How Astros manager Dusty Baker plans to attack Rangers in must-win Game 7

WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT

Astros Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Chas McCormick

Chas McCormick is back in the lineup. Composite Getty Image.

This one is for all the marbles. One team will win the pennant and advance to the World Series, while the other will be heading home and looking ahead to next season.

Against Max Scherzer, manager Dusty Baker is employing a lineup we haven't seen all that often. Both Chas McCormick AND Michael Brantley are starting in the outfield tonight. Uncle Mike is no longer hitting second, he's sliding down to 5th, with Alex Bregman batting second behind Jose Altuve.

Chas McCormick will be playing center field, and Maurcio Dubon is out of the starting lineup. McCormick will hit 7th behind the struggling Kyle Tucker (5-35 in the postseason with 1RBI).

Pitching tonight, the Astros send Cristian Javier to the hill for the most important game of the season to date. Here's a look at the Rangers' lineup for Game 7.

The other big factor for tonight's game is the status of Astros reliever Bryan Abreu. MLB announced today that they are upholding Abreu's two game suspension for hitting Adolis Garcia. But fortunately for Astros fans, the suspension will not be enforced until the beginning of the 2024 season.

So it will truly be all hands on deck for the Astros pitchers in this critical Game 7 matchup. Go 'Stros!


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The Coogs beat SIU Edwardsville, 78-40. Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images.

Milos Uzan scored 16 points, LJ Cryer added 15 and No. 1 seed Houston was able to rest up for the rest of the NCAA Tournament while romping past No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville 78-40 on Thursday in the first round of the Midwest Region.

Ja’Vier Francis added 13 points and eight rebounds for Houston (31-4), which now gets a tough second-round matchup with No. 8 seed Gonzaga on Saturday. The Bulldogs blitzed ninth-seeded Georgia, 89-68, in their tournament opener.

“I thought our defense and our rebounding, two of the things we really emphasize, was good today,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Shot selection was really good to start the game — knocked some shots down, got off to a good start.”

The Cougars finished well, too. The final margin was the biggest of the game.

Ray’Sean Taylor had 10 points for SIUE (22-12), which was just 2 of 24 from the 3-point arc in its first NCAA appearance.

“It’s definitely a gut-punch because I feel like we had more to give for sure,” said Taylor, breaking down in tears. “When I look back at it, I’m not going to be mad about the game. I don’t like to lose, but I’m never going to hold my head down ever. I never let anyone see me with my head down. They played better than us today.

“Good luck to them. They have a team to win it all.”

It’s never a good formula for springing an NCAA upset to let what is arguably the best defensive team in the country also shoot better than 60% from the field and only turn it over twice during the first 20 minutes of a game.

That’s exactly what SIUE did against Houston.

The Cougars probably knew they were in for a tough afternoon against a bigger, more athletic bunch of Cougars in the first few minutes, when Houston scored on nine straight offensive possessions. At the other end, SIUE struggled just to get shots off — at one point, guard Brian Taylor II was trapped so quickly that he genuinely looked perplexed.

The whole affair may have been summed up by the last 3 seconds of the first half: SIUE forward Myles Thompson was trapped near midcourt, turned the ball over, and Cryer promptly drilled a 3 from the wing to give Houston a 52-24 lead.

Sampson’s bunch kept extending the lead all the way to the finish.

“They were physical, made some shots early when we had a couple breakdowns, and then they hit some really hard shots as well,” SIUE coach Brian Barone said. “We weren’t able to dig out of that hole.”

Key Takeaways

SIU Edwardsville may have had more fans — or at least louder ones — than Houston for its NCAA tourney debut. They cheered all the way to the finish, too, when Barone took his starters out of the game.

Houston was no doubt pleased to see J’Wan Roberts moving around fine on the ankle he sprained in the Big 12 Tournament. He was able to spend much of the second half resting with the rest of the Cougars’ starters on the bench.

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Houston advanced to the second round for the seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament.

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