WORLD SERIES: Red Sox play long ball, win 5-1 to close out Series

GAME FIVE IN REVIEW

After a tremendous comeback in Game Four, Boston could clinch the title tonight.  After a frustrating loss, Los Angeles could be eliminated from the World Series at home for the second straight year.  Clayton Kershaw is starting for the Dodgers.  As I mentioned in my Game Four column, his record in elimination games is not good – 1-3, 6.23 ERA.  Boston surprised me by starting David Price.  I thought they would use Chris Sale, but manager Alex Cora knows his team far better than I do.

Splendid job singing the National Anthem by Mike Dalager of the United States Coast Guard!

1st Inning

• After Boston RF Mookie Betts flied out to center, LF Andrew Benintendi singled, and then 1B Steve Pearce gave Kershaw whiplash watching the path his two-run homer took. Pearce is STROKING the baseball right now.
• David Freese hit the first pitch in the bottom of the inning into the right-center-field stands to cut the score to 2-1.

2nd Inning

• Both pitchers have shaken off their first-inning blemishes and are mowing through the opposition.

3rd Inning

• In the bottom of the inning, Freese hit a deep fly to right that JD Martinez lost in the lights. The ball got past him, allowing Freese to make it to third with a triple.  Freese now has two career triples in postseason play; in the regular season, he has seven (in ten seasons).
• It didn’t matter in the long run. 3B Justin Turner grounded to short and Kiki Hernández fouled out to right, allowing Price to get through the inning unscathed.

4th Inning

• Martinez blooped a single to left with one out. It was a prime example of Ty Cobb’s hitting strategy: “Hit it where they ain’t!”  As several coaches told both my brother and me, whether it’s a bloop single or a hard line drive, they look the same in the box score the next day.
• It didn’t matter. Bogaerts grounded into a double play to end the inning.

5th Inning

• So far, each pitcher has only allowed three hits.
• This was yet another shutout inning for each.
• I have little to write about right now other than the brilliance of the pitchers.
• When the inning ended, the first bullet point of this section was still true.

6th Inning

• When Price batted, he looked VERY comfortable at the plate. Loose, even.  He put a good swing on the ball and hit a hot grounder that ended up going directly to Machado at short.  I was impressed.  How many American League pitchers would have batted that way?
• Betts’s homer seemed like a no-doubter when it hit the bat, but it then looked like it barely made it out of the yard.
• I blinked and the bottom of the inning was over.[1] Price is making it look easy.

7th Inning

• Martinez launched a homer to dead center to lead off the inning, and SS Xander Bogaerts followed with a lined single to left. Kershaw looks dejected.
• Holt bounced a chopper to second that at first looked like a double play ball, but he beat the return throw to first.
• Devers then grounded a single to center. Kershaw’s falling apart.
• I wrote that, and then he struck Vázquez out in dominant fashion.
• Price is batting for himself with two outs, and why not? He looks great![2]
• The bottom half was another 1-2-3 inning for Price. He looks dominant, having retired 14 hitters in a row.  This is great for a team who has such an exhausted bullpen.

8th Inning

• Pedro Báez is now pitching for the Dodgers. The stadium is lifeless, and the Dodgers seem like they have already been defeated.
• Báez retired the first two hitters but served up a meatball to Pearce that he blasted over the left-field fence for his second homer of the game. The stadium is louder now, but it sounds like the smattering of Red Sox fans is what is making the noise.
• In the bottom of the inning, Price walked the leadoff hitter, Chris Taylor. Joe Kelly then came in to pitch to pinch-hitter Matt Kemp.  Price received a well-deserved ovation from both contingents of fans as he left the game.
• Kelly whiffed Kemp on five pitches, sealing the deal with a tough fastball. 97 mph and moving.
• He then struck Joc Pederson out looking with a FILTHY cutter on a full count.

9th Inning

• Kenley Jansen entered to pitch the ninth. He walked the first hitter but retired the next three to keep the Dodgers behind by four with the meat of their lineup coming up.
• Chris Sale took the mound to try and close out the Series for Boston. He struck out the side on 14 pitches.
• The final pitch to Machado was NASTY. It was an 84-mph curveball that brought Machado to one knee as he swung and missed.

Congratulations to the Red Sox, who won 108 games and still didn’t get enough credit.  I can’t believe I picked against them.  This team was a buzzsaw — a juggernaut.  11-3 record this postseason — and they easily could’ve won those three.  Steve Pearce received the World Series MVP award, and deservedly so.  David Price and Nathan Eovaldi each made huge contributions that deserve mention.  Eovaldi was a hero for how well he pitched in his six innings of work in the 18-inning marathon.  After that game, Price never left his side until they got to the hotel.  He wanted to make sure his buddy was ok.  Price also started Game Two, made a brief relief appearance in Game Three, and then started Game Five, handing in seven innings (plus one batter) of brilliant work.  Christian Vázquez hit the ball hard just about every time he batted and, in Game Three, played first base for the first time in his Major League career, turning in six solid innings.  Eduardo Nuñez sacrificed his body repeatedly in Game Three, playing through injury and giving it everything he had.

This team didn’t showboat.  They didn’t raise all that many eyebrows, despite being brilliant.  Most importantly, though, they didn’t quit.  After a loss like they suffered in Game Three, most teams would have gone into a tailspin.  The Red Sox didn’t.  They were seven outs away from having the Series tied, 2-2, and then came back from a 4-0 deficit to lead 9-4 before winning the game, 9-6.  More than 3/4 of the runs they scored in the Series came with two out.

The Red Sox as a franchise have now won 14 American League pennants,[3] appeared in 13 World Series,[4] and won nine World Series.  They are tied with the Philadelphia/Oakland Athletics[5] for third-most World Series titles by a Major League franchise.[6]  Their four Series losses all came in seven games.  In the 21st century, they have gone 16-3 in World Series play, winning four titles.  Two of those Series ended in a sweep.  I’m blown away by their success.[7]

What about the Dodgers?  Is this batch going to be known as a “close-but-no-cigar” team?[8]  Is their window closing?  I’m sensing that it will soon be an elephant in the room.  They have some contract decisions to make this off-season.  Yes, they have a significant amount of resources to sign players, but still…it will eventually be a factor.

This was an entertaining Series.  Boston is a lot of fun to watch, and many of their players are young.  They look to be in good position to defend their title.[9]  Unless the off-season signing period completely falls apart, the Dodgers should be strong again next year.  Either way, pitchers and catchers report in four months.

Until next time…

Sunday, October 28, 2018, 11:37 pm MST

 

[1] Makes sense.  Freese grounded to second, Turner lined to left, and Hernández grounded to second.  Price only threw nine pitches.

[2] He put a good swing on the ball but bounced into a fielder’s choice at second.

[3] 1903, 1904, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018.

[4] The 1904 New York Cowards Giants refused to play them in the World Series.  Giant manager John McGraw felt that the American League was a ragtag league and wasn’t worth his team’s time.

[5] Yes, I know the A’s played in Kansas City from 1955 to 1967, but they didn’t win any titles there.

[6] Only the New York Yankees (27) and St. Louis Cardinals (11) have more.

[7] Weird, random trivia: they are the only team to win the World Series exactly 100 years apart.

[8] Other examples: 1989-1994 Buffalo Bills, Phoenix Suns from the 1970s to 2010, mid-90s Seattle Sonics, Chris Webber-era Sacramento Kings, Durant-Harden-Westbrook Oklahoma City Thunder

[9] Then again, so did the Astros…