ATLANTA — Alex Bregman has performed within the World Sequence in three of the final 5 years and is aware of what to anticipate. He and a few of his longtime teammates on the Houston Astros are intimately conversant in each side of the method, from the journey to the video games and the interviews afterward.
So Bregman knew, when starter Luis Garcia answered a reporter’s query in Spanish early Saturday morning after Houston misplaced Recreation 3 of the World Sequence, that an interpreter was about to offer the English translation of Garcia’s response.
However Bregman playfully minimize him off with a boilerplate, cliché reply.
“He’s grateful to God for the chance to play within the World Sequence,” Bregman interjected.
The room the place the information convention was held erupted with laughter as Bregman took a sip from a water bottle, leaned again and gave a wry smile.
Impeccable timing is the signature of profitable comedians and baseball hitters alike. Bregman normally has it. A profession .281 batter who completed second within the American League Most Helpful Participant Award voting two years in the past, Bregman — together with Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve — has been an instrumental part of the Astros’ success over the past half decade.
However aside from a couple of exceptions, the three of them haven’t hit as they wish to over the A.L. Championship Sequence and World Sequence this October, and the state of affairs got here to a head in Recreation 3 on Friday when Houston was held hitless by means of seven innings and barely scraped out a pair of singles in a 2-0 loss to Atlanta.
Bregman had one of many hits, a single by means of the defensive shift main off the ninth inning. However he by no means even made it to second base as Yordan Alvarez, Correa and Kyle Tucker all made outs. It was Bregman’s first hit of the collection, and he batted solely .217 within the A.L.C.S.
“Feeling higher at the moment on the plate,” he mentioned after the sport. “Simply attempting to swing at good pitches at the moment, good pitches to hit. Missed one, my second at-bat, and simply fouled it straight again. However general, trying ahead to persevering with to compete within the field.”
Correa hit a giant dwelling run in Recreation 1 of the A.L.C.S., however since them he has gone 4 for 30 (.133) with one extra-base hit, one run batted in and 9 strikeouts. He went 1 for 10 within the first three video games of the World Sequence.
Altuve hit a tack-on dwelling run in Recreation 2 of the World Sequence, which he hoped would carry him out of a stoop. He had solely two hits in 26 at-bats within the six video games earlier than that and in Recreation 3 he went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.
Mixed, the three Astros stars are 4 for 32 within the World Sequence — add in Alvarez, the cleanup hitter and most dear participant of the A.L.C.S., and they’re 5 for 40 — which helps clarify why Atlanta leads the collection, two video games to 1.
“You rely on these guys,” mentioned Supervisor Dusty Baker. “However nobody can hit on a regular basis. You get spoiled by the truth that they’re hitting nearly every day. I hold referring to the legislation of averages. The extra these guys get out, the extra they’re one at-bat away from a scorching streak. That’s how hitters assume.
“It’s like, OK, ‘If I’m not hitting at the moment or tomorrow, then any person is in hassle within the close to future, the very close to future.’”
Baker hopes that may occur in Recreation 4, which is scheduled for Saturday night time, climate allowing, and he is aware of his core has executed it earlier than. The infield of Bregman, Altuve and Correa has performed in two World Sequence Recreation 7s, and all the opposite postseason video games that have been wanted simply to get there. They gained the Recreation 7 in 2017, the 12 months that they used illicit means to steal indicators from opposing groups, and misplaced in 2019, the one World Sequence the place the house crew misplaced all seven video games.
In 2017, Bregman, Altuve and Correa every hit two dwelling runs within the Sequence and knocked in a mixed 16 runs. Bregman hit three dwelling runs within the 2019 World Sequence. Having seen all that he has over three World Sequence, Bregman didn’t appear panicky in regards to the state of affairs, nor did he miss the possibility so as to add a comic book’s contact to ease the stress. Maybe that’s precisely what the Astros hitters want.
“It’s been enjoyable,” Bregman mentioned. “Each groups are actually good. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why you play the sport, to play within the World Sequence, two of one of the best groups within the recreation going at it.”