Sunday Morning Hot Links

It's the last day of the regular season, and then the fun starts on Friday. The Astros and Verlander dominated the second half of the game to win their 106th game of the season, and go into one more Gerrit Cole start looking for 107 wins on the year.

Scoreboard Watching:
Los Angeles beat San Francisco, he Rays lost to Toronto, Oakland beat Seattle. This clears up a couple of things:

-Houston has Home Field Advantage throughout the playoffs.
-Oakland will host the AL Wild Card game against Tampa, and Houston will host the winner of Friday for ALDS G1.

*Hinch:
When 3,000 was getting close, he found ways to get a lot of strikeouts. When 300 got close for the season, he beared down even more. Big night for him. Great night for our team.

*G161 had a lot of potential for stupid. Verlander needed six strikeouts to get to 3000 for his career and 12 to get 300 for the season. Verlander struck out Kole Calhoun to get the 3000th strikeout of his career, but Robinson Chirinos dropped the ball and Calhoun reached first, and Andrelton Simmons hit a home run in the next AB to give Anaheim a 3-0 lead. Later in the 6th Inning, Verlander struck out Kole Calhoun for his 300th strikeout of the season. Thank you, Kole Calhoun. I hate you, Kole Calhoun. Verlander:
Three thousand was something I wanted to accomplish this season. I honestly wrote off 300. I thought it was going to be a lot to ask for since these guys don't strike out much. I got 3,000 and then to look up after five innings and have 11 strikeouts. Talking to AJ, I knew we were only going to go six innings. I had more emotion for 300 than 3,000 because I didn't expect to get there in this game. Very thankful to get both accomplishments. It hasn't set in yet.

The Angels had struck out 12+ times in a game 13 times going into last night. The Astros did it to them three times prior. So Verlander finishes the 2019 regular season with exactly 300 strikeouts, breaking his previous career-high set in 2018 of 290.

Verlander's K:BB ratio, Detroit: 3.10
Verlander's K:BB ratio, Houston: 7.14

More Hinch:
He figured a few things out with his grip and a little bit with his mechanics. He was doing a lot of different things to try to get his best stuff toward home plate. And then adapting to their gameplan a little bit. I think he had to pitch to a couple different areas of the strike zone just based on their aggressiveness early.

*It was Verlander's 28th start of 3ER or less. He did not allow more than 4ER in a start in 2019. It's his 6th 12+ strikeout game of the season, and his 13th double-digit strikeout game of the season. Verlander has 21 wins, the most since he posted 24 wins in his 2011 Cy Young/MVP season.

Verlander, 2011: 251IP, 2.40 ERA / 0.92 WHIP, 250K:57BB, 6.2 hits/9, 9.0 K/9, 2.0 BB/9
Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:53BB, 5.5 hits/9, 12.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9

*Verlander is the second pitcher in MLB history to get his 300th strikeout of the season and 3000th strikeout of his career in the same game. Randy Johnson got his on September 10, 2000 at Florida.

Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:42BB
Johnson, 2000: 248.2IP, 2.64 ERA / 1.12 WHIP, 347K:76BB

*Verlander ends the 2019 regular season with a 0.803 WHIP, 2nd-best since 1962 among qualified pitchers.

Pedro, 1999: 217IP, 1.74 ERA / 0.74 WHIP, 284K:32BB, .166 average-against, 11.8 K/9
Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:42BB, .171 average-against, 12.1 K/9
Maddux, 1995: 209.2IP, 1.63 ERA / 0.81 WHIP, 181K:23BB, .194 average-against, 7.8 K/9.

*Verlander's number of pitches, last three starts: 87, 92, 80.

*Verlander's 1st Strikeout victim: Travis Hafner
Verlander's 1000th Strikeout victim: A.J. Pierzynski
Verlander's 2000th Strikeout victim: Manny Machado
Verlander's 3000th Strikeout victim: Kole Calhoun

*Angels pitcher Jose Suarez shut the Astros down, which makes sense when you consider:

Suarez: July 30-September 27: 39IP, 56H/40ER, 23K:16BB, 9.23 ERA / 1.85 WHIP.
Suarez, last night: 5IP, 3H/2ER, 6K:1BB.

*Josh Reddick hit a massive three-run home run, his 14th of the season. Reddick, on who he wants to face in the ALDS:
There's not really a team (of the A's or Rays) I'd prefer to face, so to speak. We're going to be closely watching next week to see what happens. I think we'd all agree we have a really good chance of beating both of them. So we're ready with whoever wants to bring it on.

Please keep in mind that, while the Astros did lose six of their last eight to Oakland, here was the losing pitcher: Verlander, Josh James, Wade Miley, Rogelio Armenteros, Cy Sneed, Chris Devenski.

*Jose Altuve was 3x5 with 3RBI. Altuve's average is now at .298 with 148 hits in 497 ABs.

If Altuve goes:
0x4: .295
1x4: .297
2x4: .2994
3x4: .301
2x5: .2988
3x5: .3007

Astros are the first team in baseball history to win 100-plus games in a season and then improve on their win totals in each of the next two seasons.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 28, 2019

*Daily Correa Update:

-Correa feels good!
I should be good to go for the playoffs. I woke up today feeling really good. Today is a great day. A positive day. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.

*

You play to win the game. pic.twitter.com/1VGDF3QVwA

— Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1) September 28, 2019

*McTaggart has your postseason FAQ.

*Richard Justice ranks the Astros as the #1 postseason lineup.

*What to watch for today:
-Can Altuve get back to .300?
-Yordan needs 3HR to get to 30
-Gerrit Cole's 20th win
-Will Brad Ausmus cry?
-The Cardinals are 90-71, the Brewers are 89-72.

*An offhand thought: You ever think it's weird that we never hear from bench coach Joe Espada or Don Kelly or Gary Pettis? I can't tell you right at this moment who the Astros' hitting coach is. Strom is a legend, and gets a few words in print every few months. I don't know how much other teams' media asks questions of the coaching staff, but it's weird that none of them actually exist post-game, right?

*Crazy story in The Athletic about how the Phillies tried to change their pitching culture and got it exactly wrong, and it involves Chris Young - who was once an advance scout with the Astros. Today I think I learned that Chris Young was once an advance scout for the Astros.

*Missed this from a couple of weeks ago about Danny Duffy and his battle with anxiety and panic.

*Outside: She was nearly murdered thru-hiking, but that didn't stop her. It would 100% stop me.

*A Musical Selection:

Saturday Morning Hot Links

The Astros did things (I see you, Will Harris) and beat the Angels 4-0 while the playoff picture is starting to shape up. Houston is 105-55 and clinched home field advantage through the AL side of the playoffs. There are about 36 hours remaining in the regular season.

It seals that the Astros will play the winner of Wednesday night's Wild Card game, which is now officially between Oakland and Tampa, both of whom are 96-64. Tampa is at Toronto (2:07pm) while Oakland is at Seattle (8:10pm).

Home-Field Advantage Throughout:
Houston: 105-55
Los Angeles: 104-56

On July 4, the Dodgers were 60-29 while the Astros were 55-32. Since July 4:
Houston: 50-23
Los Angeles: 44-27

Reminder that Houston holds the tiebreaker over Los Angeles. A win tonight - or a Dodgers loss - would clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Bregman:
It's going to be fun at home throughout at least the AL so far. We have got a few more wins to take care of, and if we do, then we'll be at Minute Maid Park for most of our games. I was really happy with how we played today.

Houston's record vs. AL West teams is 54-20

Seattle: 18-1
Anaheim: 12-5
Arlington: 13-6
Oakland: 11-8

Los Angeles' record vs. NL West teams is 49-25:

Colorado: 15-4
San Diego: 13-6
San Francisco: 10-7
Arizona: 11-8

That's why the Astros have the tie-breaker. Have you thanked a Mariner yet?

*The Astros are 3-1 on this road trip with three shutouts.

*Pitching staff was excellent. It's the 19th time this season the Astros have held their opponent to three or fewer hits. They're 17-2 in those games. It's the 14th time they've held their opponent to zero runs. They're 14-0 in those games. They should do that more tbh. It's the 12th time this season that their opponent did not get an extra-base hit.

-Jose Urquidy made a case for the postseason with 6IP, 3H/0ER, 2K:1BB. He threw 79 pitches before being removed.

Urquidy's four September appearances: 18IP, 10H/3ER, 16K:3BB, .182 BABIP.

Chandler Rome:
One day after Miley managed just 12 outs and lowered his September earned-run average to 16.68, Urquidy threw six scoreless innings against the same Angels team. He yielded three singles. Two did not leave the infield. His arsenal was efficient and effective, two traits absent during Miley's steady decline.

-Ryan Pressly struck out two in 12 pitches.

-Will Harris threw an immaculate inning: Nine pitches, three strikeouts. Alex Bregman, on Harris:
Will never smiles - ever - on the field. He's always in a bad mood. That was the first time I've ever seen him smile on a baseball field, which was badass.

Harris, who struck out Kaleb Cowart, Matt Thaiss, and Michael Hermosillo:
I knew I had a pretty good idea where the ball was going. When I struck out the first guy, I felt like I was going to strike out the side. It was kind of weird.

Harris is the first Astros pitcher to throw an Immaculate Inning since Brandon Backe did it on April 15, 2004.

-Josh James closed the 9th with three up/three down.

*The Astros only managed four hits for the 12th time this season (2-10 now), but thankfully two of them left the yard - Alex Bregman hit his 41st home run of the year while Michael Brantley used his 22nd home run, a 3-run shot, to seal the game. The home runs gave the Astros a homer in 23 straight games, extending a franchise record.

Hinch, on Brantley, whose homer was his first extra-base hit since September 9:
He's scuffled a little bit and he wants to contribute. It's more than this swing or more than a homer. He just wants to contribute and do his part. That's a big swing.

Brantley, September: 83 PAs, .173/.241/.293, 10K:6BB.

*Jack Mayfield had two of the Astros' four hits.

*Jeff Luhnow is now "hopeful" that Correa is available for the ALDS. Luhnow:
Clearly, we need him in our lineup to be the best team we can be. We're going to use this next week to hopefully heal and get ready. I can't predict the outcome. We're hopeful, based on everything he's gone through and what our doctors and trainers are saying, that there's a pretty good chance he'll be in the lineup next Friday.

Taking out some extraneous words, that last sentence reads: "We're hopeful...that there's a pretty good chance he'll be in the lineup [in six days]." That's not as comforting.

Chandler Rome notes that Hinch didn't seem overly concerned about Correa's availability for the ALDS.

*Yahoo's Tim Brown: The one record-breaking stat that shows the Astros' fearlessness, and dominance, this season.

*MLB Network: How the Astros got to the postseason (in a 3-minute video).

*Tri-City manager Ozney Guillen will not return to the organization in 2020.

*Check the Lima Time Time Patreon.

*James Paxton left his start with the Yankees after one inning because of his butt muscle.

*Check out Aldine's Jayden Payne's story of heroism during Imelda.

*Nine false rumors with real-life consequences.

*A Musical Selection: