I am just going to be honest with everyone. Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander makes my job as a journalist very difficult every time he takes the mound.

At this point, you probably think that this guy has lost his marbles. The only thing Verlander has done this season is become the first pitcher in the majors to win 13 games and have an ERA is 1.86. Also, in his last five starts, he is 5-0 and has struck out 36 batters.

Did I mention that during those starts, he has only walked six batters, given up 23 hits, and only two home runs?

Do you see why Mr. Verlander makes my job so hard? I have run out of positive words to describe what the 39-year-old pitcher who spent the 2021 season recovering from Tommy John surgery has done.

In my past articles, I have used words such as unique, astounding, remarkable, startling, mind-blowing, etc., to describe Verlander's performances. In Saturday's 3-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners, he was all those things.

The former two-time A.L. Cy Young Award winner pitched seven innings, allowing only one run on four hits with nine strikeouts. His only mistake came in his final inning of work when he gave up a solo home run to Mariners Carlos Santana on a 1-2 pitch, but that was after he had retired 15 batters in a row.

Giving up the home run seemed to upset Verlander and cause him to focus more on the task. Even though he allowed another runner to reach base via a walk, his velocity on his pitches seemed to increase. Over the next 19 balls thrown towards home plate, 14 of those were 96 mph or better, with four reaching a blazing 99 mph.

Needing only one out, most pitchers would have begun to look for help from the bullpen to get them out of such a high-leverage situation. But anyone who has been around Verlander on game days for more than 10 minutes knows he is nowhere near an average pitcher.

He didn't look towards the dugout for help, and his manager Dusty Baker was not sending any either. Baker has been around a lot of great pitchers and knows he has one on his roster that can pitch his way out of any situation.

Verlander prevented another run from crossing home plate as he struck out Sam Haggerty with a four-seam fastball clocked at 97.4 mph on his 101st pitch. Walking off the mound, he let out an emphatic shout of "Let's Go!"

"Since my surgery, I've been creeping back and feeling better and better," Verlander said. "I feel like I haven't been able to let it go like that in a long time. Really, it feels great. I feel like a younger version of myself. I used to be able to do that. For the last few years, I felt like whenever I tried to step on the gas to let it go, the Velo didn't correspond with the effort.

"So, I would always kind of be like, 'All right, what am I doing?' I'm not going to try to throw harder and still throw 95, but when it starts creeping up like that on the radar and the crowd gets into it, I get into it, my teammates get into it -- it's fun. Emptied the tank there in the seventh and was able to make some pitches in a big spot."

His manager was elated after the game because Verlander was able to help the bullpen by pitching seven outstanding innings and getting himself out of trouble in his final inning of work.

"I remember the greats, Bob Gibson and (Tom) Seaver, and I told him, 'You know, when they were in trouble, they knew how to pitch out of trouble,'" said manager Dusty Baker. "The mark of a good pitcher is figuring out how to get either a double play or a popup or a strikeout, and I tell you, that one that was great. I mean, we needed that. He needed it. We're operating on fumes today, so I'll say that was a great victory."