Three Thoughts on Rangers at Astros, Gm 1
The Rangers winning streak continues as new heroes star yet again
Three Thoughts, everyone knows the rules. The sports scene is cramped around here but we absolutely must document playoff runs like these. We may be in Los Angeles, but that gives us more time to write tonight.
The Texas Rangers began their American League Championship Series in fine fashion on Sunday Night with a shutout win in Houston against those Astros, 2-0. They have now won six consecutive playoff games and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 2 coming Monday Afternoon.
These are my three thoughts:
– This baseball team is feeling it right now and they might actually be that team. I don’t know if you have heard the cliches about playoff runs, but my favorite one is as follows:
“When you win a playoff game, you feel like you will never lose another game. Win you lose a playoff game, you feel like you will never win another game.”
I forget who told that to me first, but I am pretty sure it was around the game of hockey and the 2-month marathons of pain those guys go through to have a shot at holding Lord Stanley’s Cup. But, make no mistake, it applies to this sport for sure. It has now been 14 days since the Texas Rangers last lost a baseball game and I should tell you that they are absolutely not short of self-belief right now in thr ability to beat anyone they face. Frankly, that is the only group that has to have the belief, because if you ask some of us on the outside, we would have to admit the terror of the Houston Astros in our heads. But, if the room feels invincible, you are going to need to hit them pretty hard in the face to get them to lose that confidence. Right now, this ball-club, the same one that looked left for dead not so long ago, is brimming with belief.
That doesn’t mean they are assured of getting by their nemesis, but it certainly starts there. When last they saw Houston, lest anyone should forget, they were losing three straight home games to the Astros by the score of 39-10 with delighted Houston fans everywhere you looked in Arlington. If that humiliation was not enough to get in the Rangers kitchen, then maybe momentum is truly tomorrow’s starting pitcher. But, whatever the case, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and now Houston are playing a Rangers team that looks like they are ready for the challenges.