AL East

After two games, the New York Yankees are tied one game apiece with the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series.

There are a number of things that Yankees fans should be aware of as their team returns home for three games.

Normally, a visiting team would feel pretty confident bringing a best-of-seven series back home tied 1-1.  They would have beaten one of the opponent's best pitchers, and they would have the chance to wrap up the series at home with all of their fans behind them.

General Manager Theo Epstein announced a few years ago that he had signed a new deal. The terms of that deal were never disclosed, but it’s safe to say that whatever he is making, this offseason will be a test to see if he’s worth the money.

He wasn’t to blame for Boston’s missing the playoffs, but in a way, the GM is always culpable. The team is full of free agents and Epstein will have a lot to consider, as he attempts to build a side which can compete in baseball’s toughest division.

The Yankees shocked the Rangers with an epic late-inning comeback in Game 1 of the ALCS on Friday night, and now Texas will have to figure out a way to get off the mat less than 24 hours later. New York sends right-hander Phil Hughes to the mound opposite Colby Lewis.

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 By the end of the six innings, the New York Yankees were down 5-0 to the Texas Rangers.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia had to exit after the fourth; his shortest outing of the season.

On the other end, Rangers starter CJ Wilson was shutting down the deep New York line-up. Wilson gave up a homerun to Robbie Cano to start the seventh, but retired the next three and the held the Yankees to a 5-1 score.

The look on Nolan Ryan's face toward the end of the top half of the eight inning said it all. What was happening was shocking, unfathomable and frustrating. Couldn't any pitcher get a gosh darn out?

The occurrences of that inning were a reminder to the Texas Rangers, their fans and their gregarious owner and erstwhile pitcher of just what they were up against.

A gutsy, heads-up play by Brett Gardner set up a stunning five run eighth inning for the New York Yankees, who came back from four runs down to beat the Texas Rangers, 6-5, and take Game 1 of the ALCS last night in Arlington. Gardner beat Rangers' starting picther, C.J. Wilson, to the bag with a headfirst slide after pulling a groundball to first in the top of the eighth.

Here is the good news for Texas Rangers’ fans: At least closer Neftali Feliz is fresh for today's Game 2.

The League Championship Series are under way between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers in the American League and the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants in the National League.

It has become customary to see Latino players every year excel in a single moment or throughout a whole series.

The other day you might have noticed a post on the Yankees Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance that announced our vote for the winner of the Manager of the Year Award, or the Connie Mack Award. Today we are presenting the Rookie of the Year, or Willie Mays Award.