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Houston Astros: Dodgers Ross Stripling’s intriguing connection to H-Town

By Kenneth Cline

HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 27: Ross Stripling
HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 27: Ross Stripling /
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CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 18: Yasmani Grandal
CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 18: Yasmani Grandal /

A Living Nightmare

It just seems like Stripling might be the only Houstonian to not be in a celebratory mood for the Astros now. But that’s understandable. I mean, if I were living in Los Angeles and the Dodgers defeated the Astros to win the World Series, I certainly would be in the same boat he’s on. Hey, Justin Verlander would be in the same boat too because he lives in Los Angeles.

But Stripling doesn’t just talk about dealing with Astros fans. He also talks about a moment that has haunted him about the series.

What could it be? Because for all I know, the moment I can think of is during Game 3 when George Springer nearly hit a grand slam to put the game out of reach. Stripling was pitching and he was smiling afterward. But that wasn’t it.

How it got worse

In Game 2, the Astros trailed 3-1 going into the seventh inning. Marwin Gonzalez was leading off facing new reliever Ross Stripling. The Dodgers had a gameplan. Have Stripling pitch the seventh inning. Then go get Brandon Morrow for the eighth inning before Kenley Jensen closes it out in the ninth inning. It was a formula that worked all season long for the Dodgers.

But on this night, everything changed.

Stripling would throw four pitches to Gonzalez. All four pitches missed the strike zone. Gonzalez drew a walk and Dave Roberts came out to pull Stripling from the game. Now you would think four pitches would have no such effect on the game and it would prove to be the case. But the circumstances would be different.

  • Morrow holds the Astros down in the seventh inning. Astros still trail 3-1.
  • Morrow starts the eighth inning and gives up a leadoff double by Alex Bregman, which was nearly caught by Yasiel Puig.
  • Kenley Jansen is called in to get a six-out save.
  • Altuve grounds out to second, moving Bregman to third.
  • Correa hits an RBI single off of Jansen scoring Bregman. Astros trail 3-2.
  • Jansen retires the next two hitters he faces to end the eighth. Astros still trail 3-2.
  • Jansen comes back out for the ninth inning and gives up a game-tying home run to Marwin Gonzalez.
  • The rest is history.

Now you see what I mean?

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