Source: www.ocregister.com --- Saturday, October 28, 2017
HOUSTON — His parents got engaged on Oct. 28. His fiancee Suze was born on Oct. 28. His friend Chance Veazey, his roommate at Georgia who was supposed to walk on Baseball fields with him forever, lost those dreams on Oct. 28, eight years ago. Alex Wood woke up Saturday with the date imprinted deep inside his head. He would pitch the essential game of his life on this Oct. 28, with one start under his belt since Sept. 26 and with his Dodgers a step behind the Astros in the World Series, and with Game 4 and 5 in a glassy, noisy ballpark where Houston had not lost in postseason. “My mind was racing,” Wood said. “I wouldn’t say I was calm.” Today it’s all about calm with athletes. The straighter face you maintain, the more prized you are. The people who run Baseball are trying to script it now, as much as the players try to play it. A chess piece just moves where it’s supposed to, expressionless. Wood believes in fate. He also seethes when he feels he is underestimated, which is often. He pitched well for the Braves and was traded, much to his surprise, and he had to fight his way out of the Dodgers’ bullpen and into the rotation, where he went 16-3 with a 2.72 ERA. Even then he became the fourth playoff starter, the guy who has one shot per series to leave an imprint. If the Dodgers win this championship, Wood may wind up on the sidewalk at Hollywood and Vine. He threw a no-hitter in Game 4, right up until his 84th and final pitch, ...
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