STATE OF THE GAME
Connecticut storylines: RHAM’s Pollock and Barlow-Redding’s Morton will meet in the World Series
In this most irregular of baseball seasons, Charlie Morton found himself in a familiar place: on the mound with the entire season on the line. His performance in Game 7 of the ALCS showed he’d been there before. He pitched the Rays into the 2020 World Series. “It means the world to me that I believe the guys in that clubhouse have faith in me,” Morton, the first pitcher in MLB history to win three winner-take-all Game 7s, told reporters via ZOOM on Saturday night.
A.J. Pollock began the season fighting off COVID-19, wondering when his baby girl would be allowed to leave the hospital and he’d be reunited with his family, and shadowed by his performance in the 2019 postseason with the Dodgers, 0-for-13 with 11 strikeouts in the Division Series.
“If you’re controlling what you can control,” Pollock told reporters as the regular season ended, “and you’re good with your swing and whatever you’re hunting and your timing, then you’re putting yourself in the best position to succeed, and that’s what I’m going to do going forward, no matter what the stage is, how big the at-bat is.”
Pollock hit in every spot in the lineup during the season, but played some of the best baseball of his career. In 11 post season game, he’s 8- for - 36 with six strike outs as the Dodgers eliminated
Milwaukee, San Diego and, in the NLCS, came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Atlanta in Game 7 on Sunday night.
Both Morton, who pitched at Redding’s Joel Barlow High, and Pollock, who played at RHAM High in Hebron, will be representing Connecticut in the World Series, which begins Tuesday (8 p.m., FOX) in Arlington, Texas. If you’re wondering, Pollock is 0-for-9 vs. Morton, last facing him in 2018.
If the Rays use Morton, 36, on regular, five-day rest, he could start Game 3 and, if the Series goes that far, another Game 7. Morton, with Houston, beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS and the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series in 2017. Last year with Tampa Bay, he beat the A’s in the one-game Wild Card round. Saturday night, he held his former team, the Astros, to one hit in 5 ⅔ innings to make it 4-0 in winner-take-all games. This postseason, in three starts against the Yankees and Astros, Morton has an 0.57 ERA.
“I guess after the first couple ,” Morton said ,“when I actually realized I could doit, it became something I started to kind of look forward to. I’ve dealt with doubt my entire career. I’ve dealt with a lack of belief in myself. So for organizations to give me the ball in big situations, that was the biggest thing for me, the belief an organization had to give the ball to me.”
Morton, a righthander, born in New Jersey, moved to Trumbull with his family as a youngster, and then to Redding, where he was an All-Stater at Joel Barlow, pitching for the varsity team as a freshman. By his junior year, scouts were flocking to western Connecticut to chart his fastball and big-breaking curve, still trademarks. Drafted by the Brave sin 2002, Morton was in the majors by 2008, but struggled for years with injuries and ineffectiveness, at times considering retirement, before signing with the Astros in 2017.
He was injured much of the this abbreviated season with Tampa Bay, but got his arm strength back in time for the postseason. With his contract up, Morton is unsure about pitching next season, and has the chance to go out on top and leave a unique legacy as a big-game pitcher.
“I guess when you get the ball in those situations,” Morton said, “you just want to go out there and be a pro and help your team win.”
Pollock, 32, was The Courant’s baseball player of the year in 2006 as a senior at RHAM, where he became heavily involved in unified sports, then went on to star at Notre Dame.
“From the first day I saw him as a freshman, I knew he had a little something,” said Paul Steiner, who coached Pollock at RHAM. “And he was like 5 feet tall. He was small, but I thought he could play in the major leagues someday. He had that inner drive to excel.”
The Diamondbacks drafted him in the first round in 2009, and he went on to a long career in Arizona, making the All-Star Game in 2015. But Pollock, too, has dealt with numerous injuries. He became a free agent after the 2018 season and signed with the Dodgers, but his first season ended in disappointment.
He considered opting out of his second season due to COVID, especially as his daughter, Maddie, was born three months premature and was in the hospital 128 days. Then Pollock tested positive. But his wife, Kate, asked him, “Could you really watch the Dodgers win the World Series on our couch?”
“Just a lot of stuff going on,” Pollock said. “Maddie in there 128 days, seemed like she was never going to get out, worrying about my wife handling all this. In the past, with adversity, I kind of let it get to me, making it bigger than it is. This year I did a pretty good job of staying in the moment, taking it in stride. Kate did a great job of handling it. The hardest part was where I came here and she had to stay in Arizona.”
Pol lock returned to his team and hit .276 with 16 homers, including the 100th of his career, and 34 RBI in 55 games.
“I think he took it to heart,” Steiner said. “It put things in a new perspective for him. I think baseball became fun again. He’s a just a wonderful man who happens to be good at baseball. I’m just so happy he’s getting to play in the World Series. I tell himall thetime, ‘You’re still a big deal here in Hebron.’”