Mexican Saying was Fitting for Luhnow as his Astros Reach ALCS
HOUSTON – Astros president Jeff Luhnow, the only native of Mexico to ever run a Major League Baseball baseball operations department, smiled late Thursday night when he was asked about a popular Mexican saying.
“El que madruga el sol le ayuda,” the Spanish language broadcaster asked Luhnow, the bilingual mastermind behind the three-time AL West champion and 2017 World Series champs.
The saying translates to, “He who rises in the early morning is helped by the sun.” Luhnow’s Astros definitely got to work early in Game 5 of the American League Division Series, setting the tone with a four-run first inning before riding Gerrit Cole to a 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I like that saying because Gerrit Cole is one of the best players in all of baseball,” Luhnow said. “What he did tonight is so impressive, especially after what he did in the second game. Thank God that he’s healthy and he’s going to start two games against the Yankees. I hope we win them both.”
Luhnow, the first and only native of Latin America to win a World Series as a general manager, addressed the media in English and Spanish during the postgame celebration.
The son of an American businessman who relocated to Mexico spoke while holding a pair of Budweisers as the star-studded roster he put together had a rather subdued celebration inside the home clubhouse at Minute Maid Park on Thursday night.
The music was definitely thumping inside the home clubhouse on Thursday night. Quite a few champagne bottles were sprayed, and a handful of celebratory cigars were nursed.
Nonetheless, the celebration was as businesslike as you can get this time of year.
The loudest screams probably came from Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa when he interrupted Cole’s scrum with reporters by pouring champagne atop the 6-foot-4 ace’s head.
Cole hardly moved, however, as Correa screamed, “You’re a bad man! You’re a bad man! You’re a bad man! The baddest! The baddest!”
Cole tried to keep talking as Correa showered him with champagne, hesitating only briefly to acknowledge his excited teammate.
The old Mexican saying was actually quite fitting on Thursday because it signifies the country’s workmanlike mindset.
Arrive early, leave late, work hard.
That’s the mindset that helped an outsider from the businessworld turn into one of the best at mining players from the draft and the international market with the St. Louis Cardinals before successfully leading arguably the greatest rebuilds in American professional sports history.
Once derided as Jeff Lose-now while the Astros tanked and lost 100 games for three consecutive seasons, Luhnow’s team is now the standard after winning at least 100 games for three consecutive seasons with one title and three consecutive trips to the American League Championship Series.
Nothing is guaranteed, as the Dodgers learned when they were eliminated from the National League Division Series in Game 5 by the wild card-winning Washington Nationals despite entering the postseason with an NL-best 106 victories.
Only Luhnow’s 107-win Astros had more victories than the Dodgers in the majors this year. But the Dodgers’ collapse the previous night hung in Luhnow’s mind before the AL Wild Card-winning Rays tried to ruin the Astros’ season.
“Very nervous today because we saw what happened in the (Dodgers’) fifth game,” Luhnow said. “Even though you have a lead or you’re home it doesn’t matter. Anything can happen. But thank God (George) Springer started with a hit and then another hit and then we had four runs and then Gerrit Cole.”
The Astros got the game started with four consecutive hits. Venezuelan José Altuve, the former AL MVP, drove in the first run with a single to right-center on the third hit of the game. Alex Bregman followed with a two-run double to right-center field. One out later, Cuban Yuli Gurriel made it 4-0.
“He who rises in the early morning is helped by the sun,” as they love to say in Mexico.
Cole was masterful, throwing eight brilliant innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts and two hits with two walks. Michael Brantley and Altuve added a pair of solo homers in the eighth to cap the scoring. Then Astros closer Roberto Osuna, a native of Juan Jose Rios, Sinaloa, Mexico, handled a perfect ninth to seal the Astros’ trip to the ALCS for the third consecutive season.
“It’s the matchup that we wanted,” Correa said. “It’s the matchup everybody wanted.”
Yankees against the Astros.
“Vamos,” Luhnow said.
Let’s go.
“It’s a team that we’ve played before, and they play us tough,” Luhnow said of the Yankees. “They’re one of the better teams in baseball. They’re a super team. So are we. It’s going to be a very good series.”
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