Rangers vs Giants | Game 1 Pick

2010 World Series Game 1 Preview

vs.

Texas Rangers @ San Francisco Giants
Game One Wednesday, October 27 at 7:30 PM ET on FOX
FREE Expert MLB Picks

Texas Rangers: Cliff Lee 3-0, 0.75 post season
San Francisco Giants: Tim Lincecum 2-1, 1.93 post season

The Texas Rangers will travel west to San Francisco for Game 1 of the World Series against the Giants on Wednesday. Both teams will send their ace to the mound in hopes of capturing the crown. Texas is making its first ever trip to the series, while San Francisco has not seen a world series since 1954.

Cliff Lee will go to the mound for Texas and is a postseason dominator if there ever was one. Over the past two postseasons, he has yet to lose a game, or even come close to it. In eight playoff starts, he is 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA. For Texas this year, he is 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA and a 34-to-1 strikeout-to-walk rate this year. Thirteen of those strikeouts were against the Yankees.

Every pitcher has a weakness, though it’s hard to find it in the postseason Cliff Lee. Some critics are saying he may have trouble staying loose in the chilly San Francisco weather, but Lee isn’t a traditional power pitcher, so the cold is less of an issue as his fastball is used more as a set up and get ahead pitch than a knockout one.

Okay, he hasn’t pitched in eight days either, but last season he had 10 days off between the NLCS and his Game 1 start against the Yankees in the World Series. What did he do?

He pitched the full nine innings, striking out 10 without allowing an earned run. Need more proof? When starting on six-plus days of rest this year he is 2-0 in four starts, while opponents have batted .129 and scored to the tune of a 0.90 ERA. His record against San Francisco is 3-0 with a 1.13 career ERA. His last start against San Francisco was last season when he pitched the full nine for a complete game, giving up one run and striking out six.

The Rangers offense began firing on all nine cylinders just in time to face the Yankees. Josh Hamilton exploded for four homeruns in the series with 20 total bases in 20 ABs, while Bengie Molina provided the heroics a world-class team expects, even stealing his first base in four years.

From top to bottom, it’s a dangerous lineup, in stark contrast to San Francisco’s pitch and pray routine.

The Rangers can score 10 runs on any given day, proving it to a stunned Yankees staff. The weakness is they like to swing, and as a result, they miss a lot. A good pitcher can get them out in front and see a lot of ground balls.

The Giants’ Tim Lincecum is an excellent pitcher who doesn’t surrender a lot of homers, the exact antithesis to the Rangers all or nothing approach. But even on a bad day, this lineup scores a few, and with Lee on the mound that’s all they need.

Lincecum will bear the burden of facing Lee in Game 1 for San Francisco. “The Freak” is a great pitcher in his own right with a pair of CY Young’s already in his short career, and 16 wins this season.

In Game 1 of the division series against the Braves, he struck out 14 in his postseason debut. Timmy throws a rising fastball that is devastating when his off speed stuff works. This season has been a bit of a learning process for Lincecum as he lost about 2mph on his fastball and hitters have adjusted.

If Texas comes out swinging and his stuff is on, he will run toe to toe with Le, but if his command is off and Texas waits to see what he has, he may be forced to pitch the plate. A few early runs could be critical, as his offense leaves no margin for error. You have to love Lincecum and how he makes phenomenal use of his everyman size, but the pressure of being perfect could rattle the young gun, opening just enough of a hole for Texas to exploit.

The offense behind who ever starts in the series for San Francisco is anemic to say the least. Aubrey Huff led the team in homers for the season with 26. Huff hit .263 against Lee in his time in the AL mostly with Baltimore. In the postseason, he is 10-39, all singles, with 4 RBIs.

Meanwhile, NLCS Game 6 hero Juan Uribe has some experience against Lee, going 11-for-37 for a .297 average with two homers, a double, a triple and seven RBIs. In the postseason, he has hit 4-28 with seven strikeouts. Also in the mix is Aaron Rowand who has a homer, four doubles, and two RBIs against Lee in his career, but is a role player at best.

The odds makers at BetUs.com have the Rangers as a -1.5 point favorite with an over/under run total of 5.5.

Matt’s Prediction: The old saying is “pitching wins ball games”, and both these teams have proven it, tossing their way past tough competition to get to the World Series. The Giants have had a bit of magic and a few lucky breaks to get here, while Texas has slugged its way through the door like a drunk in a bar. Two different styles of fighting, but Lee lends the classiness to carry this Texas crew to a game one win.

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