Brewers Head to L.A. with 2-0 NCLSLead

There was a little more scoring this afternoon than in yesterday’s 2-1 Brewers’ win.

Milwaukee got the bats going and scored seven runs on twelve hits in game two of the

National League Championship Series.

Los Angeles actually started the scoring in the top of the first. Mookie Betts led off with a

walk, went to second on a fielder’s choice, stole third, and scored on Teoscar Hernandez’

sac fly. 1-0 LA.

The Brewers tied it up in the bottom of the first as Brice Turang doubled to left and scored

on William Contreras’ single to left field. 1-1.

The Dodgers took back the lead in the top of the third. Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts led

off the inning with back-to-back singles. Teoscar Hernandez later grounded out to

shortstop scoring Edman. 2-1 LA.

The Brewers came right back and took the lead again in the bottom of the third. Milwaukee loaded the bases on a single from David Hamilton and walks to Brice Turang and Jake Bauers. With two outs Christian Yelich singled to center field scoring Hamilton and Turang. 3-2 Brew Crew. I sense a pattern here. And we had another lead change in the top of the fifth.

Kyle Tucker led it off for the Dodgers with a double to right field. Tommy Edman laid down a sacrifice bunt and made it to first on Logan Henderson’s throwing error. Tucker also scored on that error. Edman later scored on a sac fly courtesy of Freddie Freeman. 4-3 Los Angeles. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, William Contreras homered to center field, tying the game once again. 4-4. Contreras was at it again in the bottom of the sixth as his single to left field scored David Hamilton who was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and had worked his way around to third base. 5-4 Brewers.

The Brewers tacked on a few insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. David Hamilton led off the inning with a single to right and later scored on Brice Turang’s single to center. William Contreras then walked sending Turang to second. Jake Bauers followed with a single to center field scoring Turang. 7-4 Milwaukee.

And that’s the way it ended. Milwaukee 7 and Los Angeles 4.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto started this afternoon for the Dodgers. He lasted only two and a

third innings giving up four hits and three runs while throwing seventy-five pitches. He

obviously didn’t have his best stuff. The Dodgers ended up using a total of seven pitchers.

Logan Henderson started for the Brewers and lasted four innings giving up three hits and

two earned runs. Milwaukee then sent five relievers to the mound who held the Dodgers

hitless and scoreless over the final five innings.

William Contreras was the hitting star for the Brewers going three for four with a home run

and three RBIs.

Milwaukee’s feeling pretty good right now, but I’m sure they realize the next three games are

in Los Angeles. Game three this Wednesday at 9:00 PM ET.

Ramirez and DeLauter lead Guardians to Win over Tampa Bay

Big nights from Jose Ramirez and Chase DeLauter led the Cleveland Guardians to a 7 to 3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the first game of the American League Championship Series.

Ramirez is the heart and soul of the Guardians. Tonight he went three for five with an RBI and two runs scored. DeLauter also had a big game this evening with three hits in four atbats, which included a solo home run and three runs scored. Tampa took a two-run lead in the bottom of the first inning. Yandy Diaz led off with a double to left field and came around to score on Junior Caminero’s single to center. Singles by Victor Mesa and Jonny DeLuca sent Caminero home. 2-0 Rays. The score stayed that way until the top of the sixth when Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter homered to center field. 2-1 Tampa. The Guardians tied it up in the top of the seventh as Patrick Bailey led off the inning with a home run to center filed. Déjà vu all over again…2-2. Cleveland took the lead in the top of the eighth. Jose Ramirez ran out an infield hit. Chase DeLauter doubled to center, sending Ramirez to third base. With one out Nathan Lowe singled to center scoring Ramirez and DeLauter. 4-2 Guardians.

Tampa got a run back in the bottom of the eighth as Cedric Mullins led off the inning with a

home run to right field. 4-3 Cleveland.

Cleveland tacked on a few insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Angel Martinez led off

with a single to right. With two outs Jose Ramirez singled to left scoring Martinez. Chase

DeLauter drew a base on balls. Jo Adell then doubled to left field scoring Ramirez and

DeLauter. 7-4 Guardians.

And that was the final score…Cleveland 7 and Tampa Bay 4.

The Rays had their ace Drew Rasmussen on the mound tonight. He went six innings giving

up three runs and eight hits while striking out seven.

Former Nationals pitcher Foster Griffin started the game for the Guardians. Griffin went

four innings surrendering two runs on five hits while striking out three. Game two tomorrow, same time, same place. See you then…

Dave’s Dime…some NFL highlights. I know I mentioned yesterday that I prefer college football over the pros. But I still enjoy watching an NFL game or two during the week. I love switching back-and-forth between channels, which drives my wife crazy. I’m the self-proclaimed King of the Remote. So, yesterday between watching the first game of the NLCS, I caught a quarter or two of pro football. The first game I’d like to mention ended in a rather peculiar way. Let me set the scene…it was overtime between the New York Giants and the Washington Commanders. Washington led for most of the game and were ahead by fourteen points with eleven minutes to go. But the Giants scored two late TD’s sending the game into overtime. Neither team scored with their first possession. That meant the next team to score would win the game. The Giants were driving toward the win when a fumble gave the ball back to the Commanders.

Washington had the ball with a little under two minutes to play and started their march down the field. They ended up with second down and eight yards to go at the Giants’ 24- yard line. There were twelve seconds left in the contest. For some reason Jayden Daniels dropped back to pass and was sacked. They had no time outs and the clock kept ticking away. The Commanders had to hurry it up so they could attempt a game-winning 42-yard field goal. But it seemed like they were moving in slow-motion, or they thought they were playing a pick-up flag football game at the local city park, and it didn’t matter who won.

By the time they woke up it was too late. The game ended in a 27-27 tie. Yes, ties are still a thing in the NFL. I was sitting in my chair in disbelief. I was like, doesn’t someone on the Commanders’ sideline realize that time is running out? Evidently not, as the Commanders blew their chance to grab a much-needed victory. That had to be embarrassing. And then I really had to watch some of the San Francisco- Seattle game. Two heated rivals from the same division. 49ers undefeated and Seahawks with a single loss. The crowd was going wild and the game was as chippy as heck.

The chippiest moment of them all was when the 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw headbutted Seattle’s Ernest Jones. This happened on Seattle’s sidelines after Greenlaw laid a late hit on the Seahawks’ quarterback Sam Darnold. A group of Seahawks approached Greenlaw with malice on their minds. Greenlaw’s headbutt may not have even been noticed if it wasn’t for the fact that Ernest Jones wasn’t wearing a helmet and started to bleed. That’s a no-no. So Greenlaw was ejected from the game and suspended from this week’s contest against Washington without pay. Of course, that suspension will be appealed. They always are. Greenlaw has a history of suspensions and fines going back to 2022. Too many to mention here.

Just another reason I love sports. You just never know what might happen next that will make you sit in wonder at the unbelievability of it all.