That was more like it. The game was exciting but not too nerve racking…except when we got to the last couple innings and I was terrified – along with the rest of Los Angeles – that Roberts was gonna send Jansen in. I read on the internet – so it probably isn’t true – that Jansen’s been getting death threats. Ok, guys…that’s going a little far…I dedicated most of my life to baseball, but it’s still just a game. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if someone kidnapped Jansen and kept him comfortable but safely away from the ballpark until this thing was over. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him, but, please Mr. Roberts – don’t stick him into a close game again.
He doesn’t need to: Treinen did a great job of closing, and González did a great job after that first scare as the set-up man. I gotta admit that the time I got the most scared was when May came in in the 6th – I was with the people who thought Roberts was insane to pull Kershaw when he did – but it turned out okay. It’s not that May is bad, it’s that he’s erratic…and the last thing you want in a World Series game is an erratic guy on the mound. We were nursing a small lead, and we all saw what happened the last time we had only a small lead…
Yeah, it’s gonna take a while to get past that trauma. I know that all the players said in their interviews that they turned the page and didn’t look back (Seager kept using the word ‘flush’ lol), and maybe they did…but it’s hard to do that as a fan, especially when they lost a game they should have won because of some of the most bizarre baseball I’ve ever seen.
I reckon you can say we got a little of that back when Margot was caught stealing at the plate. If you ask me it was pretty crazyass of him to try and steal home when they still had a good chance of bringing him in from 3rd, but, dumb though it was, he did almost make it. I’m not sure whether that justifies a risky move that didn’t pay off, but I guess it wasn’t as bad an idea as I thought it was.
Although he only got that one hit, Seager was still great, driving in Betts three minutes into the game and then showing off some great base running to score himself. (Base running isn’t usually the best part of Seager’s game. When they asked the Seager brothers what they would like to have from the other, Kyle said Corey’s height and Corey said Kyle’s speed.) And he was in on a nice 6-4-3 double play.
What concerns me is Betts, who also only got that 1 hit leading off in the 1st, but who then really went dead for the rest of the game. And he was pretty much dead in Saturday’s debacle too. This is really not the time for his bat to go cold. Yeah, everyone’s (guys like Muncy and Pederson that weren’t worth too much during the regular season) been picking up the slack, but Betts is a big piece of the offense…and I’d really like to see us score early in Tuesday’s game.
But I’m definitely back to believing. I don’t think I can totally flush Saturday’s game – that one’s gonna bother me for the rest of my baseball life – but last night definitely washed the bad taste out of my mouth.
All we need to do is win one more baseball game. Something tells me we can do that.
Maybe the baseball gods are finally on our side.
Hunter Block's Blog 