Astros look to Verlander to stay alive
Justin Verlander agreed to that last-second trade to the Houston Astros with hopes of another World Series, and has since won all eight games he has pitched.
Eight is not enough. The Astros have towin Verlander’s ninth game — or their season will end short of that goal.
“Obviously. I know this is one of the main reasons I was brought here,” Verlander said Thursday. “This is why I’m here.”
Six days after the big right-hander threw a complete game against the Yankees to put Houston up 2- 0 in the best- of- seven AL Championship Series, the teams will be back in Minute Maid Park for Game 6 on Friday night with the Astros facing elimination after New York swept three games in the Bronx.
“Well, there’s immediate belief when you have a Justin Verlander go,” manager A. J. Hinch said. “His presence will immediately make everybody sit up straight, stand up a little bitmore, have a little bit more energy because of the presence that he brings.”
The Astros certainly need the boost.
Aaron Judge and the Baby Bombers from New York, who had a pair of 2-1 losses in Houston and struck out 13 times against Verlander, definitely have a lot more energy and confidence after outscoring the Astros 19-5 and outhitting them 25-12 in their three home games.
The Yankees are onewin away from their first AL pennant since 2009 and record 41st overall. A’S NAME BENCH COACH » The A’s announced Thursday that Ryan Christenson will be manager Bob Melvin’s bench coach in 2018.
Chip Hale, who had been the bench coach since midJune, will move back to third base coach. The remainder of the A’s coaching staff remains intact.
Christenson has managed the past five seasons in the A’s organization, compiling a 391-307 (. 561)
record. DAVIS REUNION WITH GI
ANTS? » Chili Davis met with Giants officials on Thursday about becoming their major league hitting coach, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions. Davis, who spent the previous three years as the Boston Red Sox’s hitting instructor, also met with the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
Giants GM Bobby Evans would neither confirm nor deny the meeting with Davis — an understandable position to take, given that the team has no official vacancies on Bruce Bochy’s coaching staff.
But it’s expected that there will be changes to the coaching staff after the Giants finished 64-98 and ended the season with baseball’s worst record for just the second time since 1902. They finished last in the majors in home runs and OPS; only the Padres scored fewer runs.
The recalibration of their coaching staff is complicated by the fact that their current hitting coach, Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens, is a candidate for the managerial opening in Detroit.
Davis, 57, spent three seasons as the A’s hitting coach before joining the Red Sox.
Davis was a three-time All-Star over a 19-year major league career that began in 1981, when he broke in with the Giants as a highly touted prospect. He played six full seasons with the Giants. TIGERS LOOK AT FORMER RIVAL» A person with knowledge of the discussions says the Detroit Tigers are in talks to hire Ron Gardenhire as manager.
Gardenhire was the bench coach this season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He managed the Minnesota Twins from 2002-14.
Gardenhire is plenty familiar to Tigers fans after his long run managing an AL Central rival. The Twins won the division six times in his first nine seasons in charge