Scouts: Another world series game come and gone. I had to turn the game off in the middle of the 7th once it became clear the Nats were busting out, because I’m one of the 47% of the US population that lives in the Eastern Time Zone and I have to get up and go to work and sadly can’t stay up past midnight to watch baseball. I guess it’s better that 16% of the population in the West Coast be able to see the beginning of the game rather than the largest volume of consumers watch the end. Of course if things keep going the way they are it won’t be a problem any longer as games 3-5 are on Friday through Sunday. Of course, even on the weekend all games are starting at 8pm EST, because reasons.
Nationals 12, Astros 3 – Scouts: So what actually happened in the game anyways? We were promised a second attempt at a pitchers duel with Stephen Strasburg matching up against Justin Verlander. Game 1 was a bit of a pitching bust as both pitchers had a off day. Game 2 started off similarly with the Nats securing a two run double thanks to Anthony Rendon, and Alex Bregman jacking a two-run homer off Strasburg. What’s going on here fellas? While Strasburg eventually settled down, he still was only able to last 6 innings, allowing 8 baserunners and 7 strikeouts. Verlander started to calm down a bit, until the magical 7th inning that turned a tight ballgame into a blowout.
First Kurt Suzuki homered to start the inning, followed by a Victor Robles walk which chased Verlander out of the game.
Ryan Pressley came in for relief and things went from bad to worse to horrible really fast. Trea Turner walked, setting up Adam Eaton for the sac bunt, which he executed flawlessly. Then with one out, Anthony Rendon flew out to short center. With two outs in the inning, and a man on second and third, the Astros decided the thing they needed the most at this moment was more base-runners! So they intentionally walked Juan Soto. Absolutely no one could predict that this management strategy would be a disaster. (He said with the heaviest level of sarcasm known to man.) With the bases loaded and two outs, Howie Kendrick singled on a ground ball to third, scoring Victor Robles, a run that was credited to Verlander who left the game approximately 45 mins ago. Asdrubal Cabrera then singled in Trea Turner and Juan Soto, the guy who was given a free pass and was moving on the pitch thanks to there being two outs in the inning. A wild pitch then moved Kendrick to third and Cabrera to second. Ryan Zimmerman then singled in both Kendrick and Cabrera and Ryan Pressley was finally given the hook and replaced with Josh James who was able to get Kurt Suzuki, the man who started off the inning with the solo homer to ground out and end the never ending inning.
But wait! There’s more! Fast forward to the top of the 8th inning, where Victor Robles struck out to start the inning, but ended up on first thanks to a passed ball by Martin Maldonado. That led to a Adam Eaton homer that put two more on the board. After a strike out, a walk, and a single, Josh James was yanked and Hector Rondon entered, and immediately gave up a two out single to Asdrubal Cabrera scoring two more runs.
Michael Taylor then homered in the top of the ninth to make the game 12-2. By the time Martin Molonado homered for the Astros in the 9th, just about all of America was either asleep or had turned off their television sets/streaming devices.
Houston’s pitching staff ended with ERA’s of in order: 6.00, 40.50, 9.00, 0.00 (one out total), and 9.00. Yeeeeeeeeesh. It was supposed to be Washington’s staff that completely falls apart in the late innings. This was SUPPOSED to be a 1-0 ball game with 20 strikeouts and a breezy 2.5 hours. Instead it was a 4 hour marathon of a game.
The two teams have a day off to travel to Washington. The Astros will try to regroup, with Zack Greinke facing off against Anibal Sanchez. Houston most certainly has a problem and they had better find a solution quick or we won’t have to worry about staying up late on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
P.S: And a special thank you to MLB for adding multiple pre-video advertisements prior to your game highlights just in time for the world series. Really classy move there gentleman. Between advertisements, online blackouts, and super late game start times, I have to wonder, do you even actually WANT people to consume your product?
Fan Interference 
Remember in the Wizard of Oz when Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that the Great and Powerful Oz is just a human? Pulling back the curtain on the Wizard of JV reveals a career World Series stat line that reads pretty mortal: 6 starts, 33 innings (less than 6 per start), 0 – 5 record, 7 HRs allowed and a 5.73 ERA.
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If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, and you told me Game 2 was going to have Verlander starting for the Astros, Rodney, Rainey, and Javy Guerra finishing for the Nats, and the final was going to be 12-3, I’d have been sure that the Astros would’ve been on the winning end of that.
If you tried to convince me otherwise, I’d have thought you confused on a level that one must be to think building a wall in Colorado is a good idea.
The best part of the win last night was that they did it without using their ‘A’ bullpen, and the inning Rainey threw might hopefully get him confident enough to be relied on in a high leverage situation down the road. He’s got closer stuff, but he needs to have closer makeup to fully realize his potential.
I know it could all still go sideways for the Nats, like it’s done for three other teams that won the first two on the road and still lost the Series, but I’ll take where they are right now over any other possibility.
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Phillies hiring Girardi, with Bryce still there for another 12 years with a no trade contract sure sounds like a case of “Two men enter, one man leaves…”
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