Luol Deng had 29 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bulls to 102-74 preseason victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.Derrick Rose added 14 points and six assists for the Bulls (4-4) in their final preseason game before Wednesday night’s opener at the Oklahoma City Thunder.Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird watched the blowout from a few rows behind the bench.Darren Collison and Roy Hibbert both had 14 point for Indiana (3-4), which played without Danny Granger and T.J. Ford.The Pacers open the season at San Antonio on Wednesday.The Bulls scored 10 straight points to take a 25-13 lead. Deng scored four points in the span and had 15 points in the first quarter, going 10 for 10 from the line. The Bulls closed the first half on a 13-4 run to take a 59-38 lead.Deng finished the half with 17 points and Rose added 11.It was the second straight game the Pacers were without Granger and Ford. Granger sprained his left ankle and Ford didn’t play because of a strained right hamstring.Joakim Noah missed his second consecutive game with the flu. Kyle Korver played after missing Wednesday’s game against Toronto with an ankle cyst. He scored seven points.

SAN FRANCISCO—Doc got the best of The Freak this time in a rematch of aces.Roy Halladay outdueled Tim Lincecum and kept the Phillies alive in the NL Championship Series, pitching them back home for another attempt to stave off elimination with a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night. Jayson Werth’s solo homer in the ninth quieted the raucous sellout crowd of 43,713, and many fans began making for the exits even before Philadelphia pulled within 3-2 in the best-of-7 series.Halladay’s bunt — which appeared to be foul — helped spark a three-run third inning, when Shane Victorino drove in the first of two runs that scored on a fielding error by first baseman Aubrey Huff.Placido Polanco followed with an RBI single, and the two-time reigning NL champions forced a Game 6 back home in Citizens Bank Park on Saturday and another cross-country trip. Jonathan Sanchez starts for the Giants against Roy Oswalt, who is 10-0 in 12 starts at
Philadelphia this year.Philadelphia put San Francisco’s celebration on hold. The Giants now must win once in two tries at Philly for the franchise’s fourth pennant since moving West in 1958. San Francisco has not been to the World Series since the Giants’ Barry Bonds-led team lost Game 7 to the Angels in 2002.After Ryan Madson struck out the Giants 4-5-6 hitters in the eighth, Brad Lidge finished things off for the Phillies with a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the postseason. Philadelphia will try to become the 12th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-7 series. The Red Sox were the last to do it in the 2007 ALCS against Cleveland.The Giants put the possible tying run in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but couldn’t capitalize, losing in a potential postseason clincher at home for the first time since Game 7 of the 1962 World Series against the New York Yankees.In a series dominated by pitching, the Phillies are
hitting just .209 and the Giants .220. Little has separated the teams, despite trailing in the series, Philadelphia has outscored San Francisco 18-16.Halladay hardly had no-hit stuff, but he had his edge. In a matchup of Cy Young Award winners won by Lincecum in the opener, Halladay stared down Pat Burrell after a called third strike to end the first, and Burrell jawed at Halladay while sprinkling in profanities. Clearly fuming in the dugout afterward, Halladay returned to the mound seemingly unfazed by that moment or a steady drizzle that hit during parts of the later innings. Halladay kept dealing, even if he wasn’t his most dazzling.Lincecum, the two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, beat Halladay five days earlier. He was 2-0 so far this postseason and pitched another solid game except for one rough inning, but the offense failed to back him.Halladay labored at times and threw 108 pitches in six innings, far from the control and dominance he
exhibited in tossing only the second no-hitter in postseason history Oct. 6 to start off the Phillies’ division series sweep against the Cincinnati Reds.Halladay hurt his groin in the second inning, according to Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. Still, Halladay allowed two runs and six hits, struck out five and walked two – including a free pass to leadoff man Andres Torres in the first that led to a run on Buster Posey’s RBI groundout. The defense behind him even had a few bobbles Thursday but came through.After San Francisco skipper Bruce Bochy’s managerial moves paid off in the previous two games, Manuel made some tweaks that were spot on.Manuel flipped the top of his order, going with Polanco back in the No. 2 hole — where he batted in Game 1 against Lincecum — after Chase Utley had been there the previous three games. Utley batted third, giving the Phillies three lefties among his first four hitters including switch-hit leadoff man Victorino.Raul
Ibanez also was back in left field for the Phillies after sitting out against a lefty starter Wednesday. He snapped an 0-for-15 funk with a single to start Philadelphia’s three-run third inning.After Ibanez’s hit, Lincecum plunked Carlos Ruiz — the record-tying fourth time Ruiz has been hit this postseason. Halladay laid down a bunt that catcher Buster Posey picked up right near the plate. Posey threw to third, but Pablo Sandoval could not get back to the bag for the force. Halladay did not run, thinking it was a foul ball, and was easily thrown out at first.After Utley’s third-inning single, Lincecum retired the next 11 Phillies batters in order before Jimmy Rollins singled to start the seventh. Rollins then stole second and third, becoming the first to steal two bags in one inning of an NLCS game since New York’s Roger Cedeno in Game 4 of the 1999 NLCS. It’s now been done a total of seven times in NLCS history.

Patrick Kane called himself lucky. “Mine and Patrick Sharp’s kind of snuck in,” Kane said of the Blackhawks’ goals in the second and third shootout rounds in their 2-1 victory over Vancouver on Wednesday night. “We’ll take it.” Jonathan Toews and Sharp scored first, matched by Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler. After Kane’s backhander slid under Roberto Luongo’s pads and the goalie accidentally nudged it across the line, Mikael Samuelsson fired his shot wide of the net, giving the Blackhawks their fourth straight victory.The game’s closeness wasn’t a surprise. The teams met in the playoffs the last two years, the Hawks winning each series.To Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault, the Blackhawks look every bit a champion.Vancouver cramped the Hawks free-skating style until overtime, when Marian Hossa’s breakaway with 2:13 left was stopped by Luongo. Marty Turco’s save on Manny Malhotra with 19 seconds left brought on the shootout.Sedin and Viktor Stalberg scored in regulation.Sedin tied it a minute into the third period. Skating in from the left side, he fired a shot past the sprawled Turco after the goalie stopped defenseman Christian Ehrhoff from the right crease.Stalberg scored with 37.7 seconds left in the first period, wristing a shot over Luongo’s left shoulder from 15 feet in the right slot after taking a feed from Jake Dowell.Vancouver (2-3-2) outshot the Hawks 37-32, including an 8-2 margin in overtime.The Hawks, who won only one of their first four games, improved to 5-2-1.In the third period, Luongo made difficult saves on Hossa at 1:34 and Kane’s one-timer midway through the period. Luongo made another big save on Hossa’s breakaway midway through overtime. A minute later, Turco countered with a glove save on Kesler and stopped Malhotra from the crease with 19 seconds left.Turco’s best stops in regulation were on Kesler and Mason Raymond, the latter on a rebound six minutes into the game. The Blackhawks’ defense generally limited the Canucks to deep-angle chances after that, with Sedin’s goal and Kesler’s overtime chance the glaring exceptions.

NOTES—Vancouver center Rick Rypien served the first game of an indefinite suspension for grabbing a fan Tuesday night in the Canucks’ loss in Minnesota. His hearing with the NHL is Friday….Canucks defenseman Keith Ballard (concussion) missed his third straight game, and defenseman Dan Hamhuis (foot) sat out for the second game in a row…..The Blackhawks went back to a conventional lineup of 12 forwards and six defensemen after dressing seven defensemen Monday night in a 3-2 victory over St. Louis.

TORONTO—Luol Deng scored 22 points, Derrick Rose had 20 and the Bulls beat the Toronto Raptors 110-103 in exhibition play Wednesday night, snapping a two-game losing streak.Rose also had nine assists and eight rebounds.Brian Scalabrine had 14 points and James Johnson scored 13 of his 14 in the fourth quarter as the Bulls improved to 3-5 in the preseason. Chicago’s C.J. Watson scored 12 points and Kurt Thomas had 10.Leandro Barbosa scored 22 points for the Raptors, with Andrea Bargnani adding 19.DeMar DeRozan had 15 points while Jarrett Jack and Linas Kleiza each had 12 for the Raptors, who dropped to 3-4.Toronto led 54-50 at the half, but the Bulls rallied to take a 78-75 lead into the fourth.The Bulls outrebounded the Raptors 44-22 in a 109-88 home victory on Oct. 12, but Toronto had the edge on this night, outrebounding the Bulls 45-36. That was thanks in large part to Reggie Evans, who had 16 rebounds. Evans had eight rebounds in the first quarter alone, one more than the entire Bulls team.Bargnani shot 7 for 14 and is 14 for 26 in his past two games after going 16 for 64 in Toronto’s first four exhibition contests.Toronto finished 2 for 14 from 3-point range.Bulls starters finished 16 for 19 from the free throw line, with Deng going 7 for 10.

NOTES—Joakim Noah (flulike symptoms) and Kyle Korver (left ankle) did not play… Raptors C David Andersen returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s win over Phoenix with a sore lower back. … Toronto concludes its exhibition schedule with a game against New York in Montreal on Friday. The Bulls are home to Indiana on Friday in their final preseason contest.

NEW YORK—They were facing the end of their season and a miserable winter after that. Not to worry, Joe Girardi said. Speaking in the wee hours before his players went home for a few hours sleep ahead of Game 5, the New York Yankees manager implored them not to give up.No panic here. C.C. Sabathia pitched like a champion, and the Yankees are heading for Texas.Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano hit consecutive homers to build an early cushion, Sabathia made the lead stand up and the Yankees beat the Rangers 7-2 Wednesday to close within 3-2 in the AL Championship Series.A late-arriving crowd for the late-afternoon game wondered whether this would be it for the defending World Series champs after Texas outscored them 25-5 while winning three straight.A difficult comeback? Yes.Impossible? No. By the time Curtis Granderson hit an eighth-inning homer for his second RBI of the game, belief among the Yankees was starting to grow.Now the teams will go deep in the heart of Texas to decide the pennant in the best-of-7 series. When they resume in Arlington for Game 6, Phil Hughes starts for the Yankees against Colby Lewis in a rematch of Game 2, won by the Rangers 7-2. Texas may be holding the ultimate postseason ace in the hole: Cliff Lee would start a Game 7 against Andy Pettitte.Still, Lee’s 7-0 postseason record is on their minds. In the 50th anniversary of a franchise that has never reached the World Series, Texas remains one win away.New York is trying to overcome its first 3-1 postseason deficit since 1958. Since the LCS went to a best-of-7 format, 24 of the 30 previous teams to take 3-1 series leads have won pennants.For Yankees fans, 2004 is still fresh. That’s when New York won the first three games of the ALCS, but the Boston Red Sox became the first major-league team to rebound from 3-0 postseason deficit.Yankees players actually dressed for success. They all arrived at the ballpark ready for a postgame charter flight.Sabathia recovered from an erratic opener, staying away from too much trouble against Josh Hamilton and Texas’ big bats. Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz made an early exit with hamstring trouble, a day after Yankees star Mark Teixeira was lost for the postseason with a hamstring injury.Cruz expects to play Friday. But no matter what, the season is over for Teixeira. The All-Star first baseman was removed from the postseason roster and replaced by Eduardo Nunez, and Teixeira would not be eligible for the World Series. Lance Berkman took over at first base and had a scare when he slipped chasing Kinsler’s foul pop, causing his head and back to snap back. Berkman needed smelling salts in the dugout at the half inning. He stayed in, and caught Elvis Andrus’ foul pop for the final out.On what would have been Bob Sheppard’s 100th birthday and Mickey Mantle’s 79th, the Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the second as losing pitcher C.J. Wilson had trouble with the muddy mound and created a hole with a pair of four-pitch walks. Jorge Posada and Granderson had run-scoring singles, and another run scored on an overthrow of third by Francoeur for an error in right field.Posada, a snail-like runner with just 20 steals in 16 seasons, sped home from first base.Girardi had sensed a change in attitude. Sabathia lasted just four innings in the opener, when he started on eight days’ rest and the Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit. Leads of 5-0 and 6-1 never seemed comfortable in this one as he allowed two runs and 11 hits — matching his season high — in six innings with no walks.His key outs came in the sixth, when the Rangers loaded the bases with one out.Matt Treanor, who had homered in the fifth, hit an RBI grounder. Then, culminating an eight-pitch at-bat, Sabathia froze No. 9 hitter Mitch Moreland with a curveball to strike him out. The big man responded with a fist pump.Kerry Wood had his second big pickoff of the series in the seventh. Andrus singled leading off, advanced on a wild pitch and was caught leaning by Wood, who caught Kinsler off first in the eighth inning of the opener. After Wood struck out three in two scoreless innings, Mariano Rivera finished in a non-save situation as the moon rose above the ballpark in right.Wilson threw just 48 of 93 pitches for strikes, giving up six runs — five earned — six hits and four walks in six innings as Texas lost for the first time in six postseason road games this year.Sabathia gave up more hits, but Texas couldn’t break through.New York is lucky the series isn’t over. Texas has outscored the Yankees 32-18 and outhit them .316 to .217, including .348 to .160 with runners in scoring position.Alex Rodriguez (.176), Nick Swisher (.105) and Marcus Thames (.154) all have failed to hit their weight. Teixeira (0 for 14) has been replaced by Berkman (.222).

NEW YORK—Big home runs. Shutdown relief pitching. Blowout wins.The AL Championship Series has turned into the one-sided affair many expected — except that it’s the Texas Rangers who are one victory from the World Series, not the New York Yankees.Bengie Molina hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off A.J. Burnett in the sixth inning, Josh Hamilton added a pair of solo drives to give him four in four games and the Rangers battered the Yankees 10-3 on Tuesday night for a 3-1 ALCS lead.On a night of contested home runs, a hamstring injury that finished Mark Teixeira for the postseason and another rash of late walks by Rangers relievers, the AL West champions brought a little bit of the Wild West with them.A victory Wednesday in Game 5 will put them into baseball’s showcase for the first time — in the 50th season of a franchise that started play as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961.Fans started streaming out of Yankee Stadium in the late innings, while Rangers president and part-owner Nolan Ryan smiled in his seat.Derek Holland got the win with 3 2/3 innings of scoreless one-hit relief.The big ballpark was as quiet as a minor-league field for the second successive ninth inning. Texas is 5-0 on the road in the playoffs, and the Yankees are on the verge of losing three consecutive postseason home games in a single series for the first time since 1942.Game 5 will have a rematch of starters from the opener, with the Yankees’ CC Sabathia pitching against C.J. Wilson. Since the LCS went to a best-of-7 format, 24 of the 30 previous teams to take 3-1 series leads have won pennants.Nelson Cruz hit the last of Texas’ four home runs, a two-run drive in the ninth that gave the Rangers seven home runs in the series and 15 in the postseason. Hamilton’s home runs in the seventh against Boone Logan and the ninth off Sergio Mitre made him 5 for 15 in the series and gave him seven RBI. Angry Yankees fans booed over and over.Aiming for a Series matchup against San Francisco or Philadelphia, Texas has outscored the Yankees 30-11, outhit them 43-26 and would have swept if not for wasting a five-run lead in the opener, when the Yankees turned late walks into runs.While Texas is hitting .307, New York is limping at .198, including .154 (6 for 39) with runners in scoring position. Alex Rodriguez has been a bust against his former team, going 2 for 15 (.133) with two RBI.Molina’s two-out home run came after an intentional walk to David Murphy and put Texas ahead 5-3. Molina circled the bases and pounded a fist against his chest — and left Burnett clasping hands behind his head.Robinson Cano hit a second-inning home run off the top of the right-field wall — his third of the series — that left Cruz screaming and pointing after a fan touched his glove as he tried to make a leaping catch.Two batters later, Lance Berkman hit a high drive down the right-field line that was clearly foul but initially was ruled fair by Reynolds. After a video review — only the third in postseason play since the process began two years ago — umpires reversed the call and ruled it foul. The Yankees didn’t even argue.Holland, Darren O’Day and Clay Rapada walked the bases loaded in the eighth with Texas leading 7-3. After Darren Oliver’s 0-1 pitch appeared to glance off Nick Swisher’s back foot — there wasn’t a call — Swisher flied to short center on the next pitch, dropping to 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position in the playoffs. Berkman followed with an inning-ending forceout, and Oliver finished for a save.Burnett, who took the loss, was one out from making it through six innings, more than the Yankees could have expected.The $82.5 million man had lost seven of his last eight regular-season decisions, was dropped from the rotation in the first round and hadn’t pitched since Oct. 2. Since 1952, pitchers starting postseason games with 16 or more days’ rest are now 0-11 with a 7.43 ERA in 15 starts, and Burnett joined a list of losers that includes Roger Clemens, Catfish Hunter and Kerry Wood.And now the Rangers are on the verge of knocking out the Yankees.

NOTES—Michael Jordan was at the game…..Derek Jeter scored his LCS-record 32nd run and set a postseason mark with his 30th double…..The barrel of Brett Gardner’s broken bat flew through the air and shattered a TBS camera.

SAN FRANCISCO—Cody Ross delivered again, Matt Cain outdueled Cole Hamels and the San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 Tuesday for a 2-1 lead in the NL Championship Series.Picked up off waivers in August from Florida, Ross added to his quickly growing postseason legacy. He homered three times in the first two games at Philadelphia and hit an RBI single in Game 3 to break a scoreless tie.Bochy even tinkered with his lineup, moving Ross up into the No. 5 spot. The good-natured guy who aspired to be a rodeo clown as a kid came to the plate to chants of “Cody! Cody!” San Francisco grabbed the edge in its best-of-7 series against the two-time defending NL champions — with two more games in their home ballpark.The Giants have never won the World Series since moving West to San Francisco before the 1958 season. They came within six outs of a title in 2002.The last time this franchise won it all was in 1954, as the New York Giants. On a team that included future Hall of Famer Willie Mays and other big-name players, it was a part-time outfielder who hit .253 in his career — Dusty Rhodes — who emerged as the Series star with two homers in six at-bats.So far this postseason, that role of unlikely hero belongs entirely to Ross, an outfielder with a lifetime .265 mark. Ross and Rhodes both played seven seasons and reached the postseason just once.Ross hit an RBI single in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie and fellow playoff first-timer Huff followed with a run-scoring single.This marked the third impressive pitcher’s duel in as many games of this NLCS. First, it was Roy Halladay vs. Tim Lincecum, then Roy Oswalt and Jonathan Sanchez. Joe Blanton will start for the Phillies in Game 4 on Wednesday night, though manager Charlie Manuel considered Halladay on short rest. Blanton last pitched one inning of relief on the final day of the season, an 8-7 loss at Atlanta, and has not started since Sept. 29.Rookie Madison Bumgarner starts for the Giants in his first career matchup with the Phillies. Along with Ross moving up, Aaron Rowand earned a start in center field, then doubled and scored on Freddy Sanchez’s fifth-inning single.Cain allowed two hits over seven innings, struck out five and walked three in a strong 119-pitch effort.Javier Lopez pitched the eighth and Brian Wilson finished it for his fourth postseason save and second in as many tries this series. Cain and 2008 World Series MVP Hamels each began with three scoreless innings. The left-handed Hamels didn’t allow a hit until Edgar Renteria’s single to start the fourth, while Carlos Ruiz’s one-out single in the third was the first off Cain.After Renteria’s hit, Sanchez sacrificed him to second. Buster Posey struck out swinging and former Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell walked. Ross followed with his single.San Francisco managed only four hits in losing 6-1 on Sunday night at Citizens Bank Park. The Giants knew they needed to do more Tuesday to swing the momentum back in their favor.Bruce Bochy started Rowand against his former club in place of the struggling Andres Torres. Bochy said Torres would be back in the lineup Wednesday against a right-hander. When Rowand scored, the first person to greet Rowand in the dugout was Torres.Freddy Sanchez in the No. 2 hole was the only Giant to stay in the same spot in the order. Shortstop Renteria moved into Torres’ regular leadoff hole, while Huff was moved down to sixth from third.Jian Uribe played after he was scratched late before Game 2 with a bruised left wrist. An MRI exam Monday showed no structural damage.Cain showed no signs of a long layoff in earning his first career postseason victory. Pitching on 10 days’ rest since a no-decision in Game 2 of the division series against Atlanta on Oct. 8, Cain beat the Phillies for the first time. He had been 0-3 lifetime with a 6.23 ERA in his first five career starts against Philadelphia.Bochy visited Cain after the right-hander hit Ruiz and then walked pinch-hitter Ross Gload with two outs in the seventh, but stuck with him. Cain retired Shane Victorino on a groundout.Cain shut down the heart of the Phillies’ loaded lineup, too.Chase Utley, batting second for the second straight game, came in 7 for 15 with three home runs against Cain. He went 0 for 4. As did Placido Polanco and Raul Ibanez, who grounded into a game-ending double play.Ibanez is in an 0-for-15 funk dating to the Division Series with Cincinnati.Hamels, coming off a five-hit shutout against Cincinnati on Oct. 10 in his last outing, was tagged for three runs and five hits in six innings. He struck out eight and walked one.

NOTES—Giants starters have yet to allow an earned run in 22 2-3 innings at home this postseason…..Bonds, J.T. Snow, Robb Nen and Shawon Dunston all threw out ceremonial first pitches….Huff batted sixth for just the fourth time all season…..Rowand’s double was his first postseason extra-base hit since a home run on Oct. 3, 2007, against Colorado while with the Phillies…..Cain went 11-0 this season when the Giants scored three runs or more for him….Wilson has 10 postseason strikeouts, five this series after five against Atlanta

For a decade now, the Cubs have gone with celebrity managers.First Don Baylor, who stayed 2 1/2 years and had one 88-win season. Then Dusty Baker, who stayed four years and inspired the 2003 “Dustiny” run that ended a win short of the World Series. And then Lou Piniella, who won two division titles, won 97 games in 2008 and then presided over a year and a half of more disappointment.Piniella retired in August, and when it came time to name his permanent replacement, the Cubs didn’t go high-profile this time.Instead, they’ve given the job to 53-year-old Mike Quade, who today signed a two-year deal with an option for 2013.Quade is a baseball lifer, as colleague Scott Miller detailed in a column last month. He earned plenty of respect for his work during years in the minor leagues, and as a major-league coach. He earned even more for the way he handled the job of interim manager after Piniella left, and the Cubs’ 24-13 record under his watch no doubt helped convince general manager Jim Hendry to give him the job full-time.Hendry had other options, higher-profile options. He could easily have handed the job to Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg, who deserved a chance after going to manage in the minor leagues (and by all accounts doing his job very well). He could have tried throwing money at Joe Torre. He could have waited to see if Joe Girardi would leave the Yankees.That was NEVER going to happen.Instead, he stuck with Quade, who was barely known when he took over for Piniella and not much better known now. He never played in the major leagues, spending five seasons as a player bouncing around from Class A to Double-A and back. He worked all over the minor leagues as a manager, and even won the Caribbean Series once as a manager in the winter league in the Dominican Republic, but that doesn’t exactly get you notoriety.He’ll be known now, all the more so if he can do the impossible and become the manager who finally takes the Cubs back to the World Series.It’s a huge challenge. It always is on the North Side of Chicago. If anything, it’s a bigger challenge now, because the Cubs are a flawed team stuck with a bunch of bad contracts.Is Quade the right guy? That’s hard to tell. If September is a bad time to judge whether players are ready for the big leagues, it’s just as bad for judging managers, and many teams have made mistakes holding onto interim managers who had once good September.You wonder what this says about Sandberg, and also what it says to Sandberg. So many star players have refused to go manage in the minor leagues, and many of those have been given managerial jobs (Don Mattingly, for instance). Sandberg not only went to the minors, but Cubs people said he worked hard to learn every part of the operation (asking for advice on how to write scouting reports).You wonder how this affects Girardi, who was never all that likely to leave the Yankees, but now is left without much leverage in his coming contract negotiations.But Hendry knows that this hire needs to be a good one. He has enjoyed great support so far from the Ricketts family, who just finished their first season as the Cubs owners. Hendry knows that support could easily fade if the Cubs keep losing.He knows that his fate could be tied to the next manager. Now, it’s tied to Mike Quade.You may not know Quade very well. Soon, you will.Oh, and how about Sandberg? The plot thickens!

NEW YORK—Cliff Lee stumbled as he stepped up to his seat at the postgame podium.That was about his only slip-up all night.The ace of October went through the New York Yankees like a buzzsaw again, striking out 13 and pitching the Texas Rangers to an 8-0 victory Monday for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 AL Championship Series.Josh Hamilton hit an early two-run homer off Andy Pettitte and started a six-run outburst in the ninth with a leadoff double. Lee allowed only two singles in eight innings and became the first pitcher to reach double digits in strikeouts three times in one postseason.Mr. Automatic improved to 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA in eight postseason starts. Three of those wins have come against the power-packed Yankees, including two in last year’s World Series for Philadelphia.New York won the other four games against the Phillies to take home its 27th championship, but now faces a tall task if it plans to repeat. The Yankees must win three straight against the resilient Rangers to advance without facing Lee in a decisive Game 7 at Texas.Game 4 is Tuesday night and the Yankees will start struggling right-hander A.J. Burnett, who hasn’t pitched since Oct. 2. Tommy Hunter goes for Texas in his first career start at Yankee Stadium.Pettitte, the ol’ pro seeking his 20th postseason win, did his best to match Lee. But the longtime New York left-hander hung a first-inning cutter that Hamilton yanked over the short porch in right for his second homer of the series.Texas broke it open in the ninth against an ineffective David Robertson, getting RBI singles from Nelson Cruz and Bengie Molina, plus a two-run single by Mitch Moreland.Rangers closer Neftali Feliz flung his 100 mph fastball in the ninth and finished the two-hitter in front of a nearly empty ballpark, adding two strikeouts to increase Texas’ total to 15 — one shy of a postseason record for Yankees batters.New York’s two hits matched a postseason low also set in Game 4 of the 1958 World Series and Game 3 of the 2001 division series.Lee nearly landed with the Yankees before Seattle traded him to Texas on July 9. Maybe they should have offered a few of their many All-Stars — Lee doesn’t seem to need much help.Michael Young had three hits for the Rangers, who are 4-0 on the road in these playoffs. Texas won all three games at Tampa Bay in the first round, including a pair of masterful performances by Lee.Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees fared no better. Cutters, curves, sliders — they couldn’t touch Lee, who pumps in one strike after another like a robot programmed to do so.Lee was so dominant, New York hitters were left shaking their heads in the dugout or questioning calls by plate umpire Jim Reynolds.Robinson Cano showed bunt, Brett Gardner tried another headfirst dive into first base. None of it worked.Gardner singled leading off the sixth and stole second, but Lee never rattled. He struck out Jeter for the second time, then induced routine grounders from Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira, who is 0 for 11 in the series.Lee has been spectacular in the postseason, striking out 67 and walking only seven in 64 1/3 innings. Even after throwing a season-high 122 pitches, he was going to pitch the ninth until Texas broke it open.Lee matched a career high for strikeouts, also accomplished July 27 against Oakland.He retired his first 11 batters Monday night, striking out seven, before missing high with a full-count fastball to Teixeira. It was the left-hander’s first walk in 19 2/3 innings this postseason, drawing a loud roar and a standing ovation from some in the sellout crowd of 49,840.Rodriguez drove the next pitch to deep left-center, but Cruz reached down for a running catch that ended the fourth.Jorge Posada fisted an opposite-field single into shallow right with two outs in the fifth for New York’s first hit.Young singled on the ninth pitch of his at-bat in the first inning and then Pettitte hung a 2-1 pitch to Hamilton in the middle of the plate. The slugger was a bit off balance on his front foot, but strong enough to pull the pitch about 330 feet to right field, clearing the inviting porch at Yankee Stadium.Fellow lefty CC Sabathia made a similar mistake on a slider to Hamilton in the first inning of the series opener and he lined it to right for a three-run homer. Hamilton also drew four walks in Game 2, two of them intentional.Pettitte set down 15 of 16 after the home run, with the only blemish coming on Young’s two-out infield single in the third. He threw 61 pitches through the first three innings, 17 to Young in his first two at-bats.Pettitte, who owns postseason records for wins, innings and starts (42), allowed five hits in seven innings. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.A top contender for AL MVP, Hamilton barely missed another two-run shot when his sixth-inning drive was caught at the right-field fence.Gardner hit a bouncer to first in the third and tried to beat the play with a headfirst dive — nearly an exact replica of his infield single that sparked New York’s late comeback in Game 1.This time, Lee was quick to cover and Gardner appeared to miss the bag with his hand, perhaps pulling it away to make sure he wasn’t spiked. First-base umpire Angel Hernandez called Gardner out on a close play, and the Yankees didn’t argue.

NOTES—The Rangers have hit home runs in all eight playoff games this year, longer than any streak they had during the regular season….Pettitte gave up only two home runs to left-handed hitters during the regular season, both to Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena…..Hall of Famer Bob Gibson had three consecutive games with at least 10 strikeouts for St. Louis in the 1967 and ’68 World Series…..A security official tackled a fan who ran onto the field in the top of the fifth before the man even made it into fair territory. He was quickly restrained and led away.