Hi all. Here’s how I see baseball on this Friday, October 19. After winning game 1 of the ALCS and stopping Chris Sale, the Astros should have carried on from there and sent the Red Sox packing. So I thought this past Sunday. Now, after losing 4 in a row including 3 in their ball park, the Astros are finished and Boston awaits either the Dodgers or Brewers.
Considering he spent a good portion of this season on the DL, it’s hardly surprising the Red Sox didn’t turn to Chris Sale for game 5 even though it would have been his normal turn to pitch. Besides his cranky pitching arm He had also been hospitalized briefly following game 1 with a stomach ailment. Holding a lead of 3 games to 1, manager Alex Cora rolled the dice and won with David Price on short rest. At last, Price has won a playoff game in which he was the starting pitcher. The Astros appeared to have spent all they had in game 4, which they lost 8-6 with the bases full in their half of the 9th. Price, who had been hammered by the Yankees in the ALDS gave up just 3 hits and no walks to the Astros while striking out 9 men. He was lucky to catch the Astros’ Justin Verlander mildly off his game. Boston’s offense last night amounted to a solo home run by J.D. Martinez and a 3-run shot by Rafael Devers. Both four-baggers happened while Price was in the game. He was removed after 6 innings in favor of Matt Barnes, then Nathan Eovaldi who had pitched brilliantly in game 3. Craig Kimbrel got his least traumatic save of the series against the defeated Astros.
The Red Sox now wait to see who they will host on Tuesday. The Dodgers won games 4 and 5 to take a 3-2 series lead over the Brewers as the two teams return to Milwaukee for tonight’s game. The visitors give the ball to Hyun-Jin Ryu after Clayton Kershaw pitched brilliantly as he so often does until the postseason begins. Ryu didn’t get a decision in game 2 which the Dodgers won 4–3 on Justin Turner’s home run in the 8th. He faces Wade Miley who walked the only man he saw in his game 5 start. After a 13-inning loss on Tuesday, the last thing the Brewers needed was for Miley to only see one batter. The TV broadcasters covered for Miley and his manager Craig Counsell but I was put in mind of Roberto Duran’s infamous “No mas” in New Orleans in 1980 against Sugar Ray Leonard. If in fact Counsell was behind the move, he’s making a travesty of postseason baseball and should be subject to an investigation.