Last night was definitely frustrating. Just have to wipe our hands clean and go continue our great play on the road in the playoffs. Need a good start from Scherzer in Game 3, and I'm thinking we see Gray+Dunning in Game 4.

I will say this, Arizona has to be feeling great considering they played their game and really put it to us...if it's not for some Seager heroics they're up 2-0 and feeling invincible. On the flip side, they did everything "right" in game 1 and still came away with a loss. Hopefully we jump all over Pfaadt and take the crowd away like we were able to do in Baltimore and Houston.

They put 11 runners on in game 1 and deserved to lose. This narrative of the Rangers stealing game 1 is not accurate. The Rangers were the better team and the baseball gods smiled on them at the end.

I just don't see that the same way. They pushed 5 runs across playing their high-pressure offense on the basepaths combined with some power from Pham. Handed a 2 run lead to the good side of their bullpen which has been lights out with the lead all postseason. If you're Arizona you're saying "that's how we win ballgames" and their closer ultimately blew a save for the first time this month. Not trying to discredit Seager, our bullpen, or our offense for executing when it mattered most, just saying from Arizona's perspective that's a game they've won all postseason.

I'm convinced the ump was told to even the series up last night. Horribly one sided. Still steamed at the disparity in the calls.

DallasAg 94 said:

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The story line all day yesterday before the game was that Kelly relied on hitters chasing the ball out of the zone and if the Rangers didn't chase pitches and were disciplined, the Rangers would win by forcing him in the zone.

I haven't gone through it yet, but thought I'd post. The Ump last night often widened the zone against only the Rangers forcing them to chase pitches out of the zone, if they didn't want to get rung up. Once the Rangers were forced to chase, it was game over.

I think this will only show part of it because it forced a changed behavior on the Rangers.

Umpire: Quinn Wolcott
Final: D-backs 9, Rangers 1#Dbacks // #StraightUpTX#AZvsTEX // #TEXvsAZ#Postseason

More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/EPUD0yh3QU pic.twitter.com/lUayC0MycP

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) October 29, 2023

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Exactly. Who's to say what the butterfly effect is if the pitcher has to throw to another batter or two in some of these innings.

hawk1689 said:

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DallasAg 94 said:

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The story line all day yesterday before the game was that Kelly relied on hitters chasing the ball out of the zone and if the Rangers didn't chase pitches and were disciplined, the Rangers would win by forcing him in the zone.

I haven't gone through it yet, but thought I'd post. The Ump last night often widened the zone against only the Rangers forcing them to chase pitches out of the zone, if they didn't want to get rung up. Once the Rangers were forced to chase, it was game over.

I think this will only show part of it because it forced a changed behavior on the Rangers.

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Exactly. Who's to say what the butterfly effect is if the pitcher has to throw to another batter or two in some of these innings.

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Even more than facing another batter, look at Perez. 2 Strikes were called balls. Perez now has to throw even more in the zone or risk another ball being called. It allowed the hitter to be more selective.

This is just for reference. I'm not saying the Umps have changed the outcome of any series, but the more they insert themselves, the more they seem to impact the outcome. I said midseason that I'd rather have the Astros in the playoffs rather than the NYY or BoSox, for that very reason. They seem historically (along with the Cardinals) to get more home-cookin.

ALCS G1: +0.85 Houston - Texas 2 v Houston 0
h#ttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8kWBxXXkAAXjJH?format=jpg&name=medium

ALCS G2: +0.34 Houston - Texas 5 v Houston 4
h#ttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8pfnr8akAA-x-N?format=jpg&name=large

ALCS G3: +0.36 Texas - Houston 8 v Texas 5
h#ttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8zyyTEXkAATf2Y?format=jpg&name=large

ALCS G4: +0.23 Houston - Houston 10 v Texas 3
h#ttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/F848hckWYAABU_G?format=jpg&name=large

ALCS G5: +0.78 Texas - Houston 5 v Texas 4
h#ttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/F8-F-8CXQAAjxaT?format=jpg&name=medium

ALCS G6: +0.55 Texas - Texas 9 v Houston 2
h#ttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9IZJKBXUAAW6ka?format=jpg&name=medium

ALCS G7: +0.08 Houston - Texas 11 v Houston 4
h#ttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9Ni5uMb0AAxMYL?format=jpg&name=medium

Houston favored in 4 games. Ironically, the team favored lost 5 of the 7.

As I've mentioned, though... timing is everything. For example, when the Mavs played the Miami Heat in the Championship, they called a couple quick fouls on Dirk, which required the Mavs to take him out. A couple fouls late in the game agains Miami after the game has been decided makes the scorecard look close, but doesn't tell the whole story.

I've included the ScoreCard links for the ALCS. If you take out the # it should take you there, I just didn't want to fill up the page with them.

I'm always leery of the Umps inserting themselves, which is why I no longer watch the NBA.

Mr Gigem said:

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The DBacks front office had 4 party suites in the right field corner.

The Rangers FO will have the same in AZ

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Well then I hope our front office and families are loud as hell in AZ.

Not sure if it's a result of the roofed stadium, or that the suites are able to be "shared" so it makes for one big suite -- but I never heard "Let's Go Giants" or "Let's Go Cardinals" (or "Lets Go Rangers in StL) in 2010 or 2011 anywhere near as loud or as regularly as "Let's Go Dbacks" from that suite the last two nights.

Can't sleep boys. This week will either end in heartbreak or us as World Series Champions. Let's get 2 in Arizona and celebrate back at our place!

Water Boy said:

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Can't sleep boys. This week will either end in heartbreak or us as World Series Champions. Let's get 2 in Arizona and celebrate back at our place!

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Can't either. Baseball.

The way Semien's season has gone he will slump for a while and then an equally strong hitting streak coming out of it. Feel like we are due for that

PatAg said:

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The way Semien's season has gone he will slump for a while and then an equally strong hitting streak coming out of it. Feel like we are due for that

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Hopefully he figures it out soon, we are kinda running out of games! A couple times recently it looked like he was about to come out of it, but then the next game it was back to struggling. He is due.

I'm ready for Mad Max to shove tonight.

The tour has been announced.

Semien ain't moving. Ain't happening

I say dance with who brung ya at this point.

Looking forward to a win tonight

We're gonna win the first 2 and then Bochy is going to rest his guys for the last game in AZ.

KT 90 said:

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PatAg said:

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The way Semien's season has gone he will slump for a while and then an equally strong hitting streak coming out of it. Feel like we are due for that

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Hopefully he figures it out soon, we are kinda running out of games! A couple times recently it looked like he was about to come out of it, but then the next game it was back to struggling. He is due.

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Semien hit a couple balls hard against Merrill Kelly, either right at or tracked down by an outfielder. Would love to see a leadoff HR tonight just to set the tone and stake Max to a lead.

His swing has gotten long again. At the end of the season he adjusted and began to get shorter with his swing, thus he was putting the ball in play more, but midway through the Astros series he started to expand and get big. We need Leody to simply get on base. Work your walks and just get the ball in play. Force them to get you and your speed out.