Sunday, October 13, 2019

MLB Playoffs: Day Ten

The Nats and the Cardinals started in the late afternoon yesterday, which gave Max Scherzer and Adam Wainwright a huge advantage over the hitters.  Scherzer had a no-hitter going into the 7th.  Wainwright was almost as good, allowing only a one-run homer by the usually poor-hitting Michael A. Taylor.  So the Nats led 1-0 going into the 8th.  Wainwright finally showed some weakness, allowing a long single by pinch-hitter Matt Adams and a bloop hit by Trea Turner.  With one out and two on, I thought the Cardinals would take Wainwright out, but they let him pitch to Adam Eaton, who hasn't done much from the plate in the post-season.  That proved to be a mistake, as Eaton doubled down the first base line, giving Washington a 3-0 lead.  St. Louis got one run back against the Washington bullpen, but Daniel Hudson was back from paternity leave, and he slammed the door in the ninth for a 3-1 Nats' win.  This is the first time the Nats have ever won the first two games of a playoff series.

Ever since Washington entered the league, Busch Stadium has been a house of horrors for them, mainly because they find it extremely difficult to score runs there.  They didn't score much this time either -- two runs in Game One and three runs in Game Two.  But thanks to spectacular pitching from Sanchez, Scherzer, and their beleaguered bullpen, the Nats have a 2-0 lead.

In Houston for the nightcap, the Yankees had a 1-0 lead going into the sixth inning, when home runs by Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton (who was out most of the year with injuries) gave them a three-run edge.  Houston's bullpen got a bit ragged after that, and the Yankees rolled to a surprisingly easy 7-0 win.  Houston will not want to have to take two out of three in Yankee Stadium just to survive, so the Astros will regard tonight as a must-win.  Fortunately for them, they have Justin Verlander ready to go.

7:08 PM Central:  New York at Houston (New York leads 1-0) (Fox Sports One)

51 comments:

  1. Top 10 Yankees by Wins Above Replacement:

    1. Babe Ruth: 142.4
    2. Lou Gehrig: 112.4
    3. Mickey Mantle: 110.3
    4. Joe DiMaggio: 78.1
    5. Derek Jeter: 72.4
    6. Yogi Berra: 60.0
    7. Bill Dickey: 58.4
    8. Red Ruffing: 57.3
    9. Whitey Ford: 56.9
    10. Mariano Rivera: 56.2

    It's amazing to think that I'm in my 50's and I've only seen two of the ten best Yankees of all time.

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  2. Top 10 Astros by WAR:

    1. Jeff Bagwell: 79.9
    2. Craig Biggio: 65.5
    3. Jose Cruz: 51.4
    4. Cesar Cedeno: 49.6
    5. Lance Berkman: 48.2
    6. Roy Oswalt: 46.1
    7. Jim Wynn: 41.6
    8. Jose Altuve: 38.5
    9. Larry Dierker: 32.0
    10. Joe Morgan: 30.7

    Morgan only played six full seasons with the Astros, and he's their 10th best player ever.

    Throughout my life, I've had a policy of only watching the Astros when I had to -- either because my favorite team was playing them, or they were in the playoffs. So I have almost no memories of many of the players on this list -- except for the ones like Berkman, Wynn, and Morgan who played for other teams.

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    1. We had a mutual friend when we were little boys--really before you and I were friends--whose favorite player was Cesar Cedeno. I think the friend was your age, but he was two years older than me. And so almost on the strength of his zeal and wisdom of years, 10-year-old me assumed Cesar Cedeno was a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer.

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  3. Here is the Yankees line-up tonight:

    1. D.J. LeMahieu, 1B (.327, 26 HRs, 102 RBIs)
    2. Aaron Judge, RF (.272, 27 HRs, 55 RBIs) (played 102 games)
    3. Gleyber Torres, 2B (.278, 38 HRs, 90 RBIs)
    4. Edwin Encarnacion, DH (.249, 13 HRs, 37 RBIs) (played 44 games)
    5. Brett Gardner, CF (.251, 28 HRs, 74 RBIs)
    6. Gary Sanchez, C (.232, 34 HRs, 77 RBIs) (played 106 games)
    7. Gio Urshela, 3B (.314, 21 HRs, 71 RBIs)
    8. Cameron Maybin, LF (.285, 11 HRs, 32 RBIs) (played 82 games)
    9. Didi Gregorius, SS (.238, 16 HRs, 61 RBIs) (played 82 games)

    Pitcher: James Paxton: 15-6, ERA of 3.82

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    1. James "The Big Maple" Paxton is a University of Kentucky product.

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  4. And here are the Astros:

    1. George Springer, RF (.292, 39 HRs, 96 RBIs)
    2. Michael Brantley, LF (.311, 22 HRs, 90 RBIs)
    3. Jose Altuve, 2B (.298, 31 HRs, 74 RBIs)
    4. Alex Bregman, 3B (.296, 41 HRs, 112 RBIs)
    5. Yordan Alvarez, DH (.313, 27 HRs, 78 RBIs) (played 87 games)
    6. Yuli Gurriel, 1B (.298, 31 HRs, 104 RBIs)
    7. Carlos Correa, SS (.279, 21 HRs, 59 RBIs) (played 75 games)
    8. Robinson Chirinos, C (.238, 17 HRs, 58 RBIs)
    9. Jake Marisnick, CF (.233, 10 HRs, 34 RBIs)

    Pitcher: Justin Verlander: 21-6, ERA of 2.58

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  5. That's a lot of home run power in those two line-ups. These two teams are the epitome of Moneyball, and how the modern game is supposed to be played. There's a reason they've dominated the American League all year.

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  6. Giancarlo Stanton, who is supposed to play left field for the Yankees, missed almost the whole season due to injury. Then he got better, and last night he hit a tremendous home run that helped break the game open. But now he is out with another injury.

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  7. Verlander mows down the Yankees 1-2-3 in the top of the first.

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  8. I can't abide the Fox announcers, so I'm listening to the Yankees broadcast.

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  9. In the bottom of the 1st, Astros get a walk, then hit into a double play, and then Altvue lines out to short.

    No score after one inning.

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  10. Yankees go down 1-2-3 in the top of the second.

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  11. In the bottom of the 2d, Correa doubles in Bregman. Paxton escapes further danger. Astros lead 1-0 after 2.

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  12. Yankees go down 1-2-3 in the top of the third.

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  13. With one out in the bottom of the third, Brantley and Altuve hit back-to-back singles. Astros now have runners on first and second. Fearful that the Astros are about to blow it open, Yankees manager Aaron Boone is pulling Paxton. Chad Green (4-4, 4.17 ERA) enters the game to face Bregman.

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  14. Baseball in 2019: The Yankees 25-man roster for this series includes 13 pitchers.

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    Replies
    1. The Astros have no left-handers on their ALCS roster.

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  15. Green does his job and retires the Astros with no further damage. Houston still leads 1-0 after three.

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  16. In the top of the 4th, LeMahieu works a walk to become the first Yankees base runner. And then Aaron Judge BLASTS A HOME RUN TO RIGHT CENTER FIELD. Yankees now lead 2-1, and the pressure on the Astros will start to rise.

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  17. Verlander escapes without any further damage. But the Yankees still lead 2-1 after 3 1/2 innings.

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  18. Green retires Houston 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 4th. Yanks lead 2-1 after 4.

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  19. The Yankees get a two-out single but nothing else in the top of the 5th. Still 2-1. Verlander has thrown 81 pitches.

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  20. Green strikes out Kyle Tucker (pinch hitting for Marisnick) to lead off the fifth. That's all for Green, who retired every batter he faced. Yanks bring in Adam Ottavino (6-5, ERA of 1.90) to face the top of the Astros' order.

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  21. The Ottavino move does not work out, as George Springer quickly HOMERS to left center field. The game is tied at 2.

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  22. The Astros are in business now. Brantley strikes out, but reaches first on a wild pitch. Altuve whacks an infield single to short. Houston has men on first and second with one out and Bregman coming to bat.

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  23. Ottavino still pitching for the Yanks. Bregman is greeted with chants of M-V-P!

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  24. Ottavino strikes out Bregman. And that's all for him. With two out and two on, Yanks bring in a left-hander to face the left-handed Alvarez. New pitcher is Tommy Kahnle (3-2, ERA of 3.67).

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  25. Kahnle does his job and strikes out Alvarez to end the fifth. After five, we are tied at two.

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  26. With two out and two on in the top of the sixth, Gardner whacks a hard ground ball that skips away from Altuve. LeMahieu, running all the way, tries to score from second. But Correa picks up the ball and throws him out by several feet. After 5 1/2 innings, the score is still 2-all.

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    Replies
    1. The Yankee announcers are fine with LeMahieu's effort to score. They think Correa made a great play to get him. For the record, the Nats never would have tried to score in that situation.

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  27. Kahnle retires the Astros in order in the 6th. Still 2-all.

    Verlander comes out to pitch the 7th.

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  28. Verlander retires the first two Yankees, but then walks Maybin. That's all for him. After 6 2/3 innings, and 109 pitches, he is done for the night. The Astros bring in Will Harris (4-1, ERA of 1.50).

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  29. Harris fans Gregorius and the inning is over. After 6 1/2, the score remains 2-all.

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  30. Kahnle comes out to pitch the bottom of the 7th.

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  31. Kahnle retires the Astros 1-2-3 in the 7th. That's a solid 2 1/3 innings from him. Going into the 8th, the score is tied at 2.

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  32. So far it has taken over three hours to play seven innings of a game with only 11 hits and only 4 runs. To put this game in perspective, consider that the Chargers and Steelers kicked off at the same time, and there is only 1:03 left in the fourth quarter of that game.

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    1. To shorten the National League games at least, we should just start every at-bat with a full count and move on straight away to all of the fouling off.

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  33. Top of the order coming up for the Yankees against Harris in the 8th.

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  34. Judge draws a one-out walk. And that's all for Harris. Astros bring in their closer, Roberto Osuna (4-3, ERA of 2.63, 38 saves). Again, this is the Moneyball play. You are supposed to use your best relief pitchers at the critical points of the game. If you don't stop the Yankees now, you've probably saved Osuna for nothing.

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    1. We really need to go back to calling these guys "firemen." That term actually works a lot better now than it did in the 1970s.

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  35. Steelers beat the Chargers 24-17. Yankees and Astros in the top of the 8th.

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  36. Osuna comes in to face Gleyber Torres, who killed the Astros last night. Osuna induces Torres to fly out.

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  37. Now we have Edwin Encarnacion, who is 0-3 in this game. Osuna strikes him out and the side is retired.

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  38. That's all for me. I have to work in the morning.

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  39. Exciting! A cliffhanger! I haven't yet heard who won, so I will look forward to the next entry in this serial.

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