⛓⛓ ALCS ⚾️ Astros vs Red Sox ⚾️ 2021 ⛓⛓
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He’s a completely different manager come post season. He has a much shorter leash with his pitchers and he doesn’t play JAGs in the lineup (probably because they were left off the roster). I hope he wins a WS, he seems like a good dude.
Playoff Dusty is impressive. Regular Season Dusty can drive a man crazy. 🤣
Reminded me of this:
"Two minutes in heaven is better than...
one minute in heaven. Then you say, 'That's it?!' But I know what you're trying to say, Baby: You're saying, 'Ooooh, yeah! That's it!' Then you say, 'I want some more!' Well, I'm not surprised! ... But I really am quite sleepy." 🤣
We love you back, my man!
We ❤ Yuli! The MVPiña! 😁
I mean... dang, man! We have the American League Batting Champion batting in the bottom third of our lineup! What. A. F-cking. TEAM!
One spot behind the guy with the highest OPS since May 1st.
What. A. Stat.
Luis García gives the Astros a performance to remember in their pennant-clinching Game 6 win
Jake Kaplan
The last time the Astros advanced to the World Series, Luis Garcia had just completed a great season in Low A and High A. His impressive strikeout numbers had begun to garner him some prospect buzz, but it was minimal. A late bloomer who didn’t sign until he was 20 and for only a $20,000 bonus, he just wasn’t nearly as famous as the big-bonus international players or the early-round draft picks in the farm system.
Garcia is known by baseball fans everywhere now. Without his dominant start in ALCS Game 6 on Friday night at Minute Maid Park, the Astros might be playing a Game 7 against the Red Sox on Saturday instead of preparing for their third World Series appearance in five years. After his clunker in Game 2, the 24-year-old rookie right-hander from Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, responded with a performance that will be etched in Astros lore.
Challenging the Red Sox batters with a livelier-than-usual fastball and his excellent cutter, Garcia powered through Boston’s lineup over 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the 5-0 win. He allowed only one hit, a triple to Kiké Hernández, the last batter he faced before exiting to a standing ovation. His was the second-longest no-hit bid by a rookie in postseason history, shorter than only Michael Wacha’s 7 1/3 innings for the Cardinals against the Pirates in Game 4 of the 2013 NLDS.
“Nasty,” said Carlos Correa, who had a front-row seat from his position at shortstop. “When I saw he was throwing 97, hitting the corners, the cutter was at 88, I said, ‘It’s going to be a tough night for the hitters.’ We just needed to score a few runs, and he was just going to deal out there. It was a special performance by him.”
Garcia, who was one of the best rookies in MLB during the regular season, needed only 76 pitches to get his 17 outs before Astros manager Dusty Baker turned the game over to his bullpen. He struck out seven and walked only one.
“It’s like a dream come true, really,” Garcia said of advancing to his first World Series.
Coming into the game, the expectation was that Baker would have a relatively short leash with Garcia. The regression of his command down the stretch and by far his greatest season-long workload (155 1/3 innings in the regular season) gave the impression that he might be out of gas. In his ALDS Game 3 start in Chicago, he lasted only 2 2/3 innings and was charged with five earned runs on five hits and three walks. In Game 2 of the ALCS, he got only three outs before departing with a right knee strain in the second inning and was charged with five earned runs.
But Garcia looked rejuvenated from the start of Game 6, in his velocity and his strike-throwing. During the regular season, he hit 97 mph only once, on July 20, when he was on 12 days’ rest coming out of the All-Star break. On Friday, he hit 97 twice in the first inning alone and eight times among his 47 fastballs. His heater averaged 95 mph, two ticks better than in the regular season.
Even more important, he threw 52 of his 76 pitches for strikes, a 68.4 percent clip. Across his first two starts this postseason, he threw only 55 percent strikes.
“That was the key: throwing strikes early,” catcher Martín Maldonado said.
As for the uptick in his velocity, Garcia attributed it to a mechanical adjustment and speculated that his excitement about the start also had something to do with it.
In the days leading to Game 6, Baker and Garcia spoke of the adjustment Garcia made after Game 2 but declined to elaborate on what it entailed. But after Game 6, Astros pitching coach Brent Strom explained it as a slight tweak to Garcia’s foot positioning that allowed him to stay stronger in his back, right leg. While it’s not ideal to make even a minor change this late in the year, Strom said it was by necessity to relieve the pain in Garcia’s knee. The velocity was just a byproduct.
“I was surprised that we were getting 96s and 97s. There’s no question about that,” Strom said. “It just shows when you’re motivated and you make maybe a tweak, good things can happen. The funny thing about it: Outside of the injury, if he hadn’t hurt his knee, we may not have made that tweak. The tweak was made not to increase velocity but to take the stress off the knee. We did it the very next day in a bullpen (session) after he threw one inning (in Game 2), and he seemed to like it. Quite frankly, we probably should’ve done it sooner. But we didn’t because he was having a good year and you hate to mess with somebody who’s having a good year.”
It’s now clear: Garcia is most certainly not out of gas. He had not only his fastball working in Game 6 but also his cutter, which emerged this season as his best pitch. The coaches suggested that he try a cutter last summer at the alternate training site in Corpus Christi when he was struggling to command his slider. He continued to tinker with the cutter until he found a comfortable grip early this season, and the pitch took off.
Ranging from 85 to 89 mph on Friday, Garcia’s cutter was filthy. He threw 20 of them, and none were put in play. Red Sox batters swung at 13 of them and missed on 12, the lone contact being a foul ball.
“Pretty amazing,” said Astros assistant pitching coach Bill Murphy, who was the team’s minor-league pitching coordinator when Garcia was developing in the farm system. “I remember the day that we started working on the pitch at the alt site, and last year it showed promise, but it certainly wasn’t a pitch that was what it was today. Throughout the course of the season, it was a fantastic pitch. Today, I think you just saw how dominating that pitch could be. Everything that guy does just goes back to his work ethic and how hard he works and his intelligence. It was amazing.”
In a sense, Garcia’s incredible Game 6 was reminiscent of José Urquidy’s five scoreless innings in Game 4 of the 2019 World Series against the Nationals. Both outings are testaments to the Astros’ international scouting success under ex-general manager Jeff Luhnow and former international scouting director Oz Ocampo and their pitcher development infrastructure in the minor leagues. Their system just keeps churning out arms.
And for the resilient Garcia, Friday was the culmination of years of work, both in recent years as he rose through the minor leagues and in the many years before, when he struggled to get an opportunity to sign with a team.
“Extremely proud,” Murphy said. “I think I can speak for all of our minor-league coaches. We’re so proud of him. It’s amazing. It’s almost indescribable.”
(Photo of Luis Garcia: Michael Starghill / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Luis Garcia gives the Astros a performance to remember in their pennant-clinching Game 6 win
Garcia's cutter was filthy. He threw 20 of them, and none were put in play: "You just saw how dominating that pitch could be."
theathletic.com
Dusty is an incredibly likeable guy and in hindsight was the perfect guy to take the helm after the ‘thing’. He’s been in the game for 50 effing years. He’s had good times and bad and understands you can’t get too wrapped up in the outcome of any one day.
I’m really happy for him and hope he gets this ring.
It’s actually ridiculous when you think about it. The AL batting champ…bats 7th in this lineup. That is insane. I don’t ever recall a team having this kind of line up 1-7. Maybe 1-5. Maybe.
can you imagine if Springer would have come back? 1-8. With the best defensive catcher in the game? F’ing absurd lol
Bad MOFO that Yordan is!!!
Gents-after thoroughly enjoying the last 20 innings of this championship series I forgot to say ASTROS WIN, ASTROS WIN, ASTROS WIN!!! ASTROS, ASTROS, ASTROS WIN!!! Carry on my fine gents.
The Braves eliminated us from the playoffs in the 90s too many times to count
A few thoughts as we head into the WS…
1. I’ve been critical of the ‘pen all season (haven’t we all), especially the acquisition of Maton. The job that Click did to upgrade this group was outstanding. Maton has proved me wrong thus far, and I hope he continues to do so
2. Y’all remember Tucker’s horrid start to ‘21? Yeah, fun times
3. For those of you critical of Maldonado’s offensive offense…it’s well deserved…but he’s not needed there…his defense is outstanding. He’s thrown out 21 runners this season (19 regular, 2 playoff) and none was bigger than…
4. My favorite play of this season…last night’s strike em out, throw em out. That was huge. Machete is the man, and that play gives me goosebumps
5. Yordan Alvarez. That is a grown ass man. What a steal from the Dodgers by Luhnow
1. I’ve been critical of the ‘pen all season (haven’t we all), especially the acquisition of Maton. The job that Click did to upgrade this group was outstanding. Maton has proved me wrong thus far, and I hope he continues to do so
2. Y’all remember Tucker’s horrid start to ‘21? Yeah, fun times
3. For those of you critical of Maldonado’s offensive offense…it’s well deserved…but he’s not needed there…his defense is outstanding. He’s thrown out 21 runners this season (19 regular, 2 playoff) and none was bigger than…
4. My favorite play of this season…last night’s strike em out, throw em out. That was huge. Machete is the man, and that play gives me goosebumps
5. Yordan Alvarez. That is a grown ass man. What a steal from the Dodgers by Luhnow
Yeah, but we got them in 2004 and 2005. And Smoltz ain’t walking through that door. I’ll take my chances.
I tend to agree with all but #4 was the shit. In the moment, first and third…one out. Strike 3 and Maldy throws a seed. Knee high, inside the bag. Thanks for coming.
I'm watching, too. 🙂 (...hope the ending is the same! 🤪)
Absolutely never gets old. We need to see it four more times!!
Chills in any language
Astros turn key DP in 7th inning | 10/22/2021
Kendall Graveman strikes out Travis Shaw and Martín Maldonado throws out Alex Verdugo attempting to steal for a key double play #CurtainCall
www.mlb.com
Couple things..
For some reason I trust Maldanado at the plate more than the typical bad hitter. He generally has a good eye and forces the pitcher to make good pitches.
Regarding Alvarez...Astros wanted him from the get-go but couldn't draft him because they were at their limit of International money/contracts. They stayed after him when he went to the Dodgers.
Chills in any language
Astros turn key DP in 7th inning | 10/22/2021
Kendall Graveman strikes out Travis Shaw and Martín Maldonado throws out Alex Verdugo attempting to steal for a key double play #CurtainCall
Honestly, I just love the amount of international players this team has — it creates an incredibly appealing chemistry. They’re just fun to watch.
Yep! There was/is a great article out there somewhere (can't remember what publication) that talked about how, on the day a newly traded Alvarez landed at the Houston airport, some team representatives were there to meet him when Yordan quickly spotted the Astros' international scout who had discovered him as a child ballplayer, but Yordan hadn't seen him since defecting from Cuba, so Yordan ran over to him, gave him a big bear hug, and the scout said, "It happened. We made it happen. You're home." (...or something to that effect.)
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actually Smoltz is walking through that door but in a suit and tie to call the game...but I get your point. I forgot we excersised that demon in 04 and 05
No idea who Sabotka is, but I see the Kushner thing.
