Major League Baseball

Outburst also leads to opportunity

Published Oct. 19, 2010 10:11 p.m. ET

foxsports

NEW YORK - Let's review the Rangers' ninth-inning hitting against the Yankees on Monday night: Batting practice may be as good a way as any to describe it. They came up with six hits that led to six runs. A nice 2-0 lead ballooned into a runaway 8-0 victory.

Let's review the Rangers' ninth-inning pitching: A performance by Neftali Feliz that manager Ron Washington hopes bodes well for the future.

Feliz might not have pitched had the Rangers offense not erupted.

Washington was prepared to allow starter Cliff Lee to go one more inning. When Lee returned to the dugout after the top of the eighth inning, the manager asked the pitcher if he wanted to continue or rest on his two-hit, 13-strikeout laurels.

Lee, as you might suspect, wanted to keep pitching.

The Rangers bats, however, made it moot.

With an eight-run lead, Washington decided to call on Feliz, his rookie closer who sooner or later will have to pitch in a tight save situation against the Yankees or, thinking more positively, a National League opponent in the World Series.

Recall, Feliz, 22, was shaky against the Yankees in the ninth inning of Saturday's second game of the series. He walked two batters and threw 30 pitches in a non-save situation. The Rangers won, 7-2, but it hardly was a confidence builder for Washington.

This time, however, against the top of the Yankees batting order, Feliz struck out Derek Jeter, got Nick Swisher to ground out to second base and struck out Mark Teixeira. A confidence builder not only for the manager but for his other players as well.

Feliz said he was confident enough to have entered a 2-0 game.

"I was ready either way," Feliz said. "The score didn't matter to me. I had a job to do."

Washington appreciated his pitcher's determination, but the manager sounded pleased he didn't have to pitch Feliz in a tight situation.

"Every time we get an opportunity to get [Feliz] out there, it benefits us because he is a young kid," Washington said. "You know, he's saved a lot of games for us. {ellipsis} But in the playoffs it's a different atmosphere. It's a different animal, and I think every time we can get him out there in these type situations, the better it's going to be when we have to put him out there in a tight ballgame."