New Zealand 273 for 8 (Guptill 79, Taylor 73*, Jadeja 1-35) v India

That mushy old middle order let New Zealand down again, a collapse of 7 for 55 ripping away much of the tension from a game that was building up beautifully. Then, as if Auckland just wouldn't allow for a dead ODI to take place within its borders, Ross Taylor popped up to play an absolute blinder. The ninth-wicket partnership with debutant Kyle Jamieson - who scored a century while facing James Anderson and Stuart Broad in a tour game in 2018 - put on a riduclous 76 runs off only 51 balls to pretty much change the game.

New Zealand lurched from 142 for 1 to 197 for 8 thanks to the pressure India exerted through the middle overs. And to think that was the period where they won the game in Hamilton. Taylor and Tom Latham ransacked 117 runs without even looking like losing a wicket a few days ago. Here, they stopped and stumbled and crashed and burned to 32 for 4.

And yet, by the end of the 50 overs, they had 273 on the board and it was pretty much all Taylor's doing. He might have felt he owed it to his side considering he was involved in both the run-outs that stole all the momentum away from the innings, especially the one that cost Martin Guptill his wicket when he looked well set on 79.

Taylor was 29 off 47 when New Zealand lost their eighth wicket and were looking like they wouldn't last the remaining nine overs. A straightforward chase was on the cards and Eden Park was all set to be marred by that most awful of things - a boring cricket match.

More to follow

India Women 3 for 177 (Mandhana 55, Verma 49, Rodrigues 30) beat Australia Women 5 for 173 (Gardner 93, Lanning 37, Deepti 2-27) by seven wickets

A stunning innings by the 16-year-old wunderkind Shafali Verma launched India Women on the way to a dramatic victory over the T20 World Cup favourites Australia. In doing so they announced their genuine candidacy for the global tournament and also ensured the hosts need to beat England at the Junction Oval on Sunday to qualify for the final of the triangular series that is proving to be a bruising warm-up for the event.

Verma's 49 off 28 balls, combined with a calming 55 off 48 from her opening partner Smriti Mandhana, were the difference as India ran down Australia's 5 for 173 with two balls to spare. The hosts had appeared well-placed at the innings break after Ashleigh Gardner's powerful 93 off 57 balls with support from Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney, but a halting last few overs proved costly as India went on the charge from the very first over of their chase.

With Verma batting fearlessly and Mandhana providing key support, there was further support from Jemimah Rodrigues, before captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma helped India to their highest successful chase in the format. With two losses in three T20Is, this is the first time the Australians have struggled to this extent since 2017 when they lost four out of five.

Gardner builds after first over dramas

Late-comers to the Junction Oval missed a dramatic start to the afternoon as Alyssa Healy's survival of a missed stumping cost India precisely one ball. Deepti's offbreak lured Healy down the pitch out of what seemed idle curiosity as much as intent to score, and a lack of turn saw the ball pass the bat. But Taniya Bhatia was unable to collect the ball cleanly, allowing Healy to scramble back into her crease and reset - for a moment.

The very next delivery was dragged down short, only to be tugged straight to midwicket by Healy as India celebrated their good fortune. Gardner walked out to join Beth Mooney, and there were a few more nervy moments as a few lofted shots landed just out of reach of the fielders. These near-misses soon gave way to cleaner blows as Gardner unfurled her power game in the fashion that has prompted Australia to use her at No. 3. Mooney was content to rotate the strike, and when she perished to a Harleen Deol full-toss, Meg Lanning offered similar support, albeit speckled with a few more boundaries.

Haynes, Perry splutter at the finish

India's fielding display was far from the standard required, exemplified by the missed stumping to start with and several other clear missed chances besides. Gardner made merry as a result, piling up 11 boundaries and three sixes while adding 62 in 47 balls with Mooney and then a whip-cracking 79 in 42 balls with Lanning. That stand meant that the Australians looked ready to launch at 2 for 141 with 29 balls remaining, but the exits of Lanning for 37 and then Gardner, much to her chagrin, for 93, signalled a loss of acceleration.

Ellyse Perry and Rachael Haynes added 22 together but took 19 balls to do it, even with one mighty six from Perry in the final over bowled by Rajeshwari Gayakwad. They also survived another Indian fielding muck-up, this time a comedy of errors when it appeared easier to run out one of Perry or Haynes than neither. In the end, Perry was lbw when she moved too far across the stumps on the penultimate ball of the innings.

Verma's shots heard round the world

On what had dried out into a beautiful batting pitch, the tourists had a chance provided they got a swift start. "Swift" proved to be too mild an adjective for the hurricane that was Verma, who took a hyper-aggressive approach from the very first over of the chase and was rewarded with a series of boundaries. The opening overs read like a list of cricket teams and squads: 11, 12, 11, 14 and 14 meaning the powerplay was to be worth 70 and the target drastically reduced.

Verma's fearlessness and sharp eye were complemented perfectly by Mandhana, who found her own occasional boundary in between plenty of singles and alert running between the wickets. Some formidable Australia bowlers - Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt and Perry - were momentarily humbled by Verma, and captain Lanning was left looking far and wide for bowling options. No fewer than seven bowlers were to be tried, but it was Perry who snared Verma for a breathless 49 from 28 balls to pull Australia back into the contest.

Tourists hold nerve for victory

In Verma's slipstream, Rodrigues kept scoring at the required tempo with her own sparkling contribution, adding 37 with Mandhana with only a slight dip in the run rate after the opening stand of 85 in 50 balls. When Rodrigues did err, offering a thin edge behind to Healy off Schutt, Harmanpreet provided plenty of experience and poise to the pursuit as Mandhana reached a meritorious half-century.

With 16 still required off 12 balls, a tight over from Nicola Carey could have turned the game towards Australia. But although she managed to win an lbw verdict against Mandhana, two fours including one swatted between mid-on and midwicket by Deepti off Carey's final ball meant only four remained to be collected from the final over. Harmanpreet and Deepti kept their heads for a rousing win. The World Cup race is widening by the day.

Stumps New Zealand A 276 for 5 (Phillips 65, Cleaver 46*, Khan 2-57) v India A

It was all rather damp and disappointing across in Lincoln, where the second day of the second and final four-day game between New Zealand A and India A had no cricket whatsoever. That left New Zealand at their overnight 276 for 5, with Dane Cleaver (46*) and Daryl Mitchell (36*) at the crease.

On the first day, Cleaver was again the thorn in India's side, playing a stubborn knock to make sure honours were even when play ended. After choosing to bat, New Zealand were in danger of finishing at a low score when they were 190 for 5, but Cleaver, fresh off his rearguard 196 in the previous game, dug in to keep the visitors at bay.

He received good support from Mitchell, who is back in the A team after the T20Is for the senior team against India. Mitchell ended the day with 36 against his name, and the two have so far added 86 for the sixth wicket.

The New Zealand top order - with the exception of Rachin Ravindra, who scored 12 - all got starts, but none of them could really carry on to score a big one. Glenn Phillips scored 65, but Hamish Rutherford stopped at 40, Will Young at 26, and Tim Seifert at 30.

Mohammed Siraj got India their first wickets, in back-to-back overs, when he ended the 67-run first-wicket stand with Rutherford's wicket in the 26th over and then accounted for Ravindra in the 28th. Shahbaz Nadeem had Young stumped not long after, and then, after a 76-run stand between Phillips and Seifert, Avesh Khan got into the act, removing both batsmen soon after one another.

Many of the India Test squad are taking part in the game - of them, R Ashwin is the only bowler, and he had a fruitless day, bowling 22 overs without success while conceding 63 runs.

The first four-day fixture, played at Christchurch's Hagley Oval, had ended in a draw.

CARSON, Calif. -- Samantha Mewis scored twice and the U.S. national team secured a spot in the Tokyo Olympics with a 4-0 semifinal victory Friday night over Mexico in the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament.

Rose Lavelle and Christen Press also scored for the United States, which extended its unbeaten streak to 27 games.

The United States will face Canada in the tournament's title game on Sunday. Canada earned the region's other Olympic berth with a 1-0 victory over surprisingly resilient Costa Rica 1-0 in the earlier match Friday.

Canada has finished as runner up to the United States in the last three qualifying tournaments.

The top-ranked U.S. team is coming off a victory in the World Cup last summer in France. It was the team's fourth title in soccer's premier tournament.

The United States has made the field for every Olympics since soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996, and has won the gold medal four times. But the Americans were eliminated by Sweden in the quarterfinals four years ago in Brazil for the team's earliest exit in the tournament.

Mexico, ranked No. 26 in the world, finished second in its group to draw the United States in the semis.

Mexico made the field for the 2004 Olympics, but has not been back since. However, Mexico is on the rise, boosted by a domestic women's league. The team won its first two group-stage matches before falling 2-0 to Canada.

The United States swept its group stage matches without allowing a goal. Lindsey Horan led the way with five goals and Press added four. Neither Press nor Horan started against Mexico.

Lavelle's goal in the fifth minute gave the United States an early lead before Sam Mewis scored on a set piece in the 14th, blasting the ball past Mexico goalkeeper Emily Alverado.

Carli Lloyd had an opportunity to pad the lead in the 61st minute, but her shot went over the goal. Mewis scored her second goal on a perfectly placed free kick from just outside the box in the 67th minute. It was Mewis' 18th international goal.

Press, who came in as a substitute, scored on a chip in the 73rd. She has scored in six straight matches for the United States, including each of the qualifying matches.

It was defender Crystal Dunn's 100th appearance with the U.S. national team.

Attendance for the match at Dignity Health Sports Park, home of the LA Galaxy, was announced at 11,292.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Not yet finished with his fifth NBA season, D'Angelo Russell has landed with his fourth team.

Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves sure don't want him to leave.

"It's surreal to really think that instead of us just talking on the phone or playing video games with each other and talking about how our teams are doing and everything, but now we're getting to do this every day with each other," Towns said.

Russell was introduced at an open-to-the-public news conference Friday along with six other players acquired during the trading spree this week. He will be a game-time decision for Saturday's game against the LA Clippers, as he's been dealing with a quad injury.

"I've been seeing from a distance, and from close-up, the ship that Karl's kind of been driving around here for years," Russell said. "Players come and go from here. I take it they didn't appreciate the situation here or whatever that may be, but watching from a distance I knew I could help Karl. I've never played with a dynamic big just like him."

President of basketball operations Gersson Rosas was hired May 1, and he was certain then that the roster needed an overhaul to fit the fast-paced, 3-point-heavy playing style he's been trying to implement with coach Ryan Saunders.

His first attempt to pair the smooth-shooting Russell as a pick-and-roll machine with the versatile 6-foot-11 Towns came last summer when Russell was a restricted free agent. Russell instead went from Brooklyn to Golden State in a sign-and-trade deal, but Rosas and the Timberwolves didn't give up on the goal.

When the injury-wrecked Warriors, the only team below Minnesota in the Western Conference, agreed to take Andrew Wiggins and a pair of 2021 draft picks, the Wolves finally had the sidekick for Towns they've been seeking.

Towns and Russell were the first two selections in the 2015 draft, with Russell going to the Los Angeles Lakers. For the Wolves to pair them together, owner Glen Taylor had to approve crossing the luxury-tax threshold.

"We needed a dynamic guard. We needed a guy who could push pace," Rosas said. "We needed a guy who could score, who could play-make, and understood he had the shoulders to carry the responsibility that comes with it."

We wanted ???? point guard. pic.twitter.com/RaCOuegW3q

— Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) February 7, 2020

Towns is 24, and Russell will be later this month. They're both near the bottom of the league at their respective positions by most statistical defensive measures. Then there's the fact that the majority of their teammates are new, with Towns and Josh Okogie the only players Rosas inherited last spring who are still with the Wolves.

There will be plenty of growing pains, but Towns and Russell have a relationship that dates to their teen years on the elite circuit of camps and tournaments. That ought to be as big of an advantage off the court as their complementary skills on it.

"This is crazy to me to wake up and see the situation that I'm in and feel the love of somebody wanting me to be here. It's just a surreal moment for me right now," said Russell, who has career highs in points per game (23.6) and 3-point shooting (37.4%) this season.

The atmosphere was especially festive surrounding a team on a 13-game losing streak with the fourth-worst record and the lowest average attendance in the NBA, but that's precisely why the introduction was turned into a lunchtime spectacle inside an office tower and shopping center across the street from Timberwolves headquarters.

There were welcome balloons for Russell and his fellow newcomers placed along the practice courts. Towns headlined the club's contingent at the airport the night before, when Russell and Jacob Evans and Omari Spellman, the other players acquired from Golden State, arrived on a chartered plane. With the temperature in the teens, Towns handed Russell his new Timberwolves jersey and, naturally, a winter coat as the two embraced on the tarmac.

There is speculation now surrounding the Phoenix Suns and shooting guard Devin Booker, who played one season with Towns at Kentucky and is also a friend of Russell. Booker was in the 2015 draft class, too, the 13th overall selection by the Suns. The three of them became especially close during the pre-draft workout process.

In fact, the trio was featured together on the cover of Slam magazine last fall. During the interview for that article, Russell opined about the three of them playing together and even promised it would eventually happen.

Booker, who's among the top 10 scoring leaders for a third straight season, just began a five-year, $158 million maximum-salary contract this season as the fulcrum of Phoenix's plan. Russell and Towns would have to be patient.

In the NBA these days, though, the power of player friendships can't be underestimated.

"I'm just focused on this team. I think everybody knows that. There's always going to be outside noise, but I'll leave that to you guys," Booker told reporters Friday.

Booker said he was proud of Russell, happy for him and Towns with their opportunity to unite.

"I feel like he's at a place that he's going to stay. He doesn't have to worry about where his next city is," Booker said. "He has a place that wants him very bad and is going to use him to the best of his ability."

Towns referenced the short-lived, inside-outside tandem that Kevin Garnett formed in Minnesota with Stephon Marbury in the mid-1990s before Marbury forced his way out.

"We've got to make it right this time," Towns said.

BOSTON -- Almost exactly 21 years ago, Vince Carter's Hall of Fame career began in an innocuous way: with a baseline jumper over fellow 1998 draftee Paul Pierce.

Friday night, before Carter -- now playing for the Atlanta Hawks in his 22nd NBA season -- played his final game here at TD Garden, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge presented Carter with a picture frame that included both a picture of that shot and a piece of the famed parquet floor from the old Boston Garden.

Respect, @mrvincecarter15 ? pic.twitter.com/fNfOFuOy7a

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 7, 2020

"That was great," Carter said after finishing with 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists in a 112-107 Celtics victory over the Hawks. "Every city I've gone to so far, they've had a nice video or something and I have a nice memory of my time there. This was the same.

"I think about my first game, my first point here, and to get that picture ... that was my first point here, that picture. So it was pretty cool, and obviously that's history at the bottom of that picture that I'm very appreciative of. I know what basketball means to this city, amongst other sports, so it was great."

It was on Feb. 5, 1999 that, Carter -- after being selected fifth overall in the 1998 NBA draft -- made his professional debut here playing for the Toronto Raptors, following a truncated preseason due to the lockout that shortened the 1998-99 campaign to just 50 games. And it was at the 7:22 mark of the first quarter of that game that Carter dribbled toward the hoop, rose up over Pierce and managed to sink the first shot he ever took in an NBA game.

"A little bit," Carter said with a smile, when asked what he remembers about that game. "I remember my first shot. I remember excitement, [being] overly excited. But it all happened so fast. Everything happened so fast. It was like a couple days of camp, two preseason games against the same team and then opening night against the same team.

"Obviously I knew Paul from [playing in the] McDonald's [All-American Game], but I was just excited. 'I'm finally here and getting my chance.'

He said that, as he tried to score his first basket, he only had one thing in mind.

"'Just don't shoot the ball over the goal,'" he said with a laugh. "From the nerves and excitement, I didn't want to shoot a 3. I remember driving to try to get as close as I can and I remember I shot that baseline floater like that, and it went in and I was like, 'All right. We can play now.'"

Since then, Carter has merely played in another 1500 games and taken more than 21,000 shots as he's carved out an iconic career that has spanned four decades and seen him play for eight teams.

Carter missed out on a chance at history Friday night, as he fell one rebound short of becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record a double-double in a game. Still, it was a reminder that, even at 43, he's capable of playing well and helping a team win.

Are moments like that enough for him to reconsider retirement? Not quite.

"No," he said with a smile. "For me, I'm one with it now, and I'll stick to it.

"I'm becoming ready for phase two."

For Carter, that phase two of his life won't actually come to pass for another couple of months, and still includes a few more trips down memory lane -- including his final trip to Toronto in April. But now that he's a few months into this final swing around the league, Carter said he's growing used to getting the kinds of sendoff he did in Boston Friday night, when he was received with a standing ovation when he checked into the game, everywhere he visits for the last time.

"I can handle it," he said. "I don't want to say it's a harsh reality, but this is it. it won't happen again. But it's a great feeling to be appreciated for my time here.

"I was the enemy for so long. So many battles here, [hearing] boos and 'You suck!' and all of that stuff. To then come here and receive a standing ovation from a great sports town like this? It doesn't get any better than that."

PHILADELPHIA -- One day after the NBA trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand held a news conference addressing the state of the team. Brand said he believed in the team's roster construction and stood behind coach Brett Brown, but expressed discontent with the Sixers' road record.

"Brett is our head coach," Brand said before Friday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies. "I believe in Brett's ability to lead this team. I will be responsible for that decision when it comes. I speak to Brett and we work every day to get this problem fixed. We're not happy with it."

Brand stopped short of guaranteeing Brown, in his seventh season, would be the Sixers' coach for the rest of the 2019-20 season, saying, "I'm not going to play what-ifs."

Brand went on to reiterate that he supported Brown and called the 58-year-old coach the team's "leader." Brown signed a three-year extension with the 76ers in May 2018.

The Sixers ended a four-game losing streak with a 119-107 win against the Grizzlies. They improved to a league-best 22-2 at home, which has helped keep them afloat as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference considering their record on the road is 9-19.

"I know we are more of a team than what we've seen recently," Brand said. "Make no mistake, we are disappointed in how we've played recently.

"The players understand how they have to do better. The whole organization has to do better."

The Sixers were better at home on Friday night against Memphis.

Center Joel Embiid was limited to 16 minutes due to a stiff neck, but Furkan Korkmaz stepped up for Philadelphia, scoring 34 points -- including shooting 7-of-9 from 3. Ben Simmons added 22 points for Philadelphia.

"We do love playing at home," Brown said after the game. "We've always got great memories coming back here and we are sort of used to winning at home. We love playing in front of our crowd and we feel a responsibility to perform in front of that crowd. Just after our losing on the road, it does feel good to come back and win."

But winning at home has not been the Sixers' problem this season. Philadelphia has two more games -- both in Wells Fargo Center -- before the All-Star break. Tobias Harris said that the key for the Sixers to translate their home-court success into road wins is bringing the same "energy and focus" that they do at home.

"We want to be ready on the road," Harris said. "We want to figure out, going into the break, kind of having the confidence and being ready to come back and put things together and make a good run."

Former Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch took responsibility for his role in the team's sign-stealing scandal during an apology-laden interview that aired on MLB TV on Friday evening.

"I still feel responsible and will always feel responsible as the man out front," Hinch said. "As the leader, I was in charge of the team. I put out a statement [after being suspended by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and fired by Astros owner Jim Crane] to apologize. But there is something different to doing it on camera and putting a face to an apology, and saying I'm sorry to the league, to baseball, to fans, to players, to the coaches. I was the man out front and I felt like it's my responsibility to put my voice out there and tell a little bit of the story."

Hinch was interviewed for about 25 minutes by veteran baseball writer Tom Verducci in a conversation taped from Hinch's home outside of Houston. He was contrite throughout the interview, usually steering Verducci's questions back to his belief that he should have done more to stop a scheme that the commissioner's report called "with the exception of [then-Astros bench coach Alex] Cora, player-driven and player-executed."

"It happened on my watch," Hinch said. "I'm not proud of that. I'll never be proud of it. I didn't like it. But I have to own it because [I was] in a leadership position. And the commissioner's office made very, very clear that the GM and the manager were in position to make sure that nothing like this happened. And we fell short."

Verducci began by asking Hinch to recount the events of Jan. 13, the day the commissioner released his report detailing the findings of a three-month investigation of allegations that stemmed from a report in The Athletic built on on-the-record information from former Houston pitcher Mike Fiers. Manfred announced the season-long suspensions of Hinch and former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow that day. Shortly after the report was released, Houston owner Jim Crane announced that Hinch and Luhnow were being fired.

"I felt responsible from the beginning, so I knew there was going to be punishment," Hinch said. "As a leader, I knew that punishment was going to happen. I didn't know to what extent.

"When I got the news that it was a full year, that was a tough blow. That's taking me away from the sport that I love, the sport that I've been around for two decades. After that, when I met with Jim and subsequently lost my job, that created a whole other part of the day that I didn't anticipate."

Hinch confirmed that while the Astros' sign-stealing system was being used, he twice damaged the monitor being used near the team's dugout with a bat. However, while that seemed like a clear sign to his players that he didn't approve of the situation, he still can't quite explain why he failed to call a formal meeting to try to halt the practice.

"I did [damage the monitors]," Hinch said. "And I didn't initiate, or didn't endorse [the scheme]. But I was the manager. I think there is a responsibility when you're in a position to end it. My mindset at that point was to demonstrate that I didn't like it.

"In hindsight, I should have had a meeting and faced it face-forward and ended it. Leadership to me is often about what you preach, the pillars of what you believe in. Leadership is also about what you tolerate. And I tolerated too much."

Hinch said that he heard the banging of the trash can that was used by the players to communicate signs to the batter at the plate during the time the system was in place. Yet he didn't step in to put a stop to it.

"I wish I would have," Hinch said. "I really do. I think that's a big question that I'm going to process over what's now a season-long suspension. It's something that I've continued to think about through the investigation, when you have to openly talk about it. I wish I would have done more. Right is right, and wrong is wrong. And we were wrong."

Other highlights from the interview:

• Hinch said that he did not read the memo sent out by the commissioner's office late in the 2017 season that spelled out penalties for the use of technology to steal signs, but added, "That doesn't mean [the sign stealing] was right."

• When asked about the general lack of contrition demonstrated by Astros players, who have largely remained silent on the scandal, Hinch said, "Anyone involved is going to have to address it as he sees fit." Hinch echoed comments from Manfred on Thursday that it is likely the players will have an opportunity to address the scandal when spring training begins.

• Hinch declined to criticize Fiers for his role in breaking the scandal, saying, "I wish I would have had an environment and a culture that was better for him to have come to me in real time. I wish I could have done better, to maybe get that nudge to make better leadership decisions."

Verducci asked Hinch to address internet-driven theories that the Astros were still stealing signs into the 2019 season, through the use of a buzzer-based system. Manfred's report cleared the Astros of those charges. During Houston's American League Championship Series victory over the New York Yankees last October, rumors of whistling from the Houston dugout to transmit intercepted signals prompted Hinch to address the concerns in a news conference, which he began by saying, "In reality, it's a joke."

"We got investigated for three months," Hinch said. "The commissioner's office did as thorough of an investigation as anyone could imagine was possible. I knew you mentioned about the emails and the texts and the messages [examined during the investigation] and I believe it."

Near the end of the conversation, Hinch stated that he hopes to manage again and that he considers himself a better leader now than he was in 2017. However, he realizes that any decision to bring him back into baseball is out of his control. He is eligible to return to baseball after the World Series ends in October.

"I do [want to manage again]," Hinch said. "It's up to other people to determine whether I'm the right fit, but I love managing. I love players. I love the competition."

Hinch repeated throughout the conversation that if there is anything he regrets, it's that he didn't do more.

"I should have had a more forceful interaction at the appropriate time, which would have been right when I found out." Hinch said. "When I look back at all the different things I've had to do through the course of my career, playing, managing, front office, so many crisis or big moments that feel like it's the moment for leadership, I feel good about them. In this one, I feel like I fell short."

The Houston Astros' front office laid the groundwork for the team's electronic sign-stealing ploys via a program dubbed "Codebreaker" that was introduced by an intern in the organization in September 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

According to the WSJ, the Excel-based application designed to decode opposing catchers' signs was used throughout the 2017 season and for part of 2018 by Astros baseball operations employees and video room staffers both at home and on the road.

Staffers would log the catcher's signs and subsequent pitches into a spreadsheet and "Codebreaker" would determine how the signs related to different pitches. The information would then be communicated to the hitter by a baserunner via an intermediary.

Astros players eventually evolved the system to include banging on a trash can to warn hitters of the coming pitch.

Ex-Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow told MLB investigators that he remembers the intern's PowerPoint slide about "Codebreaker," but said he thought it would be used to legally decipher signs from previous games, according to the WSJ.

The former intern, Derek Vigoa, currently works as the Astros' senior manager of team operations. Vigoa told investigators that he assumed Luhnow knew the program would be used in live games.

The team's director of advance information, Tom Koch-Weser, also alleges Luhnow knew about the system. According to the WSJ, Koch-Weser told MLB that the former GM would occasionally go to the Astros' video room during road games and make comments like, "You guys Codebreaking?"

Luhnow declined the WSJ's request for comment but, according to the paper's reporting, denied Koch-Weser's accounts to MLB, and investigators could find no definitive proof that Luhnow knew how "Codebreaker" was being used.

Luhnow was fired by the Astros last month, shortly after MLB suspended him for one season.

Deposed Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch is currently out of baseball, but he is finally back on the record.

Since a completely unenlightening performance at the winter meetings, Hinch made his first public comments during a televised interview with veteran scribe Tom Verducci that aired Friday evening on MLB Network. In the previous interview, Hinch sweated in front of a gathered throng of reporters, unable to make substantive comments about Houston's sign-stealing scandal because MLB had yet to complete its investigation.

Since then, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred dropped the hammer on Hinch and the Astros, suspending the manager and his boss, ex-Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow, for the entire 2020 season, as well as fining the franchise $5 million and stripping it of four draft picks. Hinch and Luhnow were singled out in Manfred's report for failing to stop the scheme. Immediately after the commissioner announced the penalties, Astros owner Jim Crane followed with the dismissals of Hinch and Luhnow.

Hinch released an apologetic statement after being fired, saying, "While the evidence consistently showed I didn't endorse or participate in the sign stealing practices, I failed to stop them and I am deeply sorry." However, the MLB Network interview marked the first time Hinch faced a questioner in a public forum since the suspensions were handed out.

The scandal doesn't show many signs of fading from the public eye even as teams across the league make their way to Florida and Arizona for spring training. Just prior to the airing of Verducci's interview with Hinch, the Wall Street Journal published a report detailing the possible front-office origins of Houston's system, known internally as "Codebreaker," per the report. The findings detailed by Manfred were that the scheme was driven and executed at the player level.

Not surprisingly, during the interview, Hinch was diplomatic in a classically Hinch sort of way, with even his non-answers sounding like actual answers until you started to think about them. Hinch has been a media favorite for years because of his affability, accessibility and his willingness to give in-depth answers to pretty much any query thrown his way, all while also showing a willingness to be pointed when the occasion calls for it. As time has passed, Hinch has grown so confident in his dealings with the media that he has developed the often annoying habit of beginning to answer questions before they are finished being asked.

Hinch's demeanor with Verducci was measured, as you'd expect. Prior to the airing of the interview, which took place at Hinch's home outside Houston, Verducci described the atmosphere of the conversation as "anxious." It's easy to understand why. Still just 45 years old, Hinch ranks 17th all time in winning percentage (.558) among those who have managed at least 1,000 games in the majors. If he wants to build on that résumé -- once his suspension expires at the end of the 2020 season -- many wounds will have to be cauterized. Friday's telecast was Hinch's first tentative steps toward that healing process.

Here are some responses and takeaways from Hinch's interview:

Question: Is the Astros' 2017 title tainted?

Hinch: "It's a fair question. I think everyone is going to have to draw their own conclusions. I hope over time, and the demonstration of the talent of this team and the players and the careers that are being had -- we have some of the best players in the entire sport all together on the same team -- I hope over time, it's proven that it wasn't. But I understand the question."

Here Hinch is taking an objective approach to an issue that is almost entirely in the realm of the subjective. He's certainly right in that in All-Star performers such as Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa, the Astros have fielded one of the majors' most talented teams in recent years. While Houston's collective offensive performance spiked in many ways between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, most of those gains have been maintained in the seasons to follow. Because of that, Hinch is probably correct in suggesting that if Houston's stars continue to perform at a high level, the context of their 2017 and early 2018 numbers will be largely drowned out.

However, this has never been a question about whether the Astros have had championship-caliber players. If public consensus about the Astros' championship is that it is tainted, then it is tainted. That is not something that is within the control of Hinch, Luhnow or any of the players. They could win the next three World Series and the reality would not change. The only way we could really bring this question back into the objective is to replay the 2017 season all the way through the World Series without the sign stealing. Obviously, that is a physical impossibility. Thus, the taint cannot be removed. In many ways, that is the biggest penalty those associated with the 2017 Astros will have to endure.

Question: How much of an advantage did the Astros' hitters gain from the scheme?

Hinch: "I can't pinpoint what advantages or what happened or exactly what happened otherwise. But we did it to ourselves."

The chorus of anti-Astros sentiment that has emerged over the past few months has blended into one overarching, one-word mantra: Cheaters. The anecdotally based condemnations of the Astros are generally logically solid. If you know what pitch is coming, then it's a huge advantage. Opposing pitchers, such as Cleveland's Mike Clevinger, have compared the Astros' scheme to stealing food off their table. (A terrible analogy for any millionaire ballplayer to use, by the way, but that's a side issue.) If the scheme didn't work, the Astros wouldn't have kept doing it for as long as they did. And so on.

Putting analytical meat on those anecdotal bones has proved to be largely elusive. Baseball Prospectus has tried more than once. So did our friends at FiveThirtyEight. Fangraphs has taken multiple stabs at it, including a piece that came out Friday. Ben Lindbergh of the Ringer also dug in. The cottage industry that has emerged around the Astros' scandal got a second wind recently when a tech-savvy Houston fan published a database of every documented instance of trashcan banging. The data is compelling but also inconclusive.

No satisfactory consensus has emerged from these studies. Did it help? Probably, at least some of the time. Some players were helped more than others, and at the same time some opponents were hurt more than others. At times, the system probably hurt the Astros. The net effect might have largely been negligible to nonexistent. At the very least, it might be impossible to ever truly suss out the effects of the scheme from other factors. Indeed, Manfred's report included the passage, "At some point during the 2018 season, the Astros stopped using the replay review room to decode signs because the players no longer believed it was effective."

What seems more clear is that regardless of whether the scheme helped Houston, the talent of the hitters in question was at a level where the ham-handed system was probably not necessary in the first place. That might be the biggest misfortune of all of this -- how unnecessary it all was. So Hinch is right on both counts -- it's hard to pinpoint the advantages, or lack thereof. But that we're asking these questions at all is entirely on the Astros.

Question: How do you feel about a former player of yours, Mike Fiers, exposing the sign-stealing scheme publicly, which ostensibly led to your suspension and dismissal?

Hinch: "I haven't spent a lot of time focusing on the emotional side of the reaction to Mike telling the story and getting this message out. I wish I would have had an environment and a culture that was better for him to have come to me in real time. I wish I could have done better, to maybe get that nudge to make better leadership decisions. I focus on that. I understand that there are going to be people on both sides of the argument about what should have happened. But I haven't talked to Mike since 2018, 2019, every time you play somebody."

Hinch's response to Verducci's question about Fiers is really the encapsulation of the entire conversation. One of the post-penalty debates on social media has been about the role of Fiers in breaking baseball's time-honored code of silence and informing on his former teammates. It would have been easy for Hinch to have at least qualified his answer with a "the clubhouse is a sacred place" comment. He did not, instead turning the focus back on himself.

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The cynical among us might say Hinch is playing up the accountability angle because he wants to get back into the game when his suspension is over. No one can know for sure what role that would have played. However, Hinch's contrition came across as sincere, even if it remains somewhat hard to understand why he felt strongly enough about his team's escapades to twice destroy the monitor they were using to execute their scheme yet never called a team meeting to draw some firm lines about how his team went about its business.

Of course, Hinch subtlety explained his inaction in 2017 multiple times by saying that his confidence as a leader then was not what it had become by 2019. Whether or not those who do the hiring in baseball see that as true will go a long way in determining his career prospects after the end of the coming season.

Question: Do you want to manage a big league team again? Will you get the chance?

Hinch: "I do [want to manage again]. It's up to other people to determine whether I'm the right fit, but I love managing. I love players. I love the competition. What I've learned about myself over the last few years of doing it is that player-manager relationship, that coach-manager relationship, the front office; I love being in that center hubcap of that wheel that makes it all go around. That comes with a lot of responsibility. I've been proud of how I've handled it. I'm not proud of talking about the issues in 2017 with the sign stealing, but I'm not going to let that deter me from my hope and desire to have a long career in Major League Baseball doing what I love."

Hinch's credentials as a big league skipper were impeccable. He has won at a high level that included two pennants and a World Series. He often has been used as the prototypical example of the 21st century manager because of his skills with the media, ability to connect with younger players and understanding of analytics. During the 2019 season, the Astros became the first team never to order an intentional walk, which speaks to Hinch's statistical bent. None of this is in question. Until the scandal broke, Hinch's reputation in the game was strong, even as the face of a franchise that hasn't been the most popular within the industry. During the winter meetings, Hinch said, "My relationships in baseball are still strong."

Of course, that was before he was suspended and fired. The formula for Hinch going forward is simple: Does the value he brings as a top-level dugout and clubhouse manager outweigh the public relations baggage that will invariably come from hiring him? He does have many friends in the game, such as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose team fell to Houston in the 2017 World Series. Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen is a close friend and former roommate while the two were at Stanford.

That Hinch didn't plan, execute or condone his players' behavior are all points in his favor. However, for all his emphasis on leadership, Hinch didn't provide it when it was most needed. He stated a few times during the interview that he's a better leader now than he was in 2017, so he's cognizant of that disconnect. The guess here is that Hinch will get another shot at running a club. It might not be his next gig, though. He might have to serve as a bench coach or even spend a year working with a front office. But it doesn't feel as if the stain on Hinch's reputation is going to be a permanent deal breaker.

Question: I know the commissioner's office looked into this and they determined that there was nothing to it. Can you assure us that there were no buzzers or anything like that being used [in 2019]?

Hinch: "We got investigated for three months. The commissioner's office did as thorough of an investigation as anyone could imagine was possible. I knew you mentioned about the emails and the texts and the messages [examined during the investigation] and I believe it."

That was Hinch's answer and some took to social media afterward to paint it as a non-denial. That's what happens on social media. The bottom line is that the issue was investigated and the commissioner's report didn't find anything to it. At some point, don't we have to believe what those in charge are telling us?