BRING ON THE YANKEES!
5 key factors that could determine outcome of Astros-Yankees series
Jun 23, 2022, 11:27 am
BRING ON THE YANKEES!
After sweeping the Mets in a two-game series at Minute Maid Park, the Astros will head to the Big Apple to square off against the Yankees in what will be the most anticipated matchup of the season thus far.
Both Houston (43-25) and New York (50-18) have been the top two teams in the American League since May 11 and will play the first of a four-game series starting on Thursday.
If the Astros want to prove they are the best team in baseball, their elite players need to showcase their skills and win on the biggest stage in the biggest city.
1. Altuve must silence the crowd again
Last season, the Astros only managed to win one game in The Bronx thanks to some late inning heroics from New York “fan favorite” Jose Altuve who powered a game-winning home run to silence the relentless crowd.
It’s not a stretch to say Altuve might be the most hated baseball player in New York, but that doesn’t seem to affect him.
Although Yankee elites will continue to spew their venom towards the 2017 A.L. MVP, his ability to shut out the noise and perform at the plate under these circumstances will be one of the Astros' best assets during the series.
Throughout his career, Altuve has consistently been able to drive a stake into the heart of Yankee fans time after time.
The All-Star second baseman is currently hitting .269 and has no fear of taking on the Yankees in New York.
2. Bregman’s bat stays hot
Similarly to Altuve, Alex Bregman is no stranger to the boo birds, and doesn’t seem too affected by the harassment. So playing in front of the relentless crowd at Yankee Stadium won’t be a problem for him either.
Sure, it’s no secret that the former All-Star isn’t having a great season so far, but things seem to be turning around as Bregman has a .292 batting average with two home runs and four RBI over his last seven games.
It was only a matter of time before the former 1st round pick would start to figure things out at the plate.
This Astros' lineup is already potent as it stands, but when Bregman returns to form, more than the Yankees should be concerned when facing Houston.
3. Air Yordan takes flight in the Big Apple
Yordan Alvarez is having a tremendous season, and has been on a tear as of late.
Since signing his six-year extension on June 6, the 24-year-old is hitting .429 with five home runs, 17 RBI and a 1.347 OPS.
Alvarez is on pace to earn the American League Player of the Month for June and doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.
The last time the Cuban native went to Yankee Stadium, he hit two homers off of former Astros’ pitcher Gerrit Cole, and looks forward to returning to the Big Apple.
"Whenever a player goes to New York and plays there, it's just really exciting with the history of that team and the ballpark," Álvarez said through a translator. "We know they're a really good team so we're just going to compete and try to win."
Alvarez will certainly be looking forward to hitting bombs towards the infamously short right field porch at Yankee Stadium.
4. The pitching staff stays strong
The Astros are scheduled to have Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy take the mound this series and all of them have some varying degree of previous success against the Yankees.
Justin Verlander (albeit more in the postseason) has had multiple dominating performances against the Bronx Bombers and will take the mound on Friday against Luis Severio in what should be an elite pitcher's duel.
The other three aforementioned starters will look to continue their impressive season thus far as well.
If the Astros' starting pitchers can continue to keep them in games like they have all season, there is no reason Houston won’t be ready to face whatever the Yankees throw at them.
5. One bonus note
Astros’ shortstop Jeremy Pena has been on the injured list since June 15 with left thumb discomfort but will be eligible to come off the IL as early as this Friday.
Pena took swings in the batting cage and was spotted fielding ground balls Tuesday and assuming all goes well these next few days, he could rejoin the Astros sometime during the Yankee series
If the 24-year-old rookie does return, it will give Houston one more deadly weapon that the Yankees would rather not face.
Jake Meyers could also make his 2022 season debut as his minor league rehab assignment runs out this week. Other moves would have to be made, but the potential for Meyers to return could bolster this already lethal lineup.
Pena and Meyers may not come back in time for the Yankee series, but if they do, the Astros may have the best lineup in the league.
Watch out New York, Houston is coming.
Kelvin Sampson knows how to win a Big 12 Tournament, leading Oklahoma to three straight titles in the early 2000s.
He has Houston two wins away from its own.
The Cougars ramped up their suffocating defense on TCU, Emanuel Sharp had 14 points and Big 12 player of the year Jamal Shead scored 12, and the No. 1 team in the nation rolled to a 60-45 victory on Thursday in the quarterfinal round of its first tournament in its new league.
“They're all good. All the teams are really good,” said Sampson, whose team was beaten soundly on the boards by the bigger Horned Frogs yet still won with ease. “You win by 15, you move on to the next one, man.”
In this case No. 25 Texas Tech, which romped to a victory over No. 20 BYU earlier in the day.
“Texas Tech is good enough to beat us,” Sampson said. “We're going to have to play a lot better than we did today.”
Hard to imagine it on the defensive end, where the No. 1 seed Cougars (29-3) held eighth-seeded TCU without a point for nearly 10 minutes to start the game and was never threatened the rest of the way in winning its 10th consecutive game.
Micah Peavy had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Horned Frogs (21-12). Leading scorer Emanuel Miller followed up his 26-point performance in a second-round win over Oklahoma by scoring just three points on 1-for-10 shooting.
TCU wound up going 17 of 73 from the field (23.3%) and 2 of 20 from beyond the 3-point arc.
“It wasn't our day to make shots,” Horned Frogs coach Jamie Dixon said. “I don't know how many were tough shots. I thought there were layups, we had a couple of kickout 3s off rebounds. It's probably something to do with them, because you can't take away from what they've done game after game. Their numbers are off the charts.”
Longtime rivals in the old Southwest Conference, the Cougars and Horned Frogs were meeting for the first time in the Big 12 Tournament — otherwise known as a neutral floor, where Houston had never lost in eight other games with TCU.
The Cougars never left a doubt that it would be nine.
Fresh off a 30-point blowout of Kansas, the regular-season Big 12 champs scored the first 16 points of the game, shutting down Dixon's team with the kind of in-your-shorts defense that has become the Cougars' hallmark over the years.
TCU missed its first 16 field-goal attempts and did not score until Peavy's bucket with 10:25 left in the first half.
“That's a whole other level of not making shots,” Dixon said.
Even when Houston went through its own offensive dry spell in the first half, it continually hounded the Horned Frogs. They were 3 for 23 with six turnovers at one point, and during one possession, they missed four consecutive shots at the rim.
TCU trailed 31-15 at halftime, missed its first eight shots of the second half and never threatened the rest of the way.
“The past four years I've been here,” Shead said, “we've approached every game the same. We said at the beginning of the year the Big 12 was a lot harder competition at a consistent level, but our preparation is usually the same. It's just about going out there and executing what we work on.”
UP NEXT
TCU should be safely in the NCAA Tournament field for the third consecutive year.
Houston routed the Red Raiders 77-54 in January, when Shead poured in 29 points in the win.