Cliff Lee keeps making headlines during the postseason. While New York Yankees starter, Andy Pettitte, the career leader in postseason wins, was sharp in Game Three of the ALCS against Lee and the Texas Rangers, the New York Yankees offense was completely shut down by Rangers ace Cliff Lee who led his team to an 8-0 lopsided win.

Lee didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings and allowed just two all night. Only one Yankee batter ever made it into scoring position and none of them made it to third base. Looking at the box score says it all when you notice of the top six batters in the Yankee line-up, only Mark Teixeira made it on base and that was on a walk.

When Lee struck out his tenth batter in the sixth inning he became the first pitcher in MLB history to strike out ten or more batters three times in one postseason, but he didn’t stop there ending with 13 K’s for the game. Additionally, Lee tied Bob Gibson and Randy Johnson for the most 10+ strikeout playoff games in a career (5).

The Rangers offense didn’t hit well against Pettitte, but got two quick runs in the first inning. Michael Young singled with one out and Josh Hamilton followed with his second home run of the series, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

On the night, the Rangers had eleven hits, three that belonged to Michael Young and two that belonged to Josh Hamilton. Aside from Pettitte’s mistake in the first inning, he shut the Rangers lineup down, finishing the night with seven innings pitched and just the two earned runs allowed.

The Yankees were positioned for one of those magical comebacks on their home filed until the Rangers blew the game open in the ninth inning against the Yankees bullpen, scoring six runs and taking an 8-0 lead.

A 1-0 lead probably would have sufficed given the struggles the Yankees had against Lee. On the night, the Rangers hurler allowed zero runs in eight innings while striking out the 13 batters. Lee has now allowed just two earned runs in three starts this postseason, spanning 24 innings.

Neftali Feliz shut the Yankees down in the ninth; preserving the win even though it was a non-save situation. Yankees hitters struck out 15 times on the night while reaching base just three times.

Although a 2-1 hole is hardly insurmountable, the Yankees will need their offense to awaken to have a chance moving forward. The Yankees have now scored a grand total of four runs off Rangers starting pitchers in this series, and two of them were after C.J. Wilson was out of the game.

Game four is scheduled for 8:00 PM (ET) Tuesday night and will pit the Rangers Tommy Hunter against A.J. Burnett. Hunter allowed two earned runs in four innings in his lone start this postseason, while Burnett hasn’t pitched in the playoffs.

Game four is essentially a must win for the Yankees, who will have to face C.J. Wilson again in Game Five and possibly Colby Lewis and Cliff Lee again if the series goes back to Texas. Joe Girardi said he wouldn’t switch his rotation even if the Yankees lost tonight, so Burnett, who hasn’t pitched since October 2^nd, will have to put his struggles this year behind him for the Yankees to have a chance advancing to the World Series.

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

Cliff Lee took the hump last night in the ALDS playoff game between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays and before the night was over fanned 11 in an impressive outing that punched his team’s ticket to a series against the New York Yankees.

Regardless of which team won this playoff, the series was going to be historic. The Rays were fighting to be just the eighth team to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the Division Series after winning a pair of games on the road in Arlington.

Instead, it was the Rangers making history with their first ever series win in the postseason. Additionally, this was the first time in MLB history that the road team won every game of a playoff series.

Lee made the most of his start for Texas and shut down the Rays. He pitched a complete game, allowing just a single run and six hits to the solid Rays’ lineup. On the night, in addition to the 11 strikeouts, Lee showed great control walking zero.

Offensively, Texas scored early with aggressive base running. After getting on base to lead off the game, Elvis Andrus was on second base with Josh Hamilton up. As David Price delivered, Andrus broke for third. Hamilton hit a slow ground ball to Carlos Pena, who tossed to Price to record the out. Andrus never stopped running, hesitating just for a second at third base before taking off toward the plate. He scored without a throw, giving the Rangers a quick 1-0 lead.

After the Rays tied it up in the third, Nelson Cruz led off the fourth inning with a double. Cruz should have been on third had he not watched the flight of what he thought was a homerun. Cruz attempted to steal third with Vladimir Guerrero up, and Rays’ catcher John Jaso threw the ball into left field, giving the Rangers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Vladimir Guerrero had some fine base running of his own; scoring from second after the Rays failed to turn a double play in the sixth.

Ian Kinsler added a two run homerun off Rafael Soriano in the ninth, but Cliff Lee retired the Rays in order to send the Rangers to their first ever ALCS.

The Rangers will now face the New York Yankees in a best of seven series starting Thursday in Texas. While the pitching matchup hasn’t been officially set, it will likely be CC Sabathia vs. C.J. Wilson because Cliff Lee will be unavailable.

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