2022 Houston Astros Thread

[elfenix 34221]

3 hours ago, runthebone said:

Too much peat for me, prefer a Harlingen 15.

that's about the same as an austin 6. 

 

40 minutes ago, The Earl of Texas said:

remembered we have a local newspaper that is probably printing pretty great covers and i should buy a copy yesterday.

still didn't go look for one

[Macklemore 2876]

Clanton's video dropped. The "ooh face" clip from Office Space makes it in as well as some Johnny Cash sprinkled in. Very nice.

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Macklemore

[HtownHorn 14663]

1 minute ago, Guadaloopy said:

Caught it on a very short hop and got the force at first.  

Which made the play that much more difficult. Off the short hop, spin could have done something with the ball and it ended up in foul territory hitting off the heel of Mancini's glove.

[Rimbo 25908]

1 hour ago, Hate said:

Uncalled for.

but still very, very funny

[cabowabo 4484]

59 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

I don't really understand this. I'm a much bigger Longhorn fan than anything else (Astros really the only pro team I care much about) but how is a 5-3 team in a regular season game versus Game 6 of the World Series a tough decision if you care about the Astros? God invented the DVR for a reason. 

Exactly.  I'll watch the first hour of the Longhorns, and then its over to the WS for good.

[Scraps 13560]

Clanton's video dropped. The "ooh face" clip from Office Space makes it in as well as some Johnny Cash sprinkled in. Very nice.
 

Nice of them to use Bryce Harpers walk up song during the beatdown portion

[Rimbo 25908]

1 hour ago, Mez2 said:

Pena made 2 bad ass plays also with the liner he snagged jumping off of Castellanos....that gets by its likely a double and a run scored. And the other, as a former shortstop,  seeing him attack that high hopper and throw on the run to get the guy out by half a step was clutch. Any sort of false movement, bobble, whatever, and runner is safe.

Defense wins championships

Not to mention his 2 RBI.

Jesus. MVP? The rookie? Remember when we were worried about replacing Correa? Good heavens.

[HoustonFrog 368]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34944384/inside-justin-verlander-first-world-series-win

"They gave me the rookie treatment after the game," Verlander said. "They put me in the cart and rolled me in the shower and just doused me with all sorts of stuff.

"It was one of the best feelings in my career."

[Rimbo 25908]

1 hour ago, Huckleberry said:

I don't really understand this. I'm a much bigger Longhorn fan than anything else (Astros really the only pro team I care much about) but how is a 5-3 team in a regular season game versus Game 6 of the World Series a tough decision if you care about the Astros? God invented the DVR for a reason. 

I mean, what makes the Longhorns interesting this season is that, at least on offense with all the youth there, you don't know what you're going to get week to week.

What makes playoff baseball interesting is ... you don't know what you're going to get game to game.

Meanwhile, I'm going to be at a marching band competition. My son is a senior and has a solo in the show.

Yeah, gonna need to DVR both of these.

[Guadaloopy 10954]

Spoiler

World Series Game 5 Weird & Wild: Justin Verlander’s win ends streak that made no sense

PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 03:  Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros pitches during Game 5 of the 2022 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, November 3, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
By Jayson Stark
4h ago
5

Save Article
PHILADELPHIA — Hey, whaddaya know … we had a World Series game Thursday that wasn’t a blowout. It was Astros 3, Phillies 2. It was Weird. It was Wild. It was historic. It was fantastic. I just hope you weren’t distracted by any football games!

But even if you were, it’s still time for a Game 5 edition of the World Series Weird and Wild extravaganza.

1. He wins that first one — Justin time
It was just about all there on Justin Verlander’s first-ballot Hall of Fame bingo card:

• Two Cy Young Awards, soon to be the full trifecta.

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• The MVP and Rookie of the Year trophies.

• Seventeen seasons of relentless regular-season brilliance.

• And lots and lots of dominance in all those other rounds of the postseason.

But there was also this round. They call it the World Series. And if there’s one thing people in my line of work are exceptionally good at, it’s reminding Justin Verlander of that one thing he hadn’t done. By which, obviously, I mean …

Collecting a win in one freaking World Series game.

All right then. We can now check that final box before we point him toward Cooperstown. He beat the Phillies on Thursday night in Game 5 of the World Series. So you know that World Series hole on his Baseball Reference page? It has now officially disappeared. Finally. And let’s just say he noticed.

“Now,” he said after helping pitch the Astros to within one game of a World Series title, “I can say I got one.”

I have lots of thoughts about this. But first, never forget it’s the Weird and Wild column. So let’s take a few moments to reflect on the Weirdness and Wildness of Verlander needing 17 seasons, trips to five World Series, and nine total World Series starts to collect Win No. 1.

This makes no sense (part one)! Baseball is a strange and mysterious game, but it doesn’t get much more strange and mysterious than Verlander winning zero World Series games until his ninth start.

After all, 10 other pitchers in history have made at least as many World Series starts as he has. And you could argue that his career ranks with any of them. Except for one thing. …

Those 10 have combined for 62 World Series wins. And Justin Verlander had zero? That’s so bizarre.

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This makes no sense (part two)! Verlander’s first trip to the World Series was 16 years ago, with the 2006 Tigers. Since then, Jeremy Guthrie started and won a World Series game. Anthony Reyes started and won a World Series game. So did Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Jeff Weaver and Ryan Vogelsong. No disrespect to them, but we have it on excellent authority that they’re not designing any Cy Young or MVP display cases in their man caves.

But they all won a World Series start before Justin Verlander? Baseball is so weird (and also wild).

This makes no sense (part three)! In a couple of weeks, Verlander will have to start clearing a space back home for his third Cy Young trophy. He’ll become only the 11th pitcher in history with three of them (or more).

So do you think any of the other 10 never got around to winning a game in a World Series? Of course not. They combined for 24 World Series wins. But Justin Verlander almost didn’t join them? Astounding.

This makes no sense (part four)! Maybe the most wacko part of this is that Verlander has been so good in all the other rounds of the Octoberfest that Thursday marked his 16th career postseason win. That’s the second-most of all time, behind only Andy Pettitte (19). You know how hard it is to win that many postseason baseball games but have none of them come in a World Series?

Well, just six pitchers in history have won at least a dozen postseason games: Pettitte, Verlander, John Smoltz (15), Tom Glavine (14), Clayton Kershaw (13) and Roger Clemens (12). Do you wonder if there’s any chance any of the other aces on that list never won a World Series game? Ha. You’re kidding, right?

They combined to win 17 of them. But Justin Verlander had none until Thursday night? Wow.

So nights like this take on special meaning, and not merely for Verlander himself — but also for so many people who care about him. I asked a few of those people about what this means for him and for his overall place among the greatest pitchers of modern times. It told me all I needed to know that they were as happy as he was.

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BRENT STROM (former Astros pitching coach): “First of all, I don’t think he needed a World Series win to validate who he is. There’s no question to me: He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. And being around him, I used to always kid him. I said I think he’s actually pitching in the wrong era. I view him as a pitcher who should have been pitching in the Koufax, (Mike) Marshall, (Bob) Gibson era, a throwback kind of guy.”

Strom mentioned the name of Jack Morris, a man who did many other things, but one unforgettable World Series win (Game 7, 1991) changed his entire career. So was Strom saying that this win Thursday had the potential to change the shape of Verlander’s career?

STROM: “That’s what I’m trying to make a point of. … For Morris, the 1-0 game when he beat Smoltz, I think solidified Morris, and obviously helped catapult him into the Hall of Fame. I don’t think Justin needed to win to do that. But it’s something now that’s off his back. And it’s something I’m sure he’s very, very proud of.”

WEIRD AND WILD: “It feels like it’s almost mathematically impossible for a pitcher as great as him to need nine tries to win a World Series game. I looked at the 10 other pitchers who have started this many World Series games, and those 10 guys have combined to win 62 of them. So what are the odds of Justin winning none until tonight?”

STROM: “Yeah, it’s like rolling the roulette wheel, and rolling the green nine times in a row. It’s just, there’s certain numbers that just boggle your mind.”

Justin Verlander stretches before Game 5. (John Geliebter / USA Today)
ASTROS PITCHER LANCE MCCULLERS JR.: “It’s definitely one of those things that, when you see it on the TV, you kind of do a double-take, and you’re surprised, because he’s had so much other postseason success. I mean, he’s won LCS MVPs. He’s pitched great games in the (Division Series) a number of times, great games in the (ALCS) a number of times, tons of wins in those rounds.

“So it’s not really anything more than, I think, a little bit of bad luck in those games — and maybe one or two games that kind of blew up on him. But tonight, he gets that narrative off his back.”

WEIRD AND WILD: “Where do you think he ranks among the greatest pitchers of his time?”

MCCULLERS: “I don’t think there’s anyone in this era of baseball that comes close to his level of greatness. I really don’t think so. I mean, you’ve seen what he’s done. Two Cy Youngs, and it will be three any second, and probably should have been at least four or five by now. Plus ALCS MVP, World Series champion, 3,000 strikeouts, and I think he’ll go until 300 wins probably.

“You know, Kershaw’s up there. Scherzer is up there, right? But I think when you look at the longevity of what Justin has been able to do — he won an MVP in 2012 and now he’s about to win a Cy Young in 2022? So I think we just kind of look at that.”

ASTROS CENTER FIELDER CHAS MCCORMICK ON MAKING THE INCREDIBLE NINTH-INNING CATCH THAT SAVED VERLANDER’S WIN: “I’m just trying to win him a World Series. So getting Verlander the win, I mean, he’s Justin Verlander. I grew up watching him, and now, playing behind him. He gave me a big hug after the game — BIG hug — and that was special because it’s Justin Verlander, man.”

So does that mean, we asked, that he’s a great hugger?

MCCORMICK: “No. It’s just him. He’s Justin Verlander!”

Yep. He sure is. But now he’s one more thing. He’s a World Series winner.

2. Lead Actor in a No-Hit Sequel
But there was a time, precisely two pitches into this game, when we weren’t so sure that for Justin Verlander, this was going to be The Night. That’s because here’s what Phillies leadoff man Kyle Schwarber did when Verlander’s 0-1 pitch started floating his way.

So what’s so Weird and Wild about that? Good question. Because Schwarber has mashed leadoff home runs before. In fact, this was his second of this postseason. And Verlander has served up leadoff postseason home runs before — two of them before this one, in fact. But here’s what made this leadoff homer different from all the others:

Game 4 Wednesday — Astros pitch a no-hitter!

Game 5 Thursday — Astros give up a home run to the first hitter they face!

So how often does that happen — a team hits a leadoff homer the game after it just got no-hit? I was starting to look up that very question … when the great Sarah Langs of MLB.com beat me to it. She found five other teams in history that have done this (regular season or postseason):

There was Bobby Bonds’ 1968 Giants. Bonds went deep on Sept. 19, 1968, a day after the Giants had been no-hit by Ray Washburn.

There was Bert Campaneris’ 1970 A’s. Campaneris fired a leadoff homer on the Fourth of July, one day after his team had been no-hit by Clyde Wright.

There was Darrin Jackson’s 1991 Padres. Jackson ended the no-hit drama fast on Sept. 12, the game after they’d been on the wrong end of a combined no-hitter by the Braves.

There was Ray Durham’s 2003 Giants. Durham bopped a leadoff homer on April 29, one game after the Giants had been no-hit by Kevin Millwood — in Philadelphia.

But here comes the truly Weird and Wild part. I’m not sure I can even believe the last time this happened. That was a leadoff home run by the Reds’ Brandon Phillips on Oct. 8, 2010. And what’s so Weird and Wild about that? Oh, only that … it was the game after the last postseason no-hitter … by the late, great Roy Halladay … in this same ballpark! Which would seem sooo crazy, except for one thing. It’s …

Baseball!

One night after the Phillies were no-hit, their first batter went yard. (John Geliebter / USA Today)
3. The kick is good
On Thursday night, the Weirdness and Wildness of this World Series veered off into a place it has never veered before. And that is to the land of multi-sport Weirdness and Wildness.

At 8:15 p.m. ET, the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles kicked off a game in Houston against the Texans. At 8:06 p.m. ET back in Pennsylvania, the baseball team from Philadelphia was kicking off a World Series game. And that, friends, is a thing that has never happened before.

Wait. What’s that you say? You’d heard it had happened before? Nope. Not this. Let’s fill you in.

Oh, we’ve seen World Series games and NFL games involving the same cities/metros take place on the same day before — seven times in fact. (The most recent: Oct. 23, 2011, when a St. Louis/Dallas multi-sport thing broke out.) But you know what we haven’t seen, at least in the last half-century or so?

We’ve never seen these two games happening when the same city had a World Series team and an undefeated NFL team. So how can I be so sure of that? I asked my friends from STATS Perform, of course.

They found five previous instances of a metropolitan area or city having an unbeaten football team at the same time its local baseball team was in the World Series. But this was the first instance of one of those undefeated football teams playing an NFL game at the same time a World Series was going on, involving two teams from the same area or city.

So what are all the instances (since 1969) of a World Series team and undefeated NFL team coming from the same city? Here goes:

• 1975 Cincinnati Bengals/Reds

• 1978 L.A. Rams/Dodgers

• 2004 New England Patriots/Red Sox

• 2007 New England Patriots/Red Sox

• 2018 L.A. Rams/Dodgers

• 2022 Philadelphia Eagles/Phillies

Now, just for the purpose of squeezing this research for all it’s worth, you should also know that:

A.) Only two of those NFL teams (2007 Pats, 2018 Rams) made it beyond 7-0 (the Eagles’ record heading into Thursday night).

B.) And three of those teams reached the Super Bowl (2004 and 2007 Pats, 2018 Rams).

C.) But only one (2004 Pats) won the Super Bowl.

So what does that tell us about the multi-sport Weirdness and Wildness of Thursday night? Well, only that we should subtitle it: The Clicker Dexterity Championship of the World.

4. Who’s not on first?
There are many reasons it sometimes feels weird and wild to think that despite their losses in Games 4 and 5, the Phillies are still two wins away from winning the World Series. But it’s hard to top this one:

They spent exactly one day in first place all season!

And it was on April 11!

That isn’t how the highway to the top of this sport used to be routed, obviously. Third-place teams like the Phillies never used to be permitted to drive up the on-ramp to the October freeway.

Nowadays, though, we’re living in a three-wild-card universe. And not only is this team — which spent one day in first place — playing in the World Series. It also didn’t even set the record for fewest days in first place by a team playing in the World Series.

Jack McKeon’s 2003 Marlins also spent just one day in first (March 30!) on the way to winning it all. So the Phillies have only tied them for this prestigious record. But why stop there?

Thanks to the great work of Baseball Reference’s fantastic Katie Sharp, we know there were five other teams in history that made it to a World Series even though they spent fewer than 10 days in first place. Here’s the whole leaderboard:

2022 Phillies 1
2003 Marlins 1*
2007 Rockies 3
2005 Astros 6
1964 Cardinals 6*
1951 Giants 6
2019 Nationals 8*

(*-won World Series)

(Source: Katie Sharp/Baseball Reference)

5. Party of Four
We invite you to keep on reading because (A) what else do you have to do that could possibly be more important? And (B) it’s time to unload that Weird and Wild Game 5 notebook!

LEADOFF FEVER — CATCH IT! More fun facts on Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff homer:

Mr. November update — No, shockingly, this was not the first leadoff homer in November history. This was actually No. 3. The first was hit by Curtis Granderson off Edinson Volquez in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series. The other was Dexter Fowler’s stunning leadoff shot against Corey Kluber to start off an electrifying Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

A home run in powder blue — The Phillies wore their classic retro powder blue uniforms Thursday. So when Schwarber went deep, it was the first World Series home run by a Phillie stuck in a ’70s fashion statement since Joe Morgan and Garry Maddox homered in Baltimore in Game 1 of the 1983 World Series.

Make way for the champ — But here’s the coolest note of all. Schwarber led the National League in homers. So he just became the first home run champ ever to lead off any World Series game with a home run. You can look it up!

GOT CHANGE FOR A 50? Sorry, these Kyle Schwarbomb notes just keep on coming. With his two home runs in this World Series, Schwarber has now hit 51 homers this year, if you combine the regular season and postseason. So he joins a super-cool list of players who hit 50 or more in any calendar year for the Phillies:

58 — Ryan Howard, 2006
51 — Ryan Howard, 2008
51 — Kyle Schwarber, 2022
50 — Mike Schmidt, 1980

If you look carefully, you’ll note that somebody (namely, Howard or Schmidt) has done that every year (both of them) that the Phillies have won the World Series. (CAUTION: Past results are not a guarantee of future performance.)

Jeremy Peña hits a solo homer in the fourth inning. (John Geliebter / USA Today)
DON’T SELL HIM SHORT — Jeremy Peña is special. That’s more clear every day we watch him play on this stage. So you may have heard that on Thursday, he became the first rookie shortstop in history to hit a World Series home run. But don’t let that go whooshing by without stopping to appreciate it. We can help with that.

It isn’t as if Pena accomplished this feat because no rookie had ever played shortstop in a World Series before. In fact, according to Baseball Reference, he’s the 29th. So the list of guys who didn’t do that includes:

Derek Jeter …

Troy Tulowitzki …

Xander Bogaerts …

Dave Concepcion …

And even Miguel Cabrera, who really did play a little shortstop in the 2003 World Series.

But none of them did what Jeremy Peña did. And that, friends, is very cool.

IT’S A BRAND NEW DAY — Finally, we present this brilliant tidbit from the great Chris Kamka of NBC Sports Chicago, which sums up just how weird and wild these last couple of days of baseball have been.

Game 4: Four Astros pitchers combine on a no-hitter.

Game 5: First two Astros pitchers allow a hit to the first batter they face.

So how do we explain these things? How else? It’s …

Baseball!

Stark's "Weird and Wild" for Game 5.  IMHO the weirdest and wildest:

The last time that a team that just got no-hit had a leadoff homer in the next game was "a leadoff home run by the Reds’ Brandon Phillips on Oct. 8, 2010. And what’s so Weird and Wild about that? Oh, only that … it was the game after the last postseason no-hitter … by the late, great Roy Halladay … in this same ballpark! Which would seem sooo crazy, except for one thing. It’s … Baseball!"

[Horn80 6114]

8 hours ago, UTHornFan014 said:

I would greatly appreciate it if we can win 11-2 on Saturday. This down to the wire shit tonight was painful

After the game when I got to the bedroom and pulled off my shirt, I realized how wet it was from sweat.

[TexArcher 37761]

I don't know about the players, but I really needed this off day.  This is nice.

[tx 3 putt 76863]

1 hour ago, Mez2 said:

 

Defense wins championships

Takes me back to a pre game show, around the time the Astros clinched the #1 seed. Dusty and Ford, dusty talked about trying to get as many bats as possible ‘hot’ for the playoffs (including bench guys), and the same with the bullpen. The Entire season they will both be up and down, but end of sept / playoffs you need as many going as possible. Then Ford said something like  ‘what about the defense being playoff reedy?’. Dusty - there’s no up and down for defense. Defense should never dip, from the field to the bench. It’s ok to be in a hitting slump during the season, but defense should never slump. (adlib, memory) 

 

what mancini did last night, cold and off the bench was the play of the year. He’s in a horrible slump and saved the game with his glove and quick reflexes, on a rocket none the less. He jumped in on a short notice and fucking manned up. That’s a pro ball player 

[Js1 85260]

11 minutes ago, Horn80 said:

After the game when I got to the bedroom and pulled off my shirt, I realized how wet it was from sweat.

My Apple Watch def thought it was working out with my heart rate from innings 7-9

[billfromlaketravis 11445]

aggy level moral victory party on MLB Network right now.

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by billfromlaketravis

[Guadaloopy 10954]

Yep... Trey's a great story and seems like a genuinely good dude.  It hurt my heart to see him struggle the way he has since September, especially in the postseason.  So happy that he put a huge fingerprint on this World Series with a superstar defensive play.

[Mitch Hedberg 2090]

I think tomorrow we will see Mancini back in the lineup. Either for Yuli or as DH. My hope is that the play at first took some pressure off him and made him feel like a contributor and part of winning games and will translate to the plate one last time. It’s had to have been hard being new guy and feeling like not contributing. He knows he’s been bad and knows everyone else knows. But now he can walk in tomorrow with head up. Hope he plays and gets a big hit. Then we will wait for the Tom Rinaldi feature on ESPN and the Disney+ movie.

[tx 3 putt 76863]

He has the entire baseball world pulling for him. 

[tx 3 putt 76863]

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13507]

45 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

  Reveal hidden contents

World Series Game 5 Weird & Wild: Justin Verlander’s win ends streak that made no sense

PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 03:  Justin Verlander #35 of the Houston Astros pitches during Game 5 of the 2022 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, November 3, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
By Jayson Stark
4h ago
5

Save Article
PHILADELPHIA — Hey, whaddaya know … we had a World Series game Thursday that wasn’t a blowout. It was Astros 3, Phillies 2. It was Weird. It was Wild. It was historic. It was fantastic. I just hope you weren’t distracted by any football games!

But even if you were, it’s still time for a Game 5 edition of the World Series Weird and Wild extravaganza.

1. He wins that first one — Justin time
It was just about all there on Justin Verlander’s first-ballot Hall of Fame bingo card:

• Two Cy Young Awards, soon to be the full trifecta.

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• The MVP and Rookie of the Year trophies.

• Seventeen seasons of relentless regular-season brilliance.

• And lots and lots of dominance in all those other rounds of the postseason.

But there was also this round. They call it the World Series. And if there’s one thing people in my line of work are exceptionally good at, it’s reminding Justin Verlander of that one thing he hadn’t done. By which, obviously, I mean …

Collecting a win in one freaking World Series game.

All right then. We can now check that final box before we point him toward Cooperstown. He beat the Phillies on Thursday night in Game 5 of the World Series. So you know that World Series hole on his Baseball Reference page? It has now officially disappeared. Finally. And let’s just say he noticed.

“Now,” he said after helping pitch the Astros to within one game of a World Series title, “I can say I got one.”

I have lots of thoughts about this. But first, never forget it’s the Weird and Wild column. So let’s take a few moments to reflect on the Weirdness and Wildness of Verlander needing 17 seasons, trips to five World Series, and nine total World Series starts to collect Win No. 1.

This makes no sense (part one)! Baseball is a strange and mysterious game, but it doesn’t get much more strange and mysterious than Verlander winning zero World Series games until his ninth start.

After all, 10 other pitchers in history have made at least as many World Series starts as he has. And you could argue that his career ranks with any of them. Except for one thing. …

Those 10 have combined for 62 World Series wins. And Justin Verlander had zero? That’s so bizarre.

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This makes no sense (part two)! Verlander’s first trip to the World Series was 16 years ago, with the 2006 Tigers. Since then, Jeremy Guthrie started and won a World Series game. Anthony Reyes started and won a World Series game. So did Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Jeff Weaver and Ryan Vogelsong. No disrespect to them, but we have it on excellent authority that they’re not designing any Cy Young or MVP display cases in their man caves.

But they all won a World Series start before Justin Verlander? Baseball is so weird (and also wild).

This makes no sense (part three)! In a couple of weeks, Verlander will have to start clearing a space back home for his third Cy Young trophy. He’ll become only the 11th pitcher in history with three of them (or more).

So do you think any of the other 10 never got around to winning a game in a World Series? Of course not. They combined for 24 World Series wins. But Justin Verlander almost didn’t join them? Astounding.

This makes no sense (part four)! Maybe the most wacko part of this is that Verlander has been so good in all the other rounds of the Octoberfest that Thursday marked his 16th career postseason win. That’s the second-most of all time, behind only Andy Pettitte (19). You know how hard it is to win that many postseason baseball games but have none of them come in a World Series?

Well, just six pitchers in history have won at least a dozen postseason games: Pettitte, Verlander, John Smoltz (15), Tom Glavine (14), Clayton Kershaw (13) and Roger Clemens (12). Do you wonder if there’s any chance any of the other aces on that list never won a World Series game? Ha. You’re kidding, right?

They combined to win 17 of them. But Justin Verlander had none until Thursday night? Wow.

So nights like this take on special meaning, and not merely for Verlander himself — but also for so many people who care about him. I asked a few of those people about what this means for him and for his overall place among the greatest pitchers of modern times. It told me all I needed to know that they were as happy as he was.

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BRENT STROM (former Astros pitching coach): “First of all, I don’t think he needed a World Series win to validate who he is. There’s no question to me: He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. And being around him, I used to always kid him. I said I think he’s actually pitching in the wrong era. I view him as a pitcher who should have been pitching in the Koufax, (Mike) Marshall, (Bob) Gibson era, a throwback kind of guy.”

Strom mentioned the name of Jack Morris, a man who did many other things, but one unforgettable World Series win (Game 7, 1991) changed his entire career. So was Strom saying that this win Thursday had the potential to change the shape of Verlander’s career?

STROM: “That’s what I’m trying to make a point of. … For Morris, the 1-0 game when he beat Smoltz, I think solidified Morris, and obviously helped catapult him into the Hall of Fame. I don’t think Justin needed to win to do that. But it’s something now that’s off his back. And it’s something I’m sure he’s very, very proud of.”

WEIRD AND WILD: “It feels like it’s almost mathematically impossible for a pitcher as great as him to need nine tries to win a World Series game. I looked at the 10 other pitchers who have started this many World Series games, and those 10 guys have combined to win 62 of them. So what are the odds of Justin winning none until tonight?”

STROM: “Yeah, it’s like rolling the roulette wheel, and rolling the green nine times in a row. It’s just, there’s certain numbers that just boggle your mind.”

Justin Verlander stretches before Game 5. (John Geliebter / USA Today)
ASTROS PITCHER LANCE MCCULLERS JR.: “It’s definitely one of those things that, when you see it on the TV, you kind of do a double-take, and you’re surprised, because he’s had so much other postseason success. I mean, he’s won LCS MVPs. He’s pitched great games in the (Division Series) a number of times, great games in the (ALCS) a number of times, tons of wins in those rounds.

“So it’s not really anything more than, I think, a little bit of bad luck in those games — and maybe one or two games that kind of blew up on him. But tonight, he gets that narrative off his back.”

WEIRD AND WILD: “Where do you think he ranks among the greatest pitchers of his time?”

MCCULLERS: “I don’t think there’s anyone in this era of baseball that comes close to his level of greatness. I really don’t think so. I mean, you’ve seen what he’s done. Two Cy Youngs, and it will be three any second, and probably should have been at least four or five by now. Plus ALCS MVP, World Series champion, 3,000 strikeouts, and I think he’ll go until 300 wins probably.

“You know, Kershaw’s up there. Scherzer is up there, right? But I think when you look at the longevity of what Justin has been able to do — he won an MVP in 2012 and now he’s about to win a Cy Young in 2022? So I think we just kind of look at that.”

ASTROS CENTER FIELDER CHAS MCCORMICK ON MAKING THE INCREDIBLE NINTH-INNING CATCH THAT SAVED VERLANDER’S WIN: “I’m just trying to win him a World Series. So getting Verlander the win, I mean, he’s Justin Verlander. I grew up watching him, and now, playing behind him. He gave me a big hug after the game — BIG hug — and that was special because it’s Justin Verlander, man.”

So does that mean, we asked, that he’s a great hugger?

MCCORMICK: “No. It’s just him. He’s Justin Verlander!”

Yep. He sure is. But now he’s one more thing. He’s a World Series winner.

2. Lead Actor in a No-Hit Sequel
But there was a time, precisely two pitches into this game, when we weren’t so sure that for Justin Verlander, this was going to be The Night. That’s because here’s what Phillies leadoff man Kyle Schwarber did when Verlander’s 0-1 pitch started floating his way.

So what’s so Weird and Wild about that? Good question. Because Schwarber has mashed leadoff home runs before. In fact, this was his second of this postseason. And Verlander has served up leadoff postseason home runs before — two of them before this one, in fact. But here’s what made this leadoff homer different from all the others:

Game 4 Wednesday — Astros pitch a no-hitter!

Game 5 Thursday — Astros give up a home run to the first hitter they face!

So how often does that happen — a team hits a leadoff homer the game after it just got no-hit? I was starting to look up that very question … when the great Sarah Langs of MLB.com beat me to it. She found five other teams in history that have done this (regular season or postseason):

There was Bobby Bonds’ 1968 Giants. Bonds went deep on Sept. 19, 1968, a day after the Giants had been no-hit by Ray Washburn.

There was Bert Campaneris’ 1970 A’s. Campaneris fired a leadoff homer on the Fourth of July, one day after his team had been no-hit by Clyde Wright.

There was Darrin Jackson’s 1991 Padres. Jackson ended the no-hit drama fast on Sept. 12, the game after they’d been on the wrong end of a combined no-hitter by the Braves.

There was Ray Durham’s 2003 Giants. Durham bopped a leadoff homer on April 29, one game after the Giants had been no-hit by Kevin Millwood — in Philadelphia.

But here comes the truly Weird and Wild part. I’m not sure I can even believe the last time this happened. That was a leadoff home run by the Reds’ Brandon Phillips on Oct. 8, 2010. And what’s so Weird and Wild about that? Oh, only that … it was the game after the last postseason no-hitter … by the late, great Roy Halladay … in this same ballpark! Which would seem sooo crazy, except for one thing. It’s …

Baseball!

One night after the Phillies were no-hit, their first batter went yard. (John Geliebter / USA Today)
3. The kick is good
On Thursday night, the Weirdness and Wildness of this World Series veered off into a place it has never veered before. And that is to the land of multi-sport Weirdness and Wildness.

At 8:15 p.m. ET, the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles kicked off a game in Houston against the Texans. At 8:06 p.m. ET back in Pennsylvania, the baseball team from Philadelphia was kicking off a World Series game. And that, friends, is a thing that has never happened before.

Wait. What’s that you say? You’d heard it had happened before? Nope. Not this. Let’s fill you in.

Oh, we’ve seen World Series games and NFL games involving the same cities/metros take place on the same day before — seven times in fact. (The most recent: Oct. 23, 2011, when a St. Louis/Dallas multi-sport thing broke out.) But you know what we haven’t seen, at least in the last half-century or so?

We’ve never seen these two games happening when the same city had a World Series team and an undefeated NFL team. So how can I be so sure of that? I asked my friends from STATS Perform, of course.

They found five previous instances of a metropolitan area or city having an unbeaten football team at the same time its local baseball team was in the World Series. But this was the first instance of one of those undefeated football teams playing an NFL game at the same time a World Series was going on, involving two teams from the same area or city.

So what are all the instances (since 1969) of a World Series team and undefeated NFL team coming from the same city? Here goes:

• 1975 Cincinnati Bengals/Reds

• 1978 L.A. Rams/Dodgers

• 2004 New England Patriots/Red Sox

• 2007 New England Patriots/Red Sox

• 2018 L.A. Rams/Dodgers

• 2022 Philadelphia Eagles/Phillies

Now, just for the purpose of squeezing this research for all it’s worth, you should also know that:

A.) Only two of those NFL teams (2007 Pats, 2018 Rams) made it beyond 7-0 (the Eagles’ record heading into Thursday night).

B.) And three of those teams reached the Super Bowl (2004 and 2007 Pats, 2018 Rams).

C.) But only one (2004 Pats) won the Super Bowl.

So what does that tell us about the multi-sport Weirdness and Wildness of Thursday night? Well, only that we should subtitle it: The Clicker Dexterity Championship of the World.

4. Who’s not on first?
There are many reasons it sometimes feels weird and wild to think that despite their losses in Games 4 and 5, the Phillies are still two wins away from winning the World Series. But it’s hard to top this one:

They spent exactly one day in first place all season!

And it was on April 11!

That isn’t how the highway to the top of this sport used to be routed, obviously. Third-place teams like the Phillies never used to be permitted to drive up the on-ramp to the October freeway.

Nowadays, though, we’re living in a three-wild-card universe. And not only is this team — which spent one day in first place — playing in the World Series. It also didn’t even set the record for fewest days in first place by a team playing in the World Series.

Jack McKeon’s 2003 Marlins also spent just one day in first (March 30!) on the way to winning it all. So the Phillies have only tied them for this prestigious record. But why stop there?

Thanks to the great work of Baseball Reference’s fantastic Katie Sharp, we know there were five other teams in history that made it to a World Series even though they spent fewer than 10 days in first place. Here’s the whole leaderboard:

2022 Phillies 1
2003 Marlins 1*
2007 Rockies 3
2005 Astros 6
1964 Cardinals 6*
1951 Giants 6
2019 Nationals 8*

(*-won World Series)

(Source: Katie Sharp/Baseball Reference)

5. Party of Four
We invite you to keep on reading because (A) what else do you have to do that could possibly be more important? And (B) it’s time to unload that Weird and Wild Game 5 notebook!

LEADOFF FEVER — CATCH IT! More fun facts on Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff homer:

Mr. November update — No, shockingly, this was not the first leadoff homer in November history. This was actually No. 3. The first was hit by Curtis Granderson off Edinson Volquez in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series. The other was Dexter Fowler’s stunning leadoff shot against Corey Kluber to start off an electrifying Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

A home run in powder blue — The Phillies wore their classic retro powder blue uniforms Thursday. So when Schwarber went deep, it was the first World Series home run by a Phillie stuck in a ’70s fashion statement since Joe Morgan and Garry Maddox homered in Baltimore in Game 1 of the 1983 World Series.

Make way for the champ — But here’s the coolest note of all. Schwarber led the National League in homers. So he just became the first home run champ ever to lead off any World Series game with a home run. You can look it up!

GOT CHANGE FOR A 50? Sorry, these Kyle Schwarbomb notes just keep on coming. With his two home runs in this World Series, Schwarber has now hit 51 homers this year, if you combine the regular season and postseason. So he joins a super-cool list of players who hit 50 or more in any calendar year for the Phillies:

58 — Ryan Howard, 2006
51 — Ryan Howard, 2008
51 — Kyle Schwarber, 2022
50 — Mike Schmidt, 1980

If you look carefully, you’ll note that somebody (namely, Howard or Schmidt) has done that every year (both of them) that the Phillies have won the World Series. (CAUTION: Past results are not a guarantee of future performance.)

Jeremy Peña hits a solo homer in the fourth inning. (John Geliebter / USA Today)
DON’T SELL HIM SHORT — Jeremy Peña is special. That’s more clear every day we watch him play on this stage. So you may have heard that on Thursday, he became the first rookie shortstop in history to hit a World Series home run. But don’t let that go whooshing by without stopping to appreciate it. We can help with that.

It isn’t as if Pena accomplished this feat because no rookie had ever played shortstop in a World Series before. In fact, according to Baseball Reference, he’s the 29th. So the list of guys who didn’t do that includes:

Derek Jeter …

Troy Tulowitzki …

Xander Bogaerts …

Dave Concepcion …

And even Miguel Cabrera, who really did play a little shortstop in the 2003 World Series.

But none of them did what Jeremy Peña did. And that, friends, is very cool.

IT’S A BRAND NEW DAY — Finally, we present this brilliant tidbit from the great Chris Kamka of NBC Sports Chicago, which sums up just how weird and wild these last couple of days of baseball have been.

Game 4: Four Astros pitchers combine on a no-hitter.

Game 5: First two Astros pitchers allow a hit to the first batter they face.

So how do we explain these things? How else? It’s …

Baseball!

Stark's "Weird and Wild" for Game 5.  IMHO the weirdest and wildest:

The last time that a team that just got no-hit had a leadoff homer in the next game was "a leadoff home run by the Reds’ Brandon Phillips on Oct. 8, 2010. And what’s so Weird and Wild about that? Oh, only that … it was the game after the last postseason no-hitter … by the late, great Roy Halladay … in this same ballpark! Which would seem sooo crazy, except for one thing. It’s … Baseball!"

My take-away: Javier needs to stay away from becoming a pilot

[tx 3 putt 76863]

 

[CycleTex87 2965]

59 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

I mean, what makes the Longhorns interesting this season is that, at least on offense with all the youth there, you don't know what you're going to get week to week.

What makes playoff baseball interesting is ... you don't know what you're going to get game to game.

Meanwhile, I'm going to be at a marching band competition. My son is a senior and has a solo in the show.

Yeah, gonna need to DVR both of these.

I 'member this one time at band camp......

 

 

 

(kidding of course.  I was also a band nerd, hope it goes well)

[CycleTex87 2965]

Man what we need is some phillyfan phone video of the McCormick catch, and stadium volume level going from 11 to 0.  That's the type of tears I need to slake my thirst this morning in Houston.

[tx 3 putt 76863]

Minute Maid is going to be packed Saturday 

 

 

[tx ind 7006]

https://www.facebook.com/100001691410376/videos/8341389672602300/

 

[WBT 20561]

1 hour ago, elfenix said:

that's about the same as an austin 6. 

 

remembered we have a local newspaper that is probably printing pretty great covers and i should buy a copy yesterday.

still didn't go look for one

All you've been missing for Games 2 through 4 is an admittedly nice photo, a 2 line summary of the early innings, and a note to go to the website for full game coverage.  Pathetic.

Edited November 4, 2022 by WBT

[billfromlaketravis 11445]

20 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

Club Astro is back!

[Gourmand 7774]

 

NSIAP goddamnit. 

How can anyone not literally love Jose Altuve????? 

[tx 3 putt 76863]

 

[Sleepygrad 1029]

Dear 8 lbs 6 oz Baby Jesus....

[Huckleberry 32845]

Tickets acquired. LFG.

[Gourmand 7774]

4 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Tickets acquired. LFG.

Take me, I'm a lucky charm

[billfromlaketravis 11445]

MLB Network update:

[Guest]

1 hour ago, TexArcher said:

I don't know about the players, but I really needed this off day.  This is nice.

I've been kinda gripy this morning because no baseball... and tonight's gonna be a bit nipply, so probably not gonna go sit at a high school Week 11 game.

I might just watch Astros pitching highlights all night.

[tx 3 putt 76863]

Damn impressive 

 

[TexArcher 37761]

And did Pete Alexander have to deal with a football crowd at a baseball game?

I doubt it.

[Huckleberry 32845]

Just now, TexArcher said:

And did Pete Alexander have to deal with a football crowd at a baseball game?

I doubt it.

He definitely didn't do it at night. In the Bank. 

[Starfleet Command 441]

35 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Minute Maid is going to be packed Saturday 

 

 

Better attendance than most home games back in the dark days when Jordan Schafer was patrolling center.

[UTexasFight 9427]

that’s more people than the A’s had for entire homestands against us 

[perfectchaos007 6621]

55 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

No need to panic when we’ve got Ryne Stanek!

[Bevo&Pevo 5120]

2 hours ago, Macklemore said:

Clanton's video dropped. The "ooh face" clip from Office Space makes it in as well as some Johnny Cash sprinkled in. Very nice.

 

I liked this better than the no hitter.

[UTexasFight 9427]

I don’t think I’ve fully processed that we pitched a no hitter in the World Series 
 

Or the difficulty in that Chas catch.
 

Or that we have a rookie shortstop that is matching or exceeding anything we could ever dream that Correa would do.

 

give me one final QS this season, Framber, and let’s have a parade. 

[Saint Tacky 1614]

2 hours ago, Gourmand said:

Not to take anything away from Chas' catch but Mancini's play was even bigger imo with those runners on base. Holy shit what moment for him to step up and contribute.

Certainly more important given the circumstances, but Chas' catch had a much, much greater degree of difficulty.

[UTexasFight 9427]

Just now, Saint Tacky said:

Certainly more important given the circumstances, but Chas' catch had a much, much greater degree of difficulty.

Yeah.

Wish nothing but the best for Trey, but everything in that play was about the positioning.  A Major Leaguer makes that play 100 out of 100 times.

[Gut Wagon 8065]

5 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Yeah.

Wish nothing but the best for Trey, but everything in that play was about the positioning.  A Major Leaguer makes that play 100 out of 100 times.

[sidis 9822]

5 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Yeah.

Wish nothing but the best for Trey, but everything in that play was about the positioning.  A Major Leaguer makes that play 100 out of 100 times.

[TexArcher 37761]

1 minute ago, sidis said:

 

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

Holy crap. Take a look at this photo one of my readers shared with my page:
 

 

[TonyTexas 10505]

2 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Holy crap. Take a look at this photo one of my readers shared with my page:
 

 

Is that Jesus crying? 

[Fudge Nuggets 19184]

2 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

aggy level moral victory party on MLB Network right now.

 

I’ve been in and out of my car all morning and based on the ramblings of the MLB radio network you would think Phillie win the series last night. Everything has been about how great their obnoxious crowd was. 

Fuck them.