Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Daily Lobo The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Latest Issue
Read our print edition on Issuu
Astros at Orioles 7/21/17
Astros at Orioles 7/21/17

World Series: Two players with New Mexico ties help Houston Astros win 1st World Series title

By now, most sports fans probably know the Houston Astros knocked off the Los Angeles Dodgers last Wednesday to win the 2017 World Series, but it may surprise some to know two players from Albuquerque, New Mexico were key pieces during the Astros’ championship run.

Houston roughed up starting pitcher Yu Darvish early to jump out to an early lead and ultimately defeat Los Angeles in the decisive game seven on Nov. 1 by a score of 5-1, hoisting the first World Series title in its 55-year history in the process.

Centerfielder George Springer took home Most Valuable Player honors for the series, but third baseman Alex Bregman came through during some big moments as well. He recorded an RBI in each of the first five World Series games, and ripped a base-hit to left field for a walk-off win in game five to give the Astros a 3-2 series lead.

And although relief pitcher Ken Giles had a tough outing and was dealt a loss in his game four appearance and posted an 0-2 postseason record in 2017, he also recorded two saves and 10 strikeouts during the run and seems to have a lot of promise moving forward.

Bregman and Giles both played high school baseball in Albuquerque before they made it to the big leagues—and both crossed paths with UNM baseball head coach Ray Birmingham along the way.

The head coach said both players come from outstanding families, saying he still remains close friends with Bregman’s parents to this day.

Birmingham said he remembered coaching Bregman when he was younger and to watch him grow has truly been something to witness.

“There was nothing athletic about him that separated him; he was smaller than everyone else,” Birmingham recalled. “He was a competitive individual, but physically—you would’ve never guessed that he would turn himself into this, (but) he has.”

He said Bregman’s attitude towards life and excitement is “unbelievably awesome” and he was the first player to arrive at practice and last to leave as he continued working on his game in his quest to make it to the big leagues.

The head coach said Bregman told him he remembered a speech the coach delivered about “deciding to be average” when he was in the eighth or ninth grade. Birmingham said deciding to be average is a personal choice—there is no alibi, no gray area—it is black and white.

He said he has coached thousands upon thousands of players throughout his career and plenty of guys tell him they wouldn’t settle for being average, but he felt something inside when Bregman and the others told him they were destined for the pros.

“In my lifetime, I’ve coached four kids that have played on the big stage, either in baseball, basketball or football. They said it at a young age—that was where they were going to be—and they meant it when they said it to me,” he said. “You could feel it—like it gave you chills when they said it.”

Enjoy what you're reading?
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Subscribe

He pointed to the wall in his office and showed a picture of former San Antonio Spur guard Avery Johnson. “He said it,” Birmingham recounted. And pitchers Brendan Donnelly and Armando Almanza said it as well.

Johnson won an NBA championship in 1999 and Donnelly and Almanza each pitched for World Series champions, the 2002 Anaheim Angels and 2003 Marlins, respectively.

Birmingham then remembered a fifth player who said he was going to make it, “a skinny kid from Lovington, New Mexico way back that said he was going to play in the NFL”. He said he tried to talk the young man into playing baseball, but Brian Urlacher probably made the right call, opting to play football instead.

Urlacher was no longer a skinny kid, when he helped guide the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl XLI appearance, though his team lost 29-17 to the Indianapolis Colts.

But Bregman and Giles joined the list of champions with the game seven victory. Birmingham, who enjoyed watching some of the postseason games, said he knew Bregman’s game one home run off Dodger starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw was coming.

Birmingham said Bregman is so intelligent in his approach to the game and has such a strong work ethic, that his mind is always thinking multiple innings ahead and using past experiences to make adjustments.

“If you know Bregman, and you start hanging around him, you start thinking like he does,” Birmingham said. “He is always in a mental chess match with a pitcher.”

Birmingham said the Bregman will remember the way a pitcher approached him in June, and even against a pitcher the caliber of Kershaw, that the Astro third baseman had learned something in the previous at-bat.

He said Bregman just missed a pitch earlier in the game and flew out, but had made a mental note of the pitch that got him out. And when Kershaw went back to the well again for that pitch in the fourth inning, Bregman hit it out of the yard.

Brimingham said Ken Giles’ older brother, Josh, played on one of his national championship teams and Giles hung around a lot as a kid.

“He started throwing really hard, but he didn’t throw any strikes,” Birmingham said. “He had a chip on his shoulder to prove to the world that he was good enough…and he proved it.”

Giles went to a junior college and started to become somebody when he starting throwing strikes with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Birmingham said Giles is a fierce competitor, and said he expects the pitcher to bounce back and be fine after enduring some of the adversity that comes with postseason pressure.

Giles converted 34 of his 38 save opportunities during the regular season, using a lightning-quick fastball that can routinely top 100 mph.

Bregman was also solid throughout the 2017 regular season, posting a .284 batting average—but proved his worth in the postseason, where the third baseman blasted four home runs, two of which came in the World Series.

Birmingham’s coaching career has spanned four decades, and although he has already had an influence on plenty of athletes that made the professional ranks, there will likely still be more. In fact, he may have just given a speech that made another future major-leaguer decide not to be average in the time it took you to read this article.

Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers basketball, football and tennis. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Robert_Maler.

Comments
Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Daily Lobo