HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 23: Kurt Suzuki #28 of the Washington Nationals hits a solo home run against the Houston Astros during the seventh inning in Game Two of the 2019 World Series at Minute Maid Park on October 23, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
Well, I spent most of Wednesday night’s game on pins and needles, watching Stephen Strasburg wiggle out of one jam after another after an elating-then-deflating first inning, then cheering for the shock Kurt Suzuki homer and then standing in awe as the game got away from Houston completely, resulting in a blow-out win.
(I even found myself making a “get off my lawn comment” when Martin Maldonado hit the 9th inning homer to “cut” the lead to 12-3 … and the Houston stadium dimmed the lights and blew the air horn and ran their stupid train as if it was the greatest home run ever hit in franchise history … um, guys? Time and Place. Your team was 5 minutes from getting embarassingly swept on home soil as more than a 2-1 WS favorite … maybe a good time to not strobe the damn stadium lights like you’re in a Vegas club).
Anyway. I thought the Nats could get to Verlander in game 2 in my preview to get a split in Houston. Never in my wildest dream would I think we’d sweep games on Houston’s soil to return home with a 2-0 lead. Just amazing.
Davey Martinez was given a free pass to save his critical bullpen arms, get other guys work, get Tanner Rainey back on track, not burn any starter innings … i mean, you just couldn’t ask for a better game.
Now what? Well, I initially thought the three games in DC would go like this:
- Greinke beats Corbin
- Sanchez beats bullpen
- Scherzer beats Cole.
Because Patrick Corbin threw in game 1, Martinez swapped spots and put Anibal Sanchez out in game 3. So what does this mean? Well… I still think Sanchez can get the win here. Check out his post-season stats for his career: with the exception of one bad beating in 2012, he’s been pretty darn good. 7 quality starts in 9 post-season starts, and of course he’s been basically unhittable in 2019. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance … but what else can we go on? I like Sanchez in this game, and I like Zack Greinke (10 runs allowed in 14 post season IP so far in 2019) to get hit.
Meanwhile; Its not like Houston is hitting badly … they’re slashing .257/.321/.432 for the first two games against two of the best starters in the game. Five of their first Six hitters have OPS figures in the .900 to 1.000 range or higher so far for this series. They’re just not quite putting the hits together in the right sequence, and the 7-8-9 hitters are basically automatic outs so far. The middle of this order is daunting, really.
Can’t wait to see the energy in the stadium tonight. Wish I could be there. go nats!