Framber Valdez’s third pitch of the World Series was a 93 mile-per-hour sinker that stayed up in the zone and got smacked out of the park. A couple of batters later, Valdez left a fastball over the middle of the plate, which Austin Riley lifted into left-center field for an RBI double. The Braves deposed of the left-hander in two innings.
Are we sure this is the same guy who shut down the Red Sox for eight innings in Game 5 of the ALCS?
Of course, it isn’t uncommon for pitchers to excel against one opponent and struggle against the next. The Red Sox lost their approach at the plate in Game 4 and never got it back. They only hit one fly ball against Valdez last week.
But given Houston’s history of subterfuge — and Valdez’s mediocre track record — it’s fair to wonder whether clandestine factors augmented his performance in Boston. As WEEI’s Lou Merloni pointed out, Valdez never used his hands to wipe off his sweat Tuesday, like he was in Boston. Instead, he was using his sleeve.
“Framber must have been told to stop,” Merloni tweeted. “Dude’s not touching his face at all. Using his sleeves to wipe his forehead. MLB had to have told him to stop screwing around. This version of Framber sucks!!!”
It’s worth noting that Valdez didn’t even make Houston’s playoff roster in 2019, by the way. His dazzling performance against the Red Sox was an utter outlier.
There were also questions about Luis Garcia’s dominant performance in Game 6 of the ALCS, given how he was throwing with his best velocity of the season, and the Red Sox rocked him in Game 2. An enterprising TikTok user broke down how Garcia frequently touched his ponytail last Friday night.
Garcia is slated to take the hill this Friday night against the Braves. We’ll be watching to see how often he goes for that ponytail. It’s likely that Red Sox hitters just totally choked in the final three games of their series. But searching for alternative explanations is a lot more fun.