A handful of weeks ago, I commented to nogheorghie in particular that the divisional/wild card races in baseball were as worthy as the football dominating our viewing. I wasn't wrong then, and I'm not wrong when I say that while the early playoff action was interesting only for its surprising knock-offs (the top four teams in baseball were dispatched quickly and quietly), down the stretch they've become downright thrilling.
Both the unheralded Diamondbacks and the schizophrenic Rangers have, after being left for dead on a dark desert highway, charged back in eyebrow-raising fashion.
Arizona takes on your friends and mine, the Philadelphia Phillies, in Game 7 tonight. Check it.
The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, secured their berth aboard the World Series Express last night by drubbing the Houston Bangers & Trash for the second consecutive evening. Balls were flowing out just like the Grand Canyon, and if the cards get played right tonight, they'll have a Grand Canyon companion. (Bastardizing the Beasties ain't always so smooth.)
Surely you all recall the D-backs ending the Reign of George (never spelled our way) in 2001 on this fisting. Here's how they won their first and only World Series:
The Rangers, however, have never ever hoisted baseball's coveted trophy. The big one. That prestigious piece of silver and gold-plating nicknamed "Six Flags times five." The World Series crown.
Fast facts for those not in the know on the Texas Rangers:
- They were a franchise relocation. The Washington Senators left DC in 1971, and it took until 2005 until the District got another team.
- 10 years before that, the then-Washington Senators had picked up and moved west to become the Minnesota Twins, don'-cha-know.
- The Senators were hapless, leading to this chaos. A quip of long ago yesteryear that almost always brings a smile is "Washington: first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League."
- The Rangers' first year in Texas, they were managed by none other than Ted Williams. The Splendid Splinter actually skippered them in Washington as well, but he lasted just that one inaugural year in the Lone Star State, as the club went 54-100. Turns out the move didn't solve all their problems... which shouldn't have been surprising, since they only went from DC to Arlington!! (Sorry.)
- The first year the Rangers ever finished in first place? 1994. Strike-shortened season. Yipes.
- They did, however, win their division 3 of the next 5 years with names like Pudge, Raffy, and Juan Gone leading the way. They, ahem, . . . well they lost each of those playoff series in straight sets. Oh, wait, in the 10 playoff games they played in the 1990's, they lost 9. All to the Yankees. (See, Yanks fans, a little something for ya!)
- After that, following a decade of astonishing futility centered around $252 million of A-Rod misguidance, they made it into the Fall Classic in 2010 and 2011.
- In 2010, the Giants, who'd finally lanced that pesky Barry Bonds Boil from their tuchus, cruised by Texas for their first title since Willie Mays played for them (and was 23 years old). San Fran would win 3 in 5 years, dredging Bill Simmons' Ewing Theory out of the shed and evoking a wince on Bonds and schadenfreude in weak souls like mine.
- The next year for the Rangers, though, . . . well, that's why I've gathered you here today.
In 2011, the Texas Rangers came close to winning the World Series for the first time. Like damn close. Like daaaaaaamn close. Like 1986 Red Sox close.
And up until today, I didn't know yet another little factoid tying those two clubs together.
So that season's club ripped off 96 wins, largely because of prodigious batsmen. Beltré, Hamilton, Kinsler, Napoli, and Nelson Cruz. They smacked 210 homers as a team, led the league in BA, and were in the top 3 for most offensive categories. Including runs scored, and, of course, nose hair.
Their rotation was middle of the pack, excepting C.J. Wilson, and they had a pretty nice 'pen. Their fielding, as it turns out, was pretty good. The sabermetric stat that supposedly tells the story on D is Total Zone Total Fielding Runs. You could look it up. That year, Texas finished third in this stat with 39. You don't have to know what that all means to know that the Mets getting a collective -81 that season (worst in MLB by 15 points) is hysterical. Lord.
Anywho, good ballclub. Texas took 3 of 4 from the Rays and 4 of 6 from Detroit in successive series to get back to the Horsehide Funslide (not a real nickname) for the second year in a row. They faced an old Mets/Whitney nemesis, the St. Louis Cardinals (and Yadier Stinkin' Molina, though that's extraneous).
12 years ago tonight, the Rangers went up 3 games to 2 on the Cardinals in Arlington and headed back to the Gateway to the West. Also called Mound City. Whaaa?
And headed to the bottom of ninth inning of that Game Six ballgame, Texas led St. Louis by a score of seven to five. Two runs. Three outs. One glorious championship waiting for them.
Texas outfielder Endy Chavez had pinch-hit unsuccessfully in Top 9, and smart historical money would suggest that he would head to the field to replace a weaker-fielding OF.
I mean, Endy was the guy who had pulled this off against the Cardinals five years prior:
But that didn't happen. I mean, what I just learned today, if you believe the internet, and I always do, is this:
Endy Chavez was supposed to replace Nelson Cruz in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. According to reports, [Texas manager Ron] Washington wanted Cruz in the outfield because he said he deserved to celebrate with the team on the field.
Sure. Sure. Makes sense. I mean, unless you remember that the Boston skipper in '86 John McNamara wanted Bill Buckner to be on the field for the celebration, so he went against his own historical pattern and opted not to have Dave Stapleton play first base in Game 6 of that series. And just in case you lived under a rock, and so rob gets a taste of the pain, this then happened...
Given that high-profile lesson, how can any student of the game -- and Ron Washington is certainly one, a veteran steeped in playing and coaching the sport at the highest levels -- ever want to tempt that same cursed fate once again by putting someone in for the celebration? Because here's what happened.
And while it's not the kind of nutmeg that haunted Buckner unduly for too long afterwards, Nelson Cruz's play is bad. (Replays make it look worse.) And gut-wrenching for Texans. And avoidable.
And the stuff of fun, amusing rehashing 12 years later.
And so the game went to extras (body blow!), and then the Rangers blew another 2-run lead in the 10th (uppercut!), and then the Cards won it on a David Freese (MVP, one shining moment) home run (knockout!). St. Louis wrapped it up the next night in a game that featured (like the Sox in '86) the Rangers going up early, only to blow the game in a slow malaise that felt like melting ice cream.
A crown of seven contests of nine or more frames of 9 versus 1 players on the field and many more penned and dug out, with pitching and hitting and fielding (I repeat... oh, my) and all that jazz . . . well, it's hard to justifiably place Win or Lose on a single untimely gaffe of one chap wearing a misused mitt and the boss fellow who should have upgraded when the hour was ripe. And yet . . . uggggh, dude.
Stay tuned to see if they can shake that monkey like the Sox did in '04. It takes some doing to get free of it, but they've had the kind of season that makes you think it's their time.
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