What a month!
2011 American League Championship Series – Texas Rangers vs. Detroit Tigers
Game 2 – October 9th – Ballpark in Arlington, TX
Game 2 was originally scheduled for October 9, but was postponed hours before it began due to the forecast of heavy rain in the area, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the previous game. However, the rain never actually came; forecasts just prior to what would have been the beginning of the game indicated only a 10% chance of rain. I was pretty upset because Erin actually had an extra ticket to Game 1 the day before but I had mentioned that I wasn’t feeling well the night I arrived (which is a total rarity for me) and so she didn’t offer me the ticket. Little did she know that I would have gone with a severed spine. But it was probably best that I didn’t because they got stuck in a 45 min rain delay which would have only got me sicker.
Today however I was feeling great and ready for baseball.
Josh Hamilton and Adrián Beltré each had an RBI in the first to give the Rangers an early lead. However, Ryan Rayburn hit a three-run home run in the third to give the Tigers the lead, chasing Derek Holland out of the game. Nelson Cruz hit a home run in the seventh with no outs off Max Scherzer to tie the game at three, chasing Scherzer out of the game as well. The Rangers loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth against Tigers’ closer José Valverde, but Valverde escaped the jam with a shallow fly ball and a 3–2–3 double play, leading to the Rangers’ first postseason extra-inning game. After two scoreless innings from the bullpen, the Rangers again loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 11th inning. This time, however, the Rangers ended the game when Nelson Cruz hit a game-winning grand slam, the first officially recorded walk-off grand slam in Major League Baseball postseason history and the first walk-off win in Rangers’ postseason history.
To actually be here to witness such an amazing feat and be apart of the incomparable energy of the atmosphere, is something that I will never forget. A Grand Slam in extra innings, the first one in Major League history. Pure magic.
Game 6 – October 15th – Ballpark in Arlington, TX
I can’t even believe that I got to attend even one ALCS game this year (after my sister and I being here for the famed Game 6 last year that sent the Rangers to the World Series for the first time) – let alone a second one (and had not been for a mixup I would have attended Game 1, making it three) and a deciding game no less. Since Erin surprised me with tickets to Game 2, it was only fair that I surprise her with tickets to Game 6.
I’ll never forget that day with my sister last year and we sat in the outfield. This time I wanted to take it as far as I could and got us seats behind Home Plate.
To be back here again for the mania of a deciding game to send us to the World Series is a feeling unlike any other. It something that few get to experience even once let alone twice, and certainly not two years in a row. I could get used to this.
Looking to force a decisive Game 7, the Tigers struck first on a solo home run in the first by Miguel Cabrera. They added another solo shot in the second by Jhonny Peralta with one out to make the score 2–0 Tigers.
Now when this was happening the guy next to me was clearly rooting for the Tigers – hey, that’s fine/fair/fun that will make it even more interesting. I was by no means being confrontational in the least, when I leaned over and smiled and said “Ahh, a Tigers fan eh?” – and he responded with the most dickish response ever with “What gave you that impression Einstein?” – Oh fuck –
However, any chance the Tigers had of forcing a Game 7 would fall apart courtesy of a nine-run Rangers third inning. After Ian Kinsler grounded sharply to Brandon Inge for the first out, Elvis Andrus walked followed by a single from Josh Hamilton. Michael Young, who had been in a terrible slump the entire postseason, doubled down the left-field line sending both runners home to tie it at two. Adrián Beltré singled, scoring Michael Young. Following walks for both Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz, the Tigers pulled Max Scherzer and put in Daniel Schlereth. David Murphy singled home both Napoli and Beltré, and with David Murphy and Nelson Cruz on first and second, respectively. Tiger starter Rick Porcello was bought in to face Endy Chávez; the Rangers countered by pinch-hitting Craig Gentry, who reached on a fielder’s choice. Kinsler singled to scored Cruz and Murphy. Andrus reached on a fielder’s choice, loading the bases. Michael Young finished the inning by doubling down the right-field line, sending home Kinsler and Andrus. Young would become the first player in postseason history to have two extra-base hits in the same inning.
Needless to say, the shit-eating smirk I was offering the dickhead next to me was legendary. I tried to be nice, festive even, but he was set on being an ass, so I let him have it for the rest of the game.
Looking for a comeback, the Tigers got two back on an Austin Jackson home run in the top of the fifth, chasing Holland, but the Rangers answered with a Josh Hamilton sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to make it 10–4 Rangers.
The Rangers extended the lead to 12–4 in the sixth and 15–4 with a home run from Young and the sixth home run of the series from Nelson Cruz in the seventh to rout the Tigers. The Tigers scored their last run on a second solo home run from Miguel Cabrera. Neftalí Feliz came on in the ninth inning for the Rangers in a non-save situation. He retired Brandon Inge on a pop-up for the last out, sealing the Rangers a second consecutive trip to the World Series.
I don’t even have the words to envelop what that felt like, and getting to feel it again just felt so right. The Tigers dude next to me had taken off before the 9th inning started so the writing was on the wall. To be this close to Home Plate for the final out – when it came, the earth rumbled. An emotional ride from beginning to end, we were now on our way back to the World Series for the second year in a row. We stuck around as long as they would let us to soak in the celebration. When we left the stadium the entire city was on fire!! One of the best nights I can ever remember.
_______________________________________________________TIME OUT FOR A BASEBALL UPDATE_______________________________________
Ok so the Rangers were now on the World Series for the second year in a row, and though I’m proud to say that I was at Game 6 of the ALCS in 2010 and 2011 (see above) I’ve still never been to the World Series. After the money I spent on ALCS tickets, it just wasn’t in the cards – but here is what I was hoping for.
See, the night of the Anthony Bourdain show was going to be Game 6 of the World Series, we were up in the Series three games to two so this would have been a deciding game, giving us our first World Championship.
Game 6 was originally scheduled for Wednesday, October 26, but was postponed due to heavy rain in the forecast. I had nothing going on that Wed, but was going to Bourdain on Thurs and then Anthrax (see below) on Friday, so my hope was that it all would get postponed till Sat when I was free to watch haha.
Thankfully I was able to quarantine myself enough, even at the Bourdain show and stay off Twitter and Facebook so that I could watch the DVR of the show game when I came home. I was just so super worried that something unexpected would happen or I would see people on the street yelling and screaming in celebration and I would have missed it. Or worse, one of my loudmouth sisters spilling the beans. My sisters did know the outcome and were teasing me and by trying to judge their expressions, I was sorta convinced that we had won – so I was torn from being excited about the supposed win and the disappointment of missing it as it had happened.
So on Friday afternoon before heading out the Anthrax show, I sat down and watched the DVR of Game 6 – and was treated to the best game of baseball I have ever seen, and arguable one of the best games in the history of baseball. As we all now know, the Rangers lost forcing the Series to a 7th game (the first time the Series went to a full seven games in ten years) and the absolute heartbreak that in two separate innings saw the Rangers come within one strike of winning the series. ONE STRIKE –
But just as fan of baseball this game was such a work of art that what I was mostly feeling was just appreciation for witnessing such greatness.
Despite committing three errors, the Cardinals came back from two-run deficits in the 9th and 10th innings. David Freese tied the game at 7–7 with a two-out, two-strike, two-RBI triple in the bottom of the ninth against Rangers closer Neftalí Feliz.
However, in the top of the 10th, the Rangers regained the lead after Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer. In the bottom half of the inning, Ryan Theriot’s RBI groundout followed by Lance Berkman’s two-out, two-strike RBI single brought in Jon Jay with the tying run.
It was the first time in World Series history that a team came back from two different two-run deficits in the ninth inning or later in the same game. After holding the Rangers scoreless in the top of the 11th, the Cardinals won the game with David Freese’s solo walk-off home run shot to dead center field.
On Mike and Mike in the Morning the next day, ESPN senior baseball analyst Buster Olney called it the greatest game in the history of baseball –
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Photos –
Roy Turner
Getty Images
