The Rangers opened up a 2-1 lead over the Yankees in the ALCS last night behind another completely dominating effort by staff ace Cliff Lee. Lee continues to baffle opposing hitters in the playoffs as he now holds a 7-0 career post-season record. The media has been claiming all week that Cliff Lee is in the Yankees' heads and that they know they can't beat him. Last night all but proved that point. Last night the Yankees had the fewest base-runners they have EVER had in a playoff baseball game. In 100 years of baseball, the Yankees have never had less than the 3 base-runners they had last night (1 walk and 2 hits)off Cliff Lee. The Yankee crowd went nuts when Lee finally walked Tex in the 4th. The Swisher 11 pitch ground out may have been the most exciting at bat for the Yankees. In a game where Lee tied Hall-of-Famer Bob Gibson with 3 consecutive 10-strikeout games in the post-season, Lee was magical all night in the Bronx.
I could go on all day about Cliff Lee's performance and what he means to this team, but I'd like to look at what else is going on with the Rangers. The Rangers bats finally broke out last night in the 9th against the Yankee bullpen. Hamilton appears to be finding his swing and Michael Young had his best game of the playoffs going 3-5 driving the ball to the opposite field. Young and Hamilton are two of the biggest keys to this offense and if these guys start clicking our offense quickly becomes the best in baseball.
The real issue with this offense is Vlad Guerrero. Guerrero is hitting a meager .214 and the Yankees will continue to pitch around Hamilton to face Guerrero. Unless Guerrero makes them pay, which he hasn't shown he can do in the last 2 months, the Yankees will continue to take the bat out of Hamilton's hands. Nellie Cruz has been the best hitter on this roster hitting .387 with 3 home runs and 5 doubles. I see absolutely no reason we should not switch Vlad and Nellie. The Yankees are much more worried about Cruz hurting them than they are Vlad, and if they still decide to put Hamilton on Cruz can make them pay. I am not confident Vlad can.
The offense overall has been very good this series averaging over 6 runs per game. Today they see AJ Burnett who has been nothing short of terrible this year. Burnett has an era right at 7 for the last 2 month's of the season, and has had very little control. The Yankee media has no confidence in Burnett and most wanted CC to start on short rest, setting him up for a possible game 7. I am glad they didn't decide to do that. I think we can get to Burnett in a big way and get bullpen going early tonight. As long as we are patient and wait for good pitches, we should be able to put up plenty of runs tonight.
His opposition tonight will be Tommy Hunter. Tommy "Big Game" Hunter struggled in his ALDS start against the Rays, and has a tougher test tonight in the Bronx. The Yankees crush righties, and Tommy doesn't have great stuff. He is a solid rotation guy who will pound the zone, but he is not a guy who will come out and shut down this Yankee offense. If Hunter struggles early, Ron Washington will not hesitate to bring on Holland like he did in the 4th inning in Game 4 against the Rays. This could set up nicely for us. If the Yanks load their lineup with all of their lefties, Holland can come in and pitch his game.
A game 4 win would be huge for this Ranger team. It would guarantee a worst case scenario of a game 7 re-match in Arlington with Cliff Lee going against Pettite (not a bad worst case scenario). It would also create 2 opportunities for the Rangers to close the door with Wilson and Lewis (who both were very good in games 1 and 2), thus allowing Lee to be well rested to start game 1 of the World Series. Game 4 is by no means a must-win game for the Rangers, but it would put them in incredible position to push for the first World Series appearance in team history.
The Rangers have outplayed the Yankees in every aspect through the first 3 games. The Rangers carry an undefeated road playoff record into tonight's game with a favorable pitching match-up. The Rangers are in uncharted territory for this franchise as they move closer to a potential World Series appearance. Cliff Lee re-claimed home field advantage last night, and now the Rangers in position to take complete control of this series. The Rangers will play 2 games in the Bronx in 24 hours starting tonight before returning to Arlington. They could return as ALCS champs or in a 3-2 hole. Whatever the outcome, this will be a very exciting week. Enjoy this. For the 1st time in 38 years the Rangers are in the ALCS and in control. It's a great time to be a Ranger fan!!!
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