Dein erstes Forum » BOSTON — Justin Verlander was asked

Friday about former teammate David Price’s inability to win a game as a starter in the postseason.“Great teammate. Really enjoyed my time with David Pedro Alvarez Jersey ,” Verlander said of when they were together in Detroit. “Him and I still talk all the time, stay in touch. And, yeah, I do find that odd (he’s winless as a starter in postseason).“Honestly, I hope the trend continues for the short term now.”Article continues below ...If it continues Sunday, the Astros, 7-2 winners in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday night, would take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven heading home for three games.“The trend” is historic.Price, who faces Gerrit Cole in the second game of the ALCS on Sunday night, is 0-9 with a 6.03 ERA in 10 postseason starts. This past week against the New York Yankees, he became the first pitcher in MLB history with at least 10 postseason starts and zero victories. His teams are 0-10 in those 10 games and the ERA is the third worst among pitchers with 10 starts.He got the ultimate vote of confidence when manager Alex Cora, with folks screaming the left-hander should go to the bullpen – where he has had success — tabbed him to start in Game 2.“It’s good. I did expect to make more starts for us in this year’s playoffs,” Price said before Game 1. “But Alex told me before we even got off the field that night.“So for him to tell me before we even took our jerseys off to put on our postseason shirts that we get when we win, that was special.”The Astros, who posted their 59th road win of the season behind Verlander (2-0 in this postseason) http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-tim-beckham-jersey , now turn to Cole, who hasn’t lost in nine starts (6-0) since Aug. 10. He beat the Cleveland Indians in Game 2 of the ALDS, going seven innings and yielding three hits and one run.Houston got six innings out of Verlander and put the game away on ninth-inning home runs by Josh Reddick and Yuli Gurriel.“This team finds a way in big moments to show up,” said Verlander, whose team is 4-0 in the postseason by a combined score of 28-8.Houston’s George Springer, who had a two-run single in the first inning and has tied Lance Berkman’s club record with a 10-game postseason hitting streak: “This is a clubhouse that believes in every guy. Doesn’t matter who gets the job done. Pass the torch on to the next guy.”Red Sox pitchers walked 10 — a franchise record for a nine-inning postseason game — and hit three in their second loss, both at home, of this postseason. Chris Sale didn’t have his command and was gone after four innings despite allowing just one hit and two runs.An Eduardo Nunez error led to an unearned run and a loss for reliever Joe Kelly.Cora, who was ejected from Game 1 for arguing a strike 3 call on Andrew Benintendi, reaffirmed Price as his Game 2 starter after the game — with a simple “Yes.”Price, who lost Game 2 to the Yankees, lasting just 1 2/3 innings, is 6-2 with a 2.69 ERA in 14 games (10 starts) lifetime against the Astros, including strong relief work in last year’s LDS.Cole, who went 15-5 with a 2.88 ERA in the regular season Anthony Santander Jersey , is 2-1 with a 4.32 ERA lifetime in four starts against the Red Sox — 0-1 with a 5.73 in two starts at Fenway Park.Alex Bregman is 3-for-7 (.429) with a home run, backup catcher Brian McCann 11-for-32 (.344) with three homers and Jose Altuve 8-for-25 (.320) against Price. But Reddick is 0-for-11, Jake Marisnick 1-for-12 (.083), Carlos Correa 2-for-10 (.200) and Springer 5-for-24 (.208) with a homer.Mookie Betts, who is just 4-for-20 this postseason, is 5-for-8 (.625) and J.D. Martinez 3-for-10 (.300) with a homer against Cole. But Ian Kinsler is 2-for-25 (.080), Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland are both 1-for-11 (.091), and Jackie Bradley Jr. 2-for-9 (.222) against the right-hander. TORONTO — The Philadelphia Phillies need a victory Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.They need the win to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays, who are dawdling in fourth place in the American League East.More important, they must reverse a recent trend that threatens their playoff hopes.Article continues below ...They let a 5-0 lead get away Saturday afternoon and lost 8-6 to the Blue Jays on a three-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning by Aledmys Diaz.The Phillies, who entered Saturday three games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East, have lost six of their past seven games.“We’re still in a good position to strike,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said.The Blue Jays have won five in a row for the first time this season and hold a 4-1 lead in the season series against the Phillies.The Phillies (69-60) will start right-hander Vince Velasquez (8-9, 4.06 ERA) Sunday and the Blue Jays (60-69) will counter with right-hander Marco Estrada (7-9, 4.88).Velasquez has never faced the Blue Jays in the regular season http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-brach-jersey , although he has pitched against them in spring training.Estrada has not pitched against the Phillies in the regular season this year, but in 11 career games (five starts) against them he is 2-1 with a 5.45 ERA.The Phillies have struggled on the road this season, going 28-48 (41-21 at home) and 5-14 in their past 19 games.“I think we maintain the same poise that we have in rough stretches all season,” Kapler said. “I think we’ve had stretches similar to this one. This one has been undoubtedly difficult. but we want to remind our guys how tough we are and how resilient we are, how teams have rough stretches and this by no means does this mean we don’t have the ability to win the National League East.“I think one of the things that we can focus on is the reason this one may be a little bit more challenging is because it takes more energy to be resilient when you’re closer to the end. So it just means that we’re going to need to dig real deep and get that last drop of energy. I believe we have it in us.”While Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was 0-for-3 with a walk Saturday to end his hitting streak at 12 games, the home run streak of Kendrys Morales is alive. He has hit home runs in six consecutive games (for a total of seven) that matches the club record set in 2001 by Jose Cruz Jr.The streak by Morales equals the longest in the majors this season set by Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals on July 14-21.Morales also has a nine-game hitting streak. His batting is .516 (16-for-31) with seven homers and 13 RBIs.“He’s been on a nice little roll now for a while, a good while,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Early in the year, he was chasing a lot of breaking balls, off-speed pitches down in the dirt, down in the zone — that’s what was getting him into trouble. He’s laying off those now and he’s even hitting breaking balls.”Outfielder Billy McKinney hit a two-run homer Saturday and has three homers in his first seven games from the Blue Jays after being called up from Triple-A Buffalo. He was part of the deal that sent left-hander J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees on July 26.McKinney is the first player to combine three homers and nine RBIs in his first seven games with the Blue Jays. Seven others have hit three or more homers in their first seven games with Toronto and Dave Martinez had nine RBIs in his first seven games with the Blue Jays in 2000.