Rangers Meet Lance Berkman and Allen Craig, Drop World Series Game 1 to Cardinals

Chris Carpenter came up big over six solid innings Wednesday night -- including a nice diving defensive play in the first for which Elvis Adrus deserves a thank you gift for not crushing the pitcher's right hand -- to help his St. Louis Cardinals earn a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the World Series.

After three scoreless innings pitched by both Carpenter and C.J. Wilson, it was looking like quite the pitcher's duel. But with Matt Holliday on second after a double that moved Albert Pujols to third after being hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth, Lance Berkman nailed an RBI single to give the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead.

Nelson Cruz Busts out Trusty Boomstick, Mike Napoli Aids in Rangers Game 4 Win

The Texas Rangers are one win away from their second consecutive World Series appearance.

Nelson Cruz, whose grand slam in the 11th inning won Game 2 for his Texas Rangers, was the star of Game 4 once again Wednesday night in his team's 7-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers to give them a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series.

With the ballgame all tied up in the eighth inning, Cruz threw Miguel Cabrera out at the plate with a pretty throw to his partner in crime Mike Napoli, who was luckily not absolutely clobbered by the husky Cabrera. As if that wasn't badass enough, the outfielder followed up the leather-flashing, arm cannon action with a three-run shot (his fourth homer of the ALCS) in the 11th off Jose Valverde, who just so happened to be right in the middle of imploding, immediately after Napoli blooped a go-ahead single.

David Price, Tampa Bay Rays Drop Game 3 to Texas Rangers

David Price was cruising through Game 3 against the Texas Rangers like nobody's business until suddenly, in the seventh inning, he coughed up the 1-0 shutout.

The All-Star lefty, who was winless in six starts last month, has still never beaten the Rangers. Counting two unfortunate losses during last year's ALDS, Price is a career 0-6 against Texas... which is so weird, cause he's pretty awesome against everyone else.

The sixth time the Rangers found themselves with runners in scoring position -- failing to record a hit the five times prior -- Mike Napoli made it count with a two-run bomb to kick off a four-run seventh.

Price left the game after allowing a Craig Gentry two-out single, but reliever Brandon Gomes walked two in a row to load the bases before Josh Hamilton crushed a two-run single off J.P. Howell that gave Texas a 4-1 lead. Howell knew he totally blew it:

"Disgust. I'm just really bad. That's it. It's a negative. All negative. But move on, the series isn't settles, so let's just roll on."

Tampa attempted a comeback with rookie Desmond Jennings hitting his second solo shot of the game in the eighth off reliever Mike Adams to make it a one-run game, but the scoring ended at 4-3.

Facing elimination, Rays rookie Jeremy Hellickson is scheduled to pitch Game 4 against lefty Matt Harrison Tuesday afternoon at 2:07pm ET on TBS. In fact, there are four ballgames today. You should probably just call in sick.

[Rotoworld]

The Mike Napoli Show

There's Garret Anderson, Torii, Vlad, and... Mike Napoli!

The Los Angeles Angels catcher is leading the club with 10 homers after nailing two on Sunday to drive in a career-high five runs in the Halos’ 10-2 victory over the cross-town Dodgers.

His 10 bombs equal the number between Anderson and Hunter and are six more than the slumping Guerrero. Why are his 23 RBIs so impressive? Napoli has only played in 27 of the team's 46 games, since he's sharing backstop duties with Jeff Mathis.

[LA Times]