Tuesday, October 12, 2021

MLB Playoffs, Day Five

The National League gave us two soporific games yesterday.  The Braves and the Brewers played a game in which the only scoring took place on a 3-run homer by Joc Pederson of Atlanta.  His pinch hit blast in the bottom of the 5th accounted for all the scoring in the most lopsided 3-0 game you'd ever want to see.

The big kids played the nightcap, and as you would expect, their game was somewhat better.  This time the visitors scored in the fifth, with Evan Longoria's homer giving the Giants a 1-0 lead.  I'm sure most viewers expected it to be the beginning of the excitement, but instead it was the end.  The Dodgers had one brief moment in the bottom of the 7th when -- with two men on and two men out -- Mookie Betts laced a liner that appeared to be headed toward center field.  But it passed directly over Giant shortstop Brandon Crawford, who leaped up for the inning-ending catch.  And that was it.  The last six Dodgers went down in order, and San Francisco had a 1-0 victory.

The baseball was much more entertaining in the American League.  Leading two games to one, the Red Sox jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three -- only for their Fenway faithful to watch with horror as the Rays pecked away.  Tampa Bay picked up one run in the fifth, two in the sixth, and two more in the eighth to tie the game.  It would have been devastating for Boston to lose at home after blowing a 5-run lead, but that did not happen.  In the bottom of the 9th, the Red Sox put together a single, a sacrifice bunt, and an infield hit to put runners on the corners with one out for Kike Hernandez.  On the second pitch, he lofted a sacrifice fly to deep left, and Boston had walked off Tampa Bay with a 6-5 victory.  So the Rays are eliminated (after two walk-off losses in a row), and Boston moves on to the LCS.

Now the series look like this:

National League:
San Francisco leads Los Angeles 2-1
Atlanta leads Milwaukee 2-1

American League:
Boston defeats Tampa Bay 3-1
Houston leads Chicago 2-1

Here are tomorrow's games (all times Central):

1:07 P.M.:  Houston at Chicago (Fox Sports 1)
4:15 P.M.:  Milwaukee at Atlanta (TBS)
8:07 P.M.:  San Francisco at Los Angeles (TBS)

40 comments:

  1. GO, WHITE SOX (my second favorites)!

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  2. In the bottom of the second, Gavin Sheets homers to dead center field to give the ChiSox a 1-0 lead.

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  3. If this game were in the National League, the ChiSox could start packing for Game Five, because this game would be over.

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  4. White Sox fans are really underrated. You never hear that much about them, but they have gone absolutely nuts for these two games in Chicago.

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  5. The Astros are tough. In the top of the third, with one out, Carlos Rodon hits Jose Altuve with a pitch. With two outs, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez draw walks to load the bases. Carlos Correa then whacks a double into the left field corner, scoring Altuve and Bregman. Houston leads 2-1.

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  6. Astros blow it open with three more in the top of the fourth, with the big blow a two out, two-run double by Bregman. The Astros are great -- I have no idea how Washington beat these guys.

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  7. By the way, I feel no obligation to stick with my second-favorite teams through their bitter ends. Comedy Central is showing "The Baby Shower" episode of Seinfeld.

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  8. Replies
    1. Great episode. I think it's the last episode in which Kramer does not appear.

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  9. Here's Houston's record in the ALDS since 2017:

    2017: Houston 3, Boston 1
    2018: Houston 3, Cleveland 0
    2019: Houston 3, Tampa Bay 2
    2020: Houston 3, Oakland 1

    If Houston wins today, then the Astros will have a record of 15-5 in the ALDS over the last five years.

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  10. Houston rolls, 10 to 1, and the White Sox are eliminated. Houston and Boston will meet for the AL crown, just as they did in 2018.

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  11. Houston will appear in the ALCS for the fifth year in a row. Every time, the Astros have played a team from the AL East. No team from the AL Central has reached the ALCS since the Indians won the pennant in 2016.

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  12. Finally, Milwaukee and Atlanta are playing a real game. Milwaukee went up 2-0, and Atlanta tied them. Then Milwaukee hit a homer to make it 4-2, and Atlanta fought back to make it 4-4 after five innings. Good stuff.

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  13. In the bottom of the eighth, Freddie Freeman -- who usually bats something like .627 against the Nats -- blasts a home run to centerfield, and the Braves lead 5-4. Atlanta is now only three outs away from a return to the NLCS.

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  14. According to Baseball-Reference, here are the players most similar to Freddie Freeman at his age (31):

    1. Eddie Murray
    2. Rafael Palmeiro
    3. Prince Fielder
    4. Carl Yastrzemski
    5. Shawn Green

    That's a pretty good list.

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  15. With the Brewers down to their last three outs, Eduardo Escobar leads off the top of the ninth with a single to center.

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  16. Kolten Wong, who always seems to be in the playoffs, tries to advance Escobar with a bunt, but pops up to the catcher. One out.

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  17. The next two Brewers go down without too much difficulty and the Braves have won the series, three games to one. The Red Sox will be the only team in the Final Four not from the old National League West. What a division that was.

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  18. And so the Midwest is eliminated from this baseball season. We have Boston, L.A., San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta.

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  19. After not scoring at all last night, the Dodgers plate a run in the bottom of the first thanks to a single by Corey Seager and a double by former Nat Trea Turner. Dodgers lead 1-0 after 1.

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  20. I think the best uniform combination in MLB is Dodgers-Yankees, followed by Dodgers-Giants. After watching so many teams play in what looks like softball uniforms, it's great to see the Dodgers and the Giants in their traditional attire.

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  21. The Dodgers have Walker Buehler on the mound, and he is laboring. In the top of the second, the Giants got two hits and a bunch of scary line drives, but Buehler managed to hold them off. The Dodgers still lead 1-0, but Buehler has already thrown 33 pitches.

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  22. This feels like the first time since 2016 when the Dodgers have faced a National League team that may have more firepower than they do. The Nats beat them in sort of a fluky way, and the Dodgers almost blew the NLCS in 2018 against the Brewers and last year against the Braves, but you have a sense that San Francisco can win this thing no matter how well the Dodgers play.

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  23. But the Dodgers have their own weapons. Gavin Lux and Cody Bellinger lead off the 2d with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners, and Lux scores on a sacrifice fly by Chris Taylor. Dodgers 2, Giants 0.

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  24. With two out and Bellinger on second, Mookie Betts laced what appeared to be an RBI single into the hole at short. But Brandon Crawford made a tremendous diving play to stop the ball from going into the outfield. He couldn't throw out Betts, but Bellinger had to hold at third.

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  25. That's all for Giants' pitcher Anthony DeSclafani, who leaves after 1 2/3 innings. Jose Alvarez comes in to face Corey Seager with two out and two on.

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  26. Alvarez retires Seager, and the Dodgers lead 2-0 after 2.

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  27. In the bottom of the third, the Giants walk the bases loaded with one out, but Bellinger hits a soft grounder to first, leading to a forceout at the plate. Now it's up to Chris Taylor to salvage something for L.A.

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  28. Taylor works the count to 3-2. The Dodger fans are going nuts (at least as nuts as they ever go). And then Taylor hits a towering fly to left, where it is caught for the last out. Dodgers still lead 2-0 after 3, but San Francisco is a great team.

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  29. Buehler survives a two-out walk in the top of the 4th, and the Dodgers still lead 2-0.

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  30. Most of my knowledge of LA and San Francisco comes from crime stories. In the book category, I like Dashiell Hammett better than Raymond Chandler, so I would give the edge to San Francisco. On the other hand, I prefer "Dragnet" to "Dirty Harry."

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    Replies
    1. I loved both Brady Bunch and Too Close for Comfort, but I loved Brady Bunch more.

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  31. And there it is! Walker Buehler reaches on a fielding error, and then Mookie Betts finally gets the big hit the Dodger crowd has been waiting for, as he crushes a home run to right. The Dodgers lead 4-0.

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  32. The Giants escape with no further damage and L.A. leads 4-0 after four.

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  33. Walker Buehler will not be the winning pitcher in this game. He gives up a lead-off single to Longoria, and a walk to Steven Duggar, and he won't make it out of the fifth. The Dodgers pull their starter and replace him with Joe Kelly to face the top of the Giants' lineup.

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  34. The Giants get a run in the top of the fifth, but the Dodgers match them with a run in the bottom of the fifth. We are now in the bottom of the sixth, and the score is 5-1 for L.A.

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  35. In the bottom of the 8th, L.A. leads 7-2 after a two-run homer by Will Smith.

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