Elimination games bring out JV’s best
HOUSTON — Houston manager A.J. Hinch is about to find out what it’s like to have Justin Verlander on the mound with his team facing elimination. Jim Leyland already knows. “In games like that, he’s not gonna be denied,” Leyland said by phone Thursday, as Verlander prepares to pitch in Friday’s Game 6 of the ALCS with the Yankees one win away from ending the Astros’ season and advancing to the World Series. “This is a guy who’s great all year long, but when he’s pitching for the biggest stakes, he seems to get even better and he makes sure he’s on top of his game. You’re gonna see him at his best.”
The Yankees witnessed that when Verlander steamrolled them in Game 2 in Houston, giving up just one run and striking out 13 over nine innings in a game the Astros won in the bottom of the ninth to take a 2-0 series lead.
Verlander threw 124 pitches at Minute Maid Park that day, and despite the heavy workload, insisted Thursday he feels as good as he has all year.
That gives Hinch some confidence even after his team dropped three in a row in The Bronx following Verlander’s performance.
“It’s the toughest three-game stretch we’ve had,” Hinch said. “But it’s a three-game stretch that can end [Friday].”
In his career, Verlander has pitched in four elimination games and has a 1.48 ERA. The only time he suffered a loss was when he was a rookie in the 2006 World Series and the Tigers lost to St. Louis in five games.
Since then, he beat the Rangers in Game 5 of the 2011 ALCS and then shut down the A’s in Game 5 of the ALDS in 2012 and again in 2013.
“Both times, he was at the top of his game,” Leyland said. “He wasn’t going to let us lose.”
But Verlander dismissed the idea those victories will mean much on Friday.
“I can draw from my success in past situations, but it means nothing for [Friday],” Verlander said. “I think each start is a new start. And I think that’s why we as athletes, you get nervous, anxious, all those feelings because it’s the fear of the unknown. I don’t know if I’ll be as sharp as I was last time or the last time I pitched in a clinching game or a possible season-ending [game].”
Hinch will take his chances with the right-hander.
“His presence will immediately make everybody sit up straight, stand up a little bit more, have a little bit more energy because of the presence that he brings,” Hinch said. “It’s hard to measure. It’s hard to fake. You either have it or you don’t. Verlander has it.”
It’s why the Astros wanted to trade for him in August — and why Verlander accepted the trade.
“The expectations are there,” Verlander said. “My teammates, I’m sure, are expecting a lot of me. And I expect a lot of myself. So this is why we play the game. And I love these opportunities to pitch in these atmospheres, these types of games. It should be a lot of fun. … You talk about momentum, if we’re able to win the game [Friday], I think that switches back to our side where we’re having a Game 7 in our park.’’