glad to see all y'all on the rangers bandwagon. normally i'd be like MY RANGERS SHOULDA HAD LAST NIGHT but CJ wilson was crusing along with 7 solid innings, the only run a solo shot to robby cano... he gives up two hits and another run and gets pulled, and then the yankees just nickeled and dimed them to death. IMO, the yankees have the best all around offense of all the teams in the LCSes and bringing in darren oliver doesn't exactly put the fear of god in my eyes. the rangers just got beat. however, the positives there were that they came out scoring with hamilton finally showing up in the postseason with a 3 run HR and they held the lead... their bullpen just fell apart and the yankees did what everyone has pheared them doing for a minute.
it made me wonder where frank francisco is and then i look him up on the fantasy baseball thing and see...
Player notes Wed, Oct 13 wrote:
Francisco (back) has to curtail his rehab process and has been ruled out of the ALCS, the team's web site reports.
Recommendation: Francisco's continued absence could be a big blow to Texas' chances at beating the Yankees in a seven game series.
yes sir, because even tho he was far from automatic at 3.76/1.27 he still struck out ~60 in ~50IP and had lowered his ERA down a half of a run from mid-july til late august when he got hurt. and shit, last season when he started off closing he was UNFUCKWITHABLE like a 0.44 ERA and a really quick 15 saves then he got hurt... and then cj wilson was closing so well he was eased into the job and blah blah blah he ended up 3.83/something. i think franky francisco could have helped in game 3 against the rays (when washington inexplicably pulled out colby lewis after 85 pitches because, gasp, HE HAD FIVE WALKS. then the bullpen gave up all the runs after goofy usage)
i like what girardi did holding back pettite to face off against cliff lee as opposed to phil hughes. obviously hughes got whacked today, but i think they figured with cliff lee looking badass this postseason they'd want someone who's been there in big games before to face off against him. it's a pity the rangers just flat out got whooped and exposed in the top of the 8th last night. sigh.
speaking of sigh, the vladometer is stalled at .111 (1/9).... hummmmm. and josh hamilton got walked 4 times today, phil hughes aint want none. nelson cruz has been hitting the whole playoffs.
that said, beyond the fairly obvious reasons, game three is huge. let's see if girardi's move to save pettitte to counter cliff lee comes to fruition, cuz if the rangers can go up 2-1 the series goes back to texas, where i think the ballpark is a bigger hitters park advantage than.... WHOA BRIAN WILSON BEARD <sirlarry>BY CRACKY!</sirlarry> yankee stadium after they razed old/real yankee stadium and that will help the likes of vlad and hamilton, especially vlad who loves hitting there... not to mention if lee gets the W on monday then you're going to either see him again on 3 days rest in game 6 or on full rest in game 7, depending who has the advantage going into game 6.
having your ace cliff lee naturally slated for games 3 and 7 makes for an interesting series. also i wonder if girardi's going to stick with his plan to have aj burnett start game 4 if the yanks are down 2-1 going into that game 4.
either way should be a hell of a series... i want to swipe murph's what if bell and imagine texas being up 2-0, but basically, i think that was the yankees more winning that game by taking what the pitchers gave them than than some cubbie-type-occurrences.
as an expos fan i'm still not a giant cliff lee guy, but i will be on monday when he takes the mound. MY RANGERS HAVE TO SIT BACK RELAX AND STRAP IT DOWN. IT'S TIME TO WIN ONE FOR VLAD.
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Curious Hair wrote:
Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?