HOUSTON -- Astros manager Joe Espada texted bench coach Omar Lopez late Monday night and asked him to come pick him up at his house so they could ride to the ballpark prior to Tuesday's game. The home-to-ballpark carpools were something the pair did for the previous four years, and Espada was once again longing for the comfort of a trusted friend. Lopez packed his suitcase -- the team is leaving for Cleveland following Wednesday's series finale -- and picked up Espada at his house for the 35-minute drive to Minute Maid Park. After not being able to clinch the division Monday night, Lopez reminded Espada they put the Astros in position to succeed. "The only thing we can do is prepare ourselves, prepare those guys and at the end of the day, the guys between those two lines, it's up to them," Lopez told Espada. The Astros delivered by beating the Mariners, 4-3, clinching their seventh AL West title in the past eight seasons, overcoming a 10-game deficit in June, a ton of injuries and a world of doubt. It was a much different path than Lopez -- or anyone else -- had expected. "Spring Training was like Disney for everybody," Lopez said. "We never thought we would have these kinds of issues and Joe always was able to keep the composure. No panic. He always was good with the players and was able to put the pieces of the puzzle to get to this point. We never stopped believing, he never stopped believing, and that was the message from him and myself." |
Espada joined the coaching staff in 2018 -- the year after Houston's first AL West title -- as the bench coach under A.J. Hinch, and he continued that role under Dusty Baker before taking over the managerial position last offseason. Lopez spent four years as the first-base coach before becoming Espada's bench coach this year. "He's my right-hand man," said Espada, who hugged Lopez when the final out of Tuesday's game was recorded. "I just wanted to share the moment with him and the rest of the coaching staff." Lopez chauffeuring Espada to work was a daily ritual for the previous four years. Lopez had an apartment near Espada's suburban Houston home and would pick him up and stop for a cup of coffee on the way to the field. The two men are friends but are as different as their countries. Lopez, from Venezuela, has an edginess to him, while Espada, from Puerto Rico, has a softer touch. "Our friendship for many years is not only on the field, it's off the field," Lopez said. "The good thing between me and Joe is there's no filter. And that's what I told him when he gave me this chance. I said, 'I'm going to challenge you. I'm going to tell you exactly if I think something is not right and you're going to be mad at me, and I'm going to be mad at you, too.' But we're friends and we know how to communicate with each other really well." |
When Espada promoted Lopez to bench coach, the carpooling stopped. "I told him this year, 'Joe, I'm your bench coach. I'm not the first-base coach, I will not live close by you, at all,'" Lopez said. "'Because I know there's going to be nights you don't want to talk to anybody. There's going to be nights you're going to [drive the] 35 minutes back home and you're going to call your wife. You're going to call somebody that is going to listen to you. I probably did something you don't like, and you're going to have to wait until you cool down the next day to tell me, and that's how it is.'" Espada's cool demeanor as a leader fit the Astros perfectly. The team and its manager never panicked when the club was left for dead in June. That didn't stop Lopez from providing one last piece of advice while they drove in together Tuesday. "I said, 'Joe, today's the day,'" Lopez said. |
|
|
MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
The Astros are guaranteed to have at least two home playoff games next week, so Wednesday's regular-season home finale against the Mariners won't be the last time Houston fans will see third baseman Alex Bregman play at Minute Maid Park. Bregman, a free agent this coming offseason, hasn't given much thought about possibly saying goodbye to Houston fans at some point this month. "I've spent a lot of great years here," Bregman said. "I've had amazing teammates and I haven't really been able to think too much about that. I've just been thinking about winning this year. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole early in the season, but everybody's been playing really good baseball and [has] been super excited with how the team's responded to adversity early in the year. The fans have been incredible since I've been here. I've met so many friends for life here. [I'm] super thankful for their support always." |
Right-hander Ethan Pecko (Houston's No. 18 prospect per MLB Pipeline) was named the Astros' 2024 Minor League Pitcher of the Year and infielder Shay Whitcomb (No. 14 prospect) was named Minor League Player of the Year by the team's player development department. Pecko, 22, went 4-6 with a 3.47 ERA in 26 appearances, including 15 starts between Single-A Fayetteville, High-A Asheville and Double-A Corpus Christi. He had 125 strikeouts, a 1.21 WHIP and a .219 opponents' batting average, ranking second in strikeout-per-nine innings (11.72), fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.38), fifth in strikeouts and fifth in opponent batting average in the Astros' system. Whitcomb, 25, batted .293 with 73 runs, 19 doubles, two triples, 25 home runs, 91 RBIs, 26 stolen bases and a .908 OPS in 108 games with Triple-A Sugar Land. When he joined the Astros on Aug. 16, he led the Pacific Coast League in RBIs and was second in homers. |
|
|
FORWARDED FROM A FRIEND? SUBSCRIBE NOW |
|
|
To subscribe to Astros Beat, visit this page and mark "Astros Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Astros or that they're checked as your favorite team. |
|
|
© 2024 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
Please review our Privacy Policy.
You (gahleexholly.hdhask@blogger.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB.
Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.
Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment