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Game 7's (okay really Game 5 in this case) are supposed to be nerve wrecking and exciting. I think this game will be. The Indians, heavy favorites going into the series, are expected to win according to most experts. The Yankees, young and ahead of schedule, will have to wait until next year. But they have to play the game anyway, so let's see what happens. There are some Indian and Yankee hitters in serious slumps.

Lindor 1 for 14? Yeah he had the grand slam and he deserves all the credit for that. But Girardi should have challenged the hit batter and been out of the inning. Still Lindor could have struck out but he didn't. The grand slam not withstanding, he's slumping. Ramirez is 2 for 17 with 0 rbi.

Judge has struck out a dozen times in 4 games. Didi Gregorius is 1 for 13 and has 6 walks. He had 25 in 559 plate appearances this year (1 every 22.4 PA). He's taking the walk once every 3 PAs in this series. Gardner is 3 for 16 with 1 run scored.

Something has got to give. I expect Lindor or Ramirez to do something in this game and I expect Gardner, Judge or Gregorius to something also. Perhaps if either teams gets a good game from 2 of them, they win.

Here's the averages for the ALDS/Cleveland vs. NYY

CLEVELAND INDIANS

Lindor: 1 for 14 (.071) HR*, 4 rbi*, 2 runs, 4 BB, 5 K
Kipnis: 4 for 18 (.222) rbi, 5 K
Ramirez: 2 for 17 (.118) 2 runs, BB, 7 K
Bruce: 4 for 16 (.250) 2 HR, 4 rbi, 4 runs, BB, 7 K
Santana: 4 for 15 (.267) HR, 4 rbi, 2 runs, 2 BB, 4 K
Brantley: 1 for 11 (.091) BB, 4 K
Chisenhall: 0 for 5 (.000) 1 run, 4 K, HBP*
Jackson: 2 for 10 (.200) 3 K, BB
Perez: 2 for 7 (.286) HR, 2 BB, 3 K, run, rbi
Urshela: 1 for 9 (.111) 4 K
Gomes: 2 for 6 (.333) 2 BB, 2 K
Encarnacion: 0 for 3 (.000) run
Gonzalez: 0 for 2 (.000)

The big dogs for Cleveland have been Jay Bruce and Carlos Santana (he's got to change his evil ways!!!). Lindor and Ramirez worry me for game 5.

NY YANKEES

Gardner: 3 for 16 (.188) run, SF, BB, 2 K
Judge: 1 for 15 (.067) run, 2B, 2 rbi, 4 BB, 12 K
Sanchez: 4 for 19 (.211) 2 HR, 3 runs, 3 rbi, 7 K
Gregorius: 1 for 13 (.077) run, 6 BB, 3 K
Bird: 4 for 14 (.286) 2 HR, 3 run, 3 rbi, 3 BB, 4 K
Castro: 5 for 18 (.278) 3 runs, rbi, 2 2B, BB, 2 K
Hicks: 5 for 16 (.313) 2 runs, 4 rbi, HR, 5 K
Headley: 0 for 10 (.000) BB, 5 K
Frazier: 4 for 14 (.286) 2 runs, rbi, 2B, BB, 4 K
Ellsbury: 0 for 4 (.000) BB, 2 K
Torreyes: 0 for 1 (.000) K

The Yankees have been doing it with the mid and lower half of the lineup. Sanchez, Bird, Castro, Hicks and Frazier. Judge and Didi should worry Indian fans.

The Pitching? It's been good. It's been bad.

Cleveland Starters :
Bauer (1-1) 8.1 IP - 6 H - 4 R - 0 ER - 3 BB - 11 K - 0 HR
Carrasco (0-0) 5.2 IP - 3 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 3 BB - 7 K - 0 HR
Kluber (0-0) 2.2 IP - 7 H - 6 R - 6 ER - 1 BB - 4 K - 2 HR

Yankee Starters:
Gray (0-1) 3.1 IP - 3 H - 3 R - 3 ER - 4 BB - 2 K - 1 HR
Sabathia (0-0) 5.1 IP - 3 H - 4 R - 2 ER - 3 BB - 5 K - 0 HR
Tanaka (1-0) 7 IP - 3 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 1 BB - 7 K - 0 HR
Severino (1-0) 7 IP - 4 H - 3 R - 3 ER - 1 BB - 9 K - 2 HR

The totals:

Cleveland Starters : 16.2 IP , 16 H, 10 R, 6 ER, 7 BB, 22 K, 2 HR / 3.24 ERA / 1.38 WHIP
Yankee Starters: 22.2 IP, 13 H, 10 R, 8 ER, 9 BB, 23 K, 4 HR / 3.18 ERA / 0.97 WHIP

Cleveland Relievers:

Allen: 4.1 IP - 3 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 2 BB - 6 K - 0 HR
Shaw: 4.0 IP - 2 H - 1 R - 1 ER - 0 BB - 2 K - 1 HR
Miller: 3.0 IP - 2 H - 1 R - 1 ER - 2 BB - 3 K - 1 HR
Tomlin: 3.0 IP - 0 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 0 BB - 4 K - 0 HR
Olsen: 2.0 IP - 0 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 0 BB - 2 K - 0 HR
Smith: 2.0 IP - 0 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 1 BB - 3 K - 0 HR
Salazar: 1.2 IP - 0 H - 1 R - 0 ER - 2 BB - 3 K - 0 HR
Clevinger: 1.1 IP - 3 H - 2 R - 1 ER - 4 BB - 3 K - 1 HR

Yankee Relievers:

Chapman: 3.2 IP - 4 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 1 BB - 6 K - 0 HR
Betances: 3.0 IP - 1 H - 1 R - 1 ER - 3 BB - 5 K - 0 HR
Garcia: 2.2 IP - 0 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 2 BB - 3 K - 0 HR
Kahnle: 2.2 IP - 0 H - 0 R - 0 ER - 0 BB - 5 K - 0 HR
Robertson: 2.0 IP - 1 H - 1 R - 1 ER - 1 BB - 3 K - 1 HR
Warren: 1.0 IP - 2 H - 1 R - 1 ER - 0 BB - 1 K - 0 HR
Green: 0.1 IP - 2 H - 3 R - 3 ER - 0 BB - 0 K - 1 HR

Totals:

Cleveland Relievers: 21.1 IP - 10 H - 6 R - 4 ER - 11 BB - 25 K - 3 HR / 1.69 ERA / 0.98 WHIP
Yankee Relievers: 15.1 IP - 10 H - 6 R - 6 ER - 7 BB - 23 K - 1 HR / 3.57 ERA / 1.11 WHIP

Pretty close and surprising. The Cleveland bullpen has been stellar. The Yankee bullpen has been good with the exception of 1 game. The Cleveland starters have been good. The Yankee starters have been good. Cleveland starters have had 2 bad games. Yankee starters have had 1 bad game. So what to expect Wednesday?

Everybody and their brother believes there's no way Kluber has another dud. I'd agree. They seem to think C.C. will pitch well. I agree. But C.C.'s leash is going to be half as long as Kluber's. I think it's going to be the Yankee bullpen vs Kluber and I'm hoping Francona let's the leash out a little longer than he should. Green, the Yankees best reliever has pitched 1/3 of an inning. He will be the first one in. Followed by Robertson, Kahnle and Chapman though Girardi could go any order in an elimination game. Miller will be the first one out of the Cleveland bullpen and if Kluber goes 7 or more, it'll probably be Miller, Shaw and Allen. The Indians are set up well, as they have been the last two years. The Yankees have to hope they get more offense than they've got from Gardner, Judge and Gregorius. It should be a good game but when is it ever as it should be? I expect the unexpected but entertaining none-the-less.

Gardner and Gregorius came through.....in a big way. Kluber did not have a good outing. Lindor and Ramirez stayed cold. Didi hit two blasts in the first three innings but the key runs were delivered by Gardner. After a 12 pitch at bat against Cody Allen he drives in Hicks and Frazier scored on the 9th error the Indians committed in the series. In fact, the only games they didn't have an error were game 1 and game 3 and the Yankees scored a total of 1 run in those two games. Unfortunately for the Indians, they didn't hit in one of them and lost 1-0.

Before the series, if someone had said 'Kluber is going to lose two games, have an era above 12.00 and not pitch into the 5th inning in either start' , we might have asked him what he was smoking. If someone had said, 'Judge and Sanchez were going to bat a combined .116 with 26 strikeouts', we might have said the Indians/Astros should be a great series. But despite that terrible average and the number of strikeouts, they drove in a quarter of the Yankees runs. If someone had said, 'the Indians are going to commit three times as many errors as the Yankees', we might have thought their pitching would still bail them out. They couldn't.

A crazy series, to be sure. Yankee starters got 2 wins, Indian starters got 1. The Yankees were 7 for 33 with RISP, the Indians 8 for 29. Kluber and Bauer started 4 of the 5 games and made it past 3 and 2/3's IP once. Sabathia, Tanaka and Severino pitched 23.2 innings, allowed 15 hits, 5 walks and 9 runs (7 earned) while striking out 30 (2.66; 0.85 Whip; 11.4 K's/9). Unbelievable as it may seem, those 3 outpitched Kluber and Bauer. But now it's on to Houston and they're underdogs once again. And rightfully so.

Who is this guy and why is he so stupid about baseball? "The flawed baseball playoff structure"?

He claims a 5 games series is just 3% of the baseball season while 1 football playoff game is 1/16 of a season. But he doesn't take into account a football regular season is the majority of 4 months, while a baseball regular season is all of 6 months. He's claiming the playoff series are too short!! Or maybe the NFL should have 3 game series?

He doesn't take into account a MLB team who wins 55% of their games usually makes the postseason while an NFL football who wins 55% of their games usually doesn't. Baseball is a LONG season. To make the playoff even longer would wear guys out. He's an idiot IMHO. He's saying the best team in baseball rarely wins the World Series and I suppose is suggesting the best team in football usually does. Doesn't he remember the 2007 Patriots? The 2014 Seahawks? The 2011 Packers? Hell, how about the 1968 Colts?

You can't compare totally different sports.

So the dream of reviving the Dodgers/Yankees rivalry is still alive. One more series for each. I remember those 3 meetings in the late 70's and early 80's like it was yesterday. I just can't remember yesterday like it was yesterday.