Gary Cederstrom was the story of Game 3 of the World Series. No, he doesn't play for the Nats. He doesn't play for the Astros. He's not the manager of either team. He's not the bench coach or the third base coach. He was the home plate umpire. And he had a terrible game when it mattered most.
It's frustrating when a home plate has an inconsistent strike zone. That wasn't Cederstrom's problem. His strike zone was quite consistent for the both teams. The Astros' pitchers consistently got the outside, low, and high pitches all night long. The Nats' pitchers, particularly Anibal Sanchez, didn't even get pitches virtually down the middle. It was not only an embarrassing night for Gary Cederstrom; it was an embarrassing night for Major League Baseball. This is the ultimate showcase for the sport and instead of the focus zeroing in on the talent of the players, the game showed how much an awful home plate umpire can determine the outcome of a Wold Series contest. To quote the immortal former Governor of Texas and ex-Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, "Oops."
The Nats had their chances all night but uncharacteristically couldn't manage to capitalize. After a great grab by Victor Robles in center off the bat of Jose Altuve, Houston came back to score 2 in the second. There was an opportunity for Dave Martinez to pinch hit for Sanchez in the bottom of the 4th with one out a man on third down 2-1. Hindsight shows that Martinez's decision didn't pan out, but at the time, it was the right one.
The Nats' bullpen has been horrible all year. If Martinez goes to the bullpen, the Nats will likely have to win a shootout. If that's the case, why then would he play for one run in the 4th? If a pinch hitter knocks in the run, sure it's 2-2, but then Martinez needs to concoct 5 more innings out of the bullpen and still score more than the Astros, who by the way, still had Zack Greinke on the mound and the better arms in the pen.
Martinez felt his best shot was to leave Sanchez in and trust his offense to either deliver with 2 outs or in another inning. They normally do. It just happened not to work this time. Sanchez gave up two more runs and somehow, Fernando Rodney, Joe Ross, and Wander Suero didn't give up any. The Nats' offense was surprisingly quiet with runners on. If you had contended that the game would play out like that when there was one out in the bottom of the fourth, I would've lost all of my earthly possessions.
The Astros won 4-1, led by the right hand and vocal chords of Cederstrom. Juan Soto had a rough 21st birthday at the plate and in the field. It was probably hit worst night in the majors, but he'll bounce back. Anthony Rendon will start hitting.And the Nats next three starters are all you could hope for.
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