HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Less than 29 hours before he was set to throw the first pitch of the American League Championship Series, Justin Verlander still had no idea who he would be trying to get out with that pitch, making his preparation for his biggest start in three years quite challenging.
"It's like a cram session for a test the next day that you're probably a little late for," Verlander said Monday. "You still got time to get all the answers or at least do the studying that you need. That's what it will be like."
Whomever Verlander faces at 6:37 on Wednesday will be a lineup he has seen this season. He allowed one run over seven innings while beating the Yankees on June 24 at Yankee Stadium and scattered two hits in six shutout innings in a win over Cleveland on August 4. It would be beneficial for Verlander to have a little more notice of who is ALCS opponent will be, but he'll take the extra time between starts.
"I'm really thankful for the extra few days to continue to work on some mechanical adjustments. So I would rather have it that way than the other way."
Verlander struggled in his ALDS start against Seattle, allowing six runs in four innings, the rest of the Astros staff combined to surrender just three runs over the 32 frames that followed. The American League Cy Young front-runner blamed his mechanics, a result his August calf injury for the poor result.
"Coming back hasn't been as consistent as I would like," Verlander said. "Even though mine wasn't severe, little tweaks to the lower half, you hear pitchers talk about it all the time, we work so hard on our legs and lower body strength because that's where we generate from, so any little tweaks to the lower half can have major affects upstream."
Verlander injured his calf in a start against the Baltimore Orioles on August 28. He returned less than three weeks later to make four more regular season starts, holding opponents to three runs over 23 innings. Just because the results looked good doesn't mean Verlander felt as good as he did on the mound before the injury occurred.
"It did probably create a little bit of mechanical issues, and I've been working on that ever since I came back. I've been working really hard. I think hopefully after the last (start), I really think I identified some stuff that was kind of the key component. It's just kind of deep mechanical stuff that I really probably shouldn't really go too far into."
In 11 ALCS starts, Verlander is 6-4 with a 3.11 ERA. He won ALCS MVP in 2017 when he beat the Yankees twice, allowing one run over 16 innings in the process.
