2017 World Series

Philsmania 2017-10-30 04:02:19 UTC #21

This isn't a World Series, it's a home run derby.

LoneStarPhan 2017-10-30 05:16:23 UTC #22

Another slug fest going to extra innings.

Does MLB really want 5+ hour games? I have to say that the game is enjoyable but is not a typical baseball game.

Line score now 12-13-1 for both teams after 9 innings.

zambonir 2017-10-30 05:21:36 UTC #23

reminds me of 15-14, in very different ways. but the sheer crazy.

LoneStarPhan 2017-10-30 05:40:28 UTC #24

13-12 in ten. Two out HBP followed by a walk and then a single, and the Astros win to take series lead, 3 games to 2.

Dodgers 12-14-1
Astros 13-14-1

zambonir 2017-10-30 06:24:29 UTC #25

Derek Fisher with the winning run (PR)

Philsmania 2017-10-30 15:05:03 UTC #26

If you ask me, I think both of these managers, but probably more so Roberts, are seriously overmanaging, especially with the pitchers and going to the bullpens too early. As a result, I think both of these bullpens are now toast and any call to the bullpen will be reliever roulette. That, coupled with these seemingly defective WS baseballs have turned what should have been a showdown between two very strong pitching staffs into a slugfest.

Philsmania 2017-10-30 15:08:54 UTC #27

Buck and Smoltz made reference to that game. Is last night's game now the second-highest scoring game in WS history?

Until St. Joe's lost to Oklahoma State in the 2004 Elite Eight, the 15-14 game was the most difficult sports defeat I ever had to endure. Everyone talks about Joe Carter but the eighth inning of Game 4 is where they lost that WS. They gave up six runs, four of them with two out, at home. Molitor's double and Henderson's bloop single were hits seemingly by inches. Devon White, who would always be a big-time Phillie-killer in later seasons with the Marlins, Diamondbacks and Dodgers (lifetime .278/.341/.519/.860 line against the Phillies), with the bases-clearing triple. I often say the '93 Phillies were only three outs and possibly only two pitches away from a WC, if only that last out in the eighth inning of Game Four came just one batter sooner and Williams managed to get Carter to ground into a double play in the 9th inning of Game 6.

zambonir 2017-10-30 17:03:36 UTC #28

The only good thing I can say about that game is I didn't get to watch the last three innings of it live. Though, watching it on the VCR was almost worse.

andyb 2017-10-30 20:20:07 UTC #29

Fangraphs post on the tendency of managers to go overboard with a small core of pitchers. Not everyone can do it like Andrew Miller or Mariano Rivera could. The big lesson is really that in an era of shorter pitching outings, you need to use more pitchers in your bullpen. You can't keep adding larger roles to the three pitchers you trust.

Ken Giles got more than 3 outs only 3 times this season. He has been asked to do it 3 times already in the postseason and exceeded his season high in pitches twice. He just is not equipped to do that. Managers would be better off trying to get 6 innings out of their starters more often in the postseason. There have been lots of pitchers pulled in the 60-80 pitch range which seems a waste.

Philsmania 2017-10-30 21:08:47 UTC #30

andyb:

Fangraphs post on the tendency of managers to go overboard with a small core of pitchers. Not everyone can do it like Andrew Miller or Mariano Rivera could. The big lesson is really that in an era of shorter pitching outings, you need to use more pitchers in your bullpen. You can't keep adding larger roles to the three pitchers you trust.

Ken Giles got more than 3 outs only 3 times this season. He has been asked to do it 3 times already in the postseason and exceeded his season high in pitches twice. He just is not equipped to do that. Managers would be better off trying to get 6 innings out of their starters more often in the postseason. There have been lots of pitchers pulled in the 60-80 pitch range which seems a waste.

fangraphs.com

So What Do We Think About Bullpenning Now? | FanGraphs Baseball

Relievers are getting torched this week. Is John Smoltz right after all …

I couldn't agree more.

andyb 2017-10-31 14:45:36 UTC #31

Continuing debate about the ball and whether it is "juiced" in some way. From the way I interpret MLB's vague comments the biggest change is that MLB is now making balls within a loose standard that carry further. The MLB standards are loose enough that a ball could carry 49 more feet from one extreme of the standard to another.

Second, the World Series balls are reportedly slicker this year. This affects pitchers who throw sliders the most because the spin of that pitch is directly related to grip. The two pitchers they cite as most affected are Ken Giles and Yu Darvish. Darvish had been great in the previous series without the special WS-logo balls. Too small a sample size to prove anything but there is a whole lots of smoke. And that Correa popup home run was kind of ridiculous.

LoneStarPhan 2017-10-31 18:36:01 UTC #32

Changing the baseball for the WS and then lying about it, which is what reportedly has happened, surely undermines the integrity of the game.

zambonir 2017-11-01 01:47:46 UTC #33

Safe to say Rich Hill doesn't love the analytics.

Lucky_Beagle 2017-11-01 03:07:09 UTC #34

I would have thought Joc Pederson hit a walk off WS winning HR by his antics as he rounded the bases instead of a solo HR to increase the lead to 3-1. I understand being excited, but it was over the top to me in a WS where it seems HR's are being hit every couple of innings by someone (himself included twice before if I heard correctly)

zambonir 2017-11-01 03:16:13 UTC #35

When you play with Puig everything looks understated. Who was it, Culberson (or maybe Forsythe) who celebrated a HR that didn't even tie the game?

It was a big freakin' run though. Tonight's not last night, clearly.

Philsmania 2017-11-01 15:21:35 UTC #36

Both of these teams seem to play with a lot of emotions. Everyone has pretty much been dancing around the bases on every home run. At times, it's looked more like what one would expect from a college game. This WS certainly must be ticking off a lot of old school baseball fans between the players' theatrics and the all the overly analytical moves.

zambonir 2017-11-01 16:48:38 UTC #37

I think Pederson's emotions are understandable,

teabag259 2017-11-02 03:50:23 UTC #38

Charlie Morton is a difference maker? Who knew?

LoneStarPhan 2017-11-02 04:10:19 UTC #39

Phillies just had Morton in the wrong year.

Dodger bullpen goes 7.1 scoreless innings after losing two games in the series where they gave up multiple runs late in the game. Astros only had 5 hits tonight, only two after Darvish left the game in the second.

Darvish again showed badly and gave up all the runs the Astros needed in the first two innings.

Houston is a deserving champion and a fine young team.

zambonir 2017-11-02 05:24:31 UTC #40

Morton is a triumph of coaching and analytics. Supposedly McLure even played a role. He was already showing the velocity boost in Philly though I think Morton was already working on that before he arrived. And then the Astros added their spin rate/pitch selection stuff.

It really was a marvelous series, as weird but entertaining as some of the games were there were also several that were just old-fashioned dominant on one end or the other, including tonight.