The Dutch Oven Brings the Heat

Derek Holland allowed two hits over 8 1-3 innings, leading the Texas Rangers to a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night that evened the World Series at two games apiece.

Box Score

Hobbled Josh Hamilton put Texas ahead with an RBI double in the first inning. Then Mike Napoli broke it open with a three-run homer in the sixth on the first pitch from reliever Mitchell Boggs, who came in after loser Edwin Jackson walked his seventh batter.

Holland walked Rafael Furcal with one out in the ninth, and Neftali Feliz got two outs, including Albert Pujols with two runners on.

The Texas Rangers lost Game 3 of the World Series by the final score of 16-7. The Cardinals scored SIXTEEN RUNS. Not six. Six-TEEN.

The win was huge for the Rangers, although a loss would not have been fatal. In the Rangers’ situation, teams that trail and tie a World Series with a Game 4 victory, have gone on to win 22 of 40 times. By contrast, if the Cards had won Game 4, 36 of the 42 teams leading 3-1 in that situation have gone on to win the Series. The Rangers have life.

Rangers Crushed By Albert Pujols 16-7

Texas Rangers Inter-office Memo

To: John Daniels

From: Nolan Ryan

Date: October 23, 2011

Albert Pujols is our #1 free agent signing priority.  Say goodbye to CJ Wilson and Darren Oliver.  Give Mike Maddux a raise so he makes just $1 less than Wash.  Our current pitching staff will continue to improve.

Two wins in two World Series is not acceptable.  First base is a huge hole on this team.  We’ve failed at first with Smoak, Davis and Mooreland. 

We are a Pujols away from winning the World Series.

If Pujols decides to stay in St. Louis, I better see Prince Fielder in a Rangers uniform at Spring Training.

That is all. 

Update on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 10:47PM by Bonzer Wolf

I get more hits on this post than ANY other!  Not for nothing, but some people seem to think this is ACTUALLY A TEXAS RANGERS INTERNAL MEMO! For those dumb enough to think that, oh well, think whatever you want. 

ICE Officer Arrested In Pot Smuggling Case

A deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led Arizona state police and federal agents on a high-speed desert chase in his government vehicle, throwing bundles of marijuana out of the window as he fled on Wednesday.

The deportation officer, identified as Jason Alistair Lowery, 34, had been under surveillance for more than month after a known smuggler who had been arrested gave authorities a tip about the officer in an effort to get lenient treatment, Department of Public Safety Officer Carrick Cook told The Associated Press. Lowery,  lives in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. 

In a criminal complaint filed late Wednesday against Lowery, who also used to be a Border Patrol agent, a Department of Homeland Security investigator wrote that he got further information about Lowery through a confidential informant on Oct. 4.

DPS and federal agents tried to pull Lowery over Tuesday after he picked up a load of marijuana in the desert with his unmarked ICE pickup truck, Cook said. The officer fled, leading agents on a 45-minute chase at speeds of up to 110 mph (177 kph) as he threw 10 of the 14 bundles of pot that he had in the truck out of the window, he said. “He got pretty desperate,” Cook said.

The chase began in the Vekol Valley south of Phoenix and ended about 20 miles (32 kilometres) from where the chase began. It ended when Lowery’s truck rolled over and he gave himself up.  Mexican drug cartels have infiltrated federal law enforcement agencies along the border for years, targeting hiring initiatives with their own people or seeking out recruiting officers.

Between 2003 and early 2010, 129 U.S. customs officers and Border Patrol agents were arrested on corruption charges, according to Tom Frost, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant inspector general for investigations.

DHS Manager/Supervisor Criminal Activity Update

A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) supervisor has pleaded guilty to stealing money from the government and misusing a diplomatic passport.

Ahmed Adil Abdallat faces up to 10 years in federal prison for using an official diplomatic passport for personal travel to and from Jordan, in addition to collecting more than $100,000 in improper travel reimbursements from the U.S. government. Abdallat, a former supervisory intelligence research specialist for ICE in El Paso, Texas, is in federal custody pending sentencing.

The government issued Abdallat a diplomatic passport in 2007 for temporary work at the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia and other foreign countries. Abdallat admitted he used the passport for personal travel after he was assigned to the El Paso office and his work no longer required overseas travel on a diplomatic passport. He also submitted 13 travel vouchers in 2009 and 2010 containing fictitious charges for travel from El Paso to Washington. He received more than $116,000 in reimbursements from the government.

Also in October, a former Customs and Border Protection (CBP) manager at Midway International Airport in Chicago begins his prison sentence for taking bribes from foreign restaurant employees seeking to extend their stay in the United States. William Mann received bribes totaling $28,500 from several restaurant employees and their spouses to alter a law enforcement database and falsify immigration and travel documents allowing them to illegally extend their stay in the country.

Media Hanging LaRussa Out to Dry

The Rangers are the first team since the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks to win a World Series game after trailing in the eight inning. The Texas Rangers scored two runs in the ninth inning to defeat the St Louis Cardinals 2-1 Thursday and tie the best-of-seven World Series 1-1.

Quick, tune in the MLB Network to see the LaRussa roast.  Now the Rangers can do no wrong and LaRussa is an idiot.  Do you see a pattern here? 

Oh well, now we get to listen to two days of all Rangers all the time while the Cardinals are the goat.

The Rangers made a memorable ninth-inning comeback, tying this World Series at one game apiece. Texas scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take the lead and then held on in the bottom half. The Rangers manufactured the two runs to get the victory in dramatic fashion.

Ian Kinsler led off the ninth with a bloop single and then stole second base with Andrus looking to bunt him over. Kinsler was safe on a close play, putting him in scoring position with no outs. Andrus singled on a two-strike count and when the Cardinals’ throw wasn’t cut off, Andrus took second. That was big in that he was able to eventually score from third later in the inning.

Michael Young and Josh Hamilton, two Rangers struggling to get something going this postseason, did what the game asked them do to with sacrifice flies off closer Jason Motte.

For the second straight night, Cardinals pinch-hitter Allen Craig greeted reliever Alexi Ogando with a go-ahead single. This time, Craig did it the seventh. In Game 1, his hit in the sixth sent the Cards to a 3-2 win.

Texas has not lost two straight games since Aug. 23-25. They sure waited a while to save themselves on this night that began as duel between starters Colby Lewis and the Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia. Box Score

Today’s sports headlines, starting with the widespread buzz that Tony LaRussa stole Ron Washington’s lunch money last night with managing wizardry and bold moves. 

To declare outright victory in a managing matchup, you have to win by more than inches. Let’s give Washington time to rally against a team whose starting pitchers have been making mostly cameo appearances lately.

More importanly to MLB is that very few Americans saw either LaRussa or Washington pacing in the dugout. The 9.6 overnight rating for Wednesday put Fox on pace for an all-time low in the Fall Classic. I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Both get worse every year.  After 14 years of making viewers ears bleed, casual baseball fans have heard enough. See Twitter for details.

The series shifts to Texas for the next set of games starting Saturday at Rangers Ballpark, when left-hander Matt Harrison takes to the mound against Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse.

Can’t wait to see the genius of Tony LaRussa at work in Arlington!