Major League Baseball

[TSwizzle]

Giants take game 1, shutting out the Dodgers 4-0. Dodger bats kept quiet by a very good young pitcher. Bellinger, wtf. Changes for tonight but he’s still in the line up.

 

[blastula]

Belli came through with the key hit on Saturday. Nearly every Dodger sucked on Friday, can't single him out there. He also got on base three times in the Wild Card, getting the crucial walk and steal in the 9th with 2 outs.

Always love when Urias pitches, even without the best stats, he gets the best run support consistently. He even helps himself out at times like on Saturday. And nice to see and hear so many LA fans in SF.

Feeling good with Scherzer at home next. Game four is up in the air though, neither starter has been named. They've played each other even all year, so expect it to go 5.

 

[blastula]

Scherzer showed up, but so did SF defense and SF weather, couldn't get a hit by Crawford or hit anything out for the wind. Still think it will go 5.

 

[blastula]

Another tight, intense elimination game for Dodgers. Belli comes through in SF again. He's hitting .290 in postseason. Most of their better stats players are flailing, most notably the 2 Turners, and notably excepting Betts who's on fire so far. Bullpen is killing it, may be the main advantage next round, especially with the addition of the new young closer Max Scherzer. That blown call on last play was fitting for a season of bad calls in their games, but really, Scherzer wasn't going to lose that game no matter.

Very fitting ending for two evenly matched teams, tied 1-1 going to the 9th, and ended up 12-12 head to head overall. They had the highest combined wins ever for any two opponents in a series. Their first ever playoff matchup, they are seldom good in the same year, only a couple years have been in postseason at same time.

This is almost good enough for me, just to knock out SF for the year, but they better not be thinking that. Amusing contrast between Betts and Scherzer postgame. Scherzer once again going shirtless stomping around the field. Betts very calm and reserved in interviews. When asked on field about celebrating with team, Betts says he's sure they're all drinking beer in the clubhouse, but he's got to get ready for the next game. Can see the contrast directly here at 2:20.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxMo9MKKygU[/YOUTUBE]

Betts: Have to get ready for next series now, can't celebrate till WS trophy.
Scherzer: PAARTYY TONIGHT.

 

[TSwizzle]

Jeezus, last night the Dodgers had two run lead twice only for the Braves to claw back level. With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, two out with a runner on base, Seager couldn't get a handle on a hard hit ground ball and the runner scored to end the game. Roberts threw everything he had at that game including an injured Justin Turner and still couldn't hold on. Ugh.

 

[blastula]

Going to have win this the hard way. Roberts being too cute with the bullpen, messing with what had been working great already, switched Jansen's and Treinen's innings in the first game, then has Urias pitch 8th in game 2. Why???

Been watching the other series to scout out which cheater is the better cheater, but wtf is going on with little Kiké Hernandez? 15 hits in 5 games, including 3 hrs in 2 games against Houston.

 

[TSwizzle]

First pitch for the Dodgers game is at 2:08pm pacific?!!! FFS that is brutal. I will have to try to avoid the score until I get home at sixish and watch my recording.

 

[TSwizzle]

Well, well, well. Bellinger comes up clutch to hit a three run home run to tie the game 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth before the go ahead run came in a few batters later to win the game 5-6. Braves’ pitcher Morton had a shaky start giving up two runs early which was good news for the Dodgers as he was pretty solid otherwise. The bullpens will face off tonight at a more suitable 5:08pm. The sun won’t be so bothersome (hopefully) as it was yesterday causing a costly error for Lux in center field.

 

[blastula]

Dodger fans leave too early once again, and for what, to get out of the lot early to deal with 5pm traffic???

Cody ".165" Bellinger saves their sorry asses again. The Turners are still awful. Justin is at least dealing with an injury, but batting champ Trea has no excuse. Nice to see Taylor finally steal a base this time in the 8th of a tie game, when he failed to even try to do so in game 1 when tied in the 9th. They are also clearly missing Muncy's bat, who could have also shortened the SF series. That bad luck freak injury is also why Lux was playing centerfield instead of Bellinger.

If the Dodgers do go on to lose, I will be cancelling Roberts for the bullpen meddling in game 2, especially if Urias struggles today after his criminally needless outing on Sunday.

In the other game, .235 Jason Castro saved Houston who were tied with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 9th. Alex Cora may have gotten too cute himself by bringing in Eovaldi to start the inning. Houston went on to score 7 runs with 2 outs to even the series.

 

[TSwizzle]

What a disaster last night was. Elimination game tonight and I don’t think the Dodgers will be able to contain Rosario. He’s a beast.

 

[blastula]

Urias was off (see Roberts), the whole team is really, only 4 hits, Lux flubbed in the field again. They were down 3-1 last year, so not out of the question, but this Braves team may be better than that one. And they don't have home field this time (was neutral field last year though), even though LA finished with 18 more wins.

 

[TSwizzle]

My goodness, what a game. Dodgers pitcher Crazy Joe Kelly didn't make it out the first inning after giving up two runs, injured apparently. But after that, the Dodger bullpen completely subdued the Braves bats. Dodger utility man Chris Taylor had the game of his life, he hit three home runs, driving in an impressive six runs in the 11-2 win. So it's off to Atlanta for game six. Oh my, anything can happen in this wonderful game.

 

[blastula]

That was enjoyable. Except for Kelly is done, and Justin the day before, losing players daily. They keep raising the difficulty level.

 

[blastula]

So, it's Rosario vs Alvarez in the WS.

Dodgers depth bottomed out, came against too many injuries. The pennant race probably hurt too, couldn't rest any arms down the stretch, and really can't ever just shut down and settle for a wild card one-gamer. I say, let's switch to 60 game seasons every year.

 

[TSwizzle]

A disappointing outcome. Rosario had been a thorn in the Dodgers’ side and he did it again. Dodgers had runners on base a few times but couldn’t get the runs in. Seager was a disappointing 0-4. Betts and Turner also didn’t produce. Dodger bullpen performed very well but a lack of offense screwed us.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Cleveland Guardians


Cleveland will be Cleveland.

The Guardians’ roller derby team is based in Parma and has competed since 2014. It registered its name with the Ohio Secretary of State in January 2017. Its top foe next season is expected to be the Pittsburgh Undead.

“The Indians only offered to pay a nominal amount, likely no more than 15 minutes of annual team revenue,” the lawsuit says.
In fact, the baseball club offered the roller derby team “an amount that was just four figures,” said Edward Colbert, an attorney for the roller derby team. “Our client rejected it immediately.”

The lawsuit said the baseball club “surreptitiously filed” a trademark application for the Cleveland Guardians’ name in the East African island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, an attempt to prevent people from learning the name of the team.

 

[TSwizzle]

What a pain in the ass;

MLB has begun postponing games amid a lockout that has gone on for more than two months. It remains to be seen if the league will cancel games that count. The league announced Friday that the beginning of its spring training schedule has been postponed until March 5, at the earliest. All tickets will reportedly be fully refunded to fans as collective bargaining agreement negotiations continue with the MLB Players Association.

Yahoo

I was intending on going to Arizona to see the Dodgers and Angels.