Stable of Young Talent Has Rangers Optimistic They’ll Remain Contenders
November 2, 2010
by Ed Price
Filed under: Rangers, MLB Playoffs, World Series
ARLINGTON, Texas — In recent years, the Rays, Rockies, Tigers, Astros and White Sox have made it to a World Series without making it back even as far as a League Championship Series.
So are the Rangers, who this year made the first World Series in franchise history, another flash in the pan or a perennial contender?
“We said this summer, before the draft: ‘Hey, we’ve got to work harder than ever now,’ ” general manager Jon Daniels told FanHouse. “The bar’s been raised. We need more young players. We need better young players. The ones we have, we’ve got to develop them.
“We’ve worked hard to get the flexibility we have now. I don’t want to (fritter) it away.”
In fact, internally, the Rangers were targeting 2011 as their breakthrough year, believing that some of their best talent either hasn’t arrived (pitchers Tanner Scheppers and Martin Perez) or has yet to near its peak (Neftali Feliz, Elvis Andrus, Mitch Moreland, Alexi Ogando, Derek Holland).
“They’ve got some dudes, man,” an official from another AL team said of the Texas farm system. “They’re going to be good for a while.”
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Texas’ World Series Failures Run Gamut
November 2, 2010
by John Hickey
Filed under: Giants, Rangers, MLB Playoffs, World Series
ARLINGTON, Texas — There is no end to the ways that the Texas Rangers hurt themselves in the 2010 World Series.
After Game 1, they didn’t score a run without the benefit of a homer.
For the last 21 innings, they got just two men as far as second base.
In Game 2, down just 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the bullpen that had carried them through the first two rounds of the postseason couldn’t get anybody out. Reliever Derek Holland missed the strike zone with his first 11 pitches, and it took nine pitches for the Rangers to get somebody warming in the bullpen.
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World Series Game 5 Wrapup
November 2, 2010
by FanHouse TV
Filed under: Giants, Rangers, MLB Playoffs, MLB Video, World Series
The Giants did some miraculous things on their way to the World Series title. The most amazing might have been beating Cliff Lee twice. FanHouse TV’s Dan Graziano, Ed Price and Jeff Fletcher discuss just how that happened, including the key at-bat in Game 5 between Lee and World Series MVP Edgar Renteria.
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At Cliff’s Edge, Rangers Turn to Lee
November 1, 2010
by John Hickey
Filed under: Giants, Rangers, MLB Playoffs, World Series
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers are up against it now.
Down three games to one to San Francisco in the World Series, they face elimination in Game 5 Monday night, and their opposition is two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.
On the bright side, Texas has its ace, Cliff Lee, pitching in this one, and he’s been down this path before.
The Rangers were on the road in St. Petersburg, Fla., in Game 5 of the American League Division Series. It was win or wait ’til next year then, too, and Lee responded with a complete game six-hitter and a 5-1 win that saw the Rangers through.
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World Series Game 5 Preview
November 1, 2010
by FanHouse TV
Filed under: Giants, Rangers, MLB Playoffs, MLB Video, World Series
No matter what happens in the Rangers‘ do-or-die Game 5 vs. the Giants on Monday, Cliff Lee will be cashing in on the free-agent market this offseason. As FanHouse TV’s Dan Graziano, Jeff Fletcher and Ed Price report, if he wants to end his season as a world champion he’s going to have to improve on his Game 1 outing.
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Will Cliff Lee-Tim Lincecum Duel Finally Materialize in Game 5?
November 1, 2010
by FanHouse TV
Filed under: MLB Playoffs, MLB Video, World Series, Executive Take
The first time Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum hooked up in the World Series everyone expected zeros and 18 runs came across the plate in a Giants Game 1 victory. To prevent that from happening again, both Lee and Lincecum will have to improve, as FanHouse TV’s Steve Phillips and Dan Graziano discuss.
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Bud Selig: No Regrets About Facilitating Cliff Lee Trade
November 1, 2010
Filed under: Rangers, MLB Playoffs, MLB Trade Deadline, World Series
ARLINGTON, Texas — Reacting to Mike Maddux‘s assertion that he was the Rangers‘ MVP for allowing them to “operate without a checkbook” to get Cliff Lee, commissioner Bud Selig said before Game 4 of the World Series that he did not regret the way the situation was handled.
“I understand (the criticism),” Selig said. “I did at the time what I would do again. Absolutely it’s the right thing to do.”
The Rangers were getting support from MLB while the club was involved in bankrupcy proceedings over the summer, before the sale to Chuck Greenberg‘s group. The Rangers added more than $2 million to their payroll with the Lee trade. Selig said the investment the other clubs made in supporting the Rangers has been repaid.
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Battered Rangers Ponder Cliff Lee on Short Rest, Woeful Bullpen
October 30, 2010
by John Hickey
Filed under: Giants, Rangers, MLB Playoffs, World Series
ARLINGTON, Texas — There is plenty of precedent for teams coming back to win the World Series after having lost the first two games.
It’s been done 11 times in 51 tries, or about 20 percent of the time.
What is unprecedented is the way a San Francisco offense that is arguably the weakest of any World Series team in at least a decade has beaten up a Texas pitching staff that might well be the best in team history.
The Rangers have been mauled for 20 runs in the first two games, much of that blood being on the hands of the bullpen, which has an 18.68 ERA.
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World Series Game 1: Giants Down Rangers, Cliff Lee in Stunning Opener
October 28, 2010
Filed under: Giants, Rangers, MLB Playoffs, World Series
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants turned conventional wisdom on its ear in Game 1 of the World Series.
With their relatively meager offense, they pounded Cliff Lee — one of the best playoff pitchers of his generation — in a shocking 11-7 victory over the Rangers on Wednesday night at AT&T Park.
Lee had been undefeated in seven career playoff decisions, the second-longest postseason streak in history, and so far this October he had allowed just two runs in 24 innings over three victories. Lee’s teams had won all eight of his postseason starts.
The Giants got two runs against him in the third, with the help of an error, and they exploded for six runs in the fifth, capped by Juan Uribe‘s three-run homer off Darren O’Day.
Freddy Sanchez had three doubles and a single to lead the Giants’ 14-hit attack. The Giants came into the game batting .231 and averaging 3.0 runs in their first 10 playoff games.
“Obviously he’s one of the best pitchers in the game and he’s been unhittable in the postseason,” Sanchez said of Lee. “We were able to put the bat on the ball today and found some holes.”
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Opportunistic Giants Have Feasted on Sloppy Opponents All Postseason
October 28, 2010
Filed under: Giants, Rangers, MLB Playoffs, World Series
SAN FRANCISCO — Early in Game 1 of the World Series, when Cliff Lee was still looking like Cliff Lee and the Giants seemed headed for a loss, the Rangers cracked open the door with an error.
And the Giants, as they have for this entire postseason, made it count.
Third baseman Michael Young mishandled a third-inning ground ball, setting the stage for the Giants to get their first two runs against Lee and tie the game. By the time the ballgame was over, the Giants had a stunning 11-7 victory over the Rangers and Lee. The story was Lee’s ineffectiveness and the Giants ability to hit like no one thought they could.
But that first run, the one that came after Young’s error, was still huge.