Game 5 magic.

John Gibbons can say some crazy shit, but his assessment of Marco Estrada's do-or-die start was perfect;

WOW.

The kid (yes I know he's 32 years old, which makes him a kid to me) was locked in.  Its well know by anyone who reads this that I watch baseball a little different than most.  Sure, I love it when the home team wins.  I dig home runs (probably less than most people).  I like strike outs.

But my favourite things?  A well executed bunt.  Scoring runs without a hit.  Double plays where the catch is hard, the throw is tough, the relay is bang-bang and the back end is only made because the 1st baseman stretched to his limits to go get the ball.

As of 2012, there were 17,808 people who had played major league baseball.  That's more than I would have expected, but hey....the game has been around for 148 years.  Of the 17,808 players, 974 have played only a single game.  Again, more than I expected.  One day I'll relate the story of John McGraw firing his entire team in the 1920's which saw a lot of one day players come in and out of the New York Baseball Giants lineup.

But of the 17,808 players, only one player has 2000 at bats (4 seasons roughly) and hasn't hit a home run.

No kidding.  Just one.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet catcher William (Bill) Holbert. He played for the original Mets, known of course as the Metropolitans.  He also played for the Trojans, Stars, Grays and the Bridegrooms. This was between 1878 and 1888.

Holbert was a career .208 hitter.  This was not the dead ball era of 1900-1919.  .208 sucked.  There have 35 players hit .400 in their career, the last one of course being Ted Williams in 1941.  Of the 28 players to hit .400 (some did it multiple times), 12 occurred during the time that Holbert played Major League ball.  He was bad.

But not defensively.  He led the league in put outs once, assists 3 times, double plays from catcher twice and had a career WAR (wins above replacement) over 1.0 despite his terrible hitting.  My point?  Holbert was my kind of player.

If you take Holbert out of the history of baseball, then the following statement is true; "Anyone can hit a home run".  They don't impress me much as Shania Twain would say.  99.99438% of players who have played the game have hit a home run.

Its just not special.

I cheered Bautista's game 5 bomb.  I cheered Colabello's game 5 blast.  But its the theatre that got there that makes it special.  Not the hit.  The home run is the cherry.  Rarely does a home run happen without a lead up.

So, this is about some unsung heroes from yesterday's game. Some are obvious, others not so much.

Lets start with looking at Edinson Volquez. That guy has pitched WAY above his pay grade in the post season.  Hats off, he's been teetering on spectacular.  I don't like how animated he is on the mound.  I think there's a "respect for the game" issue there, but fair is fair and he's pitched great.  Yesterday Volquez got charged with 5 runs, all earned, over 5 innings.  He deserved a better line.  He threw 88 pitches, 53 for strikes.  Some would say 54 for strikes, but that's another story.

Unsung hero?

Dioner Navarro.  0 for 3.  3 strikeouts.  A walk.  No runs.  No RBIs.  Left 2 runners on base.  Where is the hero in this?  There's two ways.

1.  He called a masterful game for Estrada.  Estrada had 17 called strikes, 15 swinging strikes, and 20 foul strikes.  Price who was pretty amazing for 6+ innings of his start had 18 called, 12 swinging and 21 foul.  Stroman who actually got a win was 19 called, 3 swinging and 16 foul.  Stroman was tricking no one.  Some of that's on Stroman to be sure, but a lot is on the catcher. Much has been made about the lack of swinging strikes against KC.  Not on this night.

For instance, everyone knows that an up and in fastball should be followed by something off speed low and away.  If you know that and I know that, you can be damned sure that the hitters for KC know this too.  So every so often a good catcher will double up on the high and tight or low and away to keep the hitter off stride. Navarro does this.  He does it better than most do.
 
2.  Volquez threw 88 pitches in the game.    Exactly 25% of his entire pitch count was against Navarro.  He saw more pitches than anyone else on the team and was one of the biggest reasons that Volquez was out when he was and the KC pen was forced to pitch in uncomfortable situations and early in the game than is the norm.
        

Kevin Pillar.  He was 2 for 4.  That was nice.  He got an RBI!  That was nice.  He caught every ball hit his way.  Range is not even questioned.  That's nice too!  He slid into the hand of Mike Moustakas and may have hurt him.  That was GREAT!   I do not care for the over rated Moustakas.  Reminds me of the other Greek, Nick Markakis.  Remember, there's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other peoples ethnicities and cultures.  And Greeks.

Kevin, to his credit, in an elimination game became totally Canadian.  a) He hit one over the center fielders head.  b)  he didn't care that the score was 7-1 or that he was potentially the 3rd out, he ran like the wind to third base. c) he slid hard.  d) he was called out.  e) while the third base coach was arguing the call, Pillar put his hand on Moustakas' back and could be heard saying, "are you alright?" My god.  He could be in the Tottenham Old Timers with that attitude.  So Canadian.  Atta boy.  

Sanchez & Osuna.  Okay, I'm not quite willing to go Ward and Henke.  But seriously?  In the post season Sanchez has been in 8 of the 10 games played, worked 7 innings and has an ERA of 0.00.  ZERO!  Osuna?  6 games, 7.1 innings and a 1.23 ERA.  You may not have noticed their collective 14 pitches in a 7-1 game, but they continue to be deadly.

Tomorrow there will be a bit of a drill down into games 6 & 7.  You should be feeling good and pretty confident, you'll find out why soon.  But I'll tell you this.....