New York @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 12, 2010 ) NY Yankees 1, Texas 4
The Texas Rangers are used to seeing the New York Yankees in the playoffs. They're just not used to seeing them for very long.
The Rangers will be looking to reverse a string of futility against the Yankees when the teams meet in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Friday night in Arlington, Texas.
New York eliminated Texas from the playoffs three times en route to winning four World Series championships between 1996 and 2000. And the Yankees did it with ease, beating the Rangers nine consecutive times in the AL division series in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Those three playoff appearances had marked the extent of the Rangers' postseason history until this year, when Texas ushered the Tampa Bay Rays out of the playoffs in five games.
Now the Rangers will look to take down the reigning World Series champions, who come into the ALCS well rested after a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins.
New York also catches a break in not having to face ace Cliff Lee, who went 2-0 with 21 strikeouts in two starts against the Rays, until the series switches to Yankee Stadium for Game 3.
Left-hander CC Sabathia, a 21-game winner during the regular season, draws the start for the Yankees against Texas southpaw C.J. Wilson in the series opener.
Sabathia enters tonight's game with nine days between starts. He was not especially sharp in Game 1 against the Twins, giving up four runs - three earned - on five hits in six innings.
Although he is 8-3 lifetime with a 4.29 ERA, Sabathia has faced the Rangers just once as a member of the Yankees. The burly lefty allowed one run on three hits in six innings of a 5-1 Yankees win on April 16.
Sabathia has held Rangers MVP candidate Josh Hamilton to one hit in 10 career at-bats while cleanup hitter Vlad Guerrero is batting just .176 (3-for-17) lifetime against him.
Hamilton struggled in the division series, collecting just two hits in 18 at-bats as he continues to deal with soreness due to a pair of fractured ribs suffered in early September.
Ian Kinsler (.444) and Nelson Cruz (.400) picked up the offensive slack for Texas in the ALDS, hitting safely in every game and swatting three home runs apiece.
Wilson went 0-1 with a pair of no-decisions against the Yankees this season. He was the losing pitcher against Sabathia in April, getting touched for five runs - three earned - on seven hits in six innings.
A converted reliever, Wilson went 15-8 in his first season as a starter. He was superb in Game 2 of the division series, pitching 6 1/3 innings of two-hit shutout ball.
Wilson faced New York on Aug. 10, allowing two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings, but he lasted just three innings and yielded four runs on six hits against the Yankees one month later.
One area where Wilson has had success is against New York’s Nos. 3-4 hitters. Mark Teixeira is 0-for-5 and Alex Rodriguez is 1-for-13 lifetime against him.
Curtis Granderson was the Yankees’ top hitter against the Twins, batting .455 (5-for-11) while Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher both went 4-for-12 (.333).