Braves, Astros – one win away

The Braves.

Eddie Rosario homered twice and became the first player to have two four-hit games in a League Championship Series. (But he was not the first in the post-season. Robin Yount did it in games 1 and 5 of the 1982 World Series.)

Rosario had a terrible start to his regular season in the AL. Cleveland acquired him for the pop in his bat, and he totally disappointed, stroking only seven homers in more than 300 plate appearances. They traded him off to Atlanta, where he immediately rediscovered his stroke. His OPS had been a weak .685 for Cleveland, but rose to an impressive .903 for Atlanta. He has been white-hot in the playoffs, hitting .467 overall and .588 in this particular series.

He was not the only good acquisition made by the Braves this year to shore up their outfield:


They didn’t just start hitting well the post-season. Together they hit 44 homers and knocked in 116 runs in 676 at bats in the regular season, so obtaining them was roughly the equivalent of picking up Dale Murphy in one of his best seasons.

The Astros:

Framber Valdez went eight great innings and the offense scored five runs (four unearned) in the fifth, as Kyle Schwarber joined Billy Buck in the tradition of costly post-season errors by Red Sox first basemen. To be fair to Schwarber, (1) the Astros would have won even if he had made that play, (2) he’s just not a first baseman. He’s a left fielder who can fill in at catcher in a pinch. Before this season he had never fielded a major league chance at 1B, and had not played the position in the minors or college, except for two games in the Cape Cod Summer League in 2013! He only started nine games at first during this regular season, and in three of those he was pulled for a defensive replacement. But the man hit 32 homers this season in fewer than 400 at bats, and the Red Sox wanted his .928 OPS in the line-up. Powerful J.D. Martinez is filling the DH spot, so first base it was for Schwarber.

In my opinion, that was not an especially good decision, irrespective of Schwarber’s fielding abilities. Schwarber does not hit lefties well. His lifetime OPS against lefties is a weak .684 (the MLB average is about .730), as compared to a very solid .880 against right handers. The Sox left their natural first baseman, Bobby Dalbec, on the bench, although he hits lefties very well. His lifetime OPS is .902 against lefties, with 14 homers in only 203 at bats. Forget defense. Starting Schwarber against the left-handed Valdez was a mystifying offensive choice by manager Alex Cora.

But then again, it didn’t seem that anybody was going to solve Valdez in this game.

3 thoughts on “Braves, Astros – one win away

  1. Bobby Dalbec plays first base with an iron glove. Remarkably, Schwarber isn’t a big downgrade.

    1. But again, even if you accept that, Schwarber can’t hit lefties and Dalbec can.

      Just sayin’.

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