Kuzul

The Rangers’ ballpark is quiet, at least for now.

Workers have slowly started to trickle in, the local radio station is doing their broadcast from the home plate entrance, the ALCS banners have been hung for fans to see as they start to file in, and the anticipation has begun.

This Friday night is far different from any other Friday night in Rangers’ history, because it’s on this Friday night that the Texas Rangers, and their fans, will be able to celebrate a franchise first.

An American League Championship.

For the first time, well, ever, this town has talked more baseball than football. For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, the Dallas Cowboys have taken a back seat to the Texas Rangers, and they’ll stay there through the World Series.

The fans that had jumped off the bandwagon, or those that hate baseball, have actually jumped back on the bandwagon, pretending they were there from the start.

But that’s OK. This area has always been known for bandwagon fans, so why should it be any different this year?

From the start of this series against the hated New York Yankees, this Rangers ballclub has been counted out, and most didn’t expect them to put up much of a fight. They expected the Yankees to do what they’ve always done.

Dominate.

What has happened from the very first pitch is something no one saw coming. Say what you want about “believing” in this team, but in the back of your mind you never expected the Rangers to be the ones doing the dominating.

If not for the top of the eighth inning in Game 1, the Yankees would have been staring at a four-game sweep. Instead, the series has shifted back to Arlington, with the Rangers up 3-2 after the Bronx Bombers picked up a 7-2 win in Game 5.

Colby Lewis will take the ball in what will be the deciding game for this team. The last time he toed the mound for the Rangers—Game 2—he gave up two runs through 5.2 innings in a 7-2 Ranger win.

On the flip side, for the New York Yankees, Phil Hughes will take the ball for the first time since he got run out of Arlington in a 7-2 Ranger win. Hughes gave up seven runs on 10 hits, lasting just four innings.

So tonight, the Texas Rangers’ mantra, “It’s Time,” will be put to the test.

Is it time for the Rangers to do something they’ve never done before in franchise history? Is it time for the most storied team in baseball history to exit the playoffs with a series loss for the ninth time in 10 years? Is it time for the Ballpark in Arlington to explode in celebration when the final out is recorded?

Those questions will be answered in just a few short hours.

If you ask me, I’m giving the Rangers the win tonight and watching as the Ranger fans celebrate. I’m ready to watch the fans—not only at the ballpark, but at sports bars and restaurants around the metroplex—to honk their horns, flash their lights, yell, scream, jump up and down, and generally celebrate their team’s ALCS win.

The Yankees, without question, have a storied past, but as they say so famously, “that’s why they play the game.”

You can tell whoever will listen how many World Series Championships the Yankees have. You can crack on the Rangers for being the cellar dweller of the American League for so long. You can stomp your feet and laugh at Ranger fans while telling them that Cliff Lee will sign with the Yankees after this season is over.

But while you’re doing that, just remember this: While you’re talking about “27,” Ranger fans will politely smile back at you and say “while that might be true, it’s our team that’s celebrating tonight while your team heads home to WATCH the World Series.”

So tonight, as Game 6 wraps up and Ranger players spray champagne—or ginger ale in the case of outfielder Josh Hamilton and pitcher C.J. Wilson—all over the clubhouse and all over the fans who have stayed in the ballpark to celebrate with the players, it will be a moment locked into Ranger history forever.

The City of Arlington will celebrate and the American League Championship Series will come to an end. The Rangers will be handed the ALCS trophy and they’ll get set to play the winner of the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants, which is slated to get underway on Wednesday night.

Enjoy this night Ranger fans. It’s been a long time coming, but it doesn’t make it any less sweet.

Texas Rangers, the 2010 ALCS Champions. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

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The San Francisco Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the 2010 NLCS. The Giants lead the series 3-2 but must now return to Philadelphia for Game 6 and Game 7 if needed. They are only one win away from from earning their fourth National League pennant since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. It would also be the team’s first pennant since 2002.

If Game 7 is needed, the Giants can place their champagne dreams on hold for next season. The window of opportunity for them to advance to the World Series is growing ever shorter. The Phillies have been the most dominant team in the National League for the past three seasons, advancing to the World Series in the past two seasons.

I believe that the Giants have all of the tools necessary to split the final two games in Philadelphia. I also believe that they are at a severe disadvantage in a Game 7, should it be necessary.

Here are 10 reasons that Game 6 is a do or die game for the Giants.

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History in sports usually has to do with some sort stat, which can be a predictor for the future regarding similar circumstances.

So, with the Yankees down 2-3 in the ALCS series to the Texas Rangers, it got me thinking of how the bats could stay hot for more than just one game.

Pondering over the past two seasons at what had facilitated the Yankees to get hot and stay that way. I looked at all kind of stats for the team, individual players trying to see how what affected more wins and fewer losses. Did anything make the line-up respond in 2009 and 2010?

Nothing was blatantly obvious, but the one factor that did generate more wins and all around team production depended on Alex Rodriguez.

When A-Rod drives in runs or hits home-runs the team tends to follow his lead about 25 percent of the time, but in the playoffs it was around 80 percent in 2009. Problem is that the same goes if A-Rod posts all zeros as well.

Still, everyone can’t stop blaming the Yankees middle-of-the-road pitching for getting the team into this ALCS mess, which has not made it easier by any means. The bottom line remains the same, scoring runs wins ballgames. This is regardless of who is starting on the mound, because a starter’s teammates main job is to driving in runs or else you need five pitchers who never let a run score.

If Arod’s performance in the team’s 7-2 win of Game 5 is any induction that the slugger is about to get hot, watch out.

The Yankees tend to get that extra push when A-Rod swings; something they so desperately need right now.

Don’t forget that New York needs to win both games over the weekend to survive, sans superstar Mark Teixeira.

Tex had been cold as ice in both the ALDS and ALCS prior to the injury, but statistical history over the past two seasons proves this to be a working formula.

The tandem that graces the Yankees’ three and four spots in the lineup is a lethal combination and everyone’s job just got a little harder.

For now, all eyes will be on Game 6, Friday night in Arlington, TX.

For the Rangers, it’s a place in history as they’re looking to clinch the franchise’s first trip to the World Series.

Meanwhile, the Yankees’ only focus is just to win. What other options does New York have other than digging themselves out of this hole they climbed into?

They don’t, but this is the Bombers’ reality now and they know what they have to do.

If history means anything in the postseason, which is a debatable topic, Alex Rodriguez’s bat will hold the key to the New York Yankees’ destiny in the ALCS.

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To force a Game 6, the Philadelphia Phillies offense needed to figure out San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum. They did not, but, helped by an umpire’s blindness, a bad hop, and a hit-by-pitch, enough runs were scored against the the unorthodox right-hander to send the NLCS back to Philly.

How they pushed them across makes the season-prolonging trip to Philadelphia far from deserving. Lincecum sent the first six down and, considering how well he was mixing his pitches and how fooled the Phillies were, he appeared to be well on his way to another dominating start.

Then came the third, a nightmarish inning for the Giants and their fans. Raul Ibañez led off with a blistering single to right and absurdity ensued. Ahead 0-2 on a completely overwhelmed Carlos Ruiz, Lincecum’s change-up missed its spot and drifted inside. It headed towards Ruiz, but its pace was slow, meaning Ruiz had plenty of time to react and move out of the way.

Did he? No. He just took the pitch right in the side without a flinch. Umpires can nullify a hit-by-pitch if they feel the hitter doesn’t make an effort to get out of the way. This was certainly a time for that rule to go into effect, but umpire Jeff Nelson pointed to first. With that, a rally was formed, and with what followed, Nelson made some more enemies in the crowd, in the Giants dugout, and on the field.

Opposing pitcher Roy Halladay was up with one goal in mind: to bunt the runners to second and third. In essence, he did, but, if Nelson was competent, he wouldn’t have. The ball was bunted off home-plate, but it trickled foul. Nelson signaled fair.

Halladay didn’t run, thinking it was called foul. He was thrown out at first by third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who received Buster Posey’s throw in time to get Ibañez at third but, with Sandoval well off the bag, Halladay’s goal was attained.

Shane Victorino capitalized, but needed a favorable hop to indeed deliver. He laced a fastball from Lincecum to Aubrey Huff, a ball the first baseman should have been able to snag but instead watched ricochet off his glove and hit hard off his knee.

The ball struck his left knee so hard the ball shot into the center-field grass on a couple of bounds. Both runners scored with ease. Two gaffes by the umpire and an error; the Giants lead was lost. Adding insult to injury, Placido Polanco followed by driving in the third Phillies run with a single.

But, as in Game 1, Halladay wasn’t at his best atop the mound, as the fourth inning indicated. San Francisco needed to put the disastrous third behind them, and then did, as Pat Burrell and the continuously clutch Cody Ross hit back-to-back one out doubles to trim the margin in half.

Yet, though Halladay had his hiccups from time to time, he wasn’t that hittable. No more production came San Francisco’s way in the fourth, nor in the following five innings.

Halladay pitched six, and the bullpen did the rest. Jose Contreras, once a fairly good starting pitcher, then a mediocre starting pitcher, and now a valuable reliever, retired two in the seventh and J.C. Romero put the finishing touches on the frame. The Giants were six outs away from having to go back to Philadelphia, an unenviable situation despite their series advantage.

Ryan Madson dominated in the eighth, striking out the dangerous trip of Posey, Burrell, and Ross primarily using a cut-fastball with devastating late break down. He used his changeup, seen as his best pitch, only once. Closer Brad Lidge, who hadn’t pitched since struggling in Game 1, sent down San Francisco in order as well.

As the Giants were unable to clinch a World Series berth with their best pitcher on the mound, they now must win one of the next two games in hostile territory. Their offensive struggles are worrisome, but if the umpires can regain their competence and eye-sight in Game 6 and if the Giants possess the ability to field well, San Francisco will be World Series bound. It will just happen a couple days later than they had hoped.

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Believe it or not, the Phillies could actually have the upper hand in their latest quest to be crowned champions of the National League.

After falling behind to the San Francisco Giants three games to one, the Phillies pulled out a very close win in Game 5 by a score of 4-2. But even though they got the win, it wasn’t pretty. Roy Halladay was off his game, the Phillies’ offense continued to look incompetent, and the Giants’ home crowd was at a roar for most of the game.

But thanks to some great pitching out of the bullpen by Jose Contreras, Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge (who closed out the game), the Phillies are down one game to the Giants and must win the remaining two games if they want to make it to their third straight World Series.

So how, exactly, does that give them the upper hand?

For starters, they still have the remaining two of the Big Three. Halladay, even though he wasn’t his usual dominant self, did enough to get the job done. Now, the Phillies will turn to Roy Oswalt in Game 6 and, hopefully, Cole Hamels for Game 7.

Of course, none of that matters if the offense continues its funk. The numbers have been tossed around enough and, quite honestly, are difficult to repeat. But anyone who has paid attention knows how awful the bats have been not only in this series, but throughout the postseason.

Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez have been especially disappointing as of late. They are counted on to be run-producers, and so far they haven’t played their roles.

But at least Ibanez and Howard (for the most part) haven’t been liabilities in the field. Utley, on the other hand, has been messing up every time the ball heads his direction.

Most recently, in Game 5, Utley could have ended the first inning on a very easy double-play ball, but he didn’t scoop the ball into his glove before attempting to make a tag and allowed a run to cross because of it.

Had the Phils dropped this game by one run, the mostly-popular Utley likely would have needed extra security to go anywhere in Philadelphia.

But, fortunately for him, the offense was able to muster one big inning and an insurance home run by Jayson Werth in the top of the ninth.

Alright, enough of the digression into a rant about the offense. We’re talking about why the Phillies could be in good position to pull the comeback. We’ve already discussed the starters they have lined up, so what else could be in their favor?

They’re coming home. The final two games—both of which are must-win for the Phils—will be played at Citizen’s Bank Park.

Hopefully being at home will make the offense more comfortable and the entire team can feed off the crowd as they always seem to do. The fact that CBP is a hitter’s park also doesn’t hurt a team that relies mostly on the long ball to put runs on the board.

Having to win the final two games to cap an incredible comeback is certainly not an ideal situation, but if it’s a situation a team finds themselves in, they would definitely want to have two aces lined up to pitch at home.

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The Philadelphia Phillies have nobody to blame for their Game 4 loss to the San Francisco Giants but themselves.

The Phillies made a series of coaching mistakes and mental mistakes and lost to the Giants 6-5 in Game 4 and now face a 3-1 series hole as they head into Game 4 and a rematch of Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay.

Let’s take a look at the Phillies’ mistakes in this game.It started for the Phillies in the fifth inning. With runners on second and third and one out, Shane Victorino singled up the middle. Ben Francisco scored and Carlos Ruiz was thrown at home.

There is absolutely no way Sam Perlozzo can send Ruiz in that spot. The ball that Victorino hit was a sharp groundball up the middle. It wasn’t a 30-hopper that just barely made it through.

Perlozzo has to be 100 percent sure that Ruiz is going to score. Runs have been too precious in this series to be careless in that situation. Instead of having runners on first and third with one out, the Phillies had just a runner on first with two outs.

Something that was overlooked on that play—how is Victorino not on second? There was no chance of the throw from Aaron Rowand being cut off. Victorino had to be on second.

It didn’t end up hurting the Phillies that Victorino wasn’t on second because of Placido Polanco‘s double, but it’s plays or lack thereof that have made me scratch my head in this series.

Then in the eighth, how does Manuel not bunt with Jimmy Rollins at the plate and Jayson Werth on second with nobody out? I thought Charlie Manuel said before the game his team was going to play “small ball?”

That was a must-bunt situation for Manuel. Rollins hasn’t done much and Manuel had to believe that Francisco and Ruiz could have gotten the run home with less than two outs.

Now, people will say it didn’t matter because Francisco and Ruiz struck out after Rollins popped up. Having a runner on third completely changes the dynamic of the inning and perhaps the pitch selection to both batters.

The biggest decision by Manuel in this game was his decision to bring in Roy Oswalt to start the ninth. At the time, I didn’t have a problem with it. Then I found out he threw a bullpen session earlier in the day and I almost fell off my chair.

Manuel was going to make a guy throw a bullpen session in the afternoon and then come out in the ninth in a tie game later that night on two days’ rest? No thanks.

Oswalt wasn’t sharp and gave up the game-winning run when Juan Uribe hit a deep flyball to left that scored Aubrey Huff. Speaking of that Uribe at-bat, it was another mental mistake by the Phillies.

Uribe has a bad wrist and couldn’t catch up to Oswalt’s fastball in the AB. Why on Earth would Ruiz call a change-up and Oswalt agree to throw it? The only thing they are doing is helping Uribe out. Terrible.

Here are some other observations from Game 4…

Joe Blanton threw two wild pitches in 175.2 regular season innings and threw two wild pitches in the first inning of Game 4.

Despite his less than stellar performance (three runs in 4.2 IP), I still believe it was the right decision to start Blanton over Halladay.

The Tampa Bay Rays took SS Tim Beckham with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 Draft when they needed a catcher. Fail.

Home plate umpire Wally Bell was all over the place.

Can the Phillies come back from this 3-1 deficit? Absolutely. With Halladay, Oswalt, and Cole Hamels in the next three games, they have a very good chance of coming back.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Hey there, baseball fans! Welcome to Game Five of the NLCS between the visiting Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants.

Amateur baseball historian Evan Adrian here, guiding you through what could be the final game of this series.

The Giants won a classic October contest last night, beating the Phillies 6-5 on a ninth inning sac fly courtesy of Juan Uribe. They now stand just one game away from closing this thing out and punching their ticket to the 2010 World Series.

In a pitching rematch of Game One, the Phillies trot out their ace Roy Halladay to face the Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum. Philly is hoping Halladay can conjure up some of his no-hit NLDS magic and take this series back home. San Fran is hoping to close this one out in front of their raucous home crowd.

Keep it locked right here to follow the action every step of the way!

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The bats finally woke up for the New York Yankees last night. CC Sabathia stepped up like any ace should, battling through six innings and giving his team the lead.

Staring elimination in the eye, the Yankees used their bats and took advantage of some sloppy play by the Texas Rangers to force a Game 6. The series now returns to Texas with the Rangers holding a three games to two lead in this best of seven series.

In order to defend last seasons world series title, the Yankees will need to win the final two games in Texas, starting Friday night. One step at a time though.

Before a big matchup between Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte in Game 7, the Yankees will need to win Game 6 behind Phil Hughes. Hughes was roughed up in Game 2, also played in Texas.

Early in the series, the Yankees bats had been silenced by the Rangers pitchers. Robinson Cano had really been the only hot hitter.

Last night, some others woke up a bit. With a three run lead in the third inning, Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back home runs to give Sabathia a 5-0 lead. Seven of the nine Yankees in the lineup had at least one hit. The team totalled nine on the night.

Read full article at Double G Sports.

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Last night’s NLCS game followed a script very familiar to Phillies fans.

The team scratched out a first-inning run, helped along by the miscues of their opponent.  They got key contributions throughout the lineup.  The unexpected hitting star continued to shine.  They were patient and did some damage against an opposing reliever.  The relief ace was lights out.  And they won the game thanks to some late-game heroics.

Since 2008, the Phillies have seemed to follow that script several times en route to six series wins, two pennants and one World Series championship.  Except last night, it was the Giants who managed to follow the winning formula, and the Phillies who came up short.

It was the Giants who took advantage of two wild pitches to score a first-inning run.  It was the Giants who got big hits throughout their lineup.  It wasn’t Carlos Ruiz who continued to emerge as a postseason star—but rather Cody Ross.  Instead of the Phillies beating up on Jonathan Broxton, it was the Giants taking the lead against Chad Durbin.  It wasn’t Brad Lidge shutting down his opponents, but rather Brian Wilson who left the Phillies’ hitters looking helpless. 

And finally, it was the Giants who scored the winning run in the ninth inning.

And now it is the Giants who look poised to capture the National League pennant, which most people had pretty much handed to the Phillies before the postseason began.

The Giants look very similar to the 2008 Phillies right now.  Their lineup might not be nearly as dangerous—but as we’ve seen in the postseason, that doesn’t necessarily matter.  What does matter is that they’re receiving strong pitching performances, making all the necessary plays and coming up with key hits.

On the other hand, the Phillies look lost.  This series is starting to look an awful lot like the August series against the Astros where everything just seemed to go against the Phillies.  Their hitters are struggling.  The pitchers perform decently, but not quite well enough. The manager’s moves don’t work.  Umpire calls go against them.  (I’m certainly not blaming the umps for the loss, but that was one of the worst performances by a home plate umpire in awhile.  The strike zone had absolutely no consistency.)

Even when they appear to get a break, it doesn’t end up helping them.  Pablo Sandoval hit a ball that was ruled foul, but replays showed that it was probably fair.  (To be honest, that was about as close as a ball can come, and I don’t know if they could have overturned it even with replay).  Sandoval just came back and hit a double.

Or when a pitch seemed to hit Juan Uribe on the hand, but it was ruled a foul.  That didn’t stop Uribe from hitting the game-winning sacrifice fly.

So now the Phillies are trailing the series 3-1, and have to win three games against the Giants’ starting trio of Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain.  Considering the way they’ve struggled at the plate, it doesn’t seem like a promising scenario.

There was a lot of debate over Charlie Manuel’s decision to start Joe Blanton last night instead of Roy Halladay on short rest.  I agreed with the move, even though it didn’t work out.

First, Blanton is a much better pitcher than people think.  He’s not as good as the “Big Three,” but he’s proven to be a solid major-league starter.  He’s won postseason games for this team before, and pitched well in the second half.  A start by Blanton was far from an automatic loss.

More importantly, if they had gone with Halladay on short rest, then they would have also had to go with Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels and then possibly Halladay again on short rest.  It seems like a bad idea to have the final four games of a series started by pitchers on short rest.

For those who suggested that they could just use Blanton for Game 5 or 6 instead, I don’t understand the logic behind that move.  If you don’t trust him in Game 4 matched against rookie Madison Bumgarner, then why would you trust him in a potentially more important game against Lincecum, Cain or Sanchez?

If there was a move by Manuel that should be questioned, it would be the use of Oswalt in relief.  While it isn’t unusual for a starter to be used in the bullpen between starts, the manager typically prepares the starter ahead of time, and tells him not to take his usual throwing session that day.  Supposedly, Oswalt had already thrown earlier in the day. 

I could understand using him if the game had gone into extra innings, and they were left with no other options.  But Manuel still had three relievers available.  Obviously, using the inconsistent Kyle Kendrick isn’t the preferred option (and they’d want to save him in case the game went long anyway), and I can understand saving Brad Lidge until they got a lead, otherwise he’d have to pitch multiple innings or be replaced. 

But why didn’t Manuel use JC Romero in the ninth?  I’d think that using an experienced relief pitcher would be a much better option than using one of his starters who had already thrown earlier in the day.  Was Romero unavailable for some reason?

Regardless, the game is over, and the Phillies are now faced with the task of winning three games in a row.  It is a difficult situation, but far from impossible.  The upside of going with Blanton last night is that they now have Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels lined up to start on full rest. 

The Giants’ starters may be imposing, but expecting the Phillies to win three straight games (two at home) started by their aces is far from unrealistic.

Hopefully starting tonight, the Phillies can remember how to get back to their winning ways.  Otherwise, they’re going to be faced with a script that has become very unfamiliar to them: Someone else celebrating a National League pennant.

Originally published on my blog: Stranger in a Strange Land

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The San Francisco Giants are up 3-1 against the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series and are one win away from a trip to the World Series.

If I would have told you in March that this would be reality, you would have looked at me and laughed. You might have thought the Giants picked up a big time hitter while trading away Madison Bumgarner or Jonathan Sanchez.

Well, there is no big hitter, but the pitching got even better.

It was not one move that made this team what it is but several. It was not talent that got this team where it is but heart. This team has been called misfits, scrubs and castoffs.

The one thing they all have in common is the drive to win.

None of the players the Giants picked up are world beaters by any stretch.

Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Javier Lopez, Mike Fontenot, Jose Guillen. All have contributed and without even one of them, the Giants are not where they are right now.

Remember Fontenot’s broken bat flair against the Dodgers? Do you remember Jose Guillen’s six-RBI game?

Cody Ross didn’t turn it on until the playoffs and has turned into “The Boss.”

The Giants are the epitome of the word “team.” They embody all that kids are taught from their t-ball days to their first American Legion game.

Root for each other, be ready when called upon, get the runner over, never quit.

They never quit.

Not even during the Bonds era can I remember a Giants team that was as resilient as these Giants. They fall behind and come back. They give up a lead and get it back. Game 4 was proof of this.

Not only are they doing this but they are doing it against the next best pitching staff to theirs.

Almost all Giants fans knew going into March, if we made it to the playoffs they would be dangerous. But many also believed if they made it, the offense would suffer, and they would get ousted fairly quickly.

The offense has been just good enough to win ball games but more importantly, this is the best pitching staff in Giants history. It is what will carry them deeper into October baseball.

With some changes to the lineup and the maturation of some home grown players, the Giants have proven the world wrong. They have matured faster than many believed. They have proven me wrong and I couldn’t be happier.

I said after a miserable August, they wouldn’t make the playoffs. They did.

I said they would beat the Braves but fall to the Phillies in six games. That is no longer a mathematical possibility.

This team has built the season on proving everybody wrong. They are a bunch of misfits. Hell, they are a sandlot team. Scrappy, gritty, carefree and with plenty of personality.

It is apparent they have fun which is what baseball should be. They make you want to root for them. You want them to succeed. They are the ultimate underdog ready to eliminate the biggest dog in the yard.

They are ready to do something that has not happened in San Francisco—bring a World Series title home.

Impossible? No.

Improbable? I thought so.

At this stage, this team is ready for the unforeseen. Six wins down, five to go.

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