MLB Playoffs: one has to come to an end, and the other might, tonight

So we have a game six and a game seven, albeit not in that order.

It's going to be a busy day, everybody. All right, Elliot Johnson, my friend, Durham Bulls legend, former brave Cleveland Guardian. I want all your Cleveland Guardian gear, by the way.

Kansas City Royal and Tampa Bay Ray. All right, let's get to first, let's start with what is going on in the American League. I know that Adolis Garcia's got a hearing today to see if he can even play. My guess is he won't. But what was his big crime here?

Maybe he will. What was Adolis Garcia's big crime Friday celebrating the three run home run in the six that gave the Rangers the lead? What was the big crime that he committed to be suspended for two games? So, okay, there's a lot of things going on here.

I'm not going to say that Dusty ordered it, because I don't know that he did or not. Right. But the game that I grew up learning how to play and the game that you know, you probably grew up and fell in love with it, there used to be a lot more purposeful hitting. Now, I'll say this to the old school guys, there's more players that get hit today than ever before. So the Bob Gibson times where, you know, you're going to get backed off, whatever, you know, whoever your favorite old school guy was, they knew that you could get drilled.

Okay, so today's game is a lot more tactical, and guys have a lot more gear, so it doesn't hurt as much, literally and figuratively. So I think, you know, what's going on is they drilled him. Now, I don't know if it was on purpose or not, Adam, I really don't. The timing seemed like it wasn't necessarily on purpose, but they got him good. And in a lot of ways, you need to slow him down. Some ways, I mean, he hits that Grand Slam last night, so I think that it was, they probably need to slow him down somehow, Adam. And I think they picked a time where it didn't look suspicious, if they did indeed hit him on purpose, it didn't look suspicious, so they could have some plausible deniability there. But, you know, the game is still, you know, Dusty and Boach both are old school guys, and if they need to drill a guy to kind of put a little fear and a little doubt into him, it's a really impactful thing, depending on the person you drill.

Elliot Johnson is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. Here's the thing about it. First of all, it wasn't effective, because he just hit a Grand Slam last night to force a game seven, so it definitely was not effective. And Houston did come back, maybe it fired them up, and Jose Altuve, who we're going to talk about here in a second, he had a three-run home run and gave them the lead, gave the Astros the lead, and ultimately gave them a 3-2 lead in the series.

Of course, nobody can win at home, so maybe the Rangers are actually in the driver's seat here. But if you're Garcia, and I didn't even notice, like, I'm not even sure why the bench is emptied. Garcia didn't do anything after being hit. He turned and talked to Maldonado, the catcher, right? But it didn't seem like he really did it. He didn't make a move to charge the mound, did he? So all of a sudden, both benches empty. So I don't really get what happened here. Instead of charging the mound, he sort of charged the catcher, Adam. So it was a, it was a, it was definitely a deliberate, and let me just tell you guys, getting drilled by 95-96 doesn't feel good, okay? Right, I get it. Your first reaction is you're ready to fight somebody, and your next reaction is ow, and then your third reaction is, you know, don't rub it.

So there's so many things that happen in the, you know, the heat of the moment. So I think he was directing his anger at Maldonado, for whatever reason. And I think that's ultimately what garnered the response for the bullpen benches to clear. So, you know, in fairness to the commissioners oftenness, and, you know, and I don't really care for those guys, right, was fairly physical with the umpires. I don't know if that's what they're going after him about now.

I mean, we'll see how it all plays out. Trying to figure out that they definitely hit him on purpose. I don't know who makes that call, and how you can definitively know that he got drilled on purpose. You know, and you know me, I'm no Astros, right? So I think, I think that they probably just need to move on, keep these rosters intact, and let these guys go get them. I don't think that there needs to be any suspensions at all. I think it's possible that Abreu hit him on purpose.

I think it's very possible. I don't think it's something that Dusty Baker would have said, hey, do this, because it doesn't make any sense in a game where if you lose, and it looked like they were about to lose, why would you compound that by putting a base runner on? So they would have been 3-2 down, going home, needing to win two.

They haven't, well, it's been like a month since it seems like they've won a game on their own field. So I don't think it was ordered. The code red, if you will, the code orange, was not ordered. But I just think that, you know, it's not going to happen. Uh, but I just think there was massive overreaction on the part of both benches here, and maybe that's why the commissioner's office kind of got involved. Let me get to Jose Altuve, who I haven't seen making out in a while. Seems like everything, every, he, he made outs in the first two games, and it didn't seem like he was making any outs in Texas, up, you know, on the other side of the state. How do you explain the way this guy has just, I mean, raked in the postseason? Um, so the, the one that he hit that was out of the zone, under the zone, below the zone, looked like cricket more than baseball. He's always been a really good high ball hitter, Adam, even like back in the, I remember being in those hitters meetings and those pitchers meetings and talking about how his heat maps were up. But he's hitting everything in sight. He's really, really diving in. I think they backed him off the dish once or twice, which is probably the right approach, because he's doing so well.

You definitely don't want to hit him. But there's been some purpose going on, you know, Heaney's not the answer. You know, you know, the, the, the reason why he's getting so many headlines is because his entire career has been basically a part of all these playoff teams. And so what comes with playing that many games, just like Derek Jeter, is you're going to amass a lot of postseason stats.

And, you know, I think if you look at the sample size that he's put in, he's getting a lot of opportunity, and that's why he's getting those numbers. All right, tonight, it is Christian Javier and Max Scherzer, actually today. It's the, it's the first, no, it's the second game.

It belongs. Game seven should be the second game, even if it otherwise wouldn't be. Christian Javier and Max Scherzer. Scherzer honestly has no business with the ball, in my opinion. I think Texas is sending out Max Scherzer's name and hoping that it works and they're doing it against Christian Javier, who just has been dealing, not only this postseason, but really in his history in the postseason. Why does Bruce Bochy have no other options here?

I don't think that he does, Adam. So, and not only does he not have many other options, he doesn't really have any bullpen arms that he really trusts. I mean, he's got Seborz, he trusts a little bit. LeClaret kind of let him down. Don't really have a whole lot there. I think they're probably going to have to pitch Montgomery, who's going to be, I think this is his bullpen day. If you remember back in the day, what La Russa used to do and even the Marlins back in the day, what they used to do with Josh Beckett is bring them back on their bullpen day to get a few innings out of them. With Sotiktu for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, you could show off your skin again.

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Call 1-888-S-O-T-Y-K-T-U to learn more. You know, it's a short-term win and a long-term loss, you know, because look what happened to Strasburg. You know, he wins the World Series and I don't think he's pitched since then. So be careful with these things if you're looking long-term, but Strasburg has not been the same guy. There was some interesting video that came out about him hooking his slider and potentially tipping. I don't know if you can see that from the box.

I know you can't because I face him and you can't see it from the box. So, you know, I don't know what's going on, but he's struggling and Christian Javier throws that invisible heater. And so right now, I would say on paper, the advantage is definitely going to the Astros. However, Texas's offense has been outstanding.

And so I think it's going to be an interesting game. But from a starting standpoint, you got to get the edge, obviously, of Christian Javier. Look, you've owned Max Scherzer in your career, I believe, right? We've already established that.

He's never gotten you out. That correct? That's correct. I love that.

That is phenomenal. If they can get, honestly, if they can get six outs from Max Scherzer, I'd go to Jordan Montgomery and let him give me two or three innings. And maybe you can bridge it. Maybe, maybe Max can get you nine outs, but I don't think he's got more than that. And I think this is, we saw it last year. We saw, you know, with the Mets in the playoffs last year, he was a disaster when we got to the postseason. And he's, we hasn't, I mean, he's been hurt really the last month with Texas.

All right, real quick, I don't want to run out of time here. Let's get to the Phillies and the Diamondbacks. Looked like Philadelphia took a couple of days off in Arizona. Then they got back to hitting home runs. And now they're back to be in the Phillies. This has felt inevitable to me, even though they lost two games in a row. Does it feel inevitable to you? And if not, why?

Yeah, I mean, it does. So they kept Corbin Carroll off the base pass for the most part. I'll say this, the Moreno kid looks real good.

Holy cow. But keeping Corbin Carroll off the base pass has been essential for the team. You know, Kettle Marte is a great baseball player, walked him off against Kimbrel. So the biggest glaring thing that I've seen is that they don't, it's hard to trust Kimbrel.

He's wild. Alvarado has been, he's been incredible. So I think the Phillies bullpen looks pretty good outside of Kimbrel, who's yanking a ton of stuff. So I think that the Phillies are still the best team.

And here's an interesting thing to see if you can nail it, Adam. What is the one thing that the Phillies, the Rangers, and the Astros all have in common? The Phillies, the Rangers, and the Astros all have in common. I did not have breakfast with them today.

They all went 90 and 72. Well, I was right. I was right as well, but that is a statistical oddity.

What an amazing thing. So like, it feels like the Diamondbacks, you know, in some ways maybe shouldn't be there because obviously we're expecting the Dodgers, but here we are and it's playoff baseball. You know, it seems like they're running out of steam and Merrill Kelly doesn't fear, you know, none of the hitters fear him whatsoever.

However, Nola is really, really tough. So, you know, we'll see if the Diamondbacks can get a few runs on early and maybe build some confidence. But right now the Phillies are full of confidence as they have been this entire playoffs. And I think that it's probably looking like it's going to be hopefully Phillies Rangers. We'll see. But which is what Elliot Johnson predicted at the start of the league championship series right here on this program about 10 days ago. All right, Elliot, we'll be watching tonight and today, and we will check in again, hopefully later in the week, my friend. Appreciate it. Pleasure is always out.