When you made this guarantee that the Astros would win I thought, jeez I hope this person is a prophet. And you ARE! Wonderful playoffs, although as an Astros fan, kind of hard on my old heart. I think the next couple of years are going to be a lot of fun for Astros fans and maybe we should see our cardiologists about improving coronary health, to get ready for it.
And you know what? Our pitching staff turned out to be a lot better than we thought it was. However, it would be really cool if both the Astros and the Rangers could find a closer. After all, the Stars managed to find a goalie; things in Texas are looking up.
I think it’s the phenomenon of less-than-devoted fans who had the connections to score Series tickets, compounded by the number of celebrities and hangers-on who obtained seats.* For instance, they showed Larry King seated in the crowd. At his age, if he tried to clap or stomp his feet, he might explode.
Anyway, congratulations to the Astros!
Next up to break a long streak of futility - your Cleveland Indians.
*another theory is that Fox recruits people who sit quietly in prayerful attitudes at critical moments, rather than cheering. At least, those are the “fans” typically shown in reaction shots.
The only consolation is never having to see Granderson or Darvish in a Dodgers uniform again.
When they signed Granderson, my first question was why? We were the hottest team in baseball at the time. As soon as he suited up, we went into a two week losing streak. Aside from one good home run, he contributed nothing and was left off the postseason roster. Did it matter in the end? Probably not, but we never played as good again as we did before signing him.
Meanwhile, Darvish gave us one good post season start, but completely choked in the series - twice. Take away the runs he allowed in the first WS game he started and we win that game. Take away the runs he gave up last night, and we win game seven 1-0.
The Dodgers front office will never learn to not fix what isn’t broken. I’ve seen it time and time again, but never with the impact it had this season. I bet Ryu or McCarthy could have outpitched Darvish last night. Kershaw did on two days rest. What a complete waste of time and money to get this has-been.
I hate the Dodgers but I think this is unfair too Dervish. I think he was too emotional and he tried too hard. I think he will use this horrible experience to improve and come back with a vengeance next season. What should have been a joyful experience watching the Dodgers lose was marred by watching this very decent man melt down. I am sure this is waying on him horribly.
As an Angels fan, a parallel might be drawn between him and 1986 and Donnie Moore. I pray he handles it better.
Local news reporting Yasiel Puigs house robbed during last night’s game.
Congrats to the Astros (sans Gurriel and McCann) and their fans. And congrats to JV for getting his ring.
I will take some small consolation in the knowledge of the hundreds of dollars I will not be spending to fly out to LA for a parade. Granted, it will now be spent on alcohol and therapy. But I can do that locally.
I’ll get our off-season / hot stove thread started later today, unless someone beats me to it. Carry on.
And just to be clear, I respect Darvish tremendously as a person. I think he handled a very ugly situation early in the series with class. A tip of the hat, as they say.
I’m sure he feels horrible about last night too, much as any pitcher would for burying the team in five runs before six outs were even recorded.
For those of you that may have tuned in late, A while back I stated that no team would beat the Astros. What Exit? suggested that I had been smoking something. And being the fine Doper he is, went on to support his position. “Astros have no bullpen,” blaa, blaa, blaa. And he was correct. On every point.
In an attempt to make it something meaningful, I suggested a wager. Of a beer. Mr.(?) What Exit? stated he didn’t do wagers. I respected his decision, and suggested that the winner could say the following (and he agreed): (all this can be verified up thread)
(I wanted to set it to music and upload to YouTube but didn’t have time.)
But, here it is:
"NANNY,
NANNY,
NANNY,
I told you so."
And when I think about it, it is more fun than winning a beer.
And thank you What Exit? for being such a good sport!
Hinch managed great. Roberts made some questionable moves that bit the Dodgers. I haven’t searched yet but in the sportsfan world of second guessing with 20/20 hindsight, is Roberts getting raked over the coals? I hope not, I think he’s a good manager and a good fit for the Dodgers. But maybe his pitching decisions isn’t his strength. Only time will tell. Kind of like Dusty Baker. I still remember game 162 of the 1993 season. Anyone else remember Salomon Torres? Ouch, that still hurts.
Yeah, no kidding. I had no real rooting interest, either, and I was still getting stressed out! I actually started to come around to the Dodgers at the end there, but I’m not unhappy with Houston winning it.
We are talking about the National League Champions, right, who made the seventh game of the World Series?
At the risk of pointing out the obvious, this is the BEST the Dodgers have done since 1988. From that point to this year their playoff record was 22-36 and they never made it past the LCS.
Darvish blew up twice. It happens; he pitched really well in the division series and NLCS. Cody Bellinger was brutal, too - 4 for 28, 17 strikeouts, and the error that started Darvish’s meltdown. Austin Barnes was horrible, hitting badly and apparently not calling pitches all that well while Yasmandi Grandal sat on the bench gathering dust. Justin Turner played very badly. You can hand a lot of blame tickets out.
