Yesterday was the day that the playoff teams ran out of pitching, and hits started flying all over the place. Here were the results from a very dramatic day of baseball:
1. The Royals trailed Houston 6-2 after seven innings, due in part to Carlos Correa, the Houston phenom who went 4-4 with two home runs. But the Royals truly showed the caliber of champions, scoring seven runs in the last two innings -- on the road! -- to pull out a 9-6 victory.
2. Speaking of caliber, the Blue Jays lost two games to Texas at home, including a 14-inning in heartbreaker. But they have now responded with two wins in Texas, including an easy 8-4 win yesterday.
3. The Cubs were counting on great pitching to stop St. Louis last night. Instead, the Cubs won 8-6 behind a barrage of six home runs. They look more and more like the Red Sox teams Theo Epstein built in the 2000's. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are on the verge of missing the NLCS for the first time since 2010.
4. The Dodgers faced a cauldron of rage and fury in New York after Chase Utley's controversial slide helped beat the Mets in Game 2. As expected by anyone who has seen the Dodgers since Kirk Gibson retired, they promptly retreated into the fetal position, falling behind 10-3 after four innings, and putting up almost no resistance in a 13-7 loss.
These have really been some good playoffs so far, and all four series are still up for grabs:
National League Championship Series:
Chicago leads St. Louis 2-1
New York leads Los Angeles 2-1
American League Championship Series:
Kansas City and Houston are tied 2-2
Toronto and Texas are tied 2-2
They have been excellent, and it's fun following them at the HP. The best teams to me look like the Cardinals and the Cubs (no surprise there), and Yoenis Céspedes looks to me like he's going to win a World Series with whatever team he is playing with by the time this season ends.
ReplyDelete#GREENCOLLAR!
I just want to say for the record -- and in the presence of any Baseball Gods who may be paying attention -- that I always liked Cespedes, that I thought he was the best player for the A's, and that I never wanted the A's to trade him.
ReplyDeleteCubs radio network ... in Madisonville, you can listen to either Cubs or Cardinals radio networks ...
ReplyDeleteCubs led 4-2 ... Cardinals tied at 4 in sixth with two two-out hits (but also got thrown out at home to end the inning on the game-tying hit) ... Cubs hit solo home runs in sixth and seventh, got bases loaded in eighth but failed to score ... lead 6-4 ...
ReplyDelete"It's fasten-your-seatbelts time," says Cubs play-by-play guy before ninth ...
ReplyDeleteHe started talking history and rivalry at least as early as the sixth--how the Cardinals "seem to be in the playoffs every year" and how the Cardinals have been to the World Series 11 times (and have won six championships) since Cubs' last World Series appearance.
ReplyDeleteCubs win.
ReplyDeleteNow it's 0-0 in top of the third in New York, and the Dodgers have first and third with two out after Howie Kendrick singled. This does not surprise me. Howie Kendrick had about 250 at-bats against Oakland last season, and I'm pretty sure he got hits in 249 of them.
ReplyDeleteDodgers 1, Mets 0 ... still two out, first and second ...
ReplyDeleteNow 3-0, still two out ... man on second ...
ReplyDeleteGoing to ninth ... 3-1, Dodgers ... Mets had first and second with two out and Cespedes on deck ... get fly out to end inning ... Cespedes, down at least two runs, will come to bat with no one on base to open bottom of ninth ...
ReplyDeleteDodgers win.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how or why, but I'm actually sort of happy for the Royals.
ReplyDelete