The Indians would not be where they are without the extraordinary work of Andrew Miller, the MVP of the American League Championship Series. Andrew Miller would not have been the MVP of the ALCS without the unconventional managing of Terry Francona. But theres a third leg of this stool, the back leg, small and obscured by perspective but just as necessary to keeping the thing standing: Terry Francona would probably not be managing unconventionally if it werent for Cody Allen.Its not often an outstanding closer goes underappreciated in the postseason. Mariano Rivera, to give the obvious example, might well go down as the greatest postseason hero ever. But even slightly lesser relievers like Jeurys Familia and Wade Davis and Koji Uehara and Sergio Romo and Kenley Jansen and Brian Wilson have all, for a few weeks in recent postseasons, been temporarily elevated to gods by the stakes and the tension of October. Allen has been as good this month as any of them were, which is valuable enough on its own. But in this case, it has been even more important because it has made the Andrew Miller experiment possible.I have some experience in this. In the summer of 2015, as part of a book project with Ben Lindbergh, I ran the baseball operations of an independent minor league team called the Sonoma Stompers. This included pushing our managers (we replaced one midseason) toward certain in-game tactics. Nothing consumed our time and our powers of persuasion so much as trying to convince them that our best reliever should come in whenever we most needed our best reliever -- as Andrew Miller has been used this month -- instead of in the ninth inning by default. We ran into two obstacles, each specific to the manager in question, and each significant to understanding the role Cody Allen plays in Cleveland right now.Our first manager, the old-school one, simply would not bring in our closer -- an outstanding sinkerballer named Sean Conroy -- if he wasnt sure that Conroy would be available for the final out. He saw the 27th out as infinitely more important than the 26 before it, and considerably more difficult to attain than the 26 before it. After one brutal loss, we tried again to convince our manager that Conroy should have been brought in for the biggest moment of the game -- with runners on and our opponents best hitter batting in the seventh. But then I dont have a closer, he said. I need to have a closer. If I dont have a closer, I cant count on anybody else to get those last outs.Our second manager, more open-minded to our numbers-driven recommendations, was convinced by the leverage-based argument for bringing Conroy in earlier. Eventually, he was calling for Conroy as early as the fifth inning, just like Francona has used Miller. But, like his predecessor, this manager also didnt trust anybody else to get the final out, so he would leave Conroy in the game all the way to the end, pretty much no matter what. This was thrilling to watch, but it introduced some new problems: Conroy was throwing 50, 60, 70 pitches in relief outings. That probably dimmed his effectiveness by the time the eighth and ninth innings came around, and it made him unavailable for a couple days afterward. The latter concern had its own ripples: We were sometimes gun-shy about bringing him in, knowing it would leave the back of our bullpen gutted for the next games.For each manager, the obstacle to using Conroy the right way was the lack of another Conroy behind him. No matter how big the game situation, the manager cant stop worrying about the bigger situation that might come.At the risk of burying Allen further under Millers legend: Cody Allen is Terry Franconas second Andrew Miller. Hes thrown fewer innings than Miller this postseason, but theyve been almost every bit as good: Miller has a 47 percent strikeout rate, six Ks per walk, a 17 percent swinging-strike rate, and no runs allowed; Allen has a 43 percent strikeout rate, five Ks per walk, a 17 percent swinging-strike rate, and no runs allowed. Like Miller, hes death to both lefties and righties -- indeed, like Miller, hes got a slight reverse split -- allowing him to cut through large swaths of a lineup uninterrupted. Like Miller, hes capable of memorable acts of endurance, having entered in the eighth for his first two saves of this postseason, having twice thrown 40 pitches in an outing.Allen is not, to be sure, on quite the same level as Miller -- or Wade Davis, or Aroldis Chapman or Zach Britton -- but hes comfortably in the second tier of major-league closers, with a better ERA+ over the past three seasons than Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel, Roberto Osuna or Ken Giles. Hes converted 89 percent of his saves since taking over as Clevelands closer in 2014 -- the difference between him and Chapman is about one blown save in 50 tries. He is, in other words, a closer who not only gives a manager confidence going into the ninth inning, but cover in the post-game interviews if something goes wrong. Terry Francona neednt worry about being second-guessed for using Cody Allen in the ninth inning.Theres no rule that a manager has to romanticize the 27th out, and even without Allen, Francona might still have used Miller the way he has. But Franconas history suggests he wouldnt have. In two postseasons before this year, he has had exceptional closers. His usage of those closers seems to presage the way he has used his bullpen this fall -- but also strongly suggests that Francona wouldnt have used Miller this way without a closer as good as Allen pitching behind him.In 2004, Francona had Keith Foulke, and used him extremely aggressively in October. Foulke entered one save situation in the seventh, which very few managers have been willing to ask of their closers even in October. He pitched even in games the Red Sox were trailing, and in 11 of 14 games Boston played. In six of those games he went four outs or more, with single-game pitch counts of 36, 37 and 50.In 2007, he had Jonathan Papelbon, and used him extremely aggressively in October. In six of Papelbons seven appearances, he was asked to get four or more outs. From 2007 to 2009, Papelbon made 16 postseason appearances, and 12 of them were either four or more outs or began in the eighth inning (or earlier).So we have two data points for Francona using his relievers in unconventional ways, but notably not in the way he has used Miller. In no instance did he put either reliever into a situation where the pitcher was likely to be relieved. (There were games Foulke or Papelbon were removed from, but only because the game was tied or the situation changed.) They were used in the most aggressive way that would still have them on the mound for the 27th out.Maybe Francona got religion since then, but a) he was already way ahead of his peers in pushing his closers to their limits, and he still drew the line at bringing in either pitcher for the sixth and b) he has never used Allen that way since he took over in Cleveland.In addition to making it safe for Francona to use Miller in the sixth and seventh innings, Allens excellence has made it safe for Francona to pull Miller in the eighth and ninth. Consider the first game of the ALCS against Toronto: Miller entered in the top of the seventh inning and struck out two batters to end the inning. In the eighth, after a leadoff single, he struck out the next three batters. The Indians led by two runs going into the ninth, and Francona would certainly have been happy to leave Miller out there to finish the game, as our second-half manager did with Sean Conroy. But Miller had already thrown 31 pitches, and another inning might have left him too tired to pitch the next day. So Francona brought in Allen, who earned the save. Both pitchers were then available for Game 2, and both pitched brilliantly in a 2-1 victory.If there were no Andrew Miller, Allen might be the talk of this postseason. In saving Game 1 of the ALDS he got 11 swinging strikes, which is almost exactly what Corey Kluber has averaged in his starts this postseason. He threw 80 pitches in a three-game sweep of Boston. He pitched in four of five ALCS games, including one outing in which he basically was Miller -- coming into the seventh inning with the tying run up, chewing through the heart of the Blue Jays order for five outs, and finally handing the ball to Miller in the ninth. And he struck out the side in Game 1 of the World Series. But Millers brilliance has ensured that Allens brilliance has gone overlooked. The irony is that Allens brilliance had ensured that Millers brilliance has been possible. Cheap Bengals Jerseys China .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner. Cheap Billy Price Jersey . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. http://www.cheapbengalsjerseyselite.com/?tag=cheap-auden-tate-jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap Mark Walton Jersey . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Cheap Davontae Harris Jersey . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. WASHINGTON -- When third-base coach Bob Henley sent Jayson Werth home on a double down the left-field line, the Nationals seemed to be in control. Max Scherzer was dealing some of the finest stuff in the biggest start of his career, and Washington was nine outs from winning an NL Division Series.Werth was out by 30 feet at the plate , Scherzer lost the lead on his next pitch and the decisive Game 5 unraveled as the Nationals lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 Thursday night, their third first-round exit in the past five years.Henley was heartbroken at his ill-advised decision, which cost the Nationals at least the chance at more runs in a game that came down to one.You live and die by those moments sometimes, Werth said. If (shortstop Corey) Seager doesnt make a good throw, the ball kicks away or something like that, I score. That was tough. It was a tough play.Players who have worn a shirt with Henleys picture and the phrase Send em short, send em tall, send em one, send em all were reluctant to pin the loss on a third-base coach when they went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11. They credited Dodgers manager Dave Roberts for going to closer Kenley Jansen in the seventh for the longest outing of his major league career and for turning to ace Clayton Kershaw for a two-out save in the ninth , Kershaws first since the Gulf Coast League in 2009.But the game turned on left fielder Andrew Toles getting the ball to Seager, and the rookie making the throw home to catcher Yasmani Grandal. The air was sucked out of the sellout crowd of 43,936 that had made Nationals Park lively and loud for most of the evening.I think after the fact, hindsight, do I wish I could have it back? Well, yeah, sure, Henley said. Thats just human nature. But Ive tried to be aggressive all year. Its our style of play. Does it hurt? Sure, it hurts. Anytime it doesnt work out and you feel like it might have cost us, of course I think it hurts.Scherzer gave up a home run to Joc Pederson on his first pitch in the seventh and his 99th and last of the game. From that point manager Dusty Baker called on five relievers -- Mark Rzepczynski, Blake Treinen, Sammy Solis, Shawn Kellley and Oliver Perez -- to get three outs.ddddddddddddThey eventually did so, but not before Carlos Ruiz drove in a run with a pinch-hit single off Solis and Justin Turner got two more home with a triple off Kelley, who suffered a severe injury on his subsequent pitch. Four runs by the Dodgers was too deep a hole for the Nationals to climb out of, even with a two-run, pinch-hit home run by Chris Heisey in the bottom of that seventh inning, a 66-minute extravaganza.You knew something one in a million was going to happen tonight, Scherzer said. That was it. We werent able to overcome that seventh inning.As Werth described it, the wheels came off for a Nationals team that won 95 games and the NL East but is left to wonder how to come back from another gut punch of a playoff loss. In the aftermath of Game 5, the only consolation was that the Dodgers pulled out all the stops to win.Its the craziest game Ive ever been a part of, Scherzer said. We just didnt get it done. No ones a goat. No one made a crucial misplay. Everybody stepped up and did their game. We just didnt get that extra run.That extra run could have come in the sixth had Werth not been thrown out at the plate, making Henley as much of the goat as Rzepcyznski, who got the loss, or any of the other relievers who struggled in the seventh. Baker said Henleys decision wasnt what lost the game, and blamed the inability to get runners home.Baker had his bags packed for Chicago and will now go home as the Dodgers face the Cubs in the NL Championship Series.Im not ready for the season to end, Baker said. Right now, everybodys kind of numb. Everybodys probably thinking about what we all could have done to change the outcome of the game.Note: Kelley lost feeling in his fingers on his first pitch to Adrian Gonzalez in the seventh and immediately knew something was wrong. Baker said he was concerned about Kellys long-term health because of his history of Tommy John Surgeries.---This story has been corrected to show the first name of the Nationals pitcher is Marc, not Mark Rzepcyznski. NFL Jerseys Outlet Cheap Jerseys Store NFL Jerseys China Wholesale NFL White Jerseys Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys Discount Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys ' ' '