Smith: For Astros, 3-0 ALCS edge is the perfect setup at Yankee Stadium
A jubilant Yuli Gurriel slides home with the Astros' final run, courtesy of Christian Vazquez's two-RBI single in the sixth, at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.And let’s say it one more time, in case anyone out there still needs a reminder: In 2022, the Astros are the Yankees’ daddy.Yes, Houston, your constantly winning Astros still require one more victory in the American League Championship Series to return to the World Series for the fourth time in six years.
But it got bad for the second-best, overpaid and overhyped Yanks on Saturday night inside their own Bronx ballpark.Aaron Judge – who hit 62 home runs when it didn’t truly matter – was booed and booed by those who are supposed to love him. Yankee Stadium kept yelling bad things at the official home team, partly because the Astros were so much better on the green grass and red dirt, and between the white lines that define.
Houston’s ballclub leads this ALCS 3-0. The Astros are a ridiculous 8-2 overall this season against Brian Cashman’s latest creation. And Aaron Boone couldn’t even blame an open Minute Maid Park roof for the Yankees’ latest loss.The Astros did what the Astros have been doing since 2020, turning all the initial outside noise and hate into another October victory.
These Astros won 106 games during the long 162. Now, they’re still perfect in the postseason and can silence the Yanks for good back inside their home away from home on Sunday.As a whole, the Astros haven’t been this much fun since 2017, when they won it all for the first time. After Cristian Javier outpitched the overpaid Gerrit Cole — that’s a modern trend with the Yankees — and Click’s trade-deadline acquisitions blasted through with a three-run sixth inning in Saturday's 5-0 victory, I’m currently of the belief that this is the best the Astros have ever been at this point in October.