World Series Game 4: Dodgers (Casparius) at Yankees (Gil)

Gleyber spends a lot of time on those eye brows.

we get one more game.

after a little sloppiness early, settled in and had a great game. ABs were great. seemed like a different team.

no doubt - volpe potg. the grand slam and then creating a big insurance run in the 8th w aggressive running. wells earns an honorable for his HR, double that ultimately led to the first run. looked like a different player. torres blew it open w a 3-run HR. verdugo drove in 2. and judge showed signs of life w a hit and on 3 of 5 times and no Ks.

weaver gets an honorable for his 4 outs. every one in the bullpen did their job. holmes w 1.1 innings. and mayza closed it out. gil not good.

Almost forgot:
Torres' 2nd HR of the playoffs: 103.5 mph, 366 feet, 26° launch angle, a HR in <HA, HA, SMOLTZ!!> 5 of 30 MLB parks. The other four: Great American (of course), Minute Maid (sure), Citizens' Bank (that makes sense) and Comerica.

Wait, what? Comerica?? Well, yeah. It's only 365 feet to right center and how deep was this HR? Oh, yeah: 366. That's how.

OK, tonight's stars of the game features, as movie people used to say about a a Cecil B. DeMille movie, a cast of thousands. Whittling this down will be tough...

Honorable Mentions. On the pitching side: Mark Leiter, for two big outs around a walk, two K's in the 7th against Edman and Ohtani, both batting as the tying run. Hill, picking up for Gil and getting two outs, allowing a hit. He got two grounders, but the Yanks couldn't turn two on either one. Even Gil, because he took a big punch and got through 4 with a lead. He faltered in the 5th, but was bailed out by both Hill and...Holmes, who got 4 big outs, striking out 2, to end the rally in the 5th and get the Yankees to the 7th. He doesn't get a star of the game, so I hope he's consoled by getting the win...in a World Series game. He's now 3-1 on the playoffs. On the hitting side, just about everyone contributed...Torres with a the 3-run HR in the 8th to blow it open. Verdugo with not one, but two make contact/RBI grounders scoring their first run in the 2nd to make it a 2-1 game, and the grind it out 11-pitch battle fielder's choice grounder in the 8th that scored the 7th run and pulled Honeywell's cork so that he gave up 4 more after it and finished things for tonight. Chisholm with a hit, a walk and another stolen base, putting pressure back on Hudson, who eventually folded. Judge and Soto for a hit and a BB each, leading to the 11th run. Even Rizzo for a fine play diving against the netting back of 1st to put and end to Teoscar's at bat leading off the 5th right after the slam.

The three stars of the game:

3rd star: Wells again, for coming out of his offensive coma, doubling high off the wall in right, moving Volpe to 3rd, leading to Verdugo's 1st RBI grounder, cutting the Dodgers' lead in half. Leadoff HR in the 6th, with the Dodgers coming back hard and the Yanks gasping for air, doubling the lead to 6-4. Drawing a walk in the 8th and coming around on the Torres 3-run HR. Plus the usual good job behind the plate, guiding Holmes and five relievers through the minefield of the Dodgers' order, pitching out of trouble in multiple innings. Welcome back to the land of the living, Austin.

2nd star: Weaver again. Went up the ladder, blowing it by Betts as the tying run at the plate in the 7th. Getting the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the 8th, protecting the 2-run lead with 3 K's in 4 batters against the 2-3-4-5 of the Dodgers' order. He'd have finished it off, too, but fortunately, the Yanks didn't need him to.

1st star of the game. Got a bad slider from Hudson down and in, and got the Monster Slam in the 4th that turned the Series, if only for tonight. Drew a walk, stole a base, and yes, finally did score the first run in the 2nd inning. Hustle double in the 8th, knocking the ball out of Edman's mitt with his head. Led a double steal, moving an important insurance run to 3rd. Got a great jump on the hard grounder by Verdugo to Lux with the infield in, forcing the wide throw that allowed him to sneak past the tag on the 3rd base side. Nifty sliding backhand stop, diving to his right on Betts grounder in the 5th to get a big force play. His bonehead baserunning play on the Wells double meant Volpe didn't score from 2nd with 1 out, but at least it wasn't a TOOTBLAN. A little lagging on the double grounder, had to wait for the soft toss from Torres and adjust, and didn't get it to 1st in time. Oh, well...nobody's perfect. For the HR that saved the season, at least for now, you're the Star of the Game, hometown fan Anthony Volpe.

OK, not late notifications, so I'm going to get going.
See you all later this evening for Game 5.
Good morning to all.
Bye.