The American League Playoffs got off to a rather desultory start yesterday, with both the favorites -- the Blue Jays and Royals -- losing at home. The Blue Jays roll with great hitting -- they could only scrape out three runs. Their ace pitcher, David Price -- who went 9-1 for Toronto with an ERA of 2.3 after coming over from Detroit earlier in the year -- was smacked around for 5 runs (including 2 homers) in seven innings. Price has a lifetime record of 104-56 in the regular season. But he is now 0-6 in post-season starts, with four of those losses coming against Texas. The Rangers won 5-3.
Last year, the Royals came out of nowhere to sweep through the American League playoffs with seven straight victories over the Angels and Orioles. And this year, the Royals led all teams in the Junior Circuit with 97 wins. So naturally, the Royals came out totally flat against Houston, falling behind 2-0 in the first inning and staggering to a 5-2 defeat. I haven't seen the Astros play a game since they left the National League, so I still have no idea who plays for them, but their uniforms look better these days than they did back when I was a kid.
Today the NL gets started, so we will have all four series in action. Proving our theory that no one wants to watch the AL playoffs, the two AL games will be played in the afternoon, even though those four teams played yesterday. The Texas/Toronto game will actually be on the MLB network, which is the baseball equivalent of appearing on a local access channel.
National League Divisional Series:
St. Louis and Chicago are tied 0-0
Los Angeles and New York are tied 0-0
American League Divisional Series:
Houston leads Kansas City 1-0
Texas leads Toronto 1-0
Nothing says playoff baseball like a dome in Canada.
ReplyDeleteRangers lead 3-1 after one and one-half innings.
Blue Jays fight back. We are now tied 3-3 after 2.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that Cole Hamels is pitching for Texas. I thought he was still with the Phillies. I really need to start paying more attention to baseball.
ReplyDeleteStill tied at 3 after 3 1/2 innings.
Hamels did start the year with the Phillies, but then he went over to Texas. In 12 starts for the Rangers, he went 7-1. Wow!
ReplyDeleteStill 3-3 after 4.
ReplyDeleteIn the bottom of the 5th, the Blue Jays take the lead with a bloop double, a bunt, and a single. With 1 out and 1 on, Toronto leads 4-3. The folks in Ontario are going nuts.
ReplyDeleteHamels gets out of the fifth with no further damage, but the Blue Jays still lead 4-3 with four innings to go.
ReplyDeleteGood Lord, here's Josh Hamilton coming to bat for the Rangers with two on and two out in the sixth. I thought he had retired.
ReplyDeleteBut Blue Jay pitcher Marcus Stroman has little trouble with Hamilton:
ReplyDeletePitch 1: called strike (0-1)
Pitch 2: foul (0-2)
Pitch 3: foul (0-2)
Pitch 4: swinging strike (3 outs)
Toronto still leads 4-3 after 5 1/2 innings.
In the 8th, here's Prince Fielder for the Texans. I thought he had retired as well.
ReplyDeleteFielder strikes out with 1 out and the tying run on second. So he looks about the same as ever.
But pinch hitter Mike Napoli smacks a two-out single to right, and the game is tied at 4 in the top of the 8th.
ReplyDeleteOn the Blue Jays' network, they are wondering why Toronto didn't bring in a right-hander to pitch to the right-handed Napoli. That's a good question.
Napoli is picked off, and the inning is over. But we are tied at 4 heading into the bottom of the 8th.
ReplyDeleteThe Blue Jays strand two runners in the bottom of the 8th, and we are still tied at 4.
ReplyDeleteStill tied at 4 going into the 11th.
ReplyDeleteLast year, trailing San Francisco by 1 game to 0, the Nats went 18 innings in their last home game of the year trying to save their season. They lost that game and subsequently lost the series. The Blue Jays are trying to avoid the same fate.
In the top of the 11th, Fielder draws a one-out walk and is replaced with a pinch runner. Napoli, who is still in the game after his pinch hit RBI in the 8th, comes to the plate.
ReplyDeleteBlue Jay reliever Mark Lowe issues another walk, and the Rangers now have men on first and second with one out. Elvis Andrus comes to bat.
ReplyDeleteAndrus grounds out to third, but the Blue Jays cannot turn a double play. Rangers now have runners on first and third with two outs. And now it's up to Josh Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteThat's all for Lowe. The Blue Jays are bringing in Aaron Loup to pitch to Hamilton
Loup v. Hamilton:
ReplyDeletePitch 1: foul (0-1)
Pitch 2: Hamilton flies to center field
The inning is over. We're still tied at 4 going into the bottom of the 11th.
Toronto goes down 1-2-3 in the 11th, and we're on to the 12th.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, in what may be the last game of the year in Kansas City, the Royals trail 3-0 after 1.
In the bottom of the 12th, with the score still tied at 4, Toronto first baseman Chris Colabello leads off with a single. Dalton Pompey comes in to pinch run for Colabello.
ReplyDeleteShawn Tolleson, the Rangers' closer, mows down three Blue Jays in a row to wrap up the 12th inning. That's two scoreless innings from Tolleson, and the score is still 4-4 going into the 13th.
ReplyDeleteThe Rangers strand a runner on first in the top of the 13th. Still tied at 4 going into the bottom of the 13th.
ReplyDeleteTolleson is done for the Rangers, so they bring in Keone Kela to face the top of the Toronto order in the 13th.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the Astros lead Kansas City 4-2 after 3.
ReplyDeleteWith two out and one on in the bottom of the 13th, Edwin Encarnacion pounds a long drive to center field. The Toronto fans think they've won the game, but the ball dies on the warning track, and the Blue Jays are retired.
ReplyDeleteOn to the 14th!
The Rangers get back-to-back singles with two outs in the top of the 14th, so it's up to number-9 hitter Hanser Alberto. He rips a single to center, and the Rangers take a 5-4 lead.
ReplyDeleteSee? You can score runs without hitting a homer.
Alberto takes second on the throw, and the Rangers have runners at second and third with the top of the order coming up. They could blow the game open here.
The Blue Jays bring in Liam Hendriks in an effort to stop the bleeding, but Delino DeShields beats out an infield single to put Texas up 6-4. That's four two-out singles in a row, and that could be the end of the line for baseball in Canada during 2015.
ReplyDeleteShin-Soo Choo flies out to end the inning for Texas, but the damage, as they say, has been done. The Rangers lead 6-4, and are only three outs away from taking a 2-0 series lead.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to Ross Ohlendorf to close this game out for Texas. He will be going up against the 5, 6, and 7 hitters in Toronto's line up.
ReplyDeleteOhlendorf strikes out the first two Blue Jays in the 14th, and then hits Russell Martin, the Toronto catcher. That brings the tying run to the plate in the form of Blue Jay center fielder Kevin Pillar.
ReplyDeleteOhlendorf v. Pillar:
Pitch 1: foul (0-1)
Pitch 2: called strike (0-2)
Pitch 3: swinging strike (GAME OVER)
Once again, we see a team that depended on homers in the regular season going down in a blizzard of strikeouts in the post-season. In what is probably the last inning of baseball to be played in Canada this year, Ohlendorf struck out the side. For the game as a whole, the Blue Jays finished with 8 hits and 15 strikeouts. But at least they swung really hard.
ReplyDeleteThe Royals, fighting for their lives in Kansas City, have rallied to within 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth. They also have the bases loaded with only one out.
ReplyDeleteHouston walks in the tying run, and it's now 4-4.
ReplyDeleteHouston gets two strikeouts with the bases loaded to end the inning. After six, the score is 4-4.
ReplyDeleteIn the bottom of the 7th, the Royals take the lead with a triple and a single. After 7, Kansas City leads 5-4.
ReplyDelete