A Night To Remember
When the Cliff Lee trade was miraculously consummated some three-odd months ago, a trade that only coalesced after the Rangers seized upon the final chance gifted to them by Mariners general manager Jack Zdurienick to best the Yankees' offer (according to this version of the narrative, at least), the initial joyous reaction of many was to talk about the great things that this trade would do for the Rangers' chances of advancing deep into the post-season. And yet no matter how much we talked about it and even attempted to imagine what it might be like, this has surpassed all conceivable expectations. This is a modern-day baseball fairytale come to life.
There is not much more original that can be said about Cliff Lee at this point -- the man is an absolute pitching freak in the best possible of ways, having infiltrated Yankee Stadium and posted eight scoreless frames of two-hit, one-walk, 13-strikeout baseball. Of the 2,515 post-season starts in baseball history comprising nine or fewer innings, Lee's Game Score (90) from last night is tied for the 11th-highest all time; his start also goes down as the second-best ALCS start in baseball history, surpassed only by Roger Clemens' heroic 138-pitch Game 4 performance (9.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 15 K) against the Mariners in the 2000 ALCS. The Yankees knew exactly what was coming, yet were powerless to stop it.
New York players/coaches evidently attempted to talk themselves into believing that they could beat Lee on the basis of them having amassed eight hits -- and plated four runs -- against Lee on August 11th; the problem with such a comparison, of course, is that Lee was concealing a back injury at the time and incurring collateral damage from his compromised command. I believe it is now fair to say that the Yankees are baffled by -- if not downright terrified of -- Lee's methodical and relentless lineup-killing abilities, and now New York must find some way to beat both Tommy Hunter and C.J. Wilson in Yankee Stadium and Colby Lewis in Arlington in order to avert Lee's scheduled Game 7 start. That likely will not happen, and, at this point, you have to feel good about the Rangers' chances of securing their first-ever World Series berth.
The victory-securing ninth-inning outburst by the Rangers' offense offered two ancillary storylines, the first of which concerned Lee -- despite having thrown 122 pitches through eight innings and never having thrown more than 124 pitches in a major league start, manager Ron Washington (and almost certainly pitching coach Mike Maddux) were prepared to send him out against the top of the Yankees' order in the bottom of the ninth inning if the score had remained 2-0. Research indicates that hitters enjoy a progressively greater advantage against a given starting pitcher as the game unfolds (attributed to growing recognition/familiarity), such that the bullpen is often the better option the third/fourth times through the batting order -- and yet in spite of both this fact and the workload, Lee was so extraordinary that even I wanted to see him keep going. I won't be surprised if an identical leave-him-or-yank-him dilemma arises again this month.
And then there was Neftali Feliz, whose 20-pitch outing in an eight-run game was justified by Washington thusly: "We figured that every time we get an opportunity to get him out there, it would benefit us because he's a young kid. He's saved a lot of games for us, and he did a great job of doing that. But in the playoffs, it's a different atmosphere." I suppose what you have to ask yourself, and what the Rangers had to ask themselves, is whether the potential confidence boost justified the potential trade-off in effectiveness; I'm not so sure that it did, but I think back to something I wrote two weeks ago concerning how the perfect in-game manager doesn't really exist, and how I think you can overlook some minor tactical transgressions when you have a manager who is perpetually lauded by his players for setting the right tone in the clubhouse.
Actually, the more unsettling error in that ninth inning was highlighted by radio play-by-play voice Eric Nadel, who openly expressed surprise/disdain over the air upon realizing that Washington/Maddux did not have anyone warming up behind Feliz; had he yielded a hit/walk or two, he could have easily run his pitch count beyond the 30-pitch mark and effectively knocked himself out of commission for Tuesday night's rematch. No potential confidence boost could have compensated for the unavailability of the Rangers' best reliever in a game where the bullpen is virtually certain to get involved, and I'm just thankful that no such shadow was cast on such an unforgettably momentous game in Rangers history.
Analysis, Game Recaps, Playoffs
Reader Comments (53)
That was a pretty ok game. Absolutely loved seeing those yankee fans leaving early!
I don't think I've ever smiled this much...
And I'm pretty sure our fans would never desert the stadium like what we saw tonight...
I have never seen a baseball player come into a game with more hype.
I have only seen a few a players with nearly as much hype, live up to it when all the lights were on him.
Lee outperformed the hype. How is this possible?
Meh. It was alright.
This has to bother the Yankees
There are 4 games left in this series. The Rangers have to play .500 to advance the Yankees have to play .750. Eric nadel was correct when he said that every game of a playoff series is more important than the last. It makes tomorrows game a really critical one for the Yankees. If they lose tomorrow they are probably toast.
Wouldn't it be great if Tommy Hunter could rise to the occasion tomorrow? That would mean that C.J. Wilson fould have a chance to pitch the Rangers through the next day. Just a little bit of luck tomorrow or a stinker by Burnett and the Yankees are dead.
There's no doubt RBiA would have been deserted like Yankee Stadium... in fact it would have started in the 7th if they were down 2-0.
35 plus years of watching the rangers and i never thought i would see anything close to this good. I'm so happy and confident that we have this. I wanna have cliff lee's babies...........
Don't even write an article for tomorrow because that says enough. Cliff Lee is making millions right before our eyes! I wouldn't be suprised if the Yanks offered him $150M for 6 years after what he has done to them. It is truely the best baseball I've ever watched in 25 years of watching Ranger baseball! I hope this ride doesn't stop until around the beginning of November!!!!!! IT'S TIME!!
Cliff's broken The Ranger playoff strikeout record 3 times already. Anyways, I love Cliff Lee.
To borrow a quote from Teddy KGB in Rounders, " PAY THAT MAN HIS MONEY!!"
I cannot wait another 20 hours for more baseball, i wish this game would never end
Does anyone have the stats on the Rangers post season record when they are wearing red hats vs when they are wearing blue hats?
To quote a New Yorker, "To the moon, Alice. How sweet it is." What can Tommy Hunter do to even come close? I like it, I love it, Can't get enough of it.
Great win tonight. Hopefully we can stick to AJ Burnett tomorrow night and then give Sabathia a second whipping. A ginger ale celebration in the Bronx sounds nice.
Check out this photo http://www.madsob.com/1/post/2010/10/lets-go-rangers.html
It says it all
I just know that as a long-suffering Rangers fan (since the mid 1970s) I am euphoric that Texas got Lee from under New York's nose in July. He is the difference between being out of the 1st round and having a great shot at the World Series.
Go Rangers!
If you are the Yankees and look at how Cliff Lee has pitched this year in the Play Offs, do you start C.C. Sabathia tomorrow?
Awesome win!!!
However, what the EFFFF was Wash doing bringing in Feliz to pitch the ninth? What if we need him the next two games?
What a moron!
If the Yankees signed Cliff in the offseason, how would you feel watching him do that to the Rangers next year? My god that would kill me.
Wow. I did not think I could feel so relaxed watching such a close game in the playoffs. There was not one time in the game -- even in the 6th when Gardner got to 3rd -- where I doubted that Lee would pull it off. Simple dominance.
Speaking of Feliz, it was good to see him hit triple digits again and blow some guys away. Maybe the big stage of Yankee Stadium charged him up a little more. I thought maybe the radar gun there was a little fast but Lee was topping out at 92 - 93 which is the norm for him. Regardless, great game. The Yanks and all their fans were so deflated. I loved it.
It's so awesome that the Rangers now have a real first baseman for 2011 and beyond. Moreland might not be a +5 WAR guy, but he's fully good enough given what we have elsewhere.
Saw a great line from CBSsports.com:
"The Rangers line-up holds the distinction of being the only line-up in baseball to run Cliff Lee out of a post-season game."
No complaints about Feliz in the 9th &/or no one warming up in the pen. All's well that ends well.
Everyone might as well stop the speculation on the monetary aspects of Lee's 2011 contract. The Rangers will make an offer that will assure wealth for generations of the Lee family. Money won't be the determinant of where he signs. Here's hoping those other intangibles are falling into place to keep Lee in Arlington.
Cliff Lee is good at baseball.
Good point by Nadel. I hadn't realized they had no one warming. I don't have a problem with breaking Feliz into Yankee Stadium postseason play in a blowout. (Especially having been at the first of the Byun-Hyung Kim games in 2001; that was just sad to watch.) But it wouldn't have been worth his not being able to pitch in a close game today.
Also, the earlier 4-run outing vs. the Yankees you referenced was not a bad performance by Lee. Cruz just turned it into a mess with one of his worst defensive games ever.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!
Give Lee anything he wants......gold, oil, virgins, land, meth, a 7-Eleven franchise...anything he wants!!
Time for Big Game Tommy Hunter to earn his name!!!
That likely will not happen, and, at this point, you have to feel good about the Rangers' chances of securing their first-ever World Series berth.
Holy crap. This sentence gave me the chills.
Love these guys! Let's chase Burnett and put the screws to these guys!
Excellent point by Nadel. IMO it never even occurred to me because I just felt the Yankees were whipped and would go down in order. I was thinking just let him pitch a bit in a low pressure situation. Probably the Ranger coaches were thinking the same.
Nadel is a very smary guy. I seriously wonder if he would make a great bench coach?
I like the idea of platooninf Hunter and Holland for today's game. If they can perform like they did against the Rays (minus the Longoria homer) I think we will be ok. Have to keep pressure on them though. Remember that while we are up 2-1 and everything looks like roses, a loss tomorrow and it's the first team to 2 wins. Honestly I kinda look to today's game as a must win for us, especially since we are facing their weakest starter, and we have beaten their best.
I'd say give Hunter 90 pitches and 4 runs to play with. Once he reaches either of those, go to Holland and see if he can keep us in the game. I think Hunter only really needs to be careful pitching to Cano. I don't know if you shouldn't just go ahead and put him on if there is a guy or three on base. I think Hunter will prove something either way today. Either he's good and can throw a big game, or he's just been incredibly lucky.
As much as I respect Nadel, and that respect is huge, I have to go with Wash on putting Feliz in with nobody warming up. What good would it do to let the kid go out when he could turn his head and see someone else warming up, thinking "they don't think I can handle this."
As much as I have looked forward to this for 38 years, it is soooooooo overwhelming! Actually, since I was a Dodger fan before the Rangers, the Yanks have been kicking my team's ass for about sixty years. How sweet is is this year!
Wow, what can be said that hasn't already? Guess I'll wax unpoetically about Mr. Lee's future. First, I'm beginning to entertain a very scary thought...perhaps Lee has more "prime" left in his career than we first thought. 2002-2007 seems to be a whole different era, so it's very possible his current 2008-2016 era will be incredibly productive.
Lee doesn't come across to me as Boras-inspired, but if any pitcher is potentially "worth" $30M a year, it may be him. If that's what it takes to sign him (6 yrs, $180M), I at least hope he agrees to a mutual option on the sixth year. Would give the team a bit of added protection and flexibility. But heck, I'm hoping the team would give him that option as a reward for the multiple world titles he's going to lead us to! (yes, i'm in a state of delirium at the moment...)
I think it only took a few pitches into the Jeter at-bat to realize Feliz was on and there was going to be no rally. He absolutely was painting the corner low-and-away the entire time. It was extraordinary that Jeter fouled of as many pitches as he did. I'm sure if Feliz had put anybody on, Wash and Maddox would have done whatever it took to stall long enough for another arm to get warm. They weren't going to let Feliz go an additional 10 pitches.
This is really fun to experience; but I was stressed to have the game so close througout and Lee having to throw so many pitches. I was worried he'd run out of gas in the 9th, but the offense finally put it away! If the Rangers win tonight, the Spankees would have to beat CJ, Colby, and Cliff consecutively to come back. This is the clincher tonight.
Has anybody else noticed that Swisher's defense is killing the Spankees? There have been multiple fly balls that a better-than-average RF'er would have caught that have turned into huge extra base hits in this series.
I loved the 4 Ranger's fans at last night's game... brave souls... fo sho!
Regarding Feliz; I think Wash has to manage 1 game at a time. He knows better than to look too far ahead.
Secure the W and worry about tomorrow when it's here.
I'm in complete awe of Cliff Lee. Each game he pitches I say to myself "wow, what a performance"... but then he comes out and throws even BETTER than the game before. Crazy man, crazy!
I wonder if Lee will realize, no matter what the outcome of the remaining games, that if he doesn't break the Rangers' bank when re-signing and allows Daniels & Co. the flexibility to go out and get a Crawford type FA, the Rangers will be just a notch below scary f-ing good?
Scary f-ing good.
I loved the shot of the crowd after the game that showed the Rangers fan section full in an otherwise empty stadium. I paused the tube and took a picture of it. Unbelievable. We really need to win today or tomorrow. If we take at least 1 of 2, the Yanks start dreading game 7 and it's effectively over.
I have been such a huge sports fan all of my life and invested so much of myself in my teams. All the what if's, next years, and almosts have made this ride so much sweeter. This has been the most enjoyable fan experience of my life to date. I hope it goes on forever. I absolutely love football but this is better because it keeps going. As awesome as last night was, I get to watch another game tonight and tomorrow. Not like football where you have to wait a week in between.
Anyone else think the ball Hamilton hit to the tracks was gone? I was a catcher so I think I have a good eye for when a ball looks gone - I never stand up in celebration at a game for a ball that ultimately dies on the track like many fans do anytime a deep fly ball is hit. But when he hit that one with a swing that looked more powerful than the 1st inning swing, I stood up.
This is so much fun I'm not even upset with the Cowboys right now. See you guys in the gameday chat...
My girlfriend looked at me in the 8th inning and said "I have never seen you smile that big and that bright before." And then she got sad. I told her this was 24 years of devotion and this was the only time in that 24 years that I had felt this way. Then she sort of understood.
Have you guys not seen how he's been treating the NY media? There is NO WAY he will sign with the Yankees in the offseason. Mark my words.
Pryor G@#$amn you if he signs with the Yankees now you will DIE!!!!!
haha j/k...... but seriously DIE
Very good article, Joey Matches (now is not the time for pillow fights with Will Caroll!!). This is why I read BBTIA.
The other thing about the Lee outing in August v the Yanks is that the Rangers had a very long bottom of the 5th or 6th where the offense went nuts but it was also one of those ungodly 107 degree days in Texas when it was humid and difficult to breathe.
When Lee came back out to pitch after sitting for so long, he had nothing.
To Nadel's point, if Feliz had so completely melted down like that I think its questionable whether they would have allowed him even a chance to come in tonight -- based on performance. In other words, if he stunk so bad with an 8 run lead and threw 40 pitches, he would have lost the closer's job for at least tonight anyway. Probably to Oliver or Ogando.
Oday and Oliver were up in the 8th. so if feliz faulted, i'm sure they would have been able to come in.
2 things. First I have to say that I was wrong. When we got Lee, I figured he wouldn't make that big of a difference, that our other problems would overshadow his greatness, and that we'd come to really regret losing a primo prospect like Smoak. I was wrong. Having Lee is like when you are playing Civ and your society gets tanks when the other nations are still on Riflemen. And Moreland has been just as good if not better than Smoak anyway... That was simply the best Rangers game I've watched in the 25 years I've been a fan. Incredible.
The other thing is that having lived in Manhattan, I really feared for those Rangers fans last night... I hope they made it back to the subway okay. They are pretty brave to wave flags and stand up chanting & clapping, wearing Rangers gear with all those angry, irrationaly NY fans around.
I don't mind Feliz coming in but I would have much rather seen Kirkman in there.
Interesting post on Lee by Joe Posnanski, nailing it about Lee's transformation since 2008...good read.
http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/10/19/natural-lee/?eref=sihp
I don't see how no one up throwing in the 9th is some huge tactical error. I wonder when was the last time Nadel saw a closer start an inning with guys up throwing? Does anyone remember seeing that? I'm sure it happens, but not with any regularity. He got a 1-2-3 inning...not the most efficient with the pitch count, but when it's two outs and he's thrown 13 pitches, is Wash supposed to get guys throwing? Again...when have you ever seen an established closer get the first two guys out, then see someone start throwing in the pen.
Feliz is young, it's Yankee Stadium, he was shaky earlier in the postseason...but still...he's the closer. besides, guys were up throwing in the 8th so it's not like everyone is ice cold and Feliz would be exposed out there for twenty minutes if he lost effectiveness.
If you're gonna question Wash, question him putting Feliz out there in the first place...don't question him for doing what 99% of managers do 99% of the time when their closer is out there.
@ Wizzard - I agree with you... this is the single greatest sports moment of my life too (and I'm probably older than you).
I remember the mavs 12 win seasons and how excited I was when they finally became a power house.
I remember the 89 season when the Cowboys won 1 game.
But NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING compares to this...
@PULL_T - I've learned over the years not to question Nadel. He's usually spot on in his criticism of the manager, players, etc... BUT I hear you loud and clear.
As far as putting Feliz in a game with an 8 run cushion; didn't we all think Friday night's game was all sewn up... only to have a complete meltdown? That has to be on Wash's mind... and while he can't make moves out of fear, he has to give his club the best chance to win... and that's what he did when he put Feliz in the game.
If the Rangers can get to Burnett early on, the crowd will turn on him... and then Girardi is back to his bullpen throwing 4 or 5 innings of relief. Regardless of all the days off, at some point his bullpen is going to become tired and worn out...
This may be old news to some of you but it looks as if the Royals are ready to wheel and deal, starting with Greinke: http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/10/19/royals-willing-to-trade-zack-greinke/?ncid=txtlnkusspor00000002
Signing Cliff Lee should be priority number 1, 1A, 1B, and 1C... BUT if they can't get it done then you have to throw the kitchen sink at Kansas City to land Greinke. Or for that matter, sign Lee AND trade for Greinke! What would a rotation with Lee, Greinke, CJ, and Colby look like? WOW!
After the WS trophy is presented to the Rangers, JD offers Perez, Kirkman, Beltre, and Profar for Greinke? Not enough? Throw Borbon in there and sign Carl Crawford.
Oh man, could you imagine ADDING Crawford and Greinke and retaining Lee... now THAT would be a dynasty.