The San Francisco Giants head into Game 4 of the 2010 NLCS with a 2-1 lead in the series against the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Giants will look to secure that lead with another win while the Phillies will look to tie the series.

The Giants, who have been out-pitching the Phillies in the Championship Series this year, will put left-handed 21-year-old rookie Madison Bumgarner on the mound for Game 4 tonight.  Against Atlanta in the clincher for the NLDS, he pitched six innings allowing only two runs.  Through the regular season, this first year starter went 7-6 with a 3.00 earned run average.  For the postseason, he is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. Continue Reading…

Last night, the Texas Rangers handed it to the New York Yankees in the ALCS Game 4 ending with a final score of 10-3 in the Rangers favor.  This afternoon, the Rangers will look to complete Game 5 with a victory and have their ticket to the 2010 MLB World Series as they currently lead the series 3-1.

The Rangers will hand their fate over into the hands of starting pitcher C.J. Wilson, who pitched Game 1 of the 2010 ALCS.  Wilson is currently 1-0 in his two playoff starts with an ERA of 2.03.  In the 2010 ALDS Game 2 against the Tampa Bay Rays, he pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings.  Only two hits and two walks were allowed.  In the ALCS Game 1 against the Yankees, he allowed just three runs in a little over seven innings.  Tonight, he’ll look to pitch the game that he didn’t pitch then. Continue Reading…

The Texas Rangers lead the ALCS 2-1 over the New York Yankees.  They really need this third win tonight and if they can secure it, they’ll only need one more to win the ALCS.  The Rangers are going into the game with the exact lineup as they had in Game 3.

The Rangers will send Tommy Hunter to the mound for Game 4 – his last Game 4 in the ALDS was a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in which he allowed three runs in four frames; therefore, leaving him in the postseason as 0-1 with an ERA of 4.50.  In September, he made a single start against New York allowing two runs over five innings.   Continue Reading…

If you are at work today and can’t get off by 4:00 p.m. ET or can’t get in front of a TV by that time then I’ve got bad news for you – you may very well miss the beginning of the 2010 NLCS Game 3 between the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Heading into Game 3 Tuesday afternoon, the Phillies and the Giants are tied in the Championship Series.  In the first game the Giants took the Phillies in a victory of 5-4 but Game 2 on Sunday fell in the Phillies’ favor coming out in a victory of 6-1. Continue Reading…

Game 3 of the 2010 ACLS gets under way tonight in New York at Yankee Stadium at 8:07 p.m. ET.  The Yankees will look to gain their second victory after being defeated during Game 2 on Saturday night.  The Rangers, on the other hand, will look for their second straight victory after winning Game 2.  The teams are currently tied for the postseason best of seven and they both have their best pitchers on the mound.

The Rangers will look to their ace pitcher, Cliff Lee.  For his two American League Division starts, he was 2-0 with an earned run average of 1.13.  In seven starts in the postseason, the 32-year-old left-handed ace is now 6-0 with an earned run average of 1.44.  Continue Reading…

After starting off well in the 2010 National League Championship Series, the San Francisco Giants will look to make a sweep of the first two games at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.  In Saturday night’s Game 1 of the NLCS, the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3.  If the Giants can secure a second win tonight, they will head back to their home ground for Game 3 of the NLCS on Tuesday.

Tonight, the Giants will send starting left-handed pitcher Jonathan Sanchez to the mound.  Through the regular season, Sanchez was 13-9 with an earned run average of 4.26. Sanchez is 0-0 in the postseason with an earned run average of 1.23. Continue Reading…

Along with the Game 2 of the ALCS, Saturday also is when Game 1 of the National League Championship Series gets underway at Citizens Bank Park.  The Phillies will be hosting the Giants for the first game of the 2010 NLCS.  The Phillies will be defending their NL pennant and you can bet that this best of 7 games will be dominated by pitching and more pitching.

The Giants will have 26-year-old right-hander Tim Lincecum, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, as starting pitcher.  When it comes to the best pitchers in the league this is definitely one of them.  Through the regular season, Lincecum was 16-10 with an earned run average of 3.43. Continue Reading…

Saturday, the Texas Rangers will host the New York Yankees for the second game of the American League Championship Series.  With C.J. Wilson on the mound as the Rangers starting pitcher, Game 1 went really well Friday night for the Rangers through the seventh inning.

The Rangers were leading the Yankees 5-1 at the start of the eighth inning then the Yankees finally got in gear and quickly took over with a 6-5 lead on the Rangers and was able to hold on to that lead through the end of the game.  From what looked like a happy beginning to the ALCS for the Texas Rangers, ended abruptly in the eighth inning of the game when the Yankees took over and crashed their celebration. Continue Reading…

Friday night kicks off the 2010 American League Championship Series in Texas at Arlington Ballpark with the Rangers hosting the New York Yankees, less than a week after grilling the Rays in Game 5 to land their spot here today in the 2010 ALCS.  The Yankees, on the other hand, swept their opponent, the Minnesota Twins, to land in familiar ground tonight.

The Yankees have won 27 World Series titles as well as 40 pennants while this is the first time the Rangers have ever won a postseason series.  Against Texas, the Yankees have a nine-game winning streak in the postseason.  The Rangers were knocked out of the playoffs by the Yankees in their three postseason appearances between 1996 and 1999. Continue Reading…

The Tampa Bay Rays can be forgiven for suffering from whiplash. Fresh off their AL East victory over the New York Yankees and boasting the best regular season record in the major leagues, they now find themselves on the verge of going home to stay, on the brink of elimination from the AL playoffs virtually overnight.

The past two days have seen them undergo a passing by the Texas Rangers, a team from a  division far worse than the AL East. The Rangers coasted to the division win, while the Tampa Bay Rays had to fight till the last week of the season. Not that they were in danger of missing the playoffs – they would have led the Wild Card if they had missed the championship. Continue Reading…