HOUSTON — And in an eyeblink, it was gone, all of it: the hard-to-believe comeback, half an inch from the brink of extinction; the dream season stuffed with 108 victories of all make and model, all variance and variety; a chance to win a 28th World Series.
All if it, gone in a flash, gone in a blur, gone in a spasm of raw, abject heartache.
In an eyeblink, Jose Altuve joined the ranks of Yankees’ October serial killers, forming an unholy alliance alongside Luis Gonzalez and Edgar Martinez and Bill Mazeroski, a quartet of saboteurs who’ve eliminated the Yankees with one well-timed — or, depending on your point of view, ill-timed — swing of a bat.