Cleveland took a two games to one lead in the World Series for the first time since 1948, the last time they won it, posting a (1-0) victory at Chicago, vs the Cubs in game three last night.
Coco Crisp, in his second stint as a Cleveland player, who caught the last out when the Red Sox completed a comeback from a (3-1) A.L.C.S. deficit under Terry Francona vs “Cleve” in 2007, drove in the game’s only run with a 1 out 7th inning single that scored pinch runner, Michael Martinez from third base.
Meanwhile 4 pitchers (Josh Tomlin, Andrew Miller, Brian Shaw and Cody Allen) combined to hand the Cubs their 4th shutout loss, (second in the W.S.), of this post-season.
Allen struck out the much hyped Javier Baez with runners on second and third to end yet another three hour plus game, this one at least, competitive, a 14th in as many L.C.S. and W.S. games, sans a lead change.
It seems much was made of the fact that 24 of the last 28 teams to win game 1 of the World Series went on to win the title.
As noted here, the team with home advantage in the series has won 24 of the 30 World Series contested since the advent of the best of seven LCS in both major leagues in 1985.
Only one team in the previous 30 World Series has won the title sans home advantage and after losing game 1.
That team was the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays, who prevailed in six games winning the title on a Saturday night in Atlanta.
The last four teams to lose game 1 of the World Series on the road and win game 2 also on the road, eventually lost the World Series (the ’13 Cardinals, ’11 Rangers, ’97 Indians and ’93 Phillies).
Again it is the 1992 Blue Jays, who were the last to “defy” that pattern, riding Ed Sprague Jr.’s dramatic home run, to a game 2 win in Atlanta.
Tonight’s World Series game 3 involving Cleveland (Indians) vs the Chicago Cubs is infinitely more important than the NBA semis redux, matching the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers visiting Toronto (Raptors).
Cleveland semi’d Toronto, en route to the NBA crown last season.
In baseball, Cleveland also won a semi-final series vs Toronto, the recently completed Indians’ 5 game victory vs the Blue Jays.
On the night of game 1 of the World Series, the first World Series ever to open in Cleveland, not only did the Indians win a World Series opener for just the second time in 6 World Series appearances, but the Cavs were honored at home, for their 2015-2016 NBA title.
Game 2 was different, a dreary night in Cleveland regarding weather and the Cubs eased (5-1) in their first W.S. victory in 25,952 days. Chi led (5-1) after 6 innings in the two games, 71 plus years apart.
However, back then there were comebacks and exciting games, the Cubs eventually winning (8-7) in 12 innings to force a game 7, in which Detroit (Tigers) beat them decisively.
Toronto teams, the NHL Maple Leafs (0-3), Blue Jays (2-5) and Raptors (0-1) are a combined (2-9) in semi-final series since the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967.
“Jeopardy” host, Alex Trebeck (I preferred Art Fleming), narrated the 1967 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs highlights film. Of course, the Leafs have not been in a finals series since that time.
What follows below was written on MLB.com, if not other places. As you might know, I like this kind of “stuff.” I will add some notes following “their” note.
“After dropping Game 1 of the World Series, the Cubs bounced back on Wednesday night, with a 5-1 victory over the Indians at Progressive Field.
The series-evening triumph was the first World Series game win for the franchise since Game 6 of the 1945 Fall Classic on Oct. 8, 1945. That’s a span of 25,952 days, which is a numerical palindrome (the same number forwards and backwards).”
I “added” the following.
Here is how they determined the number: 71 years multiplied by 365 days, equals 25,915 days.
Add the one extra day, in the 18 leap years since 1945. That becomes 25,933. Then add the 19 days from (October 8th-October 26th) inclusive, which is 19.
The number is 25,952–the same number forwards or backwards, as stated above.
No World Series game, a bad football game, who cares as there is an incredibly great Dick Cavett Show, airing on Decades tonight at 8 P.M. Eastern time, to be repeated at 2 A.M.
The show is highlighted by Don Rickles, not the “pure kryptonite, sans the lead pipe,” one might hear in a nightclub, but non stop and truly priceless.
The great opera star, Beverly Sills, columnist Earl Wilson and actress Lucy Kirk all tremendous, were on the show as well.
I am so grateful to Decades for airing these type shows, I can forgive their rather poor efforts in sports, including Kerry Sayers saying Mickey Mantle played 17 seasons when he played “chai”/18 seasons.
There is a Rickles joke there but I will not attempt it. Watch the show. I laughed and that is a testimony to Rickles.
One of the best, if not the best, stand up comedians ever, the great Don Rickles pictured above.
Going from a former “Joe Buck” on “Ray Donovan” to the one on this World Series, I should have cited in the last post that in watching the 2 batters I did see in game 2, the far too small graphic indicating the score, read Cubs (1-0).
So of course, on a night their Kris Bryant won the Hank Aaron Award, and with Fox, the so predictable and annoying, Mike Lupica, the even more annoying, fine actor Jon Cusack and even some good people I know personally, rooting for them, the Cubs squared the 2016 World Series at a game apiece, with a (5-1) win in game 2.
The team scoring first is now (13-0) in the LCS and World Series and has never trailed in said game. Anthony Rizzo doubled home Bryant in the first inning, for that first run.
Kyle Schwarber, who has made an amazing return to the Cubs’ lineup had two big hits in the tilt, Mr. Zobrist of course, contributed, his triple started the 3 run Cubs’ 5th inning and Jake Arrieta, probably condemned by Russo, after 4 bad post-season starts, was masterful in victory.
Arrieta took a no-hitter into the 6th inning. Of course, as with almost all of the pampered properties, aka starting pitchers of this time, he needed help, hurling just the 5 and one third innings.
Some “streak notes,” Terry Francona’s nine of nine record in World Series play fell to (9-1) and now the Joe Maddon managed Cubs will be heavy favorites, to not only end a 108 year title drought, in which it must be noted they never came remotely close to Cleveland’s 1997 World Series “near miss,” but also make Maddon a victor vs Francona in three of three post-season entities, all at different levels (the 2008 ALCS and 2013 wild card game being the others.)
Before telling you I have some hope for Cleveland in game 3, with (Josh) Tomlin as a huge underdog, vs (Kyle) Hendricks, the Cleveland losing pitcher in #2 was (Trevor) Bauer, evoking Hank Bauer.
The latter Bauer holds the World Series record of hitting in 17 straight games and once told me, at the 1985 W.S. how Mr. Roberto Clemente, who hit safely in all 14 W.S. games in which he played, would have broken his record given more world Series games.
Perhaps I can gain perspective in noting Mr. Clemente was denied World Series entry via a heartbreaking game 5 NLCS defeat in 1972, and then denied life, losing his as a true hero, trying to help earthquake victims in Nicaragua, less than 3 months later.
Back to Bauer and not so meaningful notes, Hank was (4-0) as a World Series manager, guiding the Baltimore Orioles to a 4 game sweep over the heavily favored Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, famously saying “guys who make odds do not play baseball.”
I believe ex Yankees Bauer and Lou Piniella, managing the O’s and Cincy Reds respectively, are now tied with (4-0) records, the best such World Series managerial records, sans a defeat.
Obviously Francona’s record is stellar, but I fear it will not be rewarded with a third title. I think the Indians will get to play again in Cleveland, their best chance to do so is with big underdog Tomlin vs Hendricks, who will not be as great as last Saturday’s game 6 NLCS clincher, in game 3 on Friday.
There are many reasons that at 6:30 a.m. the next day I do not know which team won the first 7 p.m. Eastern Time start in World Series history, by the way, the decision to start earlier with rain in the forecast a rare case of my agreeing with the powers that be in major league baseball.
Joe Buck has too many of the bad habits, most notaly a behind the play, shortcut style of play by play his father Jack Buck, so often exhibited. Last night , (I watched 2 Cubs’ batters in the first inning), he got so excited on a ball, clearly to be foul.
In the glorious past, the 1965 World Series with greats Ray Scott and Vin Scully, you could count the times on one hand that during either game 5 or game 7 that the non play by play man spoke.
Surely John Smoltz knows far more technical baseball than I do, never mind specifically about pitching, but is it really necessary to hear, even know the non stop technical points he makes?
For the record in game 1 which I did watch and listen to, he compared Indians starter Corey Kluber to L.A. ‘s Clayton Kershaw in that in a certain situation, it was lights out for the hitter. The Cubs’ Ben Zobrist, one of the few players, I truly admire, promptly doubled.
It really hurts that again with additional reasons I have trouble watching the once glorious World Series. I will try harder to overcome the obstacles and watch the rest of the way.
Sadly, for many reasons it will not be easy.
When I think of the number 19, I want it to be the great John Unitas, pictured above, not the number of World Series on which Joe Buck has been the sole television lead announcer.
Nobody, not even Mel Allen who was on so many is even close, as remember the lead announcer duties were shared, during all the years, in which Mr. Allen broadcast.
Believe it or not, as with so many things in life, I must settle for the lesser of two evils, and at this point let Buck continue. Surely, whomever someday replaces him will be even further removed from what I might like.
Nobody but me came up with this connection of two baseball playing “Hendricks,” and the last two Chicago Cubs’ pennant clinching days, on Saturdays over 71 years apart. It is not direct, please pay attention and I will try to be concise.
First of all, credit to Baseball Reference for their exhaustive, hopefully and very likely accurate research and recounting of baseball history.
Hoping to find something, even some additional knowledge, in itself a reward (perhaps the lesson is to do and not expect reward), I checked on the last days of the 1945 baseball season.
The Cubs had a three game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals with each team having three games to play, two of those games being Saturday doubleheaders not against each other.
I knew that the Cubs clinched that next to last day in 1945, having heard that much (from Joe Buck, who of course “is always talking at me”) on the broadcast of their second tier of the playoffs/NLCS pennant clincher, 71 plus years later this past Saturday night.
Ah, but did the Cubs win that day? They did, actually both games, but the first game was enough to clinch.
Ah but did the Cardinals perhaps lose? (if they had, there would be no way to determine if it happened before the Cubs won to clinch the pennant) They did not. Thus the Cubs clinched with a win.
So of course, I was to look at that game. No, I never got there. Try to follow.
The winning pitcher for the Cardinals in their first game victory that day vs the Cincinnati Reds, was Ken Burkhart, the same Mr. Burkhart, who for many years was an excellent National League umpire. Nice to know, but what does that have to do with Cubs’ clinching the pennant 71 plus years apart or later?!
Certainly Burkhart’s win in 1945, made it possible for the Cubs to clinch the pennant themselves and here is the connection or better put, the “entanglement.”
Burkhart, as is the case with all of us, often unfairly manifesting in umpires or officials’ sports “calls” being castigated, made mistakes.
One was in game one of the 1970 World Series on Yom Kippur (for some reason three times in 6 years Yom Kippur and game one of the World Series “fell” on the same day, 1965, 1968 and 1970), also a Saturday, making the day more holy to an undetermined number of Jewish people and increasing the “HENDRICKS connection.”
The commercial has been played and to invoke Orson Welles I put on a different “Hat” playing Paul Harvey (I am nowhere near worthy of doing either) you know Kyle HENDRICKS was the Cubs’ winning pitcher, in the 2016 pennant clincher and that Burkhart, later an umpire who made a Saturday World Series game mistake, won his game enabling the Cubs to clinch in 1945. Now “the rest of the story!”
The play in question in the 1970 World Series, manifested in the Reds’ Bernie Carbo being called out by Burkhart, denying them the lead in the sixth inning. They lost the game as the great Brooks Robinson, who went on to have one of the greatest World Series performances ever, homered for the game’s last and decisive runs.
Why was Burkhart’s call wrong and Carbo safe? The catcher tagged Carbo with his glove yes, but the ball was in his hand, NOT the glove.
The catcher’s name on the play in which Carbo, Burkhart and he were “entangled” as in “connected” as in the “HENDRICKS/Burkhart Cubs Pennant Clinchers CONNECTION was Elrod HENDRICKS!!
Kyle Hendricks, pictured above.
Click below to see the play involving Elrod Hendricks in game one of the 1970 W.S.
WS1970 Gm1: Carbo called out at home
In an attempt to get away from the World Series and any sports, some brief notes while watching some old and older television shows.
A detective on “Murder She Wrote,” an terrific approximately 35 year old show starring the great Angela Lansbury, is named Gerard, in fact Lieutenant Gerard, I believe. This is homage to the great 50 plus year old show, “The Fugitive,” which starred David Janssen, and featured Barry Morse as “Lieutenant Gerard.”
A great actor, George Macready, turned in a fine performance maybe 55 or more years ago, as a vengeful judge on “The Rifleman,” which starred former Brooklyn Dodgers’ player, Chuck Connors.
A newer still current show “Ray Donovan” is fascinating, not as great as in earlier seasons but still great.
I watched the very first episode, usually a good idea when possible and I can see how the story arc and characters were building. I have the 20 20 hindsight, credit the writer, Ann Biderman, for great foresight.
Angela Lansbury as “Jessica Fletcher” in “Murder She Wrote”
The Cleveland Indians grabbed a World Series opening game victory for just the second time in their history, winning (6-0) in game 1 vs the Chicago Cubs.
On a night the NBA Cavaliers were honored for winning the 2016 NBA title, the city of Cleveland won a sports finals series opener for just the second time in 9 tries, the other victory coming in the 1920 World Series vs Brooklyn.
Aided by two fairly cheap first inning runs, the Indians made it 12 for 12 for teams getting the lead in the LCS or W.S. thus far this season. None of those 12 teams fell behind at any point in the victories.
Corey Kluber, brilliant for 6 innings, a shaky (I guess he is human) Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, pitching with a 6 run lead, after the second of catcher Roberto Perez’ home runs (he had the other 4 Cleveland runs batted in) combined to hand the Cubs their third shutout loss of this post-season.
