*Morton threw 3.2IP, 6H/7ER, 3K:2BB, with two charged to him courtesy of Will Harris, who allowed a three-run homer to Aaron Judge. Harris shook Gattis off twice before uncorking a fastball, for some reason.
*Morton, on Frazier's ridiculous home run:
If you were to show me a video of that swing, show the pitch speed and the location, I would never have thought that. That was unbelievable.
*Collin McHugh threw 4IP, 0H/0ER, 3K:1BB, retiring 12 of the 13 batters he faced, and saving the back end of the bullpen from an extended outing. McHugh:
It was the job that needed to be done. We were down pretty big. It's my job to get outs. I was focused on getting one at a time, giving our guys a chance to chip away...We have some great one-inning, two-inning arms down there. So to be able to get a couple of innings in, save [the bullpen] for when the game is tight - that's what my job was.
*The Astros were 1x7 w/RISP and left eleven men on base. Teams that are down 2-1 in a best-of-seven are 40-94. But they're 5-5 since 2012. Make sure you body up ESPN for yet another "Houston, we have a..." headline. Springer-Reddick-Marwin are a combined 1x30. Springer:
The scoreboard doesn't always show how hard you hit the ball. I thought we hit some balls hard tonight that didn't fall. We're not going to change our approach just because we fly out to the track.
Reddick:
It's not the normal Astros offense; we're used to producing five-plus, but our whole lineup's not hitting. We're relying on Altuve and Correa a little too much in the first two games, and we've got to come together as a team, maybe talk it out and work on things like we were doing in the Boston series. We have to come back out and get things sorted out. Our lineup will be alright.
*Check out CC cussing out Reddick:
CC cursing out Reddick for throwing his helmet is the most BX thing ever #Yankees 👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾 pic.twitter.com/DUaodavwFG— Jeaux Vaughn (@Joveezyy) October 17, 2017
*Cameron Maybin tried to explain just what the hell happened when he watched a Greg Bird fly ball drop in front of him in the 4th inning for a ground rule double:
It's a long run. Once I got there I kind of froze. It's one of those things where you realize you're by yourself, and in my head, I was thinking about if I missed it's probably gonna be a triple. It's just a tough play.
*Lance McCullers will get the nod in this [squints] afternoon's (...?...) game. McCullers:
It's a big game for us. It's a big game for the team. The Yankees have a great home record and are a great team. We did the job putting [ourselves] in the situation getting up 2-0...It's a big situation to be able to pitch in, put us within a game of the World Series.
*Hinch admitted that starting Lance is a gamble:
He's a really good pitcher. He's got really electrifying stuff, some of the best in the big leagues...It starts with setting the tone with him. I don't have to remind you, he was an All-Star to start the year. He has some of the best stuff in the big leagues and we believe in him.
*The Yankees' G3 win dropped the Astros to 70% in FiveThirtyEight's simulations, who give the Yankees and Sonny Gray a 54-46 edge in today's game. FanGraphs has the Astros at 75.4% to win the pennant.
Gray vs current Astros:
McCullers vs current Yankees:
*Having already interviewed with Boston, Alex Cora will interview to be the Mets' next manager.
*FanGraphs' Marc Hulet wrote up the Astros' farm system.
*This Baseball America article on the "growing consensus" of expansion (Portland and Montreal) and dramatic realignment is all sorts of interesting. The proposal would put the Astros in a division with the Cubs, White Sox, Colorado, Kansas City, Arlington, and St. Louis. YOUR HATE CAN LIVE ON FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR.
*How a Northeastern progressive turned himself into a neo-Fascist.
