Game six of the World Series takes place a day late, with the Rangers sending Colby Lewis to the mound against Jaime Garcia in St. Louis. With a 3-2 series lead, a Texas win makes them World Champions for the first time in the history of the franchise that started in Washington in 1961.*
*Are there any fans of that short lived Senators team? You still find Dodgers and Giants fans in New York, some Braves fans in Boston, but are there any fans in the DC area who are loyal to the Twins or the Rangers?
Lewis makes his fourth start of the post season, all on the road. This makes a great deal of sense, since during the regular season his ERA was two runs lower away from Texas. His two good starts outweigh his one bad one, giving him a 2.95 ERA in the three rounds. He’s walked six and struck out 16 in his 18 1/3 innings of work, both good numbers, but did allow three home runs. All three were solo shots, however, and he’s done a great job of keeping opponents off base (.257 OBP allowed), and limiting their success with runners in scoring position (1 for 9 with a walk and five strikeouts).
Garcia makes his fifth start of the post season, his fourth at home. The opposite of Colby, Jaime’s ERA in 2011 was about two runs better at home than on the road. His only poor start in the 2011 playoffs came in Milwaukee, giving him an overall ERA of 3.97, but a home ERA of 1.93. He shutout Texas for seven innings in game two, walking one and striking out seven.
Garcia is very strong early this post-season. Through the first fourt innings he’s fairly unhittable. Watch him from the fifth inning on to see if he gets in trouble.
Enjoy!
To answer your Pinsterisk: I know a few fans of the current Nats who wish the former team well and are kind of pleased that they’re succeeding. I think I know even more people, however, who despise the team and the man (Bob Short) who “stole” them from us. Tom Boswell wrote a little bit about it last year. There’s some quick background in this column, mostly on the first page: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR2010101306738.html
Finally, DC’s most distinguishing characteristic is that people come here from somewhere else. So, if I saw someone sporting Rangers gear, my first assumption would be that he came from Texas, not that he was rooting for the Nats of 40 years ago.
More than you wanted to know. Thanks for asking!
Scooter » Thanks. I attended a Cubs/Nats game the first year the Expos moved to Washington. I sat and talked to people who were fans of the franchise that moved to Minnesota, but they were there rooting for the Cubs, since they knew one of the players. They also mentioned to me at that time that a lot of fans who came to games came to see the visiting team. I remember it was that way in Anaheim for many years.
Dear Mr. Pinto,
Does that seem extraordinary to you, that the home/road ERA difference is so large, particularly for Lewis? My recollection is that home ERA is usually about half a run better than on the road. (I suppose the home ballpark has a lot to do with it in Texas’s case. Guess I’ll do a little research….)
My family arrived in the DC suburbs in Dec. 1962. I’d been a Dodgers fan and remained one, but I tried fairly hard to root for that incarnation of the Senators. They were pretty awful, even with the addition of a few former Dodgers in 1964 (Ken McMullen, Frank Howard, Phil Ortega, Pete Richert and Dick Nen). The other side of that trade made the Dodgers a much better team: Claude Osteen.
I didn’t feel a strong sense of betrayal when they moved to Texas, just a sense of disgust that baseball would allow a team which had been in its town for as few years as the (new) Senators had to move for bigger bucks.
Steve I » Texas is a tough ballpark for pitchers, so I’m not that surprised. Also, half a season is a small sample size for a pitcher.