The Rangers were 1 pitch away 15 times

A lot of people have written about how twice the Rangers were one pitch away from winning the 2011 World Series. But my friend Gar Ryness (better known as The Batting Stance Guy) pointed out an interesting fact.

They were an out from winning the World Series in back to back innings, but they weren’t one pitch away from winning twice.

They were one pitch away from winning the 2011 World Series 15 TIMES!

On 15 different occasions, a Ranger pitcher threw a pitch that could have clinched the World Series if a reasonable scenario took place.

In the 9th inning with one out and runners on first and second, Allen Craig came up where a ground ball could have turned into a World Series clinching double play.

Yeah both David Freese and Lance Berkman had their at bats go down to the final strike, but they could have popped up or grounded out on the first, second or third pitches.

And I am not coming up with outlandish “Line Drive Triple Play” scenarios nor counting the four balls thrown to Albert Pujols when he was intentionally walked in the 10th inning.

Remembering my brother in Curse of the Bambino dialing my uncle for each pitch the Red Sox could have clinched in 1986, I know all too well that the expectation of excitement builds with each pitch.

Rangers fans, I feel for you.

And let’s review all 15 pitches.

Bottom of 9th inning
Neftali Feliz Pitching
Texas 7, St. Louis 5
2 on, 1 out.

Batter Allen Craig

PITCH 1 – Low, 1 Ball 0 Strikes.
PITCH 2 – Low, 2 Balls 0 Strikes.
PITCH 3 – Called Strike, 2 Balls 1 Strike.
PITCH 4 – Lined Foul to left, 2 Balls 2 Strikes.
PITCH 5 – Popped foul behind the plate, 2 Balls 2 Strikes.
PITCH 6 – Called Third Strike

2 Outs

Batter David Freese

PITCH 7 – Low and Outside, 1 Ball 0 Strikes.
PITCH 8 – Called strike on inside corner, 1 Ball 1 Strike.
PITCH 9 – Swinging strike, 1 Ball 2 Strikes.
PITCH 10 – 2 Run Triple to Right Field to tie the Game

Bottom of 10th inning
TEXAS 9, ST. LOUIS 8
Scott Feldman pitching
2 on, 2 outs

Batter Lance Berkman

PITCH 11 – Fouled back out of play, 0 Balls 1 Strike.
PITCH 12 – Inside, 1 Ball 1 Strike.
PITCH 13 – Swinging strike, 1 Ball 2 Strikes.
PITCH 14 – Low, 2 Balls 2 Strikes.
PITCH 15 – RBI Single to Center Field to tie the Game.

Pain.
Agony.

After Berkman’s single, the Rangers were never a pitch away again.
Of the 15 pitches, 9 came with 2 outs, where a pop up in the infield or a grounder (or Nelson Cruz timing his leap correctly) would have made champs out of Texas.

Alas, 15 pitches weren’t enough.

Scott Feldman needs a stat to give him credit for yesterday’s game

There were so many heroes in yesterday’s wonderful 11 inning showdown between the Tigers and Rangers. Obviously Nelson Cruz going with for 4, driving in 5 of the Rangers 7 runs with a 7th inning game tying homer and an 11th inning walk off grand slam would make him a pretty safe pick for “Player of the Game.”

Ryan Raburn hit a go ahead 3 run homer for Detroit.

Max Scherzer pitched a solid 6 innings for the Tigers, especially after his shaky first.

Miguel Cabrera started a dramatic bases loaded double play to save the game.

Neftali Feliz worked out of an extra inning jam.

Reliever Mike Adams got the win. He pitched a scoreless 11th striking out 2. But if you watched the game, you saw the pitching star was Rangers reliever Scott Feldman.

He came in the third after Derek Holland’s wildness result in Raburn’s homer and a blown lead.

What did Feldman do?

He gave the Rangers 4 1/3 shutout innings from the pen.

The starter couldn’t last 3 but the rest of the Rangers wonderful pen wasn’t needed until the 8th.

And neither Ogando, Feliz, Gonzalez nor Adams were really stretched last night and could probably pitch in Game 3 today.

So Feldman doesn’t get the start.

He doesn’t get the win.

He doesn’t get a hold.

He doesn’t get a save.

He gets gotch.

Sure he gets to have a low ERA and nice stats. But there SHOULD be a stat, shouldn’t there?

A “Hey Nice Game!” Stat.

A “He saved the bullpen” Stat.

A “Let’s not let this go unnoticed” Stat.

Not sure how it will work.

Then again, I created the whole “Teeth Grinder vs. Dodged Bullet” ratio in the regular season.

Maybe I’ll figure out the “Nice Job” stat as well.

The least I can do is make sure there is at least one blog post out there written about him.

And if you Google “Did Scott Feldman Have A Good Game In Game 2 Of The 2011 ALCS?” you should find this article.