The Astros' manager, a baseball lifer widely beloved in the sport, had just one thing missing from his managing resume. Not anymore.
In the end, the winning equation was simple: Framber Valdez threw six dominant innings. Yordan Alvarez hit a three-run homer in the sixth to give the Astros a lead. Their dominant bullpen held it. Perhaps, after all that, Baker had endured the difficult part already.
As the rest of the industry rooted for him, Baker trained himself not to need a title. He had come to terms with a legacy that didn’t include one; he said no one would make him feel like a failure, not with 2,093 regular season wins to his name — ninth most all-time, trailing only Hall of Famers.
His son, Darren, was a 3-year-old batboy the first time he got this chance, too young to know what was happening, small enough for Giants first baseman J.T. Snowin one of the more iconic images of recent baseball history. Darren was there Saturday, too, old enough to share in champagne celebration — old enough to know exactly how much this means.
And it was Thomson who would be left wondering for years to come what might have been because the first batter Jose Alvarado faced was Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez hit a three-run homer 450 feet to center field. Baker was nine outs away.When Alvarez got back to the dugout, Baker was down at the end furthest from home plate, a different spot than normal.
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