Updates » id. Which means time to find a franchise quarterback --

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros have a message for those who counted them out of the playoff race after losing four of their last five games.This team isnt going to quit, George Springer said. Were going to go down fighting.Springer had three hits, including a two-run double during a six-run sixth inning, and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 8-4 on Tuesday night.The victory leaves Seattle two games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild card and cuts Houstons deficit in the race to 2 1/2 games.Weve had somewhere between 10 and 20 lives this year where just when you count us out, when you think that were in a bad spot we seem to fight back, manager A.J. Hinch said. Its a characteristic that I love about our team.The Astros got five hits off Felix Hernandez (11-7) in the sixth, but only two of the six runs scored in the inning were earned because of two errors.I was still making good pitches, Hernandez said. The curveball was down, and it just blooped. I was fine. They just got lucky.The game was tied when Springer shot a ground-rule double to right field that made it 6-4. A two-run single by Marwin Gonzalez, which sailed just out of reach of a lunging Hernandez, chased the pitcher and left Houston up 8-4.Contact is your friend, and you put some energy back in the dugout and put up a really big number against a pitcher who was conceivably cruising after the first inning, Hinch said. So Im proud of our group.Houston starter Mike Fiers allowed eight hits and four runs in five innings. Rookie Jandel Gustave (1-0) yielded no hits and no runs with one walk in 1 1/3 innings for his first career win.Hernandez tied season highs by allowing 10 hits and eight runs, four of them earned, in 5 2/3 innings.He gave up a couple in the first, but our offense rebounded and got him in a good spot, manager Scott Servais said. Not wipe-out stuff by any means, but he was pitching well and deserved a better fate.It was his second straight tough start in Houston after he yielded five hits and eight runs in a third of an inning of a 10-0 loss on June 12, 2015, to tie the shortest start of his career. He also struggled against Houston at home earlier this month when he allowed nine hits and six runs in 4 1/3 inning of a 6-0 loss to the Astros on Sept. 16.The Astros trailed 4-2 entering the sixth before Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa hit consecutive singles with no outs. Yuli Gurriel grounded into a force out that scored Altuve and left Correa out at second. Shortstop Ketel Marte made an error on the play that allowed Gurriel to reach first. Tony Kemp drew a walk before pinch-hitter Alex Bregmans RBI single tied it.Jake Marisnick then reached on an error by Lind before Springer and Gonzalez drove in two runs each.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: Bregmans pinch hit in the seventh was his first action since leaving a game on Sept. 14 with a right hamstring injury. He was replaced by a pinch-runner after his hit.BREGMANS RETURNBregman had an idea that he could pinch-hit early in Tuesday nights game. But since he had been out so long, coming up in that situation had him a little bit rattled.That might have been more nerve-wracking than my first at-bat here, he said.Hinch was confident that he could deliver there despite the long layoff.Hes Alex Bregman; hes sort of never out of an at-bat, Hinch said. His competitiveness, his readiness, hes been bouncing off the walls trying to get back in the game. He almost couldnt hold back his smile, how good he felt.UP NEXTMariners: James Paxton (5-7, 3.72) is scheduled to start for Seattle on Wednesday. Paxton allowed five hits and one run while striking out nine in seven innings for a win over Minnesota in his last start.Astros: Doug Fister (12-12, 4.42) will pitch for Houston on Wednesday. Fister has had a tough time lately, losing his last four decisions with the Astros dropping each of the last six games hes started. Dennis Daley Jersey . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators. Jordan Scarlett Jersey . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. 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A couple of different things can happen.The machine could spring back to life, like nothing was ever wrong, and appear to function properly. In your memory, there exists a problem, and you know that problem could come back at any time. But the way things look on reboot makes it tough to worry too much about it right now. For the purposes of this story, we will call this The Chip Kelly.Or it could take forever to fire back up, force you to shut it down and try again a few times, after which things just dont seem to work the way they used to work. It still looks like your computer, but youre not getting out of it what you used to get. For our purposes, were calling this outcome The San Francisco 49ers.As the 2016 NFL season dawns, Kelly and the 49ers are pressing the reset button together. Which outcome should they expect?At Oregon, everybody bought into the system and what Coach Kelly was trying to do, said 49ers rookie defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, who played for Kelly as a freshman with the Ducks. And I believe -- he couldnt really do it in Philly -- but if he gets all of the guys here to buy into his system, itll be successful. Because Ive seen it with my own eyes.Thats the hope, of course --?that what happened to Kelly in his truncated tenure as the Philadelphia Eagles coach was the aberration, and that the success he had in college can translate to the NFL in his second professional stop. But the past three years have hollowed out the expectations for both Kelly and his new team. And as they start again fresh, its more realistic to expect the slow reboot than the instant one.Three years ago, Kelly and the 49ers stood on separate NFL pinnacles. Kelly was the red-hot college coach coming into the league with new ideas that would revolutionize the game. The 49ers were defending NFC champs whod come within a few filaments of beating the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII. The future looked blinding for both, and both made the playoffs that year.But things deteriorated quickly after that. Kelly was unemployed before 2015s final game, and that 49ers team that was so recently one of the best in the league fell apart. Gone from those days are the likes of Justin Smith, Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, Frank Gore, Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis. A rash of retirements and other issues gutted one of the leagues best teams in a stunning hurry.It was just a shock, said Niners linebacker NaVorro Bowman, one of the few 2013 stars whos still around. At 28 and just having the guys that I played with for so many years, and the type of football that we played, and then throwing in guys that never played at that level of football, that was a challenge last year. Just to lose it so quick, that was a shock to everybody.This was no ones plan -- Kelly and the 49ers together in 2016. Kelly was supposed to still be riding high with the Eagles, and Jim Harbaugh was supposed to be managing a 49ers dynasty in San Francisco. But here they are, together, hoping they can restore each other to the heights they occupied not long ago. Is that hope realistic? Can these 49ers really expect to contend?It all depends how fast we grow up, 49ers general manager?Trent Baalke said.Thats a sobering assessment from a team official in a league where everyones supposed to believe they have a chance every year.dddddddddddd But what has gone on in San Francisco the past few seasons has everyone understandably realistic. Clearly, Kellys time in Philadelphia showed hes no miracle worker, but the Niners are setting expectations a bit lower than that. After the tumultuous end of the Harbaugh era and the unfortunate entirety of the Jim Tomsula era, theyre looking for something stable.Hes the same guy every day, Baalke said of Kelly. Hes very concise in his communication with the players. They know exactly what hes looking for. Hes demanding without being demanding, if that makes sense. I cant talk about what happened in Philly, but from my standpoint, communication has been natural and easy.Kelly will have to keep it that way, and also bring some patience. This is a 49ers roster with major issues. There are questions to be answered on the offensive line and about second-year running back Carlos Hyde. Kellys success his first year in Philadelphia was built around a healthy, excellent line and a league-leading run game. If he cant replicate that in San Francisco, it might not matter whether Blaine Gabbert or Colin Kaepernick is the quarterback. Kellys offensive system relies on the run game above all else, and until thats established, there wont be a foundation. And until theres a foundation, nothing can be built. The 49ers know this.If peoples expectations are still set on what we did with those guys, its kind of hard to explain, Bowman said. But there are some true fans, I think, that know youre willing to work and will take some punches with you. They know a guy like me is here, understands what they want Im trying my best to get us there. It comes in time. It comes with the work that were trying to put in now. And well get back to it.And no, it might not be this year. The 49ers play in the same division as two of the best teams in the entire league. Theyre still putting back together a crumbled roster. They need Kelly to be a builder, and they need everyone to understand that building can be a slow process.Coach Kelly is the same person Ive known since my freshman year, Buckner said. I came here, people were talking about him being different. I thought I would see something a little different. But Coach Kellys the same to me. Same guy.Buckner says that as if its a good thing. Eagles fans might hear it differently. Kellys sameness might be just what the Niners need, or it might represent a stubbornness that keeps him from ever attaining the NFL greatness so many predicted for him.The question is how much time Kelly gets to turn things around in San Francisco. Barring a hyper-accelerated meltdown of front-office relationships, hes sure to get more time than Tomsula did. Which means time to find a franchise quarterback -- esp