Remember back when the Rangers traded for ace pitcher Cliff Lee in 2010 as a two-month rental plus a hopeful long postseason run.
Everyone has romantic memories about Lee's time with the Rangers, but in case you forgot, he wasn't really all that great in the regular season. Once the calender hit October, though? Boy, he was on fire.
The Rangers went and traded for Cole Hamels on July 31, not as a rental but as a future asset with Yu Darvish set to return in 2016 as the two will form what is set to be a pretty formidable 1-2 punch atop the Rangers' rotation. Turns out, the future arrived after just a couple of months, and Hamels was the Rangers' horse in the postseason.
On Wednesday in a close-out game, Hamels was everything you could possibly want out of an ace in the postseason — something someone like, say, David Price proved not to be.
Hamels cruised through six innings before everything fell apart around him in the seventh, as three routine grounders that should've been three quick outs turned into bases loaded and no outs.
As heartbreaking as Wednesday was for Rangers fans, and for that matter, for the team, everyone associated with the team should be thrilled to see what Hamels offered — the Rangers winning 11 straight Hamels starts before Wednesday. Oh, and he's around for a few more years, at least.
