LOS ANGELES Theconsensus among baseball Jason Cabinda Jerseys pundits is that the World Series matchup between the Dodgers and Astros is a meeting of the two best teams the sport has to offer. And if these first two games are any indication, the rest of this series looks to be thrilling.

Although they started out similarly, the opening games of the 2017 Fall Cla sic ended up being about as different as po sible. Game 1 was a tight pitchers duel that wrapped up in under 2 1/2 hours. Game 2 was a grueling, back-and-forth, 11-inning shootout that saw the teams score a combined 13 runs on 19 hits. Justin Verlander, Houston's Game 2 starter,referred to it as an instant cla sic.

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The teams combined eight home runs were the most ever in a single World Series game. Five of those home runs came in extra innings, another record; the previous such high mark for a World Series game was two.This game was considerably more lopsided offensively than the final score indicates. The Astros accounted for 14 of the 19 hits, and maybe should have won by a margin of more than one run. However, four of Scott Daly Jerseys the five Dodger hits found the stands.

What ended up being the difference, and the most remarkable thing about the Astros performance, is that Houstons bats did something no one else has really managed to so far this postseason: get to the Dodgers' bullpen.

The Astrosbroke a scorele s streak of 28 innings for Dodgers relievers. They got LA closer Kenley Jansen tasked with getting six outs to blow a save, something he did just once during the regular season; Marwin Gonzlez delivered the tying blast in the ninth. They put up a total of five runs off a bullpen that had allowed just three earned runs in the first two rounds.

Some of it may have been questionable Dan Campbell Jerseys bullpen management by Dave Roberts, who ended up using every member of his relief corps, starting in the fifth inning after just 60 pitches and one run allowed by starter Rich Hill. Of course, thats only something were saying because the bullpen didnt end up executing. The potent Astros offense, top in baseball during the regular season, deserves some credit here.

The Dodger bullpen meltdown didnt come down to one guy in particular. There was plenty of blame to go around. Josh Fields gave uphome runs in the top of the 10thto Jos Altuve and Carlos Correa. He was removed after allowing a Yuli Gurriel double, failing to record a single out. Tony Cingrani then took over and kept it a two-run game.

The Dodgers responded with two in the bottom of the 10th: the first on a home run by Yasiel Puig, and the second on a two-out RBI single by Enrique Hernndez. It got the stadium rocking again temporarily. But by the time the top of the 11th came around, the Dodgers had just one reliever left in their bullpen.

One of their longmen, Ro s Stripling, was burnt after facing one batter in the seventh inning. Its that choice that looms particularly large, as it left just Brandon McCarthy for an indefinite number of innings.

The 34-year-old, Marvin Jones Jr. Jerseys recentlyconverted starter hadn't pitched in thepostseason, having been left off the rosters for the first two rounds.Thats le s relevant than the fact that he hadnt pitched in a game since Oct. 1after spending 85 days on the disabled list.

McCarthy gave up a single to Cameron Maybin, then George Springer put the Astros on top for good with a two-run home run.In the bottom of the inning, defensive replacement Charlie Culberson hit a T.J. Hockenson Jerseys two-out solo shot. But that proved to be all the Dodgers had left in them. There would not be another miracle comeback.

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If the fans in the stands or watching elsewhere found it all emotionally exhausting, they had company in the games participants.

I almost fainted, I think, three times, Verlander said. Im not joking. I was cheering so loudly I had to take a minute to recompose myselfso I didn't pa s out.

It was probably as nerve-wracking for Barry Sanders Jerseys us as it is in the stands for everybody else, Springer said. You know who's on the other team, you know who's on deck, and you know who's hitting. And when that last out is made, you finally breathe. But that's an emotional high, emotional high to low to high again.

For all the joy of coming out on the right side of a game like this, theres the heartbreak of being on the wrong side.

It was an emotional roller coaster," Roberts said. "We didn't expect these guys to lay down.It's a very good ballclub over there."

Springer may have best summed up what baseball fans may have to look forward to.

That's the craziest game that I've ever played in, he said, and it's only Game 2.