Thursday, October 17, 2019

MLB Playoffs: Day Fourteen

The Astros and Yankees were rained out yesterday but they are expected to play today.  The Yankees are at home, and they trail two games to one, so they really need this one:

7:08 PM Central:  Houston at New York (Houston leads 2-1) (Fox Sports One)

NLCS:  Washington over St. Louis 4-0.

33 comments:

  1. In the DC area, there is usually a point in October where you go outside and you realize that summer is well and truly over, and that baseball season is coming to an end. Today was that day. In New York, it is cold and blustery.

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  2. It's the same pitching match-up as Game One: Zach Greinke for Houston and Masahiro Tanaka for New York.

    Giancarlo Stanton, who last played in Game One, is injured for the third game in a row. He homered in that game, and the Yanks have managed only three runs in 20 innings without him.

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  3. In the top of the 1st, the Astros get a two-out walk but nothing else. No score after half an inning.

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  4. It is quite cold in New York, and the Yankee fans are deafening.

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  5. So far, the Yankees have gotten a walk, a bloop single, and then two-out walks to Encarnacion and Gardner -- both of whom have struggled to get any hits. They lead 1-0 in the bottom of the first, and Gary Sanchez is up with the bases loaded.

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  6. Greinke fans Sanchez on three innings to end the rally. The Yanks lead 1-0 after one.

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  7. Houston goes down 1-2-3 in the second.

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  8. It's 56 degrees in New York, with lots of wind.

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  9. In the bottom of the second, the Yankees get a runner to second, but Greinke strikes out Aaron Judge to end that threat. After two, Yanks lead 1-0.

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  10. Here come the Astros. Chirinos walks, and Reddick singles. So the Astros have two on and no out with the top of the order coming up in the 3d.

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  11. There you go. George Springer slams a three-run homer to left. The Astros are up 3-1, and the Yanks are in big trouble. New York had chances to break the game open in the first two innings, and did not succeed. That will usually cost you against the Astros.

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  12. With runners on first and third and nobody out, Bregman grounds back to Tanaka. Altuve is caught in a rundown between third and home, but he keeps it up long enough for the runner on second to reach third and for the batter to reach second. On TV, you can see Altuve waving at his fellow Astros to advance. He is the Joe Morgan of his time.

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  13. Now Gurriel is up with men on second and third and one out. Astros up 3-1 in the third. Gurriel could blow it open right here. But he flies out to Judge, and the Astros decide not to challenge his arm.

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  14. Alvarez flies out to left, and the inning is over. But the Astros still lead 3-1 after 2 1/2 innings.

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  15. The Yankees go down 1-2-3 in the third. Houston still leads 3-1.

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  16. Last year, the Bosox beat the Yankees three games to one, buried the Astros four games to one, and crushed the Dodgers four games to one. The 2018 Red Sox were one of the greatest teams I've ever seen. Dominating this Astros team is really hard to do.

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  17. Houston goes down 1-2-3 in the fourth. They still lead 3-1.

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  18. Really feels like the whole season is at stake in this game. I don't think the Yankees can beat Houston three games in a row.

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  19. The Yankees' offense is just dead. They got two runs in 11 innings in Game Two. They got one run in Game Three. They have one run in four innings tonight.

    It's the old story for teams that depend on home runs -- that method only works so long as you keep hitting homers. When the homers dry up, your season can end pretty quickly.

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  20. Of course, I could have made those same points about the Nats when they were down 3-1 in the 8th inning of Game Five against the Dodgers. But in the eighth inning, the Nats hit back-to-back homers, and the rest is history.

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    Replies
    1. Nats sure have seemed to hit a lot of doubles to the wall in the postseason, too. Howie Kendrick alone has doubled in every at-bat when he didn't homer in the postseason. That is some clutch hitting right there, because in many at-bats over the course of his regular-season career Howie Kendrick has neither homered nor doubled and only singled (usually with two on and two out against the A's).

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  21. With one out in the fifth, the Yankees get a single from LeMahieu and a walk to Judge. That's all for Greinke, who is gone after 4 1/3 innings. Houston is bringing in Ryan Pressly to face Aaron Hicks.

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  22. Pressly walks Hicks, bringing up Gleyber Torres (the Yankees' cleanup hitter) with the bases loaded:

    Pressly v. Torres (bases loaded):

    Pitch 1: Foul (0-1)
    Pitch 2: Ball low (1-1)
    Pitch 3: Swinging strike (1-2)
    Pitch 4: Foul (1-2)
    Pitch 5: Foul (1-2)
    Pitch 6: Called Strike Three

    Just a disaster for the Yankees. With one out and your cleanup hitter at the plate, you have to get a run home there.

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  23. One more chance for the Yankees in the fifth. Edwin Encarnacion, who is 1-13 in the ALCS:

    Pressly v. Encarnacion:

    Pitch 1: Swinging strike (0-1)
    Pitch 2: Swinging strike (0-2)
    Pitch 3: Foul (0-2)
    Pitch 4: Ball (1-2)
    Pitch 5: Foul (1-2)
    Pitch 6: Swinging strike

    The Yankees left the bases loaded in the first and in the fifth. They aren't hitting home runs, and they just can't score.

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  24. The story of this series is actually quite simple -- the Astros are hitting home runs and the Yankees (except for Game One) are not. The injury to Giancarlo Stanton (who did homer in Game One) has been devastating to the Yanks.

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  25. Leading off the sixth, Gurriel reaches on an error by LeMahieu at first, who can't handle a hard-hit ground ball. That's all for Tanaka, who will be replaced by Chad Green.

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  26. See, the Red Sox weren't like this last year. No pitching staff could stop them -- they just hammered every team they faced in the playoffs.

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  27. Sorry, it was Bregman who reached on an error. Gurriel is up now facing Green.

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  28. Gurriel popped up. But Alvarez singles, and Correa crushes a THREE-RUN HOMER into the left field seats. These two three-run homers -- by Springer and Correa -- are exactly the type of results the Yankees have been seeking, but have failed to get.

    Houston is up 6-1, and they are going to win the American League for the second time in three years.

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  29. In the bottom of the 6th, the Astros send out Josh James to pitch. He walks Brett Gardner, who has been in a terrible slump. And then Gary Sanchez, who has been slumping even worse, deposits a home run into the left field seats. Houston now leads 6-3.

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  30. Yankees can't do anything else in the sixth. They trail 6-3 with nine outs to go. Fangraphs gives Houston an 89 percent chance of victory.

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