Game 6 of the 2019 American League Championship Series was a case study in Just What You Expected.
Let’s start from the beginning: In the bottom of the 1st, Chad (The Arsonist) Green gave up a three-run homer to Yuri Guriel, whose ALCS batting average at the time was .050, which is only slightly better than my batting average in the big leagues.
(Insert here multiple Yankee undisciplined plate appearances over the next few innings in which they turned a lot of balls into swinging strikes.)
By the middle of the 5th it was 3-2 Houston, but the lead somehow felt bigger.
(See: Josh Reddick’s diving catch in the 6th followed by DJ LeMahieu’s first-pitch groundout to end the inning, and Michael Brantley’s diving catch in the 7th after which he doubled Aaron Judge off first.)
Still . . . it seemed only right that in the top of the 9th the Yankees would bring either LeMahieu or Judge to the plate with the tying run on first.
And LeMahieu delivered.
So – perfect – bring on super Yankees closer Aroldis (Lights Out) Chapman and what did he do?
He let José Altuve turn the lights out.
Bottom line: The Astros were four wins better than the Yankees during the regular season (107 to 103), and they were four wins better in the ALCS.
Wait til next year, yeah?
