]NEW YORK - The Texas Rangers collapsed in the first game of the American League Championship Series. Now they are one win away from the franchise's first World Series berth.With catcher Bengie Molina slamming a go-ahead, three-run homer and Josh Hamilton adding two solo home runs, the Rangers scored a 10-3 win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, silencing a stunned Yankee Stadium crowd that emptied well before the game concluded.Leading the best-of-seven series, three games to one, Texas will look to close things out against New York ace CC Sabathia in Game 5 Wednesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.If Texas had not squandered a 5-0 lead in losing Game 1, 6-5, the Rangers would have sprayed champagne already.“We are not thinking about how we are going to close anyone out,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “We are going to go out there and play baseball, and whatever the game asks us to do, we’ll do it.”Lately, that has meant winning.Now it’s the defending champions who have the difficult task of climbing out of a huge hole."It's a very tough-minded group and they have bounced back a lot - not just this year but in their careers," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "They understand what it is all about."Trailing by 7-3, the Yankees threatened with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning. Lefthander Darren Oliver, the fourth Texas pitcher in the inning, got Nick Swisher to fly out to shallow center field for the second out. Texas third baseman Michael Young made a great stab of a hard-hit grounder by Lance Berkman, getting a force at second base to end the inning.The 40-year-old Oliver’s initial thought was an unconventional one before he faced Swisher.“It’s a long run from the bullpen, that was what I was thinking about,” Oliver said. “When I got there, I caught my breath, and then felt, ‘go get them.’”Hamilton then led off the ninth with his second homer of the night and Nelson Cruz hit a two-run shot in the same inning.Yankees righthander A.J. Burnett was making his first postseason appearance this year. He hadn't pitched since Oct. 2, a six-inning stint against the Boston Red Sox.Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano has not needed much help in battering Texas' pitchers this series, but he received some assistance in the second inning.Cano sent right fielder Cruz to the wall on a blast that appeared to be held up by the wind. As Cruz made a leap for the ball, replays showed that his glove was hit by more than one fan. The ball went just over the wall into the stands.Cruz and the Rangers complained about fan interference, but to no avail. Cano was awarded the home run, his third in the series.Right-field umpire Jim Reynolds said that there was never a consideration to review the play on video.“I was confident from the angle that I had that... the ball was in the stands,” Reynolds said to a pool reporter afterward.Two batters later, Berkman rounded the bases after hitting a ball near the right-field foul pole. The umpires reviewed that play and reversed it, ruling a foul ball instead of a homer.It was the third video review ever in the postseason, with the others coming in last year's World Series between the Phillies and Yankees.The Rangers took a 2-1 lead in the third inning without the ball leaving the infield.Elvis Andrus tied the score on an RBI groundout as first baseman Mark Teixeira made a great stab for an unassisted putout. Young's dribbler to third base for an infield single scored the second run.The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the inning after Derek Jeter hit a two-out triple that bounced off the center-field wall. He scored on Curtis Granderson's infield single off second baseman Ian Kinsler's glove.Texas starter Tommy Hunter was chased after 3 1/3 innings with the score tied at 2, one out and the bases loaded. Brett Gardner greeted reliever Derek Holland with an RBI fielder's choice, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead.Holland was the winning pitcher, throwing 3 2/3 innings of shutout ball.“The main thing was definitely just come in and make sure to get the least amount of damage,” Holland said. “I don’t want them to score any runs and just make my pitch.”
Teixeira had to leave the game in the bottom of the fifth with a strained right hamstring. He was hurt while running to first on a fielder's choice. Teixeira was to undergo an MRI exam at New York's Presbyterian Hospital.“Barring some miracle, he won’t be with us [Wednesday] playing,” Girardi said. “You know we are planning on bringing up [Eduard] Nunez, so that would mean he would be out the next round, as well. But it doesn’t look good.”The news kept getting worse for the Yankees. Texas took a 5-3 lead on Molina's three-run, two-out homer to left field in the sixth inning.A hustle play helped set up the home run. With one out, Kinsler flied to deep center field. Cruz tagged up at first and was safe at second base. Burnett then intentionally walked David Murphy to get to Molina, a move that backfired when he lined the first pitch over the left-field wall.“Murphy, he's a great hitter and he kills righthanders, so why not walk him and face me,” Molina said. “I haven't been having a great season. I don't think it's a bad move. I think it's the right move that went wrong.”Girardi said he left Burnett in to face Molina for one simple reason.“He was throwing the ball good and we decided to leave him in,” Girardi said.Texas scored two runs with two outs in the seventh. Hamilton hit a solo home run, his third of this series, and Kinsler later added a bloop single for an RBI.So with one game left at Yankee Stadium, the Rangers hope their next home game is in the World Series and not Game 6 of the ALCS.
