Yesterday the Red Sox jumped out to an early 9-0 lead, and cruised to an easy 12-3 win. The Astros' pitchers have been absolutely hammered over the last two games, and BoSox now lead the series two games to one.
Today's Games:
4:07 P.M. Central: Atlanta at Los Angeles (TBS) (Atlanta leads 2-0)
7:07 P.M. Central: Houston at Boston (Fox Sports One) (Boston leads 2-1)
It was nice to see one more day game at Dodger Stadium, but it turned into a disaster for the Dodgers as center fielder Gavin Lux lost a key fly ball in the sun, dropped it, and set up a four-run inning for the Braves. That took the heart out of the Dodgers, who trail 5-2 in the eighth and are clearly thinking about their vacation plans after a long year of trying to defend their title.
Meanwhile, Xander Bogearts whacked a two run homer for Boston in the bottom of the first, and that was the TENTH home run that the Red Sox have hit in this series so far. Red Sox lead 2-1 after one.
Both of these series seemed very evenly matched after Sunday's games, but the National League is now pretty much over -- and the Astros need some pitching to avoid going down 3-1.
10 best Red Sox by Wins Above Replacement:
ReplyDelete1. Ted Williams: 122.1
2. Carl Yastrzemski: 96.5
3. Roger Clemens: 80.8
4. Wade Boggs: 71.9
5. Cy Young: 66.7
6. Dwight Evans: 66.5
7. Tris Speaker: 55.7
8. Pedro Martinez: 53.5
9. David Ortiz: 52.7
10. Dustin Pedroia: 51.9
The absence of Carlton Fisk from this list surprises me.
DeleteNow, it doesn't really surprise me because I have a rough idea of the actual math, but my felt sense of this list has Fred Lynn/Jim Rice in a tie at No. 6 behind Williams, Young, Ortiz, Martinez and Boggs. It seemed like everyone in my neighborhood started collecting baseball cards in 1975 and '76, and Lynn and Rice were giants in my neighborhood.
And now having said that, it occurs to me that there was a lot of Red Sox and Dodgers love in my neighborhood and almost no fondness for the Reds. Which makes me think that what was going on was that all of the adults in Paducah (before cable TV) were, of course, Cardinals fans and, therefore, hated the Reds more than I realized. So, they would've been pulling for the Red Sox in that 1975 World Series, and they would've been happy that Steve Garvey and Ron Cey blew up the Big Red Machine. Yes, this all starts to make new sense to me.
Babe Ruth is 16th on the Red Sox list for WAR, just ahead of Carlton Fisk and right behind Nomar Garciaparra.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Red Sox were Luis Tiant, Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, and Fred Lynn.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite also was Luis Tiant. Weird.
DeleteMy favorite Astro -- and the only Astro that I don't actively dislike -- is J.R. Richards.
ReplyDeleteWhen the A's got bad in the late 1970s, I considered trying to become an Astros fan because I loved their uniforms, too.
Delete10 best Braves by Wins Above Replacement:
ReplyDelete1. Henry Aaron: 142.6
2. Kid Nichols: 107.1
3. Warren Spahn: 99.3
4. Eddie Mathews: 94.0
5. Phil Niekro: 88.5
6. Chipper Jones: 85.3
7. John Smoltz: 69.5
8. Greg Maddux: 67.3
9. Tom Glavine: 63.6
10. Andruw Jones: 61.0
Kid Nichols!
DeleteHold the phone -- Cody Bellinger just hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 8th to tie the Braves/Dodgers game at FIVE RUNS APIECE!
ReplyDeleteHold the phone!
DeleteUnbelievable. Bellinger literally hit .165 in the regular season.
ReplyDeleteThey keep running this commercial of this girl who's on the beach with a guy, and then all of a sudden she decides that she wants a taco. Here's my question -- why doesn't the guy go with her to get the taco?
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent question that did not occur to me.
DeleteI mean, if you want this relationship to work, you have to be there when it's taco time.
ReplyDeleteI go to church a lot.
DeleteMeanwhile, the Dodgers have one out and a man on first in the bottom of the eighth.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I'm listening to "Mack the Knife." This song always reminds me of "Quiz Show," which is one of my favorite movies of all time.
ReplyDeleteThe Dodgers' runner -- it's Chris Taylor -- steals second. Still one out in the bottom of the eighth.
ReplyDeleteThat guy.
DeleteThe Dodger batter grounds out to second and Taylor advances to third. It's up to Mookie Betts:
ReplyDeleteJessie Chavez v. Mookie Betts:
Pitch One: Betts hits a DOUBLE, going the opposite way into the gap between center field and right field. Taylor comes home to SCORE, AND THE DODGERS LEAD SIX TO FIVE!!!
OHHHH, DOCTOR!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Braves walk Seager to pitch to Trea Turner. But Turner beats out an infield single and the bases are loaded for Will Smith.
ReplyDeleteSmith pops up to end the inning. The Dodgers' bullpen -- which has not covered itself with glory in this series -- will have to defend a 6-5 lead in the top of the 9th.
ReplyDeleteThe Dodgers are going with Kenley Jansen, who had 38 saves this year, but who usually brings a lot of drama to his outings.
ReplyDeleteFirst up is Austin Riley, who has tormented the Dodgers in this series.
ReplyDeleteThere is no telling how many Dodgers/Braves games I have sweated out. When I was a kid they used to play 18 times a year, and seemed like all of those games were on TBS. Now I'm 55 years old, and they're still playing on TBS.
ReplyDeleteRiley is frozen by a third strike and is called out. Next up is former Dodger Joc Pederson. It seems like half the guys in the playoffs used to play for the Dodgers or the Nats.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, Pederson now wears a pearl necklace while he plays. I have no idea why he does that or what it means.
ReplyDeletePederson is two for three in this game. Jansen throws two bad curve balls to fall behind 2-1 in the count, then a really good curve ball to even the count, and then he strikes out Pederson with the old speed ball. Two outs.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we have Adam Duvall, who is 2 for 4 in this game.
ReplyDeleteThis is when I really miss that guy who used to stand behind home plate at Dodger Stadium with a speed gun.
ReplyDeleteJansen gets two quick strikes on Duvall, and then throws two balls outside. Then he throws another fast ball for strike three! THE DODGERS WIN! THE DODGERS WIN!
ReplyDeleteIn my defense, this was literally the first time in history that the Dodgers have ever won a post-season game in which they trailed by three or more runs after seven innings.
ReplyDeleteWhat a series. In Game Two, the Dodgers were up 4-2 going into the bottom of the eighth, and lost 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. In Game Three, the Braves were up 5-2 going into the bottom of the eighth, and lost 6-5.
ReplyDeleteThat's the last day game of the year in Dodger Stadium, and I'm really happy for all the young Dodger fans who got to see this game.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the BoSox still lead 2-1 in the bottom of the 3d.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the BoSox still lead 2-1 in the top of the 5th.
ReplyDeleteRed Sox still lead 2-1 after five.
ReplyDelete