Last night, as midnight approached, I watched former Royal Wade Davis record a 7-out save to move the Cubs toward a repeat as World Series champions. In a game both ugly and beautiful, the Washington Nationals were eliminated to reduce the 10-team playoffs to the final four.
The Astros will play the Yankees for the American League pennant, or as it is officially branded, the “2017 American League Championship Series presented by Camping World.” The Dodgers will play the Cubs for the National League pennant a/k/a the “2017 National League Championship Series presented by Camping World.”
In case you missed it, the NLDS was “presented by T–Mobile” and the ALDS was “presented by Doosan.”
Wait for it. Wait for it. Yes, the World Series will also be branded: “2017 World Series presented by You Tube TV.”
Query. What’s a Doosan?
Damn Yankees. Again: My sentimental favorite Cleveland is already gone. So please Houston, beat the Damn Yankees. Why do I say this? Let me count the ways.
I was a big Yankee fan as a kid. Their top farm team was the Kansas City Blues, and players like Phil Rizzuto, Mickey Mantle and others passed through KC on their way to the big leagues. That loyalty ended in 1955 when the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City. The A’s and Yankees made a series of trades over the next several years that many felt favored the Yankees. Some even said that the A’s were the Yankees new farm team. The saddest A’s move was sending Roger Maris to the Yankees after the 1959 season. Maris was MVP of the AL for the next two years and broke Ruth’s season home run record in 1961.
But the real hurt came in 1976, 1977 and 1978. The Royals had some great teams and won the Western Division each year.
The Yankees beat the Royals in the ALCS all three years. The pain subsided in 1980 when George Brett hit the clutch homer off Goose Gossage to lead the Royals to the 1980 World Series.
If you recall from the play/movie Damn Yankees, the devil turns out to be a Yankee fan. MLB Jesus (a Mets fan) tweeted this in case any Yankee fans get the wrong idea about why their team beat Cleveland this year (1920 being when Ruth joined the Yankees):
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MLB Jesus (@MLBJesus) |
| 10/11/17, 11:28 PM
Yankee fans, stop thanking me, I had nothing to do with it. They signed a deal with the other guy back in the 1920s. |
|
Why I’m for Houston: I was originally for Cleveland because they had not won a Series since 1948. But the Tribe is gone, so long live Houston. The Astros cannot claim a drought since 1948 because the team did not exist until 1962. But they have an additional futility factor: they have NEVER won the World Series. They first played in the National League and won a pennant in 2005, but lost the Series to the White Sox (the series MVP was former Royal Jermaine Dye). The team moved to the American League in 2013. In 2015, the Astros won the Wild Card game, but then lost the ALDS to the Royals who continued on to win the World Series.
As for the other remaining teams: The Yankees have won the World Series 27 times, most recently in 2009. The Dodgers have won six times, once in Brooklyn (1955) and five in LA, most recently in 1988. The Cubs won back-to-back Series in 1907 and 1908, then took a 108-year break before winning again in 2016.
How Quickly Things Change: In 2014, the World Series opponents were the Giants and Royals. In 2015, the Royals and Mets. Dynasty building for any of these teams? Not.
In 2017, the Giants had the worst record in the National League and finished 40 games back in the West. The Mets lost 92 games and finished 27 games out in the East.
The Royals were 80-82. But this did not keep me from getting flashbacks to the Royals in these 2017 playoffs.
Cleveland v. New York: After losing the first two games, the Yankees listened to their legendary catcher Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” New York roared back with three straight. Corey Kluber, the likely Cy Young winner in the AL this year, gave up two early homers in Game 5. Combined with his poor outing in Game 2, his ERA for the ALDS was 12.79. This was a big contrast from Kluber’s performance in the 2016 Series when he won two games against the Cubs.
The most memorable moment of this series for me came in Game 2. In the bottom of the 7th inning, the Indians were down by five runs. With two men on and two outs, Lonnie Chisenhall (nice first name) was at the plate with a count of 0-2. On the next pitch, it appeared to the umpire that the ball hit Chisenhall in the hand. Lonnie did not act like he was hit, but he gladly went to first to load the bases. Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez thought the ball hit the knob of the bat and should be strike three since Sanchez caught the foul tip pitch. He encouraged manager Joe Girardi to ask for a replay, but first looks at the replays in the Yankee dugout were not conclusive. So Girardi did not challenge. Big mistake. Sanchez was right as clearly shown in this clip.
So rather than the inning being over, Francisco Lindor stepped up to the plate and hit a grand slam to cut the Yankees lead to one run. Cleveland scored again in the 8th to tie the game. The Tribe then won in the 13th on a hit by catcher Yan Gomes (who had already made a big play in the 11th by picking off Yankee Ronald Torreyes at second base).
The scenario was déjà vu for Royals fans. In the Wild Card game against the A’s in 2014, the Royals were down by four and came back to tie. In the 12th inning, catcher Salvy Perez knocked in a runner from second for a walk-off victory. The hits by catchers Gomes and Perez were both shots past a diving third baseman and resulted in walk-off wins with identical scores of 9-8.
Below, a 2017 TV screen shot showing the 8-8 tie score, the diving third baseman and the winning run on the way home for Cleveland.
Below, a 2014 TV screen shot showing the 8-8 tie score, the diving third baseman and the winning run on the way home for the Royals. As a reminder to Royals fans, the runner was Christian Colon who had knocked in the tying run, stole second and then scored on Salvy’s hit. As the headline blared the next day in the KC Star, SALVATION!
There is one thing I like about the Yankees staying in. Roger Angell has been writing about their games in the New Yorker (click here). The 97-year old genius is still spinning baseball prose into poetry. Here are some excerpts from his take on Game 5:
“Baseball is stuffed with waiting. The Yanks went ahead early, on a solo homer by Didi Gregorius in the first, and another Didi shot, with a man aboard, in the third—both struck against the Indians’ well-rested ace Corey Kluber, and setting up a long out-counting wait at my house and all over Yankeeland. The Indians were up against obdurate veteran C. C. Sabathia, whose eight strikeouts in the first four innings imposed a stunned semi-silence on Progressive Field. Four successive singles and two runs in the bottom of the fifth restored the roaring and drumming for the moment, but the Yankees’ narcotizing David Robertson and then Aroldis Chapman, soon had us counting outs again, while the re-silenced Indians fans waited for winter. Here, at my place, I was waiting and sometimes screaming for the FS1 announcers, John Smoltz and Matt Vasgersian, to stop their flood of heavy expertise and Googled-up stats and allow us to pick up and share some of the beautiful, complex silences of the game.
Our last and best waiting was produced by Brett Gardner, the forever Yankee lead-off man, in his ninth-inning at-bat against reliever Cody Allen…one of Gardner’s patented wait-and-foul at-bats—a series of short, left-handed slashes and bonking fouls that cause the man on the mound to shrivel and age before our eyes…accumulating twelve pitches and six successive fouls…before Gardner’s single to right center scored Hicks, and, after a botch on the relay, Frazier as well, for the last runs of the year out there.”
Houston v. Boston: Houston dispensed with Boston 3 games to 1. The series got off to a great start when Houston’s Jose Altuve his three home runs in Game 1. Boston’s ace Chris Sale was no more effective than Cleveland’s Corey Kluber, losing two games and posting an ERA of 8.38.
At Fenway in the final game, Houston was ahead 4-3 at the end of 8 innings. In the top of the 9th, the Astros turned to Carlos Beltran (“Raised Royal”) to get some insurance. With two out and two on, Beltran stroked a pinch-hit double to increase the Astros lead to 5-3. Boston kept it interesting in their half of the 9th when Rafael Devers led off with an inside-the-park homer. But the insurance run plated by Beltran held up for a 5-4 victory.
Los Angeles v. Arizona: Arizona’s pitching ace was also “Raised Royal.” Zach Greinke started the Wild Card game against the Rockies and Game 3 against the Dodgers in the NLDS. He did not do well in either game, but the Diamondbacks scored enough to win the Wild Card game. No such luck with the Dodgers who got a 3-0 sweep and will have a rested Clayton Kershaw on hand to start Game 1 of the NLCS.
My comparable Royals play comes courtesy of LA’s rookie sensation Cody Bellinger who tumbled into the dugout to make a tough catch on a foul popup. Just like Mike Moustakas did for the Royals in the 2014 ALCS. Take a look by clicking Cody and Moose.
Chicago Cubs v. Washington: This series was expected to be dominated by the Nationals starting pitching, especially from Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer. In Game 1, Strasburg had a no-hitter through five and only allowed two unearned runs in seven innings. But the Cubs had better fielding and pitching and won 3-0.
In Game 3, Scherzer had a no-hitter into the 7th inning when the Royals (I mean Cubs) Ben Zobrist hit a double off the wall. Zobrist then scored to tie the score at 1-1. In the 8th, Anthony Rizzo hit a popup to short left-center that had a 29% chance of being a hit (per Statcast). It fell between three fielders and knocked in the lead run. Rita and I immediately thought of the ALCS in 2015 when the Royals (and I mean Royals) Ben Zobrist hit a similar popup that eluded the Blue Jays fielders and started a rally that won the game. Take a look: Rizzo and Zobrist. Rizzo’s blooper gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead, and the Royals (I mean Cubs) closer Wade Davis came in for a perfect 9th inning to save the game.
Zobrist breaks up Scherzer no-hitter
Washington stayed alive in a rain-filled Game 4 when Strasburg pitched another gem, leaving the game in the 7th with a 1-0 lead. The Nationals put the game out of reach in the 8th when Cubs reliever Wade Davis, of all people, was stung with a grand slam home run by Michael Taylor.
Game 5 started much as Game 4 ended with Michael Taylor hitting a 3-run blast in the second to stake the Nationals to a 4-1 lead. Signs in the stands renamed him Michael “Tater.” Washington manager Dusty Baker enlisted starter Max Scherzer to pitch the fifth inning. It was a disaster. Six men reached base after two were out, four in a row by an intentional walk, a passed-ball strikeout, catcher’s interference and a hit by pitch. There were also two hits in the inning, one by a pinch hitter, the reliable and ubiquitous Ben Zobrist. Four runs scored to make it 7-4.
The teams went back and forth to bring the score to 9-7. With two outs and two on in the seventh inning, Wade Davis entered the game for the Cubs. Seven outs to go. He ended the inning by striking out Ryan Zimmerman. But Davis ran into big trouble in the eighth. There were many runners, but only one run as Wade was bailed out by a double play and a pickoff at first by the catcher (original safe call overturned by replay). Davis completed his save with a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth, finishing with a strikeout of Bryce Harper on a pitch that sportswriter Joe Posnanski clearly thought was special: “That last pitch by Wade Davis should go into the Hall of Fame without the five-year waiting period.” Cubs win 9-8.
The Royals This October: Just before Wade Davis finished striking out Harper to end the game, announcer Ron Darling told the TV audience how wise the Cubs had been to acquire Davis in a trade with the Royals for Jorge Soler. Thanks Ron. We knew that.
Free agency will not open up until after the World Series. The Royals are keeping busy in October by building a new field at the K.
Houston Strong and Boston Strong: Boston and Houston have more in common than meeting in the playoffs. Each team has had occasion to wear “Strong” patches on their uniforms.
After Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in August, the Astros played a “home” series in Tampa, but then returned to Houston for their next games. The city was still in the early stages of recovery, but baseball in the city was a way to show a return to normalcy. The team added a “Houston Strong” patch to their uniforms and provided thousands of free tickets for those temporarily living in shelters.
In April of 2013, the Boston Marathon bombing prompted the Red Sox to add a “Boston Strong” patch. One of the best known baseball traditions is the Fenway sing-a-long of “Sweet Caroline” as the Sox get ready to bat in the bottom of the eighth. Neil Diamond made an unannounced appearance at a game a few days after the bombing to lead the fans in the song. It’s worth watching (4:23, click here).
Lonnie’s Jukebox: This space is usually devoted to a selection from my 45-rpm record collection from the 50’s. But the barrage of ads during the playoffs have created a couple of earworms that I can’t shake.
One is Neil Diamond’s (baseball diamond?) “Sweet Caroline” – in addition to being a Red Sox anthem, this song is used in an ad that seems to have run a zillion times with people in traffic singing along with Neil on the car radio. I may have seen it 50 times before noticing it was an ad for Hyundai. I’m not part of any target audience of buyers.
The other ad is the one with the juicy hamburger being ogled by “Hungry Eyes” as sung by Eric Carmen. This song from the soundtrack of Dirty Dancing is now an inducement to go to Applebee’s for loads of calories. The record came out in 1987, but my personal music soundtrack is more attuned to Carmen’s time as the lead singer of the Raspberries. So to end this post, I give you “Let’s Pretend” from 1973 by the Raspberries. Listen here.
