Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

July 27th, 2010 | by Brandon Wilson |

Walk off wins are fun. A walk off win following one of the best performances I can ever remember from a Texas Ranger starting pitcher are even more fun. A walk off win covering up for the mistakes of one of the teams best players… well, all is forgiven. It’s a sports cliche, but good teams find a way to win. With good teams you don’t have to talk about what if, or tip you cap to the other team. This team is good and they expect to win every time out. So why can’t this team score when Cliff Lee pitches?

Well, let’s not exaggerate. I mean they had to win 1-0 in C.J. Wilson’s start last Friday so it is not just when Cliff pitches. I think opposing pitchers know they have to step it up when they go against Lee and more often than not, they are able to do just that. Lee knows this and even talked about it after the game. This offense is also aware that they need to score one of these times when he is on the mound and give him an easy victory. That could lead them to press, but this team plays so loose I doubt that’s really in play much here. Although it might be with an individual player or two.

One such player on Tuesday might have been Ian Kinsler. Mr. Popup made an appearance as Kinsler went 0-for-5 with two pop-ups and a strikeout. Kinsler also had responsibility for the error in the sixth inning on the Crisp steal. Molina’s throw was on target, but no one was there to cover and Crisp move on to third as the ball scooted into center field. Crisp then scored on a single for the A’s only run of the game. The mistake on that play may have been on Kinsler’s mind when he was batting in the 9th with the winning run at second base and two out. He swung at a 3-0 pitch that was almost belt high and towards the outside corner (higher and more outside than he normally likes it, see chart at right, courtesy ESPN). The resulting foul popup at the edge of the stands near first base ended the inning. That ended the chances that Lee would get a win, but did not end the Rangers chances.

Feliz standed a runner at third base in the top of the tenth given the Ranger hitters another shot at it and that would be all they needed. Vladimir Guerrero struck out swinging, but Hamilton walked to bring up Nelson Cruz with the winning run at first base. According to a local report, Nelson told his teammates he was going to do something special. Nevermind that he had already done something special in the game, robbing Kouzmanoff of a two-run home run in the same inning that saw their only run score. It did not matter that Hamilton was on base because Nelson planted one in the left field seats in the bottom of the tenth for the walkoff victory 3-1. Awesome!

Briefly on Cliff Lee’s start tonight. Nine innings, five hits, no walks and 13 strikeouts and still less than 120 pitches. I’d love to see C.J. Wilson learn to strike hitters out and be efficient at the same time like Lee was tonight. Remember, it was just 2007 that Lee was in the minor leagues for 10 starts and had a horrible season. Pitchers can get better in a hurry when something clicks and that’s exactly what happened with Lee. There are plenty more superlatives that could be used to describe his start tonight, but for now let’s just enjoy it and know this: We have our ace!

The win puts the Rangers up by 8 1/2 over Oakland. Oakland had moved into a virtual tie for second place with the Angels coming into the game. Wednesday Colby Lewis will take the hill with a couple of extra days of rest and the A’s will send Trevor Cahill. Go Rangers!