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WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) – San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin talks about Sunday’s exhibition with the Triple-A River Cats, Sacramento as a baseball town, the uncertain future of Pablo Sandoval, the late additions of Blake Snell and Matt Chapman, facing his former A’s team to end the exhibition schedule before Opening Day in San Diego against his former Padres team and his friendship with Dusty Baker, who has rejoined the Giants organization.
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HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez hit a moon shot that sent Space City into a frenzy, and the Houston Astros to their second World Series title.
While the stain on Houston’s first championship might never completely fade, Alvarez’s majestic three-run homer helped fashion a fresh crown for the Astros — and the first for Dusty Baker as manager — in a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 on Saturday night.
“What happened before, it doesn’t ever pass over completely,” said Baker, the veteran manager hired by the Astros in the wake of their sign-stealing scandal. “But we have turned the page and hopefully we’ll continue this run.”
Alvarez blasted a ball over the 40-foot batter’s eye in center field during the sixth inning immediately after Phillies starter Zack Wheeler was pulled with a 1-0 lead.
As Alvarez’s 450-foot shot sailed, Astros starter Framber Valdez jumped and wildly screamed in the dugout while the crowd of 42,958 went crazy waving orange rally towels.
“When I was rounding second base, I felt the whole stadium moving,” Alvarez said through a translator.
The 73-year-old Baker finally got his first title in his 25th season as a manager. He’s spent the past three with the Astros after they hired him to help the team regain credibility after their trash can banging scheme cost manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow their jobs, and made Houston the most reviled team in baseball.
“I wasn’t here in 2017, but it’s definitely a weight off of everybody’s shoulders. Ain’t nobody can say (anything) now,” said closer Ryan Pressly, who finished the Series with another scoreless inning.
Baker, who won a World Series as a player with the Los Angeles Dodgers and had been to the Fall Classic twice before as a skipper, is the oldest championship manager in any of the four major North American sports. The win came 20 years after a near-miss, when he came within five outs of taking the title while guiding the San Francisco Giants.
“What’s next? I said if I win one, I want to win two,” Baker said afterward.
Houston’s coaching and training staffs circled around Baker after Nick Castellanos flied out to end it, jumping up and down, and chanting “Dusty! Dusty! Dusty!” in the dugout before they joined the players on the field.
Astros rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña was the World Series MVP after getting another key hit, a single to set up Alvarez’s homer.
The 25-year-old star born in the Dominican Republic also won a Gold Glove award and AL Championship Series MVP — Peña is the first hitter to win those three awards in a career, and he did it all in his first season, per OptaSTATS.
Jerseys worn by Peña and Baker during the Series were headed to the Hall of Fame.
A year after watching the Atlanta Braves clinch the World Series title at Minute Maid Park, Justin Verlander and the Astros went 11-2 in the postseason and became the first team to seal the championship at home since the 2013 Boston Red Sox.
Alvarez homered for the first time since going deep in the first two games this postseason. Christian Vázquez added an RBI single later in the inning to make it 4-1.
Valdez earned his second win of this Series. He had been in the dugout only a few minutes after throwing his 93rd and final pitch while striking out nine over six innings.
But the lefty had walked off the mound with the wild-card Phillies up 1-0 on Kyle Schwarber’s homer leading off the sixth.
Schwarber, who hit his third homer in the past four games, rounded the bases waving his raised empty hand in the same motion as the fans with their towels.
But by the time Schwarber batted in the eighth, the NL’s home run leader was reduced to bunting, trying for a hit to stir a dormant Phillies offense. His bunt went foul with two strikes, resulting in a strikeout.
In the sixth, Houston got two runners on base against Wheeler for the first time in the game, when Martín Maldonado was hit by a pitch, Jose Altuve grounded into a forceout and Peña singled.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson went to left-handed reliever José Alvarado to face the lefty slugger for the fourth time in the series — Alvarez had popped out twice and been hit by a pitch the first three times.
“I thought Wheels still had really good stuff. It wasn’t about that. It was just I thought the matchup was better with Alvarado on Alvarez at that time,” Thomson said.
And Alvarado had allowed only three homers to lefty hitters in his six big league seasons, until his 2-1 pitch, when Alvarez crushed the 99 mph sinker.
“It’s kind of a dirty inning and I thought, I mean, going into the series it was always kind of Alvarado on Alvarez,” Thomson said. “It was the sixth inning and I felt like the normal back end of the bullpen guys could get through it.”
Alvarez hadn’t homered since Game 2 of the AL Division Series against Seattle, when his two-run shot in the sixth inning put them up to stay. That came after his game-ending, three-run shot in Game 1 for an 8-7 win.
Houston won an American League-best 106 games and reached its fourth World Series during a span in which it made it to the AL Championship Series six seasons in a row. The Astros made their only other World Series appearance in 2005, while still in the National League, and were swept in four games by the Chicago White Sox.
This was their third ALCS and second consecutive World Series since former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers revealed after the 2019 season, when he had gone from Houston for two years since being part of their 2017 championship, that the team had used a camera in center field to steal signs and signal hitters on which pitches to expect by banging on a garbage can.
“That will probably never go away but I think this just proves how good this team is and how good it’s been for a long time,” Astros owner Jim Crane said on the field afterward.
Philadelphia was 22-29 when Joe Girardi was fired in early June and replaced by bench coach Thomson, the 59-year-old baseball lifer getting his first chance a big league manager — he was on the Yankees big league staff for 10 seasons with Girardi, and was part of their last World Series and title in 2009.
The Phillies finished the regular season 65-46 under Thomson, their 87 wins good for the sixth and final spot in the NL playoffs, on the way to their first World Series since 2009.
UP NEXT
Phillies: In less than five months, the Phillies will be back in Texas to begin their 2023 regular season, about 250 miles away for the opener of an interleague series March 30 against the Texas Rangers.
Astros: Whether or not Baker and/or general manager James Click are back — neither is signed past this season — the World Series champs will play their 2023 season opener at home March 30 against the Chicago White Sox.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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PHILADELPHIA — Jeremy Peña trotted around third base, looked toward the Houston dugout and gave the most casual two-handed shrug you’ll ever see on a ballfield.
Like it was any routine game in May.
Only this was November. In the World Series. In the biggest game of his life.
Yep, this Peña postseason just kept getting better and better.
Showing the polish and poise of a proven veteran, the 25-year-old Peña put on quite an all-around performance Thursday night. He became the first rookie shortstop to homer in the World Series, added two key singles and made a critical leaping catch in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5.
“Rookie or not rookie, it doesn’t matter,” Peña said. “We’re in the World Series. You just go out and play. Go compete and let the best man win.”
Having already won the AL Championship Series MVP award and a Gold Glove in the last two weeks, the emerging star from the Dominican Republic helped Houston move one win away from the ultimate prize — the World Series trophy.
Ahead 3-2 in the matchup with the Phillies, it’s hard to imagine now the Astros started the season with many fans wondering how in the world they would replace All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa, who signed with Minnesota as a free agent.
“I never saw it as having to fill shoes,” Peña said. “I just had to come in and be myself, play my game. But at the end of the season, once we accomplish our goal, which is to go all the way, then I’ll sit down and reflect on the journey. But there’s still work to do and we’ve got to lock in.”
Again proving the biggest moments in baseball aren’t too big for him, the expressive and exuberant Peña grounded a hard RBI single up the middle in the first inning, then reached high to spear Nick Castellanos’ liner to thwart a potential rally in the third.
In the fourth, Peña lofted a go-ahead, solo drive into the left-field seats for a 2-1 lead and chased Phillies starter Noah Syndergaard.
“It felt good off the bat but I didn’t know if it was enough,” Peña said. “I was running normal and then when the umpire signaled, that’s when I started jogging.”
Peña pointed his right index finger high as he approached second base and slapped his hands together after crossing the bag. He gave a shrug moments later — shades of Michael Jordan, maybe — and put his hands together to form a heart after touching home plate.
No wonder manager Dusty Baker and the Astros love him so much.
“Well, he came into camp as a young player. He had his eyes open. He always paid attention. You could tell he was very attentive and confident, but quiet,” Baker said. “Boy, he’s played remarkably well. Boy, I mean, he’s really carried us for a while here through this postseason, and that’s especially tough for a young player, a young shortstop. And I’m just glad we have him.”
Peña showed he could play small ball, too, adeptly delivering a hit-and-run single that set up a much-needed insurance run in the eighth.
The three-hit show made Peña 8 for 21 (.381) with a pair of doubles to go along with the homer in the World Series.
That’s all come after he was 7 for 16 (.353) with two home runs and two doubles in the four-game sweep of the Yankees in the ALCS.
“I just go out and enjoy it, have fun, play hard, play my game, and then just trust my preparation,” Peña said. “There’s a lot of preparation that’s gone into this.”
He credited his Houston teammates for helping him keep his composure under pressure in close games this time of year.
“They prepare for every single game. It rubs off on you. They have a sense of calmness because they have been here I guess four years out of the last six,” Peña said. “So you just gravitate towards them and just go out and compete and have fun.”
The Astros thought they saw something special as Peña batted .253 with 22 home runs during the regular season while excelling on defense.
This October — and November — the Astros and the baseball world have seen just how special.
“I talked to him earlier in the year about being ready, especially in a clutch situation, and to remain aggressive. And he works at it. He works at his game,” Baker said.
“Every once in a while these guys come along — not that often. But it just goes to show you, I mean, his future is very, very bright.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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HOUSTON — A timely swing by J.T. Realmuto propelled the Philadelphia Phillies to an unlikely win in the World Series opener.
A terrific stab by right fielder Nick Castellanos gave him that shot.
Realmuto hit a solo home run in the 10th inning and the Phillies, saved by Castellanos’ sliding catch, rallied past the Houston Astros 6-5 Friday night.
Down 5-0 early against Astros ace Justin Verlander, the Phillies became the first team in 20 years to overcome a five-run deficit to win a World Series game.
They can thank Castellanos for getting the chance. Known much more for his bat than glove, he rushed in to make a game-saving grab on Jeremy Peña’s blooper with two outs in the ninth inning and a runner on second.
“All in all, it was a great game, a great come from behind victory, and it just showed the resilience of the club again and how tough they are and they just never quit,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Realmuto, who hit a tying, two-run double in the fifth off Verlander, completed the comeback when he led off the 10th by sending a fastball from Luis García into the seats.
Realmuto hoped for the best as he saw right fielder Kyle Tucker pursuing the ball.
“Once I saw him running back to the wall, I was thinking in my head, ‘Oh, please just don’t catch it, just don’t catch it.’”
He didn’t, the ball sailing just beyond his reach.
Realmuto circled the bases in a scene he dreamed about as a kid.
“Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean Wiffle Ball games in the backyard, the whole 3-2, bases-loaded, two-out situation. I probably had 7,000 at-bats in that situation growing up,” he said.
And did he usually deliver?
“Every time, yes,” Realmuto said, laughing.
Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an extra-inning home run in the World Series since Carlton Fisk waved his walk-off fair in the 12th inning of Game 6 in the 1975 Series against Cincinnati at Fenway Park.
Big-hitting Bryce Harper added two singles for the Phillies in his World Series debut. The two-time NL MVP is batting .426 (20 for 47) with five homers this postseason.
Tucker homered twice for the Astros, who had been 7-0 in this postseason.
“Disappointing, yeah, for sure,” Verlander said. “I need to do better. No excuses.”
Houston had a chance in the 10th when Alex Bregman doubled with one out. After Yuli Gurriel drew a two-out walk, David Robertson bounced a wild pitch that put runners on second and third.
Pinch-hitter Aledmys Díaz was then hit by a 2-0 pitch from David Robertson — but plate umpire James Hoye ruled that Díaz leaned into the pitch and didn’t permit him to go to first to load the bases.
Díaz grounded out on a 3-1 pitch to end it.
The last team to blow a 5-0 lead in the World Series was the 2002 San Francisco Giants, who squandered their chance in Game 6 to close out the Angels and win the title under manager Dusty Baker.
Baker saw it happen again this time as manager of the Astros, by the same 6-5 final score.
The 106-win Astros hadn’t lost to anyone since Philadelphia beat them on Oct. 3 behind Aaron Nola to clinch a wild-card spot as a third-place team and earn its first playoff trip in 11 years.
Houston raced out to a big lead thanks in large part to Tucker’s two homers. But the Phillies stormed back as Verlander again struggled in the World Series.
Perfect as he took a 5-0 lead into the fourth, he exited after the fifth with the score 5-all. That left him 0-6 with a 6.07 ERA in eight career World Series starts — hardly the line for a pitcher who’s expected to soon pick up his third Cy Young Award.
The Astros fell to 0-5 in World Series openers and dropped their first game this postseason after sweeping in the AL Division Series and AL Championship Series.
Seranthony Domínguez pitched a scoreless ninth to get the win when Castellanos made his stellar play.
With Jose Altuve on second base after his two-out single and stolen base, Peña hit a ball that came off the bat at 68 mph and went only about 200 feet. Castellanos ran a long way, then with a lunge made the inning-ending catch while sliding to the ground.
Right before the pitch, Castellanos moved in a little closer.
“That was just what my instincts told me to do. I just thought he had a better chance of trying to bloop something in there than torching something over my head,” he said.
In the opener of the NL Division Series against Atlanta, Castellanos drove in three runs and helped preserve the lead with a somewhat similar catch in the ninth of that 7-6 win.
“I’ve had a couple people say that it seemed like a carbon copy of each other,” he said. “But I’m just happy that an out was made and we were able to go on and win both those games.”
In the World Series for the fourth time in six years — and after losing to Atlanta in six games last year — these Astros are looking to give Baker his first title as a manager and get their second championship after winning it in 2017, a title tainted by a sign-stealing scandal.
The surprising Phillies, who have two championships, are in the World Series for the first time since 2009. They bounced back from a 21-29 start that led to manager Joe Girardi’s firing.
Tucker had the orange-clad home crowd rocking early as he became the first player in franchise history with a multi-home run game in the World Series. One of the few players in the majors to hit without batting gloves and suddenly exuding attitude, he had four RBIs a year after finishing the Fall Classic without one.
The normally mild-mannered Tucker punctuated his first homer with a nifty bat flip and mixed in an expletive as he screamed toward the dugout while beginning his trot.
Nola took a perfect game into the seventh inning in his last trip to Minute Maid Park, more than three weeks ago when Philadelphia secured its first playoff spot since 2011. Things didn’t go nearly as smooth in his return Friday.
Tucker sent an off-speed pitch from Nola soaring high and into the seats in right field to put Houston up 1-0 with no outs in the second. Gurriel, Chas McCormick and Martín Maldonado added singles for another run.
Peña, the ALCS MVP, doubled to open Houston’s third before Yordan Alvarez grounded out. He was initially ruled safe, but the Phillies challenged the call, and it was overturned.
Bregman, who was Nola’s roommate at LSU, walked before Tucker went deep again, knocking a ball into the stands behind the bullpen in right-center to extend it to 5-0.
Verlander, who had an MLB-best 1.75 ERA in the regular season, allowed six hits and five runs in five innings. He joined Roger Clemens as the only pitchers in major league history to make a World Series start in three different decades but still could not claim that elusive World Series win. Friday was his 12th career start in a postseason series opener, tying him with Jon Lester for most in MLB history.
Verlander, who started his third Series opener, retired the first 10 batters before Rhys Hoskins singled with one out in the fourth. Harper and Castellanos singled for a run and Alec Bohm hit a two-run double to cut the lead to 5-3.
Brandon Marsh opened the fifth with a double before Kyle Schwarber walked. Realmuto sent them both home with a double off the wall in left-center to tie it at 5-all.
UP NEXT
Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler opposes Framber Valdez when the series continues Saturday night.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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Bruce Bochy won three World Series with the Giants but faces a giant task with his new club, the … [+]
After winning three world championships as manager of the San Francisco Giants, Bruce Bochy probably punched his ticket to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
But he came out of his self-imposed retirement Friday to accept what may be his greatest challenge: managing the Texas Rangers, a team that was never in contention in 2022.
Bochy signed a three-year contract that carries through the 2025 season. Terms were not disclosed but his 25-year record with the Giants and San Diego Padres suggests he will be one of the most highly-paid managers in the game, with a salary stretching well into seven figures.
For the Rangers, who fired manager Chris Woodward and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels after the team’s signing spree last winter paid few dividends, had not hired an experienced manager since Buck Showalter (now with the Mets) in 2002.
Bochy, 67, was actually hired by one of his former pitchers. Chris Young, executive vice president and general manager for the Rangers, pitched for Bochy when both were together in San Diego.
Bochy managed the Padres from 1995-2006 and the Giants from 2007-2019.
The Texas Rangers, a team that has never won a World Series, hope new manager Bruce Bochy can change … [+]
“In his 25 years with San Diego and San Francisco, Bruce was one of the most successful and respected managers in Major League Baseball,” Young told reporters. “He’s a calm and steady presence, he has a remarkable ability to connect and communicate with players, coaches, and staff, and his teams have always played with maximum effort. His knowledge of the game, as well as his integrity, is unmatched.”
Bochy won World Series with the Giants in 2010, 2012, and 2014. His career record is 951-975.
The 1996 National League Manager of the Year spent the last three seasons as special advisor for the Giants but still hinted he’d like to end his three-year hiatus from the dugout. He managed Team France in the World Baseball Classic qualifier last month.
“If I was going to return to managing, it had to be the right situation,” Bochy said in a statement. “I strongly believe that to be the case with the Rangers, and I can’t wait to get started.”
The former catcher has a tough task ahead, especially since the Rangers occupy the same division as the Houston Astros, a team now playing in a record sixth consecutive American League Championship Series.
The Rangers finished fourth in the five-time AL West last year, winning only 68 games after an enormous off-season spending spree in the free-agent market. The team spent more than $500 million to give multi-year contracts to veteran shortstops Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, assigning the latter to second base, and outfielder Cole Kalhoun, among others. But Semien started slowly and the pitching never matched the upgraded offense.
Young cited Bochy’s communication skills, knowledge of the game, and integrity in explaining his decision to give the veteran pilot his first American League gig.
“As we went through the interview process,” he explained, “Bruce’s passion and excitement about returning to the dugout was very evident.”
Bochy now becomes the second oldest manager in the majors, behind only 73-year-old Dusty Baker of the Astros.
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Dan Schlossberg, Contributor
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NEW YORK — The last time Buck Showalter managed a playoff game, he ended up on the hot seat after an agonizing loss for Baltimore.
Six years later, a shot at redemption begins Friday with the New York Mets.
The popular Showalter takes his fourth franchise to the postseason this weekend when the Mets host San Diego in their best-of-three wild card series. The veteran skipper has spent more than two decades pacing major league dugouts and is still seeking his first World Series appearance.
“He’s got that chance — and that’s really what you come back for,” said former teammate Don Mattingly, who just stepped down as manager of the Miami Marlins.
Showalter had baseball’s best closer with the Orioles in 2016, but didn’t bring Zack Britton into their wild card loss at Toronto. Waiting for a save opportunity that never developed, Britton was left in the bullpen watching helplessly as Ubaldo Jiménez gave up a three-run homer to Edwin Encarnación in the 11th inning that eliminated Baltimore.
A well-respected Showalter was roundly skewered by fans, writers and commentators. He guided the Orioles through two miserable seasons that followed, then spent three on the sidelines doing television work.
Now, he’s back on the bench in October after winning a career-high 101 games in his first year leading the Mets. He joins Yogi Berra as the only managers to take the Yankees and Mets to the playoffs.
“I’d like to say that I’ve evolved with what the players need,” Showalter said. “You roll up your sleeves and see what they need you to bring, and you try to bring it.”
The only other managers to reach the playoffs with four organizations are Billy Martin, Davey Johnson and Dusty Baker (five teams). The 66-year-old Showalter, however, is the lone member of that quartet without a pennant.
And his postseason history is a painful pattern of what might have been.
A whiz kid across town, Showalter was just 38 in 1994 when players went on strike that August. At the time, his New York Yankees held the best record in the American League — but they were denied a chance to chase a ring when Major League Baseball later canceled the postseason.
The next year, he piloted the Yankees to their first playoff berth in 14 years. But they blew a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Division Series with three straight losses in Seattle, dropping the decisive Game 5 in 11 innings on a two-run double by Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez.
Late owner George Steinbrenner wanted to fire several coaches, and when Showalter wouldn’t swallow that, he was gone, too.
Joe Torre replaced him and managed the Yankees to their most recent dynasty on his way to the Hall of Fame, winning the 1996 World Series and three straight from 1998-2000 with several core players Showalter helped to groom.
“I think he’s pretty perceptive,” Mets reliever Trevor May said. “He knows a lot about guys before he even manages them.”
After leaving the Yankees, Showalter hooked on with expansion Arizona and called plenty of shots as the entire organization started from scratch.
In their second season, he managed the Diamondbacks to 100 wins and the 1999 NL West title before losing to the Mets in the playoffs on a series-ending homer in the 10th inning by backup catcher Todd Pratt, subbing for injured Hall of Famer Mike Piazza.
Two years later, Arizona won the World Series under Bob Brenly, beating the Yankees in a seven-game classic.
Showalter and the Orioles pushed the Yankees to Game 5 in a 2012 Division Series, then won the AL East in 2014 at 96-66 to earn him the third of his three AL Manager of the Year awards in a 20-year span.
But the Orioles ran into a red-hot Kansas City Royals squad that swept Baltimore in his only League Championship Series appearance.
Then came the Britton episode in 2016 — also the last year the Mets made the playoffs before Showalter arrived.
“Guys love playing for him,” big league batting champion Jeff McNeil said. “Definitely want to win one for him.”
In an interesting bit of symmetry, Showalter again has arguably the most dominant closer in baseball this season in right-hander Edwin Díaz.
But those 101 wins — second-most in franchise history — only earned the Mets (101-61) the top National League wild card. A division crown slipped away when they were swept last weekend at Atlanta, which came from 10 1/2 games back on June 1 and seven behind on Aug. 10 to win its fifth straight NL East championship.
So now, Showalter must quickly get his team refocused for a playoff run after the disappointment of leading the division for all but six days this season and still coming up short of a first-round bye.
Meticulous by nature with a never-ending thirst for information, Showalter ranks 19th in career wins with 1,652 over 21 seasons on the bench with five teams, including Texas. He became the first Mets manager to win 100 games in his debut with the club.
“He had a long layoff, so he probably thought a lot about if he came back, what he was going to change,” reliever Adam Ottavino said. “Seems to me like he’s keeping it pretty simple, and that works well when you have an older group or a good group.”
Perched on the dugout railing, jotting down thoughts in his little black notebook while players reach for tablets nearby to scroll through game video, Showalter has brought a steady hand and wealth of experience to the Mets, helping to instill maturity and professionalism on a team that never lost more than three in a row this year.
“It’s still about relationships,” he said. “It’s about the players. It’s always about the players, and trying to bring what they need. And every situation’s different. You don’t ask them to adjust to you, you adjust to what their needs are. That’s always been the same.”
Off the field, Showalter likes to crack jokes with reporters and enjoys examining the nuances of baseball, whether it be an obscure rule or the proper way for a right-handed first baseman to guard the line late in a game.
Ask him a question, he might expound on something completely off topic that was weighing on his mind.
What makes him uncomfortable, though? Talking about his own success and quest for a championship.
“I think he’s content, whether we win it, lose it (or if) he ever gets it,” Ottavino said. “But I think at the same time, if he does get it, I think you’ll find out then what it meant to him.”
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AP freelance writer Jerry Beach contributed to this story.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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