An horrendously awful start, and once again Game 3 looms large. Can the Astros win 4 out of 5 against these really good pitchers, hitters and the eccentric man in the batter’s box who can mash, Juan Soto? Absolutely. If their mojo kicks back in your durn tootin they can. We have been leaving 15, 16 on base against the Yankees and Nats. Friday night huge! Go ‘Stros! One at a time baby. ⚾️⚾️
The Astros are getting slapped around on this thread. And if they lose they will be claims of chocking, not ready for primr time, blah, blah, blah. This is baseball. Any short series can flip on a dime with one bad pitch, one error.
The Astros are a very good team. It made sense for most of the pundits to favor them. The Astros are not that much better then the Nats. This isn't a division 3 team playing Alabama in football. If the nats win this will not be one of the greatest upsets in baseball history.
Look at the difference between the 1969 Orioles vs. the Mets. This was truly a miracle. Look at the hitting stats of the 1988 Dodgers vs. the Hall of Fame numbers of both the 88 Mets and the 88 Oakland A's. The Dodgers lost 9 of the 10 games they played against the Mets during the regular season. And there only hitter, Gibson, was crippled vs. the Mets and had 1 at bat vs. the A's. Both of these upsets were of a far greater magnitude then if the Nats upset the Astros.
Astros management knew they were courting outrage and potential disaster when they hired Roberto Osuna.
Payback for that is Astro's having to fire Taubman for trying to intimidate female reporters - and lying about it - with taunts about Osuna in the clubhouse. This happened in the lead up to the W.S.!
Bad karma is following the Astros - and the Nats are on a streak.
Go Nats!
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Being a die hard Met fan does not make this easy to say: The Nationals are an excellent and exciting team. As pointed out in this article no team has been better since May. Kudos to the front office for picking up released players Gerardo Parra and Asdrubel Cabrera. Clearly these players have made the difference for this team.
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"Saberhagen’s Kansas City Royals, Ojeda’s Mets and Cone’s Yankees are the only teams to recover from an 0-2 deficit to win the championship."
Not correct! I believe there are 11 teams who can make that claim, and one of them was the 1978 Yankees, who lost the first two games to the Dodgers, in LA, then ended up winning in 6.
All season the Astros acted like they already won the World Series.
Houston Hubris.
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In a way, it’s too bad that only one of these teams will win the Series. The players are, without exception, terrific athletes. The “sport” of it all is with the fans and surely, to some but probably lesser extent, the players .... due to the complicated influence of being paid at levels they cannot completely ignore and that most people cannot really comprehend. The glory of it all, ie, sport, masks the cold business interests of MLB that go largely unchecked. It is not cynical to ask, Are the best teams the ones that pay the most? ... especially by those who love sport which becomes endangered by being for sale.
@wak
The numbers are different, the players have more say then they used to, but the cold, hard business of Baseball has always been present. The Philadelphia/Kansas City Athletics during the fifties were sometimes called The Triple A Yankees. Why? Their ownership was so financially strapped that when they had a truly great player they ended up selling them to richer teams, often the Yanks.Roger Maris being the prime example.
In the glorious past there was always vast disparities in the economic strength of the various owners. There was no revenue sharing, In many cases the owners had to make a profit from their team, there was far less of the type of owner who has billions and the purchase of a sports franchise is more of a vanity project.
There has always been small market teams, there has always been teams that couldn't compete financially. In fact the modern game has more revenue sharing so it could be argued that smaller market teams have a better chance of competing then the small market teams of the so called glory years.
I’m always fascinated that the teams that win in post season are the teams that get hot in the playoffs. That’s my summary of the analysis of the Nats success.
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@Shamrock Sounds like they've been hot the past 124 games.
First off, the game was very close, a nail-biter. I'd even give Houston a slight edge going into the bottom of the 6th based on number and quality of pitches from both starters (who both were excellent, but Verlander looked just that little bit better and had thrown a dozen or more fewer pitches). Then Hinch took Verlander's catcher out of the game and Verlander, rattled gave up a homer and a walk and then was given the hook. The beginning of the end.
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Go, Nats!
Love,
A life-long Giants fan
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Complacency. The Astros assumed that, after brushing aside the injury-plagued Yankees, the Gnats would be a walk in the park. Cole was unhitable, Verlander the Cy Young lock. All stats favoured the Astros.
So sloppy plays by Bregman, Altuve wiped out trying to steal third with heart of the order following, Brantley's poor read of double off the wall. Maybe Astros will start taking things seriously now.
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"The Astros may be further emboldened by the fate of three of the last four teams to fall into this trap. The 1985 Kansas City Royals, the 1986 Mets and the 1996 Yankees all lost the first two games at home but ended up winning the title."
In other words, according to statistics, it is best to lose the first two games of the World Series at home because it gives you a 75% chance of winning the World Series.
(But before you rant that this example shows how useless statistics are, let's recognize that this sample size is too small to make this a meaningful statistic. It would be like concluding you have a 75% chance of flipping a coin heads based on a sample of four coin flips.)
In the beginning I favored a World Series of two underdogs Rays v. Nats aka any team but Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers and Yankees
I got half my wish. And since Houston just won a World Series in 2017 I am pulling for the Nats appearing in their 1st World Series in 2019.
I am a Chicago White Sox fan.
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Karma coming back on these guys. Just about every team they faced the last few years says they cheat with cameras to stal signs. of course MLB wont admit it for fear of tainting their WS but theres definitely some truth there. Plus the shameful acts by tone of their execs and the team trying to cover it up and smear SI reporters at the same time. This might be thier window closing too. Cole is gone next year. verlander will be 37 and hasnt looked dominate this postseason. They also have one of the older teams in the league and Houston isn't a place players want to sign a contract with.
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@Casey :
what is your proof they "steal signs"???
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@Casey I'm not usually a believer in conspiracy theories but I think there's something to the sign stealing. When Bregman hit his dinger last night he looked like he knew which pitch was coming. I don't think Strassburg has a tell, but if someone stole the sign, he doesn't to have one. Ditto with the long ball off Scherzer. It was odd how comfortable that swing looked (I forget which Houston player hit it now)...
@Casey JV has pointed out sever times the MLB officials are omnipresent in the film rooms, clubhouses, hallways. Also is illegal to look at live videos during the game. I found it interesting on the tip pitching we might get three or runs of a guy and then he holds us scoreless for 5 innings. My sense is comes down to what Verlander said, Hey. All off us a paranoid.
i am still trying to figure out why chapman pitched to altuve in game six.should have been yanks vs. nats.
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@mike c he didn’t want to put the winning run in scoring position? Marisnick can hit a whiffle ball right now though.
Sorry Astos, you don't have a chance. You are under the Tampa Bay rays ' spell. Just like the Cubs who got themselves a new manager from us, Joe Maddon, and went on to win their 1st WS after ages the nationals got Dave Martinez from us and they will accomplish just the same thing - a WS after ages.
The baseball gods have already decided. THIS one is over BEFORE it is over !
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Update :
Watch next year for the Twins with manager Rocco Baldelli , also the Blue Jays with manager Charlie Montoyo and, the latest, Chaim Bloom as the GM for the Red Sox. They all come from Tampa, baseball's source of talent on and off the field. Where they win 97 games with the smallest payroll, 65 Mil.
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Haha. Odds are not good but we are still playing until we’re not. My myopic, but I don’t feel doom and gloomy yet.
Astros might not win number 108 this season.
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@XXX They have already won 114
Swagger? Baloney -- starts at the top -- Astros have issues and have had for some time - look at the PED suspensions + Osuna + Asst GM and the debacle with Gurriel 2 years ago was nauseating.
and their small/indoor ballpark is a pinball machine - all designed that way to give them an advantage. plus sick of the DH skewing the playing field in favor of AL esp. given the lack of competition in the AL leading to 107 game winners with home field advantage.
plus baseballs that somehow change in the post-season (and apparently in the regular season too).
rigged. no longer the national sport - more like entertainment tonight (ugh).
Go Nationals! playing ball the right way w/humility.
signed,
a Dodgers fan
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It looks like the Astros are going to swagger their way into getting swept. Reminds me of when the Reds swept the swaggering A's (ask "bash brothers") in the 1990 World Series. The Nats just needed to get rid of the clubhouse cancer Bryce Harper to finally start winning. Baby shark!
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Verlander is highly overrated especially for postseason play.
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@Greenville SC Reader He's 36 too, he'll be declining. He hasnt been very dominate in the postseason, I think its catching up to him.
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Verlander is a drop-and-drive pitcher moving into his late thirties and still pitching in late October. Tiring, he lost his command in the top of the seventh and gave up the go-ahead dinger. Was it the change in catchers? Doubtful. You have to give him and Hinch more credit than that. Declaring him as “overrated” reveals a lack of knowledge of the game. If you must castigate anything, why not a contemporary playoff system that is ridiculously prolonged to fill the cash boxes.
What!!!! the Nationals should be the headliner for their ability to stay focused on the field. Watching them pitch and play has been masterful. Soto, who cannot celebrate by drinking a beer before Friday's game, has been spectacular. The entire team should be applauded!!!! Houston-started their two best pitchers and still lost. THE NATS HAVE THE BATS SO CONGRATS TO THEM!!! 2 IN 2 TO WIN!!! go Nats!!!
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@Concorde the Nats are the undisputed most fun team in baseball. Largely thanks to Parra with his dancing, tinted glasses, and of course Baby Shark he has given his team something magical: joy. If we win this series, Parra should win the MVP. Go boys, go. He should win it anyway.
Go Astros! Never stop believing! :-)
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Read the headline and assumed this was an opinion piece.
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As a Yankee fan, nothing would make me happier than the Astros losing the WS. Go Nats!
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If they're relying on swagger, they might as well just skip the rest of the series. Swagger never won a game, it only motivates the opponent.
The knock on the Nationals has been their bullpen. But when you're up 12-3 you could pitch the bat boy and his cousin Shirley and win.
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They are too full of themselves. Bregman in particular is a boaster. He learned how Pride goeth before a fall last night with those two errors. The series will not get back to Houston.
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@Boswell ,
That bat-flip did not sit well with me. The seventh inning fielding errors were karma.
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Verlander and Cole both bite the dust. Sorry Astros, you're Texas Toast.
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The Astros 107 wins are not as impressive as they're all telling themselves right now. And they've brought a curse down on their heads with this Osuna business. And - they didn't just lose their first 2 games at home - they got shellacked last night.
They'll be lucky to lose in seven; I think they'll go down in 4 or maybe 5 games.
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The Nats seems like a big underdog because of a slow start. After the games played on May 31, they were 24-33 as compared with Houston's 38-20. From June 1 on though, they were even with Houston --- WAS was 69-36 and HOU was 69-35 from June 1 to the end of the season.
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@Michael ,
As I always say, "It's not who wins the most games. It's who's hot at the end." Washington is definitely hot.
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100+ wins means nothin'. Twins won 101 games, then were wiped out by the Yankees (for about the 15th time in a row). Nats are on a roll and I don't expect they will let up much. Nats in 5.
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@BigFootMN I'm hoping four......
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The Nats' hot streak, which goes back to the last couple weeks of the regular season, has been epic. I mean really, really epic. Now they have won eight consecutive playoff games. And they don't pose and preen and talk about themselves like they are immortals, unlike this Houston squad.
The Nats are likely to win. And Houston is likely to be surprised by that.
Oh, and the announcers on Fox are unlikely to wake up and actually learn about the underdog team that is winning the Series so they can have something interesting to say about them.
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Of course the Astros are going to say they can still win. But lets not ignore the obvious. All sports rely on the mental side of the game and having both Cole and Verlander get whipped has to shake their confidence. The Nat's had such a bad start to the season that all the pundits picked the Astros but since June the Nats have had one of the best records in baseball. They are at the top of many of the offensive stats in the league. Max and Strasburg are a match for the Astro aces. And last nights meltdown is not a good sign for a potential World Series champ.
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The Astros played in one of the weaker divisions in baseball. They went 11-8 against Oakland, the only other team above .500 in the AL West. If MLB would go back to a balanced schedule, Houston would not have the best record in baseball.
Correa and Bregman have oversized egos. They kind of make me nostalgic for guys like Bob Gibson or Roger Clemons who might have drilled one of them for showing up the other team.
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@Emile deVere
And Roger Clemons didn't have an ego? I was glad to see him come to the National League, where pitchers have to take their turn, and their chances, in the batter's box. I noticed that he stopped throwing beanballs about the same time.
I also think it's about time to lay to rest the "rule" against "showing up" a pitcher. Trying to maim an opposing player for a bat flip just means that the pitcher's ego is as fragile as a glass snowflake. Maybe they should let pitchers have a fan and smelling salts on the mound, for when they hang a curve.
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The Nats are not an underdog team. They have all of the pieces, and are peaking at the right time. Baseball is a game of streaks. The Nats are hot, the Astros are not. Nats in four.
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The specialty of the team, may be losing to a huge underdog.
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Four (4) teams won 100+ games in the 2019 regular season.
The Astros are playing a wild card team that played in a tough division; and the Nats had to keep winning to stay "afloat".
I think the Nats are more special.
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@Sightseer
How many World Series Championship titles did the Atlanta Braves win with their three stud Hall of Fame pitchers John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux?
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The Mariners won 116 games in 2001, then lost to the Yankees in the LCS. Haven’t been to the playoffs since. Winning a lot of games in the regular season doesn’t mean you’re special. It means you won a lot of regular season games, that’s all it means.
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@roseberry
Winning 116 games (or "just" 107) doesn't make you "special"? I beg to differ. It's no guarantee of a championship - any team can get hot in October - but being the best over 162 games, rather than over 7, is the definition of "special".
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@Frank O
Playing 54 games against sub .500 teams doesn't make your the best team. Just a good team with a really easy schedule.
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@Emile deVere A really easy 162 game schedule? Tough crowd.
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Anyone's guess how this turns out, but our Nationals DO have magic in the dugout and amongst themselves and with us, the fans. I have great respect for the Astros and for Verlander. Having said that, Go, Nats! I'm singing Baby Shark.
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@Julianne Heck : Anyone who has had kids in the last 20 years will be watching with the sound turned off. The Nats are a good team, but I wish they hadn't chosen the worst earworm possible for their theme song.
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@Frank O, I have heard many parents say this! I have a 23-year-old, so it doesn't bother me. Also, as silly as it seems, it is giving us true hometown Washingtonians something to smile about, desperately needed. The way things are here now mean we don't need another thing to be annoyed about, but something to unite us in fun and joy, and this is it! I'll take it. Peace to you, and enjoy the game. Go, Nats!
"It ain't over 'til it's over."
Boston Red Sox vs. NY Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, which the Sox won after going down 3 games to none to the Yankees. (And then they swept the Cardinals.)
Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians in the 2007 ALCS, which the Sox won after going down 3 games to 1 to the Indians. (And then they swept the Rockies.)
Good teams find a way to get the job done.
Go 'Stros. Make a Series out of it. (and I am a Red Sox fan.)
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@Joe From Boston Yankees last team to come back after losing first two WS games at home in 1996. this feels different tho. Their big aces were both smacked around , i think Houston's spirit is broken.
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@Joe From Boston: That was then. This is now.
And speaking of your Bosox.....
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@Ponsobny Britt
The Bosox had a lousy year. What else is new?
As I was watching game #2 of this year’s World Series, I experienced, as Yogi Berra would say, dejavu all over again. As Justin Verlander gave up another home run, in another World Series loss, I flashed back to 2012, when the San Francisco Giants swept the Detroit Tigers in that year’s Fall Classic. In game #1 of that Series, Pablo Sandoval, who went on to become the WS MVP, hit three home runs, two off Verlander. This year’s Nationals team reminds me of the 2012—not to mention the 2010 and 2014–Giants in that they both call to mind the old sports adage, it’s not who you play, but when you play them, that counts.
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@Steve Griffith
You seem like you may be a Giants fan, so....
I waited my whole life (born in '61) for the Giants to win the Series. They couldn't withstand the earthquake of the A's in '89 (I was at that crazy, earth-shaking game) and (ugh), couldn't pull it off in '02 after Dusty Baker handed a game ball to Russ Ortiz in Game 6 ... a misery not quite, but almost, as deep as that of the Red Sox, Cubs and Indians.
And then ... 2010 .... 2012 ... 2014 ....
For my money (yeah, I'm biased), that's as close as MLB has come to a dynasty in a very long time.
Hummm baby!
Oh: Go Nats!
@CB Evans Absolutely right on all counts, though I may predate you a bit, having attended my first Giants game at Seals Stadium, and recalling Willie Mays’ basket catch to end a 3-game playoff with the Dodgers in ‘62, only to lose the WS in 7 to the Yankees. There is also a Giants-Nats connection with Dusty Baker, Matt Williams and Brandon Belt’s solo shot in the 18th of game #2 of the NLDS, in 2014. Otherwise, go Nats indeed! And, thank you Boch!
“We only really have one more opportunity to show what we can do,” said Justin Verlander, who allowed a tie-breaking homer to Kurt Suzuki in the seventh inning of Game 2. “It needs to happen now, going to D.C. We can’t wait around.”
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Baseball, famously, ain't over 'til it's over, Justin. Play hard every inning. Nats are looking great, though. The magic is in that dugout, for sure. Feels like the 2010 Giants.
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@X or the 2004 Red Sox starting with Game 4 of the ALCS. They won eight straight vs. the Yanks and Cards and broke the curse. The City of Washington hasn’t seen a winner since 1924, 95 years but who’s counting? Six down, two to go.
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@X
How many innings did the Astros AGM Taubman pitch during the regular and post-season?
How many true outcomes aka SO, BB and HR?
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