PLAYING FROM BEHIND
Bad day at the ballpark plus pitching injuries may be harbingers of more tough times ahead
This has been a great week and a horrible one for the Astros.
Horrible won out Saturday and now … uh oh.
A few days ago, the Astros were listed by many bookmakers as the favorites to win the World Series.
After Saturday’s loss to Boston at Minute Maid Park, that lofty betting status has dropped significantly.
Remember way back when, when the Astros were feeling good about how their starting pitching lined up for the playoffs? You know, like about a week ago?
Now, two of the arms they were counting on to deliver quality innings are out with injuries, and two games into the American League Championship Series, with Houston
and Boston tied 1-1, the scramble is on.
The Astros will tell you they are experienced and can handle anything.
They haven’t experienced this.
Luis García left Saturday’s Game 2 of the ALCS against Boston with a knee injury, after finishing just one inning and surrendering a grand slam to J.D. Martinez.
Jake Odorizzi was given as much time as he needed to warmup and, well, it didn’t help. He gave up a grand slam to Rafael Devers in the second inning, as Boston ran out to an 8-0 lead.
No team in MLB history had ever hit two grand slams in a playoff game, let alone two of them in back-to-back innings. Those balls were crushed; it was crushing.
After the sound from an electric crowd nearly blew the roof on in the series opener, Minute Maid Park turned as quiet as it was when fans weren’t allowed to attend games at the height of the global pandemic.
It was a temporary silence — some 2 ½ hours or so — but the reality set in that Saturday was not going to be a day of celebration.
That’s baseball, as every player and manager has said a thousand times. Problem is, this loss wasn’t just a bad day at the park. It could have repercussions, meaning more bad days are coming.
Especially if García’s knee sidelines him, or renders him ineffective, as was the case Saturday, when he couldn’t find the strike zone.
Already, Lance McCullers, celebrated as the staff ace when he dominated the White Sox to jump-start the Astros in an AL Division Series, is out for the ALCS with a strained muscle in his forearm.
The Astros are so desperate that Odorizzi “eating up” four innings in relief of García was a major positive. The same Odorizzi who was penciled in to start Game 4.
As it were, Odorizzi, forced to stretch, warmup and pitch in a game that he had planned to enjoy watching, did well.
But the Astros are down to calculating how many miles they can go and at what speed before their gas tank is empty.
You can’t coast on fumes and get far in the playoffs.
Tuesday, bookmakers had the Astros listed as the favorites to win the World Series. That was two injured starting pitchers ago.
That was before the Red Sox slammed them Saturday.
Confidence has never been an issue with these Astros. When Yuli Gurriel deposited a pitch into the Crawford Boxes to pull Houston within 9-4 with one out in the bottom of the ninth, they still believed.
Then pinch-hitter Jason Castro yanked one to deep centerfield, a 431-foot home run, and the Astros were within four runs with the top of the lineup about to bat.
This was not the day for an epic comeback.
But they believed.
Belief won’t be enough to get it done. The Astros will likely need a couple pitchers to do more than they have recently.
In the first two games of the ALCS, the Astros have gotten 3 2⁄3 innings from their starting pitchers.
Framber Valdez, who didn’t get out of the third inning in Game 1, could be asked to return to start Tuesday’s Game 4 in Boston on three days rest, something he has never done.
McCullers said he didn’t want to bring depression into fans’ social media timelines by talking about his situation. He doesn’t need to say anything. The depression is already setting in.
That is something many of these Astros have seen before. Unlike any Houston sports team aside from the Clutch City Rockets, these Astros don’t play scared.
Whether they have enough to get through is an altogether different discussion.
The best of them on this squad — Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Michael Brantley, Yordan Álvarez, Alex Bregman,
Kyle Tucker, etc. — don’t pitch.
They are going to have to do a lot of hitting at Fenway Park to handle this mess.
Most will bet against them.