Giants Rangers

It's all seemed too easy. That's the shocking part of this whole thing. How easy it's been.

Whipping up on the Tampa Bay Rays. Going to new Yankee Stadium and taking two of three. Dominating the Yankees. Stealing home. Cliff Lee looking like Sandy Koufax. Colby Lewis looking like Bob Gibson. Elvis Andrus looking like a salty veteran in his 10th post-season.

Eerily easy. Discomforting.

The World Series starts tonight. Texas Rangers versus the San Francisco Giants in a best-of-7 series. Starting in San Francisco for two games.

The nervous energy abounds. The primal uncertainty that envelopes us as a fanbase is electric. Even with Cliff Lee on the mound. Waiting for the other shoe to fall on this thing. Waiting for the pinch only to find ourselves 20 back of the California Angels.

If the first 11 games seemed easy, I doubt the next four (at least) won't be nearly as a cakewalk. There will be blood.

Five keys:

Playing As A Frontrunner
The Texas Rangers haven't just played as underdogs during these playoffs. They've been the underdog over the past 40 years. Do the Rangers know how to play as the frontrunner? Do they know how to play as the team that's supposed to win instead of the team everyone expects to lose?

Vladimir Guerrero
Somehow, a .269 average in the ALCS doesn't appropriately indicate how bad Guerrero was. He rode one good game (four hits). Otherwise, it was three hits in 20-odd at bats. This is it for Guerrero. I don't think he'll be a Ranger next year. He could very well be done for his career. I hope not, but it might. The Rangers need Guerrero to show up and crush.

Jonathan Sanchez
The great X-factor. We think Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain will give the Giants a shot to win. Sanchez is the Giants' primary lefty. He's the team leader in ERA. He's good. He's pitched a no-hitter. He's also a guy that could get pulled in the second inning, like he was the other night against Philly. He's an X-factor. He's a wild card. Whether the Rangers or Giants are 0-2 going into game 3. Or if the Giants are up 1-2 or down 1-2, Sanchez' start means the world.

Bases On Balls
I think walks are killer. I'd rather give up three hits than a walk. Hits are potential outs. Walks aren't. Unfortunately for me, I root for two guys (C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis) that walk an inordinate amount of hitters. In three of the four Rangers losses this season, the Rangers pitchers registered four or more walks. In five of the Rangers' seven post-season wins, the pitchers registered three or less walks.

Why would walks kill the Rangers against the Giants? Because the Giants, for the season, collected a league-worst 392 walks. On top of that, the Giants were 25th in the league with a .257 team batting average.

Lesson: Throw strikes. Throw a lot of strikes and force the Giants' line-up to hit the ball. A team that clearly has no intention on taking pitches and walking free passes should not be afforded that opportunity by any means.

Baserunning
Antlers, bitches. It's been the key to the Rangers beating the Rays and the Yankees. Not just stealing bases, but scoring from second on groundouts, tagging up, going from first to third on a single. All these things have been responsible for about 60 percent of the Rangers' runs (this stat is not factual ... it might be true, but not based on real research). The Rangers must keep running. Push the Giants into mistakes.