My prediction which will probably not come true: Dodgers in six. I think their pitching and, significantly, bullpen are better.
I'm afraid it'll be Dodgers in five, though the Astros have been tough at home. I'm hoping Astros in 7 which would probably require two wins in LA.
These pitchers are dealing tonight.
3-1 LAD mid 7th. All runs on homeruns.
Dodgers take Game 1. Bullpen looked good too.
From a couple of years ago, a look back at what Justin Turner learned from Marlon Byrd
Like Byrd, Turner is one of those classic though I suspect also rare late bloomers who becomes a star after years of futility. See also, Jose Bautista, Brandon Moss, Chris Davis, Josh Hamilton.
Dodgers up 3-1 through 7.5 again. All their runs on dingers.
Some good baseball in this WS. Too bad not more are interested.
25 minutes in and former Phillies backup and minor league manager, not to mention all around good guy, PJ Forbes talks World Series baseball with zero advance warning.
I'm following it. Good stuff with the tying run scored in the top of the 9th. Ken Giles working his way through the heart of the Dodgers order.
And now Altuve puts the Astros ahead!
freaking insane. I had to work until almost midnight Eastern but I was half-watching the last few innings and was able to see the end.
Having been there in LA for the Vic/Stairs game it certainly brought back some memories seeing a Dodgers closer get tagged, and then of course our own alumnus couldn't quite do it. So glad it ended the way it did.
Yes, I listened to the end, and it was great stuff, just what the WS is supposed to be. These teams are too good to be taken for granted.
Game 2 started out as another pitchers' duel but turned into what Harry would call "a wild one" late.
If there's a red flag for the Dodgers, they look to be a little too dependent upon the longball. Of the nine runs they've scored so far in the WS, eight have been driven in by home runs.
Not much different for the Astros: 6 of 8 runs in the WS on homers.
I mean, that's baseball in 2017. Pitching and homers (and when the pitching's still pretty good they are never three-run homers). But I reckon someone's bound to score six or eight runs one game at Minute Maid.
No idea if Kapler was part of the change, but this article on Darvish talks about how they re-worked his delivery to get him back to where he was pre-TJ surgery. This might also explain why he hit a rough patch in late August/early September as this was going on. Of course one could point to Nola where some suggest the changing release point led to his injury so it is hard to evaluate whether this is good or bad (and Nola apparently changed his release point a bit himself, it was not the coaching staff).
Kapler is the Joe Jordan of the Phillies, he runs their minor league system. But obviously this shows how Honeycutt and the whole LA front office is using data and video (and I'm sure they use it at every level).
Home run parade continuing in the WS tonight.
I did note that the Astros 4 run 4th got started with a walk and back to back two out walks proceeded their 3 run home run in the 5th. The slick baseballs seem to have cost some pretty good pitchers in this series.
