Down two games to none in the World Series, the Texas Rangers desperately needed some home cookin’, and more importantly needed a win in Game 3. The guy they relied on for a big performance was Colby Lewis and like in his three postseason games prior, Lewis delivered.
Lewis gave up just five hits, two runs, walked two and struck out five in 7.2 innings of work as he helped the Rangers defeat the Giants 4-2 on Saturday night. The Giants now lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
I thought Lewis’ start was more like his Game 2 start against the New York Yankees than his Game 6 start. Lewis danced through raindrops in that Game 2 start, and I thought he did the same thing on Saturday.
Lewis only gave up five hits and two runs, but it could have been a lot worse. He left a lot of balls right out over the plate and somehow avoided serious damage all night.
According to PitchFx, Lewis threw 57 sliders and curves in Game 3. Take a look at his pitch chart, notice how many of those pitches he left up…
Lewis left an insane amount of sliders and curves not only over the middle of the plate, but up in the zone. How he didn’t get hurt more than he did is a mystery to me.
The two mistakes he did get caught on were an inside fastball to Cody Ross and a right down the middle fastball to Andres Torres. After this postseason, I don’t think any pitcher is going to throw a fastball on purpose to the inner half of the plate to Ross. He has manhandled that pitch all postseason.
Lewis is now 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA and 24 K’s in four postseason starts. If there is a Game 7, it will most likely be Lewis taking the mound for the Rangers.
While Lewis was doing it on the mound, the Ranger offense just did enough to get by.
The first big blow for the Rangers came from Mitch Moreland in the second. After fouling off four tough pitches, Moreland hit a frozen rope over the rightfield wall for a three-run HR. Why Buster Posey would call an inside fastball in that spot was a little puzzling.
Josh Hamilton added to the lead in the fifth when he hit a hanging curve from Jonathan Sanchez into the right center field seats. Sanchez put that pitch on a platter for Hamilton and he didn’t miss it.
Here are some other observations from Game 3…
The Giants are going to have quite the decision on their hands if this series goes seven games. Sanchez was terrible for the second straight game and if this series goes seven, he is slated to start.
Sanchez only lasted 4.2 innings, and gave up four runs on six hits and three walks. Sanchez is so Jekyll and Hyde that I don’t think Bruce Bochy can go to him in a Game 7.
The Giants’ hitters weren’t much better.
Three World Series games and eight strike outs in nine AB’s. This is the Pat Burrell Tampa Bay Rays fans knew to grow and love.
While Tim McCarver thought Nelson Cruz made a poor baserunning play in the bottom of the second, I thought he made the right decision.
Here was the setting: Cruz was on third with one out and the infield was playing back. Jeff Francoeur hit a slow roller up along third. Instead of going home, Cruz went back to third. Juan Uribe looked Cruz back and then threw out Francoeur at first.
Okay, here is my take on this. Uribe fielded the ball right in front of third. If Cruz goes home off of contact, he would have been out by 20 feet. The contact play clearly wasn’t on and instead of having a runner on first with two outs, the Rangers still had a runner on third with one out. Maybe it’s me, but I would rather have the latter.
Can someone please tell Ron Washington it’s the World Series. Despite Darren O’Day getting the job done in the eighth, I still can’t believe Washington refuses to go to Feliz for a four-out save.
I will have to admit, I didn’t mind it when Washington left Lewis in the game to face Aubrey Huff in the eighth. Yes, Torres just hit a HR. And yes, Edgar Renteria hit a rope to left for an out. But Huff didn’t represent the tying or go-ahead run, so let the guy try to finish things out.
However, once Lewis hit Huff, Washington has to go to Neftali Feliz. Who do I want pitching the most important AB of the game? O’Day or Feliz? I will take Feliz for $1,000 Alex.
I was completely shocked Bochy went to Ramon Ramirez in the bottom of the eighth in a 4-2 game. I didn’t think he would see the mound again in this season unless it was a blowout.
If you told the casual fan after watching last night’s game that Pablo Sandoval hit .330 last year, they would laugh at you. He has zero and I mean ZERO confidence at the plate right now.
Moreland had 145 AB’s during the regular season, so he won’t qualify for the Rookie of the Year award in 2011, but not being up for the award aside, Moreland should be good for a .260-.270 average with 20 plus HRs.
Words can’t describe how big Game 4 is on Sunday. The difference between 2-2 and 3-1 can’t be understated. The Rangers will have Tommy Hunter on the mound trying to tie the series, and the Giants will have rookie Madison Bumgarner on the mound trying to give them a 3-1 series lead.
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