YESTERDAY IN POSTSEASON PLAY:
History
was made last night as the Cubs continued to win, eliminating a Cardinals team
that won a MLB best 100 games during the regular season. The right pieces seem
to be falling into place and performing… how far can this team go? In the other
game of the night, Clayton Kershaw dominated the Mets forcing a decisive game 5
matchup to determine who will be facing the Cubs in the NLCS. This postseason
is just starting to get interesting.
Cubs Eliminate
Cardinals 6-4
For the first time in the history of Wrigley Field, the Cubs
clinched a postseason series at home, edging the mighty Cardinals, 6-4, in Game
4 of the National League Division Series. The Cubs now can party as they wait
to see whether they'll face the Mets
or the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series,
which opens on Saturday. "We beat the Cardinals -- these guys are like our
older brothers and they've been kicking sand in our face for 100 years,"
Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said. "There's a lot of
similarities to when [the Red Sox] knocked off the Yankees in '04. This one
just gives us a nice date on Saturday." Javier Baez joined the young Cubs power corps with a
three-run home run, Anthony Rizzo
delivered a tiebreaking solo shot with two outs in the sixth and Kyle Schwarber nearly reached Lake Michigan with a
leadoff blast in the seventh to spark Chicago to victory and a 3-1 Series win.
Despite posting the best record in baseball, St. Louis, which had reached the
NLCS the last four years in a row, now heads home. "It's
disappointing," said Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, whose
comeback season ended with two scoreless innings in relief on Tuesday. "We
don't set our sights in Spring Training for getting in the postseason just [to]
go home in the first round. That's never what we aspire to do or be. It's
painful when you lose, for sure. I can't get away from all the things we
overcame this year to even get here. But losing is losing. It's never easy.
There's nothing we can do. We have no regrets. We absolutely went about this
thing the right way. We left it all on the line, and we got beat." Baez
was filling
in for injured shortstop Addison Russell, and all manager Joe Maddon wanted
was solid glove work from the 22-year-old. Baez added some punch as the Cubs
became the first team in postseason history to have four players 23 or younger
hit home runs, joining Kris Bryant, Schwarber
and Jorge Soler, who each
connected on Monday in Game 3. Baez's blast came off Cardinals right-hander John Lackey, who was starting on short rest in the
postseason for the third time in his career. "He hit a tough pitch,
especially that time of the day with the shadows," Bryant said of Baez's
blast. "I couldn't see the ball my first at-bat and he goes up there and
hits a three-run homer." Rizzo's home run came off an 0-2 pitch from Kevin Siegrist, and was his second
in as many games against the Cardinals' lefty.
Rizzo is the first player in Cubs postseason history to smack a go-ahead homer
in the sixth inning or later of a series-clinching game. "You can't pitch
like that in the postseason," said Siegrist, who had kept Rizzo without an
extra-base hit in 22 regular-season plate appearances. "There's no excuse
for that. I'll learn from it. I'll be better next year for it." This was
only the third time the Cubs have won consecutive postseason games at home.
They also did so in 1907 in the World Series against the Tigers and again in
1984 against the Padres in the NLCS. Chicago entered this postseason 0-11 all
time in any series in which they lost Game 1. "This is a team that was as
impressive to watch from Day One as any team I've ever been around, and just a
collection of skill and fight and character and just all the way across the
board from the veteran guys leading to the young guys figuring out a way to
contribute," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "It was a special
group." Both starting pitchers -- the Cubs' Jason Hammel and Lackey -- completed just three
innings, and this marked the second time a team has clinched an NLDS in which
the starter hasn't completed more than three innings. Wainwright exited after 2
1/3 innings in 2012 as the Cards defeated the Nationals in Game 5. Chicago
scored 14 runs combined in Games 3-4, and all but one came on a home run. The
other was courtesy of pitcher Hammel's RBI single in the second inning of Game
4.
Dodgers Dominate
Mets 3-1
Desperately needing a win to stave off elimination, Clayton Kershaw thrust his postseason troubles aside
with a brilliant performance Tuesday in National League Division Series Game 4,
firing seven innings of three-hit ball in a 3-1 Dodgers win over the Mets. "I
don't think anyone was going to outpitch Clayton Kershaw tonight," Mets
third baseman David Wright said. "I
wish we could have won here, obviously so that we could prepare for the next
round and do it in front of our fans. But Kershaw was just a beast tonight. It
was going to be tough to beat him when he was on like he was. Hopefully we can
take care of business in L.A." Pitching on three days' rest, Kershaw
battled early before settling into one of the better postseason grooves of his
career in the middle innings. After Daniel Murphy homered with one out in the fourth,
Kershaw did not let another runner past first base. He struck out six of seven
batters during one stretch, snapping his five-game postseason losing streak.
CURRENT
POSTSEASON PICTURE:
American League
Division Series
Kansas City and Houston tied 2-2
Game
5: Wednesday, October 14, at 8:00 PM
Toronto
and Texas tied 2-2
Game
5: Wednesday, October 14, at 4:00 PM
National League
Division Series
Chicago
Eliminated St. Louis 3-1
NLCS
Game 1: Tuesday, October 13, at 4:30 PM
New
York and Los Angeles tied 2-2
Game
5: Thursday, October 15, at 8:00 PM
National League
Championship Series
Chicago
at TBD
Game
1: Saturday, October 17, at TBD
American League
Championship Series
TBD at TBD
Game
1: Friday, October 16, at TBD
PHILS PHACTS:
Breaking Ground – Four months after the Phillies dedicated four new and
renovated baseball fields at FDR Park, there was a ceremonial groundbreaking on
Tuesday for the next phase of its Urban
Youth Academy: an indoor-outdoor facility in
South Philadelphia. A 7,500 square foot extension will be added to the existing
building to create a new training facility. Parts of the existing Marian
Anderson Recreation Center will be renovated to create space for fitness
training, educational and vocational programs. Among the dignitaries in
attendance were Mayor Michael Nutter, Major League Baseball's vice president of
youth and facility development Darrell Miller, Phillies chairman Dave
Montgomery, Councilman Kenyatta Johnson and Deputy Mayor Michael DiBeradinis. "This
is an incredible example of the city partnering with community organizations
and the private sector to renovate a recreation center in the community that
lacks abundant public play spaces. The new classrooms, fitness center and
equipment at the [center] will benefit 8,000 players receiving free baseball
and softball instruction on a regular basis," Nutter said. "The city
supports the Urban Youth Academy's mission to use baseball and softball to
teach young people about teamwork and responsibility, all while teaching them
to be active and healthy in these spaces. By providing our young people with a
fun and fulfilling environment in their own neighborhood, we're also giving
them the tools to learn, to connect and to grow with successful, caring adults
who give back to the community on a regular basis." Philadelphia joins
Compton, Houston, New Orleans and Cincinnati as cities with UYAs. A facility in
Kansas City has also been announced. Montgomery noted that leftfielder Pat
Burrell, who last played for the Phillies in 2008, contributed seed money and
that current first baseman Ryan Howard and his
wife, Krystle, stepped up when additional funding was needed. Also contributing
was the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, a joint effort between MLB and the Major League
Baseball Players Association. "These projects take time, and Philadelphia
was no exception," Miller said. "We wanted to do something here in
the baddest way. You have to understand, the Phillies have been in the trenches
20 years. They've been committed from the very beginning to make sure kids have
an opportunity to play baseball. "We now have the opportunity to take it
to the next level. We're not doing anything different. We're just going to do
it bigger and better and we're going to have a lot of fun with it. The
facilities are going to be big league." Montgomery also introduced Dr.
Mahlene Duckett, whose father, Mahlon, was a Philadelphia native, a Negro
League star and the last surviving member of the Philadelphia Stars. When he
passed away at the age of 92 this summer, the family asked that in lieu of
flowers, donations be made to the Philles' Urban Youth Academy. Miller became
passionate when discussing the impact these academies can have. "Major
League Baseball wants to make sure every child who wants to pick up a bat or a
ball or a glove and wants to play catch, or play the game of baseball or girls'
softball, gets an opportunity to play," he said. "Our youth deserve
tremendous facilities. They deserve the opportunity to play the game at the
highest possible level. They deserve great coaching. They deserve mentoring.
They deserve the opportunity to play the greatest game ever created. It's a
hard game to play. It takes a tremendous amount of time and dedication. It's
all about work. It's all about individual determination. It's the fabric of
what our great nation has been built on. And that's hard work. That's what
makes great baseball players. That's what makes great softball players. That's
what makes Major League contributors to our society." He caught himself,
stopped and smiled. "I'm preaching," he noted. "But the Pope was
just here and I'm following his lead. We have a lot to do on this field and on
this front throughout America."
THE BEGINNING:
The
Phillies finally put an end to the season finishing in last place in the NL
East with a record of 63-99. Given the departures, aging stars, injuries, and
bipolar performances this season, this has ended up being one of the worst
seasons in franchise history! However, there are some former Phillies still
making headlines in the playoffs this year.
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