Hard place to play
‘Evil Empire’ puts the pressure on Astros after thriving in Bronx
Three losses later, the Astros must concede it’s tough to win at Yankee Stadium.
NEW YORK — The Yankees already had the Astros on the run, it seemed, after that Game 4 comeback created a level of noise and hostility the likes of which the young AL West champs had never experienced.
And that was before the home team slayed the dragon in Game 5, finally finding a way to rough up Dallas Keuchel, Yankee-killer extraordinaire.
Suffice it to say the Astros flew home to Houston at warp speed late Wednesday night, surely feeling like tourists who’d gotten their pockets picked in the big, bad city.
Keuchel was their great hope, their coat of armor to ward off the evil spirits in the Bronx. And he was gone in the fifth inning, losing to the Yankees for the first time.
Speaking of which, perhaps Keuchel invited a bit of bad karma by invoking the old “Evil Empire” line in referring to the Yankees during his pre-start news conference Tuesday.
He used it as endearingly as possible, it seemed, saying that getting booed here in the land of the Evil Empire was a sign of respect, and “it makes you feel good because you’re doing your job correctly.”
Innocent enough, perhaps, but any Evil Empire reference may have been a sign that Keuchel was feeling a little too comfortable about his ability to beat the Yankees.
In any case, they got to him this time. The final was 5-0 as the Yankees needed no late-inning magic in this one, but rode Masahiro Tanaka’s dominant start to a drama-free victory that gives them a 3-2 lead in this ALCS and puts them tantalizingly close to going to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
No easy task
It feels practically inevitable at this point, in fact, after these three games in the Bronx, but they still have to win a game in Houston to close the deal, and that’s no easy task.
By defeating Keuchel they’ve given themselves some breathing room, meaning they don’t have to beat Justin Verlander, who shut them down in a Game 2 gem.
They could lose Game 6 and still be in decent shape, needing to beat Charlie Morton in Game 7. Of course, there’s always the possibility the Astros would come back with Lance McCullers Jr. on short rest for Game 7, after he pitched brilliantly in Game 3.
Either way, the atmosphere will be completely different. The Yankees won’t be able to ride the wave of energy the crowds have provided in the three home games, and obviously the Astros will feel a lot more comfortable at Minute Maid Park, where they won the first two games of the series.
Still, you can’t help but think the Astros are feeling the pressure of seeing their 2-0 lead disappear. It sure looks like it, anyway, as the best offensive team in the American League this season has been shut down for most of this series, scoring nine runs in five games, and only five in the three games at Yankee Stadium.
Even Jose Altuve, who looked like he might never make an out during the two games in Houston, has gone cold, going 0-for-10 here in the Bronx.
Yankee pitching has had a lot to do with that, of course, and Tanaka has certainly lived up to his reputation as a big-game pitcher.
In two of his three starts, in fact, Tanaka has put up nothing but zeroes, as he dominated the Astros on Wednesday, allowing only three hits over seven innings while racking up eight strikeouts.
Anxiety a factor?
Still, after the numbers this Houston team put up this season, averaging a league-leading 5.5 runs per game, you have to believe anxiety has played a part in their futility.
As such, the lingering question going into Game 5 was whether the Astros are being affected, even intimidated, by the raucous Yankee Stadium atmosphere.
A.J. Hinch was asked about that, especially as it applied to his relievers in Game 4, and the Astros manager acknowledged it’s a factor his team would have to overcome.
“We’re not going to cave to it,” Hinch said. “This is a tough place to play, a tough place to pitch. When they get things going, they’re really good at home.
“So our players can handle it. I think it comes down to execution and making pitches. And every day is a learning day to get a little bit more comfortable in it. For me, it’s continuing to trust your players and put them in a position that you think they can be successful.
“We can’t run from it. We’re not going to deny that this is a big moment for a lot of our guys. I’ve got a group of men that can handle it. And we’ll attack today the way we attacked the last four days, and try to get a lead in the series.”
It sounded good, but the Yankees weren’t having any of it, not here in the Bronx. Now can they finish this off on the road? They did it in Cleveland. No reason they can’t do it in Houston as well.