Well Jordan Montgomery did his best Pablo Lopez impression and the Astros now find themselves down 1-0 in the Series. Is it ideal? [sensibly chuckling] No, but it's not the end of the world.
Astros Down 1-0 in a 7-Game Series, 2015-present:
2017 World Series (Won 4-3)
2019 ALCS (Won 4-3)
2019 World Series (Well...)
2020 ALCS (Lost 4-3)
2021 World Series (Lost 4-2)
2022 World Series (Won 4-2)
So that's 3-3 after losing Game 1
*FanGraphs: Houston 42.6 - Six Flags 57.4
*It's the first time the Astros have been shutout in a playoff game at home since 2021 World Series Game 6. There wasn't a game after that.
*Houston got five hits - all singles - against Six Flags last night. Dusty:
Sometimes you've got to say: 'Hey, the guy threw a great game tonight against us, excellent game. And they say good pitching beats good hitting, but when you don't hit, everybody wants to know what's wrong. There's not a whole bunch to say. He threw a real good game against us.
*Justin Verlander pitched really well - Evan Carter's 2nd Inning run happened because he took an extra base on his shot underneath Abreu and then hustled to home. The 5th Inning run was one mistake from Verlander. This offense should have bailed Verlander out.
Verlander's 2023 Postseason: 12.2IP, 10H/2ER, 11K:5BB
It's the 17th postseason start of Verlander's career in which he has thrown at least 6IP and recorded 0-2 earned runs. His teams are 12-5 in those games. He's done it with Houston 10 times, and the Astros are now 8-2 (2017 World Series Game 6 was the other one with the Astros).
Verlander:
We lost Game 1 in the World Series last year. We've lost Game 1 of some playoff series before. And that's the great thing about this team. Obviously nobody is sitting in the locker room right now happy. But it's very matter of fact, okay. We just got punched, how do you answer?
*Yordan Alvarez had one of the worst games you'll see him have, going 0x4 with 3K and a weak grounder. In 52 career postseason games, it was just the 3rd time Yordan struck out three times.
Jeff Passan: How Jordan Montgomery finally solved Yordan Alvarez.
*1-5 in the lineup (Altuve-Bregman-Yordan-Abreu-Tucker) went a combined 2x19 with 5K:1BB. Of course Bregman was robbed of a double by Evan Carter, and then was a fraction of a second away from tying the game in the 8th. So that's kind of a hard-luck 2x19, but it still happened.
Tucker is "hitting" .111/.238/.167 in the 2023 postseason. He's 3x34 in his last ten postseason games.
Overall, just didn't do enough tonight, offensively. I thought JV threw the ball tremendously, but we need to string together some better at-bats.
Sinkers and curves sunk the Astros in Game 1.
*Jeremy Pena was 1x3, giving him a hit in 16 of his 18 career postseason games.
*Dusty:
This is the best team I've been around about moving on. And there's nothing you can do. If you're going to lose a game, you'd rather lose it in the first game versus in the middle of the series. And so we know we've got a tough pitcher in Eovaldi tomorrow But we also have a tough pitcher in Framber on our side.
Eovaldi vs Houston, postseason career: five appearances (2018 and 2021 ALCS), 17.2IP, 19H/10ER, 14K:6BB.
Eovaldi vs Houston, regular season career: 3-4, 53IP, 55K:26BB, 45K:19BB, 4.42 ERA/1.40 WHIP.
Game 2 is at 3:37pm.
What To Watch, October 16:
Sweden @ Belgium: 1:45pm Central
Six Flags @ Astros: 3:37pm
Arizona @ Philadelphia: 7:07pm
*SI: The Wild Quest to Create A Fake Indian Cricket League...That Was Just The Beginning.
*We Salted Nannie: A True Southern Ghost Story
*A Musical Selection, as I have to start getting ready:
