HOUSTON - Justin Verlander, one of the last players left in the Houston Astros’ clubhouse Wednesday night, long after their humiliating loss to the Washington Nationals, prompting a players-only meeting,.
He looked at the remaining reporter by his locker, laughed, and pointed at his right shin.
“I was wondering why my shin is sore,’’ Verlander told USA TODAY Sports. “Seriously. I was putting my pants on and thought, 'Man, it’s sore right there.’ I forgot the ball went off it.
“Damn, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.’’
Verlander laughed again, recalling the fourth inning play when he went scrambling for Ryan Zimmerman’s soft hit to the right of the mound, diving, grabbing the ball bare-handed, and while trying to throw the ball between his legs, nailed his own leg.
“The first 75 percent of that play was pretty (expletive) athletic,’’ he said. “The other 25 percent, not so much.’’
The same, of course, can be said about the Astros’ evening, watching a close game against the Washington Nationals disintegrate into utter embarrassment, resulting in a 12-3 loss.
The Nationals are halfway home to the first World Series title in Washington, D.C., since 1924, leading 2 games to 0, and dominating the heavily-favored Astros in every phase of the game.
“Clearly, the Nats have outplayed us, bottom line," said Astros manager A.J. Hinch. "They came into our building and played two really good games. We're going to have to try to sleep off the latter third of this game. …
“They're halfway to a race to four wins. Clearly, Game 3 becomes critical for us. I doubt the Nats are going to feel too confident that they have this sewed up and they can start planning the parade. We're going to give them a fight for it.’’
Well, they better start quickly, because this World Series could be over by the weekend.
The Astros, despite co-Cy Young favorites Gerrit Cole and Verlander taking the mound for Games 1 and 2, just watched them become first 20-game winners to lose the first two games of the World Series since Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965.
They will be trying to become only the second team since 1985 to lose their first two games at home and still win a best-of-seven series, and the first since the New York Yankees over the Atlanta Braves in 1996.
“I remember when we lost three in a row in New York (during the 2017 ALCS)’’ Astros third baseman Alex Bregman said, “and the world was coming to an end. And the next thing you know, we’re in the World Series. We’ve been here before.’’
And to a man, they believe this is the best team they’ve ever been a part of in their lives.
“Not a lot of teams win 107 games,’’ Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said. “This is a special team. If there’s a team out there that can do it, it’s us.’’
Well, they better hurry, or their season will come to an end this weekend.
If they weren’t alarmed by this sudden turn of events, Verlander wouldn’t’ have called a players-only meeting after the game to discuss their woeful play, with ALCS MVP Jose Altuve jumping in and speaking.
“Those two said everything that needed to be said,’’ Astros outfielder Josh Reddick said. “There was nothing left that needed to be said.’’
They have been sloppy in the field. Reckless on the basepaths. Clueless in the clutch. And getting a whole lot of bad breaks.
Maybe Nats starter Stephen Strasburg, who pitched yet another brilliant postseason game, raising his record to 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA, actually said it best after the Nats won the pennant.
“You have a great year, and you can run into a buzz saw,’’ Strasburg said. “Maybe this year, we’re the buzz saw.’’
Who would have imagined it, particularly coming from a team that was 19-31 in May, and now are two victories away from becoming only the second team in history to win a World Series being 12 games under .500?
“I think then it was kind of where we got our attitude,’’ said Nats third baseman Anthony Rendon , “and said, Screw everybody else, we're not worrying about what's going outside of our clubhouse. We have to worry about the 25 guys that are in here and that are actually grinding.’’
Pardon the Astros for now stealing their mantra, with everyone now counting them out.
The Astros, outside Verlander, were quiet in the clubhouse. There was no music. No loud voices. Yet, they were unanimously defiant.
You want to believe they’re in trouble.
They’ll tell you it’s no big deal.
“We feel great,’’ outfielder Michael Brantley said. “That’s why we won so many games in the regular season. This is a good team. We believe in one another. We have all of the confidence in the world."
Really, the Astros’ confidence was almost eerie after the game, with no signs of panic, distress, or even worry.
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This is a team that just suffered their biggest postseason rout in franchise history. Only two teams in baseball history has given up more than 17 runs at home in their first two games at home. And they’re playing a team that has won eight consecutive games, tied for the longest streak in postseason history.
And, yet, there was Verlander, still cracking jokes, and loving Chicago Cubs’ starter Yu Darvish’s revenge tweet when he showed the video of Verlander throwing the ball against his leg, and wrote:
“Justin….Not doing a lot here to help us dispel the pitchers’ aren’t athletes thing.’’
Yep, just like Verlander tweeted about Darvish in 2018 when Darvish hit a double, slipped and fell rounding second base.
“I saw Darvish make fun of me,’’ Verlander said, “and that was great. He’s probably been waiting in the weeds forever, waiting for his opportunity for me to do something stupid.’’
Verlander will settle on just getting that first World Series victory, winless in five starts, but needs at least two victories by his teammates to assure there will be a Game 6 where he would be scheduled to pitch again.
“We don’t dwell on win-loss record anymore, do we?’’ Verlander cracked. “I’d like to win a couple. Hopefully, I’ll get another opportunity.’’
If Verlander is going to pitch again this year, the Astros are going to need Zack Greinke to step up in Game 3, and rely on a bullpen game in Game 4. Someone needs to slow down the Nats’ offense, which has hit .307 in the first two games, producing 23 hits and five homers.
“Top to bottom, I hadn’t really paid that much attention to the National League,’’ Verlander said. “They’re way better than what people were saying. Obviously, those guys in the middle (Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto) get a lot of headlines, but the rest of that lineup is legit. They can hit. And they work it. They have good approaches. They change their approach. They adjust from at-bat to an at-bat. It’s a grind. You got your work cut out for you when you’re out there.
“You need those soft hits to be outs.’’
Well, at least once in a while, but the Nationals keep putting the ball in play, striking out just 18 times in 75 at-bats.
“Everything they hit,’’ Astros catcher Martin Maldonado said, “is a hit.’’
Says Altuve: “Just everything is going their way right now. Everything. Sooner or later, things are going to go our way.’’
They’ve gone too far, played too great all season, to just roll over now.
They kept reminding themselves of that as they sauntered out of the clubhouse, preparing for their first games in Washington, D.C., since 2014, believing they’ll be back in Houston next week, and not watching a Nats’ parade on TV.
“Playoffs are one game,’’ Verlander said. “Would we rather be up 2-0, yeah. But things change. Things will start going our way.
“We’re going to be fine. Believe me. We’ll be fine.’’
Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2019/10/24/world-series-astros-nationals-confident-comeback/4081193002/
2019-10-24 10:21:00Z
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