Rich Eisen: What Blue Jays are Doing Right & What Dodgers are Doing So Very Wrong in World Series

Rich Eisen: What Blue Jays are Doing Right & What Dodgers are Doing So Very Wrong in World Series

So, uh, I was at game five last night. Saw it with my own two eyes. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a game, uh, in person where the first two guys homer. Uh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. I’ve I don’t I don’t I can’t recall the last game I saw where the first pitch went yard. one pitch, one run, one swing, one swing of momentum um that uh we’ve seen the Blue Jays now carry for uh a couple of games in a row in Los Angeles. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. And it’s the first time a World Series game has ever began with back-to-back home runs. Davis Schneider again, who I had 15 of his cards, if he played in 1979, I’d have 15 of his cards on tops. He’s got like that Doug Drebeck look about him with glasses. Oh, that’s a good You know, and and he took a 97 mph fast from Blake Snell up and in, got his hands out, threw it and yanked it into the seats. And then Vlad Guerrero Jr., who’s now one game away, I would say nine innings away, but we all know what this series can can rock. Uh he’s one game away from being the most valuable player of the World Series. and uh what a capstone that would be on his season and a feather in his cap for his career and he’d have a ring and he’d be able to give it to his dad and all that sort of stuff. Um and little did we know that those two home runs, those two at bats, the three pitches into this game in which the Blue Jays took a two nothing lead was would be all the runs that they would need. Literally, there were people stuck on the 101 freeway coming into the stadium looking up and go, “Oh, it’s two nothing.” That’s how quickly this thing had happened. It was uh only about 10 minutes after 5:00 local time and this is a a series in which a game ended at 3 in the morning Toronto time or you know what I mean? And um that was all the Blue Jays would need because of this young stud named Trey Yavage. And this photograph on the screen, I’ll describe it for everybody who’s listening on ESPN radio presented by Progressive Insurance and SiriusXM and our podcast. It is a guy whose pitching style is so overthe-top that the ball looks like it’s coming from the hand of Victor Webbyama standing flatfooted. And I’m not kidding. It’s it’s about 7’6 in off the ground. And so when he throw they they they documented this on on Fox I believe in game one that his wingspan and his ability to come over the top is and release point is the the tallest off the ground of anybody in in Major League Baseball. I might be wrong about that. Tyler Glass now, as we all know, has got the longest stride, right? Because he’s so tall. But this guy, he he creates such a release point that it’s jarring. And it normally if you you got him figured out in game one, which the Dodgers uh did before, you know, the roof fell in on him in Toronto, um you’d figure that they might have a better chance at him in their second time seeing him around, but not this time. And it’s an incredible story. I mean, it I think it’s been well documented for those who have been locked in on the World Series and the postseason, but I’m sitting in this game next to my boy Coupe, who goes to summer camp in Maine. And uh Kassus and I want him to have, you know, an East Coast different experience than living in Southern California. And um it’s awesome. The camp every year takes kids on a field trip to the Portland Sea Dogs, doublea affiliate of your Boston Red Sox, Christopher. Correct. And Cooper, I covered the Sea Dogs for many years. Cooper, and I I kind of mentioned this before your Savages first started in the World Series. I’ll repeat it here again. Coupe saw a Portland Sea Dogs game against the Toronto Blue Jays doubleA affiliate from New Hampshire. And sure enough, who were they starting the night that Coupe was there on July the 6th? The Fisher Cats had started a guy who had just been elevated from Single A Ball in Deneden, Florida for the Toronto Blue Jays. And his name is Trey Savage. He saw him in double A baseball in Portland, Maine this summer. By the way, you can look at the box score. I’ll read it out for those who are listening right now. Connor Lee Early was the starter for the Sea Dogs. I know he started game three of the wildard series against the Yankees. Crazy in Yankee Stadium. But the the kid who gave up, by the way, three earned on four hits in three innings, got tagged against the Sea Dogs, he wound up catching fire and he wound up pitching for the Blue Jays and he wound up on the mound in games one and five of the World Series. And now that guy that Cooper saw in July and saw last night set a record for most strikeouts by a rookie pitcher in the history of the World Series. And this photograph of him striking out Show Otani so with with a pitch that fooled him so greatly that his helmet came flying off and he lost his balance is something that I don’t know. Do you print this out and put it on your wall and or or put it on a t-shirt or walk around the rest of your life going I did that? No. That goes up in the crib for you know what I mean? For sure. And the guy he surpassed Don Nukem of the Dodgers organization and he became the first pitcher to have 10 strikeouts in a World Series start through the first five innings of that start. since one of the folks in the crowd, Sandy Kofax, who was there again, Trey Savage, going through seven innings and just pounding that strike zone, pounding it, and had this to say after his remarkable game five victory to make the first two at bats results. of the night stand up for the rest of the night to give the Blue Jays a shot at winning the World Series at home. One of two different chances to do so. This is what he had to say after the game. It’s crazy world. Crazy world. Um Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good. So, um just being a part of this, I’m just very blessed. walking from the bullpen to the the dugout, I took a moment to look around the stadium, see all the fans. I wanted to to I was I was hoping I’d send him home uh upset, but uh yeah, it was it was just a cool like full circle moment. Kid born in Pottstown, PA is now the toast of Canada as he became the first to have 12 strikeouts and no walks in a World Series start. How about them apples just three hits? Uh the one earned was a Kik, no doubt about her. That guy is just a beast in October K, right? Um that was a no doubt about it. Made it made it 2-1 and it could have been a game. And then you know what the Blue Jays do, man? I’m telling you, I keep pounding this because they play baseball in a way that can take down the most well-healed future Hall of Fame studded lineup and franchise in the sport, which is timely hitting and timely connections with the baseball, their their ratio of productive outs to non-productive outs is their superpower. I turn to Cooper whenever there’s a runner on third with less than two outs and I’m like, is there any doubt the Blue Jays are not scoring that run right now, right? whether it be by a base hit like Isaiah Isaiah Connor Falefa late in the game to give him a 6-1 lead or a fly out or a ground out to the right side to get someone from second over to third and again I use the Yankees as the measuring stick for various reasons for personal reasons but also this is the second straight AL East winning opponent the Dodgers are facing in the World Series And this team that they’re facing doesn’t strike out as much, doesn’t need the home run to score, has timely pitching, has timely relieving, has a manager who’s pushing the buttons that work more than not. Does have Don Mattingly in the dugout. Also, this team, guess what? Didn’t completely disintegrate after a gutting loss in Dodgers Stadium, capped by a walk-off Freddy Freeman home run. The Yankees disintegrated last year in the World Series. The Blue Jays since losing to Freddy Freeman in the 19th inning and all the Dodger fans going home happy listening to Randy Newman talking about how much he loves Los Angeles. They rallied. They have not lost yet. Not only have they rallied, they haven’t lost. They said, “You know what? We’re going to just sweep the rest of Los Angeles. We’ll win games four and five. We’ll beat Otani after the whole world’s talking about what a unicorn he is on the mound. And then we’ll send our kid out there and give him a lifetime photograph memory on the wall of Otani losing his balance in his helmet. They’re unbelievable. They’re a great baseball team. They play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. And you know what? You could take Davis Schneider’s salary, I bet. I don’t even know what their salaries and earning Clement’s salary on top of each other, right? And Bar Barger’s pardon me, Barger’s salary and Lucas’s salary and just mount them up. Do they even equ come to the equivalence of of a fraction of one one of these Dodgers um deferrals are? Uh David Schneider is uh making $820,000 this year. And you know the Dodgers lineup is not making contact. They aren’t playing baseball as well as the Blue Jays. Uh Mookie Betts, man, I love this guy. He he’s raising his hand saying, “Look at me. Hit it.” I don’t want to speak on anybody else, but for me personally, um I’ve just been terrible. I’ve been terrible and there’s no uh I wish it was from lack of effort. I really do, but it’s not. So, I don’t have any answers. Well, that’s one thing, you know, it will never be for Mookie Bets is lack of effort. He’s hitting 130 in the World Series, but his talent is so great. Normally, when you hit 130 in the World Series, you’re dropped from two to eight. They dropped him from two to three in the lineup, right? Because you just never know. He catches fire and he’ll change the entire fortunes. Good news for the Dodgers is Yamamoto’s on the mound in game six and all he’s done is finish what he started two times in a row. Got to do it again. They need that man. They need length from him because they need to score some runs. They do. That’s true. Obviously they have they have four runs in the last 29 innings. That ain’t going to get it done cuz the Blue Jay pitchers make you swing and miss and all they do is make contact with the baseball. Yeah, it really is amazing. Like the Dodgers just hit solo home runs. Yeah, that’s it. It’s all they do. Rich, you you being sort of like sort of like who what does that remind you of? Yankees last year. They’ve blue Jays are turning the Dodgers into the Yankees. Is that what you’re telling me right now? Uh, it seems like it. Rich, you being there. What What was the feeling like in the crowd going down 20 that early? Man, did you sense that the fans were just taken out of the game? No, not really. I mean, because it say got him right back in. Kik got him right back into it. I mean, Kik’s home run got everybody right back into it. As as deflating as it might be, that thing was gone. And and and you know, and Dodger fans know their lineup is so loaded. Yeah. You can’t really get And here’s the kid that they that they cuffed around well enough to keep it a game in game one until, again, as I mentioned, the uh roof caved in. But unbelievable. Well done, Blue Jays. They go home. Now, grab your passports and if you’re the Dodgers and u look out for this one. I’ll just put this one in your head cuz Coupe said it to me on the way home. What’s that? Because you know Otani pitched in game four. Mhm. He says, “What if Yamamoto gives you seven, Otani gives you the eighth, and Sasaki gives you the ninth? What if it goes Yamamoto to Otani to Sasaki in game six? And I’m like, the only thing that might be, you know, not reasonable about that is Yamamoto just goes all nine, but it’s entirely possible. I think I had saw that it’s going to be a glass now Otani game on game seven. Got it. Should it get that far? Should get that far. Yeah. Yeah. which will be wild because at that point in time, you know, Otani can only warm up after he’s hit and gotten off the base paths, right? So, I don’t know if he starts and then Glass Now comes in relief. Is that how that’s wild? Got to get there first, obviously. Yes, you do. What a series. It’s been highly entertaining to say the least. And just for the Toronto Blue Jays, an absolute How about this exhibition? Remember, they used to play in that stadium. They It’s been an exhibition of how to play the game. How do you play the game? Make contact. Put the pressure on the other team because you make contact and then pitch well enough where there is no contact. Hey, you made it all the way to the end. Thanks for that. Check us out every single day streaming live on Disney Plus and the ESPN app 12 to 3 Eastern.

Rich Eisen reacts to the Toronto Blue Jays becoming one win away from a World Series title with rookie Trey Yesavage’s MLB record 12-strikeout game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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