Sunday, October 11, 2015

MLB Playoffs: Day 3

Big day yesterday in NL playoffs, with both the Cubs and Dodgers rallying to tie their series.

1.  In St. Louis, the Cubs put up five runs in the top of the second and rolled to a 6-3 win to even their series with the Cardinals at one game apiece.  Now the Cardinals have to win one of the next two games in Wrigley Field, or their season is over.

2.  In Los Angeles, the Dodgers were down 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th, and appeared to be on the way to yet another disappointing flameout in the playoffs.  With men on first and third and one out, Howie Kendrick hit a slow roller to second that raised the potential for an inning-ending double play.  Suddenly, I saw a Dodger crashing into Met shortstop Ruben Tejada, who went flying.  I couldn't understand what had happened at first -- the Dodgers haven't had a player that would make a play like that since Kirk Gibson left.  But this wasn't a Dodger -- it was Chase Utley -- an old Phillie who came over to L.A. as a late-season pickup.  Utley's very un-Dodger-like action caused the talking heads to cluck all day about whether the rules should be changed to prevent this type of play.  (In fact, Tejada fractured his leg and is out for the year.)  Dodger fans won't mind, however, because their team exploded for four runs in the seventh and beat the Mets 5-2.  L.A. will not get a friendly reception in New York -- but my guess is that after missing the World Series for 26 seasons, Dodger fans won't lose too much sleep over that.  They'd probably rather be hated than pitied.

National League Divisional Series:
St. Louis and Chicago are tied 1-1
Los Angeles and New York are tied 1-1

American League Divisional Series:
Kansas City and Houston are tied 1-1
Texas leads Toronto 2-0

9 comments:

  1. Houston beat the Royals 4-2 earlier this afternoon, so the Astros can wrap up that series with a victory tomorrow.

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  2. Meanwhile, in Dallas, the Blue Jays are trying to fight off elimination. After four innings, they lead the Rangers 2-0.

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  3. With one out and a man on third in the top of the 5th, Texas second baseman Rougned Odor makes a great diving catch of a soft liner and then doubles off the runner to end the inning. Toronto still leads 2-0 after 4 1/2.

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  4. With the bases loaded and no one out in the top of the 6th, Toronto first baseman Chris Colabello grounds into a 4-2-3 double play. This is the fourth double play of the game for Texas.

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  5. But sometimes, if you keep going for home runs, you eventually get one. With two out and two on, and the Rangers apparently on the verge of escaping from another inning, Troy Tulowitzki blasts a three-run homer to left. The Blue Jays lead 5-0 after 6, and it looks like Toronto will survive to play another day.

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  6. Texas scraps out one run in the bottom of the 7th, but the Rangers still trail 5-1 after 7.

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  7. And Toronto closes out Texas for a 5-1 win. We'll all be back in Dallas for Game Four tomorrow.

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  8. I think the Utley play should have been ruled illegal during the game thus a double play. That's the part I don't get.

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  9. I was so excited to hear that Miguel Tejada was still a starting a major-league shortstop.

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