This is how it was supposed to go.
The franchise that appeared in two of the last three World Series advancing in the playoffs yet again.
The team that has made three consecutive American League Championship Series expertly brushing aside annually disappointing Minnesota in a wild-card series that barely even existed.
Dusty Baker’s new Astros are moving on in the 2020 playoffs.
Not because they completely erased everything that has happened to them after blowing Game 7 of the 2019 Fall Classic inside a roaring then stunned Minute Maid Park.
Because these Astros still have enough of the good parts left from 2015-19, even after everything they’ve been through the last 11 months.
The sights were so familiar in a tight but powerful 3-1 Game 2 victory Wednesday inside a near-empty Target Field. The victory coldly ended another Twins playoff run and pointed Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, George Springer and Co. back to Dodger Stadium — this time for an AL Division Series test.
The decisive Game 2 images mirrored what stood out during the final three innings of Game 1.
Experience mattered.
Veteran acumen made the difference.
And when the moment called for a clear breakthrough, the franchise that won 311 regular-season games from 2017-19 again looked and played like a squad ready for the fire of October.
Correa blasted a go-ahead home run that flew 430 feet to center field, turning a 1-0, 82 mph slider into all the run support Jose Urquidy, Brooks Raley, Cristian Javier and Ryan Pressly needed.
The Astros you knew so well and loved so much in previous years — before a sign-stealing scandal changed everything you thought you knew; before the baseball world bitterly zeroed in on Houston’s team — locked in and relaxed when playoff pressure screamed again.
“The guys aren’t afraid of the big stage, and they welcome the big stage,” said Baker, after his Astros held Minnesota to two runs in 18 innings and turned seven road runs into another ALDS appearance. “They told me, ‘Hey, man. We get to the playoffs, you’ll see what we’re really made of.’<TH>”
At their best, the Astros that Jeff Luhnow, A.J. Hinch and Jim Crane rebuilt were made of passion, joy, heart, pride and unity.
Club Astros.
The Astros that inspired and guided Houston after the destruction of Hurricane Harvey.
The young, proud, incredibly driven Astros, who eventually blended us-against-them swagger with veteran poise.
The 2020 offseason changed all those warm stories. The aftermath keeps spilling out and will color the franchise for years, maybe decades.
The only way to write a new story is by winning it all again the right way. And now a 29-31 team that balanced injuries and frustration with underachievement during a surreal 60-game season is already waiting on its next opponent in the 2020 postseason.
Baker made the right calls with a remade pitching staff that was consistently shaky through the initial 60 games. Ace Justin Verlander and closer Roberto Osuna were never going to take the mound against Minnesota. Game 3 starter Lance McCullers Jr. never had to. Baker combined Zack Greinke, Framber Valdez, Urquidy and Javier to get this job done.
The Astros' timely bats and sharp defense finished off a 36-24 Minnesota team that again flatlined when it mattered. The Twins' 24-7 home record was useless in the brief series. The recent presidential debate was more praised than Minnesota in the Twins’ final two games of 2020.
In Game 2, Kyle Tucker stroked two smooth playoff RBI singles that were years in the making.
Javier threw three hitless and scoreless innings, calmly collecting the win and setting up Pressly’s save.
But as much as it was the new guys and still-unproven names, it was really the stars whom you first started falling for midway through the last decade.
The Astros looked more and more confident as the innings stacked up. Correa, Springer, Bregman, Altuve and Co. weren’t ready to go away in 2020, no matter what everyone else thought or wanted.
These Astros were in command of their new playoff future. Not the rest of Major League Baseball.
“That was a big walk that Altuve got (Tuesday),” Baker said. “He didn’t get a hit, but he got a walk and an RBI to put us ahead. Everybody’s contributing. (Josh) Reddick got a big hit that ended up scoring a run. We can just chip in. It’s a game of stacking pennies. One here, one there, one here, one there, one great play, and the next thing you know you’ve got a dollar. At the end of this day, we got a dollar.”
Reaching the Division Series was a given for the 2017-19 Astros. In 2020, making the ALDS after just two wild-card games represents a September triumph.
The below .500 regular-season record no longer matters.
The Astros are playing — and winning — postseason games again.
Just like they were supposed to.
Brian T. Smith reported from Houston.
The Link LonkOctober 01, 2020 at 03:43AM
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/brian-t-smith/article/Smith-Astros-look-like-playoff-Astros-again-15610078.php
Smith: Astros look like playoff Astros again with easy knockout of Twins - Houston Chronicle
https://news.google.com/search?q=easy&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment