EMK19

I really hope that guys like Revere and Goins try to bunt some along the third baseline today and make Beltre field it. Make him feel uncomfortable running in, crouching, twist and turning and throwing... need to expose him over there until he can prove that he can field those comfortably enough IMO.

With it being only 13 degrees celcius, dropping to 10 degrees later at night, I very much doubt MLB will open the roof for this one.

In 89 we were indeed just completely overmatched, but I believe we would have won the 1991 series if we had won that game 3 that went into extra innings. That game had Joe Carter injuring his hamstring too after which he was never the same rest of the way. Blowing 5-2 lead in game 5 was brutal as well. Alomar's HR was indeed big but I sometimes think that it is over glorified sometimes due to its symbolistic nature of finally getting over the Oakland hump. Even if we had lost that game the series would have been still tied 2-2 and we would have still had home advantage, so I feel that in a way Sprague's HR was bigger in actually turning a series around (since we would have been down 2-0 in the series if we lost that game 2 of WS), the Sprague HR doesn't seem get as much credit in comparison in the media...

Has Rasmus made adjustments this year to those high-and-in fastballs that he always used to strike out on when he was with us? I can't believe how the Yanks and now KC are pitching him thus far in the playoffs... pitching right into his low-and-in wheelhouse and making him looking like Barry Bonds...

David is Jack Morris-ing it vintage 1992 playoffs. No but really, I think it's just the case of him not matching up well vs. Rangers' hitters. Should we make it to ALDS, I'd still have full confidence in him as ace.

From Texas' perspective, you gotta go with Hamels' playoff (and in general) experience. Gallardo has been great vs. us but we showed signs of getting to him near the end of his start in game 1 and Bannister was correct in pulling the plug early. You can only trust in him so much IMO.

I think you missed one pro and con each: Pro: Both Sanchez and Osuna have looked great thus far. Considering that these were the two guys we were worried about the most coming in, a very pleasant surprise. Con: Cecil gone for rest of the season. Now in a situation where we are forced to trust upon Loup with no real second lefty in the pen.

I'm not afraid of RA starting today at all. Everybody knows, likely including Dickey himself, that he'll be on a very short leash and will likely get pulled once he allows about 2 runs/show signs of an even bigger inning. If we don't feel confident enough coming back from a potential two or three run deficit then we don't really deserve to win the game. Dickey has the potential to be dominant on any day as well, and if he has a good one working today then it'll further mess with Rangers' swings and minds. The player I'm worried about more actually is Martin; I sure hope that he will be on his game in catching the knuckler, and that it doesn't distract him from his performance at the plate.

Yeah, it's an unfortunate situation but we can only take it game by game at this point and all hands have to be on deck...

Yup, while admittingly not the same Holland as he used to be, he actually had the best batting avg. against in their rotation vs. us coming into the series. I doubt it'll be easy.

A nice feel good win which I feel will turn the tide of the series around big time. First of all, gotta thank Delino Deshields Jr. for being a horrible defensive CF, we totally exposed his weakness in D today lol. Other thoughts: - Estrada had a huge game and was on one of his dominant streaks we saw quite often throughout the season. Thankfully managed to escape one of those "can't throw a strike" innings that he often gets into once a game. Good call by Gibby to hook at the first signs of trouble. - Sanchez has been impressive on all his outings thus far in the post season, he has stepped up big time. Osuna got hit hard three times there so there was a bit to be concerned about there, but at least he went out there to throw strikes and not mess around since he had a 4 run lead I guess. - FINALLY. Tulo. If we can somehow manage to come back and win the series now, that will rank up there with Robbie's and Sprague's HRs. - Much, MUCH better job with the approach at the plate tonight. That's how we usually do it. I really have to wonder now if it was indeed the pressure of being favourites/starting out at home and being too ramped up that messed our discipline up in the first two games. Of course grounding into 4 DPs sucked but at least we threatened in more than half the innings today overall. Keep pressure on their pitchers the same was and eventually they'll bend then crack. - Hope Dickey has an Estrada type of day tomorrow, but if not, we need to have a very short leash on him and use Price at any point it seems like it'll get away for more than two runs. We get another game and I couldn't be any happier. This was not a team that was gonna get swept, we were never going to go out meekly like that. Even if we end up losing the series we've at least created one good memory of it so I'll be more at ease with it. But of course, let's win again and bring this back to the 6.

I'm sure Dickey will be on an extremely short leash tomorrow. I'm thinking like a 2-run leash. But it is worth it to see if Dickey can be on one of his good starts IMO since when he IS on his game, he can be dominant.

Early runs by us to get ahead will definitely be crucial, it'll put Rangers in the same pressure spot we had been in at the start; being the favourites to win the series now and playing with tons of expectations in front of the home crowd.

Would be sweet if he could take Dierkman (who's sure looked dominant thus far) deep late in the game like how he did vs. Andrew Miller to tie the game last month.

I'm thinking Gibby's logic of possibly using Price out of the pen tm might be due to the fact that he's now missing Cecil and badly wants a legitimate LHP from the pen. Perhaps he doesn't have as much faith in Loup in reality even though he's told otherwise to the media...

I believe Gregg Zaun (so take it for what you will.. actually it might have been Buck, not 100% sure) said that they call the game quite differently; Navarro apparently calls the game that is more suited for pitchers who rely less on velocity and more on location and trickery such as Estrada and Buehrle (which may explain why he also seems to do a bit better with Navarro behind the plate).

To me both starters have the same fault of 1) being liable to give up homers at any time and 2) suddenly lose control and walk batters at any time. Both have potential to be dominant if they're on their game. With lot of things being equal between the two I feel that Estrada's a safer bet in that he is easier to catch and has less potential for wild pitches/past balls. With Rangers running and playing the small ball quite well so far, giving extra bases may not be the best idea vs. them. Although another thing to consider is that Navarro will be starting this game so it'd be very difficult to flexibly utilize Martin as a PH unless we are willing to lose the DH very late in the game.

As stated, I think the fact that Martin is catching Dickey has to be considered as well. A lot of potential for near passed balls wild pitches and such, and with Rangers playing the running game extremely well to put pressure on our defence thus far this series, Dickey may not be the best guy to throw out there right now. I'd also think that they'll be looking to steal on Dickey at every opportunity as well, and although Dickey does do a decent job for a Knuckleballer in holding on runners it will not be easy for Martin to throw them out catching a Knuckleball once they take off. Also, the extra stress of catching Dickey may affect Martin's offensive game as well, just like how it did during the regular season. IMO due to these reasons Price may be a safer bet even on 3 days rest. Perhaps one option could be one of Dickey/Price starts and the other comes off the pen to really mix things up. But let's get to game 4 first...

If there is one thing AA overlooked this past trade deadline, it has to be the horrible depth of the LH relievers we ended up with... someone like Dierkman would sure have looked good depth wise right now. We probably hoped that Loup turned things around in a big way in the final two months and unfortunately that didn't happen. He's LOOGY at best right now unfortunately...

And in 1993 ALCS, we also went up 2-0 vs. the White Sox on the road, then proceeded to put up two stinkers at home to even the series. Even though we ended up winning that series the point is that we blew what looked to be a comfortable lead... so it can happen at any time at this level really, both in our and their favour. 3-0 down in a 7 game series would be different (and even that's not a sure thing), but 2-0 deficit is definitely not insurmountable.

Gibby did get away from his usual pattern of pitting the proper righty/righty, lefty/lefty at the right time for most of the year, so I questioned it a lot at first as well, especially with Lowe already warm in the pen with another righty bat coming up after Napoli. But now I can understand that decision somewhat better after finding out that Cecil had been very good against Napoli (would have been a bad move if this wasn't the case), plus the fact that Cecil in general had been our best bullpen arm lately by far. Gibby took a chance by putting more weight into career numbers + Cecil's recent form and Bannister on his end took a chance as well by using Napoli who had been pretty bad against Cecil in his career yet hoping that the textbook lefty/righty matchup works out in his favour/or hoping that Napoli can hit Lowe if he had come in instead. There was bit of a risk on both ends and it just happened to work out in Bannister's favour this time.

The problem is that I'm guessing that he won't be asking for affordable 5th starter amount of money. Another thing to consider is how his compatibility with Martin will be vs. Navarro (who may likely be gone next year).

I do think it's telling how they were intentionally walking EE to face Tulo... I'm sure Tulo's rarely faced that situation when he was with the Rockies. Wonder if they would have done the same if it was Martin instead. Obviously I still want him in the lineup though for his defence even if he's not 100% at the plate.

I personally don't think open/closed really makes that much of a significant difference, and even if it does, then we have to realize it could have worked both positively and negatively for us. Rangers could have had a field day with it as well for all we know. Though I still don't see the logic in how we can't be in control of the roof of our own home field just because it's the playoffs now. That much I agree with.