Rangers’ road to the World Series: ALCS Day 6 – thwarting the Yankees (Part 2)
The Texas Rangers were on the verge of clinching the American League Championship and they had just one thing to do to go through to the World Series. That one particular thing was finishing off the New York Yankees in one of their
last 2 games. The feeling behind the event was concerned with the progression to the next stage. The West Champions were back in the Rangers Ballpark and they greeted the Yanks back at home to deliver them a contest that would test their wits. The Yanks were
on the brink of losing the chance to progress and with the team competing without one of their star players, things were not in favour of Manager Joe Girardi. Mark Teixeira, a former opposing team member, was the first baseman to be absent for the bout.
The Yankees brought on Lance Berkman for the first baseman position and after playing most of his life as a professional player, on that position, New York fancied the chance to progress. The side brought on Phil Hughes for the
pitching duties and since Andy Pettitte pitched in game 4 and Carsten Charles Sabathia in game 5, there was no one else ready for the contest on day 6.
Hughes had been successful in most his matches during the normal season. For a player who started 29 games, a winning tally of 18 was impressive, to say the least. In addition the ball thrower had a low Earning runs Average (ERA)
of 4.19 during the normal season; he ranked 4th in the American League, as a ball thrower with wins. In addition to that his performance in the post season wasn’t really impressive. He shut down the Minnesota Twins but, against the Texas Rangers,
he conceded 7 runs off 10 hits in just 4 innings. He was heavily criticized for starting this match and given his prior record, the apprehensions were justified.
On the other end, Texas brought back Nelson Cruz into the batting line up. The veteran ball hitter was out with an injury and upon the eve of this game, he returned to start in this match. In addition to Cruz, Colby Lewis started
the innings for the Rangers. The star pitcher had an average season and with 32 games played, he attained 12 wins and 13 losses. Compared to Hughes, his wins were low and sub standardized. However, his Earning Runs Average was down to 3.72. He struck out 196
players and adding to the mix, he was a power thrower.
During the last two playoff fixtures, Colby generated an amazing performance figure that made his claim for the match even stronger. He didn’t lose the game against the Tampa Bay Rays as he pitched in a close shut out which was
left out by the bullpen. The maestro pitched 5 innings and made a good effort. Against the Yankees, he pitched 5 innings again, but managed to go for 2 runs off 6 hits in the match. He registered an Earning Runs Average of 3.18 at the end of that fixture.
The match began with the Yanks on the batting strike zone. As Lewis lined up to pitch, Derek Jeter greeted him to the diamond. The Yankees captain faced the first innings with a grounder out and that brought on Curtis Granderson.
Evaluating the danger of pitching to Curtis, Lewis walked him on to first base. On came Robinson Cano, who was leading the playoffs with 4 home runs in the American League Championship. The big man failed to get a decent hit and crashed out with a pop out
to the third. Curtis was later caught stealing and he was taken off to bring on the Rangers.
Elvis Andrus wasted no time for the Texans as he doubled his way to the deep centre. Michael Young struck out to Phil Hughes and that brought Josh Hamilton on. The master hitter singled to the left and brought Andrus to the third.
The base occupant then finally scored when Vladimir Guerrero came in and grounded out to second.
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