THE PALLILOG
After Altuve’s legendary blast, here’s what’s next for Astros
Oct 20, 2023, 7:00 pm
Astros take Game 5. Photo by Getty Images.
It was in 1995 after the Rockets won their second straight NBA Championship that Head Coach Rudy Tomjanovich famously said "Don't EVER underestimate the heart of a champion!" This won't be happening, though those who go back to the Rockets' golden era would find it spine-tingling (I know I would) to have Rudy T. belt out his most famous quote followed by "Play Ball!" before game six Sunday night.
Down two games to none in the American League Championship series, the Astros delivered a "Godfather Part II" level sequel to their September obliteration of the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. Last month it was a cumulative 39-10 three game destruction. This time it was "only" 23-12, but with the higher stakes of the ALCS, sweeping three again in Arlington is an extremely clutch been there, done that, did it again performance. It seems impossible for Jose Altuve to keep adding entries to his postseason legend but he keeps coming up with additional chapters for the book. Altuve's top of the ninth three-run homer Friday turning a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead and ultimately win is up until now the defining moment between the Astros and Rangers franchises. But the job is not yet complete.
After winning three straight on the road the Astros need to avoid another deja vu feeling. The road team having won all five games of this series reminds of the 2019 World Series when the Astros rallied from 0-2 down to take three games at the Washington Nationals, only to then lose games six and seven at home. Despite their perplexingly poor performance at Minute Maid Park this year the odds are solidly against the Astros again failing in both games six and seven, but those odds are roughly 4-1, not 100-1. So here we are, the Astros one victory from a fifth World Series appearance in seven years.
The game six pitching matchup favors the challengers. One could argue that J.P. France should get the ball instead, but Framber Valdez gets a shot at redemption with the game six start as the Astros try to close out the upstaters. Valdez had a first inning debacle in losing game two, that after a crummy performance against Minnesota in the Division Series. In seven innings over those two outings Valdez has been torched for 14 hits, walked four, and given up nine earned runs plus one unearned run caused by his own error. On balance over the last four months Valdez has been lousy with a 5.09 earned run average over 18 starts. Still two seasons away from free agent eligibility, he can forget about a huge contract extension this offseason.
The Rangers go with game two winner Nathan Eovaldi. The Alvin native has been money this postseason in each of his three starts, though the Astros did manage three runs in six innings against him. It's not worth anything now but noteworthy anyway: two years ago the Astros won the pennant at Minute Maid Park by beating Eovaldi in game six. That was Astros 5-0 over the Red Sox with Luis Garcia the winning pitcher.
If there is a decisive seventh game Monday, the game three starting pitching matchup comes back around. That means Cristian Javier for the Astros, Max Scherzer for the Rangers. That means clear advantage Astros, though as always in one game you never know.
Javier doesn't have the body of work yet to rate with the greatest postseason pitchers of all-time but what he has done over four starts is awesome. Even after Josh Jung proved Javier a postseason mortal by hitting a two run homer off of him, "El Reptil" sits with a cold-blooded 0.82 earned run average with the opponents' batting average in those four starts a feeble .071.
Scherzer meanwhile would try to summon up the stuff and command to give the Rangers a chance through the early innings. At 39 years old and rusty he may not have the goods to do so, but he would not be cowed by the pressure of the situation.
Scherzer does have game seven at Minute Maid Park experience. He started the ultimate game of the 2019 World Series and in an immensely gritty performance held the Astros to two runs despite needing 103 pitches to get through five innings. No need to get into how that game and series ended.
Thoughts on the benches clearing episode in the bottom of the eighth Friday. Trailing 4-2 and having walked the leadoff man, Bryan Abreu would have been foolish to intentionally drill Adolis Garcia in his first plate appearance after his game turning three-run homer off of Justin Verlander. Nevertheless, batters don't take well to 99 miles per hour coming toward their head and shoulders. Garcia snapped, the benches unnecessarily emptied, but fortunately nothing stupid came from it. Garcia and Abreu were both ejected and then Dusty Baker got tossed arguing Abreu's ejection. Abreu getting run may well have benefitted the Astros. He faced two batters, walking one then hitting the other. After the nonsense, Ryan Pressly came on to get three straight outs and keep the Astros within two going to the ninth. The stakes are too high now for any aftershocks within this series, but this will likely be remembered in 2024.
With the massive thunderbolts Jose Abreu has been delivering the last three weeks, it's incredible that he went 105 games (his last 55 games with the White Sox plus his first 50 games as an Astro) mustering one measly homer. Even if he was getting out of traction every day before heading to the ballpark. Even if he was using a pool cue stick instead of a bat. The raw power is, well, Yordan-esque. Speaking of Mr. Alvarez, best jersey I saw at Globe Life Field was an Astros fan wearing a number 35. Not "Verlander" on the back, but "Fields." As in Josh Fields, who Jeff Luhnow traded for Alvarez in 2016. If the Astros opt to retire Verlander's 35 at some point, Fields should be invited to the ceremony.
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Cam Smith’s reaction to making the Astros Opening Day roster is priceless
Mar 25, 2025, 4:16 pm
It’s go time! While the Astros are not the juggernaut they were over the more than half-decade stretch from 2017 through 2022 that yielded regular seasons with 101, 103, 106, and 107 wins, four American League pennants, and two World Series Champions, as the saying goes, they ain’t dead yet. There is no superpower in the American League West the Astros need to overcome. In fact, the American League as a whole is grossly inferior to the National League. As a result, a fifth Astros’ AL title in this era is not some absurd fantasy, though it is certainly unlikely. But winning the pennant is unlikely for every AL team, so if you’re a fan of the Astros there is nothing wrong with a “Why not us?” mentality. On the other hand, the floor for the 2025 Astros is lower going into a season than it has been in almost a decade. The lineup has numerous question marks, and if the terrific trio atop the Astros’ starting rotation (Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, and Ronel Bronco) runs into injury or performance issues the Astros would have serious problems. That the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners both finish ahead of the Astros is clearly plausible. Play ball!
Astros history lives in these moments
It is simple fact that time marches on, but it is still amazing that the Astros are beginning their second quarter-century of play at what for its first two seasons was called Enron Field, then for the past 23 seasons Minute Maid Park, and now Daikin Park. That’s 25 seasons in the books, at least 26 more to come, with the Astros a few years ago having extended their lease through 2050. In non-specific order, I have twenty easily come-to-mind most spine-tingling moments at the ballpark. If you want 25 for 25 years, I leave five more to you.
Not all spine-tinglers on the home field are generated by the home team. Here are three produced by visiting players. In 2001, Barry Bonds smashed his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire’s single season Major League record. We know what went into the home run numbers of that era, but it was still jaw-dropping stuff. Bonds would finish the season with 73 homers. Game five of the 2005 National League Championship Series, with the Astros one out from winning their first ever pennant, Albert Pujols launched a Brad Lidge hanging slider that might still be airborne if not for the glass wall above the train tracks. It may be the most instantaneous crowd delirium to utter silence moment ever. It turned a 4-2 Astros’ lead into a crushing 5-4 loss. But, the next game Roy Oswalt pitched the Astros to that pennant in St. Louis. Lastly, the second game of the 2013 season, Rangers’ pitcher Yu Darvish retired the first 26 Astro batters before Marwin Gonzalez smacked a ball through Darvish’s legs up the middle for a base hit. Soooooo close to a perfect game. Only 22 perfect games have been thrown in MLB’s modern era (1900-today).
Now to Astro achievements. Fudging a bit by including Roger Clemens since it’s not for one specific moment. But the Rocket’s starts with the Astros were events. Speaking of Hall of Famers, Craig Biggio’s 3000th hit is an obvious list-maker. Jeff Kent is not a Hall of Famer but he was better in the batter’s box than any second baseman elected after Joe Morgan. Kent won game five of the 2004 NLCS with a bottom of the ninth three-run bomb to end what had been a scoreless game. Alas, the Astros would lose the next two games and the series in St. Louis. The crowd went much wilder over Kent’s homer than over Chris Burke’s series-winning homer over the Atlanta Braves in a 2005 NL Division Series. Burke’s homer came in the 18th inning, so sheer exhaustion held down the decibel level a little. A sleeper for the list occurred earlier in that same game, when Brad Ausmus of all people hit a two-out game-tying homer to get the game into extra innings.
Four no-hitters have been thrown by Union Station. Working backwards: Ronel Blanco last season, Framber Valdez in 2023, a combined job started by Aaron Sanchez in 2019, and the first in 2015 by Mike....yes, Fiers.
And now to the grandest home park moments of this Platinum Era in Astros’ history. Carlos Correa authored two of them, each in a game two of the American League Championship Series. In 2017 he doubled home Jose Altuve with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. That came off of Aroldis Chapman who shall appear once more in this column. In 2019 Correa tied the series at one win apiece with a walk-off homer. Yordan Alvarez also gets a pair of entries. You know, Yordan hit just .192 in the 2022 postseason. But talk about making your hits count. In game one of those playoffs, ALDS vs. Seattle, it was a two-out three-run walk-off blast off of Robbie Ray to give the Astros an 8-7 win. Then in the final game of those playoffs, it was a sixth inning gargantuan three-run launch to dead center turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.
That leaves four moments that are 100 percent non-negotiable entries. While not dramatic (4-0 final score), the payoff warrants inclusion of the Astros winning Game seven of the 2017 ALCS over the Yankees. Similarly, while the moment of victory lacked drama (4-1 final), how could one exclude the Astros winning the World Series on home turf in 2022. Finally, for my money the two most pulsating, goosebump-inducing, viscerally exciting moments at 501 Crawford Street. In one of the most scintillating games ever played in any sport, Alex Bregman’s bottom of the 10th inning single gave the Astros’ their epic 13-12 win over the Dodgers in game five of the 2017 World Series. Then in 2019, Jose Altuve’s game six homer ended the ALCS (I warned you Aroldis).
Here’s to the new season! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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