PHOENIX − The Texas Rangers woke up Tuesday morning and decided to have their own Halloween party in the desert, with their kids trick-or-treating at 10 in the morning at their sprawling Phoenix resort.
Well, by nightfall, they were scaring the living daylights out of the Arizona Diamondbacks with an historic ambush at Chase Field, winning 11-7, in a game so dully lopsided at one juncture that the sellout crowd of 48,388 entertained themselves by throwing paper airplanes on the field.
It prompted the public-address announcer to remind the crowd that it’s illegal to throw objects onto the field.
Now, here are the Rangers, in a position they’ve been before, 4,387 days ago, to be exact. They are just one victory away from winning their first World Series in franchise history, with a commanding 3-games-to-1 lead.
“This is where we want to be,’’ said Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien, who had three RBI all postseason, and drove in five runs in the first three innings. “It’s a one-game-at-a-time mentality. We get some rest tonight …we win the ball game, we get a ring, of course.
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“But you need to think about the process of how to get that done.’’
The only time the Rangers have been this close was back on Oct. 27, 2011, when they twice were one strike away from beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6 of the World Series. It instead became forever known as the David Freese game. The Rangers blew the game in the 9th inning, and again in the 10th, only to lose in the 11th on Freese’s walk-off homer, and lost again the next night in Game 7.
It was the ultimate punch to the gut, leaving Rangers fans with a broken heart that has yet to heal.
“I was too young to remember that one,’’ Rangers left fielder Evan Carter, 23, said. “I was 9.’’
Well, everyone else in the Dallas-Forever Metroplex can certainly tell you all about it, and here they are, 12 years and four days later, with three chances to end this torturous 62-year drought.
This victory was impressive, symbolic really, of their relentless ability to overcome adversity. They learned just two hours before game time that they would be without postseason hero Adolis Garcia (strained oblique), along with three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer (back spasms) for the rest of the World Series.
“It’s tough,’’ Semien said. “Everybody feels for those guys. Just watching what Adolis did for the entire playoffs, he got us to where we are now. So, when you lose that guy, you know, you feel for him.’’
Garcia addressed his teammates in the hitters’ meeting before the game, imploring them that they can do this. Sure, he hit eight homers and drove in a record 22 runs this postseason, but reminded them he’s not a one-man show.
“Let’s pull together guys, let’s finish it,’’ outfielder Travis Jankowski said of Garcia’s message. “It’s a team game. Obviously, it’s a punch in the mouth when you lose your [No.] 4 hitter who was a on a terrific run in the postseason. But he said, ‘We’re going to do this as a team. No one player is going to put us in it.’’’
The Rangers responded, Jankowski said, by saying, “Let’s do this for a guy who can’t go out there tonight. He pulled us along this whole year. Let’s pick him up.’’
Garcia personally pulled aside Jankowski, who had just one home run and 30 RBI all season, telling him to relax, and that he would do just fine replacing him in the starting lineup.
When the game ended, guess who was the hero, with more than 100 text messages awaiting him on his phone?
“Well, I guess some people were watching,’’ Jankowski said, well aware of the historically-low TV ratings. “This is awesome, you know, honestly, there’s not a lot of time to reflect on it. Let’s get one more, get that ring, and then I’ll reflect on it over Thanksgiving with my friends and family.’’
Jankowski, who spent nine years without ever having an at-bat in the postseason until last week, stepped up to the plate in the second inning. He hit a two-run single, and the next thing he knew, the Rangers had a 5-0 lead. He hit a two-run double in his next at-bat in the third inning, resulting in another five-run outburst. The Rangers became the first team in history to score their first 10 runs with two outs, and the first to have consecutive 5-run innings. They laughed their way to a 10-0 lead after three innings and cruising the rest of the way.
Nothing like road sweet road, with the Rangers now 10-0 on the road this postseason.
“This is something you dream about,’’ Jankowski said, “but at that point, it didn’t seem like too much of a reality. I’ve been ready. Shoot, I’ve been for 15 years.’’
Still, from a guy who didn’t even know he’d make the opening-day roster, who is playing for his sixth team in five years, who has hit only two more homers in nine years than Garcia hit in the postseason, it still was quite jarring to find himself playing a key role.
“You see your name in that lineup in a World Series,’’ Jankowski said, “and it gets a little emotional. You get a little bit of the nerves. But you’ve got to use that to your advantage.’’
Really, the only time he got nervous was in the seventh inning when he made a tumbling catch in foul territory, falling under Semien and first baseman Nathanial Lowe.
Jankowski was ecstatic he caught the ball, but immediately looked at Semien, and his heart momentarily stopped, making sure he was OK.
“Yeah, that was the first thing I thought,’’ Jankowski said. “Boy, I’d love to play here next year, and taking Marcus out probably won’t up my chances. That’s probably a quick way to get shipped out.’’
Semien was OK, and so were the Rangers, who ambushed the Diamondbacks before they knew what hit them. The Rangers hit for the cycle alone in the second inning. Semien hit a two-run triple in the second inning and a 3-run homer in the third inning.
And, of course, what’s a postseason game without Corey Seager going deep? He swatted a 431-foot homer in the second inning for his third homer of the World Series, the most by a shortstop in history.
The Rangers, who had the second-most players go on the injured list in baseball, were in third place in the AL West on Sept. 8, and spent two weeks on the road after losing the AL West title on the final game of the season, have exemplified tenacity and persistence no matter the adversity.
“We’ve dealt with it all year, to be honest,’’ Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “I couldn’t be more proud of these guys, how they bounce back, how resilient they are, how they’ve dealt with things, whether it’s losing streaks, whether it’s injuries.
“They don’t get down. There’s no point in it. They understand you have to focus forward. And they’ve done that.’’
Then again, when you have a future Hall of Fame manager who has won three World Series titles, and has taken three different teams to the World Series, you’re in good hands to overcome pretty much anything.
“Bruce Bochy is in charge of that baseball team,’’ said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, whose bullpen game blew up spectacularly. ‘They’re very focused. They’re very determined.’’
And, with one more victory, they’ll be World Series champions, the last major sports franchise to win a championship in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“You think about it,’’ said Rangers reliever Will Smith, who can become the first player to win World Series championships three consecutive years on different teams. “It brings a city alive, seeing a parade of millions of people lining up just to see a bus go by. It’s big.
“You know, people who grew up wearing baseball with their dad or grandparents, visiting their grave sites. It’s a big deal to win one for your city, and it’s something we’d like to do for Texas.’’
