After Francona gave Astros owner Drayton McLane a strong endorsement during a telephone conversation Sunday, Houston announced Tuesday it had hired Red Sox bench Brad Mills to be the 18th manager in franchise history. Meanwhile in the history of spin control... This will be the last time I reference the Mills as the second choice snafu, but I finally read the Drayton McLane spin-control statement on Mills and it was too hard for me not to jump all over it.