Men's Baseball MLB 2019

[phelps 6,738]

Altuve's walk-off homer sends Astros to Series

 

 

The Astros weren’t built to win just one championship.

 

Raising the trophy one time was never going to be good enough.

 

You don’t endure three consecutive years of losing 100 games to rebuild into a juggernaut and get just one taste of champagne at the end of October.

 

Perhaps that’s what drove the Astros to wash away last year’s heartbreaking playoff loss to the Red Sox and come roaring back to a club-record 107 wins.

 

Maybe that’s why they remained laser-focused despite being tested by the Rays in the American League Division Series and never took anything for granted when they pushed the mighty Yankees to the brink of elimination in the AL Championship Series.

 

And when Yankees first baseman DJ LeMahieu hit a stunning two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the ALCS to tie the game, that simply set the stage for Josè Altuve -- the only Astros player who endured the three 100-loss seasons in a row -- to send the Astros back to the World Series.

 

Altuve crushed an Aroldis Chapman slider and hit a towering walk-off two-run homer in the ninth inning to score George Springer for a 6-4 win over the Yankees in Game 6 on Saturday night at raucous Minute Maid Park.

 

The Astros won the best-of-seven series, 4-2, to punch their ticket to the World Series for the second time in three seasons.

 

“We're not going to the World Series because of me,” said Altuve, who was named the ALCS MVP after hitting .348 with two homers.

“We're going to the World Series because of everybody inside of the clubhouse.“

 

The Astros will play host to Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park against the National League champion Washington Nationals, who overcame a 19-31 start to reach their first Fall Classic.

 

Nearly eight months after the Astros and Nationals -- who share a Spring Training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. -- began the season with an exhibition game, they will meet for the right to be called World Series champions.

 

“We’ve said all along our goal was to win multiple championships,” Astros president of baseball operations and general manager Jeff Luhnow said.

“We’re not there yet.”

 

It’s the third time in five seasons the Astros have eliminated the Yanks, who battled with Houston for the best record in baseball all season before losing home-field advantage in the final week of the regular season.

 

“I feel like we are on equal footing with them,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

“Unfortunately, sports can be a little bit cruel for the team that goes home and such can happen in the series.”

 

The Astros, who have been headlined all season by their star-studded starting pitching, had to turn to their bullpen to try to finish off the Yanks, saving dominant ace Gerrit Cole for a possible Game 7 -- and in a perfect world -- Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday.

 

The start of the game couldn’t have gone any better, with Brad Peacock using seven pitches to breeze through the first inning.

 

Needing a hero, Yuli Gurriel -- 1-for-20 in the ALCS entering the game -- blasted a three-run homer to left in the bottom of the inning to give the Astros a 3-0 lead.

 

Gary Sánchez answered with an RBI single off Peacock in the second.

 

“It's nice when you take the lead, especially in an elimination game on the other side, it puts an immense amount of pressure on those guys,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said.

“It wouldn't surprise me that Yuli was in the middle of it, because he's been mere feet away from being in the middle of virtually every good thing that's happened to us offensively in this series.”

 

Now it was up to Houston’s bullpen.

Could it hold the lead?

 

Ryan Pressley bailed Josh James out of a bases-loaded jam in the third but not before reinjuring the right knee that caused him to have surgery in August.

 

Wide-eyed rookie Josè Urquidy allowed a solo homer to Gio Urshela in the fourth but managed to hold the lead through 2 2/3 innings.

 

“He was incredible tonight,” Hinch said of Urquidy.

“What's hard for a young player is not really knowing what was going to happen or how he was going to be used.

It probably would have been easier on him emotionally just to start the game and have the normal routine, and we weren't going to do that.

And we told him we weren't sure if or when he was going to pitch, but the way the game was progressing and we went through a lot of pitching early, we don't win this game if Urquidy doesn't come in and get the outs that he did at the time in which he did to turn it over to the back end of the bullpen.”

 

Then there was steady veteran Will Harris, who got the final out in the sixth and three more big ones in the seventh, with an unreal assist from left fielder Michael Brantley.

 

He made a diving catch of an Aaron Hicks fly ball and doubled up Aaron Judge at first to end the inning and make Minute Maid Park erupt with noise.

 

Joe Smith worked a scoreless eighth, getting another spectacular play -- an Altuve-to-Carlos Correa-to-Gurriel double play -- to end the inning, with Correa’s throw to first registering 94.5 mph by Statcast.

 

Roberto Osuna gave up the two-run dinger to LeMahieu, but Houston’s bullpen day was a success.

 

“Our bullpen, we all read what everybody writes that everybody we face has a better bullpen than us and to do it on a bullpen day [was sweet],” Smith said.

“It took everybody out there, though.”

 

From pitching to defense, the Astros were doing everything they had to do to overcome their offensive shortcomings in the series.

 

They were two outs away from a tense win when LeMahieu socked his game-tying homer just over the glove of a leaping Springer.

 

Minute Maid Park sat in stunned silence.

 

“I knew that was gone,” Osuna said.

“That was a terrible feeling. I felt terrible. When Altuve hit the homer, obviously I came back to life and pretty excited right now.”

 

In the end, it worked out like it should have for the Astros.

 

It was Altuve sending the rocket into the night.

It was Altuve humbly rounding the bases and into a mass of teammates.

It was Altuve that sent the Astros back to the Fall Classic.

 

“You make sure the ball is gone before you celebrate,” he said.

“Then I'm thinking, ‘We're going to the World Series.’”

 

 

All Credits: MLB.com

[phelps 6,738]

AMERICAN LEAGUE POST-SEASON BRACKET
Wild Card Game*		League Division Series**					League Championship Series***
		A	New York Yankees	3
			Minnesota Twins	0
							New York Yankees	2
							Houston Astros	4
Tampa Bay Rays, 5		B	Houston Astros	3
Oakland A's, 1			Tampa Bay Rays (AL WCG winners)	2
NATIONAL LEAGUE POST-SEASON BRACKET
Wild Card Game		League Division Series					League Championship Series
		A	Atlanta Braves	2
			St.Louis Cardinals	3
							St.Louis Cardinals	0
							Washington Nationals	4
Milwaukee Brewers, 3		B	Los Angeles Dodgers	2
Washington Nationals, 4			Washington Nationals (NL WCG winners)	3
* = Single Game Match-up
** = Best-of-5 Series
*** = Best-of-7 Series
WORLD SERIES (Best-of-7 Series)
Houston Astros (AL Champions) vs Washington Nationals (NL Champions)

[phelps 6,738]

2019 World Series Schedule

game #1, Tuesday, October 22nd @ Houston (19.08 local time, h.02.08 CET on Wednesday)
game #2, Wednesday, October 23rd @ Houston (19.07 local time, h.02.07 CET on Thursday)

game #3, Friday, October 25th @ Washington (20.07 local time, h.02.07 CET on Saturday)
game #4, Saturday, October 26th @ Washington (h.20.07 local time, h.02.07 CET on Sunday)
game #5 (if necessary), Sunday, October 27th @ Washington (h.20.07 local time, h.01.07 CET on Monday*)

 

game #6 (if necessary), Tuesday, October 29th @ Houston (h.19.07 local time, h.01.07 CET on Wednesday*)
game #7 (if necessary), Wednesday, October 30th @ Houston (h.19.08 local time, h.01.08 CET on Thursday*)

 

* = DST ends in Europe, meanwhile in the United States it ends on the following Saturday, November 2nd

[Monzanator 3,590]

Two teams with the best pitching staff make the World Series? Nats right after they ditched their supposedly best player Bryce Harper? It only shows how the home run hoopla actually doesn't win you games that matter.

[phelps 6,738]

14 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Two teams with the best pitching staff make the World Series? Nats right after they ditched their supposedly best player Bryce Harper? It only shows how the home run hoopla actually doesn't win you games that matter.

 

naaa...it's more complicated than that...

 

for sure, offense sells tickets and defense wins championships...this unwritten rule is always good...

 

but HOU is not (only) about a great pitching staff...they still won most of their games (last night's included) thanks to their HR power...

 

and WSH is a great team, good but not the top in any department...they're just living the most classic "Cinderella story"...the pitching staff is basically the 3 big names (Scherzer, Strasburg and Corbin)...their bullpen is more than suspect, when not really stinky...and they have a guy like Rendon (this year's MVP in my opinion) in the lineup...

Harper, instead, is the classic superstar with great skills, but at the same time having the natural tendency to mess the locker room chemistry up wherever they go (just look at this year's Phillies)...

but despite that, if it wasn't for the Dodgers having a manager named Dave Roberts, the Nats wouldn't be ready to make their first WS appearance ever...

 

the fact is that the MLB baseball has completely turned to be mono-dimensional game...all the batsmen always and only go for the big shots, the socalled small ball play is dead and gone in the Majors (and not only in the Majors...I'd rather say in all the North American leagues)...and if you still want to see it, you have to watch the Japanese NPB or the Korean KBO, a different world under any aspect...

Edited October 20, 2019 by phelps

[Olympian1010 7,465]

The Astros have become a villains of the World Series in the US. Anyone, not an Astros fan is cheering for the Nationals now. Odd situation all around, and totally despicable behavior from the Astros organization.

 

Also, remember that last year during the World Series, it was their players who made racist gestures towards a Japanese pitcher.

[heywoodu 13,536]

Right, didn't follow anything so far yet due to my travel, but I'm interested in watching some spoilerfree highlights, so here we go. I'm assuming by now we've arrived at the World Series, so: which teams played in the ALCS and which teams played in the NLCS? If I know that, I might be able to watch those series in highlight form without knowing the results yet  

[Monzanator 3,590]

9 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

The Astros have become a villains of the World Series in the US. Anyone, not an Astros fan is cheering for the Nationals now. Odd situation all around, and totally despicable behavior from the Astros organization.

 

Also, remember that last year during the World Series, it was their players who made racist gestures towards a Japanese pitcher.

 

 

Nationals are the cindirella story so obviously everyone cheers for the underdog. Astros is the closest thing to a powerhouse in MLB and that always draws hate. The Yankees best pitcher this season also got busted for DV and I don't think the Yankees lost any of their popularity? Is everyone in NY going after the Mets now? Obviously not. If Astros didn't win 107 games in regular season with highest SO pct. nobody would give a damn about some female reporters. Sadly politics tries to mess up with the sport yet again.

[phelps 6,738]

19 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

The Astros have become a villains of the World Series in the US. Anyone, not an Astros fan is cheering for the Nationals now. Odd situation all around, and totally despicable behavior from the Astros organization.

 

Also, remember that last year during the World Series, it was their players who made racist gestures towards a Japanese pitcher.

 

here I am...as a Dodger hardcore fan, I just can't cheer for a team that just threw us out of the playoffs (and in that fashion)...

 

so, despite not cheering for the Astros, I'm not cheering for the Nats, too...

 

just focusing more on the Asian finals (especially the Japan Series)...and enjoying them a lot, as I'm not involved at all...

[heywoodu 13,536]

21 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

The Astros have become a villains of the World Series in the US. Anyone, not an Astros fan is cheering for the Nationals now. Odd situation all around, and totally despicable behavior from the Astros organization.

 

Also, remember that last year during the World Series, it was their players who made racist gestures towards a Japanese pitcher.

Hello, cheering for the Astros. As far as I give a rat's ass about who wins the 'World' Series. Not going to go all 'omg rashish gesture now I hate them hurdur' on them.