Back in the swing of things (SF leads TEX, 2-1)

The Texas Rangers offense, designated hitter restored and all, sprung to life in Game 3 of the World Series for a 4-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night as Arlington hosted its first Fall Classic contest.

Just a few quick points to consider about a game that breathed new life into the Rangers after dropping the Series first two games by the Bay:

+ Cliff Lee is great and all, but is there any doubt that Colby Lewis has been equally as important for Texas in this post-season. He now has all three home playoff wins in Rangers club history: Games 2 and 6 against the Yankees and now Game 3 against the Giants. Hopefully a couple of other Texas arms can pick up wins at Rangers Ballpark before the weekend is out.

+ Mitch Moreland's homerun with two outs was big for a few different reasons, but one of the more overlooked aspects of his shot was this: he is the No. 9 hitter. Now, it's not a big deal to get that kind of production for a No. 9 hitter. At some point, everyone who is in the lineup in there because they are capable of producing. It's because because if this game is in a National League park, Moreland is batting 8th and the pitching spot is ninth, which means that three-run homerun probably isn't coming.

+ Michael Young helped quiet the catcalls of "Roger Dorn" with a couple of nice stabs at third base. 1,500 regular season games before he finally makes the playoffs, and don't for a second think that he'll let his post-season legacy be defined by balls that fans think he coulda-shoulda-woulda gotten too.

+ Neftali Feliz had to wait until the Game 3 of the World Series for his first save opportunity. If people thought the young closer might falter on baseball's biggest stage, that certainly didn't show. His first pitch was a strong strike one, and he struck out the first and last batter's he faced in a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning. There was a very long fly ball that Jeff Francour wrangled in at the warning track for Out No. 2, but Feliz went right back to work after the catch was made.

The Giants lead the Series, 2-1, but Texas seemed energized by the home crowd in Saturday night's game. If they can continue to feed off a fan base starved for success, the Rangers should be able to erase a 2-0 series deficit by the end of tonight.

And speaking of starving for success, I'm off to Arlington for today's Dallas Cowboys game...