2017 World Series: I Thought Game Two Was Bad. GAME THREE WAS _WORSE_!!

I think a lot of Dodger fans, at this point, are almost in concession they're about to get fucked again, #HoustonStrong Style...

It got ugly tonight, in so many ways, unless you are FOX, Rob Manfred, or a Houston Astro or a fan of theirs...

• Where I was watching the game tonight, it took one Houston batter -- the leadoff hitter who hit a double, to mute the coverage for the night.  This, after Joe Buck was so adamant that said hitter was going to try to find something he could SMOKE!!  The next pitch went down the left-field line for a double.
• With 2 out in the first, it looked like Yu Darvish got out of the inning with a low outside corner strike three to Correa.  He would not be damaged -- that inning.
• Cody Bellinger got the Golden Sombrero tonight, four strikeouts.  The umps saw to this by calling the first pitch he saw (3-4 inches outside) strike one.  Below the knees?  Strike 2.  Swung for Strike 3.
• And then we get to the inning which ended the game.  Even a couple of the Dodger balls, but almost every Houston Astro ball hit in the first two innings looked like it had a fucking rocketship on it's back!  Yuli Gurriel hit one of these lasers from home plate to out of the park at over 110 MPH, about 3 seconds to score the first run in a four-run second inning.
• It's what he did after that should make that his last contribution to this Series!  Gurriel turned to Dodger pitcher Yu Darvish and called him "Chinito", a slur for "Little Chinese Boy".  (With any and all apologies to any Chinese readers of the blog!)
• Darvish is Japanese, and Gurriel doubled down by making a slant-eye gesture the FOX cameras caught during the four-run second inning.  MLB is going to have some words with him, and he should sit -- preferably the rest of this Series.
• But the juiced balls allowed Houston to do what they've done best at Minute Maid Park, merry-go-round for four runs and a 4-0 lead they would never relinquish.
• When T-Mobile did one of their innumberable "#HR4HR" ads between innings five and six, EVERY HOME RUN IN THE AD WAS HIT BY A HOUSTON ASTRO!
• There were two main reasons for the 4-0 lead holding up.  The first started the next inning:  The balls mysteriously stopped getting out like they were shot out of cannons.  This appeared to be the case the rest of the game.
• The second was another round of the umpiring!

I was asked by a Dodger fan friend of mine to bring pen and paper to chart some of this...  The Dodgers appeared to get only two pitches declared "close enough" outside to be strikes.

In comparison, for the apparent World Champion Astros, at the rate things are going:

• A pitch similar to what the Astros have been getting called a strike at least half the time they are pitching the last two games (in which the Dodgers only have nine hits between them), about 3 inches outside to Evan Gattis to make the count 3-1 after the homer.  Gattis walked and eventually scored.
• 5th inning:  Austin Barnes took a 2-1 strike well off the outside.  He flew out.
• Then Joc Pederson took a 1-0 pitch off the INSIDE corner for a strike.  He doubled.
• 6th inning:  Chase Utley (an automatic out who will be one major cause of Dave Roberts being fired next week if the Dodgers can't find a way to surmount this) took a 2-1 pitch for a strike right on that 3-4 inches outside the plate zone these umps are loving to call against the Dodgers.
• Bottom 6:  Runner on first, one out for the Astros, and Bergman gets a ball call on the same 3 inches outside, but can't make anything of it after he walks.
• And then the umpires get blatant with it.  Keeping the balls less fiery (which was the only reason Dodger arsonist Ross Stripling didn't give up a grand slam to Springer), they did something interesting to ensure the Dodgers, down 5-3, would NEVER GET THE TYING RUN TO THE PLATE...
• FOUR TIMES IN THE FINAL SEVEN DODGER BATTERS, the umpire gave that 3-6 inch outside pitch for strike one.
• Andre Ethier in the 7th with 2 out (groundout to first)
• Corey Seager, the first pitch of the eighth (swinging strikeout)
• Yasiel Puig, first pitch of the ninth (same result)
• and Yasmani Grandal (flew out to right for the final out)

I know some Dodger fans who have resigned themselves that Houston has won this World Series, four games to one.

After tonight, I cannot blame them.  FOX came close to a "tell" between a couple of the late innings, advertising one of their comedies for Tuesday night -- but, unlike "GR8ST WKND EVR", they did make the qualification "If No Baseball"...

And it's not only that:  It seemed like, except for the Springer blast which would've left every other park, the Astros not only have had help from the umps, but also every damn break since Game 2 started!

And, after the Gurriel slur, I now really have to wonder if this is "Trump State vs. Blue State" as well, on top of everything else!

If it's this blatant, it ends in Houston, period.

And what even gets more disturbing is something I thought of after I posted the Game 2 article from earlier:  What, now, stops some crazed fan of a sports team from committing a national tragedy with the express intent of getting the sports leagues to rig their city a championship??