Another Magnificent Win for Verlander

There should be no debate on this point:

If you have one game to win, and you are looking for one pitcher, his name has to be Justin Verlander.

Discussion over.

Verlander proved it again last night as he held the Yankees to a pair of Ichiro Suzuki singles and a 9th inning leadoff homer by Eduardo Nunez, as his Tigers defeated the Yankees, 2-1, to put the Tigers up 3-0 in the ALCS and the Yankees on the brink of re-evaluating the future of their aging team.

Now it's not as if the Yankees didn't battle Verlander.

"There were some good at-bats tonight. The ball was not carrying tremendously well tonight, we know that," Yankee manager Joe Girardi told the AP. "But I think he ended up with three strikeouts. So our guys put the ball in play and tried to get on base, but, you know, when you face Verlander, you know what you're up against."

Verlander did indeed have just three strikeouts.

Over the last two brilliant seasons, in which Verlander has recorded 489 strikeouts in 489.1 innings pitched, he has had five three-strikeout games in the regular season.

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	Pit	Str
1	2012-09-08	DET	LAA	L 1-6	GS-6 ,L	6.0	9	6	6	2	3	97	60
2	2012-06-19	DET	STL	W 6-3	GS-7 ,W	7.0	5	3	1	4	3	108	70
3	2011-05-29 (2)	DET	BOS	W 3-0	GS-8 ,W	7.2	4	0	0	2	3	132	83
4	2011-05-24	DET	TBR	W 7-6	GS-6	6.0	9	6	6	0	2	104	66

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/17/2012.

           

If you are looking for a similar start from the list above, the most like last night's win was Verlander's eight innings of shutout ball tossed against the Red Sox in 2011 when he threw 132 pitches (83 strikes) while striking out three. Last night, Verlander threw 132 pitches as well, with 86 strikes, with three strikeouts. 

Here are the most pitches this season for a pitcher who struck out three or less.

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	SO	Pit	Str
1	Derek Lowe	2012-05-15	CLE	MIN	W  5-0	SHO9  ,W	9.0	0	127	76
2	Gavin Floyd	2012-07-01	CHW	NYY	L  2-4	GS-6  ,L	5.1	3	122	70
3	Jon Lester	2012-08-30	BOS	LAA	L  2-5	CG 8  ,L	8.0	2	121	77
4	Johnny Cueto	2012-04-28	CIN	HOU	W  6-0	GS-7  ,W	7.0	3	120	78
5	Anibal Sanchez	2012-08-29	DET	KCR	L  0-1	GS-7  ,L	7.0	1	119	77
6	Jordan Lyles	2012-07-17	HOU	SDP	L  2-8	GS-6  ,L	6.0	3	118	75
7	Kyle Drabek	2012-05-21	TOR	TBR	W  6-2	GS-6  ,W	6.0	3	118	64
8	Kevin Millwood	2012-08-31	SEA	LAA	L  1-9	GS-5  ,L	5.0	1	117	73
9	Ryan Vogelsong	2012-05-14	SFG	COL	W  3-2	GS-7	7.0	3	117	71
10	Madison Bumgarner	2012-04-12	SFG	COL	W  4-2	GS-8  ,W	7.1	2	117	75
11	Chris Volstad	2012-09-21	CHC	STL	W  5-4	GS-5	5.0	0	116	68
12	Tim Hudson	2012-08-03	ATL	HOU	W  4-1	GS-8  ,W	7.1	3	116	72
13	Aaron Harang	2012-06-29	LAD	NYM	L  0-9	GS-6  ,L	5.2	3	116	68
14	Mark Buehrle	2012-05-05	MIA	SDP	W  4-1	CG 9  ,W	9.0	3	116	77

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 10/17/2012.         

The Yankees battled Verlander on two strikes

Verlander last night threw 41 two-strike pitches. The Yankees swung at 32 and missed on just three. They put 13 in play and fouled off 16.  But as further testimony of his control (he walked no one) but he knew how to tempt and fool the Yankees: Of these 32 wo-strike pitches, only 18 were in the strike zone and the Yankees chased 14. 

Verlander is a pitcher, not just a thrower and despite throwing so many pitches, his pitch speed per inning showed more than his strength and his consistency, but it also showed his ability to pace himself and save enough in the tank for when he needed it.    

Verlander inning-by-inning

1st inning: 92.6 average velocity/95.3 maximum velocity

2nd inning: 90.1 average velocity/95.3 maximum velocity

3rd inning: 94.6 average velocity/97.0 maximum velocity

4th inning: 92.7 average velocity/97.0 maximum velocity

5th inning: 91.2 average velocity/96.7 maximum velocity

6th inning: 91.4 average velocity/97.4 maximum velocity

7th inning: 91.4 average velocity/98.2 maximum velocity

8th inning: 91.6 average velocity/98.4 maximum velocity

9th inning: 91.8 average velocity/99.3 maximum velocity

From the 5th inning on, Verlander's average velocity increased each inning and his maximum velocity increased as well.

C'mon, is there a better, more valuable pitcher around than Justin Verlander?

I think not.