Kicking off the ALCS.

The American League Championship Series starts tonight in Arlington. Sadly I am working third shift and so will probably miss most of the game.

C.J. Wilson, shown here on card number HH94 of the 2011 Allen and Ginter Hometown Heroes set, is starting for Texas tonight. Hopefully when I wake up it will be to find that he has pitched like he did during the regular season and not like he did in the first game of the Division Series.

Go Rangers!

Inbound Yankee-eating Tigers!

So the Tigers downed the Yankees last night to win their side of the ALDS. The win came in part thanks to former Ranger Joaquin Benoit, shown here on card number 423 of the 2004 Fleer Tradition set. Now the Tigers are headed to Arlington for the kickoff of the ALCS tomorrow.

So far Ron Washington has announced that C.J. Wilson will start game one. Jim Leyland has stated that Justin Verlander is headed to the bump for the Tigers. Hopefully C.J. can hang tough. I have a feeling Verlander will so it could be a close game. A clunker like Wilson threw in game one of the ALDS could be real trouble.

I've got to be honest, I was hoping for the Yankees. Detroit is going to be tough and the Rangers never play well in MoTown it seems. I would have felt a lot more confident headed into a series with New York. At least Texas has home field advantage. Hopefully they can take advantage of that and prove my forebodings wrong.

Anyone else a bit nervous about the Tigers coming to town with it all on the line?

Best Seasons: Alex Rodriguez - 2001.

Been awhile since we had an installment on T.R. Sullivan's Fifty Best Seasons list. Since the Rangers are off today and tomorrow I thought this might be a good time to get in another season.

Number eight on T.R.'s list is Alex Rodriguez's 2001 season. Alex, seen here on a 2002 Flair Power Tools Dual game-used card, had monster seasons all three years he was with Texas. That makes it kind of a flip of the coin as to which was his best.

In 2001 Rodriguez played in a league-leading 162 games. He had 732 plate appearances, posted a .318 batting average, and a .399 on-base percentage. He led the league in runs scored with 133 (a Rangers club record), and home runs with 52. His 135 RBI were third-best in the league and easily led the team. His 34 doubles were also a team best and he also managed to steal 18 bases while getting caught just three times.

In the field he committed just 18 errors in 749 chances over 1,395.1 innings. That gave him a fielding percentage of .976 - three points higher than the league average.

Rodriguez took home a Silver Slugger award and was named to the All-Star team for his efforts. He also received some MVP consideration.

Wrapping up the Rays.

Wow! That's about all that can be said about Adrian Beltre's performance yesterday. Beltre, pictured here on card number 34 of the 2011 Bowman Gold set, hammered three home runs to follow up Ian Kinsler's solo shot that led off the game.

Those long balls mark the first time in the history of the Division Series that a player has gone deep three times in one game.

All told, Texas ended up scoring all their runs on solo homers as they beat Tampa Bay 4-3. Starting pitcher Matt Harrison went five innings and gave up two runs to get the win. Derek Holland, Mike Adams, and Alexi Ogando combined out of the bullpen to hold the Devil Rays scoreless for an additional three innings. Neftali Feliz stumbled a bit in the ninth as he coughed up a run but he still got the save.

The win gave the Rangers a 3-1 victory in the ALDS. Now they just have to wait and see who wins the Yankees/Tigers series. New York thumped Detroit last night to send the series to a fifth game tomorrow.

Have to say that I am very glad to see the Rangers win this series. Repeating as a divisional champ is hard. Having any level of success in the playoffs two years in a row is even harder. Hopefully the team is able to keep pushing and is able to make a second World Series appearance.

Well that was a surprise!

Well, I was going to write about Colby Lewis throwing six innings of one-hit ball yesterday to get the win over Tampa Bay. I was going to mention how this appears to be the year of Napoli as Mike continues to dismantle opposing pitching. I was even going to touch on Nap's stolen base. Of course Josh Hamilton, Craig Gentry, Neftali Feliz, and Elvis Andrus were all in for a mention as well.

I was running late though and didn't get the post up before the start of today's game. As I was looking for a card to post, Ian Kinsler hammered the second pitch he saw for a home run to give Texas an early lead. That made me decide to post card number 18 of the 2007 Bowman Chrome set. The shot was Kinsler's first of this year's postseason. Way to go Ian!

Now that Matt Harrison has a lead he just needs to hold it and give the offense some room to add on.

Texas evens the ALDS 1-1.

Well, the Texas offense finally showed up on Saturday afternoon. Makes sense that they would with Derek Holland pitching. Seems like Dutch has been given generous run support all season.

Ian Kinsler, seen here on card number 67 of the 2009 Allen and Ginter set, was one of the Rangers to find his bat against James Shields and the Rays. Kinsler went 2-for-5 with two RBI. Mike Napoli (2-for-4 with two RBI), and Michael Young (2-for-4) also had a good game at the plate. Mitch Moreland found his zone as he pounded a home run in the eighth off Tampa Bay reliever Brandon Gomes.

Today the series moves to Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays are sending David Price to the hill while Texas counters with Colby Lewis. Hopefully the offense stays alive and we get to see the Lewis who pitched for Texas last year in the playoffs.

Go Rangers!

What happened ?!?!

Well, the Rangers decided to follow the Red Sox example, that's what. Totally ugly game one. Absolute face plant.

If it wasn't for Scott Feldman, shown here on card number 371 of the 2006 Upper Deck, the afternoon could have been worse. C.J. Wilson gave up eight runs (six earned) in five innings. That put the game out of reach. Feldman took over in the sixth inning and went three scoreless frames while allowing just two hits.

If it wasn't for Josh Hamilton Texas might have gotten no-hit. Josh went 2-for-4. That was the total of the Rangers' offense. Good thing Hamilton at least brought his bat to the game.

Certainly the wrong way to start off the series. Down one game the Rangers are already looking at an uphill climb. With James Shields starting tonight for Tampa Bay the hill is even steeper. Hope Derek Holland is on.