World Series: Giants vs. Rangers

No one could have predicted this back in April. The San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers will face one another in the World Series for the first time. Not only that, this will mark the first time that two teams with World Series droughts of at least 49 years since their last championship will square off (in the case of the Rangers, they have never won a title). Here are some other interesting facts as we get ready for the final battle of the 2010 season.

* Two Rangers have hitting streaks of 11 games (every game the team has played this postseason). Nelson Cruz is batting .375 with five homers, eight RBI an a 1.294 OPS while Elvis Andrus is hitting .333 with six runs scored and seven steals for the team from the Lone Star State.

* Eleven is the number of consecutive games in this postseason that the Rangers have homered in, one short of the record of 12 set by the 2004 Astros.

* The Giants have tied the playoff record with six victories in one postseason by a single run (the 1972 Athletics pulled off the same trick). The Giants won 28 of the 52 one-run games they had during the regular season.

* Vladimir Guerrero had 115 RBI during the regular season while batting .300, but his body is no longer capable of playing everyday, especially if he is taxed by playing in the field (he played 18 games in the field this season). Therefore, the Rangers are planning on using Vlad in only one game in San Francisco in Games 1 and 2 since the DH will not be in effect.

* Josh Hamilton was the ALCS MVP after hitting .350 with four homers, but more impressive was the fact that he reached base in 15 of his 28 plate appearances (.536 OBP).

* The Rangers have never reached the World Series before while the Giants are 5-12 over the history of the franchise. However, the Giants have never won the Series while playing on the left coast as they lost in 1962 in seven games to the Yankees, in 2002 they fell in seven games to the Angels, and in 1989 they lost to the Athletics in the Series that was delayed because of the Loma Prieta earthquake.

* Cliff Lee will start Game 1 for the Rangers. He is 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA in eight postseason starts earning himself the moniker of “the” big game pitcher going (with all due respect to guys like Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum and Andy Pettitte to name just a few).

* Bengie Molina will get a World Series ring no matter who wins. He played 61 games with the Giants before he was traded to the Rangers where he suited up for 57 games.

* Cody Ross was the NLCS MVP for the Giants after hitting three homers with five RBI an a .350 batting average in the six game victory over the Phillies. He is also working on a 7-game postseason hitting streak, the second longest in franchise history in the playoffs.

* Only two teams have won a best of seven series with each of their four victories coming by at least four runs – the 2007 Red Sox and the 2010 Rangers.

* Brian Wilson became the fourth pitcher in history to pick up a win or save in each of his teams four victories in one playoff round (he had one win and three saves). The others are Dennis Eckersley (1988 ALCS), Mitch Williams (1993 NLCS) and John Wetteland (1996 World Series).

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: ALCS Preview

Ray Flowers breaks down the American League Championship Series with a position by position breakdown of the Yankees and the Rangers.

By Ray Flowers

Debate Anyone?

Today I’ll hit on a couple of options for the AL Rookie of the Year, discuss a pitcher who is slowly fading, and then discuss which of two top-flight options I would choose to hold on to for the 2010 season.

Elvis Andrus has had a wonderful season for the Rangers, but please, stop the Rookie of the Year talk. Andrus is hitting .267 with a .325 OBP, and both those numbers are below average for an AL player. Plus, he has no pop at the dish with six homer and 34 RBI, and though he plays a tough position (shortstop), his 22 errors are tied with Orlando Cabrera’s total for the worst mark in the American League. If I’m making the call, and face it they would never let me because I would actually make a rationally, cogent argument based on a foundation of data and not merely some asinine arbitrary argument that others will use, the answer is Andrew Bailey of the A’s. When Joey Devine went down with elbow surgery, and Brad Ziegler struggled, Bailey was thrust into the closers role in Oakland, and he has performed spectacularly: 6-3, 1.93 ERA, 0.91 WHIP with a 9.87 K/9 mark and 25 saves. In addition, he has blown only four chances this season, and he has been as good in the second half (1.95 ERA, 0.80 WHIP) as the first half (1.92 ERA, 0.97 WHIP). That’s good stuff my friends.

Scott Feldman gave up seven runs while recording just 10 outs against the A’s on Thursday to drop to 17-6 while seeing his ERA increase to 3.90. This is the second time in three outings that he has allowed at least six earned runs in an outing, and the second time in those three starts that he was saddled with a loss, this after seven straight victories. I’m amazed he has hung on this long. He has no strikeout potential, he pitches for the Rangers, and he owned a 4.97 ERA and 1.48 ERA in 241 innings coming into the year.

I write a piece every week entitled Taking Sides, and there was one battle I didn’t get to there that I thought I would touch on here (the basic idea is to choose which player would I prefer to have on my squad in 2010).

Matt Holliday: .312-24-104-91-14 in 554 ABs
Ryan Braun: .315-29-103-105-16 in 588 ABs

Matt Holliday was hitting .286 with 11 homers and 54 RBI in 93 games with the A’s this season, and the only thing he was doing at previous levels was stealing bases (he had 12). Flash forward a couple of months, and lo and behold Holliday is back to being a stud. In just 55 games with the Cards Holliday has 13 homer and 50 RBI basically matching his A’s totals in 38 fewer games. He has also hit a blistering .356 in the NL. Seems like St. Louis suits him. All told, He is just nine runs from his fourth straight 100 effort, and he has now gone over 100 RBI in three of four years while his .312 batting average is just six points below his career mark.

Braun is a stud in his own right. In just three seasons Braun has hit at least .285 with at least 29 homers, 97 RBI, 91 runs and 14 steals in every season. This year he has walked a career-high 56 times leading to a .384 OBP, a career best, which has helped to offset his three year low of .541 in the SLG department (still a strong mark). Oh, and don’t even think about pitching to him if you are left-handed, he simply demolishes those guys: .414/.496/.766 in 111 at-bats. That’s ripping it up. What makes him an intriguing play is the fact that he has swiped at least 14 bags in each of his three big league seasons (his rookie season was just 118 games by the way).

Whose Side?: If Holliday stays in St. Louis, he is a free agent, I would be greatly intrigued at the potential of holding on to Holliday. However, until the time that he is locked up by the Redbirds, the choice here has to be Braun who has been about as consistent as any player in baseball in his first three seasons in the show (my apologies to Albert Pujols).

By Ray Flowers