2016 Junior League Championship Series: Game 5, Indians @ Blue Jays

Yay, the Blue Jays (93 – 76) finally win one. This leaves me at least 2 games away from Yahoos (101 – 68) vs. the Traitors of Chavez Ravine.

Of course it’s also a travel day for me which means coverage will be spotty at best and there is no chance of catching up with yesterday’s action until at least tomorrow evening because travel means meeetings and meetings are the number one enemy of productivity (ok, #2 in my case. Sheer unadulterated laziness is #1.).

Yesterday’s Game

Bottom 3rd- Solo Shot. Bue Jays 1 – 0.

Bottom 4th- Walk. Walk. RBI Single. Blue Jays 2 – 0.

Top 5th- Walk. Wild Pitch, Runner advances. RBI Double. Blue Jays 2 – 1.

Bottom 7th- Leadoff Single. Single. Error, Runners at Corners. Intentional Walk, Bases Loaded. 2 RBI Single. Blue Jays 4 – 1.

Bottom 8th- Triple. RBI Sacrifice. Blue Jays 5 – 1 Final.

Indians lead Series 3 – 1

This still leaves the Blue Jays facing elimination and no team (in either Baseball or Rounders) has ever recovered from a 3 – 0 deficit in a 7 game Series, but at least they can hope.

Today they will send out Marco Estrada (R, 9 – 9, 3.48 ERA) who pitched a complete game (8 Innings) loss in Game 1 of the League Championship. He gave up 8 Hits and 2 Runs (1 HR) and issued 1 Walk and 6 Strike Outs. Despite the loss his ERA is still a Playoff respectable 2.25.

The Indians rotation on the other hand is all screwed up. With the sudden retirement of Trevor Bauer and the appearance of Corey Kluber in last night’s loss on short rest they have little choice but to send out rookie Ryan Merritt (L, 1 – 0, 1.64 ERA), just activated from Triple A. Who knows? He could be great. The one thing the Indians have in their pocket is that they didn’t use their 2 best Relievers last night, so if they can get through the 7th with a lead or a slim defict they’ve got their regular Set Up/Closer combination trying to shut down the Blue Jays in the 8th and 9th.

This could very easily go back to the Land of Cleves for a decision which is at least a moral victory.