THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010
KLMNO BASEBALL
Rangers vs.Yankees RANGERSLEADSERIES, 3-2
GAME 1 Oct. 15
Yankees 6 Moseley 1-0
Rangers 5 O’Day 0-1
GAME 2 Oct. 16
Rangers 7 Lewis 1-0
Yankees 2 Hughes 0-1
*if necessary. All games on TBS
GAME 3 Monday
Rangers 8 Lee 1-0
Yankees 0 Pettitte 0-1
GAME 4 Tuesday
Rangers 10 Holland 1-0
Yankees 3 Burnett 0-1
GAME 5 Last night
Yankees 7 Sabathia 1-0
Rangers 2 Wilson 0-1
GAME 6 Tomorrow, 8
Yankees Hughes 0-1
at Rangers Lewis 1-0
GAME 7* Saturday, 8
Yankees Pettitte 0-1
at Rangers Lee 1-0
GAME 1 Oct. 16
Giants 4 Lincecum 1-0
Phillies 3 Halladay 0-1
GAME 2 Oct. 17
Phillies 6 Oswalt 1-0
Giants 1 Sanchez 0-1
EZ SU
D5
Phillies vs.Giants GIANTSLEADSERIES,2-1
GAME 3 Tuesday
Giants 3 Cain 1-0
Phillies 0 Hamels 0-1
*if necessary. All games onWTTG-5, WBFF-45 THOMAS BOSWELL Yankees delay Rangers’ party for a game . . . or more boswell from D1
Rodriguez), $189 million (Derek Jeter), $180 million (injured Mark Teixeira) and right on down to the paltry $161 million deal that brought CC Sabathia toNewYork so he could win games like this one, although he did allow 11 hits in his six victorious innings. If the Rangers actually do
shock baseball and reach the World Series after winning only 90 games, tied for eighth best in the game with San Diego, a team that didn’t make the playoffs, then they are going to get full credit now. Because the Yankees are awake. “We have not played
particularly well in this series, to say the least,” Girardi said. “I’ve talked all year about how resilient this team is. I told them we’ve won three in a row before this season. . . . It was just nice to go out and play a good game. There is a feeling of confidence.” This is the kind of game when
a staggered champion can get its feet under it and watch its slumping hitters find their timing. Cold Curtis Granderson had a single, double and homer. Nick Swisher, who’s looked lost in nearly 100 plate appearances in a dismal postseason career, conked a long home run to left field off Texas loser C.J. Wilson. The Rangers’ lefty was wild early, issuing two walks that scored, then found too much of the plate, giving up back-to- back homers to Swisher and scalding Robinson Cano. After losing their three
previous games of this series by a stunning combined score of 25-5, the Yankees regained some dignity. But have they actually done even more than that? There’s only one problem
with this quixotic and, to many fans, intoxicating idea of Texas beating the Yanks to reach its firstWorld Series in the 50- season history of the franchise going back to its birth as the expansionWashington Senators in ’61. As the Rangers reminded us in this game, they aren’t a terribly good team. Oh, they’re a nice club. Their
team speed, combined with the best team batting average in the game, means that they can play little ball with anybody. They have normal power for a playoff team and lots of lefty pitching to annoy the Bombers. But the Rangers are also raw
and ragged in spots. They threw the ball all over the park on a comic play when lumbering Yankees catcher Jorge Posada should have been thrown out by 10 feet at third base, then, a few seconds later, should have been tossed out by 10 yards at home plate. But third baseman
Sabathia, Yanks extend the ALCS
yankees from D1
Friday night,withNew York’s Phil Hughes facing Texas’s Colby Lew- is.
“From the minute I walked in
the door, all the way up to when I was done pitching and just sitting in the dugout, there was a differ- ent feel today,”Wood said. “I don’t knowhowtodescribeit. Itwasjust different, but it was good. And we’llneedit againonFriday.” The Rangers, holding all the
momentumand needing just one morewinto secure the firstWorld Series appearance in franchise history, should have been loose and confident. Instead, they seemedtight andtentative. They suffered a defensivemelt-
downinthe secondinning, throw- ing the ball all over the infield, which resulted in two of the Yan- kees’ first three runs. Their start- ing pitcher, lefty C.J. Wilson, pitchedwithout conviction,walk- ing four batters (three of whom wound up scoring) and nibbling around the outer edges of the strike zonewith sometimes disas- trous results—such aswhenNick Swisher and Robinson Cano hit back-to-backhomers inthe third. “A couple bad walks — that’s
MIKE SEGAR/REUTERS MitchMoreland and the Rangers might be left feeling empty if the Yankees really have woken up.
Michael Young botched an easy catch-and-tag, then Wilson retrieved the ball and threwit wild to home. For the rest of this series, was that omen or aberration? Texas has a 22-year-old
leading off (Elvis Andrus) and a 22-year-old as closer (Neftali Feliz). And their roster has inexplicable voids that make you realize the Rangers didn’t think they were quite ready to reach an ALCS-clinching game yet. Come on, any postseason team has to have a right-handed hitting first baseman it can trust to put in the lineup against Sabathia. Texas went with a left- handed hitting rookie and batted him ninth. Except for their three true
superstars, the Rangers don’t look too much different from plenty of bumptious second- division teams, even the Orioles. A .359-hitting batting champion (JoshHamilton), a 115-RBI cleanup hitter (Vlad Guerrero) and an ace like Cliff Lee who has the third-best postseason ERA after Sandy Koufax and Christy Mathewson can make an amazing difference. However, the Rangers also
have a secret weapon. They may have one of the most civilized, even-keeled temperaments of
TUESDAY’SLATEGAME Rangers blast Yankees, 10-3, to grab a commanding lead in the ALCS BY DAVE SHEININ
new york —The story line that was takingshapeTuesdaynightat Yankee Stadium was preposter- ous—and ultimately, for theNew York Yankees, too good to be true. The most maligned pitcher on their roster, pitching for the sim- ple reason there was no other viable option, was on the verge of rescuing their season.Derek Jeter was knocking balls off the wall. The ghost of Jeffrey Maier even rose fromhis seat above the right- fieldwall tomake a critical play. Andthen,withone swingof the
bat — Bengie Molina, the Texas Rangers’ burly catcher, off A.J. Burnett — everything changed. Burnett and the Yankees did not win, and they did not square up the American League Champion- ship Series. They lost, 10-3, in Game 4, their bullpen once again turning things ugly late, and they are in aworld of trouble now. Behind Molina’s game-chang-
ing, three-run homer in the sixth inning and32/3
relief fromleft-handerDerekHol- land, theRangersmovedtowithin one victory of the first World Se-
brilliant innings of
ries appearance in franchise his- tory. They can clinch the AL pen- nant as soon asWednesday after- noon, when they will send left- hander C.J.Wilson to the mound againstYankees aceCCSabathia. “Wearenot thinkingabouthow
we are going to close anyone out,” Rangers Manager Ron Washing- ton said. “We are going to go out thereandplaybaseball,andwhat- ever the game asks us to do, we’ll do it.” The Yankees’ only path for ad-
vancing appears virtually impos- sible: win three straight games, the last two of which would be at Texas, andthe last ofwhichwould be started by Cliff Lee, the Rang- ers’ October destroyer. Oh, and they likely would have to accom- plishall thatwithoutMarkTeixei- ra, their slugging first baseman, who suffered a badly strained hamstring and is likely done for the remainder of the Yankees’ postseason. “You don’t play the game on
paper. You play it on the field,” Jeter said. “Andsofar they’vebeen a lot better than us. . . . We can’t worry about trying to win three games.We have towin one.” Should the Yankees lose, their
fans will be replaying Tuesday night’s fateful sixth inning — which began as the final state- ment of Burnett’s triumphant re- covery fromthe abyss, and ended as an open invitation to second- guess Manager Joe Girardi — in theirnightmares.Despite the lop- sided final score, the game was verymuchwinnable at that point. The Yankees led by a run, 3-2,
when the inning began, and there weretwooutsandthetyingrunon second base when Girardi had Burnett intentionally walk David Murphy, a left-handedhitter.Now the go-ahead runs were on base, with Molina coming to the plate. Joba Chamberlain was ready in the Yankees’ bullpen. Girardi and bench coach Tony Pena consulted their charts and stat sheets in the dugout. And they left Burnett in the
game. On TV, TBS had barely finished
showing a montage of Molina’s three homers against the Yankees in the 2005 AL Division Series, as amember of the Los Angeles An- gels, when Molina yanked Bur- nett’s first pitch—a 92-mph fast- ball — into the seats in left, just inside the foul pole. The Rangers
led, 5-3. On the mound, Burnett placed both hands atop his head, stunned. Burnett called the pitch toMo-
lina an “aggressive mistake” that wasmeant to be on the outer half of the plate, but tailed over the inner half. “It was the only one I left over themiddle,” he said. Was the intentional walk of
Murphy the right move? On one hand, Molina was both the less- dangerous hitter and the better matchup, and there was a base open, but on the other hand it brokeacardinalbaseball rule that says you should never put the go-ahead run on base. “We liked the matchup, A.J.
against Molina, we did,” Girardi said. “Murphy has swung the bat in the past pretty good against him. . . . It didn’twork out.” Perhaps the bigger sin was the
long leash given to Burnett — who, after all, had endured amis- erable season and had not won a game in precisely 82 days — dur- ing the pivotal sequence. Cham- berlain was ready to start the in- ning.Hewas readywhen Burnett allowed a leadoff single to Vladi- mir Guerrero. He was ready be- fore the intentional walk, and
ready after it. “He was still throwing the ball
good,” Girardi said. “If you take A.J. out there, and you give up a couple of runs, people [would] say, ‘Why did you take A.J. out?’ That’s the nature of this business when you’re amanager.” Had Girardi lifted Burnett at
that point, leading by one run, the latter undoubtedly would have left the field triumphantly to a standing ovation, having exceed- ed anyone’s expectations for the night.His careermighthave come to be defined by his gutsy perfor- mance. “Itwas thebest I’vepitchedina
long time,”Burnett said. Instead, Molina homered, and
when Burnett finally made it off themoundat theendof theinning — yes, he faced one more batter after theMolina homer—he was serenadedwith boos. An inning later, when the Yan-
kees’ bullpen produced its nightly late-inning meltdown — with Rangers center fielder JoshHam- ilton homering off Boone Logan, and Chamberlain going double- walk-singletolet inanother run— the crowd of 49,977 began thin- ning out considerably. Itwas 7-3.
What was left of the crowd got
to see the Yankees bring the tying runtotheplatewithoneout inthe bottom of the eighth, thanks to a trio ofwalks allowed by theRang- ers’ ownproblematic bullpen.But against Darren Oliver, the Rang- ers’ 40-year-old left-hander, Nick Swisher flied out to shallow cen- ter andLanceBerkmangrounded out sharply to third. Beyond Molina’s homer, no-
body was more central to the Rangers’ win than Holland, the baby-faced,24-year-oldleft-hand- er who spent a good chunk of the season in their rotation before being relegated to the bullpen for the postseason. He entered in re- lief of starter Tommy Hunter in the bottom of the fourth inning and plowed through the Yankees’ lineup, at one point retiring eight straight batters, ensuring there would be no monumental come- back. Not only was there no come-
backfor theYankees, therewasno relief whatsoever — from the re- lentless Rangers, from the sec- ond-guessing, or from the ever- ticking doomsday clock thatmea- sureswhat is left of their season.
sheinind@washpost.com
any franchise in sports. They’ve been a laughingstock so long that maybe it has taught them a different kind of character that’s long on patience, tolerance and charity. This is the team that did not
fireManager RonWashington when he failed anMLBdrug test last summer for cocaine.He apologized and meant it. They valued him and forgave him. This is the team that, out of deep respect forHamilton’s many years of fighting drug addiction and substance abuse, did not openly celebrate the first postseason win in its history with the customary champagne. Instead, they used ginger ale soHamilton could be fully included. And this is a team that is loaded with civic- minded veterans like Young and kicks troublemakers (Vicente Padilla) out of its clubhouse. Oh, and the Rangers also
have their “Claws and Antlers” going for them. Lots of teams try to drum up gimmicks to boost spirit (and marketing sales). But the goofy Texas celebrations are pure grass roots from within the team; players put their hands up over their heads to make (deer) antlers to applaud a speed play. Why a “claw” gesture with your
hands stands for a good offensive play—“clawyour way back” perhaps—is still shrouded inmythology. Combine all these traits, and
put them underWashington’s calm guidance, and you may have a merely-pretty-good-club that can actually dethrone a reigning world champion with the highest payroll ($214 million) in Yankee history. “Well, it’s not disappointing.
It’s a seven-game series,” said Washington, who truly does stay even keel no matter what and considers poise in defeat “part of a winning attitude.” “Those guys over there are champs.We didn’t expect them to lay down. They won today. We didn’t give it to them,” Washington said. “In Texas”— where the Rangers were 51-30 this regular season—“we will be ready to go Friday, give it our best and at the end of nine just hope we have more runs than they have.” And if they don’t win on
Friday, the Rangers have one of the most brilliant Plan Bs in baseball history scheduled for Saturday. His name is Cliff Lee. Or, if you are a Yankee, that
would be “Mr. Lee” to you.
boswellt@washpost.com
frustrating,” Wilson said. “Their broken bats went for hits. That’s frustrating. I didn’t get ahead in the count. That’s frustrating. All that stuffmixed together adds up to a bunchof runs givenup.” Perhaps most egregiously, in
theseventh,downfour runs,Texas leadoff man Elvis Andrus got picked off second base by Wood withtheRangers’besthitterat the plate — an inexplicable mistake that had Yankees fans mocking the Rangers’ “antlers” hand ges- ture that signifies a base-running achievement. “When his game is flowing,”
Manager RonWashington said of Andrus, “he thinks he’s invinci- ble.” In the wee hours Wednesday,
following the Yankees’ ugly loss in Game 4, YankeesManager Joe Gi- rardi gathered his players in their clubhouse and gave a brief pep talk, the gist of which was: “Just look at tomorrow. Win a game tomorrow.” “There was a determination
that we were going to go out and play our game today,”Girardi said after the win. “I saw it during [batting practice]. The mood was very businesslike, and we knew whatwehadtodo.” Apredicament such as the Yan-
kees’ onWednesday tests the lim- its of the ubiquitous one-game-at- a-time cliche. It would be human nature to look at the totality of their task —needing towin three straight games, the last of which wouldbestartedbyLee—andfind
RAY STUBBLEBINE/REUTERS
CC Sabathia is thrilled to escape a bases-loaded jamin the sixth inning of his victory in Game 5.
it toodifficult to evenbother. But the Yankees, living for the
moment,playedsmart, aggressive baseball and allowed the Rangers to beat themselves. In a comically bad play that came to define their day, both right fielder Jeff Fran- coeurandWilsonthrewaway easy outs at third base and home, re- spectively. For the Yankees, it re- sembled nothing so much as a LittleLeaguehomerun—thekind where you hit the ball and keep runninguntil you’re taggedout. For all his accomplishments
and accolades — including 40 winsoverthepast twoseasonsand a Cy Young Award in 2007 — Sa- bathia was fast building a reputa- tion as anOctober underachiever. Hewon neither of his starts in the 2009 World Series, made it through just four innings in Game 1 of this series, and toted a careerpostseasonERAof4.79into Wednesday’s game. Sabathia didn’t so much seize
Game 5 as survive it, giving up 11 hits and barely getting through a 33-pitchsixthinningthat sawhim load the bases with one out on three straight singles. But Sa- bathia induced a groundout from Matt Treanor, allowing a run to score, and struck outMitchMore- land. Itwas6-2,andSabathia’sday wasdone. “Our backswere up against the
wall,” Sabathia said, “and I just wanted to fight, no matter the situation.” After bullpen implosions au-
thoredbymiddlerelievers thepre- vious twonights, therewasnoway Girardi was calling on anyone be- sidesWood and Rivera in the late innings. The former got six outs, including the pickoff of Andrus, and Rivera handled the ninth the sameway he has been doing it for the better part of a decade and a half. Asked if he was surprised his
team played so well under such dire circumstances,Rivera looked incredulous. “Surprised?” he said. “How can I be surprised? That’s whatwedo.”
sheinind@washpost.com
GAME 4 Last night
Phillies Blanton 9-6, 4.82
at Giants Bumgarner 7-6, 3.00
GAME 5 Today, 7:30
Phillies Halladay 0-1
at Giants Lincecum 1-0
GAME 6* Saturday, 3:30
Giants Sanchez 0-1
at Phillies Oswalt 1-0
GAME 7* Sunday, 7:30
Giants Cain 13-11, 3.14
at Phillies Hamels 12-11, 3.06
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