It's a protector to reduce the amount of shock you feel on your hands when you get a ball inside. It also can be used to generate more torque when you get the barrel on the ball through your back swing. AJ, Congrats to your Cards. I owe you an apology. I thought the Braves actually knew who their best pitcher was. It turns out, they didn't. You only had to see him once, so he only got to beat you once. Hats off to you guys and hopefully, you can go onto the Series to derail the AL representative.
Can't believe the Dodgers lost last night. They were in control at 3-1 when I went to bed. I hope the same fate doesn't await the Astros.
Bringing him in for the lefty lefty matchup wasn't a bad call. He struck the guy out on 3 pitches. He never should have seen the 8th inning. He threw 3 pitches in the 8th inning and gave up 2 dongs. That inning should have been Maeda (who they wound up going to anyway) all the way. I posted it last night of fb, I honestly believe Dave Roberts needs to go. If you followed my idiotic postings last night, it's a pretty clear timeline of every unforgivable decision that Roberts made, as he was making them. Honestly, the 'play' of the game may have been a 2-2 squeeze of Buehler. He clearly threw a strike. He froze everyone, including the umpire. That missed strike started the avalanche of bad decisions by Roberts. But to be fair, they didn't lose this in one game. Roberts made bad decisions throughout the series and lots of Dodgers (Bellinger anyone?) had epic postseason choke jobs. They literally have no one to blame but themselves. I didn't think the Nats won that so much as they hung around until the Dodgers pissed it down their leg... and boy did they.
It's all on Gerrit Cole tonight. He fanned 15 Rays in the last outing. He's not on short rest, he's at home where he's comfortable. Like Verlander he can be brilliant and throw a 3 hitter, 15 strikeout game but 2 of the 3 hits being solo bombs. Astros need to get out of the gate offensively and give him some runs to work with. I imagine if he's going well Hinch will go at least 7 innings with him as he doesn't trust his bullpen. If we go to the 8th with a 2 run lead for example, Houston fans will be on pins and needles hoping the bullpen doesn't blow it for us.
I have you guys winning this. I'm not sure if the Rays have any more tricks up their sleeve. Who knows though, in that yard, the whole thing could wind up a shootout.
OK who do you like in the unexpected Cards v Nat's in the NLCS? What was their season record in head to head. It's ironic that they lose their best player in Bryce Harper and the Phillies don't make the post season but the Nat's do.
What an ugly scene last night at Dodger Stadium. Children crying, parents crying, and a lot of anger directed at manager Dave Roberts. It went down the way I feared it would. The one team that matched up well with us was the Nationals. Some of our Spring training problems were never solved and in the end they brought us down: - The end of the bullpen was a disaster. Neither Baez or Kelly was a true setup man and Kenley was coming off 7-hour open heart surgery. - The "ace" of the staff was a rookie, who actually turned out to be a real ace after all. - Pollock was not as good as rookies who were brought up from the minors. - The team was not as good without Verdugo. His injury really hurt. He's that valuable. - The Fresh Prince really faded. Veterans like Ryu and Kershaw didn't trust him behind the plate. - Bellinger looked 23-years old. My nightmare weekend is under way. Please God, don't let my Irish lose to USC...
Watch your tongue, young man. He's by far one of the greatest LH pitchers of all time and a sure HOFer. Just be happy you won't see them in the WS.......if you make it that far. He's near the end of his career. I agree with Corey. He did what they asked in the 7th and never should have seen the 8th. IMO a bad managerial move. By the way, George, I agree with you that LeMahieu should get serious consideration for AL MVP based solely on what he did for his team in their run to the AL East championship. Trout is the best player in baseball IMO, but he did not do for his team what LeMahieu did for the Yankees.
I like the Cardinals and Astros here. While the Nats do have the 3 strong starters, I like the Cards starters more. No one has a Flaherty except Houston and they appear to have 2 of him. Still, when I look at the combinations of lineup, defense and depth of staff, I'll take the Cards heavy over the Nats. How has no one figured out that the Nats have like 3 guys in the lineup who are truly dangerous every at-bat? The Dodgers never seemed to figure that out and it hurt them. Don't get me started. This is big boy ball now. It's the 7 game series. Not only do you need the starting pitching, but you've gotta have a bullpen. I hate the 5 game series. It's very high school. You can't shuffle Scherzer between the pen and the bump anymore. You need a bullpen and the Cards have a lineup that can beat you top to bottom. The Nats don't. As for the ALCS, this should be a fantastic matchup. The only reason I give the edge to the Stros is because I like their starting pitching a bit more than I do New York's. Then again, I'm probably biased there.
I think that's the only advantage they have. You both play in phone booths. You both have ravenous crowds. You have as much power as them. You're faster and your gloves are better. Your starting pitching is a clear advantage. In order for the pen to be an advantage, you gotta get to the pen. The Yankees have shown a willingness to go to it early, but they need to be careful not to stretch it too thin in a 7 game series. The Stros have 3 starters that can carry a game into the 7th inning in dominating fashion. That's a tough nut to crack.
In the post game Big Pappi implies that Glasgow was tipping his pitches and the Astros knew it. That's why they tee'd off on him early. The theory is gaining credence.
Yeah Anibal threw a great game. They're going to need 3 more like it to get out of a 7 game series. That's not accounting for the issue that Flaherty is going to throw 2 games like that in this series.