ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Rays cheap tiffany finished the regular season with the American League's best record, but their hitting statistics made their success look like a magic trick. The Rays' .247 batting average was the worst for a playoff team in nearly 30 years, and they struck out 1,292 times, more than any playoff team in history. So it was not unusual when the Rays' lineups in Games 1 and 2 of the division series with Texas each featured five players who batted below .240 tiffany gift in the regular season. Now, after compiling one run and eight hits in two games to go along with 23 strikeouts, they are in trouble, and the Rangers are on the verge of finally winning a postseason series. For the second consecutive game, the Rays were anemic at the plate and not good enough on the mound to overcome it. Thursday's 6-0 loss to the Rangers sends the series to Texas, where the Rays face another daunting statistic: only one playoff team,Tiffany 1837 the 2001 Yankees, has ever lost the first two games of a best-of-five series at home and come back to win. The Rangers, the A.L. West champions, are the only current franchise that has never won a postseason series. They are 0-3, with all three series coming in the late 1990s against the Yankees. A loss this time would be the most memorable because teams that have won the first two games of a five-game series are 54-5 for the rest of the series. A day after being mostly shut down by the Rangers ace Cliff Lee in Wednesday's 5-1 loss, managing six hits, the Rays fell to C. J. Wilson in his postseason debut. Wilson, a bullpen veteran and formerReturn to Tiffany closer for the Rangers, pushed for a full-time move to the rotation this season. The Rangers obliged, and he rewarded them with a 15-8 record and a 3.35 earned run average. His best performance of the year came Thursday at Elsa Peretti Tropicana Field, when Wilson allowed two hits and walked two over six and one-third innings, striking out seven along the way. Wilson allowed a single to the leadoff hitter Jason Bartlett in the first inning, but he did not give up another hit until Willy Aybar doubled in the seventh after Ben Zobrist walked. With the Rangers leading, 6-0, Wilson stayed to strike out Kelly Shoppach, then was relieved by Darren O'Day and Darren Oliver, who each got an out to strand the runners. The Rangers, meanwhile, had relatively hitting. Michael Young's three-run homer in the fifth inning gave the Rangers a 5-0 lead. It sapped the energy from the domed stadium, at least until Manager Joe Maddon was ejected from the game seconds later. Maddon was Paloma Picasso upset with the previous pitch. Young, with two strikes, checked his swing. The home-plate umpire Jim Wolf called the pitch a ball, and the first-base umpire Jerry Meals said there was no swing. One pitch later, the ball - and the game - were out of reach. Maddon took the field and was quickly redirected toward the clubhouse. The Rays had hoped for a strong pitching performance from James Shields, who won the franchise's first-everFrank Gehry playoff game two years ago at Tropicana Field and is Tampa Bay's franchise leader in starts, wins and innings pitched. But by the end of the season, he was first or second in the majors in runs, hits and home runs allowed, and he pitched seven innings only twice in his final 18 starts. He was 0-4 with a 7.59 E.R.A. in his last six outings. Still, Maddon showed little hesitation in naming him the starter for Game 2, opting to hold Matt Garza for Game 3 in Texas. It did not work out. Shields opened the third inning by hitting Matt Treanor with a pitch. An infield hit by Elvis Andrus put Treanor on third, and he scored when Shields's pickoff attempt to first got past Zobrist, the first baseman. Shields was charged with the error, and the Rngers tiffany charm had a 1-0 lead. Ian Kinsler doubled the lead in the fourth with a solo home run to left field. Sahields was pulled with one out in the fifth inning and runners on first and second. Young's home run came against reliever Chad Qualls. SA