Lawless, Everett bring chemistry, synergy to Astros

Astros interim manager Tom Lawless and catcher Jason Castro discuss succeeding Bo Porter

One day after dismissing manager Bo Porter and bench coach Dave Trembley, the Astros introduced their replacements: Lawless, a baseball lifer who grew up under the tutelage of Whitey Herzog, and Everett, the team's former defensive whiz at shortstop, who has a passion for both teaching and for the Astros.

"It's literally like getting called up for the first time," Everett said. "You're wide-eyed and look around and go 'Wow.' The stadiums are bigger, the lights are brighter. It's pretty awesome, to be honest with you. It's a great experience. I was here ... when we were really good, and that's where we want to get back to. To kind of be on the other side now and get back to the process, I'm excited."

Lawless, 57, has waited for the opportunity to manage at the Major League level for quite some time, and whether he'll remain in the position full-time could be determined by how well the Astros play over the final 24 games.

Lawless has spent six years in the Astros' system, including this year as the infield coach at Double-A Corpus Christi. He spent the first few weeks of the season as the interim manager at Triple-A Oklahoma City when Tony DeFrancesco was on medical leave.

"It's very exciting," Lawless said. "You're in this game forever, and I've been doing this a long time. The nice thing about it is, I know a lot of the young kids that are up here, because I've worked with them the last three or four years.

"The organization is going in the right direction, and I'm happy to be a big part of it."

Best known for his three-run homer off Frank Viola in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series as a member of the Cardinals in St. Louis' 7-2 win, Lawless has done it all in the Minor Leagues. He's served as manager, coach and instructor in the Angels, Mets, Cardinals, Padres and Orioles systems. He also managed team China during the 2008 Olympics.

Now he's tasked with trying to make sure the Astros finish the season strong while balancing a young roster that's going to be thrown into the fire in a grueling September schedule.

"I'm sure [Adam and I are] going to do the best job we can and [the way] we know how to do it," he said. "I've been doing this for a long time. Adam's only been on this side of it for a couple of years, and he's learning, and we welcome the opportunity to go out there and do our thing. We have to remember, it's really not about us. It's about the 25 guys going out there day in and day out. Our job is to prepare, get them ready so they can go out there to compete."

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Lawless, Everett bring chemistry, synergy to Astros