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Jim Crane in The Bronx
2:34 p.m. — Astros owner Jim Crane has made the trip north for the big game. Crane stood behind the batting cage as the Astros went through final warmups before Game 3. When Jeremy Peña took his initial swings, Crane caught up with manager Dusty Baker. — Brian T. Smith
Focused on today
2:05 p.m. — Astros manager Dusty Baker was again asked about his uncertain future with the team. At the end of his media interview before Game 3, Baker said his focus is only on today and another sunrise. “I’ll let you know at the end of this year,” Baker said. Baker was twice given the opportunity to commit to returning to the Astros next season, but he did not do so during the interview. — Brian T. Smith
McCullers says elbow is fine
1:40 p.m. — Lance McCullers Jr., will start Game 4 of the Astros instead of Game 3 partly because he had his pitching elbow hit by a champagne bottle during last weekend’s celebration in Seattle. Speaking to the media Saturday, McCullers said he’s totally fine, and the issue is that it was the elbow where he had Tommy John surgery and the bottle hit in the exact area that would cause pain. “It smoked me,” McCullers said of the bottle while chuckling. Astros manager Dusty Baker said he watched McCullers throw off the mound Friday and “he looked 100 percent.” — Matt Young
Boone clarifies Minute Maid Park roof comments
1:17 p.m. — Astros fans had a good laugh when Aaron Boone said “I think the roof open kind of killed us,” after the Yankees lost Game 2 of the American League Championship Series to the Astros on Thursday at Minute Maid Park. Boone was speaking of Aaron Judge’s near-miss of a home run that Kyle Tucker caught right in front of the wall in the eighth inning. Before Game 3, Boone downplayed those remarks. “The comments I made, I just answered a question, I don’t know that I went in there commenting on something, I was just asked a question,” Boone said. — Matt Young
Astros lineup
1:02 p.m. — Christian Vázquez cracked the Astros’ starting lineup for the first time this postseason. Manager Dusty Baker intimated as much last week, saying starter Martín Maldonado is all but entrenched to catch Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Lance McCullers Jr. A start from Cristian Javier in Game 3 allowed Vázquez a chance to play. Houston’s lineup for Game 3:
Jose Altuve 2B
Jeremy Peña SS
Yordan Alvarez LF
Alex Bregman 3B
Kyle Tucker RF
Yuli Gurriel 1B
Trey Mancini DH
Christian Vázquez C
Chas McCormick CF
Cristian Javier RHP
— Chandler Rome
Yankees sending lefties at Javier
12:45 p.m. — Aaron Boone has two lefthanders – Anthony Rizzo and Matt Carpenter – and a switch-hitter Oswaldo Cabrera – in the lineup against Astros starter Cristian Javier, who has been a little better against lefthanders than righthanders. He’s limited righties to a .147 batting average with a 515 OPS, while lefthanders have hit .189 with a .592 OPS. “He’s had a good year against both but he’s especially tough on righties, so we wanted to get a third lefty in there.” — Matt Young
Yankees shake up lineup
12:30 p.m. — Searching for a spark, the Yankees have moved first baseman Anthony Rizzo into the leadoff spot for the first time this season. Rizzo batted leadoff just five times in the regular season and hit third in Game 1 against the Astros and cleanup in Game 2. Rizzo is 1-for-6 in the series, but also has drawn a walk and been hit by a pitch, giving him a .375 on-base percentage. Harrison Bader, who hit leadoff in Game 2, has dropped to the No. 6 spot. Also notable: The Yankees will have their third different starting shortstop in the series. After going with Isiah Kiner-Falefa in Game 1 and rookie Oswald Peraza in Game 2, Oswaldo Cabrera gets the start there today. Cabrera has primarily played in the outfield — he started in left field Thursday — but started three games at shortstop in the regular season. — Matt Young
Still no Pettis
12:05 p.m. — Astros third-base coach Gary Pettis did not travel with the team to New York and will miss a third straight ALCS game while recovering from an illness. According to the Astros, Pettis is feeling better and could rejoin the team in New York some time this weekend. — Chandler Rome
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