Texas @ Tampa Bay preview
Tropicana Field
Last Meeting ( Oct 10, 2010 ) Tampa Bay 5, Texas 2
On paper, the deck is stacked against the Texas Rangers.
The Tampa Bay Rays have momentum, home-field advantage and a 19-game winner on the mound for the decisive Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Tuesday at Tropicana Field.
The Rangers have left-hander Cliff Lee and … well, based on his playoff history, that may be all they need to overcome the Devil Rays.
Lee (1-0) will look to remain perfect lifetime in the postseason when he opposes Tampa Bay ace David Price today with a trip to face the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series on the line.
The 32-year-old Lee dominated the Rays in Game 1, allowing just one run and five hits while striking out 10 to set the tone in a series in which the home team has yet to win.
The dazzling performance by Lee improved his record to 5-0 with a stellar 1.52 ERA in six career playoff outings. He went 4-0 for the postseason with Philadelphia a year ago, twice beating the Yankees in the World Series.
Although Lee has been infallible once the calendar turns to October, Tampa Bay does have reason for optimism following a regular season in which it went 3-0 against him. Two of those wins came while Lee was still a member of the Seattle Mariners.
The Rays also have to be feeling pretty good about themselves after digging out of a 2-0 series deficit by winning Games 3 and 4 in Texas. They can become just the second team to win a division series (Yankees, 2001) after losing the first two games at home.
The resurgence has been fueled by a late-blooming offense that has put up 10 runs in the last 11 innings after being limited to just two in the first 25 innings of the ALDS.
The ability to finally produce a clutch hit has enabled Tampa Bay to get back in the series. Despite stranding 32 runners thus far, the Rays have collected six two-out RBIs in the last two games.
Carlos Pena, who was benched in Game 2 after striking out three times against Lee in the opener, went 4-for-7 in Texas with a homer, triple, double and four RBIs. Evan Longoria broke out of a 1-for-12 slump with a homer and a pair of doubles in Game 4.
The Rangers’ offense has stalled after outscoring Tampa Bay 11-1 in the first two games. Texas does have seven home runs – three by Nelson Cruz – in the series and will hope for an encore against Price.
The 25-year-old Price, who went 19-6 during the regular season, was tagged for five runs on nine hits in 6 2/3 innings in Game 1. He gave up some loud hits, including homers to Cruz and Bengie Molina and RBI doubles to Jeff Francoeur and Vlad Guerrero.
Price, though, pitched exceptionally well down the stretch, going 4-0 in September and tossing eight shutout innings in a playoff-clinching win over Baltimore in his final regular-season start.