[Update: Tabloids added!]
Yankees - 000 200 000 - 2 4 0
Astros - 003 000 00x - 3 8 2
Aaron Judge ran up the first base line with his bat in his right hand in the eighth inning Thursday night, hoping he'd broken the spell. The Yankees slugger watched in almost disbelief as the fly ball he hit hard died just over the right-field warning track and Houston right fielder Kyle Tucker ran back and easily grabbed it.
Minute Maid Park is seemingly where the Yankees bats have come to die. Framber Valdez was dominant, just like Justin Verlander the night before, as the Astros beat the Yankees 3-2 in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
The Astros take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series . . . MLB teams taking a 2-0 series' lead in a best-of-seven have gone on to win in 74 of 88 (84.1%) series all-time. The Astros have now won eight of nine home playoff games all-time against the Yankees. The Astros pitching has limited the Bombers to just 13 runs across those eight losses.
In the first two games of this series, the home-run reliant Yankees' offense has one homer, scored a total of four runs and struck out 30 times. They were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position Thursday night and are 1-for-9 in the series. . . .
It was a disappointing night for Luis Severino, who . . . lost each of his two regular-season starts against Houston . . . He lost those games by scores of 3-1 and 2-1.
He was 0-2, 4.15 ERA in three career playoff starts against them coming into Thursday night's game. The Astros held the Yankees to just one run in all three of those games. . . .
Severino started out the bottom of the third by hitting Houston catcher Martin Maldanoado with a pitch. He struck out the struggling Jose Altuve, got another out on Yordan Alvarez's fielder's choice and then got ahead of Alex Bregman 1-2, before the Astros third baseman crushed a three-run homer on Severino's 97-mile-an-hour fastball. . . .
that Judge fly ball is a HR in 1 ballpark...
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 21, 2022
Yankee Stadium
Jon Heyman, Post:
The Bronx Bombers didn't live up to their name . . . For the first time in 24 postseason games, the Yankees didn't hit a home run, which is a likely recipe for defeat in Houston's house of horrors.
They don't love Minute Maid Park under normal conditions — and they missed their main weapon in Game 2 of the ALCS. Their mojo is in their muscles.
The Yankees without a home run are Christmas without Santa Claus. . . .
They are incomplete, at best. And very likely lost.
The Yankees haven't won here all season, and it's hard to imagine them doing it without hitting even one measly home run. They came close when certain AL MVP Aaron Judge hit one to the wall in the eighth inning. But close is all they ever seem to do against these annoying Astros . . .
The Yankees were a rare major league team to score more than half their runs on homers — it was 50.8 percent of their runs to be exact — and if they don't go deep, they may be in deep. . . .
In an effort to jump-start things, manager Aaron Boone is making changes almost daily. . . . [I]t smacks partly of desperation. . . .
The Yankees had three singles and a double total against Valdez and a couple Astros relievers. The offensive highlight was a 50-foot grounder by Giancarlo Stanton that Valdez turned into a mess. . . .
They are now 0-5 here. . . .In the middle of the Yankees offensive ineptitude, Astros fans began chanting, "Yankees s—," as if they were impersonating the Fenway faithful. . . .
The Yankees continue to strike out a lot, too. After whiffing 17 times in Game 1, they fanned 13 more times. The team that eliminated the Yankees in 2015, 2017 and 2019 is threatening to do it again.
Pedro Martinez: “The Houston Astros are the Yankees’ daddy.” pic.twitter.com/gggX0Supqx
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) October 21, 2022
Yankees play in a ballpark smaller than Williamsport and they’re lamenting not getting cheap homers on the road. Amazing. https://t.co/qH376dIfrU
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 21, 2022
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