Rangers Drub Astros On Way To World Series, Diamondbacks Force Game 7

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Two LCS Game Sevens. What more could a baseball fan ask for?

Monday night’s games were decided early on. We didn’t have the tension and suspense of a late-game comeback and or walk-off win. Even so, the games were exciting because of what was at stake: a trip to the World Series for the Rangers and winner-take-all Game 7 for the Diamondbacks.

The Rangers and Diamondbacks players got the job done on the field. But each winning team on Monday night was led by a manager and coaching staff that devised a successful game plan and made the necessary adjustments as the games progressed. They put their players in position to succeed and they did.

Let’s break it down.

Adolis Garcia powers Rangers to Game 7 win

Garcia deserves the headlines. He went 3-for-5 in Game 7, including 2 home runs. He knocked in 5 of the Rangers’ runs in the team’s 11-4 victory over the Astros. Garcia hit home runs in each of Games 4, 5, 6 and 7 and was named the ALCS MVP. Astros fans booed Garcia mercilessly in the final two games of the series and Garcia sent them rushing for the exits before the last out was recorded. His revenge game is A+.

But the tone for Game 7 was set even before Garcia stepped to the plate in the 1st inning. Two batters earlier, Corey Seager turned around a Cristian Javier fastball up in the zone and planted it in the second deck for a 1-0 Rangers lead. Coming into Game 7, Seager had mustered only 4 hits in 22 at-bats in the series. He’d gone hitless against Javier in Game 3. Seager ended Game 7 a triple short of the cycle.

The Rangers had a plan to attack Javier’s high fastballs aggressively and it worked. Before Javier and Astros manager Dusty Baker knew what was coming, the Rangers had a 3-0 lead.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy also had a pitching plan and it worked to perfection. Max Scherzer started the game and gave up 2 runs in 2 2/3 innings. He left with a 4-2 lead and Yordan Alvarez on 3rd base with 2 outs. With Michael Brantley at the plate, Bochy brought in his best left-handed pitcher: starter Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery retired Brantley and pitched 2 more innings without allowing a run.

Having Montgomery ready to back up Scherzer was a classic Bochy move. Giants fans watched Bochy work this kind of bullpen magic over and over again during the team’s 3 World Series runs.

When Montgomery came in, I immediately thought of Game 6 of the 2010 NLCS. The Giants were up 3-2 in the series and playing the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Here’s the pitching line for that game. Sanchez, Bumgarner, and Lincecum were starters in 2010. Affeldt, Lopez and Wilson were relievers. Bochy had the right guy ready at the right time and it worked.

He did the same thing in Game 7 last night.

Dusty Baker’s big mistake was using J.P. France to start the 4th. His bigger mistake was leaving France in after the Rangers scored 2 more runs on an Evan Carter bases-loaded single to make the score 6-2. By the time Baker pulled France, Texas was up 8-2 and had the game well in hand.

The Texas Rangers will play for a World Series Championship for the first time since 2011. No matter who wins the National League Pennant, the Rangers will have home field advantage and will host Games 1 and 2 on Friday and Saturday.

Diamondbacks run roughshod over lifeless Phillies, force Game 7

Aaron Nola will be a free agent after this season. He may have pitched his last game in a Phillies uniform. If so, he’ll be thinking about the 2nd inning of Game 6 for a long, long time.

Nola looked dominant in the 1st inning, dispensing with the Diamondbacks on three strikeouts, while allowing only a single to Gabby Moreno. But Nola lost command of the strike zone in the 2nd, which made his pitches in the zone much more hittable. Tommy Pham and Geraldo Perdomo launched back-to-back home runs to put Arizona up 2-0. Then Nola walked Alek Thomas and gave up a double to Evan Longoria on a ball that was served on a tee. 3-0 D’Backs.

The Phillies never recovered and lost 5-1.

They never recovered because D’Backs manager Torey Lovullo and pitching coach Brent Strom put together a brilliant game plan.

In the early innings, they refused to let Kyle Schwarber or Bryce Harper beat them. D’Backs starter Merrill Kelly walked both Schwarber and Harper in the 1st inning, daring Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott—who hit behind Harper—to make something happen. Neither did. Kelly walked Schwarber in the 2nd inning and struck out Harper to start the 3rd by attacking him on the edges of the zone.

When the D’Back’s extended their lead to 4-1, Kelly got more aggressive and struck out both Schwarber and Harper in the 5th by mixing his cutter with his curveball.

Lovullo lifted Kelly after 5 innings, a somewhat surprising move given Kelly’s dominance. The TBS broadcasting trio of Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur, and Ron Darling expressed their displeasure and decried how analytics were ruining the game. (Ron Darling actually referred to the analytics folks as “the intelligensia,” which caused me to laugh out loud).

But the move paid off. Big time. Reliever Ryan Thompson mowed through the Phillies in the 6th on just 10 pitches. Thompson and Andrew Saalfrank dispensed with the Phillies in the 7th, thanks in part to a great play by Gabby Moreno to nab Schwarber trying to take 2nd on a wild pitch.

Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos, Schwarber and Harper were all hitless in the game. That is a recipe for success if you’re the Diamondbacks.

Game 7 will pit rookie sensation Brandon Pfaadt against postseason wizard Ranger Suarez. Pfaadt stymied the Phillies in Game 3 but didn’t pitch deep into the game. Suarez didn’t allow a run in 5 1/3 innings pitched.

A trip to Globe Life Field is on the line.