realize how much I hated the Mariners of that era because I still remember most of their lineup as well).    Brian Hunter bunted them to third, before Henneman walked Dan Wilson intentionally to load the basis.  Johnny Oates showed how much he trusted his closer by pulling him in favor of Dennis Cook. 

If Henneman had poured some 87 Octane all over the Ballpark, Cook proceeded to bust out the Bic and start clicking away,  as he hit John Marzano to tie the game up, before serving up  a grand-slam ball to Paul Sorrento. 

Matt Whiteside would shortly replace Cook on the mound.  Before the inning was over, two more Mariners would single, Whiteside would throw a wild pitch before eventually striking out a young Mariner in his first full season named Alex Rodriguez, before Edgar struck out to end the inning.  The damage was obviously done as Texas stared at a 9-5 deficit.   Texas had the meat of the order coming up, but could do little, as Pudge, Rusty, and Juando were put out consecutively to end the game, and send nearly 47,000 home having seen Texas' AL West lead drop from six games to five.