Batter up, its game six tonight at Dodger Stadium for this unbelievable World Series

Batter up, its game six tonight at Dodger Stadium for this unbelievable World Series, with the Houston Astros up three games to two and one victory away from winning its first Fall Classic

Five games have gone by with entertainment, excitement, emotion, hit parades, crowds rocking and rolling, etc. etc

By ARNIE LESHIN,  Santa Fe Today

Houston, come in, come in Houston, you are one win from rocketing off and  finally celebrating the franchise’s first World Series championship after 56 years of frustration, of suffering.

And it would come after the largest city in the Lone Star State is still getting over a nasty hurricane that did plenty of damage, is still mopping up in areas, is still looking to help those whose homes were knocked apart, flooded.

But not yet, no one celebrates anything before it’s over, in this case being up 3-2 in games as game six is played tonight in Dodger Stadium. You still need to win a fourth game and the Chavez Ravine crowd will be whooping and hollering for their National League champions, the team with the best record in the majors this season, to extend it to a seventh game on Wednesday.

The classic game five Sunday night in Houston’s Minute Maid Park, a hit parade that went 5 hours and 42 minutes, rocked and rolled for seven home runs, brought a 13-12 10-inning ending and left the Astros ecstatic and energized and the Dodgers drained and dispirited, is history.

So are the first five games of this epic match-up between the best teams in baseball. Interesting that the winning run in game five was scored by pinch-runner Derek Fisher making his first appearance in the post-season, but not the Derek Fisher who played and coaches in the NBA.

To bring things up to date, now it’s veteran right-hander Justin Verlander taking the mound on four days rest for the Astros, and for Los Angeles the same for well-traveled southpaw Rich Hill in a rematch of the game two starters that was won by Houston.

Now it’s a switch in the weather in Los Angeles. In games one and two, the temperatures rose to 100 degrees at game time. Tonight, it’s expected to rain and only approach the mid 60s by the first pitch. Back in Houston, it was three days of conformable weather under the roof of the domed stadium.

But don’t count the Dodgers out. They have no intention of watching Houston celebrate on their field, no intention of a bubbly hooting and hollering by the visiting team over in the other clubhouse. The last time LA won the World Series was in 1988 over the Oakland A’s. It has won four in all.

But the franchise that arrived in 1962 as the Colt 45s with the flashy uniforms have only celebrated once, that coming in winning the NL pennant in 2005, but never coming again, for nobody celebrates going 0-for-4 in the World Series.

Verlander, who spent his 11 years with the Detroit Tigers, has become the verbal spark, the leader, after being dealt to Houston in an 11^th-hour deadline deal on Aug. 31. He worked six frames in game two.

Carlos Beltran, the hot hitter when with the Astros back in 2005, is back with them and probably in his final campaign. He hasn’t played that much, but is still a veteran and another team leader, spokesman. Another is starting catcher Brian McCann.

The Dodgers have a host of youngsters on the roster to mix in with enough veterans. Curtis Granderson, acquired from the New Mets late in the season, is one, but he was cut from the World Series roster in place of relief pitcher Brandon McCarthy.

Hill is a crafty left-hander. He has good control, some heat, a changeup, and a nasty curve that finds corners, although in game two manager Dave Roberts pulled him after four innings.

The Los Angeles starters have been good, the bullpen was disappointing in Houston.

And Dodger blue also lost leads of 4-0, 7-4 and 8-7 in Houston, with starter Clayton Kershaw exiting in the fifth inning after the Astros tied the score at 4-4.

The same with Houston, the starters have done well, but the bullpen has been good and bad, although righty Brad Peacock has been exception in relief and did need the Monday off day. Dodger right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen, the perhaps the best reliever in the game this season, was hit unusually hard in games four and five.

Will Verlander or Hill or both be lifted in the mid innings or earlier, or hang around for as long as they are in control? Will it end tonight or go seven?

It’s been an unbelievable Fall Classic. Its television ratings were way ahead of the NFL’s Sunday night game. If not for the Monday off day, it would have been the same that night. The National Pastime has been entertaining, both teams stand, even sing along, and place their hands on their hearts while the National Anthem is played.

Maybe the NFL and other professional franchises can learn from this, can learn from the baseball crowds of both cities who sing along to God Bless America in the seventh inning.

AMEN, batter up!