AP Photo/ David J. Philip
) Game 1 of the 2022 World Series has everything but mostly JT Realmuto shows why the Phillies call him the best catch in baseball hand.
For them, that ultimately meant a 1-0 series lead. And for the Houston Astros, it means trouble.
At one point Friday, the Astros appeared to be well on their way to victory. Justin Verlander entered the fourth inning after the top nine batters he faced retired, Martin Maldonado’s single and Kyle Tucker Two home runs put him up 5-0.
However, when the Phillies won 19 fewer games than the Astros in the regular season, their lead was cut by Threatened, they pushed three games at the top of the fourth quarter. Then in the fifth, it disappeared when Realmuto knocked out a two-pointer off the left field wall.
Cut to the top 10th game, it’s that guy again, he overtakes in the right field:
MLB@MLB Those battles! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/tBnyeldpbU
Phillies let Astros in season once David Robertson leads off Aledemis Diaz in Finals The first loss in the playoffs, and as Sarah MLB.com’s Langs noted, it was their first loss in any game since July 26, 2021, when they’ve led by 5 or more games.
Meet JT Realmuto, he is really good
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may render Realmuto For some kind of overlooked gem. After all, he’s a three-time All-Star who earned the highest average receiver salary in MLB history when he signed a five-year, $115.5 million contract in January 2021.
Plus, with a winning percentage higher than the replacement leaderboard over the past six seasons, the 31-year-old is more than his other catchers. occupied a place in:
- JT Realmuto, MIA/ PHI: 24.7 War
Willson Contreras, CHC: 19.1 War Salvador Perez, KCR: 14.9 War However, in the past one could fairly speculate that Realmuto was one of baseball’s least known stars. It didn’t help that he didn’t make the playoffs in any of his first eight seasons, which is usually the best place for a player to get attention.
Also a few times in 2022, it looks like the 9th grade will keep Realmuto’s playoff record blank, maybe never More so than June 25th.
By the end of the day, the Phillies will be nine games back at No. 1 in the National League East and at bat Sudden loss of reigning MVP Bryce Harper after a fractured thumb – press the pitch. Even after hitting two home runs in the past three games, Realmuto is still hitting just .237.
Whether by coincidence or providence, it was then that the Realmuto thing fell into place. He hit .310 and hit 17 home runs the rest of the way, amassing more WAR in the process (this time in the FanGraphs version) than any positional player not named Aaron Judge.
This is largely because of this overheated version of Realmuto, the first time the Phillies have qualified since 2011 playoffs. Instead of calming down, he ushered in his first playoff game by turning on the Jets.
He entered the World Series with 8 safety hits in the Phillies’ first 11 games, in the division series and the championship Home run in Game 4 of the series. When he hit Verlander’s double, it had a “who else?” feel to it.
Philadelphia Phillies @Philadelphia
JT stands for JUST TIED THIS BALLGAME RIGHT UP pic.twitter.com/u33yqoIuaA
In this game, Alec Bohm at third base and Nick Castellanos in right field, Realmuto also came This close became yet another defensive hero for the Phillies.
Jose Altuve jumps well as he takes off to second base with two outs in the ninth , and has a good pitch to run, but anyway, Realmuto almost caught him stealing. While they got away with it this time around, the Astros certainly won’t forget a first-hand glimpse of Realmuto’s MLB best pop time to second base.
It’s just a game, but a huge loss for the Astros
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Lost Game 1 of the World Series? The Astros have been there five times in their history, but they’ve known since 2017 that a win is possible no matter what. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that being behind 0-1 is indeed a loophole, and it tends to end up Teams are buried forever. Per Langs, team coming back after a loss in Game 1 of the World Series has a poor record: Sarah Lance@SlangsOnSports
Entering reminder tonight:
Game 1 winner of a 7-win playoff series has won 121 times in MLB’s 187 series (65%) all-time
That’s not to say Friday the Astros There is no silver lining.
Seeing Tucker go 6-for-28 into the series in the playoffs is certainly a thing for them Good thing, he took two long passes and an eighth-inning single. It was also another very successful night for the bullpen, which had a near-micro 0.95 ERA in the playoffs. Wieland problem. No such issues in the regular season, the 39-year-old pitched a league-best 1.75 ERA And won 18 games and lost only 4. That performance will almost certainly earn him a third career Cy Young Award. However, Verlander hasn’t looked like the same guy since the playoffs began. He was on fire in his first game against the Seattle Mariners, and at times even looked human as he beat the 11-member New York Yankees.
All of which seemed to be behind Verlander in the first three innings of his eighth career World Series start , but the disintegration that ensues is the real deal. He shrugged off his machinery and struggled to throw the ball where he wanted, including on curves that grabbed too much area against Realmuto.
“I need to do better,” according to Chandler Roman, the veteran ace later said) Houston Chronicle
. “There’s no excuse.” After all, this is just Wieland’s latest disappointment in the World Series. According to Paul Casella of MLB.com, he now has the highest ERA of any pitcher with over 30 innings in the Fall Classic: Paul Casella@Paul_CasellaMLB
Worst ERA in World Series history (at least 30 IPs):
– Justin Verlander: 6.07
– Carl Erskine: 5.83
– Don Sutton: 5.26
– Gary Nolan: 4.96
– Al Wright: 4.59This is quite a smear for a future Hall of Famer. If the series gets to the point where the Astros have to restart Verlander, that would be an ominous sign.
At the same time, the problems the Astros have on offense cannot be ignored. Those start with Altuve, who has just four jams of his 38 at-bats in the playoffs hit rate. They also involved Jordan Alvarez, who has gone 3-for-25 since hitting homers in Games 1 and 2 of the division series. The bottom third of the lineup also had some automatic exits. In a broader sense, the Astros frankly, even after the Phillies will eventually They are included in the 2022 playoffs list of losses. Although they won all seven games on their way to the World Series, all but one were decided by two or fewer games.
What’s next for the Astros and Phillies?
2nd in the World Series The game is scheduled for Saturday at Minute Maid Park, with Zach Wheeler on the Phillies mound opposite the Astros’ Flembert Valdez.
Valdez is a ground ball machine, he has only been allowed to win twice in 12.2 innings in the playoffs so far Contest. However, considering Wheeler’s 1.78 ERA in his first four World Series starts, the pitching matchup in Game 2 could still favor the Phillies.
The first presentation is scheduled for 8:03pm ET.
Stats by Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Provided by baseball experts.