HOUSTON — One observation rushed to the forefront of the brain Saturday evening in the visitors’ clubhouse at Minute Maid Park:

Compared to the last time the Yankees dropped the first two games of a series? It felt like Cinco de Mayo.

That’s what these Yankees had going for them after dropping American League Championship Series Game 2 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Maybe it’ll prove to be nothing. They think it’s something: They’ve been through worse.

“We’ve got to win the next game, but for sure, I think that’s something that you look back and on and say, ‘We’ve been here before and we were able to get it done,’ ” Chase Headley said. “So obviously, it’s been two really, really good games. A break here and a break there, it could be 2-0 the other way. We’ve just got to come out Monday and be ready to go.”

“It’s a tough loss. It’s not like we haven’t been here before, though,” Joe Girardi said. “And my message to our team is, ‘Hey, let’s go home, win one at home and let’s see what happens.’ ”

If they lose Game 3 Monday night at Yankee Stadium, then they have to start reaching for 2004 Red Sox comparisons, a territory no team wants to explore given no other team besides that one (against the Yankees, of course) has climbed out of an 0-3 hole in more than a century of postseason ball.

No, for the moment, the Yankees can focus on another team managed by Terry Francona: The 2017 Indians and the way they landed a devastating blow on the Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, only for the Yankees to roar back with three straight wins.

The Progressive Field visitors’ clubhouse was eerily silent after the Yankees dropped a 9-8, 13-inning decision that night, with Girardi feeling the heat over his inexplicable decision not to challenge a sixth-inning call that directly led to the defeat. The Yankees had blown an 8-3 lead after clobbering presumptive AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber. They looked deader than Jim Morrison.

“That was a little different feeling,” Headley said. “That was a game we felt like we had it controlled the whole time. It really, really hurts when you give one like those away. Obviously you want to win these games. You feel like you have a chance to. But that’s a different feel.”

To open these semifinals, the Yankees didn’t fare anywhere as well against two past AL Cy Young Award winners, Dallas Keuchel in Game 1 and Justin Verlander in Game 2.

The good news for them is Houston manager A.J. Hinch strongly indicated Saturday he intends to go with a four-man rotation, with Charlie Morton going in Game 3 and possibly Lance McCullers in Game 4, and neither gentleman ever has received a vote for the Cy Young, let alone claimed the trophy.

“Offensively, I’d like to think we can only get better, especially going back to Yankee Stadium, where we play really well,” Brett Gardner said.

Yes, the Yankees now own a 54-30 record in The Bronx this season when you include the AL wild card victory over the Twins and the two ALDS wins over the Indians. They’ll use their past Cy Young Award winner, CC Sabathia, to start Game 3, and though the big lefty won that hardware 10 years ago, the Yankees have faith he’ll still compete and produce as he has all season.

Now, these Astros, a 101-win team during the regular season, are awfully good, and they have every right to believe their offense is destined for improvement, too.

As Hinch said: “Now we’re going to face different pitching in New York than we faced [here].”

The shaky Sonny Gray is scheduled to follow Sabathia for Game 4.

Going back to that terrible night in Cleveland, even in the silence, the Yankees expressed calm confidence they weren’t done yet.

On Saturday, Aaron Judge said: “This is a team that battles. We’re not going to give up.”

All this doesn’t mean this won’t end with an Astros sweep. It does mean, though, the Yankees have earned themselves some credibility as they face another moment of truth.