"Yeah, shortstop," Tomlin said with a chuckle.
Even as Buchholz stared at a must-win game ahead, he had to smile about it Saturday.
"This is a pretty cool story," Buchholz said.
Before they were postseason opponents, Buchholz and Tomlin were teammates at Angelina, a junior college of about 5,000 in Lufkin, Texas. Its list of famous students includes them, fellow pitcher Andrew Cashner and Mark Calaway, better known as The Undertaker in WWE.
Their old coach is still there.
"It seems like about a year ago, honestly," Jeff Livin said wistfully.