‘EVERYBODY’S SWINGING FOR THE FENCES’
RECORD-BREAKING GAME 2 DRAMATICS PART OF SEASON-LONG TREND
Other than all those pitchers with the fastest fastballs, the slipperiest sliders and the cagiest curves, who cares if the baseballs are juiced?
If a little extra sizzle between the seams is going to provide the sensational theatre Games 1 and 2 of the World Series has, cook ’ em some more.
The Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers set a single- game series record i n Wednesday’s extra- i nnings thriller with eight leaving a park that was, at one time, seen as pitcher friendly.
That an unprecedented five of them came in extra innings only added to the never- before- seen zaniness of the Astros’ 7- 6 win in Game 2.
And even if the pitchers are moaning about this, they wouldn’t have much company among the 54,293 who witnessed the Southern California thrill ride of Game 2.
“I t hink t he balls are juiced, 100 per cent,” Astros Game 1 starter Dallas Keuchel said in the Astros clubhouse after his team evened the best-of-seven series at a win apiece.
“Major League Baseball wants to put on a show. We crushed the home- run record this year. That’s what (MLB) wants. They want that exciting two home- run lead and then ( the other team) comes back and hits another home run and everyone’s still watching.” What’s that new line? Went to a World Series game and a Home Run Derby broke out?
Yes, the two teams are certainly putting on a show in a series that continues in the Space City for Games 3- 5 starting Friday night at Minute Maid Park.
And yes, Keuchel’s comments read both like a playby- play of Game 2 and a la- ment of pitchers across the league this year.
The single- season league record was smashed well before the regular season was complete, with a total of 6,105 when the swatting finally stopped.
Homers have also been prominent throughout the playoffs.
Already, there’s been 11 hit in the World Series.
Justin Verlander, who s t arted Game 2 f or t he Astros, feels the sizzling late October heat in Southern California played a role in the homer barrage. In both Games 1 and 2, first pitch t emperatures were near 40 C and never dipped below 32 C before game’s end.
“Yeah, I think the heat affected the home runs,” said Verlander, who allowed just two hits through six innings, both of them homers. “I think Dodger Stadium is pretty famous for the ball not carrying. Doesn’t seem like that was the case the last couple of nights.”
Justin Turner’s two- run game- winning homer in Tuesday’s first game didn’t clear the outfield wall by much.
And when it left the bat of the Dodgers third baseman, he t hought i t was a harmless out.
“I knew I hit it really high and I knew it was about 98 degrees and when it’s hot here, the ball does travel a lot better. If it’s 10 degrees cooler, that’s probably a routine fly ball in left field,’’ said Turner.
For the record, MLB has denied the balls are “juiced” despite clubhouse after clubhouse full of pitchers griping about them.
But to the rest of the world, it seems, the phenomenon is getting rave reviews.
Player after player from both teams enthused about Game 2 being the wildest, most exciting game they’d played in their careers.
It started with the Astros Marwin Gonzalez hitting a solo in the ninth to force extra innings. And then it got truly silly. To think the Astros were three outs away from losing a game despite allowing just two hits all night, which would have been a first in World Series play.
Solo shots from Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa kept it going in the 10th only to be negated by a Yasiel Puig homer to start the Dodgers rally to tie it in the bottom half.
Then came George Springer’s two- run shot in the top of the 11th that just barely stood up as the gamewinner allowed the Astros to become the first team in MLB history to hit three extra-inning homers in a postseason game. How crazy is that? In the 113 years they’ve been playing World Series games, there had only been 17 homers in extra innings prior to Wednesday’s explosion.
Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’ s the ball and maybe it’s aggressive hitters determined to change the game with one swing of the bat.
“Everybody’s swinging for the fences,” Astros closer Ken Giles, who blew the save opportunity in the 10th by allowing two runs, told the New York Times.
“Home runs this series have been the big play so far. We need to figure out a way to prevent it.”
So far, in a classic start to the Fall Classic, Giles and his pitching brethren haven’t been able to do so.