The article from today's Wall Street Journal...in case the link did not work...it was worth a separate post...
Bargains Trump Bling in ALCS
By Nando Di Fino
On paper, we have the wild card team in a 3-1 series hole to the American League West champions. No big deal. But any other way you look at the mighty New York Yankees, defending World Series champions and winners of 27 titles, being down three games to one to the lowly Texas Rangers, a team that hadn’t won a playoff series before this year, and it sparks a range of emotions, from panic to amazement, grave-dancing to pure giddiness. The Rangers had been in bankruptcy for most of the 2010 season. Major League Baseball loaned them significant amounts of money to cover payroll. At one point, Mark Cuban almost became their owner in a heated and contentious sale of the team. It was revealed in spring training that their manager tested positive for cocaine in 2009.
This series was supposed to be a cakewalk for the Yankees — after Cliff Lee, the Texas rotation included a converted closer (C.J. Wilson) and a player who was a member of the Hiroshima Carp the last two seasons (Colby Lewis). This Yankees-Rangers series has the biggest payroll discrepancy in baseball’s postseason history, with A.J. Burnett out-earning all of Texas’s ALCS rotation by himself. “The Rangers could triple every current player’s salary, sign Mark Teixeira away from the Yankees,” GossipSports.com’s John Gorman writes, “and still have a lower payroll.”
So with essentially everything working against the Rangers, they still managed to hammer four home runs in Tuesday night’s Game 4 in the Bronx, and now head into Wednesday’s Game Five just a win away from the World Series. And they face a Yankees team that will be without Teixeira out for the remainder of the postseason after he injured his hamstring during Tuesday night’s game.
“There is no question something left the stadium with Teixeira,” the Star-Ledger’s Steve Politi writes. “It was the energy. It was the confidence. It was the hope.”
Hope and lots of baseballs. The Rangers have outscored the Yankees 30-11 in this series so far. “In Games 3-4 at fabled Yankee Stadium,” the Dallas Observer’s Richie Whitt writes, “the Rangers have outscored New York 18-3.” Whitt doesn’t actually believe that the Rangers’s cap colors have anything to do with their success, but, regardless, he notes that, “All-time in the playoffs wearing red caps the Rangers are 1-12; in blue caps 6-0, including an unlikely 5-0 this season.”
Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record says that the decisions made by Yankees manager Joe Girardi are partially responsible for the Rangers’ success in those blue caps, with his reliance on numbers telling him to leave A.J. Burnett in the game for too long on Tuesday, and to bring in Boone Logan to pitch to Josh Hamilton. Both decisions backfired and resulted in Texas home runs — the first by Bengie Molina, the second leading to Hamilton’s second home run of the game. When Girardi came out to yank Logan from the game, he heard the worst boos since he took over for Joe Torre.
“This is what the abyss looks like,” Klapisch writes, “one Yankee after another muttering their excuses, apologies, desperate wishes directed at CC Sabathia, the last line of defense before a long, cold winter of regret.”
The Rangers can advance to the World Series with a win this afternoon in the Bronx. Game Five starts at 4:07 p.m. ET. Will Snyder will live-blog the game, as Sabathia takes on CJ Wilson.
Have fun,
Jman
Bargains Trump Bling in ALCS
By Nando Di Fino
On paper, we have the wild card team in a 3-1 series hole to the American League West champions. No big deal. But any other way you look at the mighty New York Yankees, defending World Series champions and winners of 27 titles, being down three games to one to the lowly Texas Rangers, a team that hadn’t won a playoff series before this year, and it sparks a range of emotions, from panic to amazement, grave-dancing to pure giddiness. The Rangers had been in bankruptcy for most of the 2010 season. Major League Baseball loaned them significant amounts of money to cover payroll. At one point, Mark Cuban almost became their owner in a heated and contentious sale of the team. It was revealed in spring training that their manager tested positive for cocaine in 2009.
This series was supposed to be a cakewalk for the Yankees — after Cliff Lee, the Texas rotation included a converted closer (C.J. Wilson) and a player who was a member of the Hiroshima Carp the last two seasons (Colby Lewis). This Yankees-Rangers series has the biggest payroll discrepancy in baseball’s postseason history, with A.J. Burnett out-earning all of Texas’s ALCS rotation by himself. “The Rangers could triple every current player’s salary, sign Mark Teixeira away from the Yankees,” GossipSports.com’s John Gorman writes, “and still have a lower payroll.”
So with essentially everything working against the Rangers, they still managed to hammer four home runs in Tuesday night’s Game 4 in the Bronx, and now head into Wednesday’s Game Five just a win away from the World Series. And they face a Yankees team that will be without Teixeira out for the remainder of the postseason after he injured his hamstring during Tuesday night’s game.
“There is no question something left the stadium with Teixeira,” the Star-Ledger’s Steve Politi writes. “It was the energy. It was the confidence. It was the hope.”
Hope and lots of baseballs. The Rangers have outscored the Yankees 30-11 in this series so far. “In Games 3-4 at fabled Yankee Stadium,” the Dallas Observer’s Richie Whitt writes, “the Rangers have outscored New York 18-3.” Whitt doesn’t actually believe that the Rangers’s cap colors have anything to do with their success, but, regardless, he notes that, “All-time in the playoffs wearing red caps the Rangers are 1-12; in blue caps 6-0, including an unlikely 5-0 this season.”
Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record says that the decisions made by Yankees manager Joe Girardi are partially responsible for the Rangers’ success in those blue caps, with his reliance on numbers telling him to leave A.J. Burnett in the game for too long on Tuesday, and to bring in Boone Logan to pitch to Josh Hamilton. Both decisions backfired and resulted in Texas home runs — the first by Bengie Molina, the second leading to Hamilton’s second home run of the game. When Girardi came out to yank Logan from the game, he heard the worst boos since he took over for Joe Torre.
“This is what the abyss looks like,” Klapisch writes, “one Yankee after another muttering their excuses, apologies, desperate wishes directed at CC Sabathia, the last line of defense before a long, cold winter of regret.”
The Rangers can advance to the World Series with a win this afternoon in the Bronx. Game Five starts at 4:07 p.m. ET. Will Snyder will live-blog the game, as Sabathia takes on CJ Wilson.
Have fun,
Jman
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