MLB Bullets nailed the sequel

There’s one positive to the Dodgers beating the Cubs in the NLCS. If the Cubs were one of the teams playing in game 2 of the World Series, I don’t think my heart would have been able to take it.

• Grant Brisbee recaps game 2 of the World Series, which he calls “the wildest postseason game in years.”
• Michael Baumann also has an appreciation of game 2, which he calls “part baseball game, part ballet, part generational epic novel, part two giraffes beating each other up with their necks. The word ‘thriller’ hardly does it justice.”
• There were eight home runs in game two, which has caused a lot of people, including some players, to renew the charges that the ball is juiced.
• Sam Miller breaks down all 11 home runs in the World Series so far.
• Jeff Sullivan breaks down the game-tying home run by Marwin Gonzalez off of Kenley Jansen and compares it to the Rajai Davis home run. Which Rajai Davis home run? Come on. You know which one.
• Chris Greenberg explains game 2 with 11 stats.
• Cliff Corcoran has some lessons learned from game 2.
• One of the big plays of game 2 was the one made by the cap of Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor. Carson Cistulli looks at how many defensive runs saved Taylor’s cap is worth.
• Bradford Doolittle thinks the previously-outstanding Dodgers bullpen picked a bad time to have a meltdown.
• One thing that has been the subject of a lot of discussion from game 2 was Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decision to pull starting pitcher Rich Hill after four innings. Jorge L. Ortiz argues that Roberts’ quick hook on starter Rich Hill and the rest of his pitching staff cost the Dodgers the game.
• Others said that Roberts made the right calls, they just didn’t work out. Dave Cameron comes to Roberts’ defense.
• As does Craig Calcaterra, who points out that you didn’t need analytics to notice that Hill had been struggling.
• Zach Kram notes that Roberts moves didn’t cost the Dodgers the game, but changing his strategy in the face of criticism could cost the Dodgers the Series.
• Dodgers legend Steve Garvey blamed the team’s loss on the team playing “millennial baseball.” What? Aren’t about three-quarters of millennials your kids, Steve?
• Evan Davis explains what “millennial baseball” is and why Garvey is so upset about it. Essentially, Garvey wants MLB to get off his lawn. (Side note: Garvey won the NL MVP in 1974. According to modern statistics like WAR, Garvey was the 4th-best player on the Dodgers that year. When he was playing, he was considered a sure Hall-of-Famer. With today’s understanding of the game, he’s not even a serious candidate.)
• Ramona Shelburne traces the education of Yasiel Puig and his path from stardom to the minor leagues and then to World Series stardom.
• Legendary Dodgers scout Mike Brito talks about his career and when he first saw Puig. (Video, but it’s short.)
• Brito’s most famous find as a scout was Fernando Valenzuela. Paul Gutierrez recounts how “Fernando-mania” started in a game against the Astros.
• The day after the Astros won their first World Series game in franchise history. Ben Reiter looks back at his and Sports Illustrated’s famous prediction that the Astros would win the 2017 World Series.
• Terence Moore thinks this year’s Astros are inspirational to a city recovering from a hurricane.
• Scott Lauber writes about when the Astros knew that Carlos Correa was going to be something special. Correa broke his leg in High-A and missed the end of the season, but he paid his own way to fly to California to be with the team when they won the California League title.
• Matt Kelly explains how curveballs are dominating the World Series this year.
• David Schoenfield thinks that there could be an insane number of Hall of Famers playing in this World Series.
• Bill Shaikin thinks that Dodgers fans have Bud Selig to thank for their World Series appearance this year: If Selig hadn’t forced Frank McCourt to sell the team, Shaikin argues, the Dodgers World Series drought would continue. He also talks with Selig about the decision to force McCourt out.
• One person who got to watch game 2 of the World Series in person is lifelong Dodgers fan Norman Lloyd. Lloyd, who you may know from his roles on “St. Elsewhere” or “Dead Poets Society,” (or dozens of other roles since before World War II) turns 103 next week and attended his first World Series in 1926, watching Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play for the Yankees. It was the first World Series game he’d seen in person since 1966 because, he explains, he’s always been working in October.
• The other big non-World Series news is that the Yankees fired manager Joe Girardi after ten years on the job.
• Ian O’Connor looks back at Girardi’s tenure in the Bronx and notes that his drive and intensity were both his strength and his weakness.
• Bob Nightengale thinks the Yankees made a foolish decision in letting Girardi go.
• Bob Klapisch thinks the Yankees will regret firing Girardi, especially because there isn’t an available candidate to replace him who’s any better.
• Craig Calcaterra sees both sides to the decision to fire Girardi. That’s the closest I can find to someone arguing that the Yankees were right to dismiss Girardi.
• Jay Jaffe doesn’t think firing Girardi was a mistake, but he does think the Yankees are taking a big gamble.
• Jack Dickey thinks with all the success Girardi has had in New York, general manager Brian Cashman’s decision to go in a different direction is awfully cold-blooded.
• Jeff Passan writes that Girardi’s dismissal is a sign that all power in baseball is in the hands of the GM today.
• Tom Verducci reports that the Yankees let go of Girardi because he wasn’t the right guy to manage a team of young, inexperienced players. Verducci notes that young managers who can relate better to young players are the trend at the moment.
• Mike Axisa has some candidates for the next Yankees manager.
• Jon Heyman looks at some theories as to why the Nationals fired manager Dusty Baker and notes that several Nationals players were not happy about Baker’s dismissal.
• (By the way, in this notes column, Heyman continues to report that there are more “whispers” that Bryce Harper wants to sign with the Cubs as a free agent.)
• Heyman also notes that with offense up all over the game, pitching coaches are taking the blame.
• It looks like former Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio is going to land on his feet with the same job with the Tigers.
• The Cardinals have hired Mike Maddux as their new pitching coach.
• Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia will be out until late May of 2018 following knee surgery.
• Jose Altuve and Giancarlo Stanton were named the winners of the Hank Aaron Award.
• And finally, for most of us, the Taco Bell promotion of “Steal a base, steal a taco” is just that: a promotion designed to promote their food. But Astros outfielder Cameron Maybin was pretty darn excited to be the guy to steal the first base of the World Series. So much so that he’s been declared the “Taco Hero.”

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.