There’s no celebration this year for the Texas Rangers.
Last year, a fan rally followed the Texas Rangers’ first appearance in a World Series. This time, having lost the Fall Classic for the second straight year, there won’t be one.
The Rangers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after coming within one strike of clinching the Series twice in Game 6.
Rangers spokesman John Blake told The Associated Press on Saturday that the team decided before the Series began that no party should be held if they lost this year. Blake said the team’s expectations were higher, “and if we didn’t win, we didn’t think it merited it.”
Last year, several thousand fans rallied after the Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in five games.

Updated Oct 29, 2011 7:46 PM ET

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP)

There’s no celebration this year for the Texas Rangers.

Last year, a fan rally followed the Texas Rangers’ first appearance in a World Series. This time, having lost the Fall Classic for the second straight year, there won’t be one.

The Rangers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after coming within one strike of clinching the Series twice in Game 6.

Rangers spokesman John Blake told The Associated Press on Saturday that the team decided before the Series began that no party should be held if they lost this year. Blake said the team’s expectations were higher, ”and if we didn’t win, we didn’t think it merited it.”

Last year, several thousand fans rallied after the Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in five games.

ARLINGTON, Texas — There’s no celebration this year for the Texas Rangers.

Last year, a fan rally followed the Texas Rangers’ first appearance in a World Series. This time, having lost the Fall Classic for the second straight year, there won’t be one.

The Rangers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after coming within one strike of clinching the Series twice in Game 6.

Rangers spokesman John Blake told The Associated Press on Saturday that the team decided before the Series began that no party should be held if they lost this year. Blake said the team’s expectations were higher, “and if we didn’t win, we didn’t think it merited it.”

Last year, several thousand fans rallied after the Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in five games.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Texas Rangers needed one win in the final two games of the 2011 World Series to capture their first ever MLB Championship. They had not lost back-to-back games since August and had momentum on their side. After going down 2-1, the Rangers fought back in Texas, winning back-to-back games to take a 3-2 lead. It seemed like they would finally win that elusive title. Then St. Louis improbably came back three times in Game 6 to win in extra innings and finally thumped Texas in Game 7 to win their 11th World Series title.

Texas has still never won a World Series.

Heading into Game 6, Mike Napoli(notes) was the hero of the series and he would have won the MVP award if Texas could have held on. In Game 6, Texas did everything they could to win offensively. Even Josh Hamilton(notes), playing with a hurt groin, hit his first home run of the postseason. Nelson Cruz(notes) tied Barry Bonds and Carlos Beltran(notes) for most home runs in the postseason at eight. Mike Napoli tied Mickey Mantle for extra base hits in a World Series.

None of it was enough, because for the second year in a row, the Rangers pitching staff couldn’t hold it together. Neftali Feliz(notes), the wonderful Texas closer, blew his first save in the postseason in the ninth inning of Game 6. Matt Harrison(notes) started Game 7 and finished with a 7.04 ERA with only one strikeout. Scott Feldman(notes), who played so well this postseason, finished the World Series with a 9.00 ERA and gave up three walks and two earned runs in Game 7.

Alexi Ogando(notes) came into the postseason as the bullpen’s secret weapon. He helped shut down Detroit in the ALCS. In the World Series, he ended up with a 10.13 ERA. This was a repeat of the 2010 season.

There were some high points in the series. For one, Derek Holland(notes) has made his case for the role of ace on the 2012 pitching staff. Mike Napoli is the undisputed catcher on this team now and should be held onto for dear life. This team has a lot of potential on offense but their pitchers are so young and inexperienced. It almost seemed like they were playing not to lose. I am almost certain Ogando was pitching not to give up a run instead of trying to overpower the hitters.

The Texas Rangers played so well all season long and to see it end like this is discouraging. Texas should have won Game 6 and this World Series should have been over on Oct. 27. When St. Louis fought back in that game and won, it deflated the Texas Rangers in Game 7. Where the Rangers go from here is anyone’s guess.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has been a Texas Rangers fan his entire life, watching the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate play for over 30 years. While Texas has moved their Triple-A team, Shawn still remains a loyal Rangers fan and dreams of the year they finally win the big one.

Source: MLB.COM

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Read More: game recap, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers

Magic Number: 3

Wednesday night’s game spent most of the evening as the kind of that makes a fan want to kick something. C.J. Wilson had the stuff, getting 13 swinging strikes from the best team in baseball at avoiding whiffs, with eight strikeouts and just five hits allowed. Unfortunately, he faced the sworn nemesis of the Texas Rangers, umpire Gerry Davis and his wandering strikezone. The questionable zone drove up Wilson’s pitch count, keeping him to just six innings, and helped produce three walks. One of those walks extended a fifth inning which saw Oakland eke out two runs to take the lead.

At that point, ex-Ranger Brand McCarthy was “cruising.” By cruising, he was getting the Rangers to hit balls to fielders when runners were on. Through the first seven innings, six Rangers reached safely with no outs, and the only one who scored did so on a Mike Napoli double play. McCarthy only had one strikeout to his name, but the Rangers — and the luck dragons — were bailing him out and wasting opportunities, and the eighth inning began in a game that felt like a slow death march of frustration. The sort of game that feels really awful when your team doesn’t have a five game lead in the division with eight to play.

Fortunately, instead of being a mostly-meaningless loss, the heroes of the Rangers came through to add another attractive win to the resume. The Rangers’ bullpen Cerberus of Koji Uehara, Mike Adams, and Neftali Feliz ended the game with three no-hit innings, with only Feliz managing some relative struggles with long at-bats and a walk allowed. In the eighth, the Athletics made the strange decision to pull McCarthy after just 79 pitches, and Ian Kinsler launched a home run off of Grant Balfour to tie the game, followed by the game-winner from Josh Hamilton. Two bullets to take the game from frustrating to awesome in a matter of moments.

With the victory, the 2011 Rangers have tied 1996 and 2010 for the third most victories in franchise history, and are a 5-2 finish to the season from tying 1999 for the most; very doable against the Athletics, Mariners, and Angels. More importantly, it moved the magic number to three, a tiny number that could be wiped away before the Cowboys play again. And perhaps most importantly, it kept the Rangers tied with Detroit for homefield in the first round of the playoffs; with the Tigers owning the head-to-head tie-breaker, falling back a game would be like giving them a two game lead with seven to go.

This also marks the first time the Rangers have ever produced back-to-back 90 win seasons. With two of the best seasons the team has ever put forth strung together — and another one high on the list in 2009 — a World Series appearance previously, another playoff appearance forthcoming, and a still-fantastic farm system, we are certainly in the midst, or perhaps at the beginning, of the golden era of Texas Rangers baseball.

It’s fun to take a moment and appreciate that.

GAME CHARTS

FanGraphs Win Expectancy

Biggest Contrubtions (What is this, I don’t even. . . ?)

1. Ian Kinsler 32%
2. Josh Hamilton 21%
3. Neftali Feliz 18%

Gerry Davis’s Strikezone from Brooks Baseball