Phillies take Game 1 on a wild night in Houston
Philadelphia Phillies 6 Houston Astros 5, 28th October 2022.
Philadelphia Phillies 6 Houston Astros 5, 28th October 2022.
Hello and welcome to Game 1 of the 118th World Series and your unbiased coverage from a UK based Los Angeles Dodgers fan of over two decades standing, and one who’s still smarting from their early exit from the play offs this year and failure to reach the “Big Dance” or “Fall Classic” yet again. Rather than my end of regular season prediction of a showdown between my beloved Dodgers and the “Evil Empire” of the New York Yankees, we have the ever impressive Houston Astros in their 4th World Series in just 6 seasons facing off with the Philadelphia Phillies in their first World Series in 14 years, and since winning it all in 2008 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Last night was the first game of a definite 4 in a series of a possible 7 as “October baseball” tiptoes into November and whilst my heart says the Phillies (wild card outsiders and heavy underdogs) in 6, my head says the Astros in a 4 game “sweep”. This particular prediction was made before last night’s first game and aside from my notoriously bad predictions, popular baseball wisdom also suggested that last night would be a tight and low scoring “pitcher’s duel” between the home team Astros and their starting pitcher and veteran Justin Verlander playing in his 4th World Series facing off against Aaron Nola, 10 years his junior and playing in his first ever World Series at the age of 29. Bad predictions, the heart for the underdog, the head for the obvious favourites or just quaint old fashioned baseball wisdom all went out of the clubhouse window, and by halfway 10 runs had scored and both Justin Verlander and Aaron Nola were already hit out of the game.
The veteran Astros hurler started strongly and very impressively, sitting down the first 9 Phillies batters in order and was already basking in the luxury of a heavy 5 run lead by the end of the 3rd inning. The Astros jumped into a 2–0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning before extending their lead still further to 5–0 at the bottom of the 3rd with lefty bare handed right fielder Kyle Tucker crushing back to back Home Runs and essentially single-handedly hitting Aaron Nola out of the game. On the other side of the baseball, now with this huge Game 1 lead and seemingly in control, Verlander finally gave up a hit to the 11th batter he faced, 1st baseman Rhys Hoskins, Nick Castellanos walked before a crushed double from Alec Bohm reduced the deficit to 5–3 in the 4th inning and Verlander’s evening came to an end an inning later after Phillies catcher JT Realmuto (and eventual Game 1 winner) drove in Brandon Marsh and slugger Kyle Schwarber to level the score at an astonishing 5–5 in the 5th!
Ostensibly, this wild Game 1 under the roof of Minute Maid Park became a “Bullpen Game” and considering the strength of each team’s bullpens, it was hardly a surprise the game went an extra inning. What was more surprising perhaps was that the unfancied Phillies grabbed the extra innings victory and the first of 4 needed to secure their first World Series title in 14 years. But all this was for the immediate past and a fast approaching future.
With the score still standing at 5–5 and the starting pitchers dispatched back to the dugout, the game fell into a familiar and mirrored pattern. Innings 6 and 8 were relatively clean and no major threat to the score line with Jose Alvarado, Zach Eflin and Ranger Suarez all pitching in relief for the visiting Phillies and giving up a combined 2 hits, striking out 2 Astros batters and crucially not giving up a go-ahead run. The Phillies big chance to take a huge and game winning lead came in a 7th inning that saw Astros relief pitcher Bryan Abreu run out of steam after an impressive stint in relief (3 strikeouts and only 1 hit) but that hit by Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber was followed by walks allowed to JT Realmuto (that eventual game winner again!) and Bryce Harper. With the bases loaded and the Phillies on the verge of a break out lead in the top of the 7th inning, Hector Neris struck out Nick Castellanos and the home town crowd screamed the loudest sigh of relief of the night so far. Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly pitched clean innings for the Astros to set up the grandstand finish and 9th inning “walk off” winning run, and they were mere inches from doing so. With Seranthony Dominguez now on the mound for the Phillies and the Astros hunting for that last gasp winning run, Jose Altuve hit a miscued “bloop” into centre field and when next batter and rookie sensation Jeremy Pena did likewise, this time to shallow right field, that winning walk off run seemed inevitable and was only snatched away by an incredible running and diving catch from Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos, and just inches from the turf.
The picture above really encapsulates this fantastic opening game of the World Series and the cigarette paper thin line between sporting victory and agonising defeat. Mere inches away from certain victory in the 9th inning to a similar measurement away from defeat in the 10th and just minutes later as Phillies catcher JT Realmuto dispatches Astros relief pitcher Luis Garcia into the stands for the game defining Home Run. Despite Kyle Tucker’s desperate leap and, lest we forget, back to back Home Runs that set up the Astros imposing 5–0 early lead, Realmuto’s go ahead run gave the Phillies their first score line lead of the entire evening and with a 6–5 advantage, enter “closer” David Robertson. Striking out the ever dangerous Yordan Alvarez it seemed a regulation baseball “save” and crucial first win in the series but Alex Bregman sprung the hope eternal with a crushing drive that bounced off the left field scoreboard, bagging a double. Kyle Tucker couldn’t write the fairy tale of a third Home Run in a World Series game as he struck out swinging but Yuli Gurriel walked, Robertson delivered a “wild pitch” to Aledmys Diaz and with Bregman now at 3rd base and Gurriel at 2nd and both almost certain to score on a single base hit and win the game for the home team Astros, Robertson forced a weak ground ball to 3rd baseman Edmundo Sosa, throwing out Diaz at 1st, and the Philadelphia Phillies, those rank outsiders and unfancied underdogs, had done it again.
Speaking after their 6–5 triumph in Game 1, JT Realmuto joked:
“Once I saw him (Tucker) running back to the wall, I was thinking in my head, ‘Oh, please just don’t catch it, just don’t catch it.’”
and on the Game 1 win:
“That is a Phillies win right there”
Yes it was.
So there will not be an Astros sweep to the title and that pleases me even if it continues to demonstrate my poor judgement and prediction skills! Far more importantly, the Phillies have struck first and if they can find the game winning magic again this evening in Game 2 and take a 2–0 advantage back to Philadelphia for a 3 game set in front of their own fans, this could well be a baseball season and a World Series for the ages.
Thanks for reading. I pen thoughts on topics old and new, sometimes borrowed and often times blue. Here are my three most recently published articles, but there are far more available within the cave of wonders that is my archives:
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