Come October, Astros ace not who Yanks want to see

JUSTIN Verlander may not have blinked if you placed Ruth, Gehrig and Lazzeri from the 1927 Murderers’ Row 60 feet, 6 inches from him. This is not a man the Yankees want to see again in October. It is not a man anyone wants to see on Memorial Day either. Or on any day. Yankees fans booed their new Yankee killer eve n louder than they had booed Rudy Giuliani when Verlander was yanked following his 113th pitch with two outs in the seventh. Verlander tipped his cap. “I didn’t get as many boos like when t hey announced my name pregame as I thought,” Verlander said. “I’ve come to f ind here in Yankee Stadium it’s a term of endearment, so ... thank you.” Later he added :“Yankees fans were having some fun with me, so gotta have a little fun back.” Verla nder, the 2011 AL Cy Young winner who seems destined for another, continued his assault on the Yankees — and all MLB teams for that matter. His ERA actually rose Monday from 1.08 to 1.11. Remember, he was ALCS MVP wi t h an 0. 5 6 ERA in Game 2 and 6 dominations (21 Ks) last fall.

Those Yankees didn’t have Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup. Neither did these Yankees. On t he heel s of hi s l ate s t whiffathon that again incited the Bronx boobirds, Stanton was mercifully rested against Verlander, who struck out 14 Yankees in eight shutout innings on May 1. This time he fanned five and allowed five hits and a walk and was working on a shutout until Greg Bird launched a 2-2 slider into the right-f ield seats on Verlander’s 97th pitch in the Astros’ 5-1 victory.

“I’m processing information at a much higher level than I ever had in my career,” Verlander said, “and not like analytical i nfo r mation, j us t process i ng information while I’m on the mound, just seeing the bigger picture, going with my gut. .... It’s not the best stuff I’ve ever had in my career, but it’s the best pitching for an extended period that I ever had in my career.”

Imagine if Verlander had his best slider.

“I thought those guys did a really good job not chasing the slider,” he said. “You just had to grind.”

Verlander encountered trouble in the second, but with runners on first and second and one out, he unleashed a 96 mph fullcount fastball that Didi Gregorius flied to center, and promptly picked Gleyber Torres off second.

“To be able to steal outs against a lineup like this, especially with guys on base in big spots, those are gamechangers, those are differen ce-makers throughout the course of the ballgame,” Verlander said.

In the fifth, following Gregorius’ dribbler for a single down the third-base line and Miguel Andujar’s line single to right, Verlander’s 79 mph changeup got DH Neil Walker to pop to short.

“It just seems like he’s three steps ahead of everybody else,” Astros catcher Brian McCann said.

Verla nder (7-2) pumped a 97 mph fastball off the plate in the sixth inning to Aaron Judge before getting him to roll harmlessly to short on an 86 mph fullcount curveball. He had gotten Judge to fan on a full-count low curve in the first and got him to fly to right in the fourth on a 95 mph heater.

“Every five days is a big stage for him,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.

Gary Sanchez? V er lander struck him out on a curveball away, got him to pop up and fly out on fastballs in the mid-90s.

Torres? A soft single off a change up before V er lander tamed him in his next two atbats with his fastball.

Yankees fans certainly wouldn’t have booed his Wins for Warriors Foundation, which he talked about after the Memorial Day game.

“I’m fortunate enough to play the best game in the world in the best country in the world, and it’s for those men and women that give the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.

It is World Series or bust for the 2018 Yankees. The Yankee Killer just might be standing in their way again.