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​Hal McCoy will be at Crabshire’s Tavern, Centerville, January 29th from 3:00 to 5:00. Hal will be talking baseball as only he knows it, mixing and mingling with the guests, and offering his book for sale! Please join us for a fun filled afternoon of baseball, libations, and good times! Hal would love to see you and your families.

By HAL McCOY

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, just 27 days before the start of spring training — but who is counting.

HALL OF FAME SHORSTOP Ozzie Smith, who played for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals, was in Cincinnati Tuesday to speak at the La Salle Sports Stag and was asked if he liked coming to Cincinnati.

“Why would I ever like coming to Cincinnati?” he said. “I hated it. Why? Because we had to play The Big Red Machine.”

LATE NIGHT TELEVISION drives me to distraction. Earlyl this week I decided to watch a move, ‘Hurricane Season,’ about a high school basketball team from New Orleans that won a state championship the year Katrina obliterated the city.

It started at midnight and seven minutes in the Centric network broke for commercials. And commercials. And more commercials. I thought there must have been 20 commercials.

So at ther next break, I decided to count the commercials. The break came at 12:33. I was absolutely correct. There were 20 commericals about: a movioe, paper towels, seasoning, chocolate, candy, a chain restaureant, hair coloring, insurance, health foods, water filters, weight loss, credit checking, vaporizors, hotel reservations, tax preparations, on-line schooling, dish washing liquid, baby food, exercise bikes, movie promo.

After those 20 commercials the move resumd at 12:42 (nine minutes of commercials). Eight minutes later, 20 more commercials. I gave up. There was a horrible movie on MGM, but I watched it because MGM shows no-commercial breaks movies with just one intermission.

REMEMBER THE TV show Dragnet and Detective Joe Friday, played by Jack Webb? Well, Joe Fridays badge number was 714. That’s because Webb was a huge baseball fan and Babe Ruth was his favorite player and Ruth hit 714 career home runs.

EVERY YEAR I attend a baseball banquet in Portsmouth, an event to raise money for the maintenance of the famous murals on the flood walls in downtown Portsmouth.

The star of the show every year is former scout Gene Bennett, who worked for the Reds for more than 50 years and signed players like Don Gullett and Barry Larkin.

The price of admission is worth every penny just to hear the pre-dinner prayer offered up by Al Oliver, a Portsmouth native and former star outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Texas Rangers.

Oliver was a teammate of outfielder Roberto Clemente and Oliver remembers an eerie comment made by Clemente on the last day of the 1972 season.

Clemente had 2,999 hits on the final day of the season and Oliver told him, “Well, if you don’t get your 3,000th hit today you’ll get it next year.”

Said Clemente, “God has the last say.”

Clemente got his 3,000th hit that day, his 3,000th and last. During the off-season he put together an air lift to carry food and drink and clothing to the people of Nicaragua after an earthquate. Clemente’s plane went down shortly after takeoff and he was killed.

A GREAT QUOTE BY a former Reds employee who worked for former owner Marge Schott, who was banished from baseball for, among many things, racial slurs. Said the employeoe, “Marge said good things about bad people and bad things about good people.”

WHILE AT PORTSMOUTH HIGH, Oliver was an outstanding basketball player. I saw him play. I was with the 1964 Dayton Belmont state champions when they played at Portsmouth, which was unbeaten at the time. Belmont beat them in their home gym, even though Belmont star Bill Hosket keeps telling Oliver, “You guys cheated. You had your own refs and one basket was in front of a stage and every time we shot free throws the students would shake the basket supports and make the basket move. But you guys were the toughest team we played all year.”

Oliver went to Kent State on a basketball scholarship, but last only one quarter before deciding to pursue baseball. “I thought it would be easier to face Bob Gibson and Tom Sreaver than to face Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain,” he said.

By HAL McCOY

There are a few of my favorite words:

MORIBUND: A synonym for the Cleveland Browns. When some folks began wondering if Alabama could beat the Browns, I scoffed in unison with the experts. How absurd. Then somebody played a mock video game between the Browns and Alabama and the Tide won, 34-0. Would it really be that close?

CHARTREUSE: The color the Seattle Seahaws wore Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams. The team called it action green. But the Seakhawks jerseys, pants, socks and shoes were chartreuse. I know that because my Grandma McCoy drove a chartreuse Dodge Dart and she drove it like the LA Rams’ offense — not very fast, not very far and with constant sputtering.

ECCENTRIC: That word clearly describes Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who never saw a microphone or camera that didn’t make him salivate. His rookie quarterback, Dak Prescott, has been as productive as Mattel at Christmas time in place of injured Tony Romo. But Romo is healthy and Prescott had the audacity to lose a close one to the New York Giants — after winning eight straight — and Jones is flapping his lips about Romo’s possible return to quarterback. The best thing Jones can do for the Cowboys is squat in a corner and count the money Prescott is bringing in.

STUPEFY: The word is close to the word stupid, which is how Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh sounded in response to rumors he might become head coach of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. Harbaugh said the rumors came from enemy collegiate coaches, the top three, and he called them ‘jive turkeys.’ When he says, “Top three,” he has to be referring to Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, who knows nothing about jive and is only connected with turkey at Thanksgiving. Why would Meyer want Harbaugh gone? Harbaugh hasn’t beaten him yet.

STOIC: If you want a living definition of stoic, watch any Bill Belichick press conference. He shows as much emotion as a public park statue, and offers the same amount of information as the statue would. And his stares at those who ask penetrating questions are as deflating as some of those footballs he team once used.

SKULLDUGGERY: Former Wake Forest assistant coach Tommy Elrod became the school’s analyst on its radio network when he didn’t get the head coaching job. He was not happy about not getting the head coaching job, so in his capacity as analyst he passed along some Wake Forest plays to the University of Louisville before they played ­— as if Louisville needed any help in beating Wake Forest, a collegiate football mud room rug on which most opponents wipe their cleats. Elrod was fired as the radio analyst and he was told he is no longer welcome at any events on the Wake Forest campus. They should have made him a human tackling dummy (without pads) for a week’s worth of Demon Deacons practices while he held a sign that read: “College Football’s Benedict Arnold.”

COHESION: The perfect definition is to watch the University of Dayton basketball team and their motto, “True Team,” fits like a leather driving glove. In an era when most players want the ball so that it can go directly toward the basket from their hands, the Flyers share the basketball like Dick Vitale shares adjectives. The Flyers actually sometimes pass the ball too much and have to force a shot as the shot clock runs down. More often, though, they come up with good shots and the entire concept is a credit to coach Archie Miller in these days of ‘Me-Me’ sports.

INGENUOUS: Aroldis Chapman barely spoke two words a week to the media while with the Cincinnati Reds (because none of us asked him anything). But he spoke up this week and said Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon misused him in the World Series. Chapman said he shouldn’t have been used in the ninth inning of Game 6 when the Cubs led by seven runs. Because of that, he said, he was tired when he was used in the eighth inning of Game 7 and gave up a two-run game-tying home run. And he is right. Maddon escaped a winter of discontent when his Cubs won Game 7 in extra innings. Had they lost Maddon might been found dangling from the El tracks at the Addison Street station.

AUDACITY: The good people of Memphis, Tenn. were more likely to see Elvis Presley walk down the street than they would see LeBron James, Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Those three Cavs stars were excused from making the team’s only stop this year in Memphis, so they could rest. Yeah, 82 games plus the playoffs are a lot of games, but those guys are paid millions to perfor. And it is for sure that the Memphis Grizzlies didn’t lower ticket prices because the Cavaliers sent the Junior Varsity and donated a win to the home team.

LAMENTABLE: When your wife dances in spiked heels at your grandson’s wedding and doesn’t fall or even twist her ankle. But she finds out (after being misdiagnosed with an ankle sprain) that she has suffered a fractured ankle and must spend weeks in a brace, a boot and must move about on a scooter. I told her I didn’t want to dance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By HAL McCOY

Unfortunately, the general rule is that there had to be a loser in the most emotional, compelling, competitive and exciting World Series in recent baseball history.

And it was the Cleveland Indians finishing second in a World Series for the fourth time since last winning in 1948.

That meant that the sentimental favorites, the Chicago Cubs, are no longer the Lovable Losers, winners of a World Series for the first time since 1908. Roosevelt was president then, Theodore, not Franklin, and Henry Ford rolled out his first Model-T car.

That was 108 years ago and the Cubs finally did it again, beating the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 Wednesday night, 8-7 in 10 innings.

AND GAME 7 WAS EVERYTHING a Game 7 should be — extra innings, a rain delay, dramatic home runs, a blown save, aggressive baserunnng, curious managing, the Cubs blowing leads of 5-1 and 6-3.

It was a tough go getting there, but 108 years of tears and frustration ended with the Cubs pulling it out.

After Cleveland’s Rajai Davis blasted a stadium-rattling two-run home run off Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the eighth to tie it, 6-6, the two teams sat out a 17-minute rain delay before the start of the 10^th.

Then the Cubs went to work to erase more than a century of broken trails when play resumed.

MIDDLETOWN NATIVE KYLE Schwarber opened the 10^th with a single and Chris Coghlan ran for him.

Kris Bryant flied to deep center and Coghlan boldly tagged at first and took second.

That forced Cleveland manager Terry Francona into a decision. What to do? He walked Anthony Rizzo intentionally, preferring to face Ben Zobrist.

Unwise, as it turned out. Zobrist ripped a double to left field to score Coghlan. And it won Zobrist the Most Valuable Player award and a new Camaro.

Addison Russell was walked intentionally to fill the bases and Miguel Montero, the third catcher used by the Cubs in this game-for-the-ages, singled home another run for an 8-6 lead.

WAS THE TRIBE done? Not yet.

With two outs in the bottom of the 10^th, Cubs pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. walked Brandon Guyer.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon lifted Edwards for Mike Montgomery. On his first pitch, Guyer took second uncontested and Rajai Davis produced again, a run-scoring single.That put the potential tying run on base, but pinch-hitter Michael Martinez, the Tribe’s last available player, grounded out to third and the Cubs were World Champions.

And nobody has been able to say that since 1908.

IT CONCLUDED THE IMPOSSIBLE Dream, made even more implausible when the Cubs were down three games to one and had to win the last three, two in Cleveland.

And by doing it they became only the fourth team to win the last two games on the road in the 112-year history of the World Series.

The Cubs did it with some aggressive baserunning and some firepower while the Indians displayed the jitters most of the way until they were down, 6-3, in the eighth.

CLEVELAND STARTER COREY Kluber, untouchable in his first two starts in this Series, was not even close to his previous sharpness, showing more like a dull blade, while starting his third game in nine days.

It started poorly. Leadoff batter Dexter Fowler opened the game with a home run.

The Tribe tied it in the third when Coco Crisp led with a double, was bunted to third and scored on Carlos Santana’s single.

The jitters surfaced for the Indians in the fourth when the Cubs scored two runs for a 3-1 lead.

KRIS BRYANT SINGLED and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch — two on, no outs. Ben Zobrist grounded to first, a double play ball. But first baseman Mike Napoli’s throw to second was off target and the Tribe barely got the out at second and Zobrist was safe at first.

Then came the first of Chicago’s bold, aggressive baserunning. Bryant took third on the ground ball. Addison Russell lofted a shallow fly ball to left, too short for a sacrifice fly. Oh, really?

Bryant tagged and bolted for home. Left fielder Coco Crisp hesitated, thinking Bryant wouldn’t dare try to score. But he tried and he made it when Crisp’s hurried throw home was high. Willson Contreras doubled off the center field wall, a ball that appeared catchable but center field Rajai Davis couldn’t catch up to it. Another run scored to make it 3-1.

Javier Baez, 4 for 26 with 11 strikeouts, drilled a home run to right field leading off the fifth to make it 4-1. That was the end for Kluber — four innings, four runs, six hits, no walks, no strikeouts and two home runs.

MANAGER TERRY FRANCONA brought in Andrew Miller, The Unhittable Man, but the Cubs made quick work of him for another run. He walked Bryant after Sam Holbrook missed a strike three call.

It was time for Bryant to exhibit more derring-do on the basepaths again. Rizzo doubled to right and Bryant, never pausing, never hesitating, never looking left nor right, scored from first base to make it 5-1.

For some reason, Chicago manager Joe Maddon lifted starter Kyle Hendricks with two outs in the fifth after he walked Carlos Santana. Hendricks had given up one run and four hits.

MADDON BROUGHT IN starter Jon Lester and disaster struck. Catcher David Ross made a throwing error on a Jason Kipnis nubbed ground ball that Lester should have fielded, but because he can’t throw to first base he permitted Ross to handle it.

That put runners on third and second and Lester unleashed a wild pitch that bounced off Ross’s glove and both runners scored, Kipnis from second and it was 5-3.

Ross got one back in the sixth by drilling Miller for a home run. Ross, 39 and now retired, was the oldest player in World Series history to homer in Game 7, just as Dexter Fowler was the first to hit a leadoff home run in the top of the first in Game 7.

THEN CAME THE EIGHTH and Aroldis Chapman was on the mound, even though he had thrown 62 pitches in four innings the previous two games.

His velocity was down — from 102 and 101 to 97 and 98. He came on with two outs and a runner on first. Brandon Guyer doubled for a run and Rajai Davis ripped a game-tying home run off a 98 miles an hour fastball — his first home run since August 8. It was the first home run given up by Chapman in a Cubs uniform and his first since June 25 (221 batters back) when he wore a New York Yankees uniform.

So, he blew the save and tears rolled down his cheeks while he sat in the dugout during the rain delay. But he pitched a scoreless ninth, using mostly sliders, and was the winning pitcher when the Cub erupted in the 10^th.

“Everything was going perfectly for us until Davis hit the home run,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon while holding the World Series trophy. “Then we had to go to Plan B, C, D and E.”

Actually, it was Plan F and G that finally punctuated the exorcism of all the Cubs demons.

By HAL McCOY

‘Every days is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failure behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.’ — Hall of Fame Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller.

Bob Feller knows of what he speaks. Feller won 19 games for the 1948 Cleveland Indians. But he lost two games in the 1948 World Series. Fortunately for the Tribe, they won the other four to win the World Series — the last time they won a World Series.

And the Indians need to take what Feller said and apply it. Quickly.

THE CHICAGO CUBS, facing extinction and elimination from the 2016 World Series, unleashed thunderous lumber Tuesday night in Game Two to blast the Indians in Progressive Field, 9-3.

So there is a Game 7. The last game for sure. The Series is tied three games apiece.

While the Indians have a chance to win for the first time since 1948, the Cubs have a chance to win for the first time since 1908.

The last time the Indians were in a Game 7 of a World Series they lost to the Florida Marlins in 1997. The last time the Cubs were in Game 7 of a World Series, they lost to the Detroit Tigers in 1945.

FOR SURE, SOMETHING has to give and with these two teams it is almost poetic justice that the Series goes seven games, even if fans on both sides are emotionally drained.

The drama should be excruciating for both sides, fans and players alike — especially for pitchers Corey Kluber (Cleveland) and Kyle Hendricks (Chicago).

Kluber will be making his third start of the Series, his second straight on only three days of rest. Cleveland manager Tito Francona sent Josh Tomlin to the mound Tuesday on three days of rest.

IT DIDN’T WORK. THE Cubs were armed and extremely dangerous on this night.

Manager Joe Maddon, never conventional, reworked his lineup. He put designated hitter Kyle Schwarber in the No. 2 hole and dropped Kris Bryant from second to third and Anthony Rizzo from third to fourth and Ben Zobrist from fourth to fifth.

Did it work? Did it ever. Bryant had four hits, including a home run. Rizzo had three hits, including a home run.

Tomlin retired the first two Cubs in the first inning, then gave up a long home run to Bryant and the Tribe fell apart.

Anthony Rizzo followed Bryant’s home run (his third hit of the Series, two for homers before he added three more hits) with a single. And Ben Zobrist singled.

Addison Russell lofted a shallow ball to right center. Third out? Nope. Either center fielder Tyler Naquin or right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall could have caught it. But it was a case of, “Mine, yours, mine, yours, oops.”

THE BALL FELL BETWEEN the two outfielders and two runs scored to make it 3-0.

The excuse-me double for two gift runs opened the trapdoor for a deluge of Cubs runs.

Tomlin didn’t make it out of the third inning. Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber drew a full-count walk in the third.

With one out, Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist singled to fill the bases and Francono brought in Dan Otero to face Addison Russell.

On a 2-and-0 count, Russell silenced all of Northeastern Ohio with the 19^th grand slam home run in World Series history and the Cubs led, 7-0. It was time for the Indians to try to scratch and claw their way back into it, but they had more scratch than claw.

Cubs starter Jake Arrieta retired nine of the first 10 he faced, issuing a walk. Jason Kipnis led the fourth with a double and the Tribe scored a run. They had the bases loaded with two outs and Arrieta struck out Tyler Naquin to once again cast a pall over the Cleveland environs and invoke a cheer out of Chicago that could be heard on the shores of Lake Erie.

JASON KIPNIS HOMERED for the Tribe in the fifth and when Arrieta reached 102 pitches with two out in the sixth Maddon went to his bullpen.

He brought in Mike Montgomery first. And then when the Tribe put two on with two outs in the seventh Maddon didn’t fool around.

He brought in Aroldis Chapman to face Francisco Lindor. On the second pitch, Lindor grounded to first and a whole bunch happened.

Lindor was called safe and Chapman came up limping. The play was reviewed and Lindor was called out by the narrowest of margins, ending the inning.

But was Chapman hurt?

IF HE WAS, NOBODY looked after him in the dugout and he limped back to the mound for the eighth.

He struck out the first batter and gave up a single to Jose Ramirez and pinch-hitter Yan Gomes hit into an inning-ending double play.

All doubt was removed in the top of the ninth when Bryant singled for his fourth hit and Anthony Rizzo nearly knocked down a satellite with a two-run home run to right for a 9-2 lead.

Chapman went back out for the ninth and walked the first batter, ending his night.

But he threw 20 pitches over 1 1/3 innings. Two days ago he pitched 2 2/3 innings and threw 42 pitches. That’s 62 pitches in four innings over a three-day span and he certainly won’t be available Wednesday for Game 7.

Who closes, if needed? Maddon will think of something. And he actually said after the game, “I’ve talked to Aroldis. He is a strong man. I think he’ll be all right tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Francona used neither of his bullpen bullies, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, so they are armed and ready.

By HAL McCOY

Joe Maddon knew exactly what to do, no ifs, no ands and no buts about it.

His Chicago Cubs faced extinction, another long winter’s hibernation if they didn’t win Game 5 of the World Series Sunday night.

So, with his team leading the Cleveland Indians by one run with one out in the seventh inning, it was time to throw convention into the Wrigley Field wind.

“Give me Chapman,” he said.

AND AROLDIS CHAPMAN, the Cuban Missile, the former Cincinnati Reds closer, strolled to the mound with his mission clear from Maddon, “Get me eight outs.”

That’s what Chapman did in the longest outing of his career, 2 2/3 innings — no runs, one hit, no walks, four strikeouts.

He finished the game with Classic Chapman, a three-pitch strikeout of Jose Ramirez: 102, 102, 101.

IT ENDED ANOTHER nail-chewing, cheek-pinching World Series game, another pitching clinic, and the Cubs won it, 3-2, to stave off elimination.

Instead, the World Series returns to Cleveland Tuesday night with the Indians leading three games to two, still needing one victory to win it.

FOR MOST OF THIS season, the spotlight has shined brightly on Cleveland relief pitcher Andrew Miller, whom the Tribe acquired at the trade deadine from the New York Yankees.

Chapman? He, too, came from the Yankees at the same time, a deal that sent four prospects to the Yankees for a closer who is a free agent after the World Series.

But on this night he was worth every body the Cubs peddled to the Yankees to get him.

THE TRIBE TOOK A 1-0 lead against Cubs starter Jon Lester in the second inning when Ramirez, the man Chapman struck out to end the game, drilled a one-out home run into the face of a strong wind into the left field stands.

It stayed that way until the fourth when the Cubs scored all three of their runs against Trevor Bauer.

THE INNING BEGAN WITH Kris Bryant driving a home run into the left field seats, his first RBI of the World Series from a guy who may win the National League MVP trophy.

Anthony Rizzo followed Bryant with a double, only the second time during the Series that Bryant and Rizzo put together back-to-back hits.

Ben Zobrist picked on a 3-and-0 pitch and singled to right field to put runners on third and first.

Addison dribbled one up the third base line and beat it for a hit as Rizzo scored for a 2-1 lead.

Javier Baez, who has been swinging at anything resembling a white object and mostly missing, dropped a bunt and beat it for a hit.

David Ross, the 39-year-old retiring personal catcher for Lester, lofted a sacrifice fly to right field for a 3-1 lead.

The Tribe cut the lead to one run in the sixth when Rajai Davis singled and stole second, enabling him to score on Francisco Lindor’s single.

Lester, who will not throw to first base, mainly because he can’t without throwing it into right field, ignored Lindor and he, too, bolted for second.

But the strong-armed Ross gunned him down to end the inning.

THE INDIANS HAD A chance to score in the fifth, but Lester buttoned it up after Carlos Santana led the inning with a double. He moved to third on a ground ball. And with one out, that’s where he stayed as Lester struck out Brandon Guyer and retired Roberto Perez on a grounder to short.

Chicago relief pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. gave up a single to Mike Napoli to start the seventh and a passed ball on just-installed catcher Willson Contreras moved the potential tying run to second base.

Carlos Santana flied to left for the first out and that’s when Maddon decided to unleash Chapman.

HE STRUCK OUT JOSE Ramirez and hit Guyer with a pitch. Now the potential go ahead run also was on base. Chapman doused the threat by getting Roberto Perez on a grounder to second.

The eighth? With one out Rajai Davis singled to first base when Chapman failed to cover the bag. Jason Kipnis flied to left for the second out. With Cleveland’s best hitter in the postseason, Francisco Lindor, at the plate, Davis stole second — once again putting the potential tying run in scoring position.

Chapman struck out Lindor on a called strike three that whizzed past him at 102 miles an hour.

The ninth? One-two-three. The first two hitters each hit 34 home runs during the season, but Napoli grounded to short and Santana flied to right.

THEN RAMIREZ WENT down on three pitches that he probably heard but didn’t see.

So the Cubs won their first World Series game in Wrigley Field since Game 6 of the 1945 World Series against the Detroit Tiger. But they lost Game 7.

Now the scene shifts to Cleveland for one or two games. The Tribe needs one win, the Cubs need two.

By HAL McCOY

The managerial wizardry of Terry Francona continues and his concert pianist’s touch has his Cleveland Indians one victory away from the 2016 World Series trophy that will put black clouds over Chicago once again.

It will be 109 years since the Chicago Cubs cashed a World Series winner’s check.

Francona made two riverboat gambler’s moves in Game 4 Saturday night against the dormant Cubs and came up aces — with one huge ace of spades.

THAT WOULD BE PITCHER Corey Kluber. Francona decided to start Kluber on only three days of rest and Kluber pitched as though he was coming off a long winter’s nap.

He gave up a run to the Cubs in the first inning, then nothing more — six innings, one run, six hits, one walk, six strikeouts.

The Tribe, though, never blinked and it was one of Francona’s other gambols, or gambles, that paid off in a 7-2 annihilation in Wrigley Field that gave Cleveland a three games to one lead.

Without the designated hitter, Francona had to find a way to get his normal DH, Carlos Santana, into the game.

So he removed first baseman Mike Napolis, a move that didn’t make Napoli happy, but all’s well that ends well.

AFTER THE CUBS SCORED a run in the first off Kluber on a leadoff double by Dexter Fowler and a single by Anthony Rizzo, the Tribe scored two in the top of the second.

And how did they do that? Well, it started with Mr. Santana putting a smile even on Napoli’s face in the dugout by drilling a 3-and-2 John Lackey pitch into the right field seats for a home run.

During the season, Lackey gave up only seven hits on 3-and-2 pitches, a .109 average. But on this night he gave up three 3-and-2 hits all three figuring in runs scored.

After Santana’s home run, two errors by usually gold-handed third baseman Kris Bryant led to another run and a 2-1 lead.

Bryant made a nifty stop on Lonnie Chisenhall’s grounder in the hole, but his throw to first base was high, wide and ugly, banging against the brick wall behind first base.

With Chisenhall on second, Cubs manager Joe Maddon decided to walk Tyler Naquin intentionally because pitcher Kluber was next.

Kluber nubbed one up the third base line and Bryant fielded it in time, but threw wide to first base for another error and Chisenhall scored to make it 2-1.

IT BECAME 3-1 IN the third. Jason Kipnis doubled to the right field corner. Lackey was 2-and-2 on Francisco Lindor and threw strike three — but umpre Marvin Hudson called it ball three. Hudson’s strike zone early in the game clearly was not one that matches the rulebook.

So on 3-and-2 Lindor drove a run-scoring single to center and it was 3-1.

Lackey walked Lindor to open the sixth and he came around to score after Santana singled off Lackey’s glove and Lindor scored on Chisenhall’s sacrifice fly.

THE SILENCER WAS applied to Wrigley Field in the top of the seventh when Jason Kipnis drilled a three-run home run off former Reds pitcher Travis Wood to make it 7-1. Kipnis later singled in the ninth, his third hit — double, homer, single.

And his three-run homer has a famous footnote attached. It was the first three-run home run hit in Wrigley Field during a World Series since Babe Ruth’s famous ‘called’ shot against Charlie Root in the fifth inning of Game 3 in 1932.

Is ‘The Curse of The Bambino’ now haunting the Cubs, too?

So far in four games, the Tribe has outhomered the power-laden Cubs lineup 4-1. The Cubs, extremely patient hitters during their 103-win regular season, are out of whack at the plate, swinging early and often, usually futilely, and flailing at pitches out of the strike zone.

AND EVEN WITH THE six-run cushion, Francona went for the jugular by bringing in the practically peerless Andrew Miller.

He retired the Cubs in the seventh on six pitches then suffered a minor hiccup. Dexter Fowler homered with one out in the eighth, ending Miller’s postseason scoreless streak at 24 2/3 innings. But the Tribe is 9-0 in games in which Miller stands on the rubber.

Trevor Bauer goes for the Series clincher Sunday night against Chicago’s Jon Lester. It is for certain Bauer didn’t fiddle with any drones this weekend after requiring 10 stitches to close a wound on the little finger of his pitching hand just before the World Series began. He hopes to fiddle with the Cubs.

 

 

By HAL McCOY

Masterpiece Theatre couldn’t come close to matching the 3½ hours of lip-chewing, teeth gnashing drama enacted in Game 3 of the 2016 World Series Friday night.

The Cleveland Indians won it, 1-0, but the perspiration level was at drench level until the final out.

The Chicago Cubs had the potential tying run on third and the potential winning run on second in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

Cleveland closer Cody Allen took away all that potential by striking out Javier Baez on a shoulder-high 2-and-2 fastball.

AND THAT LEFT THE Cubs 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and they stranded seven runners. It was that kind of night, a picturesque pitching excursion for the Indians (and the Cubs), begining with Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin.

Much was made of the mystique of Wrigley Field, the hostile environment of Wrigley Field that would work against Tomlin.

Much was made of a 20 miles an hour wind blowing out that would work against Tomlin, who gave up 36 home runs during the regular season.

Much was made of the invincibility of Chicago Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks in Wrigley Field, a 1.37 earned run average in the Friendly Confines, that would work against Tomlin.

WITH APOLOGIES TO MR. William Shakespeare, it was much ado about nothing as far as Jason Tomlin was concerned.

Tomlin painted more corners than a house painter for 4 2/3 innings.

Then manager Tito Francona used his tried-and-true prescription out of the bullpen — Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen — and it produced a two games to one lead for the Tribe.

Not only did Tomlin not give up a home run, he didn’t permit a ball to be hit that backed up any of his outfielders a single step and he gave up only two hits.

WITH TWO OUTS AND a runner on second in the fifth inning, Miller replaced Tomlin and retired Miguel Montero on a hard liner to right.

Then he struck out the side in the sixth.

Shaw replaced Miller in the seventh and with two outs Jorge Soler tripled down the right field line where the foul line runs against the brick wall. But Shaw retired Javier Baez on a ground ball to short.

Dexter Fowler singled with two outs in the eighth and it was time for closer Cody Allen. He struck out Kris Bryant.

THEN CAME THE EVENTFUL bottom of the ninth. Andrew Rizzo led with a single. Ben Zobrist struck out. Chris Coghlan pinch-ran for Rizzo and took second on a hit-and-run ground ball to third by Willson Contreras for the second out.

The drama heightened. Jayson Heyward, 2 for 30 in the postseason, hit one hard toward first and first baseman Mike Napoli booted it for an error — putting runners on third and first.

But Allen struck out Baez to end it.

Cleveland put Cubs starter Hendricks in problematical situations early and often, but couldn’t score.

WHEN ROBERTO PEREZ singled to open the seventh, it was the fourth time the Tribe had put the leadoff hitter on base, but hadn’t scored.

Until the seventh.

After Perez singled, Tyler Naquin sacrificed him to second and relief pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. wild pitched him to third. Rajai Davis walked. Pinch-hitter Coco Crisp picked on the first pitch and single to right field to produce the game’s only run. That made the Tribe 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position and they also stranded seven runners in this ultimate pitching battle.

Hendricks struggled, but didn’t give up a run. Over his 4 1/3 inning he gave up six hits and a pair of walks, but kept the Tribe off home plate.

For the first time in World Series history, both starting pitchers went more than 4 1/3 innings without giving up a run.

So the first World Series game in Wrigley Field since 1945 was a defeat for the Cubs as they seek their first World Series championship since 1908.

The Tribe, practically ignored in all the electric atmosphere in Wrigley for the Cubs, hasn’t won a World Series since 1948, but are only two victories away.

 

 

 

 

By HAL McCOY

‘The city of Cleveland is like our team. It has been pushed around and now it’s time to push back.’ — Cleveland Indians Manager Terry Francona.

And the Cleveland Indians gave the first shove Tuesday night in Game One of the World Series, with large pushes from pitchers Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller.

If Kluber keeps this up, they might change the spelling of the city to Kleveland. On a chill night on the lakefront, Kluber had his slider doing a Fred Astaire tap dance.

THE CHICAGO CUBS WERE helpless heifers en route to losing the first game, 6-0.

Catcher Roberto Perez, a plug-in for injured Yan Gomes and batting ninth, clubbed two home runs, including a three-run machete chop blast in the bottom of the eighth off Hector Rondon to put the exclamation point on this one.

Kluber set a World Series record by striking out eight batters in the first three innings. And he took a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning.

When he gave up a leadoff single to Ben Zobrist, Tribe manager Terry Francona popped the top on his Miller, bringing in Andrew Miller.

The left hander, who has the same slider as Kluber only from he left side instead of the right, performed a three-card monty act on the Cubs — now you see it, now you don’t. In two innings, Miller had five men on base and not one located home plate.

He walked Kyle Schwarber and Javier Baez singled to load the bases with no outs in the seventh.

Miller had the Cubs right where he wanted. He got pinch-hitter Willson Contreras on a shallow fly to center field. Then he struck out Addison Russell and struck out David Ross on a full count, leaving three Cubs anchored on their bases.

Ross wore a microphone during the game and when he singled in the third inning he said to first baseman Mike Napoli of Kluber, “This guy’s slider is filthy.”

Indeed it is and the Cubs had no Lava soap on them to clean it up. Kluber pitched six innings, plus one hitter, and gave up no runs, four hits, no walks and struck out nine.

THE TRIBE STRUCK QUICKLY against Cubs starter Jon Lester and it was mostly of Lester’s doing. Cleveland scored two runs in the first and only hit one ball out of the infield.

That ball was hit by Francisco Lindor with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the first. He quickly stole second.

Lester walked Mike Napoli. Carlos Santana walked to load the bases. Jose Ramirez hit a 45-foot roller up the third base line for an infield hit for a run. Lester then hit Brandon Guyer with a pitch to force in a second run. Guyer was hit by pitches 31 times during the regular season, baseball’s version of a human pinada.

The Tribe added a run with one out in the fourth when Roberto Perez kissed one off a railing above the left field wall for his first home run of the night to push the lead to 3-0. That was a bad omen for the Cubs. The Indians are 61-0 this season when constructing a lead of three or more runs.

And Perez doubled their pleasure from 3-0 to 6-0 in the eighth.

And the Cleveland bullpen hasn’t blown a save since August 17, 19 for 19.

LINDOR, THE 22-YEAR-OLD shortstop with a glove endorsed by Elmer’s Glue, had three hits and scored a run. Jose Ramirez had three hits and drove in a run.

On the pre-game show, analyst Pete Rose said Chicago’s Kyle Schwarber, a Middletown native, would strike out three times.

Schwarber had not played in a game since the first week of the season after wrecking his knee running into teammate Dexter Fowler chasing a fly ball.

Schwarber struck out his first time. Then he doubled to become the first player in history to get his first hit of the season in a World Series game. Then he walked.

He came to bat in the eighth against Miller, representing the tying run with two on and two outs. Schwarber struck out on a 2-and-2 pitch, Miller’s 46^th of the game, his most this season. And Rose was two-thirds correct on his Scharber prediction.

Rose also refused to predict before the game which team would win the Series winner. He said, “I’ll guarantee the winner’s name will begin with ‘C.’

My wife, Nadine, immediately said, “Yeah, but I’ll betcha he has a bet on one of them.”

Nadine pays attention.