I swear to God... I mean... No. Just... NO! JUST... NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought Game 2 was bad.

I thought Game 3 was worse...

But nothing prepared me for what happened in Game 5!!!

NOTHING.

Keuchel was nowhere to be found tonight.  3-0 after 1, and he doesn't even make it 4.

But that fourth inning was a complete motherfucking insanity that may have laid the final straw to the end of a 40-year fandom of this sport (not mine -- mine hasn't lasted 40 years, but that's about gone too after tonight!).

And it started at the top of the inning.  An inning which took forever, and enter Bill Miller, the third home-plate umpire this series to blatantly hand a game to the Houston Astros:

• Cody Bellinger leads off.  Second pitch is 2" low on the FOX tracker.  MLB has it on the low border of the zone for 0-2.
• But there is no dispute on the Strike Three call.  That ball was 4-6 inches outside, called strike three and NOWHERE CLOSE.
• Logan Forsythe:  The 1-1 pitch was 2-3 inches clean inside on the tracker.  Strike two.  He does, however, eventually double.
• Yasiel Puig:  The 2-1 pitch was another 4-6 inches inside.  Strike two.  He K's on swinging on a pitch in the same spot.  2 out.
• After the Dodgers made it 4-0 and chased Keuchel, the first pitch from Gregorson to Chris Taylor, with runners on first and second, is pretty clearly inside (MLB does think it's close to the corner, but FOX didn't!).  Taylor K's to end the inning.  All three outs, strikeouts, and all umpire-aided.
• So, bottom of the fourth, Kershaw on the mound after a long top of the fourth in which the umpires would only allow Los Angeles one run.
• Runner on first, and here comes Bregman.  Another difference of opinion on the 1-1, MLB has it inside corner, FOX well off the corner.
• Then the ensuing 2-1 had no dispute:  STRIKE TWO, high outside corner, called ball three.  He flies out.
• But now the table is set and Kershaw can't get anyone out high, and, by the end of all of it, SUSPENDED RACIST SHITHEAD ties the game on a three-run jack where the fans were seen giving the same racist gesture back to him when he rounded the bases!
• There you go, Manfred:  Your lack of spine has helped change the series, and your order is not done, is it???
• By the end of the inning, it's 4-4, and it's bloody on in Houston!

Fifth inning:

• Two walks, two on nobody out for the Dodgers, and Kike Hernandez is struck out on a pitch 4-6" outside again!
• Cody Bellinger says "Fuck this", and homers to make it 7-4.
• Yasiel Puig gets another inside pitch called a strike, and strikes out again to end the inning.
• Two walks chase Kershaw, Maeda comes in, three-run jack to Altuve and it's 7-7!

Sixth inning:

• Two out nobody on for the Dodgers:  Corey Seager gets a 3" off the plate pitch called a strike for strike one, he's out on strikes.

Seventh inning:

• Kike Hernandez, runner on 2nd, nobody out, and ANOTHER 2" off the plate called a strike.  Fielder's choice erases the runner on 2nd, but Bellinger breaks the tie with a triple.
• Brandon Morrow could get no one out, and by the time he's done, it's 11-8 in favor of Houston.  Punctuated by Carlos Correa, after a pitch at the knees over the plate was called a ball.  Morrow threw eight pitches and gave up four runs.
• Looking to have successfully finished the job, the umps give a Dodger pitcher only about the third such call tonight in aiding Evan Gattis to end the inning.

Eighth inning:

• Before Chris Taylor was plunked, another inside called Strike One.
• Dodgers get a run for 11-9.
• Cingrani does get a gift strike one for Marvin Gonzalez, he lines out.
• But another home run later, the Astros are 12-9 up and it looks sane for them, right?

WRONG!

• Puig hits a two-run jack, and Chris Taylor singles in Austin Barnes, and it's 12-12 and the game goes into extra innings and over five hours!

And then the umps, realizing the Dodgers won't go away, just decide to end it for them!!!

• Two out, bottom of the 10th, 12-12...
• McCann hit by a pitch.
• Springer walks, and TWO PITCHES of that sequence, balls two and four, were at the top of the zone!
• That, of course, means a home run is no longer needed, and, with no high pitch, Jansen throws a low outside strike, hit to left, game over, 13-12, and the umps can pat themselves on the back.

4-0 to 4-4
to 7-4
to 7-7
to 8-7
to 11-8 Houston
to 11-9 Houston
to 12-9 Houston
to 12-12
to 13-12 after a rigged walk.

A sampling:

LOL

— MLB (@MLB) October 30, 2017

MLB's official Twitter account after the game was tied 12-12!

The balls in my pants have less juice in them then the balls in this game

— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) October 30, 2017

And yes, that is the blue checkmark. Jose Canseco (who, in addition to the roids, played his first two years in Oakland in another juiced-ball era!) with an obvious comment about the game tonight.

And Deadspin reporting on the explosion of home runs in this Series.  Seven tonight, 22 overall, and, in five games, the record for the most home runs in a World Series...

... and, oh by the way, they've been pumping that T-Mobile donation thing too -- each one of those is worth $20,000 to Houston hurricane relief.  (OK, OK, I guess Florida and Puerto Rico too.)

I have a friend of mine who's giving up baseball after this shit.  40 years a baseball fan, might remain a historian, but DONE with the current game after the Gurriel nonsense and the fact that the umpires are taking the best players for the Dodgers, year in and year fucking out, out of the Series.

Thanks, Manfred.

And, oh, by the way...  What was it, about 12:40 AM Houston time Monday morning when that shit ended?

So when it's the Eastern superteams, are we looking at about 6 PM Eastern starts???

Manfred putting the pitchers under pressure, but is he under pressure too in another respect?

Deadspin reports this morning that both the Astros AND the Dodgers are speaking up about the juiced baseballs.

In this case, it's specifically to address the fact that the baseballs are seen as too slippery to grip a slider.  Hence, the sliders aren't that good, and Joe Buck is seeing them getting SMOKED!! (Especially happy if it's Houston Astros who are doing it, right, Joe?)

You know, it's obvious that, at least at certain points in this World Series, the balls have been juiced to increase home runs -- and that leads to the whole T-Mobile #HR4HR business.

It explains Yu Darvish lasting an inning and two-thirds with four runs.

Kenley Jansen has had a couple loose sliders get jacked.

Verlander got nailed a couple times...

It's clear, and specifically for this World Series (partially #HR4HR, and I also think it's to guarantee "certain results") that the balls have been tampered with.

But, after Game 4, is it for Houston to win?  Has the public blowback to the Gurriel suspension actually forced a re-think on this series?

Laz Diaz is a veteran umpire, and called balls and strikes.

For the first time since Game 1, though, he called a pretty even zone.  There were a few pitches out of the zone, but called both ways in that regard.  FOX definitely was trying to get at Rich Hill when he didn't give up any hits for 4+, and pushed the no-hitter jinx until he gave up the home run for 1-0 to Houston in the 6th, when he was immediately pulled.

I think it's still clear that White Right FOX had no problem with Gurriel's comments -- but, that said, MLB has taken a major public-relations hit here, and Game 4 was quite different than Games 2 and 3 as a result.

Now the big Game 1 pitchers (Kershaw and Keuchel) go in Game 5.  Could be a very Chinese-interesting night tonight.

"Congratulations" to the 2017 Rigged World Champion Astros

Five games, next regular season, for Gurriel..

Series over.  Rob Manfred has just sealed the deal.

He's also sealed the deal on at least one baseball fan of pushing 35 years -- leaving the sport as of Sunday, at least for now.

As I said in other sports, I say here:  Wouldn't every player on the Astros exchange a suspension next season for a World Series ring now?

Series is over.  And it won't leave Houston.  Manfred has just sealed the deal.

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??

2017 Week Seven Fine Friday

• Cincinnati Bengals:  Vontaze Burfict, no surprise here.  Instead of doing the right thing and throwing this shithead out of the league after giving him TWO three-game suspensions for his on-field thuggery, his latest offense, a kick to a Pittsburgh fullback, is only worth a $12,154 fine.  He's, with the two suspensions, also been fined over $220,000 in a total of TEN offenses against the league.
• New York Jets:  Darron Lee is now a FOUR TIME LOSER.  $36,464 for a repeat offender roughing the passer call, and another $9,115 for a facemask.  Lee has now been fined over $72,000 in just seven weeks.
• New York Jets:  Robby Anderson:  $12,154 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
• Which makes the Jets the third team, in just seven weeks, to reach the Level 1 Threshold, so the team is fined $50,000 on top of it.
• Miami Dolphins:  Ndamokung Suh:  $9,115 for a facemask.  As for last night, see below.
• New Orleans Saints:  David Onyemata:  $12,154 for pulling players off a pile up.  They call it unnecessary roughness, I'd put it more in the line of unsportsmanlike conduct.
• Seattle Seahawks:  K.J. Wright:  $9,115 for a face mask.
• Kansas City Chiefs:  Marcus Peters:  $9,115 for a late hit on Derek Carr -- this was the situation which Marshawn Lynch ran off the bench and wrestled an official, drawing a suspension for this week and should've been far more.
• Washington Redskins:  This may be a catchup, but Niles Paul stated on his Twitter he was fined $6,016 for a uniform violation -- his socks.
• Seattle Seahawks:  Keenan Robinson:  $18,231 for roughing the passer.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  Robert McClain:  $24,309 for unnecessary roughness (helmet shot).  The hit put McClain into the concussion protocol, and he's out this week on top of it for the injury.

And as for last night:

• It is official.  The Kiko Alonso hit on Joe Flacco, eliminating him with a concussion, IS being reviewed for supplemental discipline. 
• Also official: If Alonso is suspended, it will be the only one.  Ndamokung Suh will not be.  However, there's a fairly decent chance that, with three personal-foul offenses (only two flagged) last night, he'll be on next week's Fine Friday Blotter as well

More possible later.  Stay tuned to this space.

The Uncivil Race War: Bob McNair steps in it hard...

We almost just had the work stoppage, at least with one NFL team, over the National Anthem protests and the reactions the White ownership of this league has toward many of it's players, especially the Black ones.

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair about the protests, getting in line with fellow White owner Jerry Jones and demanding they be stopped, forcibly if necessary, stating that the players were "inmates running the prison".

Surprisingly, one of the more sane responses (and one of the scarier) comes from a person who's been a writer of the Cowboys for 20 years now, Clarence Hill Jr.:

what are they calling them in private https://t.co/FVWHwsefFb

— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) October 27, 2017

This almost resulted in a walk-out today from the Texans players.  At least one player actually did!!

McNair has apologized.

Related news:

Getting in another Twitter battle with a Trump-humper.

She (yes, this is a self-hating woman who supports Trump) gave a statistic that I find hard to understand, especially how White America has coddled Football Man these days:

This statistic claims that, of the 1,696 players in the National Football League, over half (871) are convicted felons.

If this were the case, there'd be no way the National Football League could escape that scrutiny, especially now!

An Ugly Reality For Major League Baseball, and a frightening view of it's future...

Last night stung for my anonymous friend the Dodger Fan...

And the more I think about it, the more I truly believe it was bullshit -- if it got my friend, who reads and contributes (yet still believes there sometimes is too much emphasis on the game-rigging) to state, full score, the game is rigged against the Dodgers...

And why?

• #HoustonStrong?
• Hatred of the Dodgers??
• California went Democratic, Texas went Republican???
• or something that my anonymous friend came up with tonight that could be frightening...

We know, as of right now, the NBA is a 1.05 team league.  Don't let the two early losses fool you, it's Golden State, plus about .048 of Cleveland, with a smattering of Houston and San Antonio and the like running around.

Something a lot of people have objected to was the 7:10 Pacific start of many games, leading to their end past 1 AM Eastern or so, especially in these playoffs.

What if the goal is to get rid of the relevant players on the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Mike Trout, maybe Buster Posey if he has some left, etc. and so forth and funnel them all to the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and Cardinals?

What if the eventual goal is four superteams, all at the Mississippi River and eastward?

Look at what's happened already these playoffs?

• The Yankees just fired Joe Girardi today, a few days after falling one game short of the World Series in a REBUILDING YEAR.  But, as people have pointed out, it's all about the "Drive for 28" -- ANYTHING not a World Series is a failed season in the Bronx!
• On a separate consideration, because it's clear the John Farrell lost the Red Sox team completely and it wouldn't have mattered if they won the title, but Farrell was also fired.
• The Cubs fired their entire coaching staff, it seems, sans Joe Maddon, today.  Pitching coach, hitting coach, bench coach, gone.
• The Nationals fired Dusty Baker after losing to the Cubs.
• Nothing from the Diamondbacks, Twins, Indians (their pitching coach was named Farrell's successor in Boston, but that's a promotion, not a firing) or Rockies.
• And then there's the situation with Dave Roberts in Los Angeles...

Yes, Wednesday night's Game 2 was rigged, but Roberts didn't help matters with Chase Utley at second base, and then basically running his bullpen completely out to finish the game in regulation (which, between the umpiring and probably substituting even more-juiced balls later in the game, wasn't going to happen)...

(Evidence:  Last night's power explosion in extra innings was the first time in Major League Baseball history that five home runs were hit in extra innings -- regardless of the type of game!  The eight home runs hit in the game were a World Series record.)

Reminded of Game 4 in Chicago for the NLCS, where Utley and Curtis Granderson were brought out of mothballs....

Girardi being fired greatly increases the chances that, hook or crook, if the Dodgers don't win the World Series, the Dave Roberts Watch is going to have to start.

It's clear that, for some reason, the media nor MLB wants the Dodgers to succeed in any way.  Is there a desire to break this team up for the benefit of the creation of superteams Mississippi River and eastward?

Consider the ticking clock:  Clayton Kershaw can opt out after next season...  Meaning, Roberts or whoever has the reins for the Dodgers may have this year and next to win a title...