| | NEW YORK -- Of course the Texas Rangers can't hit. It's the playoffs.
The Rangers' big bats were shut down once again by the New York
Yankees, as Texas lost its seventh straight postseason game, 8-0
Tuesday night.
The Rangers, who have been knocked out in October by New York in
two of the last three years, have scored just one run in their past
42 playoff innings and are hitting .126 (15-for-119) the past two
years.
"We have to get hits. Plain and simple," leadoff man Mark
McLemore said. "If we don't hit the ball, we're not going to win."
All of this for a team that led the majors in batting for the
second straight year (.293), was second in runs with 945, had four
players with more than 100 RBI, and six with at least 20 homers.
All those lofty Texas batting numbers once again added up to a big zero in the playoffs.
This time it was Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez who shut down
the Rangers. But it doesn't matter who the pitcher is -- Texas has
faced six Yankees starters in those seven losses and had equally
bad results.
Their aggressive, free-swinging style falls prey to New York pitchers, who tantalize them with breaking pitches on the edges of the strike zone.
"They can hit with the best of them," New York's Bernie
Williams said. "What happened tonight was the exception rather
than the rule."
The approach worked again. Hernandez allowed only two hits -- both to Ivan Rodriguez -- in eight innings. The Rangers drew seven walks but weren't patient when they mounted their biggest threat in the first inning.
Hernandez got Juan Gonzalez to chase a slider out of the strike zone with runners on first and second. After Rafael Palmeiro walked to load the bases, Todd Zeile swung through a high fastball to end the inning.
"He's really effective against right-handers," Palmeiro said. "He drops down and gives Juan and Zeile trouble. The left-handers have to take advantage of him."
The addition of Palmeiro, who hit .324, with 47 homers and 124 RBI during the season, was supposed to bring an end to Texas' postseason lumber slumber.
Instead, he did not fare any better than the Rangers' holdovers in Game 1.
Palmeiro went 0-for-3, hitting a fly ball to center with two on and two
outs in the third and lining into a double play to end the sixth.
"I don't care ... Yankee Stadium, Yellowstone Park, it doesn't
matter," Rangers manager Johnny Oates said. "We can score more
runs than this by accident."
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