For the second straight night, the Texas Rangers’ powerful bats were silenced by a St. Louis starter.

Jaime Garcia pitched seven strong innings while allowing zero runs on just three hits and striking out seven. Everything was going right for the right-hander and manager Tony La Russa, who lifted Garcia for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh, which produced the Cardinals’ only run of the night when Allen Craig singled home David Freese.

But it was the Rangers’ work on the base paths in the top of the ninth that allowed Texas to come from behind by scoring two runs and propel them to a 2-1 victory in Game 2 on Thursday night.

Down 1-0 and facing a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series, Ian Kinsler led off the ninth with a single to center. Had the Cardinals not been playing doubles defense, Kinsler’s shallow fly ball probably would have been caught by Matt Holliday in left field. Instead, it brought the go-ahead run to the plate for the Rangers, who were threatening for the first time all night.

With Elvis Andrus up to bat, Kinsler took off for second and appeared to be gunned down by St. Louis backstop Yadier Molina. But second base umpire Ron Kulpa called Kinsler safe to the dismay of the ground. Replays showed that shortstop Rafael Furcal swiped the ground as Kinsler got his hand to the bag safely, proving that Kulpa’s call was correct.

With Kinsler now in scoring range, Andrus delivered a single of his own off closer Jason Motte. While his hit wasn’t enough to score Kinsler from third, Andrus headed for second on a heads up play after he saw the ball get past cutoff man Albert Pujols, putting two men in scoring position for Josh Hamilton. The left-handed slugger then delivered a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Kinsler and moving Andrus over to third. Michael Young then did his job by hitting another sac fly to score Andrus and all of a sudden the Rangers had a lead for the first time all series.

Texas closer Neftali Feliz wound up walking the first batter he faced in the bottom of the inning, putting Molina on base and the potential game-winning run up to bat. But Feliz struck out Nick Punto and Skip Schumaker and then retired Furcal on a fly out to right to end the game and send Texas home with a split in the series.

Of course, base running wasn’t the only thing that saved the Rangers on the night. Andrus made two outstanding defensive plays in back-to-back innings in the fourth and fifth. In the fourth, he and Kinsler retired Holliday on a slick double play, as Andrus went to his left and flipped the ball back to Kinsler, who made a bare-handed catch while tossing the ball to first to complete the play. In the fifth, Andrus made an even better play while diving to his left to halt a potential base hit by Furcal, then flipping the ball to Kinsler using only his glove to register a force out at second. Both plays stopped potential scoring rallies for St. Louis.

With things tied at one game apiece, the series now shifts to Texas for three games, starting with Game 3 on Saturday night.

New York City based singer/songwriter Ari Hest has a very passionate fan base, one that helped choose the songs for his 2009 release, Twelve Mondays. Hest is back with a brand new album of new material, Sunset Over Hope Street, and as always, this prolific songwriter has delivered another set of stellar songs that can maybe best be described as alternative pop.

And speaking of passionate, Hest is a huge fan of the New York Yankees, and we had the chance to catch up with him while he’s on tour in support of Sunset Over Hope Street, to ask him some questions about the 2010 baseball season complete with predictions:

The Scores Report: So how do you feel about the Yankees’ chances this year as a whole–and where you do expect them to end up in the standings and why?

Ari Hest: I think the Yanks will finish first in the division, but I have doubts about them beating Texas in the playoffs. The pitching isn’t quite what it used to be.

TSR: What do you think about the starting rotation and do you think the Yankees can get by with Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia as the 4 and 5 starters, or will that offense just bludgeon opponents anyway?

AH: Actually I think they will win around 90 games and still take the division, so neither their pitching nor offense will be anything special — only enough to win the division.

TSR: How many years do you think Mariano Rivera can effectively pitch?

AH: I think somewhere around 2046 he’ll retire. He’s only 43 now.

TSR: What are your long-range predictions for who will meet in the World Series and why?

AH: World Series this year: Phillies beat Rangers in 7 games, since both teams are stacked. Nobody can beat that Philly pitching in a short series.

TSR: What are your predictions for AL and NL MVP?

AH: AL – Josh Hamilton and NL – Ryan Howard

Bonus question, TSR: Do you think the NFL labor situation will be settled before September?

AH: I really hope so. It’s so lame. And the fans get hurt the most.

For more information on Ari Hest music and tour dates, please visit www.arihest.com. And maybe we’ll check back with Ari at the end of the season to see how things shook out.

After breaking a bone in his right shoulder during a freak play at home plate during a loss to the Tigers on Tuesday, Rangers’ outfielder Josh Hamilton made some interesting comments to the media.

“It was just a stupid play,” Hamilton said and added “I listened to my third-base coach. That’s a little too aggressive. The whole time I was watching the play I was listening. (He said),’Nobody’s at home, nobody’s at home.’ I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t want to do this. Something’s going to happen.’ “

Hamilton’s comment could be taken a couple of different ways. He could be referring to his decision to listen to Anderson’s urging and how it was stupid of him diving headfirst. Therefore, he’s not calling Anderson out as much as he’s just saying it was a “stupid” play in general in that he should have either stayed or found a different way to slide.

On the flip side, maybe he is calling Anderson out in that the third base coach should have never urged him to run. But to that I would say: Hey Josh, you didn’t have to go. Base coaches are essentially another pair of eyes helping players out. Just because my financial investor tells me to invest all of my money in this “can’t lose” proposition, it doesn’t mean I’ll take his advice. If Hamilton thought it was a bad idea to run, he should have stayed at third base.

But regardless of whether or not Hamilton was or wasn’t calling Anderson out, the bottom line is that it was a freak play. Injuries happen in sports and there was no way Hamilton, Anderson or anyone else could have predicted what happened in that situation. It was just an unlucky ordeal.

I also think Hamilton deserves a break here. He just found out that he would be out for the next eight weeks and obviously he’s frustrated. Given his injury history, he probably has a sense of “here we go again” and he’s no doubt upset that he won’t be able to play. He shouldn’t be calling coaches out (if that was what he was doing), but let’s cut him some slack.

Here’s a six-pack of observations from the Giants’ 4-0 win over the Rangers in Game 4 of the World Series. San Fran is now just one win away from becoming World Champions.

1. It’s hard to oversell how good Bumgarner was.
Had Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner walked onto the field in Game 4 and proceeded to give up five runs on eight hits to the Rangers in their home ballpark, people would have shrugged and said, “What did you expect from a rookie pitching in the World Series?” But the fact that he went eight innings without giving up a run and limited the Rangers to just three hits was unbelievable. The Rangers had only been shutout once at home this year. Once. Bumgarner faced the league’s top hitting team and completely dominated them for eight innings. He needed just 106 pitches to record 24 outs and struck out six while holding Texas without an extra-base hit. Think about that for a second: Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Vlad Guerrero, the seemingly unstoppable Mitch Moreland – zero extra-base hits. Unreal. Madison Bumgarner was unreal in the biggest start of his young career.

2. Bochy continues to make all the right decisions this postseason.
Every move that Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy has made this postseason – from changes to his lineup to handling the pitching staff to defensive adjustments in the later innings – has paid off. He made two underrated moves before Game 4 that will certainly be overlooked in the Giants’ victory. One was benching a highly ineffective Pat Burrell and replacing him with Nate Schierholtz, which forced Cody Ross to move to left field. The move gave the Giants a major lift defensively, as Ross made at least one great catch that would have surely fallen in front of Burrell for a base hit. And who knows, there may have been others that would have led to Rangers’ runs. Schierholtz wasn’t any better than Burrell at the plate, but it didn’t matter. Moving Ross over to left and getting Burrell out of the lineup was the key. The other move Bochy made was replacing Aubrey Huff with Travis Ishikawa, which gave the Giants a better defensive first baseman and allowed Huff to concentrate solely on his offense. The end result was that Huff hit a two-run homer in the third, which was really all the offense San Fran needed with how well Bumgarner was pitching. (Of course, the double Andres Torres hit to score Edgar Renteria in the seventh and the homer Buster Posey hit in the eighth certainly helped ease the tension for Bumgarner and the rest of the club.)

3. The Giants continue to get all the breaks, but…
From calls on the base paths to near home runs to balls that bounce off the top of the wall instead of into the stands (or over the wall for home runs), the Giants have gotten all the breaks in this series. That said, they’ve also made their own breaks too. Their starters have been better, their bullpen has been better, their offense has been more clutch and Bruce Bochy has outmanaged Ron Washington. So when it’s time for one team to catch breaks, it’s been the Giants who have been most deserving. That may be salt in the wounds of Rangers fans, but it’s true. The Giants have just been better.

4. Rangers need way more production out of the heart of their order.
The Giants’ pitching is outstanding – maybe even the best in baseball now. But there’s simply no excuse for this Texas team to have gotten shut out in two of the first four games in this series. Vladimir Guerrero’s at-bats on Sunday were putrid. Josh Hamilton has been nearly non-existent since his play in the ALCS. Nelson Cruz’s power…well, what power? The heart of the Rangers’ order has turned to mush since the start of the World Series and if it doesn’t come alive in less than 24 hours, then Texas will be watching the Giants celebrate on their home field Monday night. No offense to Mitch Moreland, but he can’t be your best hitter in a lineup that consists of guys like Hamilton, Guerrero, Cruz, Ian Kinsler and Michael Young.

5. The umpiring has been brutal thus far.
I can’t even begin to describe the zone that home plate umpire Mike Winters had on Sunday night. He was calling strikes high, low, inside, outside – it didn’t matter. Then he called balls that were high, low, inside and outside. He was all over the place and the fact that Madison Bumgarner went eight innings while only giving up three hits is a freaking miracle. It was bad on both sides and it only got worse as the game went on. Pitches that were called balls in the first three innings were called strikes in the last three innings. Winters’ performance was bad and unfortunately, it only fell in line with the rest of the home plate umpires this series. And the guys on the base paths weren’t any better, as replays showed that the Rangers got screwed on two bang-bang plays at first base. Major League Baseball can’t be too happy with these umpiring crew this series. This is the best the game has to offer?

6. It’s redemption time, Cliff Lee.
The Rangers are in a bad spot down 3-1 in the series, but they still have plenty of life left. First and foremost, they need to take it one game at a time because if they get caught looking ahead, they won’t make it past Monday night. They have their ace on the mound in Game 5, but unfortunately for them their ace was shelled in Game 1 and they’re also facing the Giants’ best pitcher in Tim Lincecum. That said, it’s highly unlikely that Lee has two bad games in a row and Lincecum doesn’t like pitching in warm climates (San Francisco hardly constitutes as a warm climate – especially at night), so if the Rangers’ bats come alive then there’s no doubt they can force a Game 6. Their backs are up against it, but they have the advantage in Game 5 and they need to keep that in mind.

Here are five quick-hit observations from the Rangers’ 4-2 win over the Giants in Game 3 of the World Series. The victory cut San Fran’s series lead to 2-1.

1. Colby Lewis brilliant yet again in key situation.
Lewis is now perfect in his last three postseason starts, recording two wins against the Yankees and one Saturday night versus the Giants. Until Cody Ross took him deep in the seventh, Lewis was nearly unhittable. On the night he allowed just two runs on five hits while striking out six in 7.2 innings of work. The Rangers absolutely needed to have this game and Lewis was unfazed by the pressure of pitching in a World Series with his team down two games to none.

2. Ron Washington fortunate that 8th inning blunder didn’t cost Rangers.
Washington’s lack of experience showed in the eighth inning when he left Lewis in after he gave up a home run to Andres Torres to make the score 4-2. Closer Neftali Feliz wasn’t warmed up and instead of bringing in a relief pitcher after Torres went yard, Washington stuck with Lewis and the starter wound up hitting Aubrey Huff to bring the tying runner to the plate. Fortunately for Washington and the Rangers, Darren O’Day got Buster Posey to ground out to short or else this night could have ended in disaster. Washington should have made the change after Torres hit his home run and certainly should have had Feliz warming up in case the closer needed to pitch multiple innings.

3. The Giants are in trouble if this series goes seven games.
The reason is that Jonathan Sanchez would likely be their starter for Game 7, which isn’t good given his last three appearances this postseason. After lasting just two innings in Game 6 of the NLCS, Sanchez followed up that performance on Saturday night by throwing only 4.2 innings while giving up four runs on six hits. He also walked three batters and gave up two dingers, one of which put the Giants in 3-0 hole after Mitch Moreland went deep in the second. Josh Hamilton then went yard in the fifth to put Texas up 4-0 and Sanchez was pulled shortly thereafter. After a fantastic outing in Game 3 of the ALDS, Sanchez has fallen apart. He had a solid regular season, but he’s started to revert back to the pitcher that loses his cool and succumbs to pressure situations. If Tim Lincecum pitches Game 5 and Matt Cain Game 6, then Sanchez would pitch Game 7 if this series lasts that long. That has to be a concern for Bruce Bochy and company, even if they won’t admit it now.

4. The Giants have to sit Pat Burrell.
Burrell is one of the reasons why the Giants are in the World Series and his experience has kept him in the lineup to this point. But the guy is brutal right now and looks completely overmatched. After striking out four times on Saturday, he’s now 0-9 with eight strikeouts against Texas. Bruce Bochy can’t continue to write Burrell’s name in at the cleanup spot with this kind of production. Nate Schierholtz has primarily been a backup all season, but he would give the Giants another lefty in the lineup and he would dramatically upgrade their defense. Bochy has to make a switch because Burrell just doesn’t have it right now.

5. If Nefatli Feliz was nervous, he certainly fooled me.
As Joe Buck and Tim McCarver noted in the broadcast, there had to be some concern for the Rangers about how the 22-year-old Feliz would perform in his first World Series. But after he threw a 96 mph heater to the first batter he faced in the 9th inning, that concern had to fly out the window. He retired all three batters he faced in order and struck out Pat Burrell and Juan Uribe (two home run threats when they’re on) on straight cheddar. What an impressive World Series debut by the youngster.

With a dominating effort over the Yankees in the ACLS, the Texas Rangers have punched their first ticket to the World Series in club history.

Colby Lewis allowed just one run over eight innings in the Rangers’ 6-1 win in Game 6 Friday night. The only run he allowed shouldn’t even have counted, as A-Rod scored on what was deemed a wild pitch, but replays showed that the ball actually hit Nick Swisher’s leg.

No matter. Lewis yielded just three hits and struck out seven while frustrating Yankee hitters with his outstanding command of the strike zone. He won both of his ALCS starts, posting a 1.98 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP with 13 Ks over 13 2/3 innings.

Josh Hamilton was named series MVP, as he reached base in all four plate appearances on Friday and batted .350 with four long balls in six games. Considering his long personal battle with drugs, alcohol and immense ups and downs, it’s amazing how far he’s come. He’s an easy guy to root for if you know his background and he’s a true comeback tale.

As for the Yankees, they can only blame themselves. They hit just .201 to the Rangers’ .304, while driving in 19 runs to Texas’ 38 RBI. They were also bested in home runs (9 to 6) and ERA (6.58 to 3.06).

This is yet another example of how baseball is won on the field – not in the offseason. The Bombers could have spent triple what they did this year to field a team and they still would have had to execute on the field. But they didn’t and now they’ll be at home come November.

Comment Starter: The Rangers now await the winner of the NCLS between the Phillies and Giants, as San Fran currently holds a 3-2 lead. What matchup would you most like to see? The two underdogs or a powerhouse Phillies-Rangers matchup?

Things don’t look good in the Bronx.

A.J. Burnett retired the fist six batters he faced Tuesday night, but then remembered he was A.J. Burnett pitching in 2010 and the wheels started to fall off. The end result was disastrous, which is what most pundits figured when Joe Girardi appointed him his Game 4 starter.

Burnett allowed five runs on six hits in six innings of work as the Rangers crushed the Yankees 10-3 in Game 4 of the ALCS. Texas’ catcher Bengie Molina (a great midseason pickup from the Giants) went 3-for-4 with a go-ahead three run homer in the sixth off Burnett, while the eventual ALCS MVP Josh Hamilton also hit a pair of dingers and Nelson Cruz added a two-run shot in the ninth.

Compounding issues for the Yankees is that Mark Teixeira is now done for the season with a strain in his right hamstring. Twenty-three-year-old Eduardo Nunez hit .280 this year in 50 at bats with one home run, but he’s not going to keep pitchers awake at night like Teixeira will.

The Bombers face elimination this afternoon at 4:00PM ET. The good news is that they have their ace on the hill; the bad news is that CC Sabathia has a 7.20 ERA in this year’s postseason. C.J. Wilson will start for the Rangers and his ERA is a tad better (2.03), plus he flustered New York hitters for most of Game 1 before they got to him in the 7th inning. And even if the Rangers lose today, they’ll be at home for the final two games of the series and Cliff Lee (who’s pretty good in the postseason) would start Game 7 if necessary.

The Red Sox have proved this decade that being down 3-1 doesn’t mean a club can’t pull off a comeback. But the Yankees look old, tired and dare I say completely overmatched in this series. They look finished.

Wow, things are getting wild. The Rays and Yanks are now tied for first in the AL East, and the Red Sox are not going away. The Padres have a commanding 6-game lead. The Braves have lost four straight, but the Phils could not capitalize. The Reds are hot and the Cards are not. The Twins and Rangers have not been hurt by recent mediocre play. So there you have it, and here you have your power rankings….

1. New York Yankees (78-50)—It was only a matter of time before the Rays caught up, but until Tampa goes ahead in the standings, the Bombers are still the team to beat.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (78-50)—Joe Maddon’s team sure doesn’t mess around, do they?

3. San Diego Padres (76-51)—If you keep waiting for the Padres to come back down to earth, you’re going to be waiting until possibly November.

4. Minnesota Twins (74-55)—Watch out for this team in the postseason. All of a sudden, with Brian Fuentes and Matt Capps, they have a pretty sick bullpen. Joe Nathan who?

5. Texas Rangers (73-55)—Josh Hamilton has an excellent shot at the triple crown, and this lineup has to send shivers through the collective spine of the Yankees’ pitching staff.

6. Cincinnati Red (74-54)—Speaking of triple crown, how about Joey Freaking Votto?

7. Atlanta Braves (73-55)—They can’t sustain losing streaks at this point in the season, but are still hanging tough.

8. Boston Red Sox (74-55)—In what other division can you be 19 games over .500 and in THIRD place?

9. Philadelphia Phillies (71-57)—They had their chance to close the gap this past week, and blew it.

10. San Francisco Giants (71-58)—Lots of talent, but can they put it all together? P.S. What is wrong with Tim Lincecum?

Not much has changed at the top of this list, but the Rangers are making a statement. Meanwhile, the Mets, Cardinals and Twins have been playing such mediocre baseball that a few upstarts have knocked them off this list. Here are the pre-All Star game power rankings:

1. New York Yankees (55-31)—It’s on. The Rangers out-bid the Yanks for Cliff Lee, but lookie here—the Bombers have won 7 in a row. They don’t need no stinkin’ Cliff Lee.

2. Texas Rangers (50-36)—Yesterday, Nolan Ryan and company vaulted their team from playoff contender to World Series contender by obtaining Mr. Lee. The middle of their lineup with Vlad, Hamilton and Nelson Cruz just might be the most potent heart of the order in baseball.

3. Tampa Bay Rays (52-34)—Sorry, Boston. Sorry, New York. These pesky Rays are not going away.

4. Atlanta Braves (51-35)—This pains me as a Mets fan, but the Braves made a series-opening statement last night at Citi Field. They are for real and they are trying to pull away from the Mets and Phils.

5. San Diego Padres (50-36)—You think the Mets wish they still had Heath Bell?

6. Boston Red Sox (50-36)—They aren’t giving in either. The next two and a half months are going to be very exciting in the AL East.

7. Cincinnati Reds (45-35)—That team dressed in red leading the NL Central is not the Cardinals. By the way, if Joey Votto didn’t win that online voting, it would have been one of the worst all-star snubs in baseball history.

8. Detroit Tigers (47-37)—Don’t look now, the Tigers have won four in a row and the White Sox six in a row, and they are 1-2 in the AL Central while the Twins are suddenly floundering.

9. Los Angeles Dodgers (48-38)—Will the NL West be like a stock market correction and have the Dodgers and Rockies take over the Padres’ lofty spot? The Dodgers are winning again and making their move.

10. Colorado Rockies (48-38)—Always a late bloomer, the Rockies are also making a move, and their stud ace Ubaldo Jimenez is a positively sick 15-1 at the all-star break.

We’re about 40% through the current major league baseball season. That means we’re about to enter the warmest part of the season both on the field and in the standings. Contenders will begin to emerge and pretenders will begin to fade if they haven’t faded already. So we thought it was a good time to have our first installment of MLB power rankings…..

1. Tampa Bay Rays (41-26)—Amazingly, the Rays have a better road record (23-11) than a home record (18-15). Also amazingly is how they jumped out of the gate and have stayed in front—with their usual formula of strong pitching (3.55 ERA leads the AL), speed (major league best 76 steals) and defense.

2. New York Yankees (41-26)—Don’t look now, but the Yankees have caught up to Tampa. They just have too much talent for the Rays to keep them down all season.

3. Boston Red Sox (41-28)—Struggling to keep pace with the Rays and Yanks, but now just one game back and right in the thick of it. Does anyone else feel bad for the Orioles and Blue Jays?

4. Atlanta Braves (40-28)—A huge surprise to be leading the NL East on June 19, but not as big a surprise as the Phillies sitting in third place.

5. Minnesota Twins (38-29)—Ignited by a new ball park and a fat new contract for their superstar catcher Joe Mauer, the Twins are going to run away with the AL Central because no one else wants to.

6. San Diego Padres (39-28)—Definitely the surprise of the first two months, Bud Black has this Padres team over-achieving. They recently relinquished first place, but took it right back, and the Padres may stay in the hunt because of how well they fare in those close, low-scoring games.

7. New York Mets (39-28)—Here’s another shocker. The Mets were picked by most pundits to be a fourth or fifth place team. And here they are battling the Braves for NL East supremacy. But the biggest surprise has been the starting rotation, where guys like Mike Pelfrey, RA Dickey and Jon Niese are reminding Mets fans of the Seaver/Koosman/Matlack days. And we haven’t even mentioned Johan Santana.

8. Los Angeles Dodgers (38-29)—They’ve quietly made their move from bottom feeders to frontrunners, and they have the talent to stay there. But seriously, Manny Ramirez has SEVEN home runs on June 19? Hmmmm.

9. Texas Rangers (39-28)—Everyone thought the Mariners would be the team to beat in the AL West this year, but they have one of the worst records in baseball at 26-41. Meanwhile, the Rangers are riding a frightening middle of the lineup (Guerrero/Hamilton/Cruz) to the division lead

10. San Francisco Giants (37-29)—With Barry Zito looking like his old self, this team is extremely dangerous with him, all-world Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez.

Tie 10. Detroit Tigers (37-29)--A 7-game winning streak has them right here and only a half-game back of the Twins.