Cliff Lee strikes out record 13 batters, Rangers bat around in the ninth to seal game three blowout. (Above) Neftali Feliz and ninth inning hero Mitch Moreland celebrate with teammates after going up 2-1 in the seven game series against New York. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)Your Texas Rangers have won four straight road playoff games. What a difference a postseason makes as this team continues to put the pressure on the reigning world champion New York Yankees.
Rangers' starter Cliff Lee continued his postseason roll, breaking records and causing people to run out of superlatives to describe his dominant starts.
Lee K'd a career-high 13 Yankees, allowed a mere three to reach base (lowest in N.Y. playoff history), and the Rangers achieved the most lopsided shutout win against New York in Yankee postseason history.
Lee was perfect through 3 2-3 innings, striking out five of the first six batters he faced and seven of the first 11 overall. The two hits he allowed, both singles, was a broken-bat blooper off the bat of catcher Jorge Posada and a soft single by Brett Gardner. The best pitcher in Rangers' history also became the first player in league history to strike out 10 or more batters in three consecutive playoff games during the same postseason.
"I'm not satisfied with that," Lee said. "We still have some work to do here. A lot of fun to come into New York and get this first one. Hopefully we can come out here tomorrow and pick up where we left off."
Offensively, the Rangers got the party started early yet again. For the second time in three games against the Yankees this postseason, Josh Hamilton knocked a home run over the right field wall in the first inning. This time it was a two run shot off Yankees' starter Andy Pettitte, his only real mistake of the night.
"It was just a bad pitch by me," Pettitte said. "At the time, you don't think that's going to win the ballgame."
"Josh hitting that homer in the first made things a lot easier, that's for sure," Lee said.
Michael Young set things up in the at-bat before, battling Pettitte in an eight pitch encounter that resulted in a single. Young battled back from down 0-2 to a full count and his single into the gap between right and center not only made sure Hamilton tacked on the extra run with the homer, but allowed Hamilton and the rest of the Rangers to get a better idea of what Pettitte was throwing out there. Three of the five hits Pettitte allowed for the game were off the bat of Young.
All was quiet for the Rangers on the offensive front until the ninth inning, an inning in which Texas opened up a can and closed the door on the Yankee comeback. The Rangers batted around in the ninth, scoring six runs on six hits, against three Yankees' relievers.
On the mound, Lee would have likely gone the distance had the Rangers tacked on the aforementioned team-record six runs in the top of the ninth. As it stood, Lee gave Texas eight shutout innings, allowing only two singles and the first walk all postseason. Even after throwing a season-high 122 pitches through the first eight innings, Rangers manager Ron Washington reiterated he would have left the ace in to close out the ninth.
"He was coming back out," Washington said. "We were going to ride him."
Because of the duration of the top of the inning, closer Neftali Feliz came into the game to preserve the W and showed much more poise than he did in his three previous playoff outings. Feliz retired the side, striking out two of three Yankees and didn't walk a batter for the first time all postseason.
Texas has now led 5-0 in each of the first three games of the American League Championship Series and dominated New York in every inning but one. Unfortunately that one inning in game one is the difference between a 3-0 series lead and 2-1. If the Rangers keep playing baseball at this level, the sky is the limit for this team and that game one blunder will be a distant memory.
Tommy Hunter and A.J. Burnett will square off in game four of the A.L.C.S. Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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