2012 World Series Recap


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Game 1 at Texas
The World Series opens in Texas with Bruce Fogg's Rangers hosting Lee Palmer's Dodgers.  The Rangers are led by Triple Crown winner Matt Kemp while the Dodgers counter with P Clayton Kershaw, RABL's ERA and Wins leader.

Game 1 LA: Kershaw (21-6) on the mound for LA and John Danks (9-8) for Texas. Danks struggled thru the regular season sporting a 5.39 ERA but has saved his best for the Playoffs. In his best outing of the year, Danks blanked the Dodgers on 2 hits over the 1st 7 innings and the BP took over from there as Texas won game one 2-0. League triple crown winner Matt Kemp homered after 2 out in the first for a 1-0 lead. In the 2nd inning Texas scored again after 2 outs had been recorded, when Alex Gonzalez doubled and came home on Kevin Kouzmanoff's single. Rangers 2 Dodgers 0
Game 2 at Texas
Game 2: Haren (16-10) for LA and Texas Ace Cueto (9-5) squared off in another pitchers duel. Kemp came to the plate after two were out in the 1st and once again got Texas on the board with a solo blast to CF. And so it stayed until the bottom of the 5th when Wilson Betamit reached to start the inning on an error by Ranger 2nd sacker Jaime Carroll. Chase Headley came on to run for Betemit and went to 3rd on Clint Barmes ringing double to left center. Headley scored as Haren helped his own cause with a single tying the game 1-1. Cueto managed to pitch out of the Jam with no further damage and thats how it stayed until the 11th inning. With one out in the top of the 11th, Peterson singled and Jaime Carroll walked setting the stage for Alex Gordon, who came thru with a solid single to CF scoring Peterson. The Texas bullpen again slammed the door on LA in the bottom of the 11th as the Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 series lead with a 2-1 win in game 2.  Rangers 2 Dodgers 1
Game 3 at Los Angeles
Game 3: Billingsley (16-9) for LA and Humber (14-4) for the Rangers. Game 3 started out a lot like games 1 and 2. Texas scored 1 in the first on a solo HR from Alex Gordon and then both pitchers settlerd in and posted zero's thru the 3rd inning. In the 4th inning Texas mounted the 1st real offensive surge of the series. Victor Martinez doubled and Sandoval reached on an error. David DeJesus then singled home Martinez. Alex Gonzalez walked to load the based and Jaime Carrol then walked to force home the 2nd run of the inning. Alex Gordon singled to plate DeJesus with the 3rd run of the inning but Gonzalez was gunned down at the plate to end the threat with Texas on top 4-0. And so it stayed until the 7th. Humber was cruising along with a 4 hit shutout when Konerko and Carlos walked to start the 7th. Koji Uehara came on to face Clint barmes who planted his 1st pitch into the cheap seats for a 3 run HR to Put LA back in the game 4-3. But Texas scored once in the 7th and again in the 8th while the Rangers BP shut the door the rest of the way in a 6-3 win for Texas who now have a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.  Rangers 6 Dodgers 3
Game 4 at Los Angeles
Game 4: Collmenter (10-10) for LA and DeLaRosa (4-5) for Texas. Both pitchers were up to the task in another pitchers duel which was tied 0-0 after 5 innings. But the LA bats finally came to life in the 6th. After DeLaRosa recorded the 1st 2 outs, Orlando Hudson walked and Konerko singled him to 3rd. Christian Martinez came on to pitch for the Ranges and Curtis granderson greated him with a ringing triple to right center for a 2-0 Dodger lead. LA added 2 more in the 9th on Wilson Betemit's 2 run HR and LA stays alive with a 4-0 win in game 4.  Dodgers  4 Rangers 0
Game 5 at Texas
Game 5: Kershaw (21-6) vs Danks (9-8). These two pitchers locked up in a classic pitchers duel in game 1. This was not to be in game 5 as both offenses came out firing. With 1 out in the top of the first Angel sanchez singled and went to 3rd on Santana's double. Grandersons deep fly scored Sanchez and LA was on top 1-0. The Rangers answered in the 1st on Matt Kemps 3rd HR of the series and it was 1-1. Texas scored again in the 2nd when Alex Gonzalez doubled home Peterson for a 2-1 lead. In the 3rd Headley doubled with one out and scored when Sanchez and Santana singled to tie the score 2-2. Both pitchers settled down at this point, but Victor Martinez stroked a 2 out solo HR to put the Rangers back on top 3-2. In the LA 7th Headley walked Ethier singled and Granderson walked to load the bases. After Wells lined out, Aviles delivered a run scoring single tying the score 3-3. Then Konerko flied to Kemp who gunned down Ethier trying to score the go ahead and the inning ended with the score ties 3-3. In the bottom of the 8th Kemp hit his 4th HR of the series and Holliday followed with another HR and Texas led into the 9th 5-3. But LA was not going down easy. LA loaded the bases with 0 outs in the 9th and scored 2 runs on infield ground balls where Texas barely missed turning two potential game ending DP's and we go to extra innings. The score remained 5-5 all the way to the 15th inning. LA had the winning run on 3rd with less than 2 outs in the 13th, 14th, and 15th innings but could not score. In the bottom of the 16th inning, Kemp singled and went to 2nd on Martinez 2 out single. David DeJesus finally delivered the game winning hit as Texas wins game 5 in dramatic fashion 6-5 to capture the 1st RABL World Series 4 games to 1. Rangers 6 Dodgers 5
Congrats to Bruce Fogg and Lee Palmer for spectacular seasons and playoffs!