Hello,
Thursday was travel day in the NLCS with both teams flying back to St. Louis, a flight LA is very glad they have to make. Game 6 is obviously a pivotal game, especially for the Dodgers. If LA loses on Friday their season is over, it will be an anti-climactic ending to a roller coaster season. However there would be no complaints from this Dodgers fan. I'm so glad to have the Dodgers back with brighter things on their way, no matter what ends up happening this season.
If you want to extend your season to a Game 7 there's perhaps no one else you'd rather have than who is pitching for LA tonight. That's Mr. Clayton Kershaw, the presumptive NL Cy Young award winner. That's exactly who the Dodgers have pitching for them tonight. Although Kershaw is 0-1 in this series he hasn't given up an earned run. He'll be facing Michael Wacha, who's 1-0 in this series and also hasn't given up an earned run.
I'm fairly certain that Kershaw will hold the Cardinals to 3 runs or less, the question is will the Dodgers be able to score at least 4 runs Friday night?
While the NLCS had their travel day Thursday, it's the ALCS' travel day on Friday. The Red Sox flight back to Boston I expect was a very happy trip. Boston went to Detroit tied in the series 1-1 and had lost the ALCS homefield advantage. However the Red Sox won 2 of the 3 games in Detroit and it's now the Tigers that are on the ropes. All Boston has to do is win one of the two weekend games at Fenway and they'll be going to the World Series once again. They'd be shooting for their third World Series title in 9 years.
On Thursday the Red Sox beat the Tigers 4-3, which is what pushed Detroit to the brink of elimination. The Tigers are in the exact same situation as the Dodgers, needing to win 2 games on the road against a very tough opponent to advance to the World Series. Even the two pitching match ups are similar, both teams with their backs against the wall will be sending a presumptive Cy Young award winner to save their seasons. For Detroit it will be Max Sherzer, no decisions in the series but a 1.29 ERA. He'll be matched up against Clay Buchholz. He also had no decisions, but has a too high 7.94 ERA.
The story of ALCS Game 5 was Mike Napoli's 3 for 4 night. Napoli is hitting .375 in the ALCS and hit his second homer of the series in the second inning. That home run started Boston's scoring, they went on to score two more runs in that inning. Napoli scored what ended up being the deciding run in the 3rd inning on Anibal Sanchez's wild pitch. Boston didn't score for the rest of the night, thankfully they had scored enough runs by the third inning.
The Tigers scored one run in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings, cutting Boston's lead to 4-3. Jon Lester gave up 2 of those 3 runs as he struggled in his 5.1 innings. He allowed 7 hits, 3 walks and 2 runs. After Lester was pulled, Junichi Tarzawa and Craig Breslow earned their second holds of the series. Then Boston's amazing closer, Koji Uehara, came in and got the final 5 Tigers out. He earned his second save of the series. However after the 7th inning neither team would score again and the Red Sox held on for a 4-3 win.
Boston, the town, the players and the fans continue to get the bad taste of the season of Valentine out of their memories. Thanks to John Farrell for all the good things he's done for the Red Sox this season. Also thanks to the Boston ownership group for realizing their mistake with Valentine and letting him go after only one season. They didn't let their egos get in the way of making a hard, but extremely crucial, decision. (Jerry Jones this is the right way for an owner to run a team. While the chances are good that the Red Sox will go to the World Series, I'd be very surprised if the Cowboys even get to the playoffs.)
themusicaddict
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