*Zack Greinke was phenomenal: 6.1IP, 2H/2ER, 3K:2BB. 80 pitches. After Eaton's out in the 7th, the Astros had a Win Expectancy of 85%.
*Houston was 1x8 w/RISP, 1x14 w/RISP in Games 6 and 7. We're going to talk about that for a while. They had Scherzer straight up on the ropes:
Bottom 2, 1-0 Houston, 2 on, nobody out:
-Chirinos popped up on a bunt
-Reddick grounded out to 1st
-Springer lined it hard right at Juan Soto. Expected batting average: .690.
Bottom 3, 1-0 Houston, 2 on, 1 out:
-Gurriel flied out to right
-Alvarez flied out to center. Expected batting average: .680
Bottom 4, 1-0 Houston, 2 on, 2 out:
-Altuve lined out to center. Expected batting average: .310
And that's pretty much it. Two balls that are hits at least 68% of the time could have fallen in and it's at least 4-0. They didn't. It wasn't. And now this season is over. Hinch:
I've got a group of heartbroken men in there that did everything they could do to try to bring a World Series championship to this city. And we fell one win shy. Let's be honest, there's 28 other teams that would love to have our misery today. And I just told our team, it's hard to put into words and remember all the good that happened because right now we feel as bad as you can possibly feel.
*Jose Altuve, who was a combined 2x13 in Games 5-7:
I don't think I can handle this. It's really hard to lose Game 7 of the World Series. What I can tell you is we did everything we could...We did everything to make it happen. We couldn't, but that's baseball.
*A.J. Hinch turned away from Zack Greinke after he gave up a home run and walked Juan Soto. Will Harris gave up a 2nd-pitch home run on a cutter to Howie F. Kendrick. Harris:
It's every reliever's nightmare...I think I made a pretty good pitch. [Kendrick] just made a championship play for a championship team. I've just got to top my hat to them for beating me today. I think I did everything I could do, but it wasn't enough.
Right-handed hitters were hitting .144 in their career against Harris' cutter down and away, which is where the pitch to Kendrick was. Will Harris is the first pitcher since 1925 to allow home runs in Games 6 & 7 of the World Series.
So when was Gerrit Cole going to come in? Hinch:
I wasn't going to pitch him unless we were going to win the World Series and have a lead. He was going to close the game in the ninth.
David Schoenfield: Inside the 7th Inning that shocked Houston. You don't have to read any of this.
*Bullpen: 2.2IP, 7H/4ER, 0K:2BB.
*Alex Bregman, who was 0x3 with a walk:
We've been knocked down a lot and gotten back up. We just got knocked back down today...They outplayed us. They deserved it. They're an unbelievable team. Coached well. They've got beasts on the mound and position players that grind it out every single day. They deserve to be World Series champions.
Chirinos, who was 0x4 with 2K:
It is really painful. It's going to take a long time to get over this kind of loss. When you have the kind of regular season we had, to come up one win short of the championship. It's going to take time for this to fade away.
*The Nationals were 19-31 after 50 games of the 2019 season then beat Josh Hader, Clayton Kershaw, Jack Flaherty, Gerrit Cole, and Justin Verlander. They went 8-1 on the road in the postseason.
*A.J. Hinch:
This is going to sting for a very long time, and it should.
*Springer, who was 0x4:
Yeah, the ultimate goal is to win the World Series, and we fell short to a great team. You can't hang your head low about that. You move on and start getting ready for Spring Training.
*Washington, in games started by Scherzer/Strasburg: 4-0.
Houston, in games started by Verlander/Cole: 1-3.
*A Musical Selection:
