Astros set up nicely with top 3 pitchers ready
NEW YORK — This is why the Astros added Zack Greinke.
If Greinke disappoints in the playoffs again, A.J. Hinch will hand the ball to Justin Verlander to close out the Astros’ threegame run inside Yankee Stadium.
And if the Astros fail to win Game 5? Hinch can hand the ball to Gerrit Cole back inside a roofcovered Minute Maid Park, where the best pitcher on the planet has been automatic for months and the Astros are set to host Games 6 and 7 of this American League Championship Series.
So remind me again why Wednesday’s rainout supposedly worked in New York’s favor.
And don’t even try to convince me that the Astros are suddenly in trouble in the ALCS … even though they hold a 21 lead and have already proved they can win big inside Yankee Stadium.
“I see it as an opportunity for the next game. I know there’s a lot of whatifs,” Hinch said Wednesday on a conference call as New York was soaked and the Yanks’ stadium went dark. “Now that our pitching is set for the next couple of nights, we know we’re going to have pretty good weather based on the forecast. But I think it’s also important for us not to look too far ahead of Game 4. We know we’re going to face (Masahiro) Tanaka. It’s an important game. Every game is magnified as you get deeper and deeper. Very disciplined, only care about the next game, and that’s what we’re focusing on.”
Hinch, as always, is the perfect skipper to guide the Astros through this.
He was confident and calm after his club was blanked 70 by the Yankees and Tanaka in Game 1 in Houston. A Carlos Correa 11thinning walkoff home run followed, and that was followed by 41 Astros in Game 3 in the Bronx, with the road team looking like a World Series team.
Does Tanaka (six innings, one hit, no runs, the W in Game 1) give New York a Game 4 edge on paper?
Sure.
Could Greinke throw seven innings of tworun ball and help place his new team one win away from another Fall Classic?
Clearly.
Greinke (36, 4.58 ERA in 13 career playoff starts) must raise his game. Thus far as an Astro, he’s 02 with nine earned runs and five homers allowed in 9 2⁄3 postseason innings. What better setting than Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, with the baseball world and National Leaguebest Nationals watching and MLB waiting to see which AL team will rise above the October drama?
New York has scored three runs in the last 20 innings. Giancarlo Stanton is still TBD and hasn’t played since Game 1. The Yankees’ starting rotation is more of a question mark than the Astros’. And only one of the two had the best record in baseball this season and has won a World Series since 2009.
Hinch’s Astros radiated confidence in Game 3. Hinch’s Astros have four games, if needed, to close this series out and are still set to throw the best starting trio in the AL.
“We’re here to win and win as fast as we can,” Hinch said.
“If it takes all four games, if our bullpen gets used a lot and our pitching gets used a lot, then that’s what it’s going to take to get to the World Series. But honestly, it’s not something that we’re going to talk about internally going into the next game in this playoff series. It’s just not.”
The Astros were the better team through 162. They won two of the initial three games in this series and prevailed during a near mustwin Game 2 that took almost five hours.
They have been tested and answered the challenge inside legacy ballparks across the country since 2017: Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium.
Their best two arms are still to come if Greinke falters.
Maybe this goes the full seven. Maybe Cole has to save his team again.
But what’s the one thing we can all agree on as we keep waiting for Game 4 to begin?
A little rain isn’t going to hurt these Astros.