Texas wins first play-off home game in franchise history
Put your hand up if you thought lightening was going to strike twice in Texas. After blowing a 5-0 lead in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) to go 0-8 in home play-off games in franchise history, the Texas Rangers were in an eerily
similar position in Game 2 Saturday night. This time they had a 5-0 lead after three innings, even more time for the New York Yankees to mount a comeback.
The Yankees scored one in the top of the fourth, but Texas piled on two more in the fifth on their way to a 7-2 victory. The win is not only the first home play-off victory for the Rangers, they also broke a 10-game play-off losing streak to the New York
Yankees.
"I really didn't give us a chance to win [Saturday]," Yankees starting pitcher Phil Hughes said. "That's the most disappointing thing. You try to go out there and minimize damage - you saw what we did [Friday night] - and we could have a chance. Really,
being down five in the later innings, you can't do that every time."
The series now goes to New York for three straight games.
"It was a good one for us to win," Texas second baseman Ian Kinsler said. "We felt we outplayed them [Friday] and we outplayed them [Saturday]. Now it's 1-1, but we're playing good baseball, and that's a good feeling."
Colby Lewis went 5 2/3 innings for Texas, allowing two runs on six hits. He also struck out six, including Derek Jeter twice.
The first run for the Rangers came on a rare double steal. With two outs, Elvis Anders on third, and Josh Hamilton on first, Rangers manager Ron Washington called for the double steal. Jorge Posada saw Hamilton break for second, and gunned the ball to second
baseman, Robinson Cano, triggering Andrus to break for home. Hamilton stopped well short of second, preventing New York from tagging him out, and ending the inning before Andrus could score, so Cano threw to the plate, but not in time.
"It was an aggressive play," Andrus said. "That's what we have to do against these guys: try and take it to them."
New York is not an easy ball park to play in, but considering the Rangers' abysmal home record in the play-offs, it can’t be all that bad to play in the Big Apple, especially with Cliff Lee set to start in Game 3 Monday night.
"Obviously we would rather be 2-0 but we're 1-1," Lee said. "Now it's basically a five-game series. Hopefully we can capture the first one in New York. But it's not the easiest place to play. They are the defending world champions. But if we can play fundamentally
sound baseball, with everybody carrying their weight, we'll be fine."
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