ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - During two seasons in Japan, Colby Lewis became accustomed to pitching nearly every night in front of raucous, sellout crowds.

He points to those experiences in 2008 and '09 with the Hiroshima Carp in helping him gear up for the pressures of the postseason. The 31-year-old Lewis twice pitched the Texas Rangers to victories after their losses to the defending champion Yankees in the AL championship series.

The Rangers now turn to Lewis to lead them in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday night, trailing the San Francisco Giants 2-0 as the scene shifts to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

"We've got to win either way. That's just the way it is,'' Lewis said Friday. "We have to win four out of five. So, there's no room for error. It's just a situation where we're back at home and we played really well here. I'm looking forward to it.''

Jonathan Sanchez takes the ball for the Giants, hoping to bounce back from a rough outing in his team's Game 6 NLCS clincher against the Phillies last Saturday. The left-hander was done after two innings.

Despite the importance of Lewis' next start, he reminds himself to treat each outing on the big stage like it's any other during the course of a season.

"I want to try to keep the same mindset,'' Lewis said. "If you try to get too amped or too overly confident, I think you get yourself in trouble.''

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WILSON'S BLISTER: C.J. Wilson has spent much of the year dealing with an annoying blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand. Enough so that he can make light of the situation to some degree, even a day after the Texas lefty took the 9-0 loss in Game 2 of the World Series against the San Francisco Giants.

"I think this offseason I'll do a lot of woodwork, soak my hands in pine tar and take a lot of batting practice,'' Wilson quipped Friday in the clubhouse. "I need to learn to throw a spitball this offseason so I can effectively pitch with blood on my fingers.''

Wilson left the game Thursday night accompanied by a trainer following a leadoff walk in the seventh. At times, the blister becomes brittle and cracked - that's the case right now - and other times the finger tip fills with blood and turns purple. Wilson carries a needle around in case he has to drain the finger between innings and get rid of the blood.

The blister affects Wilson's fastball velocity and ability to locate his pitches. But he has gotten used to it.

"It's been a six-month process and every day I've been dealing with it,'' Wilson said. "It's something I've been pitching around for a while.''

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WASHINGTON'S LITTLE LOOKALIKE: Ron Washington could hardly believe a now famous 7-year-old second-grader named Liam Roybal thought to dress up as the Rangers manager for career day, which replaced a Halloween party at the boy's elementary school in nearby Keller.

Roybal became an instant Internet sensation for his creative and timely getup - with the Rangers back in town for the World Series. He already wears glasses, but shaved his head and added a stick-on mustache and red Rangers T-shirt with his baseball pants.

"It's very flattering,'' Washington said Friday as his team returned home to prepare for Game 3 on Saturday. "You know, the kid must love baseball, and he must love energy. He must love caring. And that's my personality. And it's nice that there could be someone that wants to imitate Ron Washington. I never in all my wildest dreams thought that. He might want to imitate some other star. I certainly don't consider myself a star, I'm just a baseball man. But it's nice that young kid could watch a baseball game and want to be Ron Washington. That means a lot.''

Washington's players got a kick out of Roybal, too. The boy was shown on clubhouse televisions before Friday's workout.

"It's so good. It's like the hottest e-mail,'' pitcher C.J. Wilson said. "It's great. He's doing the claw.''

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A LITTLE CHEAPER: The average asking price for Game 3 tickets dropped to $1,209 late-afternoon Friday, down from $1,655 a day earlier, according to fansnap.com

The average asking price dropped to $1,133 from $1,340 for Game 4 and remained at $1,164 for Game 5.

If the Series shifts back to San Francisco, the average is $1,320 for Game 6 and $1,642 for Game 7.

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PLAYERS' HONORS: Colorado outfielder Carlos Gonzalez was selected player of the year in a vote by the players' association, and Detroit infielder Brandon Inge was voted Marvin Miller man of the year.

Gonzalez won the NL batting title with a .336 average, was second in RBIs with 117 and fourth in home runs with 34.

Inge receives an award given to a player whose on- and off-field work inspires others. He visits children in area hospitals and three years ago he and his wife Shani made a $100,000 donation to Mott Children's Hospital to help fund a pediatric cancer infusion center.

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AP Sports Writers Ronald Blum and Stephen Hawkins contributed to this story.