World Series Opens in San Francisco
The World Series opened last night at AT&T ballpark in San Francisco home of the Giants. The Texas Rangers are coming into San Francisco looking to gain a lead before games three, four, and five go back to Texas. Both teams are entering this year’s World Series beating top teams that were supposed to go back to the October classic. The San Francisco Giants knocked off the defending two time National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies in six games. The Giants were lead by their terrific young pitching staff composed of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez. The Texas Rangers beat up on the defending World Series Champion New York Yankees in six games as well. The Rangers relied on their powerful lineup with Josh Hamilton and effective starting pitching to advance to their first World Series appearance ever in their history as an organization.
Game 1 was Wednesday night in San Francisco. Both teams had their aces going for them as the Rangers put out Cliff Lee and the Giants countered with Tim Lincecum. This game was predicted to be an exciting low scoring pitching dual, but ended up in a powerful rout by the Giants. The Giants took game 1 winning 11-7 behind Juan Uribe’s three run homer in the bottom of the 5th to put the Giants ahead for good. The Giants battered Cliff Lee as he went 4 2/3rd innings while giving up six runs on eight hits. Lee came into the game with a 7-0 record and a 1.26 ERA in postseason play. The Giants Tim Lincecum picked up the win while not having his best stuff; he went 5 2/3rd innings giving up four runs on eight hits. This high scoring game was completely unexpected as the Giants Freddy Sanchez went 4 for 5 with three doubles and three RBI’s. Sanchez became the first player to hit a double in each of his first three Series at-bats. He nearly had a fourth, too, but the play was scored a single and an error. The Rangers Elvis Andrus extended his postseason hit streak to 12 games with a first-inning single. That’s tied for the third-longest to start a postseason career in MLB history. Game 2 should have more fireworks.
Game 2 will be Thursday night in San Francisco again. The Rangers will start C.J Wilson and the Giants will start Matt Cain. Wilson allowed three runs over 13 1/3 innings to go 1-0 in his first two postseason starts, but gave up six runs, six hits and four walks in five innings of a 7-2 loss in Game 5 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 20. Rangers manager Ron Washington has faith Wilson can rebound from that shaky start. Matt Cain has allowed one run, nine hits and struck out 11 over 13 2/3 innings while going 1-0 in two starts this postseason. The 26-year-old right-hander gave up two hits in seven innings of a 3-0 home win over Philadelphia in Game 3 of the NLCS Oct. 19. The Rangers are desperately seeking a win to split the series before going home to Texas. This should be a great match-up in this series.
Game 3 will be played on October 30th a Saturday night in Arlington, Texas. The visiting San Francisco Giants will start Jonathan Sanchez and the Rangers will answer with Colby Lewis. In this postseason, Sanchez is 0-1 with a 2.93 ERA while giving up five runs on ten hits over three starts. Lewis has been outstanding this postseason going 2-0 with a 1.45 ERA, while giving up three runs on 11 hits over three games. The fireworks will be going off in Texas as this will be the first World Series game they are hosting in their history.
Game 4 will be a Sunday Halloween night in Texas. The Giants will put out young Madison Bumgarner and the Rangers will turn to Tommy Hunter. Bumgarner is posting a 1-0 record with a 3.55 ERA this postseason and the Giants have won every game he’s started. Hunter currently has a 0-1 record with a 6.14 this postseason while his longest outing so far has been four innings. Game 5 will be in Texas and features a re-match of game 1’s aces Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee.
Will San Francisco’s young pitchers shut down Texas’s powerful line-up? Can Texas salvage a split in San Francisco?
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