These are my Rangers. After not catching the breaks in the first two games in San Francisco, and with a pitching staff giving up 20 runs to a team that has no business scoring 20 runs, it was time for the Rangers to come home and play the way we all know they can.
And they did.
Major League Baseball and FOX decided that tonight would be the perfect night to start a game earlier than any World Series game in 23 years. And it just so happened it had to be on a day when I had to work 11.5 hours and miss the start of it. When I clocked out, I saw the Rangers had Nellie on third and Francouer had just grounded out. I got to the car in time to hear Eric Nadel describe Molina draw the two out walk to set up the lefty-lefty match up between Sanchez and Moreland. Nine pitches later, the Rangers led by three. I let go of the steering wheel and clapped, but grabbed the wheel back quickly.
Boy, I'm sure glad that Ron Washington dumped the platoon at first base and decided to start Mitch Moreland against righthanders and lefties.
The only runs the Rangers scored tonight were on homeruns by lefthanded batters off of the lefthanded starter (Moreland and Josh Hamilton off of Sanchez). The Giants also scored their only runs on the long ball.
But Colby Lewis made sure the homeruns were the solo variety, keeping the bases virtually empty after Moreland supplied him with the run support. He pitched well into the eighth inning, but ran into a wall when the light hitting Andres Torres put one in the first row in the right field stands, then Freddy Sanchez smoked one that Cruz was able to flag down in left. I expected Wash to bring in Darren Oliver to face the lefty, Aubrey Huff, but he stayed with Lewis who had the bases empty with two outs and still a two run lead. Lewis got ahead with two breaking balls, 0-2, then held onto the third one a hair too long and hit Huff in the shoe. Darren O'Day got the call to come in with the tying man at the plate, Buster Posey. After a long battle, O'Day held his ground and induced a slow grounder to Elvis for the last out of the eighth.
In the ninth, Neftali Feliz got his first save opportunity of the postseason, protecting the two run lead. His pitches were on target, he blew gas by some of the best Giants hitters, and slammed the door shut as the Giants went down in order. That's as comfortable as Feliz has looked in almost a month. Sometimes it takes a familar situation like a save opportunity for a closer to really do his best work.
I talked to my dad after the game and he reminded me that this is the first World Series victory ever by a team from Texas, since the Astros were swept by the White Sox in 2005. On top of that, it's the first time the home fans have been able to celebrate the final out in a World Series game in Texas.
Obviously, this game was big. Realistically, the Rangers need to win all three home games to have their best shot and winning the series, and it was mandatory that this series sit at 2-1 after Game Three. Perhaps the biggest game of the series is tomorrow, as both teams send out their fourth starters, Tommy Hunter and Madison Bumgarner. If the Rangers can even this up at two games a piece, and know that Cliff Lee is pitching at home for the first time this postseason in Game Five, then things might be shaded in our favor. I don't think Lee will struggle again like he did in Game One. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. "Big Game" Hunter needs to live up to his name tomorrow and Big Mo could be shifting back our way.
Another lefty on the mound for the Giants tomorrow. Expect Mitch Moreland to be in the lineup, where he's proven he should be.
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