Texas roughs up another New York starter, taking a 5-0 lead early again, but this time the Rangers held onto it for the first home playoff win in franchise history. Neftali Feliz (above) and the beleaguered Rangers' bullpen pitched 3 1-3 scoreless innings to preserve the win. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)For the first two games of the American League Championship Series, at least, the Texas Rangers don't appear to be intimidated by the pedigree of the New York Yankees starting pitchers.
The Rangers jumped out to a 5-0 lead for the second straight game, this time against starter and 18-game winner Phil Hughes, who previously hadn't allowed a run at the Ballpark in Arlington.
Hughes, like C.C. Sabathia in game one, lasted only four innings against the vaunted Texas offense, giving up seven runs on 10 hits while walking three batters.
Elvis Andrus set the tone early with his aggressiveness on the bases. Following an infield single, Andrus recorded two steals to lead off the game, including the Rangers' first run of the afternoon on a clever play. Josh Hamilton, who walked and was on first base, attempted to steal second with two outs in the inning, coaxing a throw from catcher Jorge Posada to second that allowed Andrus to score from third.
"Elvis got on and basically took three bags," Rangers' starter Colby Lewis said.
David Murphy got things going in the second inning, launching a homer that bounced off the second deck in right field that gave Texas a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, the Rangers reeled off three straight two out hits, culminating with a two-run double from Michael Young.
Texas tacked on two runs each in the third and fifth inning's respectively, making the statement that the team knew not to rest on it's laurels at the plate; especially after the Yankees' come-from-behind win in game one. Nelson Cruz had a double in each of those innings, and both were literally mere inches away from being solo homers. Cruz did cross home plate, however, in each inning.
Also for the second straight game, the Rangers had a quality starting performance on the mound. Lewis did a good job getting ahead in the count against the Yankees throughout, striking out six and scattering six hits over 5 2-3 innings of two-run baseball. The right-hander threw 66 percent of his pitches for strikes, and did a good job keeping his composure on the mound when things got tough. His only real mistake was a curve ball that he left out over the middle of the plate which Robinson Cano crushed for a solo homer into mid-upper deck out in right field.
Upon Lewis' exit, the bullpen, which struggled so mightily just a night before, performed well in shutting down New York for the final 3 1-3 innings. Clay Rapada, Alexei Ogando, Darren Oliver and Neftali Feliz had three strikeouts and combined to give up only one hit to close it out. Both Rapada and Oliver rebounded from poor outings in game one.
"That's what they have been doing for us all year. That's how we got to this point," manager Ron Washington said. "Last night, we didn't get it done. We didn't make any excuses. ... I was going to give to ball back to those guys if it presented itself. It presented itself, they did a great job. I expected that."
It wasn't all good out there for the bullpen, though. There were issues with control (four walks) and Feliz still looks like he needs a barf bag out there to deal with the anxiety of this big stage. But, considering the disaster that was game one, their performance was definitely a step up.
While the victory in game two is excellent, I can't help but think of how this series might have gone going into New York with a 2-0 lead. Texas does have Cliff Lee starting against the Yankees in game three which, if he pitches like he has thus far in his postseason career, looks like a win. However, the 1-1 split allows the possibility of the Yankees closing out the series at home.
Game three is Monday night.
News and Notes:
- With the win, Texas snaps a 10-game postseason winning streak for the Yankees over the club. The Rangers won game one of the American League Divisional series in 1996 and hadn't won since.
- New York didn't take any chances with Josh Hamilton at the plate. Ham-Bone walked four times (two intentional) Saturday against the Yankees - a career high and double the amount of times he was walked in the A.L.D.S. against Tampa Bay.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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