When Goose Gossage was elected to the Hall of Fame, during the presentation ceremony he was praised for his many seven-out relief appearances. He often entered the game in the seventh inning or earlier. In some years, the ratio of his innings pitched to his game appearances was almost three to one.

You probably remember Elroy Face winning nineteen games for the Pirates in ’59 as the Bucs’ closer. The Closer! Danny Murtaugh would not hesitate to use Face in the middle of the game, even if the Pirates were behind. When the Pirates took the lead, he would stay in the game, and he had the wins to prove it.

“But it was the Nats bats that dried up.”
***True, but we didn’t chase as many bad pitches. Only 70%, down from 85%. Weird, because our hitting coach had them going. But the Astros have good pitching as well as tremendous, disciplined batters. As Howie Kendrick says: In the end, you gotta hit the ball.

“I turn the sound way down and just watch.”
***If you have MLB At Bat, mute the Fox drones (Smoltz is remarkably unilluminating) and turn on one of the team radio feeds–sometimes there is little lag and the broadcasters really know the teams.

“I’ll bet the droners went on and on about five straight road wins. Will that continue Tuesday?”
***God is a Nats fan. He has decreed no home team victories. Strasburg gets them Tuesday and cortisone-laced Scherzer sets them down Wednesday. Ya gotta believe. It’s a funny old game.

“Zimmerman looked hapless against Cole.”
***We got what we could from Zim. Been great over the years, but they figured him out. Stands too far from the plate, no pull, easy prey for pitches away. LH Matt Adams should play 1B against RH pitchers, but the manager has this rote response to everything, and he tears up when Zim gets a hit. Usually with nobody on.

“In the dugout, the Nats manager looks bewildered but I guess that’s just his normal expression.”
***Deer in the headlights. Unfortunately our amazing comeback, thanks to the players and coaches not him, will see him renewed. His frequent misjudgments in the season and NLCS are forgotten, along with his repeated use of exhausted roosters in lieu of his best relievers in game 4. (Doolittle and Hudson only look good compared to the rest of them, but sometimes they give us a chance.)

Charles: Amen to all that. As a regular follower, my impression that they nurse few if any overblown egos compared to other teams that have gone this far, and esprit de corps is undoubtedly a factor. We only hope they can re-sign Anthony Rendon, who is a free agent this year. Now that’s one free agent everybody wants back.

John: No, it makes you a Detroit fan. All those Tigers! The date was 15 September 1945 and they beat us twice, 7-4 and 7-3 behind Newhouser and Trout. York homered in game 2. You can look it up. That put Detroit 2 1/2 games up and by season’s end they beat us to the pennant by only 1 1/2 games.

Alas I have no tickets, but I have a TV….

Auld Munro: In lieu of the droning Fox announcers, I put Fox TV on mute and am listening to the Washington radio feed via MLB At-Bat. Charlie Slowes just said God has “unleashed a plague of locusts,” as swarms of fans leave early. No disrespect, Astros are a great battling team and it’s by no means over. But that ump must have called 20 strikes balls on Strasburg. Stras has “grown,” however. In earlier days those calls would have derailed him; now he just rears back and throws another strike.

Richard: Knew you couldn’t resist. Am in a coma already. What a game. No mistakes, except Robles’s throws which proved harmless. Scherzer wasn’t at his best but he ground through as he always does. If Strasburg is on tomorrow we could return to DC two up. And there they have to play real baseball—no DH. But the Astros are really good. They don’t chase breaking balls out of the zone, and that affected Max’s pitch count.

Jack: Yes. Also, a ticket would help!

Richard: Well, wish us luck then! My Bahamas bartender is a Braves fan, but he will always back our National League. He was a good sport and wished us well.