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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.

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Colby Lewis was exactly what the doctor ordered for the Texas Rangers.

After the San Francisco Giants jumped out to a commanding 2-0 lead in the 2010 World Series, Lewis held the Giants to two runs in seven-plus innings of work as the Rangers drew within one game by defeating the Giants on Saturday, 4-2.

In doing so, Lewis became the winning pitcher in all three home playoff victories in the history of the Texas Rangers franchise.

Before this year’s Fall Classic began, many believed that starting pitching would be a huge factor in the outcome, but up until Saturday night, it was the offense of the Giants that stole the show.

With momentum now on the side of the Rangers, and the matchup in favor of Tommy Hunter in Game 4, Texas has a legitimate chance of squaring up the Series on Sunday.

When looking at the dynamics of the Giants lineup, it’s not difficult to see why San Francisco was successful against Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson.

The Giants feature predominantly right-handed hitting in their batting order and have had much success against left-handed pitching throughout the entire 2010 postseason.

As Lewis was the right man for the job on Saturday, Hunter, also a righty, will be in a similar scenario Sunday night. Hunter brings in a 7-0 record in the regular season at Rangers Ballpark and will face Giants rookie left-hander Madison Bumgarner in Game 4.

As Game 5 nears, the aces of each staff will be called upon once again, and if the Series is stretched into six or seven games, starting pitching could very well be a deciding factor as to which team will come away with the championship rings.

The following slides show each starter who has pitched thus far in the Series, rate and analyze each pitcher’s performance, as well as speculate how they will fare if utilized in the latter part of the Series.

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Game three of the World Series is in the books and the Texas Rangers are finally on the board.

A Mitch Moreland three-run home run, a solo shot from ALCS MVP Josh Hamilton, and solid pitching from starter Colby Lewis helped the Rangers put a 4-2 win in the books in Arlington on Saturday night.

After two demoralizing losses in San Francisco, fans here in Texas wondered if the Rangers were capable of coming back and tying the series.

When the offense went dormant on Thursday night, a collective fan base dropped their heads and didn’t know if they were ever going to be able to pick them back up again. The team wasn’t hitting, they were making mistakes, and their bullpen was just short of awful.

On Saturday afternoon, as fans began to file into the stadium, they wanted to believe that their team wasn’t ready to quit. They wanted to believe that there was still a little magic left in the Rangers’ tank and they were hoping they would see that come out in game three.

When Moreland lined his three-run shot to right, the fans exploded. It was the first time in three games they were really able to cheer for anything at all. It was the first time they were able to really throw their hands up, yell, and scream.

It was also the first time their team had a lead since game one. They wanted this win, they needed this win, and they got it.

Lewis came in on Saturday night and did exactly what the team needed him to do. But not only that, the bullpen did their job as well. Darren O’Day came in to the game in the eighth inning, an inning that has plagued the Rangers through the first two games, and although it was scary, he got the job done.

Then, in the ninth, it was Neftali Feliz who shut the door on the Giants and made it look easy although it was his first World Series appearance in his career.

With one win under their belt, the Rangers and their fans can rest a little bit easier, knowing that a small chunk of the Giants’ lead is gone.

But with one win comes even more challenges and even more obstacles this team will have to overcome.

They will need to keep themselves grounded. They will need to keep themselves from getting too high on the performance they put in game three. They have a job to do and they still have ground to make up.

Scheduled to go to the mound on Sunday is right-hander Tommy Hunter, a guy who has struggled throughout the playoffs.

That has brought up a whole new set of questions, actually just one question and one that was asked by the media to manager Ron Washington during his post game press conference after game three.

“Ron, is there any thought to bringing Cliff Lee back on short rest to start game four?” Ron’s answer was a simple, “no.”

That question was asked again during the post game show on Fox Channel 4 here in Dallas. The answer to that is simple. Lee’s numbers when pitching on short rest are not good and his performance in game one was not enough to think he’d be any better in a ballpark that plays smaller than AT&T Park in San Francisco.

On one hand, I understand why the question came up and I understand those who think Lee should go on three days rest. However, if you lose game four, then you’re almost forced to come back with C.J. Wilson also on three days rest. You put yourself in a bad situation that way.

Going with Tommy Hunter will give him the confidence to go out there and do what he needs to do to get the job done. This Giants’ offense is a potent one without question, but they’re not unbeatable.

Hunter needs to trust his stuff, he needs to trust that he can get the job done, and he needs to trust the guys behind him. Throw first pitch strike, keep the ball away from the middle of the plate, and throw the right pitches at the right time.

If he can do that and if he can keep his confidence up for at least six innings, he can allow his bullpen to do the rest.

The Rangers got their first win, but they’re a long ways from climbing back in this series. This is a good Giants’ ball club and they’re not going to give up wins. They’ll continue to fight all the way through and not give you an inch.

You hate to use the old cliche but it’s one the Rangers need to use starting Sunday night. “One game at a time, one win at a time.”

Take care of tomorrow, get the win, then worry about what comes next. If they do that, they won’t have to play with their backs against the wall.

Get yourself back into this series, than go and take control of it.

The Texas Rangers have their destiny in their own hands and they know exactly how to handle things from here. As long as they do what they’re capable of doing and putting together the kind of effort we saw from them in the ALCS against the New York Yankees, this series won’t be just tied up, but the Rangers will have the lead going back to San Francisco.

The 2010 World Series isn’t over yet. It’s only just begun.

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The home cooking was especially tasty for the Texas Rangers on Saturday night, as they finally got on the board to make this a series heading into Game 4 with a 4-2 victory over the Giants in Arlington.

San Francisco had taken the first two games at home, slugging around Cliff Lee in Game 1 and dominating Texas 9-0 in Game 2.

Saturday continued the trend of home-field advantage, as the Rangers used two home runs to win and cut the Giants’ series lead to 2-1.

Meanwhile, even college football and the Dallas Cowboys had to take a back seat on a day when the World Series visited Texas for the first time ever. With the Cowboys playing poorly and the Longhorns losing to Baylor, World Series fever has swept the state, and, this time, the Rangers lived up to the billing.

Let’s take a look at the keys to the victory on the eve of Halloween. Don’t be scared. Come on in…

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The baseball world got their wish: the New York Yankees are not in the World Series and parity played its part.

The San Francisco Giants with their 11th ranked payroll ($96,277,833), play host to the 25th ranked Texas Rangers ($64,810,570). 

It is great to see new blood in the playoffs; however the ratings do not support that fact.  Game 1 pulled in a rating of 8.9 (approx 15 million viewers).   

Compared to the lowest-rated World Series, Philadelphia Phillies-Tampa Bay Rays, that’s a drop off of 3 percent, and a 25 percent drop from last year’s New York Yankees-Phillies series (also Game 1) 

To make matters worse, the ratings from Game 2 were not any better. 

Game 2 pulled in an 8.5 or nearly 14.5 million viewers—still a 26 percent decrease from last year’s Game 2. 

According to an article published in USA TODAY, Bud Selig still has high hopes for the remaining games:

“MLB commissioner Bud Selig told Sirius XM Radio’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo Thursday that Giants-Rangers will draw ‘great ratings’ if it can build to a competitive five-game, six-game, or ideally, seven-game series.”

I have to sit on the fence on this one.  On one side, this is great for baseball—new players and more exposure. On the other hand, the Yanks and the Boston Red Sox are nowhere to be found and it does make it feel quite empty this October. 

Sure there are great players: Josh Hamilton, the once untouchable Cliff Lee, “The Freak” Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and the ageless Edgar Renteria continuing to perform after 15 seasons. 

There are also great teams: The Texas Rangers, who found themselves in dire straits financially, but stuck it out through 162 games; and the San Francisco Giants, looking for their first World Series title since 1954. 

With all that said, for the viewers to be entertained and the ratings to increase, something magical needs to happen, and happen quickly.   

Games 3 and 4 have to be ones for the ages.  If Game 3 is a blowout with the Giants up 3-0 heading into Sunday night’s game, competing head-to-head against Sunday Night Football, the numbers could be very, very unflattering.

This article can also be found on The GM’s Perspective

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Game three of the World Series is tonight on Fox. The San Francisco Giants and Jonathan Sanchez will look to bounce up three games to none against the Texas Rangers and Colby Lewis.

The Rangers are in a must-win situation. Yes, if they lose they’re not yet eliminated, but you can count on one hand how many times a team has come back from a three games to none deficit in any playoffs (none come to mind beyond Boston‘s 2004 ALCS victory).

Colby Lewis has two wins against no losses coming into this game, so if anyone can pull it out, it should be him. Granted, the Giants have already shelled Lee. Jonathan Sanchez is 0-1, but nonetheless he has a sub-3.00 ERA, so on the surface this looks to be a pitcher’s duel.

We all know to expect the unexpected in this series though, and this proves to be no exception. I’ll make continuous updates as I watch, complete with immediate reactions, noting anything of major importance that may happen.

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The Texas Rangers enter Game 3 of the World Series in desperate need of a win as they trail the San Francisco Giants 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.

To give a little more insight to the deficit, 40 of the 51 teams in World Series history to take a 2-0 lead have gone on to win the title. The last team to overcome such a deficit was the 1996 Yankees, who dropped the first two games at home to the Atlanta Braves before rattling off four straight wins.

If the Rangers are to start a comeback, they need to get the proverbial ball rolling with a win in Game 3. Seeking such a win, the Rangers will give the ball to a man who could inspire the reeling ball club: Colby Lewis.

Lewis is a comeback story in his own right.

He began his professional career as a first-round selection by the Rangers in 1999. Initially, Lewis was a hard-throwing righty whose M.O. was blowing his 95-mph heater by batters; however, four years and a 6.83 ERA in 33 career starts later, Lewis was waived by the Rangers and claimed by the Detroit Tigers.

That’s when Lewis’ career really began to spiral downward.

Lewis suffered a rotator cuff injury early in the 2004 season and missed most of the year rehabbing from surgery. After just two games with the Tigers, Lewis’ stint with the team was over. He went on to have tours with Washington and Oakland before being out of baseball entirely in the U.S. by 2008.

In 2008, in a last-ditch attempt to resurrect his once-promising career, Lewis went to Japan where he signed with Hiroshima Carp of the Japanese Central League.

Once in Hiroshima, Lewis’ luck seemed to change.

While in Japan, Lewis led the JCL in strikeouts in both 2008 and 2009, and was second in the league in ERA at 2.68 in 2008.

When asked about his turnaround in performance, Lewis said, “When I was young, I didn’t have command of the strike zone, I tried to throw the ball by everybody. I don’t know if you ever master the art of pitching, but I’m able to take a little bit off my pitches, sink the ball. For me, it’s all about being able to locate pitches where you want to locate them. I’ve done that the past couple of years.”

Rather than stay in Japan, where he had gotten his groove back, Lewis opted to capitalize on his late-blooming success and test the free-agent waters of the Majors in 2010.

As it turned out, Lewis’ decision might just have been the best thing to happen for the Rangers.

With several teams jockeying for the services of the former first-round washout, Lewis opted to come back to Texas, signing a two-year deal worth five million dollars on January 14th.

Knowing the risks involved in the signing, Ranger GM Jon Daniels went on record as saying, “We feel this is the type of risk we should be taking. We know the makeup, we know the person, we spent a lot of time watching him. There’s no doubt we were in a position to make this acquisition because of the work our scouts have done over there developing a foundation. They understood what it took to acquire one of these guys.”

The risk paid dividends for the Rangers as Lewis compiled a misleading 12-13 record with a 3.72 ERA in 32 starts. He also led the team in strikeouts and served to stabilize a rotation that resembled a hotel lobby revolving door, with starters Scott Feldman and Rich Harden having proven ineffective.

Following his regular-season success, Lewis has continued to show why he could potentially spark a Ranger rally in the World Series: He pitched valiantly in a loss to Tampa Bay in the ALDS, and won twice against the Yankees in the ALCS, going eight innings in the series-clinching Game 6.

If the Rangers are to dig out of the hole they’ve made for themselves, they’re going to have to start in Game 3.

Again, the Rangers are instilling their hopes in Colby Lewis.

So, while the Rangers look to write their own comeback story in Game 3, Colby Lewis is aiming to add another chapter to his.

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Someone once said that a playoff series hasn’t begun until a road team wins.

Based on that idea, the matchup between the Giants and Rangers is still at the starting line. The next three games of the 2010 World Series will be played in Arlington, and that suits Ron Washington and his ball club just fine.

Down 2-0, the Rangers need a win to reverse the momentum that the Giants established in the pair of games at AT&T Park.

Here are three keys for a Game 3 victory for the Rangers:

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It was the same feeling I had as a little kid on the night before Christmas, where no matter how hard you try to sleep, it is physically impossible because you are anticipating the next day’s excitement.

As a kid, I was excited to see what Santa left under the tree, but last week I couldn’t wait to attend my first ever World Series.

Attending both a World Series and an All-Star Game should be on the bucket list of any baseball fan. While we all want to watch our favorite team play in the World Series, it is not always possible; just ask a Cubs fan. However, this should not detract any fan from attending the Fall Classic.

San Francisco is not often mentioned as a baseball city, but the Giants fans are among the best in the game and had the stadium literally shaking with noise at certain points throughout the games.

The fact that the Giants jumped out to a 2-0 series lead definitely helped the atmosphere, as all the fans were in a celebratory mood. I have been to AT&T Park numerous times, but the atmosphere at games one and two was a totally different experience.

There were countless times when I noticed that I had chills, not from the San Francisco wind, but rather from the excitement of being at the World Series.

While the atmosphere inside the stadium was unforgettable, the environment throughout the city was just as remarkable. There were orange and black signs as well as Giants merchandise everywhere I looked. 

The World Series was a truly unforgettable experience and an event that I will make sure to attend again.

I am not a fan of either the Giants or the Rangers, but the opportunity was too perfect for me to pass up. There will be classes again next week and the week after that, but there won’t be baseball for months.

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After enduring demoralizing defeats at the hands of the San Francisco Giants on consecutive nights at AT&T Park, the Texas Rangers finally get to make their way home. With Texas’ magical run on the road coming crashing to a halt, they return to the venue where they constructed the bulk of their 2010 playoff credentials.

If you were paying attention all season, you would have known that the Texas Rangers aren’t really the road warriors they’ve been pretending to be throughout the postseason thus far. Before the World Series began, Texas was an impressive 5-1 away from Arlington, beating up on both the Rays and Yankees, outscoring them 36-12 throughout the ALDS and ALCS.

Not bad for a team that was 39-42 on the road during the regular season.

Of course, the Rangers being thoroughly dismantled by San Francisco over the first two games of the series may have come as a slight surprise, but it should be noted that the Giants were 49-32 in their home stadium in 2010.

Baseball has a way of bringing things back to where they should be, of forcing everything to revert to the norm. If you were 39-42 on the road in the regular season, and suddenly you’re 5-1 away from home in the playoffs, the odds are that you have some losing to do in the near future. Aside from the odd outlier, baseball players and teams generally perform according to their rates and averages.

Sure, in any given eight game stretch, a team can get hot and outperform their overall record, but basically, your 39-42 road ledger gave us an idea of what to expect.

The great news for the Texas Rangers is that they’re done with the beautiful city by the bay, for at least a few days. However, if they hope to continue their 2010 season and potentially win the World Series, they know they’ll have to book a return trip.

That can wait for now, as they return to the familiar environs of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington desperately seeking victories. With games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday and hopefully Monday evenings, the Rangers have the opportunity to get themselves back into this series, even if they have a steep hill to climb.

Returning from an 0-2 deficit is clearly not the optimal situation to find yourselves in, but it’s certainly not insurmountable. If they had lost the first two games at home, the story would be altogether different, but thankfully that’s not the case.

Facing a must-win scenario in Arlington, the Rangers will send right-hander Colby Lewis to the mound to face lefty Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants. With Game 3 scheduled for Saturday evening at 6:30 PM Eastern Time, let’s examine some key factors for each team as the Rangers and Giants prepare to do battle.

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