The Rangers surged ahead with a four-run seventh, and though the Rays mounted a comeback against Mike Adams, Neftali Feliz shut the door to win 4-3 and take Game 3 of the ALDS.
Rays Vs. Rangers, Game 3: Highlights From The Live Blog
While the Rangers and Rays were battling on the field, Baseball Nation’s writers were analyzing the action. Here are the highlights from Monday’s live blog:
• Colby Lewis, a surprise stud in 2010, took a step back this year. How come? The long ball, as Grant Brisbee explained:
Read Article >Rangers vs. Rays: Texas Survives Late Charge To Take 2-1 Series Lead In Game 3 Of ALDS

Getty ImagesIn the eighth, the Rangers turned to one of the most reliable relievers in baseball, Mike Adams. In order to get Adams, they had to part with two quality prospects, and they did it with this situation in mind. Mike Adams was acquired to give the Rangers a shut-down bullpen in the playoffs.
Things got a little furry for Feliz in the ninth after a Sean Rodriguez single with one out, but after Kelly Shoppach worked the count full, he grounded a ball down the third-base line ... right into the no-doubles defense for a double play to end the game.
Read Article >Rays vs. Rangers: Tampa Bay Down 4-3 In Ninth
Rays vs. Rangers: Desmond Jennings’ Second HR Makes It 4-3
Buck Martinez in the booth, before Adams had thrown a pitch:
There’s been just one Achilles’ heel, though: Home Runs.
Read Article >Rays vs. Rangers: The Legend Grounds Out, Threat Squandered
Things were looking bleak for the Tampa Bay nine that afternoon.
They’d just given up four runs in a big game, and entered the bottom of the seventh trailing by three.
Read Article >Evan Longoria And Colby Lewis
It’s well known around these internet parts that hitter vs. pitcher stats are mostly useless.
Is that hyperbole? Probably not. Hitter vs. pitcher stats combine small samples with a context-free sludge of numbers, and they’re often treated as being really, really meaningful by broadcasters and managers.
Read Article >Rays vs. Rangers: Josh Hamilton’s 2-Run Single Makes It 4-1
Hey, it could have been worse.
Read Article >A Question For Ron Washington, Regarding Mitch Moreland
There seemed to be two good reasons to not start Mitch Moreland in Game 3.
Now, he almost certainly can’t be that terrible against left-handers. He’s got just one home run in 145 plate appearances, and presumably if given more chances he’ll run into a few fastballs, hit a few of them over the fence.
Read Article >Rangers vs. Rays: Mike Napoli Two-Run Blast Gives Rangers 2-1 Lead
Mike Napoli has been an absolute monster this year. He’s known for being the trinket that was traded for the treasure that is Vernon Wells, but he should probably be better known for being a monster:
Ggrrrrrrarwrrr. As Buck Martinez put it in the broadcast, “With the Angels ... he always felt like he was fighting for his at-bats.” Indeed. Now he’s relaxed and hitting the snot out of the ball.
Read Article >Rangers vs. Rays: Rangers Still Can’t Score Off David Price
But Hamilton hit another high chopper, and this time Price took control:
Did you notice that Hamilton slowed down at the end, instead of plowing through Price for sport? That was nice of him. He seems like a nice guy, regardless of all the tattoos.
Read Article >Rangers vs. Rays: Desmond Jennings Solo Shot Gives Tampa 1-0 Lead
Everything’s coming up Joe Maddon.
Read Article >Don’t Laugh: Joe Maddon Might Try It
This game is scoreless through three-and-a-half innings. If this had been Tampa Bay’s defensive alignment through the first two innings, it would probably still be scoreless:
Read Article >Rays vs. Rangers: David Price Shaky, But Pitching Shutout
Was that game just a blip? In Price’s five other September starts, he struck out 31 batters, walked 10, and gave up only two home runs in 30 innings. So there didn’t seem any particular reason to worry about Price.
And here in Game 3, he’s pitched three shutout innings so far.
Read Article >Mike Napoli Is Just 1,381 Stolen Bases Behind Rickey Henderson
Mike Napoli stole second base off David Price in the second inning. This was stunning because I’ve always figured Napoli ran the bases like Bengie Molina, but without all of that veteran caginess. Turns out, though, that Napoli has 25 stolen bases in his regular-season career. He’s a list of players who have fewer than 25 stolen bases in their careers:
Andre Ethier
J.J. Hardy
Jay Bruce
Hideki Matsui
Nick Swisher
Dan Uggla
Wade Boggs
Ron Cey
Willie Horton
Joe Torre
Ted WilliamsMaybe some of those names surprise you more than others, but I think Nick Swisher surprises me most of all. The guy has played 1,000 innings in center field over his career. That should come with an automatic 25 steals.
Read Article >Casey Kotchman’s Infinite UZR
I’m afraid I must question their methods, because in just the first inning of Game 3, Kotchman saved seven runs! If you project those skills over 146 games, his Ultimate Zone Rating would be 832!
Throw to second and force the speedy Andrus?
Read Article >Colby Lewis Is The Same, Different
Last year, Colby Lewis was something of a story, coming out of nowhere to surprise the American League, even though he had great success in Japan. He struck out almost a batter per inning, and was a huge part of the Rangers’ run to the AL Pennant in 2010.
This year, though, he’s struggled a bit, adding nearly a full run to his ERA in a season where overall scoring was down. His strikeout rate was down, but his K/BB ratio remained exactly the same as in 2010 (3.02).
Read Article >Rangers Manager Ron Washington Posts Game 3 Lineup vs. Rays
Rangers vs. Rays: Tampa Bay’s Lineup For Game Three
The Rays employ their rightie-mashing lineup, such as it is, which means Matt Joyce moves from “de facto pitcher” to “cleanup hitter”:
Desmond Jennings - LF
B.J. Upton - CF
Evan Longoria - 3B
Matt Joyce - RF
Johnny Damon - DH
Ben Zobrist - 2B
Casey Kotchman - 1B
John Jaso - C
Reid Brignac - SSWhile Joyce was hitting in the #9 spot against lefties because of wicked platoon splits and inspired Joe Maddon chicanery, Reid Brignac is hitting there because he’s as close as it gets to a pitcher hitting in the AL.
Read Article >Rangers vs. Rays, ALDS Game 3 Preview: Time, TV Schedule And More
Game Date/Time: 5:00 P.M. ET, October 3, 2011
Stadium: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Read Article >