 |
| Adrian Gonzalez celebrates after a third inning solo home run Photo by Harry How/Getty Images |
Game 4 brought you the first real offensive surge in the League Championship Series with the Tigers scoring 7 runs off of Boston Red Sox starter and former Padres ace, Jake Peavy, in which he was only able to last 3 innings.
Tiger’s starter, Doug Fister, kept the Red Sox at bay for 6 innings, while allowing 8 hits but only letting one run cross the plate and striking out 7.
Even though there were no balls leaving the yard, the Tigers were still an impressive 4-9 with runners in scoring position. Right fielder, Torii Hunter and Triple Crown winner, Miguel Cabrera both had 2 RBI’s a piece, each coming with two outs.
Both starters had tough acts to follow with veterans John Lackey and Justin Verlander pitching an impressive game 3 and really giving the fans a true pitcher’s duel, something that’s been echoed throughout the entire League Championship Series across the board.
Boston veteran, John Lackey able to conjure up some type of voodoo-magic and keep the Tigers off of the score board for 6 2/3 innings, striking out eight and allowing four hits all on 97 pitches.
Detroit ace, Justin Verlander finished his night off an 8 inning start with 120 pitches thrown, one earned run and ten K's losing-- unbelievably so. But, in that respect, it was also a tribute to the terrific performance of the entire Red Sox pitching staff.
Amazingly enough, David Ortiz has, pretty much, been a non-factor in the series leading up to Thursday night’s rubber match between Detroit’s Anibal Sanchez, and Boston’s Jon Lester.
Although, it hasn't just been him that's been largely ineffective; the entire team seems in need of a serious wake-up call as they haven’t been able to score more than 3 runs in any one game. In the end, the Red Sox were not able to mount a comeback as the Tigers took the game 3-7, and tying the series up, 2-2.
First pitch for game 5 is at 8 PM, EST.
My dream World Series would include the Dodgers against the Red Sox, but unless both teams wake up their respective bats and start scoring some runs when the chances present themselves, my dream will dissipate like water in a sauna.
Speaking of the Dodgers, they seem to always get under the skin of someone in the baseball world. After Monday's game, St. Louis Cardinal OF, Carlos Beltran was quoted as saying, "As a player, I just think he doesn't know [how to act]; that's what I think. He really doesn't know," Beltran continued.
"He must think that he's still playing somewhere else. He has a lot of passion, no doubt about that -- great ability, great talent. I think with time he'll learn that you've got to act with a little bit more calm."
With Carlos saying that he doesn't think Puig is a "bad kid," he should also bear in mind that, only a year and a half ago, Yasiel was living in a communist country. He is being paid to play a game, and Jerry Hairston Jr. had summed it perfectly when he said, "this guy is like a 16-year-old kid playing Little League."
Whether he's slamming into a wall, knocking in the go-ahead run, keeping a rally going, or even starting a rally, I'm sure Puig means no disrespect when he jumps for joy or pumps and raises his hands in triumph on even a simple slump-breaking single.
Cardinal players should not be focusing on Puig and his hip-hop-hooray’s; what they should be focusing on is the arms in the Dodgers pitching staff.
The Red Birds pitching staff have done an outstanding job shutting down the Dodgers threats, but the Cardinals are still giving the Dodgers far too many opportunities to break the game open.
Looking in from the other side of the diamond, the Cards pitching staff has successfully buckled down when the Dodgers were threatening. That is, until Wednesday afternoon, when they allowed four one-run home runs; Kelly gave up two and his bullpen gave up the other two.
In the 9th inning, Kenley Jansen jogged in from the Dodgers bullpen to the tune of "California Love" by TuPac and Dr. Dre, and had had his shakiest outing of the playoffs, thus far.
Matt Holliday greeted him immediately with a double and Matt Adams was able to drive him in with a broken-bat single that. Now, in all other instances, would've been handled routinely, had it not been for the extreme shift that had second baseman Mark Ellis playing alongside Yasiel Puig in right field.
Even with the box-score showing Jansen striking out the side in the bottom half of the 9th, it doesn't tell the complete story, and had locals wondering whether this was the second-coming of Jonathan Broxton before striking out pinch-hitter, Adron Chambers.
With a win Wednesday, it takes the series back to St. Louis, and with some in the baseball world reminiscing of last year, when the Cardinals were up 3-1 in last years' NLCS against the Giants, and were ultimately taken out of the playoffs with a game 7 loss. We'll see how the Cardinals react with the rest of the series winding down in their backyard, and whether the Dodgers can keep the Cards on their heels, forcing a game 7.
First pitch is at 5:30 PM PST, with universal ace, Clayton Kershaw taking the hill against rookie phenom, Michael Wacha.
No comments:
Post a Comment