Texas @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Mar 22, 2010 ) Texas 4, San Francisco 5
Cliff Lee pitched in Cleveland for seven seasons waiting for his shot at the playoffs. When that chance finally came last season with Philadelphia, Lee was unbeatable.
That has proven to be the case in his second postseason as well, and the quality has rubbed off on the once-hapless Texas Rangers.
Lee and the Rangers begin their first World Series experience Wednesday, facing the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 at AT&T Park.
The Rangers had never even won a playoff series before taking down the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees en route to their first World Series appearance, and the 31-year-old left-hander Lee has been a big reason for their sudden postseason success.
Lee was ordinary after the Rangers acquired him from Seattle on July 9, going 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA in 15 regular-season starts for Texas.
But when the playoffs begin, he becomes extraordinary, and this October has been no different. Lee is 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA in eight postseason starts, all over the past two seasons.
With one more win, he will match Orlando Hernandez for the best start to a postseason career ever - "El Duque" won his first eight decisions in the playoffs.
Lee has won all three of his playoff starts for Texas, allowing only two runs over 24 innings and striking out 34 while walking just one.
But the Giants, who are in the World Series for the first time since 2002, have beaten aces before - they took down Philadelphia's Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, his first start after throwing the second no-hitter in postseason history - and they happen to have a pretty good one of their own.
San Francisco sends two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum to the mound for Game 1, and his first postseason has also gone awfully well. Lincecum is 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA in four appearances - three starts and a relief stint in Game 6 of the NLCS. He has struck out 30 and walked five.
Lincecum will have to deal with a Rangers lineup that ranked fourth in the American League with 787 runs during the regular season and bashed nine homers while beating the Yankees in six games in the AL Championship Series.
ALCS MVP Josh Hamilton led the way, going 7-for-20 (.350) with four homers and seven RBIs against the Yankees.
While the Rangers made a deal to strengthen their pitching staff by trading for Lee, the Giants looked to bolster their lineup with their late-season moves.
One of those moves paid huge dividends in the NLCS, as Cody Ross earned MVP honors by going 7-for-20 (.350) with three homers and five RBIs against the Phillies.
Ross, who was claimed off waivers from Florida on Aug. 22, doesn't have much experience against Lee, but he does have an interesting record against him. The two squared off twice when Ross was a rookie for Detroit in 2003. Lee struck out Ross the first time around, and Ross hit his first career home run - a grand slam - in the second at-bat.
Texas left-hander C.J. Wilson is scheduled to face Matt Cain in Game 2 on Thursday, and Colby Lewis is slated to take on Giants lefty Jonathan Sanchez when the series shifts to Texas for Game 3 on Saturday.