Lone Ranger

Lone Ranger by Tom Verducci (Sports Ill.)

The decision by Texas manager Buck Showalter to sit or pull his four best players in the final game of the season will be moot in a matter of days except for one possible scenario: the Yankees lose the Division Series to the Angels in five games, the last in Anaheim. Should that happen, Showalter's decisions and New York's whining about them will be debated anew.

Let's get one thing straight: New York blew the home-field advantage in its ALDS against the Angels by mailing in a 10-1 loss to Boston Sunday. Yankees manager Joe Torre prioritized correctly when he saved veteran pitcher Mike Mussina for Game 1; winning a playoff game is more important than playing for a home game that might not ever occur. The poor outing by Jaret Wright only underscored the horrible miscalculation last winter by George Steinbrenner's Tampa posse that they would rather have Wright than Jon Lieber, Matt Clement or even Eric Milton.

So the Yankees put themselves in the uncomfortable position of needing help from another team. The Rangers were leading the Angels, 4-1, when Showalter removed Mark Teixeira, Hank Blalock and Michael Young in the third inning. Alfonso Soriano did not play. Los Angeles came back against the Texas bullpen and won the game and earned the home-field advantage for the first round.

I admit I didn't like the moves at face value. Here was a game with playoff implications, and Showalter did not play it as he would a typical game. And what's the big deal about pulling your stars off the field so they get a nice thank-you ovation from the fans, a deserved "cookie" as Showalter called it? If I'm a Rangers fan and bought a ticket I want to see those guys actually hit four or five times, not walk off the field in the third inning. The third inning!

After talking with members of the Texas staff, including Showalter, however, I understand why he ran the game the way that he did and why the Yankees have no complaint.

Soriano, for instance, played the last month of the season with an injured leg and asked not to play in the finale. What's the manager supposed to do when a guy already has played hurt and asks for a day off -- tell him to suck it up and try to win for the Yankees, the team that traded him?

Teixeira came out of the game after he pushed his average above .300. Another out would have left him at .300, but only if his average was rounded up. A legit .300 season deserves to be protected. Happens all the time.

What about Blalock and Young? They deserved equal treatment to Soriano and Teixeira. The four of them are the foundation of the team. And if the manager believes that letting them take a bow in the final game is a meaningful show of thanks and support -- not just by the fans, but more important, by the manager -- he has that right. Showalter replaced them after they each reached base, not knowing if they would get on base again and miss out on such an opportunity.

Showalter made all of those decisions in the best interests of the Texas Rangers, a mission which happens to be at the top of his job description. When you put your fate in the hands of another team, as the Yankees did and even as the Red Sox did (the White Sox liberally rested regulars against Cleveland but swept the series, anyway), you cannot demand that the other team operate the way you think it should.