Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Sports Journal October 29, 2017

10-29-17 
I was exhausted Sunday morning.  It must have been all of the channel switching Saturday night.  I watched the F1 race from Mexico this afternoon.  There was a massive, enthusiastic crowd there.  The grid girls were made up for Dia de los Muertos, which wasn’t an improvement.  On the grid walk, Will Buxton talked to the race promoter for Mexico and the US race in Austin.  The promoter mentioned this was NBC’s last season for F1 and genuinely thanked them for their efforts in showcasing these two races and gave Will a hug.  Will gave it back and was momentarily choked up.  It was a rather since moment in a very insincere sport.

Lewis Hamilton had all but wrapped up the championship before this race, but did manage to make it interesting as he and his nearest competitor, Sebastian Vettel, collided on the first lap.  Vettel made a frantic charge after repairs to no avail.  Hammy won his fourth championship.  Max Verstappen actually won the race.  During the race, Nico Hulkenberg was ordered to park the car immediately on track by his engineers.  He was told to get out quickly and to make sure and step on the hood before getting on the ground.  There was some malfunction with the brakes’ energy-return system which had created a dangerous charge in the car and they wanted him to be grounded before getting out.  It’s a new world in racing.          

Houston, Game 5, World Series, Astros, Dodgers.  I had a static-y radio call going for the night with the lousy TV call muted.  There was also a 10-second delay on the TV, so it was a bit of a strain watching the game, but nothing compared to the stress of the events that unfolded.  I’m still in shock the morning after this game.  After Wednesday’s “greatest World Series game,” nobody was expecting something even better to come along this weekend.  These two teams are playing just like they won over 100 games in the regular season and didn’t want to lose.  Any recap of Game 5 is going to be insufficient.  Like the battle of Clontarf between the Irish and the Vikings, its recounting cannot be trusted to historians and should instead go straight to the bards and mythologists.

This game was an obvious pitchers’ duel between staff aces, Clayton Kershaw and Dallas Keuchel.  Further, the home plate umpire (didn’t catch his name) was known for a wide strike zone.  Real wide.  Batters were complaining throughout the game, and judging by the TV strike zone, they were fully justified.  Announcers were saying this was hastening the day of the electronic strike zone.  If I was writing recaps before the event like actual sports writers, I’d have this a 0-0 tie in the ninth with Kershaw working on a 10-inning no-hitter.  

That narrative exploded in the top of the first as the Dodgers put up three runs.  Logan Forsythe drove in two of those runs with a hit.  In the fourth, Austin Barnes drove in Forsythe, who’d doubled, and this drove Keuchel from the game at 4-0 Dodgers.  On the Stadium network, they were doing a replay of last year’s Game 7 with the Cubs and Indians, but I decided to stick with this game.  It seemed all but out-of-hand for the Astros, but Kershaw showed his vulnerability in the bottom.  Carlos Correa drove in a run, then Yuli Gurriel blasted a three-run homer to tie the score at 4. 

The Dodgers came right back on a suspect Astros’ bullpen with a Cody Bellinger three-run homer to make it 7-4 in the fifth.  Kershaw had gotten two outs in the bottom, but after letting two on, he was taken out.  Speaking of suspect bullpens, Jose Altuve came up and cranked a three-run homer to the balcony in left center, 7 all.  The tension ratcheted up as George Springer in center misplayed a single which resulted in a Dodger run, 8-7. 

Springer bounced right back (mentally strangling myself for that pun) with a home run in the bottom of the seventh to tie it.  The hits continued.  Altuve doubled in Alex Bregman and Correa hit a two-run homer, 11-8 Astros.  Eighth inning, Corey Seager doubled in a run, 11-9.  In the bottom, Brian McCann homered 12-9.  Has everyone scored and hit a home run tonight?

Ooops, not Yasiel Puig.  In the ninth, he hit a two-run homer off Chris Devenski, working in his second inning.  The ball went into a section of Astros fans.  A guy grabbed it from the lady who caught it and threw it back, as the other fans tried to restrain him.  Turned out it was her brother-in-law.  She said she was going to throw it back anyway.  Barnes doubled.  Down to their last strike, Chris Taylor singled him in to tie the game at 12.  Kenley Jansen came in for the bottom and gave up a double Gurriel, but he was left stranded. 

By this point, you could see the capacity crowd in Houston was exhausted.  It was after midnight there and they’d been put through an emotional wringer.  The players themselves had to be operating on sheer will.  Joe Musgrove worked a scoreless top of the tenth.  With two outs in the bottom of the tenth, Jansen hit McCann to put him on and a walk moved him to second.  At this point, Derek Fisher was put in as a pinch runner for McCann.  This put the Astros in a real spot, as their backup catcher was their DH.  This was going to cause problems if the game continued past this inning.  Alex Bregman hit a swallow single to center.  Fisher went flat out with the pitch, around third, and slide uncontested into home.  After five hours and 17 minutes, Astros win 13-12.  Scream, cheer, cry, collapse, do whatever seems appropriate to you, it was over.

In a post-game interview, Bregman put the turning point of the game in the fourth.  The infielders gathered behind the mound and just told each other to “Play loose.”  Incomprehensibly with the events following that advice, they were playing like they’d already lost and were just trying to have fun.  I suspect after they’d tied the score, things got more serious.  He finished the interview shouting out, “How about Houston!” to acknowledge the fans and the city.  During the post-game, a crowd of insane fans were shouting out, “Beat LA!”  I should try to analyze this game, but no way!  We’re going to wait until after the series to try and make sense of this, if that can even happen.             

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