I was critical of Texas' decision not to start Cliff Lee on short rest for Game 4, but in retrospect it worked out okay for the Rangers--because who they put on the mound mattered not one iota last night as San Francisco's 21-year old lefty Madison Bumgarner stole the show in throwing eight innings of shutout ball. It's the second time in this Series that San Francisco pitching has blanked the powerful Ranger bats and they are now one win from their first title on the West Coast and the first for the organization since Willie Mays, Leo Durocher and the New York Giants won it all in 1954.

Bumgarner's counterpart, young Tommy Hunter, pitched better than I expected, making only one mistake, the pitch that Aubrey Huff turned into a towering...