Heading into Game 5, we got word that we'd be facing the Angels the day after tomorrow; a scary thought in itself. Mark Trumbo, Albert Pujols and that wretched Mike Trout would terrorize us through the entire series. It would be a complete and utter smack down.
Aside from the negatives facing us, we marched into Game 5 with that complete confidence. We had one of the best offenses in the postseason and we had Jon Lester who surely wouldn't bomb this outing.
On top of that, we had a sellout crowd who was itching for the season to continue. The field was already to go, the media were ready to see us put an end to our petty games with the Ms and we were ready to lay the smack down on the Mariners.
But then everything backfired and the tables turned quickly.
Jon Lester was practically booed off the mound tonight by allowing 5 runs in 3 innings. Joe Maddon came in with the quick hook and brought in Alex Wood who was lights out for the rest of the game.
When Lester allowed a 2 out home run to Jesus Montero, I knew we were in for some trouble but when he allowed 4 runs in the third is when the situation looked bleak.
Compared to the dude he was facing, Lester looked like he belonged in AAA.
Carlos Martinez is the type of guy that's the complete package. He has Yordano Ventura's stuff but pinpoint command and it was something we just couldn't overcome in the early innings. Martinez had us guessing all night long and it wasn't until he reached 80 pitches with 11 strikeouts in the 6th that we were able to start chipping away.
Eric Hosmer lead the charge and our offense worked feverishly to climb back into this thing. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the big hits when we needed to so this game rapidly dwindled on us.
We came within 1 base of tying the game in the 8th but we couldn't get it done. Another Jesus Montero homerun in the 9th off Aaron Crow was the dagger.
Surely this can't be right... Surely, the
Seattle Mariners aren't celebrating their advancement... I mean surely we didn't just lose a 5 game series to Seattle right?
Oh but we did...