Saturday, October 7, 2023

Month of MLB: Day 5

Divisional Series start today.  So far in the Junior Circuit, the Rangers have beaten Baltimore 3-2, and the Astros have beaten Minnesota 6-4.  Meanwhile, down in Cumberland, Georgia, the Phillies are beating Atlanta 2-0 in the top of the 6th.  You will remember that last year, the Braves finished far ahead of Philadelphia during the regular season, and then the Phillies did this in the Divisional Series:

10/11/22:  Atlanta 6 - 7 Philadelphia
10/12/22:  Atlanta 3 - 0 Philadelphia
10/14/22:  Philadelphia 9 - 1 Atlanta
10/15/22:  Philadelphia 8 - 3 Atlanta

So long, thanks for playing.  The Phillies went on to win the National League, and the Braves went home to think about the meaninglessness of the MLB Regular Season.  Now they're back, and Philly obviously plans the same outcome.

59 comments:

  1. In the world of college football, a lot of undefeated teams aren't undefeated anymore:

    Texas 30 - 34 Oklahoma
    Ohio St. 37 - 17 Maryland
    Missouri 39 - 49 Louisiana St.
    UCLA 25 - 17 Washington St.

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  2. That leaves UK and U of L. So far, the Cardinals lead Notre Dame 7-0 with 6:05 left in the first quarter. But UK is getting crushed at Georgia, 21-0 with 11 minutes left in the second quarter.

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  3. Last year, UK was 5-2, and ranked number 19 in the country, when they went to Knoxville. And then Tennessee beat them 44-6. Tonight looks like a similar result.

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  4. The Braves do nothing in the 6th, and the Phillies lead 2-0 with three innings to go.

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  5. If Houston beats Minnesota, the Astros will return to the AL Championship Series for the SEVENTH year in a row. On the other hand, they may be going up against a Texas team managed by Bruce Bochy, who won nine post-season series in a row when he managed the Giants.

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  6. With 6:44 left in the 2d Quarter, UK scores and Georgia now leads 21-7. U of L still leads Notre Dame 7-0 with 1:18 left in the first. Atlanta trails 2-0 as it comes to bat in the bottom of the 7th.

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  7. Braves go down 1-2-3 in the 7th. Philly still leads 2-0.

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  8. I'm very happy with this broadcast because, for the first time in the MLB post-season, I have properly synced up the radio broadcast with the TV picture.

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  9. I use the Radio/TV Sync product from Motron Electronics. It's fantastic.

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  10. Meanwhile, with 5:15 left in the half, Georgia leads 24-7. The Kentucky media -- which covers the UK football team in almost exactly the same spirit that the DC media covers the Commanders -- is starting to feel hopeful.

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  11. Louisville still leads 7-0 with 12:43 left in the 2d quarter.

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  12. Phillies have runners on 1st and 3d with one out in the top of the 8th, and they could put Atlanta away right here.

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  13. Here are the top 20 scores so far:

    (3) Texas 30 - 34 (12) Oklahoma
    (4) Ohio St. 37 - 17 Maryland
    UCLA 25 - 17 (13) Washington St.
    (5) Florida St. 39 - 17 Virginia Tech
    Texas A & M 20 - 26 (11) Alabama
    (14) N. Carolina 40 - 7 Syracuse

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  14. And there it is. Georgia scores another touchdown to go up 31-7 with 1:01 left in the 2d quarter, and now even the Kentucky media knows it's over.

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  15. The Phillies load the bases with two outs, and then the Braves are called for catchers' interference! A run scores, and Philly leads 3-0 in the top of the 8th. The Braves' fans disagree, and they are throwing beer cans on the field, but presumably they can take some comfort in Georgia's victory over UK.

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  16. First pitch for Dodgers/D-Backs is 8:20 PM Central.

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  17. Braves escape with no further damage. After 7 1/2 innings, Philly leads 3-0.

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  18. At the half, Georgia leads UK 34-7. Notre Dame and Louisville are tied 7-all with 1:30 left in the 2d quarter.

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  19. With runners on 1st and 3d and one out, Trea Turner (former Nat) starts a spectacular double play. Braves trail 3-0 with one inning left.

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  20. Louisville 7 - 7 Notre Dame (32 seconds left in 2d quarter)

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  21. The Phillies close out the Braves 3-0. Once again, Atlanta faces the prospect of going out to their divisional rivals.

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  22. Now over to Dodger Stadium. Last year, the Dodgers were eliminated in the Divisional Series by the Padres. Will they go out to a divisional rival this year?

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  23. Hold on -- we have Bob Costas doing the Dodgers' game. That's great news. I was going to go with the Dodgers' radio team, but now I'm going with the TV sound.

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  24. Clayton Kershaw, who is 35 years old, is starting for the Dodgers. Over the course of his career, his record per 162 games is 17-7 with an ERA of 2.48. But he also has 31 starts in the post-season, which is basically like an extra season. In the post-season, his record is 13-12 with an ERA of 4.22.

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  25. To put this in perspective, Andy Pettite had 44 starts in the post-season. He went 19-11 with an ERA of 3.81. Andy Pettite has five World Series rings (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009). Kershaw has one (2020).

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  26. The first four batters for Arizona go double, single, single, double. Arizona is up 2-0 with no one out. I was surprised to see Kershaw out there, and apparently I was right.

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  27. The fifth batter for Arizona crushes a three-run homer to put the D-Backs up 5-0, and I've seen enough. Over to Louisville for the second half of the U of L/Notre Dame game.

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  28. With 13 minutes left in the 3d quarter, Notre Dame leads 10-7.

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  29. D-backs get another run before Kershaw is finally relieved. Here's his final line:

    1/3 of an inning
    6 hits
    6 runs
    6 earned runs

    By leaving him in so long, the Dodgers basically conceded Game One of this series -- and their home field advantage -- to the Diamondbacks.

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  30. For once, U of L is wearing a standard uniform -- red jerseys with white numerals, white helmets with the Cardinal logo, white pants. They look about as good as U of L can look. Good for them.

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  31. With 8:24 left in the 3d quarter, U of L kicks a field goal to make the score 10-10. Meanwhile, UGA is beating UK 44-13 with 39 seconds left in the third quarter.

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  32. With six minutes left in the third quarter, U of L breaks a long TD run, and the Cardinals are up 17-10.

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  33. Could be a huge day for Louisville. UK, Maryland, Missouri, and Washington State all lost huge games to famous teams. If the Cardinals can hang on and move to 6-0 for the year, they should zoom up the rankings.

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  34. Here's what Louisville has left after tonight:

    10/14: at Pittsburgh
    10/28: DUKE
    11/04: VIRGINIA TECH
    11/09: VIRGINIA
    11/18: at Miami (Fla.)
    11/25: KENTUCKY

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  35. With one quarter left, U of L leads 17-13.

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  36. Here's my question for the Kentucky media. Imagine a really good UK basketball team -- not a team like the ones we have now, but a team coming off a national championship that is ranked number one in the country in mid-January. That's the equivalent of the Georgia team you're playing tonight. Now imagine that, say, Vanderbilt or Ole Miss comes in to Rupp Arena ranked number 20 in the country. Would you really pick UK to lose that game? Would you really be surprised if UK won in a blowout? So why are you surprised by this football game?

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  37. In January 2022, UK had a pretty good team -- not a great team, but a team that went 14-4 in the SEC. They hosted Tennessee, and crushed them 107-79 -- because that's what good teams can do when they get hot at home. Beating a traditional powerhouse on the road is really hard -- especially when they are ranked number one in the country.

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  38. Is Georgia really this much better than Kentucky? Probably not. But it's very easy to get blown out down there.

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  39. Meanwhile, U of L is going to beat Notre Dame. The Cardinals are up 24-13 with 11:12 left in the game.

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  40. Coach Prime gets another win, as Colorado goes on the road and beats Arizona State 27 to 24. The Buffalos are now 4-2.

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  41. Final score: Georgia 51 - 13 Kentucky. They are who we thought they were.

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  42. Louisville goes up 27-13 with 7:20 left. It's a big party in Louisville right now.

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  43. In the bottom of the 3d, Arizona leads 9-0.

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  44. Ole Miss gets a late interception with 1:42 left in the game, and the Johnny Rebs are going to hold off Arkansas. Mississippi leads 27-20 and they will go to 5-1 on the year.

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  45. Michigan beats Minnesota 52-10 for the Little Brown Jug.

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  46. Final: (16) Mississippi 27 - 20 Arkansas

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  47. Louisville pounds Notre Dame 33-20. A well-deserved win for the Cardinals, who were much the better team in the second half.

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  48. Final: Louisville 33 - 20 (10) Notre Dame

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  49. With 26 seconds left, Miami had the ball and a 20-17 lead over Georgia Tech. The Hurricanes were at home, and they were running out the clock team in Yellow Jacket territory -- but they fumbled. After a very long review, the referees gave the ball to Tech on its own 26 yard line. 25 seconds later, on the last play of the game, Tech hit a 44 yard touchdown pass to beat the Hurricanes and knock another team from the ranks of the unbeaten.

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  50. Kentucky, Missouri, Washington State, Maryland, Texas, and Miami (Fla.) all suffered their first losses today. But Louisville did not.

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  51. And we could lose one more unbeaten team. With 13:05 left in the 2d quarter, Arizona is beating USC 17-0 in the L.A. Coliseum.

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  52. This Miami game is even worse than I thought. Miami actually could have won the game by taking a knee. Instead, they ran the ball and fumbled with 26 seconds left -- and those 26 seconds allowed Tech to win the game. Unbelievable.

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  53. Final: (17) Miami (Fla.) 20 - 23 Georgia Tech

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  54. In retrospect, I appreciate how the Dodgers were like, "Hey, man, it's Saturday night in October, you should be watching college football. We'll see you on Monday."

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  55. At the half:

    (9) Southern Cal 14 - 17 Arizona

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