Alan Truex: Correa walks off with Game 2, breaks open Game 4
Updated Friday, October 18, 2019
It’s about time something good happened for Carlos Correa. For three years the Astros’ All-Star shortstop has withstood extensive misfortune that contrasts so sharply with his being Rookie of the Year in 2017, winning a World Series ring and giving an engagement ring to a former Miss Texas, Daniella Rodriguez.
An unfathomable run of injuries caused him to miss an average of 64 games in his three big-league seasons and put his future in Houston in doubt. He has chronic back trouble, which I’ve seen derail countless athletic careers. I always say of back injuries: endlessly treated, seldom cured.
Eight weeks ago Correa suffered the ultimate freak-injury: a fractured rib incurred during a massage in his home. More on that later.
He missed 25 games in August-September and had not regained his timing when the playoffs began. He had 3 hits (no home runs) in 19 at-bats in the American League Division Series against Tampa Bay.
But in batting-cage work prior to Sunday night’s Game 2 of the AL Championship Series, Correa felt “I was back on track.”
In fact, before the game began he tipped off teammate Jose Altuve that his slump was over. Alyson Footer of MLB.com wrote of Correa telling his double-play partner: “Josey, I think I’m going to do something good tonight.”
So here’s what he did: he made the defensive play of the game and doubled in his team’s first run and walked off with the last one: a home run that brought Houston a 3-2 victory over the most iconic of teams, the New York Yankees. The 11-inning, 5-hour nerve-wrencher pulled the teams even at one win apiece.
Had the Astros fallen behind 2-0, with both those games at home, they would have had little chance of winning the series. But Correa’s dominant performance sent them to New York feeling confident with Gerrit Cole, hottest pitcher in baseball, set to start Game 3.
Cole came through with a 4-1 victory, with little help from Correa, who was 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts.
But the 6-4, 215-pound shortstop was a key contributor to the Astros’ 8-3 victory Thursday night that put them on the brink of taking the American League pennant. Correa broke open a 3-1 game with a 3-run homer in the 6th inning.
“That home run was game over,” Harold Reynolds said on MLB Network.
It’s just about series over. Teams that lead 3-1 in the postseason go on to win 84.9% of the time.
You’d have to go back to Derek Jeter in his prime to find a shortstop who’s contributed as much to two crucial victories.
In the view of ex-Yankees manager Joe Girardi, more notable than Correa’s bat is his power arm.
With two runners on base and 2 out in the 6th inning of the Sunday night game, Brett Gardner hard-lined a hanging Justin Verlander pitch that second baseman Altuve couldn’t handle.
Correa rushed from deep shortstop to scoop the rebound and throw a laser to home plate that easily cut down D.J. LeMahieu trying to score from second. Statcam measured Correa’s ground coverage at 58 feet.
As he trotted toward the dugout, Correa wagged his right forefinger to signal, No, no, no.
“When I saw him heading for home,” Correa said, “I thought, ‘Oh, I got this guy.’”
In waving LeMahieu, third-base coach Phil Nevin may have been unaware that Correa’s throws have been radar-clocked at 98 mph – and routinely at 97.
This one was far from routine. Girardi, speaking on MLB Network, said, “His defensive play in the 6th inning may have been the most impressive thing he did for the night.”
Girardi insisted that Correa, 25, is one of the sport’s most capable two-way players: 21 home runs, 59 RBI and only two errors in 75 games this season.
“He makes the plays look so easy,” Reynolds said. “Everything’s on target, everything’s precise.”
The problem is fragility. An Astros executive told me weeks ago: “He works hard, everybody loves him, but we don’t think he’ll be healthy enough to be the long-term player we thought he’d be.”
The broken rib was embarrassing. Correa posted a video from home in which he said he always has a massage when his team has an off-day. His fiancée Daniella was downstairs and heard the alarming cracking of bone from the bedroom above. She also heard the masseuse gasp.
“People couldn’t believe it,” she lamented. “They thought he must have fallen or gotten into a fight. Social media was putting it out that there was domestic violence. It was really awful.”
In truth, Correa is one of the most peaceful of professional athletes and is known for his humanity. He was a major participant in relief efforts to his homeland of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
When a policeman recently was killed in a distant part of Houston, Correa visited his family and gave them $10,000.
And just hours before Sunday’s game he and Daniella were at the bedside of teenager Jalen Garcia in the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Correa told the boy his next home run would be for him, “and when I point my finger I’ll be pointing at you.”
In his walkoff he circled the bases slowly, finger in the air, not to insult the Yankees but to let Jalen and the other fans bask in the moment. He had another big moment in New York, and there could be others in the World Series. Perhaps karma owes Carlos Correa something more.
