Baker searching for his ‘Harper-type’ DH Title odds favor Game 5 winner
The dream solution to Dusty Baker’s designated hitter disaster is a familiar face.
“It would be a whole lot easier if I had a Bryce Harper-type DH,” Baker quipped on Friday. “But I don’t.”
It almost happened — the Astros had a deal in place to acquire Harper at the 2018 trade deadline — but Nationals ownership intervened and kept it as one of Houston baseball’s biggest what-ifs.
Harper now exists as the envy of Baker — his former manager in Washington — and a massive impediment to his first World Series title. Harper is 4-for-16 with four walks across the first five World Series games.
Houston’s designated hitters have six total postseason hits, showing how dearly the team misses Michael Brantley and how the attempts to replace him have failed so miserably.
Trade deadline acquisition Trey Mancini is hitless in 18 postseason at-bats with seven strikeouts. Aledmys Díaz is 0-for-18 since doubling during Game 2 of the American League Division Series.
Rookie David Hensley, he of 34 regularseason plate appearances, started during Game 5 and struck a single. He has two of Houston’s six hits by a designated hitter during the postseason. Yordan Alvarez has the two others.
Baker did not commit to Hensley starting Saturday in Game 6. He said his decision hinges on the health of Yuli Gurriel, who exited Game 5 with a right knee injury.
“Nobody’s really tore it up at DH, so I just got to figure out who is pitching for them first and what the matchup is,” Baker said Friday.
Chandler Rome
League’s players honor Verlander
Awards season has begun for Justin Verlander.
The Astros’ ace earned recognition from his peers Friday, capturing American League Comeback Player of the Year and Outstanding Pitcher honors in the Players Choice Awards.
Voting for the awards, sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association, took place among players in late September. Verlander beat out Toronto Blue Jays righthander Alek Manoah and Chicago White Sox ace Dylan Cease for American League Outstanding Pitcher, an award he also won in 2019.
After a two-year absence due to Tommy John surgery, Verlander won the major league ERA title with a 1.75 mark across 28 regular-season starts. He led the sport with a 0.829 WHIP and won an ALhigh 18 games.
On Thursday, Verlander secured his first World Series win in nine tries, grinding through five innings of one-run ball. The Astros have shown no plans to utilize him on short rest should the series extend to seven games, all but guaranteeing that six-strikeout performance as his final one in a fabulous season.
Cy Young finalists will be revealed Monday before the winner is announced Nov. 16. Verlander is seeking the third Cy Young of his career and second as an Astro after winning in 2019.
New York Yankees outfielder Matt Carpenter and Los Angeles Angels superstar Mike Trout were the other finalists for comeback player of the year.
Chandler Rome
‘Weapon’ Abreu continues to roll
Almost lost amid the hectic final two innings of Thursday’s game was another stellar outing from Bryan Abreu.
The hard-throwing righthander came in during the sixth inning with the Astros up 2-1 and the tying run on base. After hitting a batter, he got leadoff man Kyle Schwarber to ground out.
Then in the seventh, Abreu made quick work out of the heart of the Philadelphia order, striking out Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto and getting Harper to pop up.
“He’s shown it all year, but especially the last few months, he’s come on as a weapon for us out of the ’pen,” Astros pitching coach Josh Miller said.
Greg Rajan
The World Series stands at 3-2 for the 70th time. Of the previous 69 occurrences, the team leading 3-2 has gone on to win the series 46 times (66 percent), winning 27 times (39.1 percent) in Game 6.
As for the Astros, they’ve led a best-of-7 series on six previous occasions. They went on to win the series four times, with the exceptions being the 2004 NLCS against the Cardinals and 2019 World Series against the Nationals.
Greg Rajan