Tex in the mix

The Texas Rangers have never won a playoff series. They did it this year in style. After winning 2 games on the road, they lost 2 at home and clinched game 5 on the road. Basically the home team never won a game in this series. Thats weird! The Rangers better thank Cliff Lee for this. He won 2 games on the road and totally justified the trade for him. He went complete game in game 5 and shut the Rays down. The only down-side of a 5 game series is that he can't pitch game 1 tomorrow against Derek Cheater and the Yankees. Yes, I just wanted to use "Derek Cheater" for the first time in the blog. The best contribution of this MLB season might have been that nickname. Just for the record, I was not that offended by whatever he did to earn that nickname, but I am going to use it anyways. So C.J.Wilson will pitch game 1 for the Rangers against C.C and Wilson is no dummy either. He did what he had to do in game 2 against the Rays and while the Yankees lineup is significantly different, this should still be a well-pitched game. I like Wilson. Something tells me the Rangers take this series against all odds. May be it's just wishful thinking, but I say Rangers in 7.

The fun series to me is the other one between the hated Giants and the Phillies. The pitching matchups in the series are just insane. I don't think I have seen this good a starting pitching match-up ever. Typically, pitching is always the story this deep in the playoffs. But Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels on one-side is a special threesome. You add Lincenum, Sanchez, Cain to this mix, it's just spectacular. Thats not even counting the new phenom Madison Bumgarner for the Giants, who seems every bit as effective as the other 3 fools. If these pitchers stay true to form, this series may just not see more than 20 runs total! The Phillies do have better hitting and I expect them to take this series in 6 or 7. They have similar pitching, but the Phillies have Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth in the middle with Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino setting the table for them. The Giants may find the going tough in this series. But then again, Giants somehow seem to find a way to win. Lets hope that trend comes to an end in this series. Just last Sunday, the Eagles beat the Niners in the NFL contest between these 2 cities and now the action shifts to baseball. Cant wait for Saturday to watch Halladay-V-Lincecum- this year's Cy Young versus the last 2 years'. Bring it on!