World Series 2011: Texas Rangers Will Even Up Series Tonight

The Texas Rangers failed to live up to expectations once again in the World Series.

This is actually pretty shocking considering the team was humbled in the most important best-of-seven game series in baseball last year.

It was honestly because of poor batting and leaving far too many runners in scoring position that the Texas team lost. Had some of their best batters, including Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, gotten a single hit the game could have turned out to be completely different.

The final score was only 3-2 in favor of the St. Louis Cardinals, but a hit here or there with a runner in scoring position would have been a complete momentum shift for the Rangers.

The team was 0-5 when those runners were in position to make a play and it is certainly what killed them.

I don’t foresee it happening again.

The Rangers were 19-63 in the ALCS with men in scoring position, which is one of the major reasons they were handily able to beat the Detroit Tigers and make the World Series.

Nelson Cruz, the Rangers' hero for most of the ALCS, was unable to make yet another heroic play in the first World Series game.

Allen Craig hit a pinch-hit single that scored a run, as Cruz was not able to make the play after diving near the right field foul line for the ball.

It took the Cardinals everything they had, including using a number of relievers and getting a clutch pinch-hit to win this game, and I don’t think they can continue to get that lucky in the coming games.

Colby Lewis takes the mound for Texas in Game 2 and will be looking for a quality start to help get his team back ahead.

Let’s see if he can get it done tonight at 8:05 p.m. ET on FOX.