Especially the baseball. The October baseball. It's huge! After all, the Astros haven't sniffed the playoffs since getting swept in the World Series in 2005, and the Rangers hadn't been able to touch the playoffs with a ten-foot pole since the late '90s.
Well, the Rangers, who made their playoff debut in 1996 (also reaching in '98 and '99), have finally won a postseason series, and they did it without the benefit of a win at home. Tuesday night, they were back in Tropicana Field, home of the American League East Champion Tampa Bay Rays, having dropped two in a row in Arlington, facing a stiff challenge in CY Young candidate David Price. MVP candidate Josh Hamilton, who missed three weeks in September with injured ribs, is still not hitting, and parts of this team are struggling to produce.
They still won, didn't they?
The Rangers clinched the winner-take-all Game Five of the American League Division Series Tuesday night with a 5-1 victory in from of 45,000 in Tampa in what was without question the biggest game in their history. They made some solid defensive plays, got some effective, scrappy baserunning, benefited from an error or two, and got a late, key home run, but the Rangers don't need to thank their lucky stars for this victory.
They need to thank Clifton Phifer Lee, better known as Cliff Lee.
Lee, who won four games in his first-ever postseason last year (including two World Series games against the Yankees), was coming off a Game 1 in which he struck out 10 Rays, and, early on, the left-hander didn't look quite as sharp.
By the first time he pitched, he had already been handed a lead. Shortstop Elvis Andrus led off the game against Price with a single, stole second base during a Michael Young strikeout, then scored on a Hamilton groundout on which Price had to cover first, and, forgetting about the runner, turned his back to the plate and didn't react in time.
Lee got somewhat lucky in the bottom of the first, when Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett led off with a single, getting the capacity crowd roaring and the cowbells clanging, but then a sacrifice bunt attempt failed, the lead runner was erased on a fielder's choice, and Rays star Evan Longoria was retired on a foul pop-up.
Both pitchers breezed through the second inning, and Price owned the top of the third, which brought the pivotal moment of the game into play. The bottom of the third. Lee hadn't had quite the command or the crackle of his Game One start (he brought just one K into the bottom of the third). With one out, Sean Rodriguez singled to right. Then Bartlett reached on an infield hit that Lee had to field. Two on. Then Ben Zobrist blooped a single to center, and All-Star Hamilton threw the ball wide of home plate, past the catcher, as Rodriguez slid home, and it was a tie game. But, with the runner from third (Bartlett) charging, Lee got Carl Crawford to bounce back to him. They caught Bartlett in a rundown for the key second out. And with runners on second and third, the Rays' MVP candidate, 104-RBI man Longoria, who called time while Lee was winding up more than once to throw him off, with cowbells clanging, grounded harmlessly to short.
Pressure released. Inning over. Threat over. The Rays could kiss their chances goodbye.
They didn't know it at the time, of course. It was only the start of the fourth inning, and, at home, they had to like their chances of being able to win out in a 1-1 tie. After all, they did finish third in the AL in runs scored, with over 800.
Their chances got a little smaller in the top of the fourth, when Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz thunked a double high off the center field wall. Any sighs of relief the Rays were breathing that the ball had stayed in the park were forfeit a moment later, when Cruz stole third and catcher Kelly Shoppach's throw went into left field. Cruz trotted home, 2-1.
All eyes were on Lee for the bottom of the fourth. His pitch count was up just a little bit. He was feeling the pressure of a close game, and, now, a slim lead. The crowd was howling for their Rays to answer. The hitters were taking pitches, fouling pitches off, calling time when he was ready to throw, trying to get into his head.
In the bottom of the fourth, coming off his first pressure spot in the game, Lee struck out Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton, and Dan Johnson back-to-back-to-back.
He struck out two of the three hitters in the bottom of the fifth, as well. He retired the side in order in the sixth. Upton singled and stole second in a flourish to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but Lee struck out two more to avoid any other crisis. When the Rays were really starting to feel the pressure, in the bottom of the eighth, Lee set Bartlett, Zobrist, and Crawford down almost without blinking. And he came out for the ninth inning as well.
By that time, it was 5-1 Rangers. In the sixth, Vladimir Guerrero had singled, moved over on an infield hit by Cruz, and then scored from second when Ian Kinsler ground to first and beat the throw, and Price, covering first, was, again, too slow to realize the play was still going. Replays showed Kinsler may have been out by a fraction of a step (the crowd booed vigorously), but it was 3-1 Rangers.
And in the top of the ninth, Kinsler took most of the remaining air out of the Rays' sails by blasting a laser beam of a two-run homer over the left field wall, and doing so against Tampa's prize closer, Rafael Soriano.
Lee walked out to the mound for the top of the ninth, with the Rangers already thinking about an ALCS against the Yankees. He had thrown about 115 pitches, but, with a four-run lead, he had to like his chances.
He started the ninth by striking out a flailing Longoria. It was his 11th strikeout of the game, and 21st of the series, tying an LDS record (Kevin Brown of the Padres did it in 1998). Then Carlos Pena grounded to third. Then B.J. Upton popped out to shortstop, and the Rangers exploded, throwing their arms around each other, whooping and hollering. As soon as the ball was caught, Lee showed some of his first emotion of the game, leaping into the arms of his catcher, Bengie Molina, with a look of delight on his face. And the Rangers celebrated as if all 25 of them had been around for each of those three LDS losses in the '90s (not a single one of them actually were). The Rays, 96-game winners in the regular season, ran for the clubhouse.
"It was a lot of fun," Lee said after the game, having cemented his status as the ultimate big-game pitcher. "We had our backs against the wall today, and we came out and performed."
"It's unbelievable, it's something to be so proud of," Josh Hamilton said. "I'm so privileged to be a part of this team. All season long, when somebody went down, somebody stepped in and did their job. My bat wasn't there, but a lot of other guys stepped in and did a good job. Cliff Lee? What an asset to the team."
Both mentioned that they knew the Yankees would be a challenge, that "it's a good team over there", and it would be tough. All three of the Rangers' playoff series losses in the '90s came against the Yankees. But, with a postseason series won, their pitching on fire and their offense clicking, these guys looked tough to beat. And they deserved to celebrate.
No comments:
Post a Comment