Frayed Knot

So a new reliever comes in, gets 2 outs on 4 pitches ... and the Dodgers decide they need a mound conference. 3 pitches later he gives up a single ... and now they want a pitching change. 4 pitches later and they're out of the inning. So that's a three minute break, followed by 4 pitches (2 outs) a 1 minute break, 3 pitches (single) a 2 minute break 4 pitches (K) 3rd out 3 minute break So that's 11 pitches interspersed around 9 minutes of commercials This can't be allowed to continue

This is, of course, the debut year for Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX. So you'd assume that the home-team Rangers are the winningest team at that park, which they ... although just barely. Thanks to it being the site for some of NL playoffs and now the WS the Dodgers now own a 12-6 record at GLP: 2-1 vs the Rangers in the regular season; 3-0 vs the Padres in Round 2 of the playoffs; 4-3 vs the Braves in the NLCS, and now 3-2 in the WS. Obviously they'll end the year with either 12 or 13 wins. The Rangers meanwhile wound up 16-14 in their inaugural season which better than I thought considering they finished 2020 at 22-38 (yes, that's a stunningly bad 6-24 on the road)

A few thoughts on this "travel" day. - if the Rays should pull this out it will mark the third first-ever championship in the last four seasons joining the Nats in 2019 and Astros in 2017 Go back a year further if you want since, although 2016 wasn't the Cubs first championship, it was their first in over a century so that one pretty much qualifies as a "first ever" for just about every living Cubs fan - either winner here will make it 14 different WS winners in the last 20 seasons: Red Sox = 4, Giants = 3, Cardinals = 2, and then one each for the DBacks, Angels, Marlins, White Sox, Phillies, Yankees, Royals, Cubs, Astros, Nationals, and LAD/TBR 20 franchises have been a WS finalist in those same 20 seasons, a number that didn't change this year as all of LAD, TBR, ATL, & HOU had at least reached the WS between 2001 and 2019 - only the Reds, Pirates, and Padres have not at least reached an LCS since 2001, although the Mariners and DBacks both mark their last LCS appearance to 2001 so are in danger of joining this list at the conclusion of the 2021 season. - as a comparison, the NFL, during this same time frame, has had a very similar 13 different SB winners and 20 different SB participants. But they've also had eight different teams who have failed to reach a conference final: [CROSSOUT]Redskins[/CROSSOUT] Washington, Cowboys, Lions, Dolphins, Bills, Bengals, Browns, Texans Good thing they've got a salary cap that ensures parity, eh?

OK, so apparently DiBlasio https://nypost.com/2020/10/26/de-blasio-remains-a-stumbling-block-in-mets-sale-to-steve-cohen/is aware of his role in this: “This is something our Law Department is evaluating right now and we obviously want to get to a resolution on this very quickly,” he said. “The deal is this: Because the land that Citi Field is on and the stadium belong to the city, the city always has to have a role when there is an ownership change. “There's a process for doing that. The Law Department is doing its due diligence right now,” he continued. “I'll be getting a report from them soon and it'll just be based on the facts of the research they've done and then, again, we'll speak to that very quickly.”

My bet is that DiBlasio has no clue that such a clause even exists or that he'd have any intention of doing something with it if he did.

But Treinen comes back to get the next three hitters and the Dodgers lead three games to two.

The Dodgers are depending on an ex-Nat reliver to close out a victory (Blake Treinen) ... maybe not the best idea. Leadoff single

Yeah, it's been two batters since we had a mound visit ... so let's have another one.

Dave Roberts is now the mgr who seems determined to find the pitcher who is NOT on his game tonight.

And you run the risk of having it be a one year rental. Just because Mookie Betts signed w/the Dodgers following his trade under similar conditions doesn't mean Lindor is going to follow the same path. The other thing that would worry me is the idea that Cohen would want to make this kind of a 'Backpage-Grabbing' move while ignoring the potential fit issues just to see the splash it makes.

Kershaw, with a reasonable pitch count and a two run lead, gets two outs on two pitches in the bottom of the 6th ... and gets pulled from the game.

Nice job by the replay umps in rejecting both challenges so far tonight. Both calls might have been wrong but neither was clear and the more these 'Coin-Flip' type of calls get rejected the less often managers will be willing to risk their challenge(s).

Game 5 -- Glasnow v Kershaw 52 pitches (not to mention 3 runs) in 2 innings for Glasnow isn't going to get it done.

The last WS game in which the team losing won on the game's final hit also involved the Dodgers ... that would be the Kirk Gibson game.

That 9th inning was great ... when I watched it this morning because I couldn't stay up while it was actually happening. 4:10 was the official tally The 'Carlton Fisk' game -- 45 years ago this week and which for years stood as the standard for long and wild WS games (13 combined runs, 24 hits, 12 pitchers used) -- ran 4:01 and that was 12 innings, meaning that at the end of regulation they were likely right around 3:00 And at the risk of dredging up ancient history, the 'Bill Mazeroski' game -- 19 runs, 23 hits, 9 different hurlers -- which ended on the 2nd pitch in the bottom of the 9th, clocked in at 2:36

The Almost Presidential MLB team Willy Adames Willson Contreras

This would be a heckuva game .... if only it were about an hour shorter. 3 hours to play 6-1/2 innings

Aww man, I thought tonight was going to be a 7 o'clock start! Edgy MD wrote: He makes everyone around him a better player. Speaking of the player who we all know did that, last night Randy Arozarena wiped that other player's name from the record books for most post season hits by a rookie. https://sports.yahoo.com/rays-randy-arozarena-break-yankees-184851804.htmlhttps://sports.yahoo.com/rays-randy-arozarena-break-yankees-184851804.html Ain't life grand? Later Start off by not paying any attention to any record that contains the words: Post Season. It's not a constant marker and therefore is almost completely meaningless. Justin Turner is in the process of breaking all of Duke Snider's Dodger post season records, mainly because that choke-artist Duke didn't have a single hit in an NLDS or NLCS for his whole career.

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, betting against Clayton Kershaw seems to be a dangerous way to wager. Particularly on nights when he isn't pitching.

In a phrase that you wouldn't think you'd hear during a baseball off-season: "Zack Wheeler underwent a 'right middle fingernail resection procedure' last week [and is] expected to be ready to go in time for spring training." https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/phillies-zack-wheeler-had-fingernail-resection-procedure/ar-BB1agr2jhttps://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/phillies-zack-wheeler-had-fingernail-resection-procedure/ar-BB1agr2j

=ashie62 post_id=48961 time=1603494065 user_id=90] Kershaw will get his t**ts ripped off tonight

TBR did what they had to do and split the first two games on the road. Now they have the home field advantage for the next three.

But they only used Seven for the game (none for more than 1.1 IP) ... removing the effective ones about as quickly as the ineffective. But at least it worked out for them ... Oh Wait! Rays used five. Travel day today.

Maybe he's a proctologist and (in a nod to our other thread) he could perform Tommy John surgery on your anus. Or, better yet, he could do interplanetary surgery and perform Tommy John surgery on your anus on Uranus!

Tommy John's son, also named Tommy, is a doctor. Don't know if he performs Tommy John surgeries though. Would be kind of cool if he did.