Month: October 2015

Lightning Recap: Jacob deGrom and the Mets Advance to the NLCS

Posted on October 16, 2015 in Game Recap
jacob degrom and the mets

Look at that goddamn hair. So impressive. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

New York Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, Mets win series 3-2

Game 5: Jacob deGrom (NYM) vs. Zack Greinke (LAD) – New York 3, Los Angeles 2

To everyone’s relief, I’m sure, the Mets squeaked one out over the Dodgers last night, erasing any chance of L.A. riding Chase Utley’s cleat spikes to a World Series. Instead, Jacob deGrom invited his teammates to jump on his back, spread his mighty wings of hair, and flapped like his life depended on it.

Not really. Instead, Daniel Murphy (of all people) continued his torrid postseason pace by contributing to each of New York’s 3 runs. He started in the top of the 1st with a double to drive Curtis Granderson in from first base despite Zack Greinke otherwise striking out the side.

Unfortunately, deGrom looked pretty sloppy in his first inning of work, giving up 4 consecutive 1-out singles to put the Dodgers in front 2-1.

Also, quick sidenote: this has already been pointed out by people who are better and quicker on the uptake than I am, but Jacob deGrom and Taran Killam (from Saturday Night Live) have basically the same face.

Just thought I’d let you know. Anyway, now down 2-1, the Mets went in order until Murphy singled on the first pitch of the 4th inning and, in a move I haven’t seen since Little League, stole third on a walk when third base was left uncovered on the shift the Dodgers had on for Lucas Duda.

A deep sacrifice fly to right field later, the game was tied again. 2-2.

After a few tense if uneventful innings (playoff baseball at its best!), Murphy came to the plate again with 1 out in the 6th. He didn’t disappoint.

From there on, the Mets did more threatening to score than the Dodgers did – in fact, only Adrian Gonzalez reached base for Los Angeles on a 2-out, 7th inning walk drawn off newly minted reliever Noah Syndergaard.

It probably made victory a little sweeter for Mets fans when Chase Utley lined out against Jeurys Familia to start the 9th inning.

The playoffs are so fucking great.

League Championship Series

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Kansas City Royals

Tonight, Friday, 8:07 ET, in Kansas City. Marco Estrada (TOR) vs. Edinson Volquez (KC)

Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets

Tomorrow, Saturday, 8:07 ET, in New York. Jon Lester (CHC) vs. Matt Harvey (NYM)

Lightning Recap: ALDS Conclude, Jays and Royals Moving On

Posted on October 15, 2015 in Game Recap, Random Stuff

Toronto 6, Texas 3 – Toronto Wins ALDS 3-2

Everything you need to know about this game happened in a wild, controversial, heated, 53-minute-long 7th inning.

First, with two outs in the top of the 7th, the game is tied at two with Rugned Odor at third and Shin-Soo Choo batting:

The ball is certainly in play, but it seems unfair that the umpire almost immediately signaled a dead ball, which didn’t give the Blue Jays a chance to make a play on the advancing runner. (Sidenote: I love how Harold Reynolds immediately says “Ball’s dead!” and two seconds later is saying “Why’s it dead? Why’s it dead? That ball’s alive!”)

So with the Rangers ahead 3-2 on an extremely controversial play, this happens in the bottom of the inning:

Not pictured in the above highlight – the aftermath of Joey Bats’ home run:

A few thoughts here:

  1. The Rangers could not have Schruted this any harder, blowing a 2-0 series lead and melting down with a lead in the 7th in this one, but I really feel bad for Elvis Andrus. He always seems like a good, funny dude and he had a brutal inning that ultimately led to Texas’ downfall.
  2. Kind of a dickish admiration/bat flip by Bautista, but given the emotion of the inning, I can’t really blame him. That being said, if it had been one of the Rangers that had done this, Jose would’ve had the mounties arrest him before he got to the plate.
  3. Really poor showing from the Toronto fans here. It’s one thing to throw beer cans and bottles on the field after the blown call (inexcusable, dangerous and childish, but somewhat understandable), it’s another to do it again after your team does something good, improbably and incredibly, in the franchise’s biggest game in 20 years. Clean it up, hosers.

Kansas City 7, Houston 2 – Royals Win ALDS 3-2

Houston jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a Luis Valbuena home run in the second, and it looked like Johnny Cueto may once again have a largely ineffective start for KC.

People were already starting to question the decision to bring him in, to give up prospects, to put all of their chips in the Cueto basket for a half-season rental.

But then Johnny remembered who he was and starting plowing through the Astros lineup. His body language changed notably. He was swaggering to and fro. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

Doth he ever.

He retired the next 19 men in order following the Valbuena long ball.

Pitchers IP  H  R ER BB SO HR ERA
Cueto (W, 1-0) 8.0 2 2 2 0 8 1 3.86

The Royals took the lead in the bottom of the 5th on an Alex Rios chopper that went down the 3rd base line for a double, scoring Sal Perez and Alex Gordon and never looked back.

The exclamation point was this Kendrys Morales three-run bomb off of Dallas Keuchel, featuring an adorable little skip when he knew he got all of it.

So we’re all set for the ALCS: Royals vs. Blue Jays Game One tomorrow night at 7:30PM on FOX.

Tonight: Game 5 between the Mets and Dodgers for the right to play the Cubs in the NLCS, 8PM on TBS.

Thank God we live in these times.

Lightning Recap: Cubs Advance to NLCS, Dodgers Tie Series

Posted on October 14, 2015 in Game Recap
cubs advance to nlcs

Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals, Cubs win series 3-1

Game 4: Jason Hammel (CHC) vs. John Lackey (STL) – Chicago 6, St. Louis 4

Jason Hammel was immediately hittable in the 1st inning, giving up a single and a home run to start the game and put the Cubs in a 2-0 hole.

He ended up only giving Chicago 3+ innings of work, but he was scoreless from then on and proved to be the biggest offensive difference-maker of the night. A career .134 hitter, Hammel came to the plate with 2 on and 2 out in the 2nd, still down 2-0. He took the first pitch from John Lackey and sent it back up the middle for a run-scoring base hit.

This brought up Javier Baez (from the 9-hole!), who only hit a 3-run homer to give Chicago a 4-2 lead.

Lackey just didn’t have his Game 1 stuff, and he too was pulled after just 3 innings. He was taken out in favor of Adam Wainwright, who retired 6 consecutive batters.

In the meantime, the Cardinals got to Travis Wood and Trevor Cahill (mostly Cahill) in the 6th, but Jorge Soler prevented the Cardinals from taking the lead, holding them to a 2-run inning with a great throw home from right field. 4-4.

Wainwright was replaced in the bottom of the 6th by Kevin Siegrist, who was great in the regular season but less so in the playoffs (to the tune of a 9.00 ERA). He gave up two solo home runs – one by Anthony Rizzo with 2 outs in the 6th:

And an absolute moonshot by Kyle Schwarber to lead off the 7th:

That ball is still on top of the scoreboard. I’m serious. Cubs win! Cubs win!

New York Mets vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, series tied 2-2

Game 4: Steven Matz (NYM) vs. Clayton Kershaw (LAD) – Los Angeles 3, New York 1

Clayton Kershaw went 7 innings for only the second time in his postseason career in a shutdown effort against the Mets to keep LA’s World Series hopes alive. He did this on 3 days’ rest. The Mets, however, chose to bring out Steven Matz, who is a promising young starter but is not Jacob deGrom. We’ll find out tomorrow night whether New York made the right decision in saving deGrom for Game 5.

The Dodgers’ damage came all at once, and, like the Cubs-Cardinals game, was brought on by a single by a pitcher. With 1 out in the 3rd, Kershaw singled, and he was later forced out at second for what might’ve been the third out of the inning if Matz had taken care of business against a .153 career hitter. Instead, Matz gave up two more singles and a double with 2 outs, and the Dodgers grabbed a 3-0 lead.

Daniel Murphy hit a solo home run off Clayton Kershaw for the second time in this series in the 4th inning to give New York a little bit of life. It was also the Mets’ first hit of the game.

But it wasn’t enough, and the Mets offense only mustered two singles and two walks the rest of the way. Mets lose! Mets lose!

Next game: Tomorrow, Thursday, 8:07 ET, in Los Angeles. Jacob deGrom (NYM) vs. Zack Greinke (LAD)

Today’s slate:

Texas Rangers vs. Toronto Blue Jays, series tied 2-2

4:07 ET, in Toronto. Cole Hamels (TEX) vs. Marcus Stroman (TOR) – Live right now!

Houston Astros vs. Kansas City Royals, series tied 2-2

8:07 ET, in Kansas City. Collin McHugh (HOU) vs. Johnny Cueto (KC)

Lightning Recap: ALDS and NLDS Full Slate

Posted on October 13, 2015 in Game Recap, Random Stuff

We had a full slate of four games on Columbus Day, each game exciting and highlighted by compelling storylines. I can’t remember another divisional series round with such intrigue and drama, but maybe that’s just because I’m more plugged in to the games? Either way, I’m not complaining.

ALDS

Kansas City 9, Houston 6, Series tied 2-2

This one was wild. After a normal 6 1/2 innings, the Astros led the Royals 3-2. In the bottom of the 7th, 21 year-old Carlos Correa hit his second dinger of the game with Jose Altuve aboard, and Colby Rasmus followed that up with a solo job of his own to give the Astros a 6-2 lead.

Rasmus has been colossal for the ‘Stros thus far in the playoffs, posting a 2.161 OPS, including 3 home runs.

Everyone was feeling pretty good in Houston, especially the guy running Governor Greg Abbott’s official twitter feed.

To say this is where the wheels came off for the Astros would be like saying “this is where the wheels came off” when the Titanic hit that iceberg.

In the top of the 8th, the redoubtable Will Harris (he of a 1.90 regular season ERA) surrendered three straight hits to start the inning, which is where the action picks up here:

Tony Sipp’s reaction to the Correa error is one of the most emotional, demonstrative reactions you’ll ever see on a Major League baseball field.

Eric Hosmer added a two run homer in the top of the 9th to give the Royals a comfortable 9-6 win.

Quote of the game: “Baseball is crazy.” – Carlos Gomez.

Unappreciated: Lance McCullers’ great outing in a potential series-clinching win before the trainwreck began.

Strange: The bullpen phones went out late in this game, which meant that the dugout would yell to the outfielders, who would yell to the bullpen to say who they wanted to warm up. This added to the circus atmosphere … The win goes to Ryan Madson after giving up all those runs and owning a 9.00 ERA and the loss goes to Tony Sipp with a 0.00 ERA.

Toronto 8, Texas 4, Series tied 2-2

The Blue Jays jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead thanks to homers from Josh Donaldson, Chris Colabello, and Kevin Pillar.

The Jays tacked on three more in the top of the third to jump out to an early 7-0 advantage.

The real story line in this one was that David Price came on in relief of R.A. Dickey with two outs in the 5th. This was a do-or-die game for the Blue Jays, but with a 7-1 lead, you’d think they could piece together the second half of the game with their existing bullpen options, and keep Price available for the all-important Game 5. But Price got the call and wasn’t great, giving up three runs in three innings, but “earning” the win along the way.

The general consensus seems to be that the Jays wanted Stroman to pitch the winner-take-all game regardless, and by pitching Price yesterday in relief they were able to avoid all of the drama that would come along with that decision. This makes sense because the Rangers struggle with off speed stuff, and Price is more of a fastball/slider guy. He has also been awful in the playoffs in his career.

Both ALDS will play win or go home games on Wednesday. The two series have mirrored each other closely.

NLDS

Chicago 8, St. Louis 6, Chicago leads 2-1

The Cubs set a Major League record by becoming the first team to ever hit SIX home runs in a postseason game.

This offensive outburst backed a less-than-stellar Jake Arrieta, who surrendered four earned runs in 5.2 innings, but still managed to strike out nine men.

Something to keep an eye on: Addison Russell injured himself on a triple and had to leave the game. Could be big down the road, but Javy Baez isn’t a bad insurance policy to have.

New York 13, Los Angeles 7, New York leads 2-1

In the top of the second, Mets starter Matt Harvey surrendered three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. This brought up Yasmani Grandal, who cleared the bases with a single and an error from Curtis Granderson.

Just about a worse-case scenario start for Harvey and the Mets, considering Matt needed to turn in a solid effort to make Mets fans forget about the whole innings limit debacle.

However, Granderson would redeem himself and Harvey in the next inning, when the Mets put together a little rally of their own, scoring one on a Lucas Duda RBI single, then loading the bases with one out. This brought up Harvey, who K’d, leaving the inning in the hands of the man who just committed the costly error.

4-3 New York after two.

In The bottom of the 4th, former Red Sox great Yoenis Cespedes hit a three run MISSILE to put the Met lead at 10-3, sparking a “we want Utley” chant from the delirious Citi Field crowd.

Both the Cubs and the Mets have a chance to clinch in today’s games, starting at 4:30 and 8 PM respectively.