A family affair in the dugouts this weekend in Houston (plus Cowser's homecoming)

HOUSTON – It’s a bit of a family affair in the dugouts in Houston this weekend as the Astros host the Orioles for a three-game series. Two good friends, who are now also brothers-in-law, will manage against each other in the O’s Brandon Hyde and Houston’s Joe Espada.

Their friendship goes back many years and they married sisters.

Espada was Houston’s bench coach since 2018 and took over as skipper last November after Dusty Baker’s retirement.

“It’s going to be definitely a great experience and a great thing for our family,” said Hyde this afternoon at Minute Maid Park to a crowd of reporters that cover each team. “Me and Joe go way, way back. He was my hitting coach (with Greensboro in the South Atlantic League) when I was managing in 2006. We’ve known each other a long time and I’m really proud of him and happy he got this opportunity. Going to be cool to see him in the dugout in a little bit different seat this year. Going to be a lot of fun.”

Hyde and Espada were candidates for the same big league managing job several times as they both worked their way toward getting the jobs they have today.

They coached together on the Florida Marlins staff in 2010 and 2011.

“We used to carpool every day from N. Palm Beach, Fla. down to Ft. Lauderdale. There and back every single day. Plus we were on a staff together in the minors. So, we have talked a lot of baseball. I don’t think we ever talked about managing against each other or what that would be like,” he said.

A Houston reporter said that Espada told her there had been some trash-talking between the two skippers.

“He did,” said Hyde sounding surprised and laughing. “We’re really close and but I hope we beat them this series."

Houston has played in the AL Championship Series or World Series every year since 2017 but is 35-40 now and has not been at or over .500 once this year.

Hyde is not letting that record fool him, he said.

“This is a playoff team,” he said. “This is a really dangerous lineup and they swing the bat extremely well, especially here at home. The back-end of the bullpen is a postseason back-end bullpen. It’s still a really, really dangerous team. Still athletic with the big boys in the middle of the order and (Jose) Altuve on top."

Hyde had praise today for his team during this run of 30 games in 31 days. It started May 31 and the Orioles are 14-6 so far. Besides a lot of winning, Hyde said the O's effort and intensity in this span has been remarkable.

"Our guys are literally leaving it out there every single night." he said. "They are playing so hard. The prepation is incredibly top notch in every single way."

Cowser's homecoming: Born in Houston, O's outfielder Colton Cowser still lives in the area. He attended Cypress Ranch High School in Cypress, about 26 miles north and west of Houston and led his team to the 6A state playoffs as a senior in 2018. He played his college ball at Sam Houston State, which is about 68 miles north of Houston.

A few local TV reporters wanted to talk with him today. Cowser estimates he saw about 30 games in Minute Maid Park over the years.

“Lots of memories coming to this ballpark growing up. Came to a lot of games and really cool, really excited. My mom, talked to her last night and my parents are excited.

“Just going through my camera roll and found a picture of me, my mom and brother in the stands here when I was probably five years old. Just really cool to be able to look at that and where I am today as well,” he said.

There are other Texans on the Orioles to include tonight's starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez and infielder Jordan Westburg. 

In yesterday's blowout win over the Yankees, four O's players scored three runs (Gunnar Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, & Adley Rutschman), tied for the most in a game in O's history. The Orioles have had four players score at least three runs in a game three other times, most recently on Aug. 17, 2008 at Detroit (Aubrey Huff, Nick Markakis, Melvin Mora and Brian Roberts).

From 2016-2019 the Orioles went 1-11 in Houston. But since the 2021 season they are 7-2 at Minute Maid Park and have scored 5.7 runs per game in this span.