Game 4 ALCS

There is nothing sweeter in baseball than your baseball team playing in a quiet Yankee Stadium. Texas Rangers fans have been treated to this wonder for two nights in a row. Is it to much to ask for thirds?
Game 4 did not start out well. Tommy Hunter looked shaky from the start. When Cano hit that fan-aided home run I got a sinking feeling, not helped by Berkman's screamer that was just foul. But this team doesn't give up. With the bases loaded in the fourth and one out, in came Derek Holland. A hot grounder hit to the hole between short and third is flagged by Elvis Andrus. A run scores but he threw out the runner trying to advance to third. The inning ended and out came the Rangers bats. A three run homer by Bengie Molina gives Texas the lead and there was no looking back. Homers by Hamilton (2) and Cruz were icing on the cake.
Game 5 is at 3 today. Do you think work productivity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area might see a mild decrease around that time?
It is funny how expectations change. A week ago it was enough to get to the ALCS. Saturday one home win was enough. Monday it was winning one game at Yankee Stadium. Tuesday it was taking two out of three. Not to be greedy but now it would be awesome to finish it on Wednesday.

Game 5

The Rangers did it. They finally got the monkey off their back. No more " the only team in the Major Leagues never to win a playoff series." Now we get the Yankees starting Friday night. But for now, the worst weekend ever has segued into the best Tuesday night ever. If Ron Washington is not the manager of the year they should not even bother giving out the award. This Ranger team is so different from those teams of the past. We all knew something was up when Bengie Molina stole a base. They realized that aggressive base running was the key. Nellie Cruz steals third base, the throw is wild and he scores. On two occasions, Elvis Andrus and the speedy Vlad Guerrero scored from second on infield grounders.
Those three runs were more than enough for Cliff Lee, who did what Cliff Lee does, shut down the opposition with eleven strikeouts and a first strike percentage of around 75 percent. Phenomenal.
I know the ALCS is forty nine hours away but allow me the time to savor this after 49 years of frustration.

Rangers-Rays Game 1

Eleven years in the making, the Texas Rangers began their playoff run today. Everything seemed to go right. Cliff Lee did what Cliff Lee does. He had some first inning trouble and then shut down the Tampa Bay lineup. Ten strikeouts, less than 110pitches. I had a feeling things were going to be okay when Josh Hamilton got a hit in his first at bat. And Nellie Cruz launched a moonshot over the center field wall on a 3-0 pitch was good as well. But the wonderful thing was where the real hitting came from: Jeff Francoeur and Bengie Molina. They combined for four of the Ranger hits, including Molina's home run to left field. And they were the bottom of the order. One down, ten to go.
Texas fans are due for a little success. The Rangers are the only team in Major League Baseball never to win a playoff series, a dubious honor. Rangers fans heartbreak goes back nearly forty years. My own goes back a little further. Being born in Washington D.C., I knew them as the Senators, so I have suffered with the Senators/Rangers all my life.
THE TIME IS NOW.