I am not sure what it is about Justin Verlander that makes me fall in love. Maybe its his fastball that gets faster as the innings go on. Was it the 2011 season and the month of June where he was 6-0 and pitched an average of eight innings a game with an ERA of 0.92.
Right now we are haplessly trying to pin this title of best pitcher in the game on a young guy. The Met’s Matt Harvey, National’s Steven Strasburg, Pirates’ Gerrit Cole, Miami’s Joe Fernadez, and the A’s Sonny Gray.
Why don’t we take a step back and enjoy what we have now because in a few years they will be gone. Kershaw is lights out, Wainwright is elite, Feliz Hernadez keeps on keeping on in Seattle, and David Price continues to teeter on the edge of elite.
Then there is Verlander. Him and Wainwright are the only guys on that list who have consistently been on the elite list and in the playoffs. Wainwright has had a more consistent career, but Tommy John surgery has set him back.
Last night we saw Wainwright have no regard for hapless Pirate fans as he rolled over them in eight flawless innings.
Verlander on the other hand has had a few rough years, including this years campaign, but he had finished in the top five in the AL Cy Young voting four times and had such a dominant year in 2011 that he won both the Cy Young and the AL MVP.
However up until last year Verlander had struggled in the playoffs. Even last year he pitched great in the ALDS and ALCS, but was awful in Game 1 of the World Series, his biggest game to date.
This bring us to tonights Game 5. In the last 12 months, Justin Verlander will have faced Oakland four times in the postseason, including tonight.
2012 ALDS: Game 1 in Detroit – 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run
2012 ALDS: Game 5 in Oakland – 9 innings, 4 hits, no runs
2013 ALDS: Game 2 in Oakland – 7 innings, 4 hits, no runs
Those are extraordinary numbers and tonight he has a chance to cement a legacy in Oakland which is exactly what the great pitchers do. They torment certain teams every time. Pedro did it to New York, Price is doing it to Boston, and now Verlander is killing Oakland fans each postseason.
So that is where my excitement comes from tonight. If Verlander comes out hurling tonight, it will be historic. Back to back years he will have single handily beat Oakland in the postseason.
Probably my favorite part of baseball is watching an elite pitcher make professional hitters look lost. This year’s postseason has given us that on a nightly basis and tonight is no exception.
Detroit @ Oakland 8pm, TBS
