Astros Win 2nd World Series Title in 5 Years

The Houston Astros have won their second World Series title in five years defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in Game 6 of the Fall Classic.

The clinching game was scoreless until the 6th inning when Kyle Schwarber struck first for the Phillies with a solo HR. However, the Astros would answer with four runs in the bottom of the inning via a 3-run HR by Yordan Alvarez and a single by Christian Vazquez. Framber Valdez pitched six solid innings while Hector Neris, Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressley combined on three innings of scoreless baseball limiting the Phillies to a single. 

The Phillies had a 2-1 series lead, but the Astros came roaring back with three straight wins beginning with the combined no-hitter in Game 4. 

With the likes of Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yuri Gurriel still on the club there will remain a cloud over the Astros franchise not being held to account for their actions during their run for team's first World Series title in 2017. However, Dusty Baker is no A.J. Hinch and it is nice to see Baker finally earn a World Series ring after nearly 30 years as a big league manager. At 73, Baker is now the oldest manager to ever win a World Series title. With Baker's contract up, I suspect that he will retire and pass on the reins to bench coach Joe Espada who was been waiting in the wings for a managerial job.

It's also hard to root against Trey Mancini, a cancer survivor. I also have a soft spot for former Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez while Cristian Javier emerged as a feel good story having become the first MLB pitcher to start combined no-hitters ever, let alone the same season. And then there's Jeremy Pena who added a World Series MVP to his ALCS MVP trophy. Pena hit .400 going 10 for 25 with a HR during the Fall Classic becoming the first rookie position player to win the award.

Let's give the Phillies their due. After sweeping the Mariners in the ALDS and the Yankees in the ALCS, the Phillies gave the Astros a scare and got two wins against them. Let us remember, the Phillies were 22-29 when the team dismissed Joe Girardi in favor of Rob Thomson. I doubt anyone thought the Phillies would have got this far back in June. They might have fallen short but the Phillies had a lot of fight in them. Or on this case Phight.

But the hour belongs to Houston whose residents will get another World Series parade and this time while not recovering from a hurricane.