Well, now it’s a series. Returning home to Arlington served to be precisely the remedy to cure the Texas Rangers’ woes on the road through the first two games of the World Series.
With a well-played 4-2 victory at home over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, Texas showed their mettle and fought their way back into the series, and now only trail two games to one.
In Game 1, the Rangers scored seven runs, but couldn’t pitch, and in Game 2, C.J. Wilson pitched a fantastic game but the Rangers couldn’t hit Matt Cain.
Game 3 saw the Rangers put all facets of their game together to earn the first ever World Series victory in franchise history.
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was a virtual sea of red as the hometown fans vociferously cheered on their team throughout the evening.
The Texas fans have been craving a taste of success for quite some time, and in the franchise’s 50th year, finally have reason to hope.
Texas had multiple heroes in Game 3, from the 31-year-old journeyman starting pitcher living a dream after two years of pitching in Japan to a 25-year-old rookie first-baseman with only 47 Major League games on his resume prior to this postseason.
Josh Hamilton, the team’s star center-fielder, continues his dramatic road to redemption after several years out of the game due to his own harrowing battles with addiction.
The Rangers were able to get to Giants’ starter Jonathan Sanchez for four runs after getting utterly dominated by Matt Cain in Game 3. Colby Lewis, suddenly the Rangers’ ace, continued his brilliant run of performances in the postseason, earning his third win in four starts.
Perhaps most satisfying, two Rangers’ relievers threw 1.1 shut-down innings after the bullpen had failed spectacularly in the first two games of the series.
With Games 4 and 5 scheduled to take place in Arlington on Halloween and Monday, Nov. 1, the Rangers now have good reason to expect to travel back to San Francisco for a potential Game 6, or even a possible Game 7.
Let’s grade the Rangers’ performances in several key aspects of World Series Game 3.