The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MVP hopefuls battle
AL front-runners Altuve, Judge show mutual respect.
Jose Altuve is a big fan of Aaron Judge.
Just not this month. Altuve and the Houston Astros face Judge and the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series, which began Friday night. Altuve and Judge also are front-runners for the AL MVP award, but Altuve said before Game 1 he would vote for New York’s slugger if he had a ballot.
“Maybe (in) another life I want to be Aaron Judge and hit all those homers,” Altuve said.
Power isn’t the most prominent asset for the 5-foot-6 Altuve, but he had just the 10th three-homer game in playoff history in the ALDS against Boston. The second baseman led the majors with a .346 batting average this season, and his 204 hits were most in the AL. He was third in the AL with 32 stolen bases and his 112 runs scored ranked second.
The 6-7 Judge led the AL with 52 homers and finished second with 114 RBIs. He was first in the AL with 128 runs scored and his 79 extra-base hits ranked second.
The MVP candidates met at this year’s All-Star Game, and Judge was impressed with Altuve as well.
“I talked to him a little bit and what a great guy,” Judge said. “You see what he does on the baseball field, but the type of person he is you see the passion he has for the game, it’s pretty fun to watch.”
While Altuve is never shy about complimenting others, it is nearly impossible to get him to talk about himself, but his manager and teammates are happy to do so.
That was the case on Friday when Houston manager A.J. Hinch was told Altuve said he would vote for Judge for MVP.
“Yet another reason why Jose Altuve is a perfect player,” Hinch said. “He’s humble in his own accomplishments and very complimentary of others. … I will always back Jose Altuve (but) I think in this regard I got to tell him he’s wrong; Jose Altuve’s the MVP.”
In news Friday before the game, right-hander Collin McHugh was added to the Houston roster. The Astros are going with 12 pitchers and 13 position players for the best-of-seven series.
McHugh, who went 5-2 with a 3.55 ERA in 12 starts during an injury-plagued season, had been the odd-man out when manager A.J Hinch went with only 11 pitchers for their AL Division Series win over Boston. McHugh replaced infielder Tyler White as the only change on their ALCS roster.
Phillies: Larry Bowa was named senior adviser to general manager Matt Klentak.
Bowa was the team’s bench coach and infield instructor the previous four seasons. Bowa, 71, has spent 33 of his 52 seasons in baseball with the Phillies. He was the starting shortstop for the 1980 World Series champions.
Bowa also managed the Phillies for four years (200104), including the final game at Veterans Stadium and the first at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies are looking for a new manager to replace Pete Mackanin.
Etc.: Gary Cederstrom was named umpire crew chief for the AL series, and Mike Winters will handle the duties for the NLCS.
Joining Cederstrom on the ALCS crew will be Mark Carlson, Chad Fairchild, Chris Guccione, Jerry Meals, Jim Reynolds and Hunter Wendelstedt. The NLCS crew includes Lance Barksdale, Eric Cooper, Alfonso Marquez, Todd Tichenor, Bill Welke and Jim Wolf.