GDT 11/2/22 Houston Astros (Javier) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Nola, Aa)

[Aquapong]

Lol. I guy a know spent thousands to go to this game, only to have Halloween rained out and this be game 4 and then see the Phils get no hit. I don’t like the guy so lol. Let’s get them tonight.

[BostonRoss]

The game after the Don Larsen perfect game, the Dodgers beat the Yankees. But they were shut out for nine innings, winning 1-0 in the tenth on Jackie Robinson’s last hit of his career.

I hate to say it, but the Dodgers got shut out the next game, too, which was Game 7. The offense never came back.

[allentown]

The season has been sullied. Only a WC will make this worthwhile. The Phillies team we saw all season showed up tonight, not the flukish one of the last three weeks.

Wtf? If the Phillies don't win another game in this WS, then this season has still been a totally unexpected rousing success. How can a bad WS game, following a blow out of the other team the prior game, possibly be viewed as sullying a season? The Astros are the best team in baseball this year. We've already won 2 against them in the WS. This has been a very worthwhile post-season and season. Beating the Braves in the playoffs made it easily enough for me. What followed has been gravy.

To Hope Springs Eternal: I think there has been ample proof of team resiliency in this post-season.

[Lucky_Beagle]

Just as the Astros probably felt after game 3, I am more ok with this one than having lost 1-0, 2-1, or 3-2 and especially if it included leaving runners on 3rd with less than 2 outs.
it is going to be tough but time to regroup and get a couple of wins.... tonight is a huge game.

[andyb]

This is a team that gets punched in the face quite often and gets up and ignores it. How many ugly losses have they had through fielding or blowing large leads. I don't think this will phase them one bit.

[zambonir]

If they lose tonight it will be because the Astros are very good and we don't have the pitching, not because last night was something they can't recover from. And if they lose the series we'll look back on the fact that our two best pitchers provided no advantage (including in Game 6 possibly), more than the offense.

But right, now, we win the odd numbered games, so go do it! I'm definitely past the "it's all gravy" point though. Winning Game 1 on the road and taking a 2-1 lead both made the Phillies favorites in this series at the time, both for the gamblers and based on history. At this point it would be disappointing to lose.

I do think there's some psychological value in a getting a hit, just like there is sometimes value in scoring a couple of meaningless runs late. But it was a pretty cool piece of history: first post-season no-hitter since Roy in that same park, only second one ever in WS, and second combined Astros no-hitter with the same starter this season.

[Philsmania]

Sorry, I overreacted to last night's game. But, the Phillies all-time in World Series games...

Game 1: 6-2
Game 2: 2-6
Game 3: 2-6
Game 4: 1-7, remains kryptonite
Game 5: 4-2
Game 6: 1-2
Game 7: 0-0

[zambonir]

Interesting that the Game 3 record is so poor. In MLB the team leading 2-1 has gone 61-28 in terms of taking the Series (almost 70%) but still just 44-45 in Game 4. (From Whowins.com)

[allentown]

This is the downside of having your aces protect the bullpen by throwing a ton of IP, coupled with the downside of having your pitchers pitch in the wildcard series. We have leaned on both Wheeler and Nola for a ton of IP (Nola in absolute terms, Wheeler in the time he was healthy.) They both show strong signs of being gassed at this stage. Nola shouldn't have pitched the 5th inning last night. That was a bridge too far for him. In Wheeler's start, it almost had to be something like tipping his pitches at start of game, coupled with build-up of fatigue (especially after missing time to forearm tendinitis) and just having command of his pitches, which could be purely fatigue. 4 playoff series is a lot for guys who have pitched as much as these two have.

We need to get Suarez into at least one of the games at Houston, since he seems to have the magic knack of picking up WS wins this year.

[zambonir]

Funny I saw some coverage that suggested Nola should have been left in to try and wriggle out of that one more time, though that struck me as ex post facto logic (i.e. Alvarado failed).

I think we could see Suarez tonight. Game 6 would actually be trickier as he's definitely the Game 7 starter - but what if there isn't one?

[andyb]

I've never thought Alvarado was great coming in with runners on just because it sometimes takes him a pitch or two to command things. I think he had at least one ugly 10th inning this year back when he was not seen as one of our top two options.

[zambonir]

In the moment it was all completely understandable. Couldn't let Nola face Alvarez. Couldn't use Suarez. Hand would have been an option three months ago but imagine using him and giving up a grand slam. Anyway, it almost doesn't matter because we got no-hit! Additional complete hindsight, we'd be better off if that had been the bullpen game and Nola was facing Verlander again tonight.