Schadenfreude 217 (A Continuing Series)

George A. King III, Post (early edition):

The Dead Bats Society has cast a deadly spell on the Yankees' lumber. And if the Yankees don't find a way to break it, their first taste of the ALCS in five years won't last long.

After wasting a solid start by Masahiro Tanaka on Friday night, the bats didn't offer much support to Luis Severino, Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson during a 2-1 loss to the Astros in Game 2 of the ALCS on Saturday ...

Houston is the 29th team in LCS history to take a 2-0 lead since the seven-game format was introduced in 1985. Just three teams who won the first two games didn't make it to the World Series. The last team to lose the first two and get to the World Series was the 2004 Red Sox, who dropped the first three to the Yankees and rallied for four straight victories.

Justin Verlander thrilled the sold-out crowd with nine brilliant innings in which he allowed a run, five hits and struck out a season-high 13. Verlander's 124 pitches were the most he has thrown this year.

Aroldis Chapman gave up a one-out single to Jose Altuve in the ninth and he scored from first on Carlos Correa's double to right-center that Aaron Judge fielded and threw to shortstop Didi Gregorius. His throw home arrived ahead of Altuve, but catcher Gary Sanchez didn't handle it on the bounce and the Yankees were losers.

George A. King III, Post:

In the end, Didi Gregorius' throw home short-hopped Gary Sanchez as Jose Altuve scored from first in the ninth inning to lift the Astros to victory.

Yet, before the hosts copped a 2-1 win ... the Yankees did a lot to put themselves in position to go down, 0-2, in the best-of-seven affair.

One game after Dallas Keuchel handcuffed the Yankees in Game 1, Justin Verlander dominated them Saturday when he hurled a complete-game in which he allowed five hits. Verlander's 13 strikeouts were a postseason best for the right-hander who threw a season-high 124 pitches. ...

That brought things to Aroldis Chapman and the ninth inning, when the Yankees went into a ditch that finally might be too deep to escape. ...

Gregorius' throw home was ahead of Altuve, but it bounced very close to Sanchez's glove and the catcher never controlled the ball to make a tag. ...

When a team gives up four runs in 18 postseason innings and loses twice, the onus falls on the hitters, some whom are in funks so deep it's hard to see an exit.

The two main culprits are Judge and Sanchez. The rookie who set a major-league record with 52 homers has two hits in 27 at-bats (.074) since the start of the ALDS and has whiffed 19 times. In addition to being in a 4-for-30 (.133) slide since Game 1 of the ALDS, Sanchez has struck out 15 times.

Andrew Marchand, ESPN:

On the decisive play of Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius let go of his relay throw like a quarterback under pressure, and he thought it would end in a completion. Gregorius believed catcher Gary Sanchez would make the catch at the plate for the out and the Yankees would prevent the winning run. ...

Gregorius, just behind second base, received the ball just as Correa did a popup slide at the bag. Although Yankees manager Joe Girardi asked the umpires about it right after the play concluded, Girardi even admitted there was no interference. It was a legal slide, though it affected Gregorius as an incoming rusher might. ...

[The] throw was not perfect -- it reached Sanchez on a short hop -- but it was good enough. Even with Altuve's speed, there was plenty of time for Sanchez to make the play. ...

When the ball arrived, slightly to the left of home plate, Altuve was a good 4 feet from home. Sanchez just needed to catch the ball, but he fumbled it.

Joel Sherman, Post:

Lights, cameras, October. ...

The bad at-bats and the strikeouts are mounting and the opportunities to do something about it might be dwindling. ...

[Aaron] Judge and [Gary] Sanchez were far from the only offensive culprits as Justin Verlander masterfully overwhelmed the lineup, getting ahead of 20 of the 32 batters he faced either 0-2 or 1-2 in what has become a rare postseason complete game. ...

The Yankees are batting just .200 as a team in the postseason ...

Joe Girardi said he is not going to change the lineup "because if you just start moving people around trying to play a hot hand, it doesn't necessarily work" ...

[Judge] continues to be baffled in particular by breaking balls away. ...

[Sanchez] has been particularly susceptible to breaking balls in the dirt and now seems to be thinking too much and getting caught between pitching speeds. He has had six straight games with multiple strikeouts.

Mike Mazzeo, Daily News:

Since the AL wild-card game, [Aaron] Judge is 2-for-27 with two RBIs, five walks and 19 strikeouts, while [Gary] Sanchez is 0-for-11 with a walk and eight strikeouts over his last three games. ...

Overall, Judge and Sanchez have combined to go 10-for-65 in the playoffs (.154) with five extra-base hits, seven RBIs and 34 strikeouts.

Sanchez: "Right now I'm not getting the results I want." ...

The question with Judge going forward as he continues to grow and evolve following a phenomenal rookie campaign: Can he hit good pitching consistently, or is he just a mistake hitter? ...

As for Sanchez, he looks completely out of whack, much more-so than Judge ...

John Harper, Daily News:

The Yankees were hoping the game would come down to a battle of the bullpens, believing that is their one significant edge over the Astros in this ALCS. ...

And though the Yankee bullpen was outstanding in emergency service ... Aroldis Chapman lost it in the ninth inning on a daring baserunning play by — who else? — Jose Altuve.

Altuve, who singled in the ninth for his 13th hit in this post-season, ran through the third base coach's stop sign on Carlos Correa's double to right-center. ...

Joe Girardi argued that Correa interfered with Gregorius' throw, and indeed replay showed there was contact with their lower bodies, but the umpires said the game was over.

Mike Vaccaro, Post:

Carlos Correa's ball found the gap, Didi Gregorius' throw was off-line — did Correa interfere with him on the play? No one protested, so apparently not — and Jose Altuve slid across with the game-winning run ...

What will appeal to the old-school Gibsonian spirit that lurks inside so many contemporary baseball fans is that Verlander threw 124 pitches at a time when nobody throws 124 — certainly not in a playoff game.

[Note: Actually, Verlander is the 19th pitcher since 2009 to throw at least 120 pitches in a postseason game (and he's done it seven of those 19 times). Verlander's start on Saturday was the eleventh postseason game since 2011 in which the starter threw more than 120 pitches:

Justin Verlander   2011 ALCS Game 5   133 pitches
Justin Verlander   2012 ALCS Game 3   132 pitches
Roy Halladay       2011 NLDS Game 5   126 pitches
Justin Verlander   2017 ALCS Game 2   124 pitches
Dallas Keuchel     2015 ALDS Game 3   124 pitches
Clayton Kershaw    2013 NLDS Game 1   124 pitches
Johnny Cueto       2015 WS Game 2     122 pitches
Justin Verlander   2012 ALDS Game 5   122 pitches
Jacob deGrom       2015 NLDS Game 1   121 pitches
CC Sabathia        2012 ALDS Game 5   121 pitches
Justin Verlander   2012 ALDS Game 1   121 pitches

All of the above pitchers won their game, except for Halladay. He lost 1-0, allowing a triple and a double to the first two batters in the top of the first inning.]

Peter Botte, Daily News (early edition):

An early call on a Jeffrey Maier-like play -- ruled a home run for Carlos Correa -- went against the Yanks, and the Bombers suddenly find themselves in an 0-2 hole for the second straight playoff series this October following another 2-1 loss on Saturday to the Astros ...

Correa's fourth-inning home run to the opposite field was just out of 6-foot-7 right fielder Aaron Judge's reach and deflected off the glove of a young fan dressed in a rainbow Astros jersey seated in the front row beyond the wall. The fan later was identified as 12-year-old Carson Riley of Liberty Hill, Texas.

Dan Martin and George A. King III, Post:

Luis Severino lasted just four innings on Saturday, but unlike his other brief postseason start, this time it wasn't because of ineffectiveness.

Instead, Severino was the victim of bad luck, as he appeared to take a comebacker from Yuli Gurriel off his left wrist in the bottom of the fourth ...

"I told them I was good," Severino said. "They told me they saw something. I didn't agree with that. I wanted to pitch. ... Maybe I swung my arm. My arm feels 100 percent great. ... I was feeling great and wanted to give them six or seven innings."

Peter Botte, Daily News:

Severino had been cruising along, matching three early zeroes on the scoreboard with veteran stud Justin Verlander, when Carlos Correa launched a video-confirmed home run ...

Either way, Severino pressed on in an attempt to keep the deficit against Verlander at one run. But after throwing one errant changeup way off the plate to the next batter, Marwin Gonzalez, Severino made a circular stretching motion with his right arm, causing Girardi and a trainer to immediately sprint out of the dugout. ...

Severino clearly was still displeased a couple of hours later, after he'd failed to convince Girardi or the medical staff to allow his duel with Verlander to continue.