LOS ANGELES — The closer he got to his dreams, the more they seemed to slip from Charlie Morton. He defied the odds simply by making the majors, something nobody else from Joel Barlow High School in Redding, Conn., had ever done. But for years his career sputtered, and mostly, Morton said, he felt like he was letting people down.

His pitching coach with the Houston Astros, Brent Strom, said Morton had a pessimistic streak and needed to build his confidence. He may as well have been Charlie Brown, since he didn’t seem too happy being Charlie Morton — or, maybe, he was simply a realist in a game built on failure.

“For some people, it’s like you’re down in the cul-de-sac with the basketball hoop, you’re in the countdown, and you’re dreaming of winning the N.B.A. championship,” Morton said. “Or you’re in the backyard and you pretend you’re Ted Williams. I’m sure I did that as a kid.

“But then reality sets in when you become a professional. In a way, I think you start to lose that part of your childhood dreams of being part of a great moment. Honestly, I really just wanted to contribute — to help, you know? I wanted to finish the last few years of my career and be proud of it and feel like I did a good job.”