After a relatively easy 9-1 romp over the Twins in Game 3 of the ALDS, Game 4 was a tremendously tight and classic 3-2 win by the Astros. Who would have predicted the Astros to win in four games? Oh, yeah….. Astros and Twins are not exactly Twins, but… – ALL THINGS ASTROS (chipalatta.com) ….me.
This win featured a theme of continued redemption for a number of players on the good guys’ team.
- Jose Urquidy – Urquidy had a difficult start to the season with an ERA above 5 in April before going down with an injury at the end of April. He did not return until August, and by that time, he had been replaced by J.P. France in the rotation. Urquidy had a sporadic set of spot starts and relief appearances the rest of the season until he made a clutch start against the D’Backs with the season on the line. Wednesday night, he struggled through a tough first inning, but a brilliant unassisted double play by Jeremy Pena limited the damage to one run. He followed it up with another five innings of one-run ball to set the team up for a fourth-game win.
- Michael Brantley – Uncle Mike should just change his name to Professional Hitter since that is used to describe him by almost every party you can name. He missed a giant chunk of the season, and then when he returned, he has hit well but…..has not been able to play every day. The Twins jumped ahead 1-0, and it has often seemed that when the Astros get down, they have trouble responding. Brantley came up in the second with the Astros trailing, and one beautiful stroke later, the game was tied.
- Jose Abreu – Abreu was deservedly talked down about for an awful first two months of the season. But he became down the stretch, one of the best run-producers for the team with a fantastic 28 RBIs in September. His big hits the first two games against the D’Backs put the team into the playoffs. That success rolled over into a big ALDS and his 2 run bomb to right center in the fourth inning of Game 4 was the difference in this deciding game.
- Ryan Pressly – Yes, I know Pressly is the Astros’ closer and was a key piece in the 2022 playoff run by the bullpen. But in the last two months of the season from July 25 onward, he was 1-3 with two blown saves and a very un-closer like 5.40 ERA. He got behind each hitter in the ninth but came back with precision pitches to mow them down. This left former Astro Carlos Correa standing in the on-deck circle, watching his old team clinch and celebrate in front of him.
Obviously, for the series, there were many other heroes besides the ones seeking redemption.
- Jeremy Pena made up for his continued power outage hitting with brilliant game-changing play after brilliant game-changing play in the field. These were plays, that Correa could not make anymore, if ever.
- Yordan Alvarez showed why he may be the best hitter on the planet, especially when playoff time comes rolling around. Two doubles and four home runs in four games (actually in the first three) led to some tough pitching by the Twins on Wednesday night.
- Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Phil Maton were not scored upon in 7 combined appearances with Abreu continuing to look like a future closer.
- Both Justin Verlander and Cristian Javier had scoreless outings in Games 1 and 3 and set the pace for wins in both those games.
- And to many folks chagrin, Martin Maldonado continued his Svengali control of the pitching staff.
In the end, the Astros seemed to fall back on their tried and true formula for winning in the playoffs. Good pitching beats good hitting, and if there is any good hitting, make sure it is on your side of the ledger.
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
11 responses to “Astros’ Game 4 ALDS clincher: A night of continued redemption”
In defense of the people who were upset about Jose Abreu’s performance over the first four months of the season: Nobody said anything about his back injury until he went on the IL and then he admitted it had been hurting him all year.
He went on the IL for two weeks and comes back playing like Mr. Baseball. It is not the fault of the fans that his injury was hidden for most of the season.
I’m glad he is well and playing very well, but the criticism of his play was justified.
Maybe next spring he could play a normal amount of time to get ready for the season and not start every spring game like he did this season.
I had a friendly conversation with a Rangers fan today and noticed that he was hoping the Twins would do the Rangers job for them by beating Houston. His last comment was about if only Carlos Correa hadn’t been left in the on deck circle at the end of last night’s game.
I didn’t mention the Astros winning both games in the cauldron of sound in Minneapolis, where Correa had lots of chances.
I don’t know what the next series holds, but the Astros have been heart-breakers for years now in the AL and it is still happening.
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We got three excellent starts in 4 games. Will Framber show up for the 7 game series?
Pena is going to hit a big home run at some point.
Our top four won’t go 1-16 again.
Yordan had an off night and still hit 4 dingers in the series.
I’m not fed up with Abreu at this point.
Dan, I’m at peace with Maldy. No chagrin here.
We’ll be playing a very confident (for good reason) Rangers club.
Scherzer back?
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Like giving accolades to Maldy during the playoffs you have to do the same to Dusty. Not to second guess any decisions made but both are doing their best to get us back to the World Series. Interesting series as two Texas teams in ALCS. Don’t think that’s happened before. Sure there have been other teams from same state playing in series.
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No I don’t! Ha, ha.
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With the exit of the Braves from the playoffs tonight, the Astros are the top seed remaining.
Home field advantage, if that really means anything, through the playoffs.
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I’d like to see Arizona, a decided underdog, take Philly to seven games, win or lose.
The I-45 series is going to be a hard-fought, emotional battle. I want to see good, solid baseball. I don’t want to see bench clearing events. I think that’s an element both managers will make an effort to not let happen.
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I’ve really been putting a lot of thought into this Abreu thing. For me, I kind of see where Baker comes from but not completely. The thing is, I trust Jose Abreu for any single game or any single at bat. The problem is this – his career exit velocity average is 91.9. This year it is 89.0. His hard hit percentage, down from an average of 48.3% to 41.7%. Pull percentage down a full 3 points from career norms. Coming into the season he had accounted for 109.1 runs more than the average major leaguer on fastballs. This year, -8.1. He came in with a 36.8% swing rate on pitches out of the zone – this year over 39%.
I know people are in love with his his second half. He hit .188 in August. He hit .237 in September. In September he found his homerun stroke that was missing. It helped us keep a float when things could have completely fallen apart. That is what veterans do. That is where me and Baker can agree.
The problem is volume and frequency. That is what 162 games means. It means that, with frequency, he was less impactful than a lot of guys that could have gotten some PT at first (Yainer first to mind). Do I trust Abreu more than Yainer in an AB against Lopez in a high leverage spot of a playoff game? Yes. Do I trust him more in a non descript game on June 15th against the Royals 4th starter? Absolutely not. You don’t get October games unless you are successful in June. Abreu was lucky the team was still successful through is not so successful performance.
All of those stats I quoted, they just tell me he can’t catch velocity anymore. That happens at 36. Pitchers are still going to make mistakes. Some of them won’t scout him. Some of them are going to hang a curveball. He is still going to punish those spots. But the days of Jose Abreu hitting .290 with 35 HR and 110 RBI, are gone. We are better team without him from April to September, but a better team with him in October. Don’t ask me what the Astros are supposed to do with that. The best answer, since that contract exists, is to play him 110-115 games next year instead of 155, and look for a left handed bat that can play 1B and the OF and give him some off time, and then let that trust you have for him in any single game, any single AB, take over in October, and hope for the best.
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Not trying to knock your numbers, but Abreu hit 36 HR in his rookie year (age 27) and managed to hit 33 twice more and 30 once. He’s not a slugger like Ohtani, Judge, Stanton, etc. who is trying to go yard on every pitch and has never been. I’d argue you see Tucker try to go deep far more than Abreu. I agree with you that if we had a left handed bat to give him some off days and keep him fresh(er) it would benefit the team. That contract is all about the postseason so as long as he produces there Crane will be happy.
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Most of what I stated is about his hitting, not his slugging. He can’t hit anymore than he can slug anymore. The stats bore it out. The stats aren’t really worried about my thoughts, or Cranes. If Crane is fine with his 20M a year investment hitting the way he did this year, then he is settling, and settling is what ends up watching October baseball not playing it.
He started his career with a 4 years at 36, 30, 25, and 33. He then hit 22 in only 128 games. Then back to 33. Then he hit 19 in only 60 games (on pace for roughly 45ish). Back to 33. Last year is when the HR power disappeared. Before that, he was incredibly consistent in the 30-35 HR range or at least that pace but limited by games.
But don’t get me wrong, I am happy to see Abreu have October success, and I am not surprised by it. Limiting his playing time next year isn’t about freshness, it’s about giving you different tools in which to win a game 2 of a 3 game set in Kansas City on a nondescript June day against a substandard pitcher. It’s about limiting the opportunities he hurts you in the season so you can take advantage of his experience, his calmness, his presence in the clubhouse, and his preparation for October at bats.
So many people are online making excuses for him, it was his back, it was this it was that. No, it’s that he can’t catch up the way he used to. Not that he can’t catch up to some of them. That he just can’t do it with the same frequency. No excuse needed. That doesn’t mean in any given at bat he can’t succeed. It’s just about volume. Thats the crux of what I mean when I say, I trust Abreu in any game, in any at bat, I just don’t trust in 162.
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Yeah, limit Abreu to those 110 to 115 games. See if keeping him fresh early helps. I know this is premature, but I’d love to see Loperfido to force his lefty bat on to the roster to play some first and outfield. But I’m trying not to have this conversation until November.
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The Abreu topic will be a good one over the off-season. For now – just keep slugging Jose!
I’ll be working on a preview to the Ranger series later today.
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