World Series Game 2 Recap
After I made this post the other day, I realized it might not be a good idea to give so much information in the title. Some people may not be able to watch the games live and they might want to not have it ruined by seeing the score before they get a chance to see the game. If that is you, you may not want to read any further...
While game 2 of the World Series of Baseball promised us another epic pitching duel between two of the greats the Washington Nationals beat up on the Houston Astros to win the game 12 to 3.
Justin Verlander (JV) probably felt like he was back on the Detroit Tigers the way the game went. JV is one of those pitchers that sometimes struggles in the first inning or two but actually gets better as the game progresses. Where most pitchers start to lose steam by the fifth inning or so, those late innings are where JV lives.
As a Tigers fan I can attest to the many occasions that JV threw an amazing game only to have it fall apart when the bullpen came into play. That was the case last night in Houston. Verlander gave up two early runs in the first inning which isn't really concerning since he then pitched five shut out innings until early in the 7th when he gave away another two runs.
After pulling Verlander from the game, the Houston bullpen gave away a whopping eight runs across the last two and a half innings of the game. When Verlander came out the game was only 4 to 2 in favor of Washington and the Astros still had a chance to pull out the win.
On the flip side, Strasburg pitched six innings of fantastic ball. He only gave away two runs in the first inning and had seven strike outs and only 1 base on ball across his night. The Washington bullpen also did a fantastic job only giving away one more run in the ninth inning.
The bats were definitely hot on the Nationals side of things with every one on the roster but two players getting hits and all but three scoring runs through the course of the night.
Tomorrow night the two teams meet up again on Washington's home field and another two great pitchers will be facing off with Sanchez vs. Greinke. Greinke has a better record on the season at 18-5 vs. Sanchez's 11-8, but with home field advantage it might be hard for Houston to climb out of the hole they are in.
I actually like the Astros and the way they do business. That's pretty amazing considering that they have treated my beloved Mariners pretty badly since they moved to the American League.
But I have to say it. I'm sort of semi secretly pulling for the Nationals. Why? Because NEVER is a very long time. The franchise has never ever won a world championship. Not as Montreal, not even close as the Nationals.
Why does that matter? Since April 6, 1977 to this day the Mariners have had to buy a ticket to go to the World Series. Every time. Never IS a very long time.
One could argue that the record is what makes it special though. Once you win or make it the fantasy is out the door. Take the Cubs for instance no one talks about the drought anymore now that they have made it and won. It's like a fairytale store that just doesn't have the shine anymore. That is the argument anyway :) I am personally cheering for the Astros if it isn't obvious in my writing. Verlander deserved so much more with the teams he had behind him on the Tigers. I'd like to see him get at least one more ring. That being said, Scherzer and Sanchez deserve so love too. They had some tough years in Detroit.
Uggggghhh. You know what the common denominator is? We both love historically awful teams. Paxon and Encarnacion deserved more than the Mariners could give them, but there's no way I can root for the Yankees under any circumstances. Eddie Diaz deserved way more, too. But he was sentenced to the Mets proving once again that money isn't everything :)
Yeah, especially after the recent fan behavior I have no desire to ever see the Yankees succeed in anything. Ichiro deserved way more than he ever got sticking with the Mariners too.