Phillies take game 1

     What beautiful baseball. At home, at Minute Maid Park, Houston had the opportunity to clinch a game 1 victory in front of their loud crazy fans. But no. Philadelphia, took the game away, after being behind five points and the Astros being the highly favored team. 

    Veteran pitcher, Justin Verlander, came into the game with tons of hype, and so did the Astros. Well, Verlander didn't live up to it.  He tossed five strikeouts, and allowed five runs. Not very great stats for such a great pitcher. Verlander had a 1.75 ERA during the regular season. However, during the postseason he had a 6.30 ERA. Justin Verlander just can't seem to get going.

    In the 4th the Phillies were down 5-0. After Kyle Tucker wreaked havoc on the Phillies blasting a pair of homers, and forcing the lead, things looked pretty bleak for the Phils. After all, it's not often when a team comes back from a 5-0 deficit, and wins, against a highly favored team in the postseason. But that was when Philly started to fight back. Nick Castellanos had an RBI, and Alec Bohm batted in two runs. And then as soon as J.T. Realmuto had a two run double in the 5th, it was anybody's game. Castellanos forced a 10th inning with a remarkable grab in the 9th. Astros' shortstop Jeremy Pena rocketted a ball high into the air, and Castellanos ran a long way to catch it. He forced extra innings, and J.T. had a homer. Philly squeaked by a nail-biter of an inning. And Edmundo Sosa threw the final out. 

J.T. Realmuto's homer in the 10th sealed the game for the Phillies

     Photo Credit: The Boston Globe

    Philadelphia are the underdogs. They always are, and probably always will be. They have one more game against Houston, and then head to South Philly, to play against fans that make more decibels than an Iron Maiden rock concert. They are looking more comfortable, and aren't swinging on every pitch. Philly looks really good right now, and as soon as they arrive at home, will have an extreme advantage. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The image above was taken from The Boston Globe. Photo taken by Rob Carr/Getty. Image used for commentary.