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Showing posts from November, 2023

League Championship Series, Game #7 - Atlanta 7, Houston 3 (13 minutes)

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Strat-O-Matic Report United Federation of Baseball League Championship Series, Game #7 - Atlanta 7, Houston 3 (13 minutes) . The Braves and manager BILL SORENSON are the champions, and DANSBY SWANSON is the Post-Season MVP, as Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, and Swanson each homered off Houston starter Cristian Javier. Olson hit a 2-run homer in the 1st, Ozuna hit a solo homer in the 5th, and (in a matchup of regular season MVP vs. regular season Cy Young Award winner) Swanson hit a 2-run homer in the 6th. That gave the Braves a 5-0 lead, and knocked Javier (0-4 with a 5.24 ERA in the post-season) out of the game. Meanwhile, Braves starter Spencer Strider went 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and striking out 11 men. One of the hits Strider gave up was a solo homer by Yuli Gurriel in the bottom of the 6th. Darren O'Day took over for Spencer in the 8th, getting just 1 out and giving up 2 runs as Houston staged a bit of a rally. But the Braves called upon A.J. Minte...

League Championship Series, Game #6 - Houston 4, Atlanta 3 (12 minutes)

Strat-O-Matic Report United Federation of Baseball League Championship Series, Game #6 - Houston 4, Atlanta 3 (12 minutes) . A 2-out, 2-run walkoff homer by Astros secondbaseman Jose Altuve capped an astonishing (almost implausible!) 9th inning, knotting the series at 3 games apiece and forcing a 7th game. Until the bottom of the 7th inning, this was a scoreless pitchers' duel between the Astros' Luis Garcia and Atlanta's Kyle Wright. In the bottom of the 7th, Wright got Jeremy Pena to fly out to left, and then got Michael Brantley to ground out to second. But Wright then walked the next 2 batters, Chas McCormick and Christian Vazquez, and Atlanta sent Bryce Elder to the mound to face Altuve. Altuve hit a grounder to Orlando Arcia at second, but Arcia mishandled the ball. That was Arcia's second error of the game, and the bases were now loaded with 2 out. The next batter, Yuli Gurriel, singled to score McCormick and Vazquez, and the Astros now led 2-0. In ...

League Championship Series, Game #5 - Atlanta 4, Houston 3 (11 minutes)

Strat-O-Matic Report United Federation of Baseball League Championship Series, Game #5 - Atlanta 4, Houston 3 (11 minutes) . After losing the first 2 games of the series, the Braves have now won 3 in a row at home and are now within 1 game of the UBF championship. Houston scored first in this game, with an rbi double by Christian Vazquez off Braves starter Max Fried in the top of the 4th. But the Braves evened the score in the bottom of the 4th when, with 2 out and nobody on, Houston starter Framber Valdez gave up 3 singles in a row to Travis D'Arnaud, Vaughn Grissom, and Robbie Grossman, with Grossman's single scoring D'Arnaud. In the bottom of the 6th, Austin Riley and Matt Olson hit ack-to-back homers off Valdez to give the Braves a 3-1 lead, and in the next inning an Adam Duvall sacrifice fly made the score 4-1 in favor of Atlanta. In the top of the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings the first Houston batter reached firstbase, but each time was eliminated on a double ...

League Championship Series, Game #4 - Atlanta 1, Houston 0 (10 minutes)

Strat-O-Matic Report United Federation of Baseball League Championship Series, Game #4 - Atlanta 1, Houston 0 (10 minutes) . The Braves even the series at 2 games apiece as William Contreras homers off Justin Verlander in the bottom of the 8th to break up a scoreless tie. In the top of the 9th, after Raisel Iglesias strikes out Michael Brantley, Braves closer Kenley Jansen gets his 5th save of the post-season by getting pinch-hitter Trey Mancini to pop out and Christian Vazquez to ground out. Verlander (who was charged with the loss) pitched the entire game for Houston, striking out 9 in 8 innings and only allowing 1 batter to get past firstbase until Contreras' homer. Braves starter Charlie Morton (5.1 innings), Iglesias (3 innings), and Jansen combined to shutout Houston; Iglesias got credit for the victory. For the Braves, Dansby Swanson was 3-for-4. So far, all 4 games in the series have been low-scoring affairs. The pitching matchup in Game #5 will be Framber Vald...

League Championship Series, Game #3 - Atlanta 2, Houston 1 (10 minutes)

Strat-O-Matic Report United Federation of Baseball League Championship Series, Game #3 - Atlanta 2, Houston 1 (10 minutes) . Houston starter Cristian Javier (the regular season UFB Cy Young Award winner) retired the first 16 batters he faced, and had a no-hitter through 7.1 innings, but the Braves staged an 8th inning to prevail. Javier and Braves starter Spencer Strider were locked in a scoreless pitchers' duel until the top of the 7th. Yordan Alvarez started the inning by drawing a walk off Strider. After Strider struck out Jeremy Pena, Michael Brantley got an infield hit, with an error by Braves firstbaseman Matt Olson sending Alvarez to third and Brantley to second. Next, Chas McCormick struck out, but then Strider walked Christian Vazquez to load the bases with 2 out. Raisel Iglesias replaced Strider, giving up a single to Jose Altuve that scored Alvarez with the first run of the game. The bases were still loaded, and Iglesias then struck out Yuli Gurriel to end t...