Mugged by Red Sox bats in Games 2 and 3 of the ALCS and seemingly left for dead, the Astros have not only gotten themselves off the ground, but have applied a mighty can of whoop-ass themselves to a Boston team that now faces elimination with two games remaining in Houston.
Tuesday it was the bats and bullpen that came back to life. Today it was the starting pitching. Or at least, Framber Valdez, whose eight innings of one-run pitching was more than the number of innings logged by all Astros starting pitchers in the ALCS COMBINED.
By any measure The Valdez Performance was a playoff masterpiece: Eight innings pitched, three hits, one run on a Rafael Devers homer in the seventh.