Rangers

American League Championship Series Starting pitching: Getting a possible three starts from CC Sabathia is a big advantage, but the Yankees are shakier across the board than their paychecks suggest. Andy Pettitte is the swing man. The Yankees will win if both he and Sabathia pitch well, but Pettitte hasn't had back-to-back strong outings since before the All-Star break. The Yankees will be taking a huge gamble by giving A.J. Burnett a start in Game 4. C.J. Wilson, who moves into the No. 1 role for the Rangers with Cliff Lee unavailable until Game 3, has made an amazing transition from the bullpen.

The Orioles entered Thursday's doubleheader with the hot-hitting Rangers focused on survival. Orioles pitchers served up eight home runs (and 24 runs) in the first two games of the series to the most dangerous hitting lineup in the American League. A string of injuries - the Orioles made 12 roster moves since Monday - had players shuttling back and forth between Baltimore and Triple-A Norfolk. A beleaguered bullpen staff - still taxed from playing 39 innings in three games in Boston over the weekend - needed to avoid an early arrival in both games.

After Wednesday's game at Camden Yards was postponed -- forcing a doubleheader Thursday -- the Orioles needed both games against the Rangers, and quality starting pitching, to salvage a series tie. And the Baltimore bats were ready to partake in a slugfest early, while making history in the process. The Orioles hit home runs in their first three at-bats of the game -- getting solo shots from Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis -- as part of a five-homer game in a 6-5 win in Game 1. It marked the first time in AL history that a team opened with three consecutive homers and the fourth time overall, the previous time coming when the Milwaukee Brewers did it Sept.

After Wednesday's game at Camden Yards was postponed -- forcing a doubleheader Thursday -- the Orioles needed both games against the Rangers, and quality starting pitching, to salvage a series tie. And the Baltimore bats were ready to partake in a slugfest early, while making history in the process. The Orioles hit home runs in their first three at-bats of the game -- getting solo shots from Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis -- as part of a five-homer game in a 6-5 win in Game 1. It marked the first time in AL history that a team opened with three consecutive homers and the fourth time overall, the previous time coming when the Milwaukee Brewers did it Sept.

One impressive road series against a division leader does not wipe clean a disastrous first half for an Orioles club still in position to post the worst record in franchise history. But a four-game sweep of American League West-leading Texas, which culminated Sunday with a rookie who grew up as a Rangers fan pitching the Orioles to a 4-1 victory, sure eases the pain of grappling with baseball infamy. "You can't feel any happier for these guys. They are playing hard and come in here and win all four games on the road at this ballpark," Orioles interim manager Juan Samuel said.

Whispers Can the Angels catch the Rangers? They went 19-4 in the first 23 games outfielder Mike Trout started, including a 10-1 record in starts since he rejoined the roster in August. Trout was just named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year. … The Rangers went 12-11 in a stretch playing 23 games against teams with winning records. They believe that's when they would have collapsed if they were going to but aren't taking a playoff spot for granted, not with a season-ending series in Anaheim.

It's easy to see why Texas began last night tied with the Boston Red Sox for the highest batting average in the American League at .279. Second baseman Ian Kinsler was third in the league with a .323 average, and outfielder Milton Bradley was sixth at .320. Kinsler also led the league in hits with 114, runs with 74 and total bases with 188, and ranked third in doubles with 27, tied for third in triples with four and was third in stolen bases with 23. Outfielder Josh Hamilton led the league in RBIs with 82 and was tied for second in home runs with 19. On the flip side, the Rangers had the highest team ERA at 4.91.

Luke Scott hit the 100th home run of his major league career and Ty Wigginton also homered, but Texas' power display proved a little more potent Sunday as the Rangers beat the Orioles, 6-4, at Camden Yards. Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero each slammed three-run homers off Orioles starter Kevin Millwood, who fell to 2-14 this season. Hamilton's blast came in the top of the first inning, after rain delayed the start of the game by 22 minutes. Four innings later, Guerrero connected to give Texas a 6-1 lead.

One reason the Rangers are looking to move Michael Young for starting pitching is Neftali Feliz apparently is headed back to the closer's role. Mark Lowe, who had been billed as a possible stopper, didn't help his cause Thursday when he walked the leadoff man with a two-run lead in the ninth. Feliz would welcome a return to the role he filled well enough to win Rookie of the Year. … Jon Garland's injury is a blow for the Dodgers, whose key is the depth of their five-man rotation.

A recent Sunday afternoon at the normally sleepy Loch Raven Reservoir played out like an episode of "Cops. " At its eastern point, a young man and woman who had been hiking made their way down to the infamous Loch Raven cliffs and jumped into the calm, beckoning waters to cool off. They were blissfully unaware that across the water, reservoir Ranger Simon Phillips was watching, just waiting for the splash to spring into action. "We have swimmers in the water," Phillips radioed a fellow ranger and jetted off to cite the swimmers $200 each.

Tonight's Orioles game against the Rangers at Camden Yards has been postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader tomorrow that will begin at 4:05 p.m. Game 2 will not start before 7:05 p.m. Both games will be telecast on MASN. Tickets for tomorrow's game will be valid for both games of the doubleheader, while tickets for tonight's game may be exchanged for seats of equal value for tomorrow's doubleheader or any remaining non-prime home game during the 2012 season, subject to availability.

The last time Koji Uehara was around the Orioles, he was saying tearful goodbyes in the visitor's clubhouse at Yankee Stadium last July. This week, Uehara was back at Camden Yards, this time with the Texas Rangers, the club that acquired him from the Orioles for Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter at the nonwaiver trade deadline. There were some hugs and handshakes this week, but Uehara said, he is a Ranger now. Uehara, the former Japanese star who spent his first 21/2 big league seasons in Baltimore, didn't fare as well in two months in Texas.

Finding a way to respond from demoralizing, soul-crushing defeats is nothing new for the Washington Capitals this season. They've managed to follow up disappointing losses by rallying around one another for weeks now, throughout the playoffs and dating to the end of the regular season. When they host the New York Rangers for Game 6 tonight, though, the Capitals will face the greatest challenge to their collective resiliency as they try to stave off elimination. Washington trails the top-seeded Rangers three games to two in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, and a loss at Verizon Center would end the Caps' season.

So much of the Washington Capitals' success in the postseason has stemmed from their ability to protect and hang on to even the slimmest of margins regardless of the adversity they faced. At a certain point, though, there was bound to be a break that went against them. On Monday night at Madison Square Garden it came in the form of a high-sticking call and double-minor penalty on Joel Ward late in the third period as Washington protected a one-goal lead. The New York Rangers scored twice on that power play — Brad Richards to force overtime, then Marc Staal 1:35 into the extra session — to secure a 3-2 victory and a three-games-to-two lead in this Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Orioles are now winless this season in games after they have played 17 innings. Call it the Great Boston Marathon Hangover. The Orioles came out manhole-cover-flat Monday, and were run over by the Texas Rangers, 14-3, in a game which they gave up 19 hits, got only six and suffered their most lopsided defeat of the young season. The sleepwalking wasn't surprising considering it came a day after beating the Boston Red Sox, 9-6, in a six-hour, seven-minute saga that completed an impressive sweep at Fenway Park.

Goucher is 7-4 in this series and has won the last four meetings. Drew, the No. 2 seed in the Landmark Conference tournament, set a new program record for wins with 13 this season and has won its last eight contests. The Gophers, the top seed in the league tournament, is 16-1 and is riding a 13-game winning streak. Goucher, which won the regular-season meeting between these teams, 18-8, on March 24, is aiming for its second conference tournament crown in the last three years. The Rangers are looking to claim their second league title since 2008.

It was their most surprising series of the 2010 season, when the Orioles stormed into Texas and swept the Rangers in four games to close out last year's first half. Buck Showalter, who was living in Dallas at that time and mulling an opportunity to join the Orioles as manager, joked before Monday's game that he hoped his club could repeat history this week. The Orioles chose the wrong kind of recent franchise history to mirror in Monday's 13-4 loss to the Rangers, however, the kind that has hindered the Orioles for more than a decade: inefficient starting pitching, offensive ineptitude and a dash of bad defense.

Angels, Rangers in ALCS Mike DiGiovanna Los Angeles Times The top four teams in the American League are, in no particular order, the Yankees, Tigers, Rangers and Angels, and I would be stunned if all four, under the new five-team playoff format, didn't reach the postseason. The final spot will come down to the Red Sox and Rays. The axis of power in the league is shifting from the Northeast (New York-Boston) to the West, so I like the Angels and Rangers to reach the championship series.

George Francis Kerchner, a highly decorated Army Ranger who on D-Day successfully led an attack on enemy gun positions that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, died Friday at his home in Midlothian, Va., of complications from a fall. He was 93. The son of a drug company manager and a homemaker, he was born in Baltimore and raised on North Lyndhurst Avenue. He attended Polytechnic Institute until the 11th grade, when he left school to help support his family. He worked as a soda jerk for Arundel Ice Cream Co., which had been established by an uncle, and later as a security guard for the Pennsylvania Railroad.