MLB Championship Series Weekend
A year after reaching the World Series, both the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies were facing a 3-1 hole entering Game 5 of their respective championship series’. The Texas Rangers, who have never gone to the World Series and the San Francisco Giants who haven’t been there since 2002, look poised to rebound after tough Game 5 losses. Heading to Game 6 up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series, the Ranges and Giants will look to avoid a decisive Game 7 and stamp their ticket to the biggest stage in baseball.
Colby Lewis will take the mound for the Rangers tonight as he aims for a repeat performance of his effort in Game 2 as Phil Hughes will try to regain his All-star form and force a Game 7 pitching duel between stud muffin Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte. The Yankees will be without All-star first baseman Mark Tiexiera for the remainder of the postseason due to a strained hamstring suffered in Game 4. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:07 p.m. tonight on TBS.
The Rangers are currently riding their pitching and potent offense as the Yankees continue to look feeble compared to their regular season. Josh Hamilton already has 4 home runs and 7 RBI, batting 6-19 in the series while Colby Lewis struck out six in 5 2/3 of work while yielding just two runs in a Game 2 victory. The Yankees hope to get production out of Lance Berkman, who will start in place of Tiexiera once again, and Robinson Cano, who continues to impress in the playoffs after a stellar MVP-like season.
The Giants will send Jonathan Sanchez to the helm in Philadelphia on Saturday to oppose Roy Oswalt in an attempt to close out the series and head back home to San Francisco. Sanchez was on the losing end of Game 2 as Oswalt dominated the Giants lineup from top to bottom, however in his relief appearance in Game 4, Oswalt gave up 3 hits in 2/3 of an inning and took the loss as Juan Uribe hit a walk-off sacrifice fly for a 6-5 victory. The start time is 3:55 Saturday on FOX.
The Giants hope to get rookie sensation Buster Posey back on track after a sub-par effort in Game 5 following a superb Game 4 where he went 4-5 with 2 RBI and had a crucial hit off of Roy Oswalt in the 9th inning. The Phillies hope to finally get some run production from their cleanup hitter Ryan Howard who has yet to record a RBI in the NLCS. The only time in MLB history a team won a series sans run production from their cleanup hitter was the ’62 Yankees in the World Series.
Will there be a pair of Game 7’s this weekend? Or will the Rangers and Giants square off in the World Series 2010? Tune in this weekend for what is primed to be an outstanding, nerve-racking pair of championship series coming down to the wire.
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