Rangers Edge Closer to First World Series Victory with Game 4 Win

I’m not worried about jinxing this thing. The clerk at the convenience store where I get my iced tea every morning looked at me today and said, “I’m not even going to speak it out loud.” But I’m not worried about it. The Texas Rangers are up 3-1 in the World Series and are one win away from ending the longest championship drought in Major League Baseball.

The Rangers offense is historically good. All-time good. They plated ten runs last night before the D-Backs recorded ten outs. All ten runs came with two outs, five each in the 2nd and 3rd innings. Every Rangers player got on base. Josh Jung and Marcus Semien got their bats going and Garcia’s replacement in right field, Travis Jankowski, went two-for-his-first-two with two  runs batted in and scored twice. These are the Rangers. They are the first team to score double-digit runs in at least one game in three postseason series.

I don’t mean for this to sound as bad as it might but maybe last night’s early burst was because the Rangers couldn’t stand around and wait for Garcia to hit a three-run homer. Everybody on the roster needed to step up last night. And they did.

If there is any criticism at all of Bruce Bochy, it’s that he gets a little too itchy with his pitchers and unnecessarily chases matchups, turning his bullpen into a revolving door. I’ve wondered about his use of Jon Gray. I don’t know why Dunning didn’t go twice as long last night. Did we really need Jose LeClerc to end it in the 9th? I don’t care. I trust Bochy. He has the magic touch with this bullpen and this team. Whatever he wants to do, I’m all in.

Leading three games to one in the World Series is a great place to be. Eighty-five-percent of teams leading 3-1 have gone on to win the title. That’s not 100% — if anybody knows, it’s Rangers fans — so, yes, anything can still happen. But if Big Game Nate goes six or seven innings in tonight’s Game Five, Texas will win and my heart will explode.

I’ve already talked to Greg Dowell, Dale Cooper, Andy Tonne, and Jim Gardner on the phone this morning. I wanted to keep the good mojo going before my day gets away from me.

I’m slated to teach class tonight at church. We start at 630p and typically end at 730p. I think I’m having sympathy pains for Adolis Garcia. I think I’ve strained my oblique. Not sure I can go the distance. Would everybody be okay if class ended at 7p?

Let’s Go Rangers!
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