Neftali Feliz and Tommy Hunter both pitched for AA Frisco.  Feliz went one inning and Ked 3.  Hunter went 4  and gave up 2 earned runs.

Nelson Cruz is still out with a strained quad, and Josh Hamilton is still out after recovering from a broken bone below his right shoulder.

The Rangers started out 8-0,  but have cooled down considerably since then, going 8-11.  The Angels are only 1 game back at 15-12.

Before the 2010 ALCS, the Rangers, Mariners, and Expos/Senators franchises were the 3 teams to never make it to the World Series.  You can cross the Rangers off that list.

Previous Rangers postseason history was ’96, ’98, and the ’99 seasons.  All three ALDS series were vs. the Yankees, and they only managed one win in 10 games against them.  Eleven Years later the Rangers faced the Yankees again, this time in the ALCS instead.  The Rangers dominated, winning the series 4-2.

ALCS team stats:
______Wins       ERA        Ks      Runs       AVG
TX               4           3.06        52        38           .304
NY               2           6.58        43        19            .201

Colby Lewis – 8 ip, 3 hits, 3 bb, 7 ks, 1 er.  Wow.  Colby lewis had 2 wins against the Yankees this series.  This game was huge though.  Feliz comes in and retires the side, ending the series with a strikeout to A-Rod, a breaking ball that buckled him at the knees.  Couldn’t ask for much better end than that.

Bottom of the 5^th is when things started falling apart for the Yankees.  Mitch Moreland singles, followed by Andrus and Young grounding out.  So Moreland on 3^rd w/ 2 outs.  Hamilton is intentionally walked.  They decide to pitch to Vlad instead.  Vlad rips a double into left center and scores 2.  Hughes is replaced by Robertson.  Robertson pitches to Nelson Cruz.  Result:  2 run home run.  So a 4 run inning for the rangers, putting them ahead 5 to 1.  After that, Rangers were on cruise control.  The crowd was chanting “col-by, col-by, col-by” in top of 8^th.  He deserved it.

The bottom of the 8th was hard to watch.  Three consecutive walks by 3 different pitchers.  Seeing 3 walks when the opposing team is down 4 runs is absolutely disgusting.  Bases loaded with one out, and Oliver comes in and hits Swisher in the pants.  The umpire didn’t see it though, so Swisher flied out followed by Young making a great play on a sharp grounder to end the inning.  Oliver stays in the game in the 9th and closes the game out.

There was some controversy.  Cruz was trying to catch Cano’s home run, and he was interfered with by the fans.  I definitely think Cruz could have caught that ball, and at the time the game was scoreless.   I thought MLB had replay on questionable home runs to get that straightened out.  Second, Swisher did get hit.  That scores a run and puts the tying man on first.  Swisher was wearing loose pants though, and honestly, I don’t even think he knew he got hit.  He sure didn’t put up much of an argument against the umpire.

Rangers have outscored the Yankees 30 to 11 in the series thus far.  Rangers are 5-0 on the road this postseason.

Game 5 – Wilson vs. Sabathia.

Game 1 (Fri):  C.J. Wilson vs. C.C. Sabathia
Game 2 (Sat):  Colby Lewis vs. Phil Hughes
Game 3 (Mon):  Cliff Lee vs. Andy Pettitte
Game 4 (Tues):  Tommy Hunter vs. A.J. Burnett

A few thoughts.  One, I’m glad Ron Washington isn’t pitching Lee on 3 days rest on Saturday.  Lee can pitch on the road, and to be quite honest he might actually like that challenge.  Two, this is the Texas Rangers’ chance to prove that they can win without Lee.  Wilson, Lewis, and our bullpen have a chance to really show that the Texas Rangers are alot more than just Cliff Lee.  They’ve been pitching well all year, but now the whole nation is watching them.

Before last night, the Texas Rangers were the only MLB franchise to not win a postseason series.  After beating Tampa Bay 5-1 in game 5 of the series, this is no longer the case.

Cliff Lee:  clutch again.  Complete game, 11 Ks, 0 BBs, and only 1 ER.  So Cliff Lee’s postseason numbers up to this point- 6-0, 1.44 ERA, and 3 CG in 6 games pitched.  That is insane.

It was repeated several times that the Rangers of the late 90s would not have scored the way their first 3 runs came across last night.  Elvis scores from second on a ground out to first.  Vlad scores from second on a double play ball that didn’t quite work out and Price was busy arguing with the umpire on the call rather than looking at the runner at 3rd.  Cruz steals 3rd, Shoppach airmails the throw, and Cruz proceeds to home.  Three manufactured runs.  Not scored on hits.  Creating something.  And then Kinsler hits a 2 run shot to seal the deal.

It did upset me that Cruz was showboating after hitting his long double which should have been a triple.  He’s had an excellent series, and alot of players know when they hit it out, but you gotta know when you pull something like that.

Other than Cruz, Kinsler and Andrus had excellent series against the Rays.  Young’s 3 run blast was huge in game 2, but other than that he was rather quiet.  Lee and Wilson pitched great, but neither Hunter or Lewis were able to go 6 innings in their starts.

Now it’s the NY vs. TEXAS matchup I wanted in the ALDS.  Playing in Texas.  Since Lee pitched last night, our rotation is thrown off a bit.  It will probably be Wilson vs. Sabathia in gm 1 on Fri , Lewis vs. Pettitte in gm 2 on Sat, and Lee vs. Hughes in gm 3 on Mon in NY.  Lee pitching in New York isn’t necessarily bad though.  Pettitte and Hughes both pitched very well against the Twins, so Rangers hitters need to be prepared for some tough pitching.

Cliff Lee did work….(again)

The Claw:

The claw was developed by minor league player Esteban German of the Texas Rangers.  It’s basically an air high five to the dugout from a player on base who gets a hit.

Antlers:

Antlers signify speed, commonly given after stealing a base or beating out a ground ball.  Josh Hamilton started this from hunting down a 10 point buck, which now hangs above his locker.