Charley Morton’s Salt?
When he reigns, zeroes pour.
It’s the early morning after ALCS Game Three and the collapse of the Astros at home in almost every imaginable way yesterday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.
What do you get when your now proclaimed closer comes into a game with the boys trailing 3-2 going into the 8th? You get two base runners; then you get two more by the HBP route; then you get a home run; and what’s the damage to the score as a result? The Red Sox get one run forced in by the second hit batter; then they get four more runs on a grand slam by Jackie Bradley, Jr. ~ and the famous shaking head words of closer Roberto Osuna that we’ve all heard before from countless others and shall surely continue to hear in every corner of baseball every time a pitcher ~ especially an alleged star ~ has a meltdown at a critical moment in the game.
“It was just one of those things! One of those bells that now and then rings! Just one of those things! And, hey! You know what? That is just one of those things. It’s pretty near the same thing the Astros did to the Red Sox in Game One with a 4-run spot in the 9th, converting a 3-2 Astros lead into a what appeared to be a 7-2 final score romp. This time, the Sox pasted their 5-run spot to their own 3-2 late lead ~ killing again hometown hope ~ and making this final score another blow-away mark of 8-2, visitors.
Charlie Morton needs to be on and the Astros need to win Game Four tonight. It’s not a mathematically “must win” situation, but the closest thing to it on the probability scale. An Astros loss tonight would mean that the Astros would then have to win all three of the possible games they have left with the Red Sox to take the AL pennant and advance to the World Series. And that would set up the following scenario:
If Boston wins Game 4 tonight, they lead Houston, 3 wins to 1, needing one more win.
Thursday @ MMP, Game 5: Astros must win behind Justin Verlander;
Friday: travel day
Saturday @ Fenway, Game 6: Astros must win behind a more relaxed Gerrit Cole;
Sunday @ Fenway, Game 7: Astros must win behind either the presumed starter, Dallas Keuchel, or possibly Lance McCullers, Jr. This one has several ways of getting ugly, now and next year, especially, if manager Hinch decides to not risk Keuchel and his “bad early run giveaway” syndrome with everything on the line. ~ And how much security is there that McCullers might come out with another night of low-in-the-dirt pitches that only get stopped by the backstop of the stadium.
Let’s hope Morton and the Astros can take Game Four ~ and we sure wouldn’t mind if one of the Astros big run-scoring innings could also come early for a change. a 5-run spot of their own in the first inning should be something of a support cushion to Morton that helped the situation. Our Astros starters have had to pitch all year in the hope that the Astros would get enough runs after they had been lifted to win the game. With a little more early run support, this team might have had two to three “20-game winners.”
At any rate, the next 24 hours will provide us with the real-time answers as to how dead or alive the Astros really are. Let’s hope for the best.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
October 17, 2018 at 1:48 pm |
Not going to beat Bosox down 3-1…and likely not down 3-2 going back to Boston. Astros need next TWO games. Then things will be looking good. Big concern today… Morton has not pitched in a game in a long time. (And of course Astros erratic offense that continues to NOT get a lot of key hits with runners in scoring position.)
October 17, 2018 at 2:31 pm |
We also need a more productive hitter behind Bregman to keep the pitcher honest and throw more hittable pitches for Alex Bregman. Perhaps slot Marwin Gonzalez behind Bregman and slide Yuli Gurriel behind Marwin.
Who else do we have when we get to the bottom of the order?