ST. LOUIS --- Nolan Ryan walked down a long hallway deep inside Busch Stadium moments after Game 6 of the World Series. His head was down. He was wearing a long black overcoat. He looked like he was going to a funeral.
ST. LOUIS -- The Texas Rangers spoke in funereal tones about not once, but twice standing one strike away from the first World Series championship in franchise history. As they spoke in the visiting clubhouse at Busch Stadium Thursday night, the literal backdrop to the autopsy they performed on themselves was a cruel reminder of what was lost: a curtain of clear plastic sheeting left rolled up atop their lockers, the anticipatory protection from the champagne celebration that never came. This is Texas, a dry state.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Ron Washington might have become the first manager in World Series history to walk into a news conference before a game and say, "I'm not as dumb, either, as people think I am." It was classic Wash: self-deprecating and funny, but still fiercely proud of his baseball acumen.
ST. LOUIS -- A check swing is a violent motion. A hitter begins to unleash a forceful cut at the baseball, only to decide at the last possible instant to arrest his accelerating momentum and torque as his lower-body swivels toward the speeding baseball.
The 2011 World Series matchup is set, and for the second year in a row, it's one that nobody expected.
His 100-mile-per-hour offering had not just been hit for a home run but pulled down the leftfield line, and Tigers ace Justin Verlander could only laugh. He admitted later that he had "out-thunk" himself by throwing another fastball to Rangers rightfielder Nelson Cruz, rather than pitch to his weakness with another breaking ball, but recently there have been few pitches the 31-year-old Dominican hasn't driven with authority.
Is this the World Series we've been waiting for? Is the longest wait for the best day in sports about to end?
And so it comes down to this: a storied franchise seeking its 11th World Series championship (and second in six years) against a a long-suffering organization that's never won a title in its mostly dreadful 51-year history. The 107th World Series should be a dramatic and entertaining final act to a thrilling October. There are two juggernaut offenses and two great bullpens. There's the greatest player of his generation, Albert Pujols, and the player having an October for the ages, Nelson Cruz. There's the great mad professor, Tony La Russa, and the great dugout dancer, Ron Washington. There's Jason Motte's beard and Derek Holland's moustache.
ST. LOUIS -- It's not the Yankees, it's not the Phillies and it certainly isn't the Red Sox here in the World Series. FOX will fret. And MLB has to worry. But of course, the Rangers and Cardinals know they deserve to be here, and they figure they're going to put on a pretty good show.
The American League Championship Series returns to Arlington Saturday night for its final act, in which the Rangers need to win just one of the next two games to claim their second consecutive American League pennant, while the Tigers continue their quest to become just the 12th of the 76 teams in baseball history to fall behind 3-1 in a best-of-seven series to comeback to win that series.
DETROIT -- Four thousand two hundred sixty-eight pitches deep into his season, Justin Verlander did something he hadn't done all year: he threw a pitch 102 mph. Adrian Beltre of Texas very nearly hit the fastest ball Verlander threw all year off the rightfield foul pole -- his fifth-inning shot swerved foul -- which had Verlander thinking, "Thank God it wasn't 101 or it would be a home run."
DETROIT -- The very name of the sport is baseball, a juxtaposition of two of its most important ingredients. Early writings of the sport first referred to it as "base ball" -- with a space -- and rarely does the nine-inch-round cowhide ball collide with a 15-inch-square base except in the modernized spelling of the word.
DETROIT -- Texas lefthander C.J. Wilson, who can pitch the Texas Rangers to their second straight American League pennant on Thursday afternoon, looks like the best available free agent starting pitcher option this winter. That's assuming CC Sabathia, who can opt out of his contract, works out a new deal with the Yankees, and projecting that Yu Darvish is considered a greater risk given the poor track record of pitchers transitioning from Nippon Pro Baseball to the major leagues.
Baseball is a child's game, or so it's wrongly written -- not by people who've never seen baseball, but by people who've never seen children. Children don't play well together, can't work toward a common goal but will -- hallfway through a game that they're hopelessly losing -- pick up the ball and go home. Professional baseball isn't child's play. Professional golf is.
MILWAUKEE -- Postseason baseball has been in session for more than a century, yet not before Monday had a player ended a game with a walk-off grand slam. That came courtesy of the Rangers' Nelson Cruz, who hit an 11th inning slam to win Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
Having lost their travel day to Sunday's rainout, the Rangers and Tigers head to Detroit for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series with the Rangers leading two games to none. How significant is that edge? Of the 21 teams to go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven LCS, only three failed to win the pennant: the 1985 Blue Jays, the 1985 Dodgers and the 2004 Yankees, the only team to blow a 3-0 lead in baseball history.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- "I believe in the game being complete," Ron Washington was saying one afternoon in September. He was sitting in the visiting manager's office at Tropicana Field before a game with the Rays. There was a stack of Winstons on his desk.
1. So much for the importance of starting pitching in the postseason. The Texas Rangers are proving there are many roads to the World Series, not just one. What they are doing is certainly unconventional -- with starting pitchers checking out of games early -- but it has worked.
September is different. I sat on my porch, reading about the properties of Kevlar Monday afternoon and though it was still August by the calendar, the cool 70s and light breeze here in Indianapolis felt more like September. It's more than the weather when it comes to injury management. In baseball, the rules change. September gives teams what's called roster expansion by most, but it should be "DL nullification" to medheads. The DL is a roster move, allowing a team to get an injury replacement onto the 25-man roster. In September, the 25-man roster goes out the window and the full 40-man roster is in place. Let's call it "9 rules" for September. DL replacements, by and large, come off the 40-man roster, so there's no roster relief. For the most part, teams abandon the use of the DL in September since it has no value to them. As well, there's a financial impact in the experience ratings that teams get from their worker's compensation insurer. (Yes, the same stuff you have at your job
As much as losing the World Series in five games may hurt, the Rangers and their fans can take solace not only in the success they had, but in that this was not likely to be their last chance at a postseason run. With a credible lineup core, a deep well of pitching and a strong farm system, the Rangers are positioned be to the AL West in the 2010s what the Angels were to it in the 2000s. Add in new ownership that has at least made verbal commitments to sustaining a high payroll, and the promise of $150 million a year in local TV money, and the Rangers look to have a very bright future.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Giants closer Brian Wilson had Nelson Cruz down to the Rangers' last strike, but still the home fans acted as if there was no way that what had befallen their hitters throughout this World Series would continue to befall them until its end.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- SI's Joe Lemire provides ongoing commentary and analysis throughout tonight's World Series Game 5 between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.
Cliff Corcoran breaks down each day's game throughout the postseason.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- There was the legend, standing in the middle of a baseball field strewn with empty bottles of ginger ale and red, white, and blue confetti. His Texas Rangers had been American League champions for nearly an hour now, and it was all beginning to sink in. "The fans here have just waited a long, long time for this," said Nolan Ryan, already donning the commemorative blue Rangers hat and the commemorative red t-shirt. "Looking back to spring training, I just felt like this team was on a mission. There was a lot to overcome, but this is a resilient team, an unbelievably resilient team. It's a credit to the organization. It's just ..." -- he paused for a moment and gazed up into the stands, where 50,000 fans were still standing and cheering, then continued -- "... very, very rewarding."
Several players have enhanced their reputations this October, though none more so than the top two guys on this list -- the unheralded Cody Ross and the much-heralded Cliff Lee. Ross has done what no one expected, and Lee has done exactly what he did last postseason, undoubtedly en route to a stratospheric salary in 2011. Here is my list of 25 men who have enhanced their statures so far this October.
Cliff Corcoran breaks down each day's games throughout the postseason.
NEW YORK -- A.J. Burnett threw a solid, skeptics-defying 97-pitch outing on Tuesday night.
Cliff Corcoran will break down each day's games throughout the postseason.
Tonight was supposed to be Albert Pujols' night, but Prince Fielder and Nelson Cruz had other ideas.
ST. LOUIS -- Of this we can, we think, be fairly certain: The winner of the 2009 Home Run Derby will be a first baseman. And of this we can be almost as sure: He will be a first baseman from the National League.
Baseball Prospectus will break down each of the majors' six divisions and analyze what's on tap this offseason. Teams are listed according to their order of finish from 2008.
The Twins have acquired reliever Eddie Guardado in a deal with the Rangers after claiming the lefty on waivers, SI.com has confirmed.
As Major League Baseball does its best to honor Barry Bonds this week when he finally passes Hank Aaron as the all-time home run leader -- whether we like it or not -- it's appropriate at this time to take a quick look at this year's home run leaders to see if there were any surprises. To be truthful, most of the Top 50 home run hitters as of this week were predictable, but there were a few sluggers we didn't see coming.
The Cleveland Indians have acquired center fielder Kenny Lofton from the Texas Rangers in exchange for minor-league catcher Max Ramirez.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|