From ‘Lastros’ to AL champions
HOUSTON — Just four years ago, the Astros weren’t just bad, they were embarrassing — so embarrassing that many dubbed them the “Lastros.”
Now Houston is heading to its second World Series in franchise history after beating the Yankees in the AL Championship Series, and its time as the league’s laughingstock seems like a distant memory.
“You always picture yourself in the World Series, but to be here after my debut in 2012 with the team that we had, with the players that we had, I never thought we would be here,” left-hander Dallas Keuchel said.
Keuchel is one of just four Astros who remains from a 2013 team that hit rock bottom by losing a franchise-record 111 games in its first year in the AL. Houston became the first team since Kansas City from 2004-06 to lose 100 games in three straight seasons.
Those bumbling Astros, who had the league’s lowest payroll as the franchise shed older players to rebuild, often played in front of fewer than 10,000 fans and routinely faced boos from the few people who did come to Minute Maid Park.
All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, utilityman Marwin Gonzalez and former A’s righthander Brad Peacock are the other holdovers from the lean times.
“When I got here, no one talked about winning,” said manager A.J. Hinch, who took the job in 2015. “And that was one of the first things that Altuve told me in my office, that he wanted to win. And that represented what the next step was for this organization. And obviously in 2015, we got to taste it a little bit. 2016, we had some disappointment. 2017, we’re going to the World Series.”
An example of just how terrible that 2013 team was came on the night they took their 100th loss. The 10-0 defeat at the hands of the Reds featured numerous lowlights from the “Lastros.” The worst: In the bottom of the first inning, Jonathan Villar singled, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Simply being thrown out for a baserunning error was pretty routine on this terrible team, but the way Villar was thrown out was so humiliating that it went viral and even made it on NBC’s “Today” show the next morning.
Villar slid into second base, but Brandon Phillips already had the ball before he began the slide. Phillips reached backward between his legs to apply the tag as Villar crashed headfirst into Phillips’ backside, a moment many still refer to as the “butt tag.”
The Astros went 70-92 in 2014, 86-76 (with a playoff appearance) in 2015 and 84-78 last year.
They opened this season 36-16, and racked up 101 wins while winning their first division title since 2001.
Altuve is an MVP front-runner after hitting a career-high .346 with 24 homers and 81 RBIs. He has hit .400 this postseason with a majorleague-leading 16 hits and five homers to lead the Astros to the World Series for the first time since they were swept by the White Sox in 2005.
“I’m coming from a team that lost 100 games in a row three years, three straight years,” Altuve said. “We made the playoffs in 2015. We didn’t make it last year, and after last year, we were a little uncomfortable because we were watching the playoff games from home and we were like, ‘OK, we’re good enough to be in the playoffs.’ We showed up this year, we did it again, and I’m really happy and excited.”
Shortstop Carlos Correa called Altuve “the best hitter on the planet.”
Altuve has won the AL batting title in three of the past four seasons and has piled up more than 200 hits in four consecutive years.
“There’s no doubt that when he has good games, it’s hard to beat the Astros,” Hinch said.