Three reasons why Yankees hole vs. Astros feels deeper
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NEW YORK – The postseason is not the time to try and become something you’re not. And that, above all, is why the Houston Astros’ 2-0 advantage over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series feels even more mountainous, beyond the roughly four out of five times a team that takes such a lead closes out a best-of-seven series.
The Astros have been the AL’s best team since July, wresting that title from the Yankees on their way to 106 wins while New York tailed off and “only” won 99. And the second-half fortunes of both clubs were on display as the Astros claimed both games in Houston, by 4-2 and 3-2 scores that partly belie Houston’s level of control.
As the series shifts to Yankee Stadium for Saturday night’s Game 3 (5:07 ET, TBS), a look at three reasons why the Astros retain a significant upper hand in this ALCS:
Crack of the bat
Why does it seem the Astros are in command, even if they’re outscoring the Yankees a mere 7-4 in the aggregate?
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Well, the bigger tale is the 30 strikeouts by Yankees batters compared to just eight by Houston, and that difference is reflected in the clubs’ DNA.
Not that the Bronx Bombers, mind you, are some wail-and-bail outfit fronted by slugger Aaron Judge’s record-setting 62 home runs. Yet their 1,391 regular season strikeouts put them 18th in the majors at making contact, while their .241 batting average ranked at the midpoint in the AL and the majors.
And which teams struck out the least?
Atop the list are the Cleveland Guardians, a team inferior talent-wise to the Yankees that nonetheless forced them into two win-or-go-home AL Division Series games. And they are followed by the Astros.
“It’s mostly who they are, but a lot of it has to do with sheer determination and enjoying competing,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said of his team’s contact skills before Game 2. “Our staff stresses to be a tough out and put the ball in play. If you put the ball in play, you got a chance. If you don’t put the ball in play, you have no chance.
“You put the ball in play, especially nowadays that they have a lot of guys playing out of position on certain teams because they’re counting on the strikeout, defense isn’t as important if you’re depending on the strikeout. But the guy on the other team, he has to catch it, and then he has to throw it, and then somebody on the other end got to catch it too. So there’s a possibility of three mistakes by putting the ball in play.”
His own pitcher, Framber Valdez, later proved that point when he fielded an innocuous tapper from the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton and then dropped the ball, slipped, and threw wildly, credited with two errors on the play.
As if to prove the point of postseason baseball, Stanton’s tapper produced two unearned runs, the only time New York scored in Game 2.