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Indians pitching continues to dominate great lineups
Saturday morning’s Say Hey, Baseball includes a dominant Indians pitching staff, Bill Murray singing and saying goodbye to Vine.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
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In the first truly competitive game of the World Series, the Indians took Game 3 by a close 1-0 margin. This continues a trend that’s been ongoing throughout October, as Cleveland’s pitching staff once again shut down one of the best offenses in baseball. It started in their sweep of Boston, who was arguably the best lineup in the league all year. The Indians pitching staff shut them down in three straight games and made them look like a Triple-A lineup. Then, they took on the Blue Jays and the scariest middle-of-the-order in baseball, holding them to two or fewer runs in four of five games. Now, they are doing it again to the Cubs.
It started in Game 1, when Corey Kluber put together an incredible outing, and the bullpen spelled him to finish off the shutout. In Game 2, the Cubs put six runs on the board, and it looked like their deep and young lineup was starting to put it together. On Friday, however, Josh Tomlin continued to marvel this October and tossed 4⅔ scoreless innings. Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen did what the Cleveland bullpen has done all postseason, namely completely dominate whatever hitter is placed in front of them.
The series continues on Saturday night at Wrigley Field, as the Indians will try to keep dominating superlative lineups and take a commanding 3-1 lead over Chicago. They’ll be relying on Kluber again, this time on three days rest. While that’s not ideal, he’s easily their best starting pitcher. Even better, Miller only threw 17 pitches on Friday and should be able to go multiple innings if needed tonight. John Lackey will be on the hill for the Cubs as they try to even the series.
- In between the action in Friday night’s game, Bill Murray….well, he did this.
- Andrew Miller has been the star of this postseason, and it’s all thanks to Bobby Valentine. Wait what?
- Let’s take a look back at the trades that made Cleveland and Chicago get to this point.
- Playing Carlos Santana in left field seems insane, but there’s a solid argument for it.
- Jon Hamm: Great actor, impossibly handsome, and amazing troll.
- It appears that Vine is dying, which is making all of us sentimental. Take a look at some of the best from the medium, specific to the Yankees and Royals.
- Ken Griffey Jr. will don the cover of MLB The Show this year. This is very cool, although there’s no way this one will live up to Griffey’s N64 game.
- Jose Bautista figures to be one of the biggest free agents on the market this year. Here are some teams that could target him.
- Aaron Sanchez will be staying in Toronto, and he’s looking to build upon a fantastic 2016.
- Nolan Arenado won another Fielding Bible award, and it’s time we all start paying attention to his greatness.
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