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 The Houston Astros were Major League Baseball doormats for many
years, but their promising young players have developed into
prime-time performers and it was time for a champagne party in the
visitors' clubhouse on Tuesday.
"It makes me feel complete. When you see the guys happy, that means
we are doing our job right," said 25-year-old second baseman Jose
Altuve of Venezuela in the bubbly-soaked locker room.
Houston suffered three successive seasons of more than 100 losses
from 2011, and last year posted a 70-92 record before improving to
86-76 in 2015.
Youngsters like Altuve, 21-year-old Carlos Correa and 26-year-old
George Springer have combined with veterans to become winners.
Leading the way on the mound was Dallas Keuchel, Houston's Cy Young
candidate after a 20-8 regular season, who took the mound on three
days' rest for the first time in his career and hurled six scoreless
innings giving up just three hits.
"Felt like playoff baseball," the bearded left-hander said. "It's
hard not to get up for a game like this. I didn't want to let my
teammates down."
Keuchel said the team was looking forward to continue the party
against the top-seeded Royals in the best-of-five Division Series
starting on Thursday.
"We'll have as much fun as we possibly can in Kansas City," he said.
"The taste of the champagne and the beer in your eyes, I want more
of it."
Keuchel was thinking of champagne during a tense moment in the sixth
when Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez came up with two on and manager
A.J. Hinch came out to visit him on the mound.
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"I said, 'What's for dinner?' How 'bout some champagne?'" Keuchel
said about their on-field exchange before retiring Rodriguez on a
fly ball to center.
Hinch summed up his feelings about the team just before the big
game.
"We have a good vibe about us. We don't take ourselves too
seriously, which is a good thing," the manager said.
"We are definitely not expected to be here. So I can play the
underdog card a little bit with those guys, but those guys don't
want to hear it.
"They want to win. They want to be expected to win. They want the
pressure, and that's because the makeup of this team is very, very
special, and they push each other in a way that I can really
appreciate."
(Reporting by Gary Crosse; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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