Verlander Shares Thoughts on Facing Houston Astros For First Time as a Met

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon in Port St. Lucie, Florida on Friday, March 10 as New York Mets starting pitcher Justin Verlander took the mound to face his former team, the Houston Astros.

Earlier that day, another former Astros player inked with a new team as first baseman Yuli Gurriel signed a minor league contract with the Miami Marlins.

"The tough part about everything is you grow friendships with so many people," Astros third baseman Alex Bregman told MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. "I love both those guys and definitely loved being on their team and being their teammates. They were great, great teammates."

As most Houston fans know, Bregman -- along with Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers Jr. -- are the only three remaining players on the current team from the Astros first title in 2017.

"Who’s left? It’s Jose, Lance and Breggy, right?" Verlander said. "I know those guys love it there, and who knows what’s going to happen in the future? It’s [over] in a blink of an eye."

The former Astros ace was typical Verlander on Friday in Florida, pitching 3.1 innings while allowing just three hits, one run and striking out five in a 7-2 win.

Verlander struck out Bregman when they faced one another in the second inning, and he has a 2-0 record and a 2.84 ERA through two starts for the Mets in spring training.

"It was a lot of fun," Verlander said. "Bregman’s given me a lot of crap over the years. I got him out a few times when he was a rookie and ever since then we haven’t faced each other. It was fun to face him again. He’s such a great hitter. Just the back and forth between him, it was a lot of fun today."

The Astros will have plenty of chances to see Verlander both this upcoming season and the years to come, but one thing is certain: time flies.

"It happens quick," Verlander said when speaking about his time with Houston. "You feel like personally it was like yesterday and all of a sudden, [almost] everybody’s gone. What the hell happened? Of course, I missed a couple of years, so that accelerated it."

Despite the years missed, Verlander is a Houston legend and will always be remembered as just that.

He won two Cy Young Awards as an Astros player and helped bring two titles to the City of Houston.

The Astros will have their first -- and only -- opportunity to face Verlander in a regular season game when Houston squares off against the New York Mets from June 19-21 at Minute Maid Park.

Regardless of whether or not Verlander is on the mound for the Mets this summer in Houston, you can be assured he'll be embraced by both players and fans alike with a warm welcome.

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