This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Charles Curtis is filling in for Andy Nesbitt.
Whew. What a Game 5 that was between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
But that ending? No one’s going to like that.
The two NL West rivals played the kind of tight, pitcher’s duel postseason game that’s a nail-biter every minute. Dave Roberts once again played the pitching matchups perfectly, brilliantly starting reliever Corey Knebel as an “opener,” going to starter Julio Urias in the third inning and then leaning on Blake Treinen and Kenley Jansen before getting the great — and eventually shirtless again — Max Scherzer to get his first career save.
The Giants had a shot behind Logan Webb’s masterful seven innings … but then came the call that ended it, a Wilmer Flores strikeout that sure looked like check-swing that should have extended that at-bat. It wasn’t reviewable, game over, and all we’re talking about on Friday is the call by first-base umpire Gabe Morales.
And that stinks.
Umpires and officials in sports everywhere have the hardest jobs in the world. In a split-second, Morales has to make a decision, and he doesn’t have the benefit of being checked by replay. Who knows what he saw from his angle down the line that made him confirm it was a swing?
So I’m not putting this all on Morales. What I am saying is it just stinks that this is what we’re talking about, and not about how awesome that game was (well, maybe you are if you’re not a Giants fan). I guess that’s the nature of sports, but this isn’t great for the sport and its officials. Here’s hoping this sparks conversations in the league office about whether this is reviewable … or that the rest of what’s already been an awesome postseason is free of controversy.
(I doubt that will be the case.)
Quick hits: Washington Football Team’s botched Sean Taylor number retirement announcement … Needle in a Timestack? … Undefeated college football teams … and more.
— WFT completely botched Sean Taylor’s number retirement.
— We came up with some better names for the very cool-looking movie, Needle in a Timestack.
— Which undefeated college football team will lose in Week 7?
— The Greek Freak’s jumper looks so good now!
— What to watch this weekend in college football.
