Before the American League Championship Series, Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz was a combined 1-for-15 with five strikeouts in the 2011 postseason.
What a difference two games make.
The 31-year-old Cruz has blasted three home runs in the first two games of the ALCS, adding an exclamation point to Game 2 with a walkoff grand slam in the Rangers' 7-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in 11 innings on Monday in Arlington.
The game-winning homer was the first walkoff grand slam in postseason history.
Cruz cranked two homers Monday, and one on Saturday in a 3-2 triumph. Texas takes a 2-0 lead into Game 3, set for a 7 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday in Detroit.
Cruz has started to heat up, which makes the Texas lineup ridiculously dangerous, considering manager Ron Washington has inserted him into the No. 7 spot in the batting order. How do you pitch around this lineup?
In September, Cruz went 8-for-42 at the plate. That's a .190 batting average. A strained hamstring forced him to miss two weeks in early September, and when he returned, it seemed like his timing at the plate was shaky.
He's certainly settled into a groove lately, going 4-for-7 with three homers, a double and six RBIs so far in the ALCS.
I started my new, exciting job as social media manager at Grantham University on Monday. I've gone from working nights to working days, so I was able to get back to Lawrence in time for the last four innings.
Cruz will rightfully garner the headlines, but the effectiveness of the Texas bullpen cannot go unnoticed. After Derek Holland struggled through 2 2/3 innings, a Scott Feldman-led bullpen pitched shutout baseball for the remainder of the game: 8 1/3 innings, four hits, no earned runs, two walks, eight strikeouts. Feldman lasted 4 1/3 innings of long relief, surrendering only one hit and striking out four.
It's nice for the bullpen to be pitching so well right now. C.J. Wilson struggled in Game 1, but the Rangers bullpen bailed him out, tossing 4 1/3 innings, and giving up one hit, no earned runs and one walk, compared to eight strikeouts.
Let's put together a combined line of Texas relievers in the ALCS so far: 12 2/3 innings, five hits, no earned runs, three walks, 16 strikeouts.
Nelson Cruz and the Texas bullpen: perfect formula to start the ALCS 2-0.
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