Los Angeles Lakers (6-1, On Road: 3-0) @ Montreal Impact (5-5, At Home: 4-1), Game 4, LAL lead 2-1
I spent the early morning hours taking in the sights and sounds of the Parc du Portugal - contemplating our good fortune and trying to figure which 3rd story window Leonard Cohen spent his mornings looking out of. I’d like to think that this year's version of the La La’s would be poem worthy - one where everybody knows that the good guys lost - but I’m sure that his attention would have been turned elsewhere for inspiration - he wouldn’t have been bothered with something so trivial. Of course, there is nothing trivial about this to me - up 2-1 in a series against a serious club where the result will be representative of a lot of long nights, hard work, and perseverance. A baseball season is such a long and arduous slog - suitable only for those among us who have the sturdiest of constitutions - guys like Julen Morales, our game 4 starter, whose journey from Venezuela to the bump today could fill a poem book on its own with nary a haiku within its pages. At 18-7 with a 3.09 ERA for the season, Julen has been among our most consistent performers. Bringing superb stuff and a devastating changeup to pair with a filthy slider, Morales can give you fits. This will be his first start against the Impact in 2075, an introduction of sorts... let’s hope he makes his presence felt from his opening toss, and that he asserts his authority early and often. A good result here puts us firmly in control, gives us some breathing room - and with oxygen in short supply during the postseason let’s just say that a win would beat the light-headedness a game 4 loss would most assuredly usher into our clubhouse.
Julen Morales (1-0, 2.70) @ Ferdinand Loving (1-1, 3.24)
Julen comes out in the 1st dealing – 3 up, 3 down – but gives up a solo HR to Jayden Russell in the bottom of the next frame. We’d get it back in the 3rd when Clay Daniels gets a double on an error, steals 3rd and is brought home by Ethan Mullens – the manufacturing plant is open, y’all. From there nothing is getting through for either club – we have ourselves a little bit of a pitcher’s duel with Julen giving up 5 hits through 7 while Ferdinand has held us to 2 hits. We bring Kawka in for the 8th, he promptly ruins it by loading the bases and throwing beach balls – he’s easily one of the most frustrating guys on my squad (the Winter Meetings can’t come soon enough) – 1 plates, Montreal takes a late 2-1 lead. All is made right with the world when Heath Valdes comes in to relieve Ferdinand and gives us his best Josiah Kawka impression – we get one over on a Pepper sacrifice to knot it up. Kawka settles in and gives us a rock-solid bottom of the 9th… and we’re going to extras. In the end, we give Kawka one chances too many by allowing him to pitch the bottom of the 10th and he rewards us by giving up the game-winning HR to C Joseph Furst – who prior to Josiah’s gift was hitting a paltry .171 in the postseason. Baseball sucks.
Bonus Coverage: Jacksonville Jaguars (8-4, On Road: 2-3) @ Chicago Fire (8-5, At Home: 5-1), Game 5, Series Tied 2-2
Luc Felix (3-0, 0.34) @ Tom Wallace (0-1, 0.00)
Jacksonville does what we were unable to do – persevere and win an extra-innings tilt on the road. RF Paul Swift is your wannabe walk-off hero today – his solo shot in the top of the 10th seals the deal in this one, a 3-2 for the club from Florida. Jeremy Glickstein finished 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Jags, and Starter Luc Felix put in 7 solid innings of work for the winner. Tom Wallace, in the performance of a lifetime, goes 7-strong, shutout innings, but his work is all for naught as Roddy Ossa goes from hero to zero and blows the save, he’s now 4-1 in save situations during the postseason. Mercy, Roddy, say it… tough loss for the Fire.
