Despite working with a teacup sized strike zone, the artist formerly known as Klubot went six strong once again, giving up just the one run on five hits and striking out six. The game was suddenly tied 1-1 Francona’s decision to ride Carlos and bench Mike Napoli seemed instantly brilliant and for all intents and purposes, the electricity went out in Wrigley, never to return.Ĭorey Kluber certainly didn’t give the celebrity-filled audience many opportunities to reboot, either (though poor Vince Vaughan tried his best). Santana absolutely destroyed a tailing fastball, through a strong wind, into the right field bleachers. The energy in Wrigley was decidedly positive / upbeat / hopeful. Before the payoff pitch, the crowd rose to its feet once more, looking to keep the forward momentum going with a Lackey punchout. In the top of the second inning, just minutes after that aforementioned Rizzo RBI sent the Wrigley crowd into a tizzy, Santana worked a 3-2 count against John Lackey, who’s been re-animated for yet another postseason. But for the sake of posterity, let it be known here and now that the actual key swing of the night belonged-as it so often does-to Carlos Santana. Years from now, we’re likely to remember Jason Kipnis’ three-run homer in the seventh inning as this night’s big moment-the historic death blow. The terror that is the Harry Caray statue’s hands.
Basically, despite the utter dominance Corey had showcased with his two-seam fastball on Tuesday, he switched things up and leaned almost entirely on breaking stuff this time around, frustrating the Cub hitters who were pressing to jump on early fastballs that never came. Unfortunately for them, Kluber, Mickey Callaway, and Roberto Perez anticipated this potential adjustment and devised a counter-scheme that was quickly implemented. Borrowing from the playbook of the Kansas City Royals, they seemed determined to take a more aggressive approach and prevent Kluber from spinning the deep counts that had resulted in 9 strikeouts in Game 1. In their defense, the Cubs hitters did come in with a clever new strategy of their own against Tribe ace Corey Kluber on Saturday. 467 average in the series suggests otherwise. I suppose you could apply the same logic to Francisco Lindor, but his. Compared with the intimidation factor of wise old warlocks like Miguel Cabrera and David Ortiz, the baby-faced Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Addison Russell (and to a lesser extent Anthony Rizzo) are still green enough to get outfoxed by a good game plan.
INDIANS 2016 WORLD SERIES BASEBALL CAP FULL
For all the boundless talent a roster full of 23 year-old studs presents, Chicago’s youth is also, potentially, its Achilles heel. This transferred directly into a 7-2 beatdown of the reeling Cubbies, who-by contrast-seemed to feel the vise grip of the moment. One night after surviving an incredibly intense 1-0 futbol match against baseball’s best offense and the NL’s ERA king, Cleveland entered Saturday’s Game 4 at Wrigley Field with a straight up Fonzian coolness-confident, laid back, and unfazed by the Carnivale-meets-Halloween atmosphere going on in and around the ballpark. But make no mistake-the better team is winning so far, and “the force” hasn’t been required.
Much has and will be said about Tito Francona’s incomparable “button pushing” and the Swiss Army utilization of Andrew Miller. The simple truth, of course, is that the Indians have thoroughly and unequivocally out-pitched, out-fielded, out-run, out-coached, and yes, even out-hit the Chicago Cubs-just as they did the heavily-favored Red Sox and Blue Jays. The Cleveland Indians are one win away from their first World Championship in 68 years, and everybody still seems to need a secret ingredient or magic bullet explanation for how this is possible-an “X factor” that could enable a humble farm boy like Luke Skywalker to take down the Deathstar with one shot.
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