COMMENTARY | The Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals met for Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday night in a matchup that many expected would come down to the bullpens. Both teams have relied heavily on their bullpens throughout the postseason and specifically in the ALCS and NLCS. The Rangers won 96 games in the regular season and many felt they had the advantage over the Cardinals, who had to fight back in the month of September just to make it into the postseason.
While Game 1 ended up being a low scoring game with the Cardinals taking it 3-2, it still ended up coming down to the bullpens. Actually both managers ended up going to their bullpens at the same time in the game. Tony La Russa went to Allen Craig in the bottom of the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter for Chris Carpenter and Ron Washington called on Alexi Ogando in relief of C.J. Wilson. Wilson had only allowed three hits, but walked six and also allowed Albert Pujols to reach on a hit by pitch. Craig lined an Ogando fastball to right-field which put the Cardinals up 3-2 and from that point on the Cardinals brought five pitchers on to shut down the Rangers for the rest of the night.
The Cardinals have now showed everyone that they are here and are not going away easily. If there is anything that can bring a home crowd into a game it is victory and by taking Game 1 the Cardinals will now have the advantage of not only a one game lead, but also their home crowd for one more game before going to Texas.
Before heading to Texas, Colby Lewis will be on the mound for the Rangers and Jaime Garcia will take the mound for the Cardinals in Game 2. Lewis has been the Rangers go to guy in the postseason over the past two years. He is 4-1 with a 2.37 ERA in six postseason starts and this year is 1-1 by picking up a victory in the ALDS and his only postseason loss in Game 3 of the ALCS. Lewis will be countered by the 24 year old Garcia who went 13-7 with a 3.56 ERA in the regular season, but is 0-2 with a 5.74 ERA in the postseason. If there is anything we know, this World Series is far from over and it should allow for plenty of entertainment with Tony L aRussa and Ron Washington in charge of the teams.