Saturday, October 19, 2013

MLB Playoffs: Day Sixteen

Throughout this season, I have disagreed with the commentators who treat Yasiel Puig as some sort of criminal because of his emotionalism, or who believe that St. Louis is the only town with legitimate baseball fans.  Having said that, I have also believed that the Cardinals were the smarter and more disciplined team in the National League Championship Series, and that this would be the difference between the two teams.  So I was not surprised that after five tense and hard-fought games, the Dodgers (and Puig) would implode in a sloppy, disastrous performance that handed the Cardinals a 9-0 victory and the 2013 National League Pennant.  Once again, the Cards benefited from a knockout performance from wunderkind Michael Wacha, who has been unworldly in these playoffs.  In the NLCS, Wacha pitched 13 2/3 innings against the Dodgers.  He gave up no runs, walked only two batters, and struck out 13.  He was deservedly named the MVP of the series.

We are living in a Golden Age of Cardinal baseball.  The Cards have now won four NL pennants in the last 10 years -- a feat that exceeds the three pennants they picked up in the 1960's, or the three that they won in the 1980's.  And this pennant was well-deserved.  We have complained in the past about the randomness of the MLB playoffs, but I think it's clear that by almost any measure, St. Louis was plainly the best team in the National League this year.  Dodger fans will have to console themselves with the knowledge that this was their most successful season in 25 years.

Now we wait to see who will meet the Cardinals in the World Series.

National League Championship Series (Best of Seven):
St. Louis beats Los Angeles 4-2

American League Championship Series (Best of Seven):
Boston leads Detroit 3-2

Tonight's Game:
Detroit at Boston (7:07 P.M. Central on FOX)

31 comments:

  1. Through four innings at Fenway, Clay Buchholz of the Bosox and Max Scherzer of the Tigers are locked in an old-fashioned pitchers' duel -- although given how many of those we've had in this post-season, it's not that old-fashioned. No score through four.

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  2. In the bottom of the 5th, Xavier Bogaerts -- Boston's number 9 hitter -- blasts a two-out double high up off the giant wall in left center. Then Jacoby Ellsbury lashes a single to right, and Bogaerts rushes home. Boston leads 1-0, and the AL pennant is getting close.

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  3. Ellsbury tries to steal second, but is thrown out to end the fifth.

    After 5: Boston 1, Detroit 0

    Fangraphs now gives the Bosox a 66 percent chance of victory.

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  4. In the top of the 6th, Detroit gets something going. Torii Hunter leads off with a walk, and then Miguel Cabrera slaps a single into left field.

    With Tigers on 1st and 2d and nobody out, Boston Manager John Farrell pulls Buchholz and brings in Franklin Morales to face Prince Fielder -- who has been terrible in this series.

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  5. Top of the 6th, nobody out, runners on first and second.

    Morales v. Fielder:
    Pitch 1 (0-0): Ball in the dirt
    Pitch 2 (1-0): Ball outside
    Pitch 3 (2-0): Ball low and away
    Pitch 4 (3-0): Ball in the dirt

    A four-pitch walk to Fielder, who has no RBI's in the playoffs. What a disaster.

    Now the bases are loaded with nobody out. Fangraphs now gives Detroit a 60 percent chance of victory.

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  6. Top of the 6th, nobody out, bases loaded.

    Morales v. Victor Martinez
    Pitch 1 (0-0): Ball in the dirt
    Pitch 2 (1-0): Strike!
    Pitch 3 (1-1): Ball in the dirt
    Pitch 4 (2-1): Martinez singles off the top of the Green Monster. Hunter and Cabrera score. Fielder goes to third. Detroit leads 2-1.

    That's all for Morales.

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  7. Farrell is being criticized for leaving in Morales to face Victor Martinez, and indeed it is hard to see why that was a good idea.

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  8. Brandon Workman comes in for Boston to face Jhonny Peralta. Peralta hits a grounder to Pedroia at second. At this point, the Tiger runners lose their minds. Victor Martinez wanders close enough to Pedroia to get tagged out. Then Pedroia throws home -- and the Red Sox catch Fielder in a rundown between third and home. Fielder eventually falls down a few feet from third base, and is tagged out.

    Peralta ran to second while all this was going on, but the Tigers now have two outs.

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  9. On that one play, Boston raised its chance of winning the game from 20.7 percent to 35.8 percent.

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  10. And then Workman strikes out Alex Avila to end the inning.

    After 5 1/2: Detroit 2, Boston 1

    Detroit has a 60 percent chance of victory, but the Tigers could have broken the game wide open there.

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  11. To open the sixth, Shane Victorino is hit by a pitch for the sixth time in the post-season this year. That brings up Pedroia, so the Bosox are immediately back in business.

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  12. Scherzer has been annoyed with the home plate umpire tonight, and he's very annoyed after his first three pitches to Pedroia are called balls. Facing a 3-0 count, Scherzer throws a strike down the middle. But then his next pitch is low, and Boston has runners on 1st and 2d with nobody out.

    Now Fangraphs gives Boston a 55 percent chance of victory.

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  13. Runners on first and second, nobody out, David Ortiz batting:

    Scherzer v. Ortiz:
    Pitch 1 (0-0): Foul
    Pitch 2 (0-1): Foul
    Pitch 3 (0-2): Ball outside
    Pitch 4 (1-2): Ortiz hits a tailing fly ball to left field, but it is caught for the out by Don Kelly. Significantly, Kelly replaced Peralta after Peralta's ground out in the last inning, and the ESPN announcer agree Peralta would not have caught that ball.

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  14. Pitching to Mike Napoli, Scherzer throws a wild pitch, and both runners advance. So now Boston has runners on 2d and 3d with 1 out. That was a huge mistake.

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  15. But Scherzer bears down and STRIKES OUT NAPOLI. So it's all up to Boston catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who may have the longest last name in baseball history.

    Scherzer v. Saltalamacchia
    Pitch 1 (0-0): Strike
    Pitch 2 (0-1): Ball outside
    Pitch 3 (1-1): Saltalamacchia POPS UP to short, and Scherzer has gotten out of the inning. He's given up only 3 hits in six innings.

    After 6: Detroit 2, Boston 1

    Now the Tigers have a 69 percent chance of victory.

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  16. Hotty toddy, gosh almighty! Ole Miss has stunned LSU, beating the Tigers in Oxford 27-24. What a crazy day in the SEC, where five of the six favorites were beaten.

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  17. Meanwhile, in Waco, Tex., Baylor defends the Unofficial College Football Championship for the ninth time in a row -- beating Iowa State at homecoming by the score of 71-7.

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  18. In the top of the seventh, Austin Jackson gets a one-out single for Detroit, but is then picked off of first. He's the third Tiger in the last two innings to get tagged out on the base paths. Mistakes like that can be deadly in the playoffs.

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  19. But then Jose Iglesias beats out an infield single, and Torii Hunter tries a two-out bunt! Hunter should have been out, but pitcher Workman could not pick up the ball cleanly. That's an error on Workman, and the Tigers have runners on first and second.

    So that's all for Workman. The Bosox will bring in Junichi Tazawa to face Miguel Cabrera. They've met twice in this series, and Tazawa has prevailed both times.

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  20. Runners on 1st and 2d, two out.
    Tazawa v. Cabrera:

    Pitch 1 (0-0): Ball
    Pitch 2 (1-0); Cabrera slaps a ground ball that appears to be going up the middle, but Stephen Drew makes a diving stop and throws out the lumbering Cabrera at first. Inning over.

    After 6 1/2: Detroit 2, Boston 1

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  21. Johnny Gomes leads off the bottom of the seventh with a towering double off the top of the Green Monster. Has Scherzer finally run out of gas?

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  22. Stephen Drew is 1-19 in the Series with nine strikeouts. He now comes up with the chance to be a hero, but he is simply overwhelmed by Scherzer, who strikes him out. One out.

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  23. Next up: Xander Bogearts (who I have been mistakenly referring to as "Xavier" Bogearts). Scherzer has now thrown 104 pitches. Bogearts works a full count, and then draws a walk.

    This brings up the top of the order with one out and runners on first and second. That's all for Scherzer, who was spectacular tonight. But he has thrown 110 pitches. Boston will have a chance to win the pennant against Detroit's shaky bullpen.

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    Replies
    1. I called the Oakland third baseman either "Jake" or "Josh" Donaldson all season, and his name is really the other one. I still don't know which is which.

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  24. So the Tigers turn to Drew Smyly, who will face Jacoby Ellsbury with runners on first and second and one out:

    Pitch 1 (0-0): Called strike
    Pitch 2 (0-1): Ground ball up the middle, looked like a double play, but it was bobbled by Iglesias, and EVERYONE IS SAFE. The bases are loaded, that's and error on Iglesias, and he probably just cost Detroit the pennant.

    Smyly, who deserved much better, is out.

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  25. Detroit brings in Jose Veras to face Shane Victorino with the bases loaded and one out:

    Pitch 1 (0-0): Called strike
    Pitch 2 (0-1): Foul
    Pitch 3 (0-2): VICTORINO HITS A GRAND SLAM OVER THE GREEN MONSTER. BOSTON TAKES A 5-2 LEAD, AND THE RED SOX WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY WIN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE PENNANT.

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  26. The Red Sox have only five hits in this game, but they have five runs. We have complained that Moneyball teams have a hard time scoring in the playoffs, but in both this game and Game Two, the Bosox have shown that waiting for the Big Fly pays off. Ortiz tied Game Two with an 8th-inning Grand Slam, and Victorino has given Boston a three-run lead with another one here.

    Boston now has a 93.6 percent of victory.

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  27. Scherzer was the starting pitcher in both Game Two and Game Six. He was spectacular both times. And both times, the Bosox waited him out, and then feasted on Detroit's bullpen.

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    Replies
    1. I stayed up late and watched an edited version of Moneyball on cable last night. It's so fantastic; I don't care what Jim Kaat thinks. He probably didn't like Argo either, and it's great, too.

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