World Series Game Six---Live Thread

[EasyAce]

The Dodgers put two on against Luke Gregerson. Francisco Liriano makes his first World Series appearance
for the Astros. He fights Cody Bellinger to a nine-pitch at-bat and the ninth strikes Bellinger out swinging!
But it's still, 3-1 Dodgers, going to the top of the ninth . . .

[EasyAce]

The top of the ninth, from my game notes:

Marwin Gonzalez---0-2 to him; he fouls one off running up to bunt; popped up around first,
it will be Bellinger to get it and there's one away. Josh Reddick---looks at a strike; ball one a
bit high; swing and a miss, 1-2 to Reddick; struck his ass out swinging, the Dodgers one out
away from forcing Game Seven. Jansen has thrown fourteen strikes in fifteen pitches so far.
Carlos Beltran pinch hits for Francisco Liriano---fouls one off, two strikes away; fouled down
the right field line, the Dodgers are one strike away; he fouls one off, still alive on 0-2; struck
his ass out swinging, and in the immortal words of Jack Buck---we'll see you tomorrow night!
3-1 your final from Dodger Stadium.

[TomSea]

"Dodgers payroll is $100 million over the league average."

Saw this written in another forum. I don't know if it's correct. A bit frustrating if so.

[EasyAce]

"Dodgers payroll is $100 million over the league average."

Saw this written in another forum. I don't know if it's correct. A bit frustrating if so.

The league average 2017 payroll was $152,327,084.

Fourteen teams were above that average. The Dodgers were $111.1 million above the average.
The other 13 teams, in descending order:

Yankees
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Tigers
Giants
Nationals
Rangers
Orioles
Cubs
Angels
Mariners
Royals
Mets

Five of the ten postseason entrants were below the league average payroll. One of them is going to Game
Seven of the World Series. That team was a mere $3 million or so below the league average payroll.

Other than the fact that baseball is populated with plenty of high spending teams and enough low-spending
ones (don't kid yourself that the lower-spending teams are exactly poor), all the dollars in the world won't
get you a World Series ring. Three of the top ten payrolls including numbers two and three got disappeared
from the postseason and one of those was a wild card winner. I'd have to look it up, but I think in the cases
of the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Nationals, there may be some serious enough money coming off
their books when this season expires.

[RetBobbyMI]

Clearly manager A.J. Hinch hoped Verlander could get him through the seventh and give that tired Astros
pen a break.

Obviously Hinch didn’t review the metrics on JV for this year and went on hope and a prayer that didn’t work out. JV has been good up to now, but is getting worn out with the number of pitches this year and last.

[EasyAce]

Obviously Hinch didn’t review the metrics on JV for this year and went on hope and a prayer that didn’t work out. JV has been good up to now, but is getting worn out with the number of pitches this year and last.

During the 2017 regular season, between Detroit and Houston, Justin Verlander averaged about seven innings
a start. He had 22 starts in which his pitch counts hit 101 or more, and hitters actually hit only .222 against
him from pitch 101 onward. When he was between 22 and 50 pitches in a game was when Verlander was
actually most vulnerable: batters hit .244 against him between pitch 22 and pitch 50 on the year. He averaged
five hits a game before he was traded to the Astros; as an Astro, he averaged three a game. There was no
reason to believe Verlander couldn't have pitched seven innings in Game Six had the Dodgers not scratched
a 2-1 lead off him in the sixth. And, come to think of it, if the game had been played with the designated
hitter in place it's entirely possible that Hinch would not have lifted Verlander for a pinch hitter in the top
of the seventh and taken the chance on one more inning from him.