MLB Postseason GDT

[BostonRoss]

Maybe intent should matter, but I think the Astros would have a strong argument if the rule was ignored. The rules may not always be fair, but they have to be followed.

There are other instances where a player was penalized for interference when he had no other option. Remember the 2013 World Series between the Red Sox and Cardinals? Will Middlebrooks was called for interference when he impeded a runner after a wild throw. He couldn't have avoided the contact without defying gravity, but by the rule he interfered with the runner.

[zambonir]

Haha there's also this

Chris Jackson on Twitter

I guess they weren't actually reviewing the call/play, just discussing their interpretation.

[andyb]

It matters a bit because it would have been interference if a good throw had to be altered because the runner was not in that lane.

That is why you apply the interference part of the rule and not the running in the lane part of the rule.

[julio]

Haha there's also this

Chris Jackson on Twitter

I guess they weren't actually reviewing the call/play, just discussing their interpretation.

Yeah well, this kind of rationalization, IMHO, is pretty obviously just a way of saying, "I want my side to win, and I'll whine about whatever I can find to that end... which justifies the means to that end." If he's serious, he's announcing his lack of what we used to call "sportsmanship" to the entire world.

[DurhamBull]

Scherzer far from his best this evening. 4 hits, 2 BB, 1 HR, 0K, 55 pitches after 3. How long do the Nats wait before they bring in Sanchez?

[LoneStarPhan]

After four innings, Scherzer has given up 5 hits and walked 3. Nationals only have one hit and no walks off Greinke tonight.

Astros have failed to cash in several times. Will it come back to haunt them?

[LoneStarPhan]

2-0 after 5 innings. Scherzer at 103 pitches, 7 hits, 4 walks but only 2 runs.

Greinke after 6 innings, no runs, one hit, one walk, 67 pitches.

[Dirk41]

Back up the truck to Rendon.

[LoneStarPhan]

Perfect example of what can happen to a team that fritters away multiple chances to score runs.

[BostonRoss]

Why don't we get players like Howie Kendrick?

[Dirk41]

Not sure if anyone else is into this sort of thing, but not feeling the uniform combos here. Understanding the Nationals going blue for good luck, but the Astros in orange make it look like a spring training game. Should have gone with the classic white

Edit: Apparently it is lucky for them, too.

[LoneStarPhan]

Nationals reminding us that getting a wild card birth is a significant and important outcome. Astros reminding us that the best team wins the WS less than half the time.

And this year, hope you don't have home field advantage.

[DurhamBull]

Listening to the Nats announcers makes me appreciate the Phils’ broadcast crew, especially Franzke. The Nats announcers are OK, but I like Franzke a lot better.

[xogfog]

Thus endeth the 2019 baseball season. Congrats to the Nationals. With the Nationals win, now the NlL East and AL Central are the only two divisions where every team has won the World Series. The teams that have never won the World Series shrinks to Rays, Rangers, Mariners, Brewers, Rockies and Padres, with now only the Mariners having never having appeared in the World Series.

[zambonir]

I don't think the Nats proved anything about the wild card. They were an outlier, as good a team as any club in baseball for four months, after falling in an unusually big hole. That is not the same thing as a .500 team making a run at 88 wins. Probably had the Brewers won the coin-flip game we'd have been watching the Dodgers tonight.

I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Hate the Nats but don't mind imagining Middleton and our players feeling this pain, and getting motivated.

[el-pietro]

I too hate the Nats but the Astros sure made it hard to like them this winter. I'm not looking forward to a year of Nats fans talking about how they won without Harper.

[phillychuck]

I'm not looking forward to a year of Nats fans talking about how they won without Harper.

I'm sick of this already and it hasn't started. I can't imagine how Bryce feels.

I also can't believe that Houston didn't bring Cole into the game in the 7th. Greinke has been awful the third time through the lineup.

[el-pietro]

I'd also like to spare a thought for Expos fans. I'm sure many of them must feel less than pleased at the success of their... successors? Washington has all but ignored their history in Montreal.

[Philsmania]

Why don't we get players like Howie Kendrick?

Or Asdrubel Cabrerra at the deadline.

[Philsmania]

I'm not looking forward to a year of Nats fans talking about how they won without Harper.

I'm sick of this already and it hasn't started. I can't imagine how Bryce feels.

I also can't believe that Houston didn't bring Cole into the game in the 7th. Greinke has been awful the third time through the lineup.

I actually thought they should have kept Greinke in. "Don't let a guy go three times through the lineup" has become a new shibboleth.

And it's not just going to be Nationals fans. Harper is going to hear it full throated at every road venue in 2020 and beyond unless and until he gets a ring.