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LOS ANGELES – The visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium is about the size of a new SUV – and is not among those with the extra row of seats. So you can imagine the scene after making a complete list of baseball players, coaches, clubhouse staff – as well as photographers, videographers, news presenters, writers and other team members.
After winning 108 games, Boston has vowed to "do some damage" in the playoffs. Thanks to David Price and Steve Pearce in the fifth match, mission accomplished.
When Boston won the fifth game, David Price answered all questions about his ability to keep his playoff promises. This is not the case for Clayton Kershaw.
From the Wild Cards round to the World Series, we'll be covering the 2018 playoffs.
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This is not exactly the best place to hold a party.
Again, this is the best place to host a party, the place where a baseball team spends untold hours in a season, where players discuss wins and losses, where friendships begin and where links of a championship team are gathered.
Mitch Moreland wandered through cramped quarters, a can of Budweiser in his hand, and did not speak to anyone in particular in his Mississippi speech. "I have to find my teammates, where are my teammates?" Finally, Chris Sale, the "skinny", as heard the manager Alex Cora, had enough.
Sale went into the ninth in relief – after starter David Price pitched seven brilliant innings and Joe Kelly finished eighth – record the last three outings of the Red Sox's 5-1 win over the Dodgers in the game 5 of the world series. Cora's plan, like everything we've seen in the playoffs, has been worked out perfectly: Price has plunged into the game, withdrawing 14 batters in a row, one of his central lifters not yet announced has launched a white game, then one of his starters appears in relief.
It was normal for Sale to get the last three outs. Cora had started Price over Sale in the fifth game, reflecting concern over how deep Sale could play considering his last two outings as he struggled with his command and his slow speed. The pen was very busy at Games 3 and 4, so Cora decided to move to Price – knowing that it had Dirty Embossed if needed. All Sale has done is eliminate the exclamation point of Boston's main playoff race: 11-3 against the Yankees to 100 wins, 103 wins for the Astros and two-time National League champion. During the final strike, Manny Machado gasped helplessly in front of a patented sales slider. The dogpile ensues.
So there was the big southpaw, the safety glasses on his head, in the middle of the crowded pavilion. As we saw in the fourth game, he shouted to his teammates in dugout to start doing SomethingDirty has a voice that can wear a room, even a Dirty Water and Cody Johnson's "Dance Her Home." He hissed and shouted, "If you're not a member of the Boston Red Sox, go get the …" He did not finish his sentence, but someone else l & # 39; 39, did. It may have been Moreland. The sale ends: "I want to enjoy it with my teammates."
This is perhaps the best summary of this Red Sox team, arguably the best in franchise history and now only the fifth team in the division since 1969 to win at least 108 games and the World Series. You do not win as many games as on the backs of superstars. On sale and Mookie Betts and JD Martinez all had their best times in the playoffs and even in the fifth game. Betts and Martinez, ruthless in the first two games at Dodger Stadium, were blocked in some rounds with Clayton Kershaw in the sixth and seventh inning – – it was these teammates who pushed the Red Sox to win their fourth title in the 15 last seasons.
The heroes of Game 5 were Price and first baseman Steve Pearce. The first was the man who started the post-season by being booed from the mound at Fenway Park against the Yankees; he finished with three straight wins, with two of those starts – including this one – after just three days of rest. In those three games, he pitched 19 innings, giving nine hits and only three points. He will no longer have to wonder about his ability to win the playoffs. This had clearly weighed him down – or, of course, had become irritating.
"I'm holding all the cards now," he said. "It's so good, it's so good, I can not say how good it is to keep this asset, and you've had it for a long time, you played that card very well." No more, none of you, and it feels really good. "
While Price validated the big contract that the Red Sox had awarded him as a free agent before the 2016 season, Peace was a little known commercial acquisition during the season, a career companion who had stayed in the majors with various teams mainly for his ability to hit left-handed pitching. The Red Sox's got Toronto for Santiago Espinal, a minor league baseball player, a 10th-round pick who signed for $ 50,000. Call it the best $ 50,000 the Red Sox have ever spent.
"It was exactly what we needed," said bench coach Ron Roenicke.
Pearce battled Kershaw early in the first round after Andrew Benintendi clinched a soft spot in the middle. He killed the Dodgers – and Kershaw in particular, as he had four hits in two games – with a few soft shots all round. Pearce's first pitch was a 92 mph fastball, outside edge, and Pearce threw a 405-foot blast into the center-left bleachers.
This home race followed Pearce's two big wins in Game 4: the decisive game Kenley Jansen in the eighth inning, then double the bases in the ninth. These three hits have earned him the honors of the World Series MVP on Price. Then he finished the match with another goal from Pedro Baez in the eighth inning – a right-hander, please note. As he headed for the first goal, Pearce designated his teammates in a dugout canoe. While skirting the third goal, he gave a double pump to his coach Carlos Febles. Then he jumped on the plate as a five-year-old who scored a race for the first time.
"It has been a trip of a lifetime," said Pearce. "And being here now is a dream come true."
Pearce did not come to the Red Sox before the end of June, but many have described it as one of those "stuck" types that keep a clubhouse together. He played for seven different organizations – not to mention three different periods with the Orioles or one with the Twins when he did not survive the spring training – and was released or given up on numerous times. He has never beaten 300 times in a season until the age of 31.
All he's done, is deliver the three greatest hits of the Boston season. Indeed, he has been hired since the Red Sox acquired it. Since joining the team, he has scored 11 home runs: five against the Yankees, three in the World Series and one in the sixth inning of match 3 in the ALCS (a right-handed player too). ). and the other were home runs in the regular season.
"You know, baseball is a fun game," he tried to explain. "You never know where the game will take you, and I've lived many things in my life or in my career to be here, and I could not be more grateful."
The Red Sox have received many contributions from all of their playoff teammates. Jackie Bradley Jr. is known for his defense, but he has won the honors of ALCS 'most valuable player after scoring nine points, including a grand grand slam. Third-year baseball third baseman Rafael Devers has nine games in the playoffs, including a crucial three-pointer against Justin Verlander in the fifth game of the ALCS.
Then there was the pen – the part of the team that the Red Sox fans were most concerned about entering the playoffs. The Red Sox were not so concerned. "We do not win 108 games without these guys doing the job all season," Roenicke said.
Kelly was the guy who grew up. It had been inconsistent throughout the season and it was not really Cora's first choice with a lead early in the post-season. But Cora found a warm hand and went up Kelly. He competed in all five World Series games, pitched six scoreless innings and allowed only three hits and no points. In the fifth game, he entered after Price was right from the first to the eighth goal. He hit Matt Kemp on a fast 98 mph. He dropped Joc Pederson while watching a fastball at 97 mph. He hit Cody Bellinger while swaying on a 99 mph fastball.
He dug his fist in his glove and screamed in emotion as he escaped from the mound.
This Boston office? He had a 2.71 ERA all the playoffs. In the World Series, he allowed five points in 25 ⅔ and earned an ERA of 1.40. Maybe their MVP was Kelly, Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier and Nathan Eovaldi.
At the post-game celebration that took place on the field immediately after the award ceremony, friends and family are allowed to meet the players. Martinez posed for a photo with the World Series trophy with his two young nieces, both wearing a Red Sox t-shirt with Martinez's number 28 in shiny silver on the back "Uncle J". Barnes gave the parents a big hug. Barnes grew up in Connecticut – although his father admitted that he was a fan of the Mets. At least until the Red Sox fished Barnes from UConn.
Then there was Pearce. He received his MVP trophy and directed his television interview. He was then taken to the interview room. Behind him, there was a group of family and friends. He still held the trophy. He returned it and handed it. Like a good teammate, sometimes you have to rely on others.
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