The Dodgers score four more runs as they bat in the bottom of the eighth inning. A.J. Pollock just hit his second home run of the game, a three run shot after Mookie Betts and Trea Turner combined for a run earlier in the inning. The Dodgers now lead the Braves 11-2.
Update: Chris Taylor comes up with two out in the inning. He tries to hit a home run, fouls off a number of pitches, but strikes out to send the game to the ninth.
Chris Taylor of the Dodgers goes deep for the third time on the night, this time a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. He’s now driven in six runs tonight as the Dodgers lead they Braves 7-2.
Update: This is the twelfth time a batter went deep three times in a post-season game. The last time it happened was in 2017, when two batters accomplished the feat when Enrique Hernandez and Jose Altuve did it. Babe Ruth is the only hitter to accomplish this twice.
Chris Taylor hits his second home run of the night in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Dodgers a 6-2 lead over the Braves. Albert Pujols reached for the third time, in this instance on a walk. Taylor followed with the blast, and is now three for three with five RBI. Six of his eleven hits in the post season went for extra bases.
With out out in the bottom of the third inning, A.J. Pollock and Albert Pujols of the Dodgers pick up singles, for each their second hit of the game. Pujols is starting at first base due to the shifting of position because of the injury to Justin Turner and the left-hander on the mound. Albert is no longer thin, but tonight his bat is phat and singing.
Chris Taylor follows with a single, driving in a run and extending the Dodgers lead to 4-2 over the Braves.
Update: The Braves get out of the inning with no more damage as a shift helps them get the third out.
Eddie Rosario of the Braves goes against the shift with one out in the top of the third inning and singles. That the fourth anti-shift hit of the game. I wonder if either team will stop using the shift before the game is over?
The Dodgers lead the Braves 3-2.
A.J. Pollock of the Dodgers smashes a home run to left leading off the bottom of the second inning. That cuts the Braves lead to 2-1. That’s his first home run of the 2021 post season, and the second of his post-season career.
Update: Albert Pujols follows with a single, then Chris Taylor, playing third for Justin Turner, smashes the second home run of the inning. The Dodgers are up 3-2.
Update: Cody Bellinger gets a hit against the shift, the third such hit of the game. Maybe this is the turning point? There are still no outs.
Update: With two outs, Bellinger tries to steal a base. He distract Max Fried on the mound, and Fried make a bad pitch and nails Trea Turner in the upper arm. Turner is okay, and the Dodgers have men on first and second.
Update: Corey Seager grounds out to end the inning, but the Dodgers take a 3-2 lead as they face elimination with a loss.
Ozzie Albies just threw his bat at the ball to force it down the third base line against the shift for a single. I think I’ve seen more intentional hits against the shift in the post season than in all of the regular season.
It turns out to be a big hit, and Freddie Freeman follows with a loud home run, and the Braves lead the Dodgers 2-0 in the first inning at Los Angeles.
Update: Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly leaves after getting the second out of the inning with an injury.
Update: Trea Turner does the same thing in the bottom of the first, going the other way against the shift for a one out single.
Jorge Soler rejoins the Braves Thrusday night for game five of the NLCS:
The Braves have a tough decision to make, as both Eddie Rosario and Joc Pederson played very well in Soler’s absence.
The Braves play triple match point as they face the Dodgers in game five of the NLCS Thursday night, Atlanta up three games to one in the best of seven NLCS. Max Fried takes the hill for the Braves, while the Dodgers go with a bullpen game. Fried made seven appearances against the Dodgers in the post season, four in relief and three starts. He owns a 3.00 ERA in 21 innings, with five of the seven runs he allowed coming on solo home runs. The Dodgers are capable of hitting home runs, but they’ll likely need more than a couple of solo shots.
It is a bit unbelievable that a franchise famous for great starting pitching is going to the bullpen in an elimination game. This is where the Clayton Kershaw injury and the Trevor Bauer scandal hurt the Dodgers. That great pitching depth is gone. That said, Dodgers relievers pitched extremely well this post season, holding opponents to a .203/.239/.291 slash line, with seven walks and 61 strikeouts. They have been taxed, however, as they faced 180 batters while the starters faced 178 batters. Of course, all the Braves need is for one reliever to have a bad night to score a bunch of runs.
On top of that, Justin Turner injured his hamstring Wednesday night and is done for the post season. As in the NLDS, the Dodgers need to come back with multiple games to advance. They did it against the Braves in 2020. We’ll see if history can repeat.
Wednesday night produced no changes to the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings. Corey Seager of the Dodgers went 0 for three with a walk to remain in fifth place. He is less than a point behind Tyler O’Neill of the Cardinals.
The best game of the night goes to Eddie Rosario of the Braves, four for five with a triple and two home runs. If the last home run didn’t stay in the park for they cycle. Rosario posted a game score of 89. The ties him with Enrique Hernandez of the Red Sox for highest game score this post-season.
The Day by Day Database is up to date.
Eddie Rosario of the Braves misses a cycle by inches as his long fly ball in the ninth inning clears the fence for a three-run homer. If it had hit the wall, he might likely have gotten a double to complete the cycle. Instead, he settles for a four for five with two homers and a triple. He also has to settle for a 9-2 over the Dodgers. The Braves are three outs away from a 3-1 lead in the NLCS.
Update: The Braves win 9-2, and for the second season in a row they are up in the series 3-1 on the Dodgers.
Eddie Rosario of the Braves singles in the top of the fifth inning to give him a single, triple, and home run in the game against the Dodgers. That puts runners on first and third with one out as the Braves lead the Dodgers 4-0.
Update: A sacrifice fly makes the score 5-0 in favor of the Braves.
Freddie Freeman of the Braves goes deep leading off the top of the third inning against the Dodgers. That three home runs in two innings for the Braves, all solo shots for the 3-0 lead over the Dodgers.
Update: With two out, Eddie Rosario triples to rightfield. That gives Rosario the difficult half of the cycle, as he led off the second inning with a home run.
Update: After an intentional walk to Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson hits a low flyball to shallow centerfield that falls in for a hit. The Braves get their first non-homer run and lead the Dodgers 4-0.
Houston uses the arm of Framber Valdez and the bat of Yordan Alvarez to down the Red Sox 9-1 in game five of the ALCS. That sends the series back to Houston, with the Astros needing a split to advance to the World Series.
Valdez did the unthinkable this post-season and pitched deep into the game. He lasted eight innings on 93 pitches, walking one and striking out five. His defense was up to all the balls in play as Valdez allowed just three hits.
Alvarez went three for five with a single, double, and home runs, driving in three and scoring twice. He was part of an eleven hit, six walk attack that left Boston in the dust. The Red Sox now face elimination in game six on Friday.
In Los Angeles, the Braves start the second inning with a pair of home runs as Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall take Julio Urias deep. The Braves jump out to a 2-0 lead over the Dodgers in game four of the NLCS. Rosario is slugging .769 now in the series.
The Astros score five runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 6-0 lead over the Red Sox. Yordan Alvarez doubled to drive in the first two runs of the inning, and is now a triple short of the cycle. Two of the runs were unearned as an error by Kyle Schwarber helped set up the Alvarez double.
Bill James ranks the thirty franchises. The article is interesting throughout. It seems MLB is in a weak spot right now, however:
The pandemic is perhaps the greatest setback that baseball has ever suffered. Major League Baseball wisely decided to field teams in 2020, even though attendance was zero, but attendance in 2021 did not nearly have a complete recovery. For that matter, attendance wasn’t great BEFORE the pandemic.
Baseball’s average Franchise Strength Index went down by 6% in the 1960s primarily because of the number of teams expanded by 50%, from 16 to 24, in just 9 years. That was probably not smart, and the franchise moves of that era (1953 to 1972) were also a drag on the game. Per game attendance was not good.
But that was an investment in the future. Those new franchises made the game stronger over time. Where we are now is a somewhat perilous moment. We had subpar attendance before the pandemic, took a serious hit from the coronavirus, and now we are looking at the possibility of a strike. We have too many non-competitive teams, because player salaries are so high that buying competitive talent just does not pay in some markets.
We haven’t had an expansion in almost a quarter of a century, which means that we have not been investing in the future, and also that we are likely to have expansion within the next ten years. It would appear to me that it is fairly likely that the average Franchise Strength Index by the year 2030 will be lower than it is now.
BillJamesOnline.com
I hope James is wrong about that. I would love to see two new teams, however.
Yordan Alvarez of the Astros leads off the top of the second inning with a home run to put the Astros up 1-0 on the Red Sox. He’s the first batter to reach base in the game, reaching with the shortest stay possible. He collected a hit in every game of this series.
Framber Valdez takes on Chris Sale as the Boston portion of the ALCS ends in a pivotal game five, the series tied at two. Opponents roughed up Valdez this post season after an excellent run in 2020. He pitched a total of seven innings in two starts, allowing 13 hits and seven runs. Sale is even worse, with 3 2/3 innings pitched in his two post-season starts, allowing nine hits and six runs. This game might be won by the team that goes to the bullpen latest. Game time is 5 PM EDT.
At 8 PM EDT, the Braves send Huascar Ynoa against Julio Urias and the Dodgers, Atlanta up two games to one. Ynoa makes his first post-season start. He pitched five innings of relief over the last two post seasons, allowing just three hits but five walks. Urias went relatively deep in his two 2021 post-season starts, lasting five and four innings. He did pitch in relief Sunday, giving up two runs in his one inning of work. He’s allowed four runs total this post season, so the relief appearance hurt both the Dodgers and Urias’s ERA.
Enjoy!
The top three in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings remain the same. Corey Seager of the Dodgers moves into fourth place with a home runs and a walk in five plate appearances in the 5-4 win over the Braves. That drops Tyler O’Neill of the Cardinals to fifth place.
Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa of the Astros rank 19th and 20th respectively, 0.41 points apart.
The best game score of the day goes to Mookie Betts of the Dodgers. He went two for three with a double and two walks for a game score of 67. Betts stands ninth in the rankings. Betts is having an outstanding post-season, with a .412/.475/.529 slash line so far.
The Day by Day Database is up to date.
The Astros beat the Red Sox 9-2, Houston scoring seven runs in the top of the ninth inning. There will be a game six. It seems you can only hold down the Astros offense so long.
Houston pitchers finally held Enrique Hernandez in check, as he goes 1 for 5. The Astros bullpen pitched well, not allowing a run and giving up just four hits in 7 2/3 innings. Game five gets a five PM start on Wednesday.
Jason Castro of the Astros drives home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. With Nathan Eovaldi pitching for the Red Sox Carlos Correa lead off with a double, and stayed at second with an intentional walk sandwiched between two strikeouts. Castro falls behind 1-2, but Eovaldi does not get an edge call for strike three, and then Castro gets a pitch he lines into right-center for a single. Correa comes home to score, and the Astros lead the Red Sox 3-2.
Update: Jose Altuve walks to load the bases. Eovaldi comes out of the game.
Update: Martin Perez comes in and gives up a double to Michael Brantley. He hits it between the center and right fielders to clear the bases, and the Astros lead 6-2. Alex Bregman walks, then Yordan Alvarez follows with a hit to drive in Brantley, and it’s 7-2 Houston.
Update: The Astros keep pouring it on as they score two more on a hit, error, and another hit, the second hit on a ball hit into the shift by Kyle Tucker that was hit so hard the fielder bobbled it. The Astros lead 9-2 going to the bottom of the ninth.
Jose Altuve homers leading off the top of the eighth inning for the Astros to tie the Red Sox at two. The Astros have not gotten much from their top three hitters in this series, but now Altuve and Alex Bregman have homered in this game.
The Yankees bring back Aaron Boone as their manager:
“We have a person and manager in Aaron Boone who possesses the baseball acumen and widespread respect in our clubhouse to continue to guide us forward,” Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ managing general partner, said in the team’s statement.
“As a team and as an organization, we must grow, evolve and improve. We need to get better. Period. I know Aaron fully embraces our expectations of success, and I look forward to drawing on his intelligence, instincts and leadership in pursuit of our next World Series championship.”
NYTimes.com
The Yankees were very streaky in 2021, but a lot of teams played like that. In the end, they won enough games to make the playoffs. From what I could tell, Boone stayed steady during the ups and downs. His biggest problem might be his poor choice of coaches, but the team dealt with that.
The Dodgers come back against the Braves with four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend the series to five games with a 6-5 win.
Cody Bellinger hit a tying three-run homer off Luke Jackson before Mookie Betts connected for an RBI double off Jesse Chavez.
The Braves had held the Dodgers to four hits in the first seven innings of Game 3, with Charlie Morton and his bullpen largely quieting LA’s wealth of offensive talent. Los Angeles then got six more hits off Jackson and Chavez in the eighth.
APNews.com
The Dodgers hit well in the eighth inning all year, doing a great job of getting on base and delivering plenty of doubles and home runs. Bellinger’s home run was his first of this post season after hitting four in 2020.
No sweeps so far this season, and that’s a good thing.
Los Angeles sees day baseball as the Braves visit the Dodgers in game three of the NLCS. The game kicks off at 5 PM EDT, 2 PM PDT. Charlie Morton faces Walker Buehler. Through 2016, Morton owned a 46-71 record with a 4.54 ERA. He struck out 6.3 batters per nine innings. In 2017 he joined the Astros, and they helped him find his groove. Since then his record stands at 61-24 with a 3.34 ERA, and 10.6 K per nine IP. Morton is the poster child for pitching analytics.
Buehler pitched well in his post-season career, posting a 2.50 ERA. He doesn’t get the decision often, however, as his record is jus 3-2. He pitches even better at home, with a 1.80 ERA in nine starts at Dodger Stadium. He allowed just three home run in those nine starts.
Veteran Zack Greinke tries to stop the Red Sox offense as Houston faces Nick Pivetta. Greinke has not pitched much in the last month. His last four starts of the regular season were spread out and poor, posting an 11.74 ERA in 15 1/3 innings. He pitched in relief against the White Sox in the ALDS and gave up two hits, but no runs, in one inning.
Pivetta does not need to be great if the Red Sox keep hitting. With a rested bullpen, three solid innings are all the Red Sox really need. Pivetta does give up the long ball, with 24 home runs allowed this season in 155 innings. Seventeen of those came at Fenway in 73 1/3 innings.
Enjoy!
The top five of the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings remain the same. Juan Soto, Paul Goldschmidt, Bryce Harper, Tyler O’Neill, and Corey Seager occupy the top of the list in that order. Kyle Tucker‘s one for two with a walk and a home run was not enough to move him past Seager for fifth place.
The best game score of the night goes to J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox. Martinez hit a double and a home run while collecting a walk in four trips for a score of 71. Martinez now owns a post-season batting line of .320/.390/.631 in 118 PA. Five of his nine home runs came with men on base, and he’s hitting .429, 12 for 28, with runners in scoring position.
Enrique Hernandez, who kept his post-season BA at .500, now ranks 32nd.
The Boston Red Sox beat the Houston Astros 12-3 Monday night and now lead the best of seven ALCS two games to one. The Red Sox offense worked efficiently , scoring the twelve runs on eleven hits and five walks, thanks to four home runs and a 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Boston received six innings from their starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, and three no-hit innings from the back of the bullpen. The bottom of the Boston order, Christian Vazquez and Christian Arroyo scored for runs and drove in five, while the All-Star top of the Astros order, Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, and Alex Bregman where one for eleven with a single.
The Astros are certainly capable of hitting better than this, but will they come to life in time to send the series back to Houston? The Red Sox go into game four on a roll with a well rested bullpen.