The brutal part is that they got to Verlander and would have beaten the top two starters. now this is a series. Then again, my prediction was Dodgers in 6.
I thought that second home run given up by Fields was going to be it for this game. Getting a run back was do-able against Giles but 2? Damn. The Dodgers need to win this now because the pen is empty other than McCarthy and I don't trust him to do much after his long layoff from competitive action.
3-1 in the 8th. Damn. Combination of bad management and Houston's bats coming to life. Feel like the Dodgers could have still won it, but they kept letting Houston get too far ahead.
Jebus, talk about being put through the wringer! Lawd knows how died in the wool Dodgers fans can deal with that after thirty years, I was a wreck by the end.
Amazing occasion, great game, sickener of a result. My mate spent much of the night eulogising Roberts’ bold game-winning decisions and then watched with disbelief as he burned through all the pitchers.
Ray, was that the first baseball game you've attended?!
I was a wreck by the end.
It was so fucking tense! And I am not partisan at all - OK, maybe a slight preference for Houston on account of them never having won it and having fewer, less repulsive beards. But I'm basically neutral.
Is there a special stat or title for a pitcher who makes a single pitch for a double play?
Having read the reports, I'm watching the replay of last nights game. None of them mentioned the wild pick off attempt in the bottom of the tenth, with the score tied at 5-all. If that had marginally less off-target and missed the umpire there would have been a reasonable chance of the runner on second getting home and winning the game. The Astros outfielders can't have been in position to deal with something like that.
As AJ Hinch said in the post-game press conference, the baseball gods seemed to be balancing things out. Taylor had that ball bounce off his face and go right to Peterson and then the ump gets hit with the pickoff. In the first scenario, Houston has a much bigger inning. In the second situation, the Dodgers probably win. But if the first hadn't happened, maybe the second doesn't factor because the game is over.
I thought Hinch's comment that Laz Diaz (the umpire) was exactly where the Astros wanted him on that play was excellent, especially given the Astros' propensity for altering their defensive alignment in response to a deep analysis of each batter's tendencies.
But yes, in a normal game that play would have gotten huge play in post-game commentary. But given everything else that happened, it was at best a footnote.
Having read the reports, I'm watching the replay of last nights game. None of them mentioned the wild pick off attempt in the bottom of the tenth, with the score tied at 5-all. If that had marginally less off-target and missed the umpire there would have been a reasonable chance of the runner on second getting home and winning the game. The Astros outfielders can't have been in position to deal with something like that.
Yes, I was thinking about that last night. The guy I was with said as soon as it happened “We would have won the game right there.”
As Inca said, he would have gotten to third, but no farther. Center fielders are trained to back up throws from the catcher to second base starting in Little League. At this level, it is absolutely automatic.
Hernandez wasn't going to score from second but he would have been at third with 1 (?) out. Who knows what would have happened. Madden would probably use a squeeze play in that situation but I don't know if Roberts is a fan of that move. So, third with 1 (?) out is not a guarantee (or even with 0 outs). But it is a big difference.
I just saw on MLB Network that Jansen has only given up a home run 3 times in his career when he had a better 0-2. Two were last season, oddly, and the other was Springer. Out of all of this, I have to think that Fields and Stripling will be the last options going forward.
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