NEW YORK -- A pitcher named Dallas on a team from Houston who was born in Oklahoma and went to Arkansas shut down the Yankees. Maybe the Yankees were simply confused.
More likely, Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel was simply too good for the former Bronx Bombers.
As the Astros' 3-0 defeat of the Yankees in the new-fangled one-game wild-card elimination round unfolded on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, you got the feeling you were watching a team of the future pound a team of the past.
The Yankees, whose season ended with a thud in front of a crowd that started raucous but turned ugly, were fortunate to have the home-field advantage, such as it was. But that's about all the $200-million team with 27 World titles had going for them.
Toward the end of the game, Yankees fans began to boo as the weak groundouts and strikeouts piled up. They finished with only three hits, all against Keuchel in his six impressive innings.
Really, the Astros -- who move on to face the Royals, last year's upstart team -- deserve cheers. Their mix of computer geeks, power hitters and youth looks mighty potent at the moment and should be for years to come.
Oh, at Yankee Stadium they kept playing highlight reels from days gone by on the big scoreboard here, stuff from the '50s, the '60s and '70s -- you know, way before any of these Astros graced this Earth. If it was an attempt to unnerve any of the young upstarts, well, it didn't work.
The kid Keuchel, who hasn't been to arbitration yet (or even a barber for that beard apparently), put up nothing but zeros for the third time in three starts against America's most storied franchise. He's now up to 22 straight scoreless innings against the Yankees this season, the first pitcher ever to do that. The previous record of 18 was performed by the White Sox's Joel Horlen in 1965, one of the early Horace Clarke years in the Bronx.
Keuchel begged to start this game on three days' rest. And Astros manager A.J. Hinch, a manager of the year candidate, didn't consider anyone else. Before the game, Hinch said he wouldn't have been able to sleep had he saved a better-rested Keuchel for the next round and the Astros lost.
After the game, a scout who watched Keuchel serve up his brand of high 80s fastballs, sinkers, sharp breaking stuff and uncanny control, noted that he had "big (stones)."
Indeed, he does.
The Astros, who finished buried badly in the basement two straight years and only moved out last season because the Rangers were transferred to an infirmary, are a surprise playoff entrant, by nearly everyone's account. But maybe they shouldn't be.
They have a very nice collection of very young stars. And as Astros owner Jim Crane said before the game, there's more where that came from. Or words to that effect.
The Yankees, meantime, seemed to be a fortunate playoff entrant. While their record was actually one game better than that of the Astros, Houston had by far the more impressive season based on run differential and other measures. The Astros were second in the AL with a plus-111 run differential, while the Yankees had a plus-66 mark.
The Yankees also came into the game with half of their lineup in horrendous second-half slumps, and even more if one counts Jacoby Ellsbury, the $153 million star who was strangely benched by hunch-playing manager Joe Girardi. Girardi, who does deserve credit for getting these Yankees to October, explained that he wanted to get right-handed backup outfielder Chris Young in the game, and that made some sense, though not at the expense of Ellsbury. Brett Gardner, who played over Ellsbury, went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts against Keuchel (and 0 for 4 overall), continuing his lifetime collar against the Houston lefty.
It may not have mattered the way the Yankees hit Tuesday, and the way they've hit for six weeks. But in this case, they had an excuse, as Keuchel is the probably and deserving Cy Young winner.
"He's able to split both sides of the plate. He throws the ball where he wants," the Yankees' Brian McCann said. "He's a great pitcher, and he pitched great tonight."
Anyway, it's just a little embarrassing that the Yankees' best player is the middle-aged Alex Rodriguez, who himself slumped in the second half but still got the cleanup spot in a Girardi lineup that hinted of desperation. While that was mostly by default, A-Rod was truly one of the best things to happen to the Yankees this year. He came into spring training just hoping to make the team and maybe win back one or two converts, and he became the toast of the town -- at least the section of town that didn't notice the younger, more interesting Mets had taken over.
What a great thing that Rodriguez can still hit, as his contract goes practically until it's time to pick up the AARP card. But A-Rod, frankly, is old enough to be some of the Astros' fathers, including the one they sometimes call the next A-Rod, Carlos Correa, a lanky young shortstop with the once-in-a-generation ability that A-Rod once was, oh, about a generation ago.
The Yankees still have some nice names and even a little youth (the three under-30 players batted seventh, eighth and ninth) sprinkled in that ill-advised lineup, which led off with Girardi personal favorite Gardner, who did look like he could hit Keuchel if he was brandishing a guitar. But it was a lineup dominated by thirtysomethings, and thirtysomethings in hellacious slumps. Their only hot veteran, Carlos Beltran, batted third. And my how things have turned around for Beltran, as he was the one given in an outfield with issues, quite a comeback considering his awful start to the season.
The Astros' lineup has some similarities to the Yankees (both the historical and current Yankees) in that it relies on the long ball. The difference was that they delivered.
The Astros, who trailed the MLB homer leaders Toronto by only two home runs, didn't need much to back Keuchel. Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez, who were acquired by free agency and trade, respectively, provided the first runs of the game with legit homers. Rasmus' was an absolute bomb to right field, just to the left of the second deck. And he punctuated it with a bat flip that's not part of the Yankees' game.
Gomez relished his drive, deep into the Yankees' bullpen in left-center field, though not enough to upset the Yankees' traditionalist catcher Brian McCann, who previously took issue with some Gomez hot-dogging when Gomez was a Brewers and McCann a Brave.
If the Astros enjoyed themselves a little too much at times, there was no way to blame them. They hadn't been to the postseason since 2005, when they went to the World Series as the National League entrant, thanks largely to the presence of two celebrated Yankees on their pitching staff -- Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
That was many years ago, before the Astros refashioned their front office around computer aficionados who know the game. The Astros have youth, power and pitching on their side, and they seem to be well ahead of schedule. Who knows? Maybe they even beat the Sports Illustrated prediction that they win the World Series in 2017.
