Rangers in must-win mode

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas

A half-hour after Jeff Francoeur hit an easy fly ball to end Game 2, a curious sight began to unfold in front of the San Francisco dugout.

General manager Brian Sabean and maybe 100 members of the Giants staff gathered on the grass Thursday night at AT&T Park, posing for a group picture around a huge trophy.

Moments later, the party picked up. Family members joined in. Adults ran the bases, a toddler made a headfirst dive toward home plate. Hugs and high-fives for all. Hundreds of fans cheered from the box seats, horns honked outside the ballpark.

Sure looked like the Giants had just won the World Series.

They will, too, unless the Texas Rangers can reverse their fortunes at home. Down 2-0, the hitters are slumping, the bullpen is a wreck and the manager is being criticized. A team that did so well in the AL playoffs got battered 11-7 in the opener, then embarrassed 9-0.

“What you do is you just try to analyze what went wrong and just try to correct it,” Texas manager Ron Washington said before Friday’s workout.

“Now that we’re home, we feel comfortable back in this place. Not taking anything away from the Giants, they beat us soundly,” he said. “We’ve just got to come back here, get focused and win a game. We win a game, everything will be fine.”

Colby Lewis is set to start Game 3 against Giants lefty Jonathan Sanchez.

Signs around Rangers Ballpark proclaimed, “It’s Time!” Francoeur and his teammates hope so.

“I think it’s important for us to come out, play well early, get guys on and put pressure on them. Make them feel uncomfortable,” Francoeur said. “They did a good job of making us seem uncomfortable in their park. Hopefully we can turn around and do the same to them.”

Lewis, who closed out the Yankees in the AL championship series, will try to stop San Francisco’s scoring spree. Texas has been tagged for 20 runs, the most allowed in a franchise’s first two World Series games, according to STATS LLC.

“If you try to get too amped or too overly confident, I think you get yourself in trouble,” Lewis said.

Vladimir Guerrero will rejoin the Texas lineup as the designated hitter. He drove in the first run of this World Series with a single off Tim Lincecum’s leg, but also made two errors in right field and sat out Game 2.

Pablo Sandoval will be the Giants’ DH.