World Series Game 4: Houston Astros v Washington Nationals – live!

Email from Jonng Inbrasil:

Hi from Brasil (this is the correct spelling). Am lucky here to be able to switch between Nationals/Astros as well as Notre Dame/Michigan college football and Houston/New Orleans NBA…so am looking forward to reading you tomorrow. Have a good night.

I personally am missing Tacko Fall’s potential NBA debut in the Celtics/Knicks game tonight, so I completely understand.

That’s a big reason why we do these liveblogs. There’s a lot of sports going on right now, it’s hard to watch them all.

The U.S. Army Brass Quintet gives an instrumental rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and, as Jimi Hendrix once proved, instrumental versions of the anthem are always refreshing to hear. 8/10

Hey, as someone who will get more work if this series goes Game 6. I understand.

Kurt Suzuki, who has had a brutal time behind the plate as far as getting dinged up, is out of the lineup with Yan Gomes taking his place.

1. Trea Turner, SS

2. Adam Eaton, RF

3. Anthony Rendon, 3B

4. Juan Soto, LF

5. Howie Kendrick, 2B

6. Ryan Zimmerman, 1B

7. Victor Robles, CF

8. Yan Gomes, C

9. Patrick Corbin, LHP

The Fox booth is predicitng that Stephen Strasburg could be available out of the Nationals bullpen tonight if they need him. It would be interesting to see.

I am uh not sure that Urquidy is going to get a chance to have an at-bat, but this is at least how the Houston lineup looks on paper.

1. George Springer, RF

2. Jose Altuve, 2B

3. Michael Brantley LF

4. Alex Bregman, 3B

5. Yuli Gurriel, 1B

6. Carlos Correa, SS

7. Robinson Chirinos, C

8. Jake Marisnick, CF

9. Jose Urquidy, RHP

Predictions

I guess this would make a great way to segue into predictions. Okay, I previously predicted that the Astros would win this in six games. For that to happen, they pretty much have to win tonight. However, I just don’t see how this matchup is favorable for Houston unless Corbin implodes. Now, granted, that’s entirely possible but it’s a depressing thing to predict. So, sigh, Nationals 7, Astros 5 for a final. I don’t feel *great* about this, mind you. Your thoughts? Send them via email to (hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com) or via Twitter (to @HunterFelt) and we’ll post them here.

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. We’ve got a long way to go.

Since we still have some time to analyze the previous game before the start of the next, there’s one last time to go over the biggest question from yesterday’s game: did Dave Martinez screw up by letting starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez hit for himself in a crucial spot in Game 3?

With the tying run at third, and one out, Martinez let Sanchez bat for himself. He ended up striking out on a foul bunt. The Nationals would never score again. It’s hard not to second guess the strategy especially since Sanchez would go on to immediately allow another run. It was, however, less of a straight up blunder than a perhaps necessary gamble. As Michael Baumann points out in an article for the Ringer, it’s a direct consequence of the manager not having trust in his objectively bad bullpen. In truth: it might not have mattered.

If it feels like there hasn’t been much turnaround between Games 3 and 4, well it’s because there hasn’t been. Last night’s game didn’t end until after midnight on the East Coast and that was without going into extra innings. I hope everybody has extra caffeine available for Game 4 because every indication is that we will have something of a long one ahead.

Jose Urquidy will be starting for the Houston Astros, fresh off their 4-1 win in Game 3. While that’s what he’s listed at in the media guides, there’s every reason to believe that he will be acting more like an Opener, going just a few innings before turning the game over to a stream of Astros relievers.

So, you would think that having to rely on their bullpen would give Houston the disadvantage here. Well, perhaps. It all depends on how much depth Patrick Corbin can give the Nationals. Corbin himself has been working out of the bullpen during this postseason, he made an appearance back in Game 1, and there’s a very real possibility that he won’t be able to give his team more than a handful of effective innings. If Corbin can’t go long, well, the Nationals bullpen remains their Achilles heel.

All this means is that the Astros have a very good chance at evening out the World Series tonight, with Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander ready to go. If they lose? Well, being down 3-1, with another game left on the road, is not an ideal situation for any team, regardless of how good they have been all season long. This is a pivotal game, you could say, but hey they’re all pivotal games in the World Series.

As always, you can contribute to today’s liveblog. Send your thoughts, jokes, rants and other assorted baseball-related takes to us either via email (to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com) or via Twitter (to @HunterFelt), we’ll incorporate them throughout the next innings (and potentially beyond). It’s Game 4 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. First pitch is at 8:08pm EST, but we’ll be back with assorted updates before then.

Hunter will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how Game 3 was decided: