Tony La Russa and Dave Dombrowski are old friends, but La Russa isn't interested in managing Red Sox — or any other team. "Passed the managerial baton," La Russa wrote in an e-mail. "I'm done." The Hall of Fame manager announced Wednesday he will leave his position in the Diamondbacks front office when his contract expires at month's end. La Russa, 73, hasn't managed since 2011 with the Cardinals.
Yes, Joe Maddon quoted Ricky Bobby postgame: Once you've said "with all due respect," you can say whatever you want.
Wade Davis used Kris Bryant's bat to hit in the eighth. It went nine pitches before he struck out looking:"Yeah, I gave up after a while."
Cubs catcher Willson Contreras on Curtis Granderson striking out on the pitch after a controversial foul-tip call extended the Dodgers outfielder's at-bat: "The ball never lies."
Javier Baez broke out of his slump in a big way with two home runs and admitted it's been hard to focus on baseball with everything going on in Puerto Rico. "Before the playoffs, I was ready to go home. My whole family is there," he said. He got his mother out but says, "After the season I will go home and help my people."
Joe Maddon could tell by the reaction from Dodgers hitters on their swings and misses that Jake Arrieta had great movement on his pitches very early on and that he knew Arrieta had to go deep to win this game.
Joe Maddon on the explanation on the foul tip: "I'm not here to bang on umpires, but that can't happen. The process was terrible. If Granderson hits a home run there I might come running out of the clubhouse in my jockstop."
The Cubs still have a tough hill to climb in this series, but 3-1 sure feels a lot more attainable than 3-0 did, especially for a team that came back from down 3-1 to win the World Series last fall.
Dave Roberts on the defeat: "It's a good feeling when we wake up tomorrow and know Clayton will be taking the mound." Kershaw lost the decisive Game 6 of the NLCS last year at Wrigley, but gets to start this one with a comfortable lead in the series and less pressure. Maybe he'll finally have that signature postseason moment.
Cubs win. Fly the W!
Dave Roberts after Game 4: They're a very talented team. They're the world champs. And we got beat today.
Wade Davis and the Cubs survive for another day. Cody Bellinger hits the ball on the nose, but it's hard grounder right to second baseman Javier Baez for a game-ending 4-6-3 double play and a 3-2 victory. With Davis struggling with his command -- he ended up throwing 48 pitches, just 26 for strikes -- avoiding on-deck hitter Justin Turner with the game on the line was a huge sigh of relief. It's Clayton Kershaw versus Jose Quintana on Thursday night. Series on.
The W flag is on it's way up, Cubs fans are singing and there will be baseball at Wrigley Field tomorrow night after Wade Davis' six-out save seals a 3-2 NLCS Game 4 victory.
Los fans en Wrigley Field abuchearon fuertemente a los árbitros después que revirtieron a foul un tercer strike llamado en contra de Curtis Granderson. El dirigente de los Cachorros Joe Maddon fue expulsado en la 8va entrada después de discutir con los árbitros, señalando la repetición en pantalla, donde pareció que el bate de Granderson nunca tocó la pelota. Con los Cachorros teniendo la ventaja 3-1 sobre los Dodgers, el cerrador Wade Davis tuvo muchos problemas para sacar los primeros 3 de 6 outs restantes en el partido, tras permitir un cuadrangular y dos bases por bola, requiriendo 34 lanzamientos.
Joe Maddon was ejected for the second time in the series after arguing that foul tip on Curtis Granderson -- apparently that falls under the "you can't argue balls and strikes" category of arguing with the umpires.
After Yasmani Grandal's walk, it's now taken Wade Davis 30 pitches to get two outs. This is what the Dodgers mean when they talk about maintaining their approach no matter the circumstance.
Joe Maddon is angry. Cubs fans are angry. Curtis Granderson gets a reprieve on the controversial foul tip ... or non-foul tip or whatever you want to call it. And he strikes out on the next pitch and Cubs fans let out a loud cheer. And now they're booing every pitch. Postseason baseball at it's most spirited.
Wade Davis entered in the eighth inning for a potential six-out save tonight and the first batter he faced, Justin Turner, greeted him by putting a dent in the Wrigley Field scoreboard to cut into Chicago's Game 4 lead.
Hang onto your hats, kids. Justin Turner greets Cubs closer Wade Davis with a moonshot way into the Chicago night to draw the Dodgers within a run. L.A. still has six outs with which to work.
In perhaps his final start as a Cub, Jake Arrieta gave all he could in going 6.2 innings. He gave up 3 hits, 5 walks and 9 strikeouts and just one run. He threw 111 pitches. He'll be a free agent after the season.
Jake Arrieta may have thrown his final pitch as a member of the Cubs. He gave it his all tonight, throwing 111 pitches of vintage Jake Arrieta baseball. Over the past four seasons, he's second in the majors in ERA among starters to Clayton Kershaw and he leaves with a 3-1 lead after Brian Duensing gets Cody Bellinger to escape the jam. A free agent after the season, speculation is Arrieta signs with another team.
Se fue Jake Arrieta después de seis entradas y dos tercios y de que fue incapaz de sacar el último out en el séptimo inning contra los Dodgers. Arrieta fue el primer abridor de la actual Serie de Campeonato de la Liga Nacional que supera los 100 lanzamientos. Frenó a los Dodgers en tres hits, incluido el jonrón del novato Cody Bellinger que hasta la séptima entrada tenía en el marcador 3-1 a favor de los Cubs. Arrieta ponchó a nueve, pero regaló cinco pasaportes. El relevista Brian Duensing sacó el último out de ese séptimo inning con dos pitcheos.
Opponents are 0-28 with 11 K in at-bats ending with a Masahiro Tanaka splitter this postseason. The Astros were 0-9 with 4 K against it in Game 5. Tanaka has excelled when the splitter has just the right amount of vertical drop to it. In this game, it dropped at an average speed of 14.8 feet per second when it crossed the plate. The range at which he's performed best this season is 14.0 to 15.4 feet per second. All 3 playoff starts have been 14.8 to 15.0 feet per second.
This is turning into a little bit of a best-case scenario for Joe Maddon, since he hasn't had to burn through his bullpen. Jake Arrieta is at 89 pitches and Maddon said before the game that Wade Davis is available for multiple innings. You have to think he's hoping he only has to use those two the rest of the way. If somebody else gets in the game, it's probably not good news for the Cubs.
Javier Baez is the youngest Cub ever with a multi homer playoff game. He has 4 postseason home runs at Wrigley Field, tied with Kyle Schwarber for most in this ballpark.
