Remember when Dallas Keuchel’s trademark beard was more of a Ryan Gosling wannabe model than a Grizzly Adams wannabe mountaineer?
Those were the days. The bad old days of the Astros.
Eventually, Keuchel helped lead the team across the bridge from failures to champions with a seven-year run (2012-18) as a team leader and fan favorite.
Now, his major league career might be over.
In his last two starts, Keuchel lasted a total of six innings and allowed 12 runs. He had a horrible outing against the Red Sox on Friday, getting pounded for seven hits and six runs in just two innings.
On the season, the left-hander has allowed 33 runs in 32 innings for a 7.88 ERA, more than double his 3.86 ERA.
On Saturday, the Chicago White Sox designated Keuchel for assignment, which ends his tenure with the club and could spell the end.
If Keuchel has taken the mound in the Major Leagues for the last time, his has been an incredible career.
Keuchel will not be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and his number will never be retired by the Astros, but number 60 left its mark on Astros history.
Chosen in 2009 by general manager Ed Wade when Drayton McLane still owned the ballclub, Keuchel was smart, savvy and just plain fun to watch.
He was the first ace of the Astros’ championship era, and the heart of what became a championship pitching staff.
Keuchel’s tenure began 10 years ago, on a hot Sunday afternoon in Arlington, when the Astros were new to the American League and the Rangers were dominating the Silver Boot Series. That day, he gave up just one run on four hits in a loss to the Rangers.
Less than a week later, he earned the first of his 76 career wins with the Astros, pitching a complete game in an 8-1 victory over Cleveland.
The original Beard – Keuchel debuted with the Astros 4½ months before James Harden took the floor for the Rockets – put together a slew of memorable moments with Houston, including a Cy Young win for a superb 2015 season.
Thanks to only seven years and the franchise being blessed with so many great arms when the team turned around, Keuchel doesn’t rank among the Astros’ top 10 pitchers of all time from a statistical standpoint.
He is tied for #10 in WAR, but does not figure in any other major pitching category.
Well, other than that he was a bad man at some important times and left lasting memories of big wins and fake beards in packed houses at Minute Maid Park.
In the Astros’ first American League playoff appearance, Keuchel pitched six shutout innings at Yankee Stadium, despite the Yankees’ phone signal-stealing operation in the replay room and dugout.
Two years later, he gave up only one run in the second game of the American League series against the Red Sox, and then pitched seven scoreless innings in the first game of the championship series against the Yankees.
Keuchel had a 4-2 record in the playoffs with Houston, and in his two losses, the Astros scored a total of one run. Only Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole have more postseason wins.
The Astros starter for three consecutive years (2015-17) takes special pride in his defense and was rewarded with five Gold Gloves. Only seven pitchers have won more.
His glove skills were especially important considering he was a ground ball pitcher who did not dominate hitters.
He simply got the job done.
Keuchel stood tearfully in front of his locker at Minute Maid Park after the Astros’ season-ending loss to the Red Sox in Game 5 of the 2018 ALCS, and said he’d like to stay with the only team he ever played for.
But everyone knew it was over.
That’s how it feels now.
Keuchel, who turned 34 on New Year’s Day, still sounded hopeful after his Friday outing.
Before the Red Sox and Yankees tagged him in the last two starts, he had held those same teams to just two runs in 11 innings over two starts.
“I’m feeling (like) myself, so that’s a frustrating aspect of the last two starts,” Keuchel told reporters.
Maybe we shouldn’t write Keuchel off just yet.
“If I don’t do my job, then I’m the first to admit you have other options,” he said. “If people want to write me off, that’s fine. I’ve been written off before and I’m a competitor and an athlete, and we’ll turn the tables. It’s not the first time this has happened in back-to-back starts. It can turn in our favor.”
The box containing the Cy Young commemorative bobblehead and Keuchel’s Gold Glove has the phrase “More Heart.”
With Keuchel, the heart has always been bigger than the beard.
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Reference-www.houstonchronicle.com