DEPTH CHARGE
Deadline acquisitions drive offense in shutout win that pushes Yankees to the brink
NEW YORK — James Click did not break the bank or broker a blockbuster, foreign for a franchise that had executed each type of trade deadline deal during its golden era. He took a practical approach across those three days in August, careful not to disturb a culture or do anything drastic. He pondered permutations for other deals that would have drawn more fanfare. He brought in a bench bat and backup catcher instead.
Click didn’t place a premium on winning a press conference. Trades are made with an eye toward October, when each roster spot is sacred and selflessness shines. Houston’s clubhouse calls itself a family, one strengthened across six seasons of scorn, success and the pursuit of perfection. Entering it is not a simple task. Everyday players elsewhere can become part-time contributors to Houston’s perpetual success. Egos are unwelcome, or at least eradicated at the door.
“We didn’t have the greatest culture in 2016,” Lance McCullers Jr. said Saturday. “We got guys like Brian McCann, Carlos Beltrán, and they let us know we’re here to win. We’re here to create a family in this clubhouse. It’s not about hazing guys. It’s not about giving guys a hard time or making guys earn their stripes. If you’re wearing this uniform, you’re one of us — if you’ve been here one day, been here 20 years. We’re going to laugh, be happy, smile, and we’re going to show up every day ready to play, and I think we need to have that mindset that makes everyone equals — it doesn’t matter how much money you make. And I think it’s worked here.”
Six consecutive American League Championship Series appearances are the end result. A 5-0 win Saturday at Yankee Stadium put the team a victory away from its fourth pennant in the same time frame. Turnover is constant, and the culture survives, even now when players put on a jersey and become pariahs for a scandal they did not participate in. Not everyone can embrace life like this. This August, Click asked Trey Mancini and Christian Vázquez to try.
Championship clubs, Click contended, shouldn’t have cavernous holes to address. His did not. The best additions he could make were on the margins, two men to lengthen his lineup, afford manager Dusty Baker more in-game maneuverability, and maintain the attitude aiding Houston’s ascension into an American League dynasty. Mancini and Vázquez fulfilled Click’s foremost objective. Their assimilation into Houston’s culture is apparent. Saturday, they lifted this club within one win of a pennant.
Mancini and Vázquez teamed to chase home three of Houston’s five runs. Vázquez caught a three-hit shutout from six Houston hurlers in his first start since Oct 2. Benched during the first two games of this series and still hitless this postseason, Mancini chased home a huge insurance run in the sixth and catalyzed Gerrit Cole’s exit from the game.
“Coming into today, I woke up, and we have a 2-0 lead in the ALCS,” Mancini said. “Whether I hit 1.000 in my time here or struggle a little bit like I have lately, we’re in the same position. Rather than have any self pity or feel sorry for myself, every atbat (and) every game from here on out is going to be the biggest at-bat and game I play in my life. I’d be remiss to not wash everything in the past and put my best foot forward. That’s why I was traded here — to try to help this team win a World Series.”
Mancini played every day in Baltimore. Vázquez had long cemented himself as Boston’s everyday catcher when Houston acquired him. Click acquired them to play part-time, provide an offensive punch, and balance a topheavy batting order. Neither man objected to a reduced role.
“We want great people here,” catcher Martín Maldonado said. “We don’t want selfish players. All we want (them to do) is whatever we need to do to win games. That’s the most important thing. We haven’t got selfish players. Whoever is coming here is willing to be like us, and that’s why the culture doesn’t change.”
For two months, neither accomplished what Click envisioned, garnering warranted criticism. Vázquez had a .585 OPS in 35 games after the trade. Mancini lost feel for his lower-body mechanics and faded in September. The .535 OPS he posted that month left him almost unplayable. Baker sat him in favor of Aledmys Díaz during Games 1 and 2 of the ALCS.
Baker went back to him for Game 3 due to familiarity. Mancini played the first four months of this season in the American League East. So did Vázquez. Few in Houston’s clubhouse had more experience against the Yankees’ pitching staff — or facing it at Yankee Stadium. Saturday exploited that.
“It’s easier. I’ve been here in 2018. We won (a World Series),” Vázquez said. “We won two games here in the LDS, and I think it was easier knowing the way the fans go about their business.”
Vázquez caught another nine-inning assault against a hapless New York offense. The Yankees are now 12-for-94 with 41 strikeouts across these three games. On the rare occasion they mounted a rally, Vázquez vanquished it. His fifth-inning throw nabbed Harrison Bader trying to steal second base and erased Cristian Javier’s leadoff walk.
Vázquez and Javier work seamlessly together. Baker did not want to separate Maldonado from Justin Verlander or Framber Valdez during the series’ first two games, relegating Vázquez to a reserve role.
“When they put me out there, I’m going to do my job,” Vázquez said. “I don’t control that. I’m here for my team and my teammates and ready all the time.”
Javier struck out five across 51⁄3 excellent innings. Eleven consecutive Yankees could not muster a hit against him to begin Saturday’s game, inviting wonder whether Javier could author another bid for history. He spun seven hitless innings at this ballpark on June 25 before Héctor Neris and Ryan Pressly procured the final six outs of the franchise’s 14th no-hitter.
Giancarlo Stanton spared his team from the shame with a fourth-inning double. New York notched just two more hits. Houston allowed the leadoff man aboard twice in nine innings, neutralizing a Yankees lineup that refused to assist ace Gerrit Cole.
Cole seemed a man all alone Saturday. None of the 25 men around him appeared willing or able to provide any resistance to the Astros’ continued onslaught. Cole is paid handsomely, but even he needs help. Bader dropped Vázquez’s two-out fly ball in the second inning, forcing Cole to face a batter he never should have. Chas McCormick poked his 98 mph fastball onto the short porch in right field, affording Houston’s dominant pitching staff the only cushion it needed.
Cole started the sixth inning with a two-run deficit still intact. Alex Bregman crushed a changeup for an opposite-field double. Yuli Gurriel blooped a single. A walk to Kyle Tucker in between helped load the bases and ended Cole’s evening. Manager Aaron Boone cited Mancini’s “good at-bats against him already” as the impetus for his change. Mancini crushed a fly ball to the center field warning track in the second and worked a six-pitch walk against Cole in the fourth.
Boone asked Lou Trivino to try and tame him. Mancini struck the sixth pitch he saw to left field for a sacrifice fly, offering insurance for a pitching staff that threw most of this series without any. Vázquez stepped in seeking more. He sat on a slider from Trivino and took it into left field. Two runs scored before Vázquez reached first base. He turned toward his dugout and started to celebrate — an October rite of passage Houston’s two new players spent Saturday embracing.
“This is a different animal than anything I’ve ever played in to this point in my career. It’s what we’ve all dreamed of our whole lives, and it’s fun,” Mancini said. “You’d be remiss not to enjoy it and go about it the right way rather than be overly nervous or not want the spotlight.”