By DjackThe Toronto Blue Jays are back in the ALCS for the second straight year as they beat the Texas Rangers in the ALDS for the second straight year. At the beginning of this series I thought this one would definitley go to 5 games and I definitley didn't think Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish would get shelled like they did. Toronto's starting pitchers out dueled the Rangers starter's in every game this series, games one and two Toronto did a good job of getting their starting pitchers an early lead to work with, tonight was the only real competitive game of this series. The Rangers played with hunger tonight, something we didn't see from them in games one and two, but it was too little too late as the Blue Jays had an energized home crowd to propel them to a victory tonight. It was back forth all game tonight, there was 3 lead changes, and we needed extra innings to decide it. Ultimately it wouldn't take long as the Blue Jays would get a walkoff on a fielder's choice to advance to the ALCS. Rangers had a late lead in the 6th inning, they didn't hold it for long as they let the Blue Jays tie it up immediately in that same inning. The Blue Jays were just the better team despite the regular season records and it showed. The Blue Jays lineup is clearly better, the starting pitching has more depth and is probably just better overall, and the bullpen isn't necessarily strong on either side but still advantage Blue Jays. Not that the Rangers bullpen had much of a chance since the Rangers failed to have any sort of lead in this series past the 6th inning. Rougnen Odor may have won the battle when he snuffed Jose Bautista earlier this season, but Bautista won the war as his team will continue to play in October, largely in part to his outstanding performance. The Blue Jays could be representing the AL in the World Series, regardless of who they play it'll be a tougher matchup for them than the Rangers. I'm just struggling to fathom how either of the potential teams they will play can stop this lineup from just destroying their pitchers because there's not going to be many better postseason pitchers than Cole Hamels that they'll face. Blue Jays are clearly on a mission and are playing with some serious purpose this might be the scariest team in the postseason right now, just ask the Rangers.
By DjackAnother unlikely hero comes through in the clutch to provide their team a win in these playoffs. First Conor Gillaspie did for the Giants in the wildcard game against the Mets and now another hero emerged today. In what was basically a must win game for the Nationals, since the odds of going down 0-2 on the road are terrible, Jose Lobaton was that surprise hero. His three run homerun in the 4th inning gave the Nationals hope as their chances were beginning to look real slim. Corey Seager in the first playoff series of his young career is killing it, I know it's only been two games, but he has two runs, and has scored half of the Dodgers runs in this series. That was the problem today though, Seager can't be the only one hitting if their going to win this series, after Kershaw this starting rotation isn't anything special, and their bullpen can't bail them out every night. Rich Hill started today for the Dodgers, he had been very good this regular season with a 2.12ERA and 1.00WHIP so he should've been able to hand off the lead to the Dodgers bullpen with a lead. Especially since he was given a 2 run and the Nationals crowd was deader than a funeral. Jose Lobaton turned the tables on this series though, his three run homerun to give the nationals the 3-2 lead in the forth inning changed the course of this series. The stadium erupted and a whole new energy was restored into the Nationals play. Daniel Murphy would knock in two RBI's later in the game as insurance runs. The Nationals bullpen wouldn't need it though, as they would throw 4 2/3 innings of one hit baseball. Nationals tying up the series going back to LA is huge, now all they have to do is steal one on the road, and come back home to win the series in front of their home crowd. Dodgers regardless of the loss today still have to feel good about their chances because they accomplished their mission of stealing a game on the road. Both teams still feel great about their chances going into LA so game three should be really fun to watch.
By DjackCubs and Giants would have what was thought to be another pitchers duel going into this game. Jeff Samardzija a former Cubs pitcher, would take the mound for the Giants tonight against potential NL Cy Young award winner, Kyle Hendricks. I knew this game wouldn't be a pitchers duel though because Samardzija isn't an ace pitcher, for some reason everyone believes he is, yet every time I see him pitching he's letting up run after run. That trend continued tonight from the get go, Ben Zobrist would get an RBI single in the first to get the scoring started. Samardzija would let up three more runs in the second and would be done after just 2 innings of work. The other starting pitcher Kyle Hendrick had a great game, not only on the mound, he had a two RBI single off Samardzija in the second inning which ultimately contributed to his early exit. He didn't have his best stuff on the mound tonight as he allowed 4 hits and 2 runs in just 3 2/3 innings before being pulled from the game. He was pulled from the game after being hit by a ball going back up the middle, it would be no problem for the Cubs though. The Cubs bullpen stepped up big time throwing 5 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Kyle Hendrick wasn't the only pitcher with an RBI tonight though, Travis Wood hit a home run in the 4th inning to give the Cubs a 5-2 lead. The crowd was ecstatic and I was in utter disbelief. That would be able all she wrote folks, the Cubs would hold onto the lead from their as they head to San Francisco with a 2-0 lead in the series. The bullpen of the Cubs did a fantastic job as they were asked to do a lot tonight and didn't budge one inch. Chapman would get his second save of the series showing that the Cubs made the right decision trading for him at the deadline to make sure they had that flamethrower to close the door on games. Couldn't have asked for a much better start from this team if you're a Cubs fan, they'll face their biggest challenge in game 3 though as they face Madison Bumgarner. Jake Arrieta will be going for the Cubs as we continue to see the fire power of each teams rotation. The Cubs probably won't even need to come back to Wrigley to win this series as they seem to be rocking and rolling just like they were all regular season long.
By DjackThis game was a classic National League pitchers duel, just imagine the NL Wildcard game, now just imagine it with Jon Lester and Johnny Cueto on the mound, and it turned out to have a similar result. The Giants would be on the opposite end of that result this time though, Cueto probably couldn't have pitched a better game, he threw 8 innings accumulating 10 strike outs allowing only 3 hits. Jon Lester had a similar stat line, 8 innings, 5 strikeouts, and 0 runs. The game was just a straight showdown between these two stud pitchers, who would make the first mistake, or who would leave the game first were the only rational options as to what the result of this game would turn out to be. It looked like neither team would ever score, we were into the 8th inning with Lester and he had not allowed a run. Cueto was looking to do the same he came out for the eighth. He got a couple batters out to start the inning then up came Javy Baez, this kid hit an absolute moonshot to left, but the wind was blowing in hard, despite the wind the ball had just enough juice to get out. Wrigley Field exploded as the Cubs got their first lead of the postseason, the Giants let up their first run of the season, and in comes the left handed monster Aroldis Chapman to seal the deal. Chapman who has been unhittable all year long got the first two batters out in the inning with no problem. Buster Posey came up as the potential final batter of the game, he didn't look at it that way though, he looked at it as I'm the potential tying run. Well he almost tied the game on one swing as he hit a rope to left centerfield that hit off the wall missing a home run by a few feet. Chapman would get the next batter Pence to ground out as the Cubs get a much needed game 1 victory in the NLDS, this win helps take a lot of pressure off their back. Baez has the best moment of his young career as he won this game with one swing of the bat, Cubs have Hendrick going tomorrow so they should have a nice 2-0 lead going back to San Francisco. Is this the year?
By DjackKershaw vs Schezer, could you ask for more fire power out of a pitching matchup. This series is going to 5 games I'll tell you that right now, these teams are so evenly matched that this series could really go either way. They both have good starting pitching backed by solid bullpens, and they both have a few bats that are very deadly. All of these factors came into play tonight, the scoring got off to an early start when one of the dodgers big bats, Corey Seager, hit a solo home run, the first of his promising young career. Max Schezer's fatal inning was the third where he would allow three runs, one coming off a Chase Utley RBI, and the other two coming from a Justin Turner home run. The Dodgers had an early 4-0 lead and the Nationals had to get some of those runs back quick. They would do just that, Anthony Rendon would hit a 2 RBI double in the bottom of the third to cut the lead in half. The Nats would pull within one run the next inning on a sacrifice fly by Trea Turner. Max Schezer would finish strong not allowing a run after the third, he threw 6 innings, had 5 strikeouts, and unfortunately let up one too many runs. Kershaw only threw 5 innings and allowed three runs in those 5 innings so he didn't have even close to one of his better games, but he handed the game over to his bullpen with a lead. The Dodgers bullpen was the real MVP of this game throwing 4 scoreless innings to secure a game 1 victory. Kenley Jansen picked up a gutsy 5 out save to shut the door and help the Dodgers steal a game on the road. So in review, the starting pitching matchup was pretty even, but I'll give Kershaw the slight advantage because he didn't let up two home runs, and he was able to hold the lead before giving the game off to his bullpen. The Bullpens were dead even as neither of them let up a run, to be honest the bullpens pitched way more effectively than these big name stud starting pitchers. The difference was the Dodgers big bats stepped up and the Nationals big bats didn't. Seager and Turner the two guys that carried the Dodgers offense in the second half of the season, continued to carry them tonight as they both hit home runs. Daniel Murphy, Jayson Werth, and Bryce Harper didn't do anything all that special in this game, as a matter of fact they went a combined 3 for 12, and they didn't contribute any RBI's. This is October baby, if you're big name players aren't showing up, you're team will be back on their couch in no time. Nationals need to win game 2, last thing they want to do is go to LA down 2 games to nothing.
By DjackI don't think anybody saw this coming, the Red Sox and the Rangers are down 0-2 in their ALDS series. The Rangers played in the 1:00PM game against the Blue Jays, it was more of the same from yesterday, the Blue Jays starter showed up, and the Rangers starter didn't. Yu Darvish pitched in his second career postseason start, boy was it one to forget, he let up 5 runs in 5 innings on his way to picking up the loss. J.A. Happ didn't have his best stuff today either, but he only allowed one run. He only made it threw 5 innings because the Rangers were getting hits of him picking up nine total, unfortunately they just weren't able to capitalize. The Blue Jays were up 5-1 after 5 innings of baseball, it would stay that way until the eighth inning when the Rangers made a late game push. They only managed to pick up 2 runs though, it wasn't enough and they would end up losing 5-3. The thing about this game is the Rangers had every opportunity to win this game, they had 13 hits, that's more than double of what the Blue Jays had, too bad they were't able to pick up those hits when they had runners in scoring position. Rangers needed this game, I know the Blue Jays came back from 0-2 last year, but the Rangers aren't taking two games in the crazy environment at the Rogers Center. A great regular season goes to waste as the Rangers will be handed an early exit from this year's postseason. Boston is in a similar yet much different situation, unlike yesterday the Red Sox got man handled today. The Indians had the advantage right from the get go having Lebron James and most of the Cavs roster in attendance at this game, they used every bit of energy the Cavaliers brought into the building, and used it to kick the Red Sox ass. David Price, the biggest signing of last year's offseason, took the mound for the Red Sox. Boy did he live up to the hype, not the hype that he's a phenomenal pitcher that's worth $200 million, but the hype that he's an awful postseason performer who folds under the pressure. If you're a Red Sox fan you have to be sick, you pay this guy all this money to win you big games like this, and he comes out and gives you 3 1/3 innings allowing 5 runs. Absolutely fucking pathetic, I'm loving every second of this by the way, Price being a bigger waste of money than Jacoby Elisbury helps me sleep at night. This Red Sox collapse is gold, 3 days ago everyone is saying how they're World Series bound, and now they can't even get past the Cleveland Indians, what a way to piss on the David Ortiz retirement party. Indians blow out the Red Sox today 6-0, Corey Kluber pitched a fucking gem stepping up when the Indians needed him most. With a depleted bullpen Kluber knew coming into this game he'd have to throw 7 innings strong, he did just that, and saved the arms of Cody Allen and Andrew Miller. As much as I'd love to say they Red Sox are 6 feet under, they're not, they have two games coming up at home so they can easily shift the momentum to their side in this series. I know better than to count the Red Sox out, I still have reoccurring nightmares from 2004, I know better than to think they can't comeback from a mere 2-0 deficit. Sunday is Judgement Day for both the Rangers and Red Sox, a little advice to their counterparts, step on their necks before you allow them back into this series because nothing is scarier than playing a team that just won two straight going into game 5. Which team is more likely to comeback if either, leave a comment saying who and why.
By DjackThis game was every fans dream, you have two great teams battling it out going back fourth throughout the entirety of the game. This was one of those games that just had you glued to the TV screen because you were afraid if you blinked you were going to miss something big. From the get go tonight both these teams were locked in offensively, what can you expect from two power house AL teams, the American League is all about offensive fire power, there's a reason no pitcher in the AL had under a 3 ERA. Red Sox got the scoring started early tonight as they came up in the top of the first getting some base runners on, Hanley Ramirez hit a laser into the left-center field gap, and Pedroia would score. Brock Holt also tried scoring on this play, he was originally called safe, but after review it was clear that he was out, and the Indians escaped only allowing one run. Chisenhall would tie the game up in the second for the Indians with an RBI single. Then, the home run party began. Andrew Benintendi, the young Red Sox outfielder who has come on strong down the stretch this year, hit the first home run of the game in the top of the 3rd inning making the score 2-1. The Indians decided to unleash their guns after that, Roberto Perez got it started with a solo shot of his own, tying the game at 2-2. Then, after the next batter grounded out, Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor went back to back to take a 4-2 lead. Sandy Leon cut that lead to one after he hit a solo homer in the fifth inning, that would ultimately lead to Trevor Bauer getting pulled from the game, and on came Andrew Miller to save the day. Miller did just that getting out of a jam, along with pitching two innings of scoreless baseball tonight. Kipnis would get that insurance right back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single, that would ultimately lead to Rick Porcello's exit, who proved tonight that he's not Cy Young worthy despite his stat line. The Red Sox bullpen did a good job of keeping the Indians quiet after that allowing no runs for the rest of the game. Red Sox would pull within one again as Brock Holt hit the 6th solo home run of the night, thankfully for both these ball clubs no one was on base for these home runs, or else this game could've gotten outta hand for either team. That's why getting base runners on is so important folks, sure home runs are great, but if no one's on base for them, they're really not all that effective. The score was 5-4 when the Cleveland Indians closer Cody Allen took the mound to secure the 5 out save, and the game one victory for the Indians. He did just that, he struck out 4 of the 5 batters he faced, and the Indians won game one 5-4 in a great start to what should be an amazing series. Indians need a big start from Kluber tomorrow though because their bullpen is fried after tonight.
By DjackRangers are the top team in the AL, they finished the season with a record of 95-67, but if you watched today's game you wouldn't believe it. They came into tonight as the favorite to win this series, mostly in part to their regular season success, and the Blue Jays question marks in the pitching staff. Well, the Toronto pitching staff concerns have been put to bed, Marco Estrada pitched an absolute gem, and Stroman had a very good outing on Tuesday in the Wildcard game. They have J.A. Happ pitching tomorrow, he's been their best pitcher on the staff all season, if he can carry that into game 2 the Rangers are going to be in some big trouble. Rangers had postseason stud Cole Hamels taking the bump today, very few active pitchers have more experience or success in the postseason than this guy. Tonight was a different story, the Blue Jays hit Hamels, and they hit him hard. The third inning is where his downfall began, he let up five runs after already having two outs in the inning, granted there was two plays in the inning that should've been outs, Beltre missed a line drive by Donaldson that was smoked over his head but still hit off his glove. The bigger error of the inning was a deep fly ball to center field hit by Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Desmond who isn't a pure breed outfielder didn't track the ball well whatsoever, it dropped in, bounced off the wall over his head, and it allowed three runs to score. Hamels struggles continued in the 4th as he let up a homerun to Melvin Upton Jr. and a RBI single before being taken out, but the damage had already been done. At this point it was 7-0, Marco Estrada was cruising and was showing no signs of slowing down, and after 3 1/3 innings the Rangers were already into their bullpen so the Blue Jays had this game on lock. Jose Bautista would throw a little salt in the wound by hitting a three run dinger to make it 10-0 in the 9th, just a little bit of payback for the incident that occurred back in may. Bautista had a monster game recording 4 RBI's as he continues his reign of terror in the playoffs. Marco Estrada was player of the game though, he pitcher 8 1/3 innings, allowing one run that came in the bottom of the ninth, 4 hits, struck out 6, and got a big W in game 1 against a very strong Rangers lineup. Yu Darvish takes the mound tomorrow for the Rangers making his second postseason start, his first came in 2012, and he lost that game so he's a very inexperienced postseason pitcher. The Rangers need a great start out of him which is going to be tough against a hot Blue Jays offense, if the Rangers lose this game the season is over for them because they're not walking into the Rogers Center and winning two games. J.A. Happ on the other hand has pitched in 4 different postseason, those were over 7 years ago though so it's been awhile for him. It doesn't get any easier for the Rangers as they take on the Jays best regular season pitcher, and they have a somewhat inconsistent Yu Darvish taking the mound. Time to start sweating Rangers fans, it's looking like a classic Texas choke.
By DjackLast night we all learned something we already knew, Madison Bumgarner is unbeatable in winner takes all games. The Mets gave it their best try, Thor pitched a gem, but he was unable to keep his pitch count down so he could only pitch seven innings. As soon as Thor came out of the game the Giants came alive, they almost scored in 8th off Addison Reed, he was able to get the Mets out of the inning unscathed though. Bumgarner continued to mow through the Mets lineup with ease, the only chance the Mets had was if they could get this game into extra innings, or somehow get Bumgarner out of the game before that. Well, the Giants came up in the top of 9th, Familia was pitching for the Mets, and as soon as Familia came in I knew this was trouble. Familia has really struggled as of late, he's had some serious trouble with his command, and in a game of this magnitude you can't be giving batters free bases. Familia never makes it easy though, two men on one man out, and Conor Gillaspie came to the plate, Bumgarner was on deck so they most likely would've pinch hit for him if his spot came up with a tie game. Too bad Conor Gillaspie made Bumgarner's AB irrelevant, he jacked a three run home run over the right field way sucking all the energy out of Citi Field. Bumgarner came back out for the 9th inning, he completed the shutout, and the Giants move on to play the Cubs after a 3-0 victory over the Mets. Bumgarner proves to be a super human, the Mets overcame all odds and made the playoffs, but they just ran into the one guy that in unbeatable in a winner takes all situation. Don't hang your heads Mets fans, no team would've won that game Bumgarner is just too good, I'd be very worried if I was a Cubs fan with the even-year Giants coming to town, I'd be reallllll worried.
By DjackThe last two teams to represent the NL in the World Series will face off tonight to see who gets the opportunity to make another playoff run this year, loser goes home to watch from their couch with you and I. Mets are the home team and have Noah Syndergaard on the mound, the Giants will have Madison Bumgarner taking the hill, so get ready for a low scoring game with a lot of swings and misses. It is October though, so anything can happen, look at Clayton Kershaw he has horrible postseason numbers, and it's just because October baseball is a different animal. Bumgarner has proven to be one of if not the best postseason pitchers ever, he's only 27 so that could change, but based on what we've seen it won't, and with every great performance he has he cements his legacy a little bit more. Syndergaard on the other hand doesn't have nearly as much experience, he pitched well in last year's postseason, so hopefully he will be able to build off that. The pitching match up will not be the difference maker in this one, the bullpen, and the bats will. Both these teams have aces going so runs are going to be extremely hard to come by, so I can see the Giants trying to play a lot of small ball to manufacture runs. They'll try to run all over Syndergaard to get runners in scoring positions, look for Bochy to do anything he can to get one or two runs on the board with the use of small ball. The Mets on the other hand will have one approach to this game, try to hit home runs, the reason being when the Mets hit home runs they win games, it's that simple. All year this Mets team has lived and died by the home run ball, I think Jay Bruce will go yard in this game, and make every Mets fan thankful for trading for him. The Mets bullpen isn't dominate, they have Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia who are two very good relievers, the Giants on the other hand have one of the worst bullpen's in baseball so they'll need for Bumgarner to go deep in this game. I know I should pick the Giants because it's an even year, Bumgarner is pitching, and they have the experience, but I never like picking against the Mets in a big playoff game. The miracle Mets will win this game 4-2 , Bumgarner will let up a big homerun at some point that will ultimately lead to the Giants demise, the even year trend will end, and the Mets will be moving onto Chicago.
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AuthorDjack- Chief editor Archives
April 2018
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