As Rangers closer Neftali Feliz struck out Alex Rodriguez with an 83-mph change-up for the final out of the ALCS, clinching game 6 in a 6-1 win, I can't help but wax nostalgic about past sports years as the defending champion Yankees season ends...
The year was 1980 and the NFL season was underway. For the previous two seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers were kings and Bum Phillips' Houston Oilers were AFC runner-ups, or more specifically the pesky speedbump en route to Super Bowls XIII and XIV. As the 1980 season began, ol' Bum made the following proclamation: Two years ago we knocked on the door. Last year we pounded on the door. This year we're gonna kick the door down.
A funny thing happened on the way towards the AFC playoffs. The defending two-time champion Steelers slipped to 9-7. The Oilers? Again, they finished 11-5 and earned a wild card berth. Why? The central division's afterthought, the Cleveland Browns also finished 11-5 and sneaked by with the division title on the basis of tie-breakers.
After clinching the divisional title, Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano offered the most classic postgame locker room line: Bum Phillips kicked in the wrong door!
Bum's Oilers never made it to a super bowl. In fact, he was fired by the Oilers after a dismal 1981 season.
Here we are in 2010, and MLB's postseason afterthought, the Texas Rangers, have kicked in a door to their very first world series in their 39th season of existence, after 11 previous seasons of failure as the second coming of the Washington Senators (1961-1971). They outlasted both AL favorites coming into these playoffs - the Rays in five and the Yankees in six. Most of us expected the road to the World Series to go through either Tropicana Field or Yankee Stadium. Maybe Target Field...
Who would've expected such a seismic detour from St. Petersburg and New York en route to the Ballpark at Arlington, a place the Rangers were 0 for every home playoff game prior to last week?
Admit it... just like me, did any of you honestly think we'd see the Rangers come out of the American League playoffs and be in this year's World Series? Most folks thought the smart money was on the Yankees or Rays, or perhaps the Twins. But the Rangers? The all-hit, no-pitch Rangers? The who else is in that rotation besides Cliff Lee Rangers? The do they have a bullpen? Rangers? The weren't these guys bankrupt? Rangers?
Yes, those Rangers. The Rangers, who coasted since the All-Star break after building a big enough lead over the punchless Angels and A's, who evolved from Chapter 11 under owner Tom Hicks to solvent and viable under Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg, and who managed to acquire Cliff Lee from Seattle and Benji Molina before the July 31 trading deadline.
These Rangers managed to find just enough pitching to go with a lineup that slapped the Yankees silly, outscoring the defending world champs 38-19, out-homering them 9-6, and out-stealing them 9-2. The Rangers beat the Yankees with small ball and the big hits. And the timely hits!
The Rangers hit nearly .500 with runners in scoring position; the Yankees couldn't buy a key hit. The Rangers had more than a dozen hits with two strikes; the Yankees weren't so fortunate. The Rangers scored runs with two outs; the Yankees couldn't cash in consistently in tight spots. The Rangers have plenty of hitters. The Yankees are synonymous with hitting. The Yankees aren't called the Bronx Bombers for nothing. They're supposed to out-slug opponents into submission. The Rangers essentially out-Yankeed the Yankees.
Even tonight, Rangers starter Colby Lewis bent but didn't break during the first five innings of what was then a 1-1 tie, the Yankees run courtesy of a yes-it-hit-him no-call wild pitch to Nick Swisher with A-Rod on third. Once the Rangers put four runs on the board during the bottom of the fifth- three off starter Phil Hughes, one off David Robertson via Nelson Cruz's two-out, two-run home run - Lewis got tougher, going eight solid innings (3 hits, 3 walks, 1 earned run, 7 strikeouts) before yielding the ninth to Feliz.
The Yankees, who scored an impressive game 1 comeback win last week, then managed a gutty game 5 win behind laboring starter C.C. Sabathia, had nothing tonight as their faithful supporters all but guaranteed we'd be watching a game 7 epic battle between Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte. Colby Lewis made sure there'd be no need for game 7, as did the bats of Cruz and Vladmir Guerrero. Manager Ron Washington doesn't have to answer questions about choking away golden opportunities to put the mighty Yankees away, much less questions about whether he should've started Lee in game 2 instead of game 3. Washington was spared the real tough questions by brilliant pitching and timely hitting. Instead, it's Joe Girardi on the hot spot to answer tough questions about his managerial IQ for starting A.J. Burnett in game 4, rather than Sabathia, possibly having Pettitte available to start tonight and Sabathia tomorrow if there was a tomorrow.
Girardi suddenly looks like a micromanaging dunce one year after guiding the Yankees to their 27th World Series title. In case you forgot, last year's managerial dunce cap went to Charlie Manuel for refusing to work with a three-man rotation and keeping one of his pitching liabilities as far away from the mound during game 4. Manuel may still wear the dunce cap after tomorrow if his Phillies can't complete a 3 games to 1 comeback against San Francisco.
Tonight Ron Washington looks like a genius. Of course he does, not only getting the maximum out of his overmatched pitching staff but enjoying the luxury of winning all four ALCS games by at least five runs. When you're outscoring the opposition by a 2-to-1 ratio, unless you're the 1960 Yankees (who lost in seven games to the Bill Mazeroski Pirates), you should win a seven-game series, hopefully in less than seven games.
Now it's a matter of whether the Rangers open the World Series in San Francisco or Philadelphia Wednesday night. Either way, we know Cliff Lee will be on the mound for game 1. Whether Lee is available for two or three starts remains to be seen. As solid as he's been in the post-season, it's already established the lefty doesn't like to pitch on short rest and, in fact, refuses to take the ball. Given he's a free agent this winter, Lee may want to give serious thought as to how much he wants to be the man, the stopper, the ultimate ace on a team's pitching staff, when the chips on pushed into the middle of the table. Yes, there will be at least one team who will overbid for his services, but should all buyers beware based on how Lee makes himself available on the grandest stage of the MLB season. But that's a debate for December, not October.
Tonight we smile and congratulate the Texas Rangers on their very first American League pennant, Ron Washington for pressing the right buttons through two playoff series, Josh Hamilton for winning the ALCS MVP, and all the other players - Lewis, Feliz, Molina, Guerrero, Cruz, Mitch Moreland, Elvis Andrus, Derek Holland, and Michael Young - who made tremendous contributions to take this team from afterthought to champion. The Yankees may perpetually be the best team money could buy, but sometimes the best surprises come from the going out of business collection.
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