Washington Nationals to Attend White House Ceremony

The Washington Nationals will attend a White House reception on Monday, just over a week after the baseball team’s fans booed President Donald Trump during his World Series appearance at Nationals Park.

White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere confirmed the Nationals’ attendance in a post on Twitter.

“On Monday, @POTUS @realDonaldTrump will welcome the #WorldSeries Champion Washington @Nationals to the @WhiteHouse! #STAYINTHEFIGHT,” Deere wrote.

Trump has had an uneasy relationship with the sports world since taking office, with several championship-winning teams including the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles opting to skip the tradition of visiting the White House after their victories.

Most recently, Trump crossed swords with the World Cup-winning US women’s soccer team, clashing publicly with star Megan Rapinoe during the tournament.

Although Trump has not formally extended an invitation to the team yet, Rapinoe said after the squad’s victory she would boycott any reception.

The Nationals received their White House invite after clinching a dramatic World Series finale in game seven in Houston on Wednesday.

Last Sunday however, Nationals fans had rounded on Trump when the US leader attended game five at Nationals Park.


After the game’s third inning, the stadium’s video display showed military members in attendance — but then quickly cut to Trump.

The cheering crowd immediately switched to loud and sustained boos.

When the display cut back to the soldiers, the booing died down, but fans soon took up a chorus of “Lock him up!” — a play on the chant frequently heard at pro-Trump rallies against Hillary Clinton.

Demonstrators sitting behind the home plate also unfurled “Veterans for Impeachment” banners during the game, in reference to the House of Representatives investigation into whether Trump abused power by withholding military aid to Ukraine.

source: usa.inquirer.net

Red Sox pinch-hitters come up clutch again in World Series

LOS ANGELES — Boston’s bench is a big reason why the Red Sox are one win from their fourth World Series title since 2004.

With the Red Sox regulars being held in check by the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was pinch-hitters Mitch Moreland and Rafael Devers who came up with huge at-bats as Boston rallied for a 9-6 victory Saturday to take a 3-1 lead in the Series.

Moreland hit a three-run homer off Ryan Madson in the seventh inning and Devers singled home Brock Holt with the tiebreaking run in the ninth.

Boston’s pinch-hitters have come up big all Series. Through the first four games, they are 6 for 18 (.333) with two home runs and seven RBIs. The Red Sox are batting .218 overall.

“The bench has been the key to our entire playoffs,” slugger J.D. Martinez said. “The guys that no one expects are the ones who are delivering. It is unreal.”

Moreland’s homer to right field on a first-pitch changeup from Ryan Madson was Boston’s second pinch-hit homer in the World Series. The 1959 Dodgers and 1975 Red Sox are the only other teams with multiple pinch-hit home runs in the same Fall Classic. Not bad for a team that hit only two pinch-hit homers during the course of a 162-game regular season.

Moreland joins Bernie Carbo (who had two in 1975), Bobby Kielty (2007) and Eduardo Nunez (Game 1 this year) as Boston players who have homered in a World Series game as pinch-hitters.

“With the way we play, we’re constantly trying to get some guys on base, put pressure on the other side. So we got that chance right there,” Moreland said after hitting his third World Series home run. “I saw him throw a couple of changeups to Jackie (Bradley Jr.) up in the zone. I decided, why not sit on that one first pitch? And when he threw it, I saw it pretty good, and put a good swing on it.”

It was Moreland’s fourth career postseason homer but first as a pinch-hitter. Prior to that swing, Moreland was batting .250 this postseason (4 for 16) but was 1 for 6 in a pinch-hitting role.

Devers was batting .276 (8 for 29) for the postseason, and Saturday night was only the third time he has been brought in off the bench. After Holt doubled off Dylan Floro with one out, Devers laced a 2-0 changeup to center, scoring Holt for a 5-4 lead, and the Red Sox went on to score five runs in the ninth.

The third baseman, who turned 22 on Wednesday, became the youngest player in World Series history to have a pinch-hit, go-ahead RBI in the ninth inning or later. The last player younger than 23 to deliver a pinch-hit RBI in the Fall Classic was Pittsburgh’s Milt May in 1971 against Baltimore.

“I was just ready for my moment to come, whenever that may be,” Devers said. “Being in the National League, you’ve got to be ready from the first inning with obviously the pitchers hitting. So I just wanted to be ready for whatever the situation was.”

Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers said Boston’s bench success can mostly be attributed to first-year manager Alex Cora and the way he has been able to keep everyone involved by always communicating to players about when they will be used during a game.

“He just has a way of giving them confidence by telling them, ‘I am going to use you here, be ready, be prepared’ and then it happens,” Hyers said. “They are prepared and have confidence when they walk out to the batter’s box because the manager has prepared them to go out and show.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Dodgers’ Machado stands out for lack of hustle again

LOS ANGELES — Manny Machado’s lack of hustle is starting to stand out more than his offense this postseason.

The star shortstop had a little too much self-confidence in the sixth inning Friday night when he thought he homered for the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game 3 of the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. Instead, Machado ended up admiring what turned out to be a 368-foot single as it bounced off the wall in left field.


Had Machado run it out, it might have been a double. It also turned out to be his only hit as he went 1 for 7 in the Dodgers’ 3-2 win in 18 innings early Saturday that trimmed their Series deficit to 2-1.

“I looked up at first and thought it wasn’t going and then I saw it take up and thought it was going to go out,” Machado said. “That was very, very, very, very, very poor baserunning by me.”

It is not the first time this postseason that Machado’s effort level has become an issue. He was criticized for not hustling during a groundout in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series against Milwaukee.

Machado said in an interview on FS1 during the NLCS that he’s well aware he’s not going to be known as a hustling type of player, but that is how he has played throughout his career.

He was much more critical of himself after Friday night’s game.

“I probably wasn’t going to be on second base but that was very embarrassing,” he said.

Things didn’t get much better for Machado in the eighth when he struck out on Matt Barnes’ high fastball on a full count with a runner on first. Two innings later he popped out to shortstop Xander Bogaerts after Max Muncy doubled with two outs. That dropped Machado to 0 for 9 in his career against Boston closer Craig Kimbrel.

Machado also flied out in the 13th after Muncy walked leading off the inning.

The 26-year-old Machado can become a free agent this offseason and is expected to command a large contract. He drew the ire of Milwaukee players and fans — not to mention a fine — for kicking Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar near the ankle as he jogged out a groundout during the NLCS.

There was also a pair of hard slides into Orlando Arcia in Game 3 while the Milwaukee shortstop was attempting to turn double plays. The antics led Brewers star Christian Yelich to call Machado “a dirty player,” but the Dodgers slugger has seemed to embrace the role of villain this October.

The baserunning gaffes are overshadowing what has been a productive month for Machado, acquired from Baltimore on July 19. He is batting .255 in the postseason but leads the Dodgers in home runs (three) and RBIs (11).

Machado is 3 for 14 in the World Series but thinks the Dodgers have momentum after their dramatic win.

“This is huge. We were grinding until the last run came across the board. We’re 2-1 in the Series, which we needed,” he said. “We’ll get some rest and get back at it.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Worth shouting about: George Springer wins World Series MVP

LOS ANGELES — George Springer hit so many clutch home runs, he was a clear pick for World Series MVP.
He often was the Most Vocal Person, too — and that might be the most remarkable part of his story.

The Houston leadoff man hammered his way to the award, homering and doubling Wednesday (Thursday Manila time) to boost the Astros to their first championship with a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7.

He launched a Series record-tying five homers, including shots in each of the final four games, and celebrated those Springer Dingers by hollering around the bases.

Many years ago, that type of trip would’ve been hard to believe. Impossible, really.

As a kid, Springer stuttered so severely that he frequently fell silent, unless he was around his family or close friends. Over time, he’s improved so much that he graciously grants interviews, even on national television, and never seems to shy away from the spotlight. He even wore a live mic in center field during the All-Star Game in July.

Watch closely and you can see Springer, just for a moment, still begins to stumble over words sometimes. So he will calmly slow himself down, or pause for a second, before gathering himself and continuing on eloquently.

At 28, the All-Star center fielder has taken every chance he’s gotten this postseason to talk about Camp SAY — that’s the Stuttering Association for the Young.

Springer is a spokesman for the two-week summer camp that benefits kids and teens who stutter. He also runs a charity bowling event, raising money to help people attend the program.

“I hope there’s somebody somewhere out there that is impacted and can learn to just go be who you are and not let any stage or any place stop you,” he said last week.

On baseball’s big stage, the Dodgers couldn’t stop him.

Springer tied Reggie Jackson (1977) and Chase Utley (2009) for the most home runs in a Series. The UConn product became the first hitter to homer four games in a row during a single Series, and also set the mark with eight extra-base hits.

“This is a dream come true,” he said.

He bounced back fast from a tough start, when he struck out all four at-bats in the opener, extending his slump to 3 for 30. He looked lost at the plate facing Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, but manager A.J. Hinch firmly said Springer would stay atop the lineup.

Good move. Springer went 11 for 25 the rest of the way.

He hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the 11th inning of a Game 2 win at Dodger Stadium. He doubled during a victory in Game 3, and homered again in a Game 4 loss.

He connected for a huge homer in Game 5, moments after an ill-advised dive for a sinking liner that skipped past him. He later drew a two-out walk in the 10th that set up the winning run at Minute Maid Park.

Springer hit a solo home run in Game 6 that put the Astros ahead in a game they eventually lost 3-1.

His final Series line: a .379 average, seven RBIs and a 1.000 slugging percentage.

Springer rallied from a rugged showing in the AL Championship Series, when he batted just .115 (3 for 26) without an extra-base hit or RBI in seven games against the Yankees.

That came after his fourth and most productive season in the majors, when he set career highs by hitting .283 with 34 home runs and 85 RBIs.

His production follows his pedigree.

Drafted 11th overall by the Astros out of Connecticut in 2011, George Chelston Springer III comes from a family of athletes. His dad pitched in the Little League World Series, his mom was an accomplished gymnast, and his two sisters played softball in college.

In fact, Springer wears No. 4 to represent the four members of his immediate family. Engaged to be married in January, Springer won’t be able to bump up to No. 5 — the Astros retired that jersey for Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Dodgers beat Astros 3-1, force World Series to Game 7

LOS ANGELES— Joc Pederson sliced a drive over the left-field wall, pounded his chest and danced around the bases, taking as many twists and turns as this World Series itself.

Of course, the Los Angeles Dodgers forced the Houston Astros to Game 7.

Chris Taylor hit a tying double off Justin Verlander during a two-run rally in the sixth inning, Corey Seager followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly and the Dodgers beat the Astros 3-1 on Tuesday night to push this dramatic Fall Classic to the ultimate game.

Pederson homered in the seventh against Joe Musgrove, connecting off the right-hander for the second time in three games and making it a record 24 long balls that have been hit in this Series. Pederson pranced all the way to the plate, pointing at the Dodgers’ dugout and rubbing his thumbs and index fingers together to indicate what a money shot it was.

“You kind of black out in a situation like that. So I’m going to have to re-watch it to see what I did,” Pederson said.

It was the third home run of the Series for Pederson, who was demoted to the minors from mid-August until early September, then left off the NL Division Series roster. He had hit just one previous big league opposite-field homer this season, and teammates offered to pay him to go the other way.

“People are trying to get me encouraged to using the whole field,” he said. “I’m not very good at it.”
Yu Darvish starts Wednesday for the Dodgers, trying to win their first title since 1988, and Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw will be ready in the bullpen after getting knocked out in the fifth inning of Game 5.
“I can give you 27 innings,” Kershaw said. “I’ll be ready to go, whatever they need.”

Lance McCullers Jr. gets the ball for the Astros in the first World Series Game 7 ever at Dodger Stadium.
Darvish was chased in the second inning of Game 2, when McCullers pitched Houston to a 5-3 victory.

“You’ve got two teams with a bunch of dogs in the clubhouse. No one is afraid,” McCullers said.

Two nights after a 13-12, 10-inning slugfest under the roof at Minute Maid Park, pitching dominated.

George Springer’s third-inning home run against starter Rich Hill had given a 1-0 lead to Verlander and the Astros, trying for the first championship in their 56-season history. On Halloween night, a title for a team with orange in its colors seemed appropriate.

But it served only to set up the 10th blown lead of the Series, the fifth by Houston, as Verlander fell to 9-1 with the Astros.

Dodgers relievers combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings. Brandon Morrow retired Alex Bregman on a grounder to strand the bases loaded in the fifth, winner Tony Watson got Marwin Gonzalez to fly out with two on and two outs in the sixth, and Kenta Maeda escaped two-on trouble in the seventh when third baseman Justin Turner gloved Jose Altuve’s grounder and made a short-hop throw that first baseman Cody Bellinger scooped just in time.

After wasting a ninth-inning lead in Game 2 and losing Game 5, Kenley Jansen retired six straight batters (on 19 pitches) for the save and ended it by striking out 40-year-old pinch-hitter Carlos Beltran.

This will be the third World Series Game 7 in four years. The road team has won the last two after home teams had won every one since 1979.

Ten of the last 12 teams that won Game 6 to force a seventh game also won the title, but the Dodgers lost the previous six World Series in which they trailed 3-2. They have won just one of their six championships at home, in 1963.

A heat wave over and the skies overcast, the temperature dropped to 67 degrees at game time from 103 for last week’s opener, and there was a slight drizzle in the middle innings.

Los Angelenos with a laid-back reputation were on their feet for two-strike counts against Astros batters, a wave in Pantone 294 — also known as Dodger blue.

“We feed off the crowd, for sure,” Taylor said. “We feel we have a huge home-field advantage.”

Yuli Gurriel, who made a racist gesture toward Darvish in Game 3, was booed loudly during introductions and each time he batted, and Hill stepped off the rubber to allow the crowd extra time to jeer.

Verlander has 11 postseason wins but dropped to 0-4 in the Series with Detroit and Houston, which acquired him from the Tigers on Aug. 31 to win on nights like this. He allowed just one baserunner before Austin Barnes singled leading off the sixth. Verlander bounced a pitch that hit Chase Utley on the front of his right foot, and Taylor sent a 97 mph fastball down the right-field line as Barnes came home. Seager followed with a sacrifice fly to the warning track, a ball that likely would have landed in the pavilion in last week’s hot air.

Verlander prevented more damage when Turner fouled out and the right-hander fanned Bellinger, who struck out four times for the second time in the Series.

Springer homered for the third straight game and fourth time in the Series, one shy of the record set by
Reggie Jackson in 1977 and matched by Utley in 2009.

Brian McCann singled leading off the fifth and Gonzalez doubled past Turner and down the left-field line.
Hill struck out Josh Reddick and Verlander, and Springer was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Morrow relieved as the crowd booed manager Dave Roberts’ decision, and Hill slapped at four cups of liquid in the dugout, sending them spraying against the wall

“With Verlander on the mound, that was going to be the game,” Roberts said.

Appearing in his sixth straight Series game, Morrow got Bregman to ground to shortstop on his second pitch.

Watson walked Reddick leading off the seventh, Evan Gattis pinch hit for Verlander and Maeda relieved. Gattis bounced to shortstop, just beating Utley’s throw from second to avoid a double play. Springer reached on an infield single that bounced off Seager’s glove at shortstop and into left field, and Bregman’s fly to deep center allowed pinch-runner Derek Fisher to tag up and advance to third, bringing up Altuve. Walking down the dugout steps after his groundout, Altuve slammed his helmet.

“The pick is big,” Hinch said.

Attention quickly turned to Wednesday.

“I think it seems fitting,” Roberts said. “These two teams mirror one another.”

Pederson sat in the interview room with his older brother, Champ, who has Down Syndrome.

“I have a feeling that everything is possible,” Champ said. “I’m not going to say they have it, but I’m just going to say they will find a way.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Giles falters again, Astros lose to Dodgers in Game 4

HOUSTON — This time, the Astros couldn’t save Ken Giles.

Houston’s hard-throwing closer faltered again in Game 4 of the World Series, taking the loss in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-2 victory on Saturday night.

Giles was charged with three runs without getting an out, inflating his postseason ERA to 11.75. He’s allowed at least a run in six of seven appearances — a staggering flop after posting a 1.14 ERA over his final 38 regular-season games.

Last time out, Giles gave up a solo homer to Yasiel Puig and a tying hit to Enrique Hernandez to blow a lead in the 10th inning of Game 2. Houston bailed him out, rallying for a 7-6, 11-inning win.

There was no such comeback after Giles’ Game 4 collapse.

With the game tied at 1 in the ninth inning, Giles allowed a leadoff single to Corey Seager and walked Justin Turner. Cody Bellinger then lined a double into left-center, bringing Seager home.

Manager A.J. Hinch pulled Giles at that point, but the closer was charged with two more runs when Turner and Bellinger later scored.

Boos rained down from the home crowd as Giles walked off.

The player nicknamed 100-miles-Giles has quickly become a liability. He has a pair of saves this postseason — in Game 4 of the AL Division Series against Boston and Game 1 of the AL Championship Series versus the Yankees after allowing a run in each game — but he had blown leads in two of his last three outings before Saturday.

Giles had a 2.30 ERA in 63 appearances in the regular season. His ERA in two World Series games is 27.00.

Hinch was keeping the faith, though, saying after Game 2 that he thinks “Ken Giles is going to get another save in this series. I think he’s going to get some really big outs.”

He added: “Just because somebody has a bad day at work, does not mean that they need to be condemned and sent away. … I’m going to keep putting him in and trusting him.”

After this latest performance, Hinch may need to find a new go-to at the back of the bullpen.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Hot World Series on deck: Altuve, Astros vs Kershaw, Dodgers

Big-time aces Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander. Playoff boppers Jose Altuve and Justin Turner.

A pair of 100-win teams for the first time in nearly a half-century. Hollywood Walk of Fame vs. Texans who wear the star. A little extra Magic, plus Nolan back in the fast lane.

This is one hot World Series — the Houston Astros, fresh off a Game 7 victory over the Yankees, taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers, well rested after a postseason romp.

Could be real steamy, too. It’s supposed to be almost 100 degrees at Dodger Stadium for the opener Tuesday night, maybe the hottest temperature ever at a World Series game.

At least the familiar October chill that makes players and fans shiver shouldn’t be an issue outdoors in sun-baked California or under the retractable roof at Minute Maid Park.

Not that young stars Cody Bellinger and Carlos Correa would mind, nor would old pros Carlos Beltran and Chase Utley, nor top starters Dallas Keuchel and Yu Darvish.
Because a chance to win a ring doesn’t come very often — these teams that have already played more than 700 games against each other over the years already know that.

The Astros have never won the crown. They’re playing for a whole region, with the Houston Strong patches on their uniforms representing an area hit hard by Hurricane Harvey.

The Dodgers haven’t been in the World Series since 1988, when Kirk Gibson’s bat, Orel Hershiser’s arm and Tommy Lasorda’s moves outdid Oakland for the crown.

Now with Lakers great Magic Johnson as a part-owner, this LA team that led the majors with 104 wins is hoping to bring back the glory days that began in Brooklyn.

“I just want to win a World Series,” Kershaw said after the Dodgers dethroned the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series. “I know more than anybody how hard it is to get there. So, I’m definitely not taking this one for granted.”
Said mercurial outfielder Yasiel Puig: “The trophy’s coming soon.”

The Astros, the major leagues’ highest-scoring team this year, have never even won a World Series game. They only time they made it this far was 2005, when a club that included Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte got swept by the White Sox.

In fact, a World Series prize is the one piece of hardware missing from the trophy case from the Lone Star State. Texas teams have won the Super Bowl and championships in the NBA, NHL, college football and men’s and women’s basketball, but never in baseball.

Under the leadership of executive Nolan Ryan, the Texas Rangers came within one strike in 2011 before losing to St. Louis. The Ryan Express, who once pitched a no-hitter for Houston against the Dodgers, is currently an Astros exec.

The Astros posted 101 wins this year — not since Baltimore (108) and Cincinnati (102) in 1970 has the World Series matched teams who reached triple-digits.

These teams last met in 2015, when the Astros swept a three-game series at home. But they’d seen a lot of each other in the past.

Overall, the Dodgers are 388-323 vs. the Astros. Houston debuted as the Colt .45s as a National League expansion team in 1962 and eventually moved to the AL in 2013.

That first year in the AL, the young Astros got pounded and lost 111 times. But with smart drafts and player development, Houston emerged as a power. Manager A.J. Hinch’s club capped its rise by beating Boston in the AL Division Series, then stopping the Yankees 4-0 Saturday night in Game 7 of the ALCS.

The Dodgers, with a major league-high $226 million payroll, won their fifth straight NL West title this year, then 7-1 in the playoffs against the Diamondbacks and Cubs under manager Dave Roberts.

The result? Their first pennant since 1988 — the year Kershaw was born.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Great expectations: Indians eye World Series title after ’16 run

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Above the small cactuses and flowering plants dotting the concrete-blocked plaza outside the doorway to Cleveland’s training complex is a new sign that serves as both a reminder and motivator.

“American League Champions 2016,” it says.

The Indians have some unfinished business.


One swing away from beating the Chicago Cubs in an epic World Series last year, the Indians, who pumped up their payroll to nearly $130 million by winning baseball’s offseason with the surprise signing of free-agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion this winter, have their sights set on a return to the postseason — and this time winning it all.

“Everyone is very proud of what we accomplished last year, but everybody wants that one more run,” Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis said Sunday. “Everybody wants to get back. We finally got a taste of that fruit, and we want to be there and we want to stay there.”

With one of baseball’s best starting rotations, deepest bullpens and a lineup counting on the return of All-Star Michael Brantley from injury, the Indians, who lost 94 games in 2012, are positioned to make another run at ending a World Series title drought stretching to 1948 — now the majors’ longest.

Cleveland has vaulted from powderpuff to powerhouse.

The Indians are determined to erase the memory of last year’s Series when they gave away a 3-1 lead to the Cubs, who completed their comeback by winning an unforgettable Game 7 on Nov. 2 in extra innings. Chicago’s victory not only triggered a celebration on the soggy grass in Progressive Field, but a national outpouring of affection for the lovable Cubbies and their fans, who waited 108 years to sip championship champagne.

There was obvious heartache in Cleveland. But also hope.

By going so far in the postseason despite not having Brantley, missing starters Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar and losing starter Trevor Bauer in the AL Championship Series when he sliced open his right pinkie while repairing a drone at home, the Indians showed resiliency, confidence and a glimpse of their potential.

They were one step away, and this year the Indians are better prepared to take it.

Kipnis pointed to the Kansas City Royals, who bounced back from losing Game 7 of the World Series in 2014 to winning it the following year, as a model for the Indians.

“They knew they wanted to be right back there,” he said. “They knew what it might take or fill in the hole from what they were missing the year before and they went out and did it. We’re kind of hoping to follow that path and there are guys who now know what it takes and what they need to work on and what they need to kind of fix to get back there. It gives you that past experience that now you don’t have to ask any questions. You have that experience yourself.”

With a light rain falling and the nearby Estrella Mountains shrouded in low clouds, manager Terry Francona laid out his expectations during a team meeting on Sunday. Francona said he spent the past week stressing over how to deliver the proper message — “cutting and pasting the old-fashioned way, erasing” — as he felt he owed his players a clear outlook for 2017.

Francona wants his players to be proud of what they accomplished, but not to dwell upon the success or be satisfied. He reminded them not to cut corners or to take anything for granted.

As great as it was, last season is over.

“Our players have with their talent, and with the way they have played, people think they have a chance of doing some pretty good things,” he said. “Now you gotta go out and do it and there’s a way to do it. … if you got rewarded for last year, we would do it. Like if (baseball) said, ‘Hey, man, you went to the World Series last year, you get five extra wins.’ We’d take them. But that’s not how it’s going to be.”

The Indians were attentive while Francona spoke, and Kipnis said without being disrespectful, most off the players knew the message already.

“Guys were almost not like, ‘We know,'” he said. “But was like, ‘Hey, we know. Let’s get-this-going-kind-of-thing.’ It wasn’t like we’re too good for it by any means. It was we’re right there with you, and let’s get back to work — right now. You could get that sense around the room, and I think it’s a real good thing.”

NOTES: Francona isn’t ready to name ace Corey Kluber his opening-day starter, and said the club is “slowing” the right-hander down early in camp. Kluber pitched 215 innings during the regular season and another 34 1/3 in the postseason, making three starts on short rest. “If he’s not ready for Game 1, we can adjust,” Francona said. “We’re more than willing to, because there’s a lot at stake over the course of the year. We know opening day is a big deal, but we want him to position himself where he’s ready to log as many innings as we need.” The Indians open at Texas on April 3.

source: sports.inquirer.net

‘Next year’ finally arrives for joyous Chicago Cubs fans

CHICAGO — Next year is here.

At exactly 11:47 p.m. local time, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series that has eluded them for 108 years. Fans who packed bars to watch the games on television near Wrigley Field — neither of which existed back in 1908 — erupted in cheers before swarming onto the streets just before midnight Wednesday to celebrate in the shadows of the statues of Cubs greats Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and legendary announcer Harry Caray.

As the game ended, the roar from inside the bars and the throng of fans on the street was deafening, before the crowds both inside and out sang “go Cubs go” at the top of their lungs.

As the celebration progressed, thousands of fans poured into the streets leading away from Wrigley, many of them singing “We Are The Champions.”

Fans hugged each other, many of them crying. They took each other’s picture and pictures of themselves, and took turns writing their names and words of congratulations in chalk on Wrigley’s brick walls. Some got on friends’ shoulders to find spots high up on the walls that were not yet covered with names of fans.

An hour after the game ended there were still thousands of people in the ballpark neighborhood, known as Wrigleyville, and there were still fireworks exploding every few minutes.

“This was torture,” said Mike Delmanowski, a lifelong Cubs fan who flew to Chicago from California just to be surrounded by other Cubs fans. “I would not have missed it for anything.

“I am so proud to be a part of it,” said his wife, Sue, who was crying off and on from the fifth inning.

Mike Dillon said all he could think about was his father, who died without ever seeing what Dillon witnessed.

“I came here by myself, but I’m not alone at all,” said Mike Dillon, 57, of Joliet.

Craig and April Likhite drove to Chicago from Evanston with their 10-year-old son, Cade, because they wanted to see history made with other fans as close to Wrigley Field as possible.

“To finally see this in my lifetime with my son here with us, it means everything,” Craig Likhite said. “This game with all the ups and downs showed him exactly what it is to be a Cubs fan.”

“My dad passed away this year. He would have loved this,” said Likhite, 50.

Judy Pareti flew in from New York City to watch the game at Murphy’s Bleachers, a neighborhood sports bar in a building where her grandfather lived and where his hot dog stand was located. “My dad and grandfather owned it, and I was born here,” she said. “I would never want to be anywhere but here for this.”

Liz Wolfe, a 36-year-old physical therapist, said, “People always said if the Cubs win the World Series it would be like hell freezing over. I’m still in shock. This is the most exciting thing in my life.”

Long-time Cubs fan Bob Newhart, who grew up in the Chicago area, tweeted his congratulations to the team. “The billy goat is dead!! As I’ve said, from the beginning, I’m getting too old for this!,” the 87-year-old comedian wrote, alluding to one of the oldest alleged curses on the team.

The 8-7 extra-inning victory over the Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland came after the emptiness and bitterness of years past when the Cubs found spectacular and sometimes downright strange ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Every Cubs fan knows those stories, starting with the 1969 team loaded with Hall of Famers that amassed a 9 1/2-game lead in mid-August before they started losing game after game in such numbers that the Miracle Mets not only caught them but ended up winning the National League East by 8 games.

Then came 1984. After taking the first two games of the National League Divisional Series against the Padres at Wrigley, the Cubs needed just one win in San Diego to advance to the NLCS. They were swept in three games on the West Coast.

There were other playoff losses but none as painful as in 2003 when in a where-were-you-when-it-happened moment that Cubs fans still have trouble comprehending, Steve Bartman deflected a ball that seemed destined for Moises Alou’s glove with the Cubs just five outs from reaching the World Series.

Fans watched in horror as the Cubs fell apart, and few who left the park that night believed the team would win game seven the next night. They didn’t.

But that was all in the past as Cubs fans throughout Chicago celebrated into the early hours of Thursday.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Chapman, Cubs top Indians 3-2 to force Game 6 in World Series

CHICAGO — They’ve waited 108 years for a championship. So with this World Series on the verge of slipping away, the Chicago Cubs could not wait any longer.

Manager Joe Maddon summoned closer Aroldis Chapman from the bullpen in the seventh inning for the first eight-out save of his big league career, needing to hold off the Cleveland Indians in Game 5.

As nervous fans fretted at Wrigley Field, Chapman fired his 100 mph heat and preserved the Cubs’ 3-2 win Sunday night, cutting Cleveland’s lead to 3-2.

The Cubs won a Series game at Wrigley for the first time since Game 6 in 1945.

“High anxiety,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said. “A lot of deep breaths. Every pitch gets bigger and bigger as the game goes on. It’s unbelievable. Great win here, we sent these fans off with a win, now we have to go to Cleveland and win.”

Now, the team that led the majors in wins this year will try to extend its season again Tuesday night when Chicago right-hander Jake Arrieta faces Josh Tomlin at Cleveland in Game 6.

Chicago is trying to become the first club to overcome a 3-1 Series deficit since the 1985 Kansas City Royals and the first to do it by winning Games 6 and 7 on the road since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.

Cleveland, in search of its first title since 1948, is in search of its third-ever title and has won the championship at home just once, in 1920.

Chapman hadn’t pitched in the seventh inning since 2012. He threw 42 pitches, 15 of them at least 100 mph.

The lefty struck out four and fanned Jose Ramirez, who had homered earlier, with 101 mph heat to end it.

With the crowd at the Friendly Confines desperate for a win, Kris Bryant homered to start a three-run burst in the fourth off Trevor Bauer.

That gave Jon Lester a 3-1 lead. The Indians nicked him for a run in the sixth, and Carl Edwards Jr. took over to begin the seventh with a 3-2 edge.

Chapman came in with a runner on second and one out. He stranded the potential tying run at second base in the seventh and at third in the eighth, then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

Lester, the Game 1 loser, improved to 4-1 in Series play by allowing two runs and six hits.

Ramirez homered in the second to put the Indians ahead. Cleveland closed within a run in the sixth when Rajai Davis singled, stole second scored on a two-out single by Francisco Lindor.

Mike Napoli singled against Edwards leading off the seventh and took second on a passed ball by rookie catcher Willson Contreras, who had just replaced David Ross.

Carlos Santana flied out, and Chapman came in to strike out Ramirez with a 100 mph pitch. He hit Brandon Guyer on the left leg and retired Roberto Perez on a groundout as fans screamed in relief.

Then in the eighth, Davis singled with one out on a hard grounder down the line that Rizzo stopped with a dive — Chapman took a few seconds before heading to cover first, leaving Rizzo with no one to throw to. Davis stole second, and after Jason Kipnis fouled out, swiped third standing up.

Lindor, Cleveland’s hottest hitter, took a 101 mph pitch at the knees for a called third strike, then stood in the batter’s box for nearly 20 seconds in anger and frustration.

Bauer, his pinkie seemingly healed from a cut sustained while playing with a toy drone during the AL Championship Series, dropped to 0-2 in the Series, giving up three runs and six hits in four innings.

After a pair of relatively balmy autumn nights on the North Side, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees at game time and a 10 mph win added chill. Maddon wore a ski hat with a blue pompom rather than a baseball cap.

Bryant, in a 1-for-15 slide, led off the fourth with a drive into the left-field bleachers, where a fan in the first row dropped it.

Rizzo sent the next pitch off the ivy on the right-field wall for a double, admiring its flight before hustling, took third on Ben Zobrist’s single and came home with the go-ahead run when Addison Russell reached out and topped a pitch down the third-base line for an infield single.

Jason Heyward took a called third strike, slumping Javier Baez dropped a bunt down the third-base line for a single that loaded the bases and Ross, a 39-year-old making perhaps his final big league start, hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead.

CARBON COPY

Ross allowed Santana’s second-inning foul pop to glance off his glove and Rizzo batted the ball in the air with his bare hand, then gloved it. It was similar to Game 6 in 1980, when Philadelphia first baseman Pete Rose grabbed Frank White’s foul pop after it nicked off catcher Bob Boone.

WEB GEM

Cubs right fielder Heyward climbed the brick wall in the right-field corner, then reached back to catch Bauer’s wind-blown foul fly.

MOVING ON

This was the last game with the bullpens in foul territory at Wrigley, where new bullpens under the bleachers are to open next season. Zobrist had to climb the mound to catch Kipnis’ seventh-inning fly.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Finally! A Cubs team that ain’t afraid of no ghosts

CHICAGO — Grown men didn’t weep.

Maybe because anyone old enough to actually remember the last time the Chicago Cubs made it to the World Series would be at least 71 and know enough to stay home instead of parking himself in the middle of the pandemonium that engulfed Wrigley Field late Saturday.

Not so 78-year-old Billy Williams, a Hall of Famer and Cubs’ mainstay through the 1960s and ’70s. This was a moment he had to see for himself.

“I think about the guys I played with who never got to see this,” Williams began. “Especially Ernie Banks and (Ron) Santo. Man, we tried so hard for so many years and now they’re gone. … And I can’t tell you how long these fans stuck with us or how many times I heard stuff like, ‘This is the year.’

“But this,” he said with a sweep of his arm toward the still-rocking grandstand, “is finally the year.”

After believing their team was cursed by a goat, crossed by a black cat and undone by one of their own, after checking their sanity at the turnstiles for seven decades and counting, fans of the team on the North Side of town no longer needed any excuses . None needed reminding, either, that there was one hill still left to climb, starting Tuesday night in Cleveland.

But at the moment, a white flag with a single blue “W” fluttered in the night sky atop the huge, manually operated scoreboard in center field — a tradition begun in the 1930s so that riders on the nearby elevated train line would know when the Cubs won — and their fans basked in its possibilities.

“They win 100-plus games (in the regular season), they really have no weaknesses, they’ve got youth, veteran starting pitching … they catch the baseball, they can slug, they get on base, and they’re relentless,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward, by way of a scouting report.

“That’s a very good club over there.”

You couldn’t have said that just seven years ago, when owner Tom Ricketts forked over $875 million of the family’s fortune to buy the ballclub and that faith was tested mightily. Normally a level-headed sort, he fell in love with the Cubs soon after moving to the city as an 18-year-old to attend the University of Chicago. The Cubs went 83-78 in Ricketts’ first year, then posted five losing seasons in a row.

In 2011, he shelled out good money to hire onetime Red Sox boy wonder Theo Epstein to rebuild the roster as president of baseball operations; the next year, the Cubs lost 101 games. But with Epstein pulling the strings, they also began collecting youngsters like Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Kris Bryant, occasionally mixing in high-priced veteran pitchers like Jon Lester and John Lackey and turning around Jake Arrieta’s career.

In 2015, Ricketts shelled out good money again to hire manager Joe Maddon; last season, they were swept by the Mets in the NLCS. The cornerstone of Maddon’s baseball philosophy is focus on the short term; try to win each at-bat, each inning, each game. He pulls stunts to make it fun — bringing in zoo animals, wearing pajamas on the flight home from road trips and breaking up the monotony of a long season.

But even he struggled on this night not to look back.

“You stand out on that platform afterwards and you’re looking at the ballpark and the fans and the W flags everywhere, and truthfully you think about everybody,” Maddon said. “I think about the fans and their parents and their grandparents and great-grandparents and everything that’s been going on here for a while. I think about my wife, Jaye, my kids, my mom back in Pennsylvania, my dad who wasn’t here.

“It’s overwhelming,” he added finally, “and it’s awesome.”

The Cubs last won it all in 1908, which means they’ve been without a championship 40 years longer than the Indians, holders of the second-longest run without a championship in major North American pro sports. They may be the sentimental favorites, but they’re also savvy, ruthless and blessed with short memories — basically, anything but your father’s Cubbies.

Ditto for the owner. Asked what it would feel like to see that same flag fly at the end of the World Series, Ricketts admitted he already had his eye on a souvenir. It was likely to be more painful than expensive.

“I may make the ‘W’ a tattoo,” he said.

He won’t be alone.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Cubs beat Dodgers 5-0 to reach 1st World Series since 1945

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs won their first National League pennant since 1945 and are a step closer to ending a 108-year World Series drought after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 on Saturday to clinch a 4-2 victory in the NL Championship Series.

Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks outpitched Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw while Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras homered early at Wrigley Field.

The drought ended when closer Aroldis Chapman got Yasiel Puig to ground into a double play, setting off wild celebrations among the success-starved fans.

The Cubs will open the World Series at Cleveland on Tuesday. The Indians haven’t won it since 1948. CBB/rga

source: sports.inquirer.net