World Series Game 2 starters try to keep ball in park

ST. LOUIS -- In the country classic "Amarillo By Morning," George Strait sings: "I'll be looking for eight when they pull that gate."

Colby Lewis, Game 2 starter, is 1-1 in two starts for the Rangers this postseason.

By Paul Sancya, AP

The reference is to rodeo, but it's straight talk as it applies to Game 2 World Series starters Colby Lewis and Jaime Garcia, both looking to buck the trend of short starts by postseason pitchers. Being able to ride a starter for eight innings before the series heads to Texas would be music to ears of either pitching staff.

Eight innings might be a lot to ask the way the Cardinals (.310, 8 HR) and Rangers (.286, 7 homers) hit the ball in their respective championship series. The Cardinals didn't have a starter last more than five innings in their six-game NLCS against Milwaukee.

"Any starting pitcher would say that if you don't go six innings, you feel like you let your team down," Garcia said Wednesday. "I'm going to go out there and try and go as deep as I can."

Garcia, 13-7 with a 3.56 ERA this season, is 0-2 in the postseason. Despite pitching seven innings, he lost to Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, 3-2, in the NLDS.

He twice struggled with leads in the NLCS. In Game 1 he carried a 5-2 advantage into the fifth inning before giving up four consecutive hits. A two-run double by Brewers' Ryan Braun and two-run homer by Prince Fielder bought him an earlier shower. In Game 5, although leading 4-1, manager Tony La Russa went to his bullpen in the fifth with two on and Braun representing the tying run at the plate.

La Russa expressed his confidence in his 25-year-old left-hander, who signed a four-year, $27 million contract that could, with two team options, tie him to St. Louis through 2017.

"You have to remember that he is young, and there are times when he has an issue learning how to make the adjustments," La Russa said. "Two or three years from now, he's going to get better and better. But right now he's plenty good enough and he's pitched very well, especially in our park. If there's a Game 6, I'd expect to give (the ball) to him again."

Texas manager Ron Washington says he doesn't have an explanation why hitters have taken charge this postseason. "But I do expect my rotation, this time through, to get us deep in the ballgame," he said.
Lewis, 32, was a postseason force in 2010, going 3-0 with two wins against the Yankees in the ALCS and a World Series win against San Francisco.

"(The postseason) is kind of all or nothing," said Lewis, who required rotator cuff surgery in 2004 and spent 2008 and 2009 in Japan resurrecting his career. "You go out there and you don't know if you're going to get the ball again, (so) you let it all hang out and whatever happens, happens. You can't really worry about your what-ifs. You just focus on the one pitch that you have at hand.

"He's well-rested. He's ready to go," Washington said. "He's been throwing the ball extremely well."
Lewis was 14-10 with a 4.40 ERA this season, despite giving up an AL-high 35 home runs. Keeping the ball in the park against the likes of Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and David Freese, who combined for seven homers in the NLCS, will be a priority.

Ditto for Garcia, the first Mexican-born pitcher to start a World Series game since Fernando Valenzuela for the 1981 Dodgers. Nelson Cruz alone hit six homers for the Rangers in the ALCS.