:idea: Every baseball is rubbed down by the umpires with fine, Mississippi mud before every game. This removes the shine or slickness. The balls are set aside to dry, then placed in buckets to be entered into the game. If the game balls are slicker or shinier, it's the fault of the umpires. BTW- I don't believe a word of this. It's an excuse of the players for not living up to expectations under pressure. Those sliders thrown to Bellinger have looked just fine...
This home plate umpire is brutal. He's not consistent, he has a floating bonus zone that you can go to when you're 0-2, but not 3-2 because you just can't count on it being there. That aside, this is one hell of a game. This is really a great World Series.
The Dodgers must be getting sick of hearing that damn train whistle. Surprised that Krebs did not post on this subject but that Mississippi mud (that is what Sparky Anderson used to call it ) is actually from the great state of New Jersey. http://baseballrubbingmud.com
I have to admit I didn't make it to the end I have a hard time staying up past 10pm esp when I have to get up to go to work. So it was a pleasant way to start my day when I opened up the paper this morning to see the headline that we won in the bottom of the 10th. Our big 4 hitters really came through last night. When I went to bed it was 7-7 and I figured the Dodgers would get to our BP which they did and that we would be shut down by Jansen and Morrow when the Dodgers trotted those two out...but we got to them both. Now I like that the ball will be in Justin Verlander's hands on Tues night. What a series.
You will not believe this Terry, but I was wondering how does Doc stay up so late and get to his office on time. Ironic your post just answered my question!
I really like the Fox group of ARod, Big Papi, Keith Hernandez, and Frank Thomas. A few days ago, ARod said that this is no David vs. Goliath, that Houston is a legit Goliath equal to the Dodgers. I still believe the Dodgers are the overall stronger team, but it looks like there's something to what ARod said. The Cubs rallied last year from down 3-1. I believe this series is going to 7 games.
Im so tired. Just got to work, and should have been here an hour ago. If they woulda raised the mound, I'd been asleep by 1030.
Hey Terry, you went to bed when it was 7-7, I tuned the game in when it was 7-4 Dodgers and the inning that Houston tied the game 7-7. Kept it on the rest of the way. I don't really have a dog in the hunt in this game, but my grandson, his wife and two great grandchildren live there. That along with the hurricane and thinking this would be great for the people of Houston have me leaning that way. I was pulling for Cleveland.
Morrow never should have seen the mound last night. That was all on Roberts. You've gotta trust your staff. Also, I'm tired of hearing that Jansen is a 2 or 3 inning closer because he did it in the playoffs last year. That's twice in this series he got burned trying to go 2. Cingriani should have been out there instead of Morrow. Hell, give Watson 2 innings instead of 2 outs. They've both proven they can do it. Morrow had thrown in every game in the series and for a fastball pitcher, dropping just that 2 to 3 mph is a recipe for disaster. I thought Roberts blew that move. At the same time, that was the greatest World Series game I could remember seeing with an absolutely horse **** umpire. Both dugouts were frustrated but the Astros staff made the better adjustment to start living a foot outside. They actually caught AJ on mic saying "I don't know where the strike zone is!"
:roll: Corey is right on all counts. The Dodgers are melting down over the misuse of their pitching staff and I'm not sure that the blame is on Roberts. Mrs. JO'Co said they just fired Honeycutt and I know these crazy experiments weren't his idea...
According to Morrow (who took the blame for the loss), they came to him and asked him if he could go. Well, what the hell is a competitive athlete going to say? Whether that's on Honey or Roberts, someone made the call to stick with the same script they felt comfortable with regardless of the actual use of the pen. They needed to flip the script on their pen and rely on the left handed guys to get them 6 outs in that game. Also, Houston plays in a phone booth. Knock someone down. Have some sack. These guys are up their armored and standing on home plate, put them down. That Cuban with the racist gesture doesn't need to be plunked, but he needs to be put on his can...maybe twice. I just don't understand what the Dodgers are doing. They had a horse **** umpire. Make the adjustment, the Astros did! As I mentioned on Facebook, at one point there were 7 of the best eyes in all of baseball went down looking but Joc Pederson walked. WTF?!? Those are numbers that don't lie. Also, Darvish didn't throw that many pitches the other night. I would have stuck Darvish in the pen during that mid to late inning stretch just to take a look at him. I assure you, he threw a bullpen that day anyway. I thought the Dodger lineup, despite the floating zone the size of Texas, did a Herculean job of battling back against the Astros in that phone booth. They just kept battling back. The fault here lies with the Dodger pitching. They need to be throwing the kitchen sink and they are still pulling data off charts from June. This is tournament baseball now. You're not in the grind. It's all about this pitch, this out, this inning and this game. You do whatever the hell you gotta do to get through it.
Well umps be darned, we have Justin Verlander going tonight and he's a great pitcher and he's experienced in these situations. It doesn't mean of course that he's going to have a great game, but of all our pitchers if I wanted to win 1 game Verlander is who I would trot out. Naturally I am hoping he no-hits the Dodgers and the Astros erupt for a ton of runs in the early innings! Is it going to be as hot in L.A. tonight as it was for the 1st 2 games?
:idea: :!: :arrow: :arrow: The Dodgers squeeze past Verlander to force a Game #7. It will be the first Game #7 ever played At Dodger Stadium...
I remember that LA shut down about noon when the Kings were in the Stanley Cup Finals, so is it safe to assume that the city is just shutting down for Game 7 since its the Dodgers?