A FAMILIAR FACE IN WAY FOR GAME 3.
Like Astros before them, Rays have a love for Morton
Tampa Bay had every reason to aggressively pursue Charlie Morton in free agency last winter and turn him from an Astro into a Ray for $30 million over two years.
Morton’s elite spin rate explained the consistency of his cleaving curveballs. His propensity for injuries became less threatening, or at least more manageable, after his back-to-back seasons of 146-plus innings pitched with Houston. His clubhouse leadership came from his authentic congeniality — a personality that in professional sports seemed almost too good to be true.
“You hear all these things in the offseason when we’re somewhat recruiting him,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “You hear what this Astros group says about him. Everybody in baseball he’s come across. Then you hear
so much of it, you start to roll your eyes, like there is no way this guy is who he’s being built up to be. And I can tell you, he certainly is.”
Cash learned something else important about the mind, heart and palate of Charlie Morton.
“He likes to barbecue,” said Cash, whose dad owned a barbecue restaurant for 15 years. “We’ve talked barbecue a little bit.”
Morton can spin the nastiest of breaking balls and pluck the tenderest of chords on his acoustic guitar, but he has honed his backyard barbecue skills. Trips to Austin and his two-year residence in Houston gave him a graduatecourse education in the smoky craft.
Before the American League Division Series between the Astros and Rays began, Morton’s first October day in Houston required he taste something he cannot find in Florida. He got the brisket at Pinkerton’s, a place of worship for a gourmand like Morton.
“The plates of food that this man prepares every day are, like, a mountain,” Astros reliever Will Harris said.
It reminded Harris of the way Will Ferrell’s character in “Elf” rains candy and confectionaries over a mound of spaghetti — except Morton loads up mostly on veggies.
“He’ll crack a little pepper over the top of it, and I’ll look at it in amazement,” Harris said.
Morton sends Harris meal photos. The caloric intake baffles Harris. Both men are 35 years old. Morton, a spindly 6-5 and 215 pounds, turns 36 next month.
“You’re going to eat all that, and you’re still going to look this thin tomorrow?” an impressed Harris said. “I’m like, ‘Man, I haven’t had a piece of bread in like, two years.’ ”
Morton looked better than ever this year, his 12th in the majors. His 16 victories, 3.05 ERA, 240 strikeouts and 1942⁄3 innings pitched were career bests. He may well finish third in the AL Cy Young Award voting, behind the Astros’ Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.
Morton, revered in Houston for closing out Game 7 to seal the 2017 World Series, would not be in position to start against his former team Monday were it not for the way the Astros readjusted his repertoire and rerouted his career.
The initial tweaks to Morton
had started in 2016 with the Philadelphia Phillies, who improved his two-seam fastball. Then, Astros pitching coach Brent Strom implemented the momentous change, boosting Morton’s curveball usage to 28.7 percent in 2017 and 29.6 percent in 2018.
The Rays saw what the Astros did and leaned in harder. Morton threw his curve 37.5 percent of the time this season.
“Houston certainly plays a strong part in that,” Cash said. “But we got the very best version of Charlie Morton.”
Cash equated the confidence Morton instills in his Tampa Bay teammates with the same that Verlander and Cole provide for Houston.
“It’s weird, still weird to see him across the way,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said this past weekend in the Minute Maid Park interview room. “Everybody has a better day when they cross paths with Charlie Morton. I think everybody in this room would agree. Everybody in our room would agree. Everybody across the way. But I also think we showed pretty well that we can compartmentalize that a little bit and try to beat him.”
Hinch joked that he’d like the Rays to play a tribute video to
Morton, the way Houston had before Morton started Aug. 27 against the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Morton had his worst outing of the season — six earned runs in four innings — and later mentioned that the pregame tribute video made him a bit emotional.
With his team down 2-0 and facing elimination Monday, Morton expects to steel himself better this time.
“There’s really no mystery with the Astros,” he said. “I know those guys pretty well, on and off the field. I’m well aware of the challenges that they present.
“Try to stay as even-keeled as possible. But, I mean, there’s just no denying the situation we’re in. We’ve got our backs to the wall a little bit here. So for me to get the opportunity to go out and try to get some quality innings, give our team a chance to win, yeah, I mean, these games are special when a lot’s on the line.”
Astros outfielder George Springer hugged Morton before Game 2. Springer stepped back, pretended he was batting against Morton right then, and practiced the different ways he plans to smile at Morton to lead off Game 3 at Tropicana Field.
“I love him as a person,” Springer said. “He says some funny, funny things, and it’s been a pleasure to have him over here. I wish he still was, but he’s on the other side now, so I’m going to make a big smile at him in Game 3, and we’ll see what happens.”
At Minute Maid Park, after the Rays fell behind in the series, Morton and his wife, Cindy, headed out with their four children, all under age 6, in tow. Cindy clutched their year-old daughter, asleep, in one arm and reached back with a free hand to keep another child tethered. Charlie held the hand of his youngest son, but soon, his oldest came hollering for attention.
Aside from his kids wearing Rays No. 50 Morton jerseys, it was a familiar scene in the ballpark’s bowels: baseball’s most understated starter, with a 98 mph sinker saved in his back pocket for later use, looking every bit like an attentive family man.
Morton said he had not made it to Pinkerton’s in time for the beef rib.
“I think they were sold out,” he said.
Consider it another slice of Houston that Morton has missed this year.