Justin Verlander is back! In his first game back from a calf injury, the 39-year-old Justin Verlander struckout ELEVEN Yankees hitters to give his Houston Astros a 4-1 win in Game 1 of the ALCS.
What a comeback. After missing two years of baseball due to Tommy John surgery and then missing another two months of the season due to a calf injury, Justin Verlander has bounced back with probably the best pitching performance of the postseason thus far. He single-handedly DESTROYED the Yankees batting order as he posted 11 strikeouts, only 1 walk, 70 strikes, only 3 hits, and an ungodly 1.50 ERA.
Let me say that again: a 39-year-old Justin Verlander posted a 1.50 ERA against the New York Yankees’ batting order that boasts of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Rizzo, and Harrison Bader. That’s crazy!
Astros fans better hope he can stay healthy and start again by Game 5 or 6 (if they even need that many games to knock off the Yankees) because he was lights out.
Speaking of lights out, Jeremy Pena is a budding superstar. He’s been unbelievable this postseason and he was again last night as he went .750 at bat, had an RBI, and sent the Astros 4th HR flying into deep left field to seal the game at the bottom of the 7th inning. Given how the Astros are now probably going to win their 3rd ALCS in the past six years, having Jeremy Pena come into this star-studded roster is frankly a little annoying.
How do the Astros keep getting these superstars out of nowhere?
As for the Yankees, what can I really say that described their performance last night other than this stat: 5 Hits vs. 17 Strikeouts.
How do you only have 5 hits and versus 17 strikeouts in a playoff game, let alone a game against the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series? The Astros are your biggest playoff rival in the last decade, and you put in that performance? Do the Yankees have zero self-respect for themselves and their fans?
And, what has happened to Aaron Judge? The guy is more hot and cold than Icy Hot.
One game he’s hitting three homers out of the park, and then the next he can’t even foul a ball off his bat. Sure, Verlander was great last night, but the new single-season AL HR leader shouldn’t be going 0/4 AB and have a strikeout in the ALCS. If the Yankees can’t beat the Astros this time around, then we have to start looking at Aaron Judge as someone who chokes in the playoffs.
Though, I won’t just level all of the blame on Judge as Gleyber Torres has been even worse at bat than he has. He has yet to even hit an RBI in the playoffs this season, let alone a home run that the Yankees desperately need. For being the leadoff man in the batting order, that’s abysmal and his placement needs to be seriously questioned by Aaron Boone.
You can’t start off every other inning down two outs as Torres and Judge continue to struggle at the plate. It ruins any momentum the Yankees will try to build.
I know it’s only Game 1, but if Torres and Judge don’t start getting on base/hitting home runs, then this series is going to be over before it even begins.
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