ST. LOUIS (AP) ― John Lackey stepped to the podium, minus the obvious status symbols: his two World Series rings. No reason to brag.
“No, I don’t wear them very much,” he said Sunday. “Maybe to a wedding or stuff like that. They’re a little big and a little flashy, not exactly my style.”
The St. Louis Cardinals acquired Lackey from World Series champion Boston at the trade deadline for occasions just like this, knowing NL Division Series Game 3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers won’t be too big for the 35-year-old right-hander. Lackey won a game in each series last fall, including the Game 6 clincher over St. Louis.
“Yeah, definitely take pride in that,” Lackey said. “I want to pitch well this time of year, but things I’ve done in the past aren’t going to help me tomorrow. ”
Lackey (14-10) starts after the Cardinals split in California against Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Los Angeles left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin (14-7), recovered from shoulder irritation, makes his first start since Sept. 12.
Through an interpreter, Ryu thought it an “almost zero percent chance” that the shoulder would be a factor.
“It’s an honor for them to trust me with this tomorrow,” Ryu said. “I don’t want to let them down.”
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Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin throws during practice on Sunday. (AP-Yonhap) |
Ryu pitched seven scoreless innings last year to beat the Cardinals in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series.
Manager Don Mattingly described the pitcher as “pretty unflappable.”
“He seems to be that guy that nothing really bothers him,” Mattingly said. “I’m sure he’s a little, like everyone else, excited and anxious and all those things.”
Los Angeles was 0-3 at Busch Stadium in last year’s playoffs, shut out twice. The Dodgers scored two runs and totaled 16 hits in 31 innings with no homers.
“Five-game series, things can go anybody’s way,” closer Kenley Jansen said after striking out two during a perfect ninth inning that completed the Dodgers’ 3-2 win that evened the series. “Got to go there and steal one.”
The Cardinals did not work out after taking an overnight flight that touched down in St. Louis about 6 a.m. A tarpaulin covered the infield later Sunday when about a dozen Dodgers players, including Clayton Kershaw, played catch and ran sprints in left field under the lights.
Shelby Miller (10-9) makes his first career postseason start in Game 4 on Tuesday. Dan Haren (13-11) is the probable for the Dodgers, but Haren will also prepare as if he’s starting Game 3 in case he’s needed in long relief.
“Yeah, we have flexibility,” Mattingly said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow for us. Anything could happen with Hyun-jin.”
The Dodgers could turn to Kershaw on short rest in Game 4 if they are facing elimination. Kershaw is favored to win his third Cy Young Award in four years after going 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA, but he has a 1-4 record and a 5.20 ERA in the postseason and twice straight has been pummeled by the Cardinals.
Ryu threw 43 pitches in a three-inning simulated game on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. He lasted just one inning in his last start of the season, but Mattingly pointed out he’s also thrown two bullpen sessions.
“It’s not like we’re just throwing him out there,” the manager said.
Still, stamina could be a factor, and the Dodgers have had middle-relief issues. Rookie Pedro Baez allowed Matt Holliday’s three-run homer that put the Cardinals ahead 10-6 in the opener, and J.P. Howell gave up Matt Carpenter’s tying two-run homer in the seventh inning in Game 2.
Orioles advance to ALCS
DETROIT (AP) ― Nelson Cruz, Buck Showalter and an unheralded bunch from Baltimore swept aside Detroit’s Cy Young winners. Cruz sliced a two-run homer for his latest big postseason hit, and the Orioles held off the Tigers 2-1 Sunday to reach the AL Championship Series for the first time since 1997.
Bud Norris outpitched David Price in Game 3 of the AL Division Series. The Tigers scored in the ninth and put the tying run on second with no outs, but Orioles closer Zach Britton escaped the jam and lifted Showalter into his first LCS in 16 seasons as a big league manager.
Baltimore opens the ALCS on Friday at home against Kansas City or at the Los Angeles Angels. Cruz’s homer was the 16th of his postseason career, including eight against the Tigers. He was the MVP of the 2011 ALCS for Texas in a six-game victory over Detroit.
Cruz spent much of this past offseason without a team after serving a 50-game suspension last year for violating baseball’s drug agreement.
Norris pitched two-hit ball for 6 1/3 innings, and Andrew Miller got five straight outs to keep the shutout going.
Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez opened the ninth with back-to-back doubles off Britton. Bryan Holaday struck out after a failed bunt attempt, and Showalter made the unconventional decision to put the winning run on base by intentionally walking Nick Castellanos.
That meant the bottom of Detroit’s lineup would have to come through. The Tigers sent up Hernan Perez ― who had five at-bats in the regular season ― to pinch hit, and bounced a 96 mph fastball into a 5-4-3 double play. It was Britton’s second save of the series.
Royals claim ALCS berth
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) ― The Kansas City Royals waited nearly three decades to return to the postseason. Now that they’re here, they want to stick around for a while.
Alex Gordon hit a bases-clearing double in the first inning, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas each homered and the wild-card Royals finished off a three-game sweep of the mighty Los Angeles Angels with an emphatic 8-3 victory Sunday night in the AL Division Series.
The scrappy team with the quirky manager, popgun offense, dynamic defense and lights-out bullpen will open the AL Championship Series against the Orioles beginning Friday night in Baltimore. Kansas City went 4-3 against the O’s this year.
“I’ve never seen this group of kids so confident on the big stage,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It’s really fun to see their development and watch them come into the postseason and just really take their game to the next level.”
The Angels, 98-64 in the regular season, became the second team in the divisional era that began in 1969 to have the best record in the majors and get swept out of the playoffs, STATS said. In no small coincidence, the Royals dealt the same humiliating fate to the New York Yankees in the 1980 ALCS. Stalking around the mound amid an electric atmosphere, James Shields lived up to his “Big Game James” billing. The Royals’ ace gave up homers to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, but otherwise held in check a suddenly punchless Los Angeles lineup.
