LOS♓ ANGELES — Houston Strong, finally, in a year Space City desperately needed a lift fr🔜om their beloved Astros.
Yes, the Yankees had the Astros on the ropes in the ALCS but couldn’t finish the job, losing the last two games at Mi🐽nute Maid Park.
Given that World Series opening, the Astros made the most of it, crushing the Dodgers ༺5-1 in Game 7 Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium to cap🦩ture the franchise’s first World Series title.
For the Dodgers, it’s another disappointment. They haven’t won the Worldಌ Series since 1988, and as former manager Tommy Lasorda warned Dave Roberts after the Dodgers won Game 6, “You haven’t done [expletive] until you 🌃win Game 7.’’
It was again George Springer, named the🔯 Series MVP, leading the charge for the Astros, hitting his fifth home run of the Series, a two-run shot, in the second. He also doubled to lead off the game and scored the first run against Dodgers starter Yu Darvish.
“We were resilient,’’ manager A.J.🌠 Hinch said on th🅰e field during the Astros celebration. “We were all but eliminated when the Yankees swept us at Yankee Stadium, now we come back. Going through Boston, going through the Yankees, going through the Dodgers, it’s pretty unbelievable.’’
As for Roberts, he would have been better off starting Clayton Kershaw, who pitched four innings of scoreless relief. The Astros used five pitchers to sti𝓀fle the Dodgers, who choked away numerous chances, finishing 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
The Astros believe in bul🍷lpening and used it as a strength, starting Lanc🐻e McCullers Jr., who was taken out after seven outs and getting a huge performance from Game 4 starter Charlie Morton, who got the win with four sparkling innings of relief.
The team has been around since 1962, but the Astros finally know what iꦬt feels like to be a champion.
These Astros will ꦏwalk together foꩲrever as champions.
Sports Illustrated crowned the Astros 2017 World Series champs on a 2014 cover that featured Springer. The magazine, though, decided to pick the Dodger⛦s this year in its MLB preview. It should have stuck with its gut.
Spꦐringer slugged the game-winning home run in Game 2 her♋e, an 11-inning, 7-6 Astros win. His five home runs in a World Series were the most ever by a leadoff hitter.
The Astros bonded as the city continues to recover from the ravages of Hurricane Harvey. That has been a constant.
The Astros wanted to win this World Series for their city, their fans, a great accomplishment for a franchise that lost 100-pꦰlus games in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Springer was a first-round pick in 2011, the 11th pick overall.
“The baseball was important,’’ Hinch said. “We were chasing the pennant. This is a team that wanted to win the Division [Series]. We’d been knocked out of the Division a couple of years in a row. But we never lost perspective of wha𒅌t was important.
“I saw these guys do good deeds for people as they start to rebuild the city. I think that’s why🌄 the city fell in love with this team all over again, and why we had that Houston Strong strength that carried us a long way.’’
The game✅ also featured the first matchup of Yuli Gurriel and Darvish since Game 3 when Gurriel made a racist gesture after homeri🅰ng off Darvish.
When 💎Gurriel came to bat in the first, he doffed his helmet as a form of an apology to Darvish as the 54,124 lustily booed Gurriel.
📖Darvish was as terrible in this start as he was in his last, surrendering five runs on three hits and getting only five outs for his second straight World Series outing. He was the Dodgers’ big late-season acquisition.
But in a year that has tested the city of Houston to its core, the Astros will bring homꦗe the World Series trophy.
More than a patch on a uniform, Houston Strong now represents 🦩a📖 champion.