Epic games or lousy pitching?
Either way, this World Series has been a hit
An epic game. No, make that an instant classic.
Words that get tossed around way too much to have much meaning. Words that don’t really describe Game 5 of the World Series, no matter how entertaining much of it was.
And entertaining it was. By the time Alex Bregman and Kenley Jansen combined to finally bring it to a close at 12:38 a.m. local time Monday in Houston there had been so many plot turns for the Astros and Dodgers that it was hard for fans around the country to sort them all out before finally heading off to bed.
Great drama, yes. So much so that the game scored a rare TV ratings win over the NFL Sunday night game between Pittsburgh and Detroit.
Great fun, too. At least the people dancing between innings in the expensive seats behind home plate at Minute Maid Park seemed to think so — and that was before the Astros finally ended things 13-12 in the bottom of the 10th inning.
So did the Astros’ Carlos Correa, who declared it the “best game ever, for sure.”
But was it great baseball? Not even close.
The best pitcher in baseball blew a four-run lead, then blew another three-run lead for good measure. The former Cy Young winner who started for the Astros didn’t even make it out of the fourth inning.
The best closer in the game had a late meltdown for the second time in this series. And the closer on the Astros never saw the mound after being shellacked the night before.
It wasn’t like they weren’t given a chance to succeed. Umpire Bill Miller’s strike zone was as wide as the train that kept chugging atop the left field wall at Minute Maid every time the Astros scored.
But in a bandbox of a ballpark, balls flew everywhere. Seven of them cleared the fences, five of them hit by the home team.
You can’t just blame modern architecture. In Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, the teams combined for a record eight home runs, and already the series record for home runs has been shattered — with potentially two games remaining.
It’s enough to get the tongues of the conspiracy theorists wagging. Interestingly enough, one of them will be starting Game 6 tonight for the Astros.
Justin Verlander thinks the balls for this series are slicker, making sliders tougher to throw.
“I think it’s pretty clear,” Verlander said before Game 5. “I think our commissioner has said publicly that they wanted more offence in the game. I’m pretty sure I’m not fabricating a
quote here when I say that.”
He’s not, because as little as two years ago Rob Manfred was searching for ways to get more offence in the game. No one, it seems in this day of nonstop action, wants a 2-1 game anymore.
Keep this up, though, and Manfred may start looking into raising the pitcher’s mound again.
Yes, the game of baseball has changed. That was evident early in Game 2 when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts lifted starter Rich Hill after four solid innings in which he struck out seven and allowed just one run.
It was evident later in that game when the Dodgers were on their ninth pitcher of the night, and balls kept flying out of a stadium where home runs were just an abstract concept
when it was built in the early 1960s.
And then came Sunday night/monday morning and a game where 14 pitchers were all pretty much equally lousy at getting hitters out.
Some of that can be blamed on the grind of the season and the length of the playoffs. Arms are tired, and pitchers aren’t always used properly or in their natural rotation. And every batter who comes to the plate these days seems to take giant uppercuts with the bat that the people in analytics say will pay off with more home runs.
Pitchers are left to throw the ball that baseball officials insist hasn’t been juiced and, if they’re not too shell-shocked, to add it up when it’s all over.
Entertaining, yes, but so was
Game 1 when Clayton Kershaw pitched an immaculate seven innings in a game that took less than half the time of the 5-hour, 17-minute marathon that was Game 5. That was the fastest game in 25 years in the World Series, but it quickly became clear it was an aberration in this series.
Kershaw is going to have a tough time dealing with his latest outing, which adds to his post-season woes. But he’s not alone in a series that is destroying a lot of pitchers’ reputations.
For baseball, it’s all good if it draws eyeballs. And the ratings Sunday night seems to show the big bats are doing just that.
Keep this up, though, and we’ll all be worn out before this epic World Series finally ends.
Nobody needs a day off in this World Series more than those run-down relievers.
Brandon Morrow has pitched in all five games for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had never pitched three straight days before talking himself into a wild Game 5, then allowed a tying home run on his first pitch. He left without getting an out and the Houston Astros suddenly ahead by three runs.
Morrow has given up three home runs in the post-season after not allowing any in 45 regular-season appearances.
“It’s not just the amount of games you play, but emotional investment and the incredible focus that everybody has,’’ he said. “It wears on you mentally, and that kind of mental focus kind of wears on you physically. So yeah, it’s a grind. Guys are fatigued, but not tired, if that makes sense.’’
After a 162-game regular season plus another month of highpressure games in the playoffs, they’re not done yet.
Game 6 is Tuesday night, after both teams travel from Texas back to the West Coast.
Houston never even used struggling closer Ken Giles in its 13-12 win in Game 5, which ended early Monday morning after each team employed seven pitchers in 10 innings over nearly 5 1/2 hours. The loser was Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers’ All-star closer who had already blown a save in Game 2 — matching his total during the entire year to date.
Taxing bullpens and top relievers in the post-season in certainly not a new phenomenon. Look no further than last year’s World Series. Look no further than last year’s World Series.
For the first time ever in 2016, not a single starter recorded an out after the sixth inning of any game — and that Series went the full seven games.
Chicago closer Aroldis Chapman won Game 7 against Cleveland, ending a 108-year title drought for the Cubs. But that was only after he blew the save in the 10-inning game. Indians reliever Andrew Miller had given up two runs and the lead over 2 1/3 innings, his second straight
World Series game allowing a run after eight consecutive scoreless playoff appearances.
The Astros took a 3-2 series
lead back to Los Angeles, where they won the second game in 11 innings.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch has
said Giles will get the ball again in this Series but hasn’t specified in what role after the righty with 100 mph heat was tagged for five runs over 1 2/3 innings in his two World Series appearances. Giles lost Game 4 after taking over in the ninth in a 1-1 tie that turned into a 6-2 Dodgers win.
By this point in the season, it doesn’t really matter how many pitching changes are needed or when relievers are used, as long as they get outs.
“We’ve got to get 27 outs one way or another. I don’t care who gets them. Our guys don’t care who gets them,’’ Hinch said. “I think the comfortable roles and knowing who you’re going to face and what the game situation is going to be in, it’s just so unpredictable in this sport. Especially at this stage of the year.’’
Houston relievers have combined for a 5.94 ERA in the postseason.
Morrow has pitched in all but one of the Dodgers’ 13 post-season games, but Los Angeles had not planned to use him Sunday.
“He called down and said that he felt good,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So in the seventh inning, you can’t turn him down.’’
On the mound for the fifth time in six days, Morrow wasn’t his usual sharp self.
“There wasn’t quite as much life as I’ve had on the ball,’’ he said. “Velocity is one thing, it was a tick down, but if you have life on it, then you can still get away with some pitches.’’
The right-hander got away with nothing against the top of the Astros lineup. All four batters he faced reached, including home runs by George Springer and Carlos Correa as Houston took an 11-8 lead.
Jansen entered in the bottom of the ninth, after the Dodgers scored three times in the top of the inning to tie the game 1212. He hit Brian Mccann with a two-out pitch in the 10th, then walked Springer before Alex Bregman’s game-ending single.
Even in the first World Series game in which both starting pitchers allowed four baserunners or fewer, the bullpens were busy in Game 4 on Saturday night.
Dodgers starter Alex Wood didn’t allow a hit until giving up a homer with two outs in the sixth — and that was the last batter he faced. Houston’s Charlie Morton allowed three hits and hit a batter while pitching into the seventh.