Madison Bumgarner became the 5th youngest starter to start a World Series game at 21 years and 91 days old. Taking the hump on the road, the youngster led his San Francisco Giants to a Game 4 win and find themselves one game away from the champagne celebration.

After winning Game 3 a night earlier, the Rangers had a chance to even the series up at two games apiece but were unable to get anything going on offense against the Giants.

Despite being down 2-1 in the series, Rangers Manager Ron Washington opted to go with Tommy Hunter instead of ace Cliff Lee on three day rest. Like both teams (the Phillies and Yankees) who were down 2-1 in the League Championship Series, the Rangers lost the fourth game with a less than stellar effort from a less-experienced starter.

Tommy Hunter wasn’t terrible and the only real damage the Giants did off of him was a two-run homerun by Aubrey Huff in the third inning but on the night he lasted only four innings; not exactly the kind of performance you want with a key World Series game on the line.

The early 2-0 lead off the bat of Huff was all Bumgarner would need. Although he is the Giants fourth starter, Bumgarner shut down the vaunted Rangers lineup over eight shutout innings. On the night, he allowed just three hits and two walks.

No Rangers player had multi-hit games and only one base-runner, who happened to reach on an error, was able to make it to second base. The Giants turned two double plays, further limiting the Rangers sparse scoring opportunities.

The Giants added insurance runs off the Giants bullpen in both the seventh and eighth innings. Andres Torres and Edgar Renteria each had three hits and Buster Posey hit a solo homerun in the eighth for a little extra insurance.

Brian Wilson entered the game in the ninth and pitched a perfect inning while striking out two batters.

The 4-0 victory was largely due to Bumgarner, but the Giants pitching staff has dominated all series. Only one Texas regular, Mitch Moreland, is hitting over .300 in the series. The heart of the Rangers order (Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz) are all hitting below .200.

Game Five will be Monday Night at 7:30 PM (ET) and with a Giants win, The ReLeaf Herbal Center would have to end it’s free marijuana promotion. Both teams will put their aces on the hill as the Giants get their first opportunity to clinch the title. Cliff Lee (3-1, 2.51) is coming off the worst post-season start of his career and will oppose two-time NL Cy Young Winner Tim Lincecum (3-1, 2.79). The two faced off in Game 1, which was an 11-7 victory for the Giants.

Used with permission of the author.

Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

For the first time in franchise history, the Texas Rangers are going to the World Series, and they did it by knocking off the heavily-favored New York Yankees. Texas starter Colby Lewis dominated the Yankees for eight innings and Vladimir Guerrero hit a clutch two run double for the team’s first American League Championship.

The Rangers offense picked up where it left off against Phil Hughes. After beating him in Game 2 of the series, they scored a quick run in the first when Guerrero drove in Elvis Andrus with an RBI groundout.

The Yankees tied the game in the fifth inning with Nick Swisher batting and Alex Rodriguez on third. Lewis threw a pitch in the dirt which bounced into Swisher’s leg and then to the backstop. Rodriguez trotted home and the run counted because the Home Plate umpire missed the call and didn’t declare the ball dead and award Swisher first base. Ron Washington argued but the run stood and the game was tied at one.

In the bottom of the fifth, Hughes ran into trouble again. After Mitch Moreland hit a leadoff single, Hughes retired Andrus and Michael Young. With two outs, the Yankees decided to intentionally walk Josh Hamilton. Vladimir Guerrero, who hadn’t had an RBI in the series coming into Game 6, roped a two run double to the gap in left-center, giving the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Rangers added two more runs in the fifth on a Nelson Cruz homerun, his second of the series. The final run of the game came in the seventh inning, when Ian Kinsler hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, making the score 6-1, a score that would last until the final out.

Although the Rangers offense got the job done, the real story of the night was Colby Lewis. He allowed only one run and three hits to a vaunted Yankees lineup.

Neftali Feliz came in to shut the door in the ninth, and the celebration began when he caught Alex Rodriguez looking for the final out of the game.

Ranger’s legend and team President Nolan Ryan was presented with the American League Championship Trophy following the game and Josh Hamilton was awarded the ALCS MVP.

The Rangers now await the winner of the series between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants. Cliff Lee will likely get the start in Game One of the World Series for the Rangers.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC