Josh Hamilton

The Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants will be competing in the 2010 World Series which commences on Wednesday night.  Okay, let me rephrase that.  The San Francisco Giants will do battle with the Texas Rangers in the 2010 World Series which gets underway on Wednesday in San Francisco.  Even reworded it has the same meaning and shock value too.  

Just in case you didn’t know, a 2009 World Series rematch between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies is not happening.

To many baseball fans surprise, both powerhouse ballclubs lost in the Championship Series. Some might say the Phillies and Yankees lacked the heart, as making the postseason is basically part of the regular schedules.

Regardless of the reason, a loss is a loss no matter how it happened, who was injured, why so many players were slumping or if a team had too many days off. 

Almost seven months, 2,430 regular season games, an entire postseason completed and it all almost ended exactly where we were a year ago. Almost.

The San Francisco Giants have not won a World Series in over 55 years. Their counterparts, the Texas Rangers, have never won period.

Nonetheless, both of these squads have proven themselves worthy of dancing in the Fall Classic. Texas found their way in a six-game upset (if you can call it that) of the powerhouse Yankees, while San Francisco (thank you Tommy Wiseau) marched into Philadelphia and conquered the Phillies.

Great, is it not?

Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge comes in to pitch the top of the ninth. The veteran righty K's Nate Schierholtz to lead things off, then allows a bunt single to Andres Torres and another single to left to Freddy Sanchez.

Lidge then gives a free pass to Buster Posey, forcing Giants closer Brian Wilson to come to the plate.

It looked like the Giants were considering pinch-hitting Pablo Sandoval, but it seems to be just a ruse.

And you'll never guess who just strolled into Game 6 for the visiting San Francisco Giants: two-time Cy Young Award-winning starter Tim Lincecum, who started and went seven strong innings in a Game 5 loss on Thursday.

Lincecum strikes out Jayson Werth to begin the inning, but then allows consecutive singles to right to Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez.

Manager Bruce Bochy comes to get Lincecum, opting instead for the more late-game-seasoned Brian Wilson. Not sure what the thinking was initially in bringing in Lincecum.

After a quiet bottom of the seventh from the Phillies against Giants reliever Javier Lopez, the Giants struck back in the top of the eighth.

Still facing reliever Ryan Madson, Juan Uribe—starting at third base in place of Pablo Sandoval and who had been hit by a pitch in his last at-bat—took the tall righty deep to right and into the first row of seats, giving San Francisco a 3-2 lead and shocking the home crowd into silence.

Madson comes back to whiff Edgar Renteria to end the frame.

The Phillies could now be down to six outs on their season.

'Twas the top of the seventh inning in Philadelphia.

Reliever Ryan Madson has entered the game for the Phillies, replacing starter Roy Oswalt, who went a very solid six innings. The hard-throwing veteran allowed nine hits but allowed just two runs, one of them unearned, while striking out five and walking none.

The even-harder-throwing Madson strikes out Travis Ishikawa looking and Andres Torres swinging to begin the frame.

With Friday night's Game 6 win by the Texas Rangers over the New York Yankees, half of the 2010 World Series is now set.

Texas right-hander Colby Lewis threw eight dominant innings and Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz came through with clutch hits in the fifth, as the Rangers dethroned the 2009 World Series champs with a 6-1 win at the Ballpark in Arlington.

By Tyler Ward

The Texas Rangers are moving on to their first World Series. Their opponent, though, we are still waiting to find out if it'll be the Phillies or Giants. But, for now, it's the Rangers' time. They will be appearing in their first World Series, even though they just won their first postseason series earlier this month when they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays.