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2018 Houston Astros Season Thread

Planet Houston

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TexArcher
TexArcher

Bregs is going Crawford Boxes right here.

ERhine
ERhine

Prior to the footage being edited by Bender:

wesleywest
wesleywest

Two Diamond Club tickets available for the Sunday night game.  Free.  Need to pick them up from me in 77027. Rules: Poster must be a big contributor to this thread/last years shag thread.  No gue

Gut Wagon

Gut Wagon 8087

Posted
Posted

A Houston fan might get the feeling (right or not) that MLB was doing what it could to bail out its beloved Bosox. I hope our team really feels the same way and develops even more of an “us against the world” spirit as the playoffs near. Boston’s dream needs crushing, and I’m pretty sure the Astros are eager to do it. 

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MAROON

MAROON 445

Posted
Posted (edited)
 

 

glad to see AJ stand up for his team.  Also saw that Dallas had some choice words for MLB and Josh tweeted a still frame of the play with the caption "Out".

If I'm Crane I've got Rob Manfred on the phone this morning asking for an explanation.  And not some bullshit "we didn't see enough to overturn explanation". MLB has an integrity issue right now.  This isn't the only call they have blown.

 

 

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Scraps

Scraps 13577

Posted
Posted

I keep seeing people trying to compare the A's review to last night.  A's review still pic that is being used is idiotic because you can't see Machete tagging him.  They aren't even in the same stratosphere.  The Altuve one is a clear non tag with player touching home plate. (plus if you actually see the correct angle Laureano actually is safe as well, in my eyes.)

 

 

 

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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, Scraps said:

I keep seeing people trying to compare the A's review to last night.  A's review still pic that is being used is idiotic because you can't see Machete tagging him.  They aren't even in the same stratosphere.  The Altuve one is a clear non tag with player touching home plate. (plus if you actually see the correct angle Laureano actually is safe as well, in my eyes.)

 

 

 

You can see Machete tagging him, but you can't see how the tag and hand on the plate coincide in real time from the same angle. That's the point, they had no conclusive evidence to take the call from the ump on the field and they did so anyway. Completely inconsistent application of replay vs last night's review decision.

Also, the other reason for comparison is the obvious fact that it cost us that game as well. The organization has good reason to have beef with MLB Replay.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29194

Posted
Posted

bottom line is that if new york cannot be expected to get this call right 3 weeks before playoff baseball starts, in a sunday night nationally televised game vs the two best teams in baseball and everyone's picks to be the alcs matchup, then i have no confidence that they'll get their shit together for when it really matters.

and fuck this whole "yeah he was safe, but since it was called out on the field, it's too hard to overturn it."  no.  this is not the nfl, and this was not a judgment call or an interpretation of some bullshit catch rule situation. 

when new york gets the video in front of them, they shouldn't even know what the call on the field was.  for the purpose of replay to actually get carried out, they should have a completely neutral view of the play, and say what they see.  i know they're trying to protect the umps or whatever the fuck, but the reason replay exists is to get the fucking call right. 

so next time, do that.

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Tommy Nobis

Tommy Nobis 905

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, mbtex said:

I am kind of tired of the pitch location boxes also. Because all they do  is piss me off seeing how bad these umps are at calling balls and strikes.

Eh, I like knowing if they're calling it fair.  I don't like Espn's where they leave the box up every pitch.

 

I like how our home broadcast does it and only shows us the box to highlight a pitch to confirm good or bad call.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29194

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Not possible for them to have a neutral view of the call.  The call is right there in the replay.   But theoretically it would be ideal. 

not a literal neutral view - i get that they see the call in front of them.  they should look at the play as if they didn't have that information.  it shouldn't factor in their decision.  that way, if it's "too close to call" or "not definitive one way or the other" - then they can side with whatever the original call was.  but if they think it's pretty clearly out or safe (like everyone in the booth thought), that should be the call.

it's almost like there's some math/logic problem going on in their heads.  "well, to overcome an out call, we had to be sure on the scale of 9/10 and we were only at 8.5/10 so the call stands."  i understand that across multiple sports, this has evolved to become the process, but it's idiotic.  this isn't a court of law.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29194

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Even more annoying when all the announcers agreed he was safe

"mad-dog" russo who's a huge ny (mets) homer and typically very biased, not a huge astros guy, was pretty up-in-arms this morning about it, and how ridiculous it was that the call got blown, then not overturned.

we all know that the great bank of the baseball gods works on debits and credits.  we've made some deposits.  come october, we're gonna make a big fucking withdrawal.  not sure how we're carry it all, but i think bregman has a wheelbarrow.

 

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IDIOTsavant

IDIOTsavant 8502

Posted
Posted
Just now, Scraps said:

Lol yeah the weather angle is laughable since tomorrows game is later

The Lions game also makes sense, but Tigers games in April and September often have earlier start times. For example:

March/April 2018

March 29 vs. PIT @1:10 p.m.

March 31 vs. PIT @ 1:10 p.m.

April 1 vs. PIT @ 1:10 p.m.

April 2 vs. KC @ 1:10 p.m.

April 3 vs. KC @ 1:10 p.m.

April 4 vs. KC @ 1:10 p.m.

April 13 vs. NYY @ 7:10 p.m.

April 14 vs. NYY @ 1:10 p.m.

April 15 vs. NYY @ 1:10 p.m.

April 17 vs. BAL @ 6:40 p.m.

April 18 vs. BAL @ 6:40 p.m.

April 19 vs. BAL @ 1:10 p.m.

April 20 vs. KC @ 7:10 p.m.

April 21 vs. KC @ 1:10 p.m.

April 22 vs. KC @ 1:10 p.m.

April 30 vs. TB @ 7:10 p.m.

 

September 2018

September 7 vs. STL @ 7:10 p.m.

September 8 vs. STL @ 6:10 p.m.

September 9 vs. STL @ 1:10 p.m.

September 10 vs. HOU @ 6:40 p.m.

September 11 vs. HOU @ 6:40 p.m.

September 12 vs. HOU @ 1:10 p.m.

September 17 vs. MIN @ 7:10 p.m.

September 18 vs. MIN @ 7:10 p.m.

September 19 vs. MIN @ 1:10 p.m.

September 20 vs. KC @ 7:10 p.m.

September 21 vs. KC @ 7:10 p.m.

September 22 vs. KC @ 6:10 p.m.

September 23 vs. KC @ 1:10 p.m.

 

Are all of them early? Clearly, not, but it does seem to be an inordinate amount of their home games. In April 3/16 home games start after 7.; it's 5/13 in September. You know, but I'm just an Astros fan who froze his ass off trying to catch some baseball in April while I lived up there.

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Scraps

Scraps 13577

Posted
Posted (edited)

lol that is no different than what Houston does and we are indoors.  Most games start at 7:10, then Saturdays 6:10 or day game, then day games on Sunday and a lot of the getaway days either Wed/Thurs.   

 

I will give you in March/April because it is idiotic to have north teams even playing that early in the year 

 

 

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29194

Posted
Posted
54 minutes ago, Scraps said:

lol that is no different than what Houston does and we are indoors.  Most games start at 7:10, then Saturdays 6:10 or day game, then day games on Sunday and a lot of the getaway days either Wed/Thurs.   

 

I will give you in March/April because it is idiotic to have north teams even playing that early in the year 

 

 

maybe because it's starting to get dark earlier and nobody wants to be wandering around downtown detroit at 10pm?

(i have no idea where the stadium is)

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WBT

WBT 20669

Posted
Posted
Spoiler

 

25 years later, a memory of baseball, friendship and the game of a lifetime

It was a curveball that officially ended Darryl Kile’s no-hitter against the Mets 25 years ago on Saturday, a wicked overhand bender that Chico Walker, thrust into the game as a pinch-hitter, had zero chance of hitting.

Walker knew it. Kile knew it, and so did his catcher and close friend, Scott Servais. Hell, each and every one of the 15,684 fans at the Astrodome who stayed around long enough to witness history probably knew it as well.

“That last pitch was a curveball no one on this side of Earth could’ve hit,” Walker would tell reporters after the game.

He was right, and when Servais clutched the ball after Walker swung through it, a mob of teammates immediately engulfed Kile on the mound. Servais was the first to arrive, wrapping his arms around Kile in a bearhug, a moment that will forever be etched in Servais’ mind for a lot of reasons.

Long after that mob subsided and the Astros returned to the clubhouse, Kile, with his undershirt drenched in equal parts sweat and champagne, stood in front of his locker and tried his best to explain his 85-pitch masterpiece.

“Luck was on my side tonight,” Kile told reporters.

There was more to it than that.

Kile, 24 at the time, won 15 games for the 1993 Astros, a breakout season that included his a trip to the All-Star Game. He’d shown flashes of greatness, though this was the first time he harnessed it into nine tidy innings of dominance.

One of the best perks of the 1993 season for Kile was having batterymate Servais along for the ride. Their relationship was born years earlier in the minor leagues; Kile was the kid from Southern California who oozed fearless confidence. Servais was Midwest through and through, unassuming and reserved.

In some ways, they couldn’t have been more different. In others, they couldn’t have been more the same.

“I still have a picture in my office at home from that night,” Servais said. “We have a glass of champagne in our hands, and Darryl has an ice pack on his shoulder. We were still in the game shirts we wore under our jerseys.”

Servais stops and smiles. It’s been over 16 years since Kile died in his sleep inside an 11th-floor hotel room in Chicago, the victim of a heart attack. That’s not how Servais prefers to remember his friend, though: Not what he, Servais, lost. It’s what he had; it’s what they had: their journey, their friendship and that perfect night 25 years ago.

Kile is never far from Servais’ mind, because Servais, the current Mariners manager, won’t allow it.

On a shelf in Servais’ office at Safeco Field, there’s a print of a painting that noted Houston artist Opie Otterstad created shortly after the game. It shows Servais the moment he reached Kile after the no-hitter. Kile is smiling, his arms wrapped around his friend. The original painting still hangs in the Astros’ clubhouse.

You can’t see Servais’ face in the painting, but you can be sure he is smiling, too.

“Looking back at that game now … I think that it was beautiful to have something like that happen between them, for Darryl to do that and to have Scott with him,” Flynn Jensen, Kile’s former wife, told The Athletic last week. “It was something they could share. There were all those (close) plays being made behind Darryl that night, but he was just sort of in his little zone with his catcher.”

Servais first met Kile in the Astros’ instructional league in 1988. Kile had been in the system for a year. Servais, taken in the third round of the 1988 draft, spent that summer playing for the U.S. Olympic team. Following spring training in 1989, Kile went to Double-A Columbus, while Servais headed to Class-A Osceola to begin his professional career. Soon enough, Servais joined Kile in Columbus.

“That’s when I started spending a lot of time with him,” Servais said. “We just hit it off.”

It’s not unusual for a pitcher and catcher to form a tight bond, though it doesn’t always work out that way. Egos often can get in the way, so can differing opinions or clashing personalities. That was never the case with Kile and Servais.

“I think I had something to offer him. I had experience playing at a high amateur level and the strength of my game was calling a game and also helping pitchers,” Servais said. “You’re always trying to help guys along, so I hoped I could pass my experiences along to him and we could both one day play in the big leagues.”

They didn’t have to wait long. Servais and Kile each made their big-league debuts with the Astros in 1991. Kile made the Astros as a reliever out of spring training, with Servais joining the team from Triple-A later that summer.

This is where Servais’ relationship with Kile really blossomed, though not just in terms of their close bond, but with the frequency of their playful jabs at each other.

“The shit-talking,” Servais said, smiling. “…The thing about DK was he knew a little about everything. No matter what you were talking about, he would correct you, but he’d do it in a fun way. We had a lot of fun with that.”

Kile and Servais went at each other to no end. Really, just about everything was in play.

“It was always the competitive back-and-forth with Darryl,” Servais said. “He was a heck of a golfer, so I enjoyed our matches. He was in the middle of all the card games. He was just very competitive. It could be anything, even just doing stuff around the clubhouse.”

Jensen, who married Darryl in 1992, saw the relationship between Kile and Servais from the outset. Sometimes, the way the two carried on would make her shake her head. Most of the time, though, it made her smile.

“They were funny,” Jensen said. “I think they really enjoyed the banter with each other. They were both very old-school, baseball traditionalists. I think there was just this mutual respect they had for each other. They could be truthful and honest with each other.

“Darryl and Scott were like brothers.”

Luis Gonzalez, who began his career with the Astros from 1990-95 and returned again in 1997, saw how Kile and Servais interacted. It made him laugh, too. But there was more to it than that. Gonzalez quickly realized there was something in Servais that brought out the best in Kile.

“I think Scotty took it as a mission,” Gonzalez said. “He had a good knack of getting the most out of somebody and he saw the potential that Darryl had and challenged him. I think that sort of motivated Darryl.”

Kile posted ERAs of 3.69 and 3.95 in his first two years with Houston, splitting time that first season between the bullpen and the rotation. Kile made a spot start for the team in 1991 that provided manager Art Howe evidence that big things were on his horizon.

“We had injuries, and I think that we were really stressed for starting pitching, and I knew Darryl would start eventually. We put him in a spot start and, of course, he has a no-hitter through six innings,” Howe said of an April outing against the Reds. “But I knew the most pitches he had thrown was like 60, so I had to take him out. We were at home and I remember the fans were all over me about that. But I did not want to ruin this kid’s arm.”

By 1993, though, Kile was ready to assume a greater workload and take his place in a rotation that included Doug Drabek, Pete Harnisch and Mark Portugal, who won 18 games that season. The Astros were ready to take orbit, it seemed. Jeff Bagwell was 25, Craig Biggio 27. Ken Caminiti (30), Steve Finley (27) and Gonzalez (25) were all in their primes – or on their way.

“Our team was really young. A lot of us got called up in September of 1990. And by 1993, we all felt like we were headed in the right direction,” Gonzalez said. “And so I think that when Darryl threw the no-hitter, I think, put that taste in our mouths, like, ‘Hey, this guy has gotten to that next level and maybe we can, too.'”

AP_930908029-692x1024.jpg
(AP Photo)

Servais didn’t see the no-hitter coming. No matter how good his friend was that season, does anyone ever really see a no-hitter coming? Sure, his curveball was coming fast and his stuff could be dominant from start-to-start. But a no-hitter?

“Darryl kind of honed his stuff that year … and the curveball really come together for him and how he was going about it,” Servais said. “Like a lot of young pitchers, you get toward the end of the season and you start scuffling a little bit. But that night, Darryl had it going.”

Kile wasn’t perfect (he walked one to go along with nine strikeouts), but he wasn’t far from it. The Mets actually managed to push across an unearned run in the fourth inning, though it came on a strange play.

In that inning, after Jeff McKnight walked, Kile uncorked a wild pitch that Servais thought had hit the foot of Joe Orsulak. As the ball rolled away, McKnight kept on running. When first baseman Jeff Bagwell tracked down the ball, he threw it away trying to get McKnight at third base, which allowed McKnight to trot home

“This was back in the day before replay. It was a curveball, and I believe it hit him (Orsulak) in the toe and I reacted to the umpire,” Servais said. “In the meantime … the ball skips away from me and the run scores. In today’s game (with replay), it would not have happened.”

If that moment rankled Kile, it didn’t for long. Servais wouldn’t allow that. A good catcher finds a way to work with a pitcher during any given start. A great one, though, helps guide the pitcher through the start, no-hitter or otherwise.

“Scotty really loved to catch. He was into it 100 percent every game, too. It was something that he really hard worked at,” Howe said. “His intelligence calling a game was outstanding. That’s probably why he’s such a good manager now.”

As is often the case with a no-hitter, there were a few close calls along the way.

In the seventh inning, Eddie Murray absolutely crushed a ball down the third-base line that Caminiti somehow corralled by his ankles for an out. Orsulak, the very next hitter, hit a ball on the ground between shortstop and third base that appeared destined for a hit. But shortstop Andújar Cedeño backhanded the ball, turned, jumped and threw the ball across the diamond to get Orsulak, barely, at first.

“Bang-bang play,” Servais said. “Great play.”

Gonzalez, who was standing in left field, had the sense that something special was happening. But it wasn’t excitement that washed over him.

“I think we were all just as nervous as he was. We were all kids in the big leagues. We had never been in that situation before,” Gonzalez said. “What’s funny is that I would play in four or five no-hitters. But when you’re out there, you’re a nervous wreck. You don’t want to be the guy who has the ball drop in front of you.”

Casey Candaele, who started the game in center field, had a great vantage point for watching Kile, especially in terms of seeing the break on that curveball, which perplexed the Mets all game long.

“Watching from center field, I could see Darryl had a nasty curveball that day. We called it the ‘old-fashioned drop ball’ because it had a big 12-6 (o’clock) action,” Candaele said. “He was locked in with all his pitches.”

Kile’s stuff was electric, but stuff alone wouldn’t do the job. Catchers always say that you can learn a lot about a pitcher’s performance by watching the hitters’ swings. Servais saw that the Mets weren’t getting good swings on Kile, especially the curve, so he insisted Kile throw it.

“We’d go back-and-forth on pitching calling a lot,” Servais said. “We just had very strong personalities, and we always loved to debate it. That’s where the shake-offs would come in during the course of the game. But there wasn’t a lot of that.”

And for good reason.

“Darryl trusted Scott,” Candaele said.

By the middle of the game, Jensen, who was at the Astrodome, was put on alert as to what was happening by Kile’s agent. She hadn’t noticed that history might be in the offing, but once she did, dialed in, just like everyone else.

“I’m sure there were times when Scott, who was pretty intense, would put down the same sign time after time with Darryl,” she said. “But that day, they were just so in sync. That day, Darryl was just on. … It was like he was on autopilot.”

In the sixth inning, Kile needed just six pitches to get three outs. As Servais trotted back to the dugout, the reality of the situation hit him.

“You look up in the fifth, sixth inning, and they don’t have a hit yet,” Servais said. “Then you start thinking to yourself, ‘Maybe we can pull this off.’”

In the ninth inning, no-hitter still intact, Kile got Todd Hundley to ground out to Cedeño at shortstop for the first out. He then ran a 2-2 count on Tito Navarro, eventually getting him looking at a called third strike.

“I didn’t think anyone could put a good swing on his curveball all night,” Servais said. “So stay with it, stay with the bread and butter. That’s what got us to that point.”

By the time Walker reached the batter’s box, Servais’ heart was racing. And his probably wasn’t the only one. He could sense the no-hitter. He wanted this. He wanted this for his friend more than anything.

“The last inning of the game,” Servais said. “I had been down that road and lost a few no-hitters in the ninth inning, where guys would shake me off or where I was adamant and they threw that pitch and gave up a hit.

“You feel awful about that,” Servais said. “But you have to go with your instincts, your gut.”

Two fingers for the curve. It was, as Candaele said, the “old-fashioned drop ball” – thrown with an overhand delivery, the ball darted down as it reached the plate. The left-handed hitting Walker never had a chance.

“Probably missed it by two feet,” he would later say.

KileServais-v2-1024x768.jpg
(Photo courtesy Scott Servais)

Servais and Kile would play together in Houston into the 1995 season before Servais was traded to the Cubs in June. Kile became a free agent following the 1996 season, signing a three-year, $24 million deal with Colorado. But even though they were no longer teammates, they would still meet in the offseason for golf, with Flynn and Jill Servais, Scott’s wife, joining in.

And, as you might expect, Servais and Kile would occasionally face each other in games, which led to a funny moment in 1999.

“I ended up facing Darryl when I was with the Giants and he was with Colorado in a game at old Candlestick Park,” Servais said. “So during the game, I hit a breaking ball that hits off Darryl’s kneecap and shoots over into foul ground, but he refuses to come out of the game. There was no way his friend was going to knock him out of the game. Afterwards, he won’t hardly talk to me.”

Midway through the 2002 season, Servais, weeks removed from his 35thbirthday, decided to retire. He was playing for Colorado Springs, the Rockies’ Triple-A team. He hopped in his car and drove to Omaha, where his son was playing in a youth baseball tournament. From there, the family returned to their home in Colorado.

It was on an otherwise quiet Saturday – June 22 – when Servais received a phone call from his father.

“It was about a week after I retired and I got a call from my dad asking me if I had heard about Darryl,” Servais said. “That really set me back.”

Darryl Kile was gone at 33, leaving behind Flynn and their three children, as well as countless others who tried to make sense of it all.

“As a player, I think it’s always hard when you step away from the game – Should I keep playing or not?,” Servais said. “But that was a message that I needed to spend more time with my family and move on to a new career.”

Servais went on to work for the Rangers and the Angels in the front office, first as the director of player development in Texas and later as assistant general manager in Anaheim. The Mariners hired him as manager in the winter of 2015.

At his various stops since his playing days ended, Servais has thought about Kile, not just the memories from their time together, but of what it would have been like to have Kile still in his life, working next to him.

“I’ve often said that in the jobs I’ve had the last 10, 15 years … Darryl would have been working with me,” Servais said. “There’s no way I would have run an entire minor league department without Darryl. I would have been working with him somewhere.”

Twenty-five years have passed since that magical day in the Astrodome. Servais is in this third season managing the Mariners. Jensen remarried and now lives just north of San Diego. When the Mariners were in town last week, Flynn came to Petco Park to see Scott and Jill.

“Darryl was always such a good judge of character,” Jensen said. “And who you surround yourself with was important to him. Scott is just a good man, and a hard worker. He’s a family man. These are the things that mattered to Darryl.”

Twenty-five years ago on Saturday, Kile made history. His good friend was there for every pitch. Enough time has passed now that Servais can’t remember all the details from that night. But he remembers most of them.

“When we’re both 55 years old, hanging out on the golf course, he will tell me he went against a call of mine to get a key out,” Servais told reporters following the no-hitter. “And I’ll tell him it was all my calls that did it for him.”

 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9528

Posted
Posted

It was a curveball that officially ended Darryl Kile’s no-hitter against the Mets 25 years ago on Saturday, a wicked overhand bender that Chico Walker, thrust into the game as a pinch-hitter, had zero chance of hitting.

Walker knew it. Kile knew it, and so did his catcher and close friend, Scott Servais. Hell, each and every one of the 15,684 fans at the Astrodome who stayed around long enough to witness history probably knew it as well.

“That last pitch was a curveball no one on this side of Earth could’ve hit,” Walker would tell reporters after the game.

He was right, and when Servais clutched the ball after Walker swung through it, a mob of teammates immediately engulfed Kile on the mound. Servais was the first to arrive, wrapping his arms around Kile in a bearhug, a moment that will forever be etched in Servais’ mind for a lot of reasons.

Long after that mob subsided and the Astros returned to the clubhouse, Kile, with his undershirt drenched in equal parts sweat and champagne, stood in front of his locker and tried his best to explain his 85-pitch masterpiece.

“Luck was on my side tonight,” Kile told reporters.

There was more to it than that.

Kile, 24 at the time, won 15 games for the 1993 Astros, a breakout season that included his a trip to the All-Star Game. He’d shown flashes of greatness, though this was the first time he harnessed it into nine tidy innings of dominance.

One of the best perks of the 1993 season for Kile was having batterymate Servais along for the ride. Their relationship was born years earlier in the minor leagues; Kile was the kid from Southern California who oozed fearless confidence. Servais was Midwest through and through, unassuming and reserved.

In some ways, they couldn’t have been more different. In others, they couldn’t have been more the same.

“I still have a picture in my office at home from that night,” Servais said. “We have a glass of champagne in our hands, and Darryl has an ice pack on his shoulder. We were still in the game shirts we wore under our jerseys.”

Servais stops and smiles. It’s been over 16 years since Kile died in his sleep inside an 11th-floor hotel room in Chicago, the victim of a heart attack. That’s not how Servais prefers to remember his friend, though: Not what he, Servais, lost. It’s what he had; it’s what they had: their journey, their friendship and that perfect night 25 years ago.

Kile is never far from Servais’ mind, because Servais, the current Mariners manager, won’t allow it.

On a shelf in Servais’ office at Safeco Field, there’s a print of a painting that noted Houston artist Opie Otterstad created shortly after the game. It shows Servais the moment he reached Kile after the no-hitter. Kile is smiling, his arms wrapped around his friend. The original painting still hangs in the Astros’ clubhouse.

You can’t see Servais’ face in the painting, but you can be sure he is smiling, too.

“Looking back at that game now … I think that it was beautiful to have something like that happen between them, for Darryl to do that and to have Scott with him,” Flynn Jensen, Kile’s former wife, told The Athletic last week. “It was something they could share. There were all those (close) plays being made behind Darryl that night, but he was just sort of in his little zone with his catcher.”

Servais first met Kile in the Astros’ instructional league in 1988. Kile had been in the system for a year. Servais, taken in the third round of the 1988 draft, spent that summer playing for the U.S. Olympic team. Following spring training in 1989, Kile went to Double-A Columbus, while Servais headed to Class-A Osceola to begin his professional career. Soon enough, Servais joined Kile in Columbus.

“That’s when I started spending a lot of time with him,” Servais said. “We just hit it off.”

It’s not unusual for a pitcher and catcher to form a tight bond, though it doesn’t always work out that way. Egos often can get in the way, so can differing opinions or clashing personalities. That was never the case with Kile and Servais.

“I think I had something to offer him. I had experience playing at a high amateur level and the strength of my game was calling a game and also helping pitchers,” Servais said. “You’re always trying to help guys along, so I hoped I could pass my experiences along to him and we could both one day play in the big leagues.”

They didn’t have to wait long. Servais and Kile each made their big-league debuts with the Astros in 1991. Kile made the Astros as a reliever out of spring training, with Servais joining the team from Triple-A later that summer.

This is where Servais’ relationship with Kile really blossomed, though not just in terms of their close bond, but with the frequency of their playful jabs at each other.

“The shit-talking,” Servais said, smiling. “…The thing about DK was he knew a little about everything. No matter what you were talking about, he would correct you, but he’d do it in a fun way. We had a lot of fun with that.”

Kile and Servais went at each other to no end. Really, just about everything was in play.

“It was always the competitive back-and-forth with Darryl,” Servais said. “He was a heck of a golfer, so I enjoyed our matches. He was in the middle of all the card games. He was just very competitive. It could be anything, even just doing stuff around the clubhouse.”

Jensen, who married Darryl in 1992, saw the relationship between Kile and Servais from the outset. Sometimes, the way the two carried on would make her shake her head. Most of the time, though, it made her smile.

“They were funny,” Jensen said. “I think they really enjoyed the banter with each other. They were both very old-school, baseball traditionalists. I think there was just this mutual respect they had for each other. They could be truthful and honest with each other.

“Darryl and Scott were like brothers.”

Luis Gonzalez, who began his career with the Astros from 1990-95 and returned again in 1997, saw how Kile and Servais interacted. It made him laugh, too. But there was more to it than that. Gonzalez quickly realized there was something in Servais that brought out the best in Kile.

“I think Scotty took it as a mission,” Gonzalez said. “He had a good knack of getting the most out of somebody and he saw the potential that Darryl had and challenged him. I think that sort of motivated Darryl.”

Kile posted ERAs of 3.69 and 3.95 in his first two years with Houston, splitting time that first season between the bullpen and the rotation. Kile made a spot start for the team in 1991 that provided manager Art Howe evidence that big things were on his horizon.

“We had injuries, and I think that we were really stressed for starting pitching, and I knew Darryl would start eventually. We put him in a spot start and, of course, he has a no-hitter through six innings,” Howe said of an April outing against the Reds. “But I knew the most pitches he had thrown was like 60, so I had to take him out. We were at home and I remember the fans were all over me about that. But I did not want to ruin this kid’s arm.”

By 1993, though, Kile was ready to assume a greater workload and take his place in a rotation that included Doug Drabek, Pete Harnisch and Mark Portugal, who won 18 games that season. The Astros were ready to take orbit, it seemed. Jeff Bagwell was 25, Craig Biggio 27. Ken Caminiti (30), Steve Finley (27) and Gonzalez (25) were all in their primes – or on their way.

“Our team was really young. A lot of us got called up in September of 1990. And by 1993, we all felt like we were headed in the right direction,” Gonzalez said. “And so I think that when Darryl threw the no-hitter, I think, put that taste in our mouths, like, ‘Hey, this guy has gotten to that next level and maybe we can, too.'”

AP_930908029-692x1024.jpg
(AP Photo)

Servais didn’t see the no-hitter coming. No matter how good his friend was that season, does anyone ever really see a no-hitter coming? Sure, his curveball was coming fast and his stuff could be dominant from start-to-start. But a no-hitter?

“Darryl kind of honed his stuff that year … and the curveball really come together for him and how he was going about it,” Servais said. “Like a lot of young pitchers, you get toward the end of the season and you start scuffling a little bit. But that night, Darryl had it going.”

Kile wasn’t perfect (he walked one to go along with nine strikeouts), but he wasn’t far from it. The Mets actually managed to push across an unearned run in the fourth inning, though it came on a strange play.

In that inning, after Jeff McKnight walked, Kile uncorked a wild pitch that Servais thought had hit the foot of Joe Orsulak. As the ball rolled away, McKnight kept on running. When first baseman Jeff Bagwell tracked down the ball, he threw it away trying to get McKnight at third base, which allowed McKnight to trot home

“This was back in the day before replay. It was a curveball, and I believe it hit him (Orsulak) in the toe and I reacted to the umpire,” Servais said. “In the meantime … the ball skips away from me and the run scores. In today’s game (with replay), it would not have happened.”

If that moment rankled Kile, it didn’t for long. Servais wouldn’t allow that. A good catcher finds a way to work with a pitcher during any given start. A great one, though, helps guide the pitcher through the start, no-hitter or otherwise.

“Scotty really loved to catch. He was into it 100 percent every game, too. It was something that he really hard worked at,” Howe said. “His intelligence calling a game was outstanding. That’s probably why he’s such a good manager now.”

As is often the case with a no-hitter, there were a few close calls along the way.

In the seventh inning, Eddie Murray absolutely crushed a ball down the third-base line that Caminiti somehow corralled by his ankles for an out. Orsulak, the very next hitter, hit a ball on the ground between shortstop and third base that appeared destined for a hit. But shortstop Andújar Cedeño backhanded the ball, turned, jumped and threw the ball across the diamond to get Orsulak, barely, at first.

“Bang-bang play,” Servais said. “Great play.”

Gonzalez, who was standing in left field, had the sense that something special was happening. But it wasn’t excitement that washed over him.

“I think we were all just as nervous as he was. We were all kids in the big leagues. We had never been in that situation before,” Gonzalez said. “What’s funny is that I would play in four or five no-hitters. But when you’re out there, you’re a nervous wreck. You don’t want to be the guy who has the ball drop in front of you.”

Casey Candaele, who started the game in center field, had a great vantage point for watching Kile, especially in terms of seeing the break on that curveball, which perplexed the Mets all game long.

“Watching from center field, I could see Darryl had a nasty curveball that day. We called it the ‘old-fashioned drop ball’ because it had a big 12-6 (o’clock) action,” Candaele said. “He was locked in with all his pitches.”

Kile’s stuff was electric, but stuff alone wouldn’t do the job. Catchers always say that you can learn a lot about a pitcher’s performance by watching the hitters’ swings. Servais saw that the Mets weren’t getting good swings on Kile, especially the curve, so he insisted Kile throw it.

“We’d go back-and-forth on pitching calling a lot,” Servais said. “We just had very strong personalities, and we always loved to debate it. That’s where the shake-offs would come in during the course of the game. But there wasn’t a lot of that.”

And for good reason.

“Darryl trusted Scott,” Candaele said.

By the middle of the game, Jensen, who was at the Astrodome, was put on alert as to what was happening by Kile’s agent. She hadn’t noticed that history might be in the offing, but once she did, dialed in, just like everyone else.

“I’m sure there were times when Scott, who was pretty intense, would put down the same sign time after time with Darryl,” she said. “But that day, they were just so in sync. That day, Darryl was just on. … It was like he was on autopilot.”

In the sixth inning, Kile needed just six pitches to get three outs. As Servais trotted back to the dugout, the reality of the situation hit him.

“You look up in the fifth, sixth inning, and they don’t have a hit yet,” Servais said. “Then you start thinking to yourself, ‘Maybe we can pull this off.’”

In the ninth inning, no-hitter still intact, Kile got Todd Hundley to ground out to Cedeño at shortstop for the first out. He then ran a 2-2 count on Tito Navarro, eventually getting him looking at a called third strike.

“I didn’t think anyone could put a good swing on his curveball all night,” Servais said. “So stay with it, stay with the bread and butter. That’s what got us to that point.” 

By the time Walker reached the batter’s box, Servais’ heart was racing. And his probably wasn’t the only one. He could sense the no-hitter. He wanted this. He wanted this for his friend more than anything.

“The last inning of the game,” Servais said. “I had been down that road and lost a few no-hitters in the ninth inning, where guys would shake me off or where I was adamant and they threw that pitch and gave up a hit.

“You feel awful about that,” Servais said. “But you have to go with your instincts, your gut.”

Two fingers for the curve. It was, as Candaele said, the “old-fashioned drop ball” – thrown with an overhand delivery, the ball darted down as it reached the plate. The left-handed hitting Walker never had a chance.

“Probably missed it by two feet,” he would later say.

KileServais-v2-1024x768.jpg
(Photo courtesy Scott Servais)

Servais and Kile would play together in Houston into the 1995 season before Servais was traded to the Cubs in June. Kile became a free agent following the 1996 season, signing a three-year, $24 million deal with Colorado. But even though they were no longer teammates, they would still meet in the offseason for golf, with Flynn and Jill Servais, Scott’s wife, joining in.

And, as you might expect, Servais and Kile would occasionally face each other in games, which led to a funny moment in 1999.

“I ended up facing Darryl when I was with the Giants and he was with Colorado in a game at old Candlestick Park,” Servais said. “So during the game, I hit a breaking ball that hits off Darryl’s kneecap and shoots over into foul ground, but he refuses to come out of the game. There was no way his friend was going to knock him out of the game. Afterwards, he won’t hardly talk to me.”

Midway through the 2002 season, Servais, weeks removed from his 35thbirthday, decided to retire. He was playing for Colorado Springs, the Rockies’ Triple-A team. He hopped in his car and drove to Omaha, where his son was playing in a youth baseball tournament. From there, the family returned to their home in Colorado.

It was on an otherwise quiet Saturday – June 22 – when Servais received a phone call from his father. 

“It was about a week after I retired and I got a call from my dad asking me if I had heard about Darryl,” Servais said. “That really set me back.”

Darryl Kile was gone at 33, leaving behind Flynn and their three children, as well as countless others who tried to make sense of it all.

“As a player, I think it’s always hard when you step away from the game – Should I keep playing or not?,” Servais said. “But that was a message that I needed to spend more time with my family and move on to a new career.”

Servais went on to work for the Rangers and the Angels in the front office, first as the director of player development in Texas and later as assistant general manager in Anaheim. The Mariners hired him as manager in the winter of 2015.

At his various stops since his playing days ended, Servais has thought about Kile, not just the memories from their time together, but of what it would have been like to have Kile still in his life, working next to him.

“I’ve often said that in the jobs I’ve had the last 10, 15 years … Darryl would have been working with me,” Servais said. “There’s no way I would have run an entire minor league department without Darryl. I would have been working with him somewhere.”

Twenty-five years have passed since that magical day in the Astrodome. Servais is in this third season managing the Mariners. Jensen remarried and now lives just north of San Diego. When the Mariners were in town last week, Flynn came to Petco Park to see Scott and Jill.

“Darryl was always such a good judge of character,” Jensen said. “And who you surround yourself with was important to him. Scott is just a good man, and a hard worker. He’s a family man. These are the things that mattered to Darryl.”

Twenty-five years ago on Saturday, Kile made history. His good friend was there for every pitch. Enough time has passed now that Servais can’t remember all the details from that night. But he remembers most of them.

“When we’re both 55 years old, hanging out on the golf course, he will tell me he went against a call of mine to get a key out,” Servais told reporters following the no-hitter. “And I’ll tell him it was all my calls that did it for him.”

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