I get Dodgers fans' frustration. It's hard to lose a World Series Game 7 at home. The Astros...actually showed some fight last night! Houston was up 1-0, then down 3-1, 4-1, 5-1 before scoring the last six runs of the game, including a 5-run 9th inning that led to a 7-5 win. Houston is 23-23 overall, and 7-17 on the road. Oakland split a double-header with Arlington. Seattle won.
*Dusty:
That was the win of the year. Hopefully, we look back on this as the turning point of our season.
*Framber Valdez: 5IP, 5H/5ER, 7K:1BB, 2HR. Jake Kaplan: What's different about Framber Valdez?
Bullpen: 4IP, 5H/0ER, 6K:0BB.
Astros pitchers struck out 13 Dodgers and walked just one for the first time in 2020. They had 13+ Ks and 0-1 walks 16 times in 2019.
Josh James: 1.1IP, 0H/0ER, 0K:0BB, and he needed just 11 pitches to do it.
*Kenley Jansen: 0.0IP, 5H/5R (4ER), 0K:0BB.
*Springer, Gurriel (3RBI), and Aledmys Diaz had two hits each. Springer:
We've obviously had a tough trip. This is the best team in baseball. It can be huge, but we're going to have to find out. I think we did a heck of a job of staying in the game. Even though we got down early, we stayed in the game and scratched and clawed and was able to pull it out.
*Ryan Pressly allowed two hits but no runs. He has made 18 appearances in 2020 and has allowed at least one baserunner in 12 of them.
*Martin Maldonado drew his 20th walk of the season, in just his 37th game. In 74 games in 2019, Maldonado drew 17 walks. This is the 4th-highest season walk total for Maldonado since his MLB career started in 2011, and he needs three more walks to tie his 2015 total.
*Chandler Rome: The comeback win provides hope for a turnaround.
*Dodgers fans greeted the Astros' bus with trash cans. Some incel hired a plane to fly over Dodger Stadium. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts:
I loved it. They have every right to do whatever they feel to express their feelings. Just shows the passion that Dodgers fans have.
This is a terrible take, just from a legal standpoint.
*Altuve and Blake Taylor could return to the Astros in time for the next homestand. Justin Verlander threw again yesterday and could face live hitters in his next bullpen session. Lance McCullers got a shot to calm down an inflamed nerve in his elbow, and there's no timetable for his return.
*ESPN's Marly Rivera: Astros/Dodgers is about more than bad blood.
*How far will the Astros and Dodgers go in the postseason?
*Heads up, Gulf Coast (but probably not Texas).
*12 years ago last night Hurricane Ike made landfall over the eastern end of Galveston Island. I wrote a retrospective about how it impacted Houston, and the last chance for the Astros to contend until 2015.
(Ed. Note: You're just going to have to get used to me ranting and raving about Leeds United. Scroll on past and go on about your day, if you're not into it.)
Leeds United played in the Premier League for the first time since May 15, 2004. Just to reinforce how long that's been: On May 15, 2004 the Astros enjoyed a 7-4 win over the Mets with Andy Pettitte getting the win and Octavio Dotel recording his 7th save of the season. Craig Biggio, Adam Everett, Jeff Kent, and Morgan Ensberg had two hits each. Andy Pettitte had an RBI. THAT'S how long it's been since Leeds played in the Premier League.
Liverpool allowed 16 Premier League goals in 19 games at Anfield. Leeds got three yesterday, scoring all goals in open play while Liverpool needed two penalty kicks and two goals off of corners to get the win. Leeds are back. You can read about why I'm a Leeds fan in this post I wrote back in April when the world was going to hell, and is still firmly #OnPace to reach it sooner rather than later. Leeds plays Hull in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, then it's Fulham (home of Former USMNT/Nacogdoches Great Clint Dempsey) next Saturday morning.
*Looking forward to watching, at some distant point in time when I am actually able to do things for pleasure, Borgen.
*The Wealthy are screwing everyone else.
*RIP, Toots Hibbert. A Musical Selection:
