The beat goes on, baseball fans. And this World Series is absolutely lit. We’re back to square one with this matchup, as a pair of lefties tangle again after facing off in Game 1.
Today’s Matchups
LHP Clayton Kershaw (LAD) versus LHP Dallas Keuchel (HOU) a�� 8:20 p.m. ET, FOX
This is like a heavyweight battle where each punch has potential to be a knockout blow. Houston led late 1-0 with the chance to take a 3-1 leada��not unlike the Dodgers in Game 2, where they could have come to Houston up 2-0a��but Joc Pederson and friends broke through to make this a best-of-three series.
That’s the kind of drama that not even the best screenwriters can script, with twists and turns at every stop, and the perfect juxtaposition of good and bad pitching. Houston can’t trust the back end of its bullpen. Or the front end. Basically, their bullpen is the baseball version of breakfast for dinner. Hope you like eggs!
It might not matter in this one, though. Keuchel has been brilliant when healthy this season. And, he’s looking to bounce back from being merely decent in Game 1 when he allowed three earned runsa��including a pair of homersa��in 6.2 innings in a 3-1 loss. While Keuchel’s breed of baseballA�grounders, grounders and more groundersa��will play anywhere, he was especially great at Minute Maid Park this year: 2.26 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 0.95 WHIP. He wasn’t bad on the road (3.53 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) either. But he really gets the juices flowing in Houston.
Does it seem to anyone else that the odd-numbered games feel a little more important than the even ones in a series? Maybe it’s just us.
Oh no big deal, either. The Astros only have to win their final home game of the year and still steal one in Los Angeles. Oh, and the best pitcher on the planet will be on the mound against them. Kershaw shoved the phony baloney about him not being able to pitch in the postseason down the drain last time out, holding the Astros down for just a solo home run over seven innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Huh, maybe he’s just really damn good? That could be it.
