Houston Astros 2014 Season Thread

[eagle eye]

Brad Peacock was on the mound for Houston last night and actually pitched a good game for 5 innings allowing only a solo home run to Cleveland's hottest hitter right now Zack Walters in the bottom of the 5th. That was after Marwin Gonzalez gave the Astros a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning with a solo shot of his own. Dallas Keuchel had to be just shaking his head as Houston took the lead in the top of the 9th on a throwing error by Cleveland catcher Roberto Perez which scored Gregorio Petit who was on 3rd pinch running for Chris Carter who walked earlier in the inning and then, a few batters later with 2 on Jon Singleton hit an opposite field homer to give the Astros a 5-1 lead. Keuchel on Wednesday threw a complete game against the Yankees allowing only 3 runs in his 9 innings of work but Houston was unable to score a single run for Keuchel.

Unfortunately for Peacock he had to leave the game before he even threw a pitch in the bottom of the 6th after throwing only 62 pitches due to tightness in the forearm of his pitching arm. Peacock said the pain started in the 2nd and got progressively worse as the game wore on until Bo Porter pulled the plug on his night after a couple of warm up pitches. It was Peacocks best outing in his last 5 starts as he had gone 0-2 with a 10.50 ERA in his previous four starts. Porter said that it was too bad because last night's game was maybe Peacock's best night on the mound for Houston all season. Come to think of it both Peacock and Keuchel have to be shaking their heads.

The Astros are now 5-3 on their current 10 game road trip guaranteeing at least a .500 record and they have now worked their way up to 19 games under .500 which isn't great but after a disasterous July it's been a while since Houston wasn't at least 20 games down. They are maintaining a 4 game lead over the Rangers for fourth place in the AL West. You take what you can get sometimes.

 

Improvement over 2013 - +4

[eagle eye]

I guess it's the same with every team but where is the freaking offense. Altuve is quickly watching his AL batting title wash down the drain. It will piss me off to no end if a guy like Robinson Cano wins the batting title. Hopefully Altuve, Chris Carter and a couple of others ramp it back up soon, maybe against the A's when they come back home. They finish August at home with 3 games vs Oakland and 4 against the Rangers. September is going to be strictly division games except for a 4 game homestand vs Cleveland and 3 games to end the season in New York vs the Mets. Otherwise is A's, Angels, Mariners and Rangers home and away the rest of the month.

 

It looks like George Springer will be back soon. After suffering a bit of setback during his rehab of a pulled quad muscle Astros.com is reporting that Bo Porter said that he is on the right track to getting back in the lineup. He is taking batting practice and is running. The Astros are being understandably cautious with Springer because all things considered having him back won't mean we have a shot at the playoffs. Shoot, it doesn't even mean we have a shot at .500. But with so many division games and the division title is being hotly contested by the A's and Angels right now we need to be playing good ball to keep from being swamped. It's also a possibility that the Wild Card could come out of the West so there is a lot to play for in the next 5 weeks for our division foes. I'm sure Houston would love nothing better than to play spoiler to them.

[eagle eye]

Poor Dallas Keuchel. He's probably banging his head on a wall in the Astros locker room. He pitched his ass off again tonight going seven innings allowing 5 hits, 3 walks with 3 K's and he only allowed 2 runs only one of which was earned and he got a no decision. No freaking decision. This means he's still oh-fer in August and to add insult to injury bonehead Josh Fields got the win after going one scoreless inning in the 8th.

 

Houston did win at long last beating the A's 4-2 so there's that. It seems that Chris Carter has regained his mojo. He homered last night in an 8-2 loss to the A's and he clobbered a 3 run shot to lift the Astros to the win tonight. Dexter Fowler also homered in tonight's game which gives Astros fans a little hope for a resurgence by the offense. Still you have to feel for Keuchel. What more can the guy do? It's beginning to look like he's going to have pitch a no-hitter shutout to stand a chance to win. Come to think of it, considering he's got 5 complete games this season, isn't too far fetched.

 

The Stros broke a 3 game losing streak and the Astros are still playing .500 ball. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games.

 

2013+ = +5

[eagle eye]

Houston pulled their own fat out of the fire on Thursday with a grand salami by Jason Castro to beat the Rangers after trailing 2-0 through the first 4 innings. Colin McHugh and the bullpen made the 4-2 lead hold up as Houston took the first game of the 4 game series.

 

2013-UP - +6

 

The Astros went for the Golden Boot award for winning the season series last night but they fell flat on their faces as the Rangers went all midevil on the Astros asses building a 13-1 lead through the top of the 7th. Houston saved a little face by scoring a run in the 7th and 8th and 3 in the 9th to make the game look half way respectable but between Brett Oberholzer (7 runs in 4.1 innings) and Jake Buchannon (6 runs in 2.2 innings) pretty much screwed the pooch last night. Mark Foltynewicz pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th allowing just one hit over his two innings of work so there was one bright spot for the pitching staff. Marwin Gonzalez had a good night hitting leadoff for the second night since Robbie Grossman got hurt going 3-5 and Jose Altuve was back to his multi-hitting self going 2-5. Dexter Fowler added to the party going 2-2 before being pulled for pinch hitter (WTF???!!! Fowler suffered a nose injury on a play in the field in the sixth.) in the seventh led what there was of a Houston comeback but the hole dug by Obie and Buck was just to deep to crawl out of. Oh well, there's still two more games to clinch the Boot.

 

I've bitched about Bo Porter's decision making off and on over the season and now the news on the street (and Astros.com) is that there is a huge rift brewing between Porter and GM Jeff Luhnow. The main article I read about it was from Bleacher Report and the main thing is Luhnow is doing stuff without consulting with Porter. To me, when push comes to shove, I don't see any scenario where Bo Porter wins. If there's a problem then the GM is the boss unless owner Jim Crane intervenes on Porter's behalf. To me, there is a ton of evidence to show Porter isn't all that great a manager whereas Luhnow has rebuilt the Astros organization. Porter is history IMO and the only reason he isn't gone already is because there is no real benefit cutting ties with him at this time.

[KABrother88]

Well the Houston Chronicle is reporting Bo is out the door...time for EE to celebrate

[Big T]

I don't agree with this at all! Bo Porter is a good manager IMO and the best they are going to find while struggling like this. This has been a revolving door the past several years so who in their right mind is going to want to take this job?

[Mike]

I don't agree with this at all! Bo Porter is a good manager IMO and the best they are going to find while struggling like this. This has been a revolving door the past several years so who in their right mind is going to want to take this job?

 

Porter was fired because he and Lunhow hate each other and clashed. I liked Porter but I like this decision if the owner sided with the GM because I really like the GM.

[eagle eye]

Bo Porter is gone because he's not a good manager, at least in the Astros system. I have questioned a lot of his decisions this year and it's not because the team is losing. That's not Porter's fault. He has had to play with the cards dealt to him and the cards have been mostly not been very good. Porter was fired for bad game management and for the way he used the guys like Springer and SIngleton. Porter set the lineups with those players having no protection around them in the batting order in the the 3 or 4 hole where the pressure to produce was immense. Neither player flourished in that role. Springer started to break out when he batted second between Altuve and Fowler. That's when Springer began to flourish. Singleton was never given the same chance. Porter stuck him in the 4 hole and left him there apparently in a sink or swin mode. Aside from a brief flourish when he first came up Singleton has floundered badly. He strikes out way too much and his approach at the plate is to swing as hard as he can which has resulted in a sub .200 batting average and the possibility he will strike out more than Chris Carter did last year. If Singleton is ruined as a big leaguer I would point the first finger at Porter. Porter's use of the bullpen has been confusing as well but that's enough about that. I'm not sure I agree with the timing of this firing but I agree Porter had to go.

 

Here is an except from the ariticle on Astros.com that features quotes by Astros GM Jeff Luhnow. "This decision was not made because of our current level of competitiveness in the Major Leagues. I recognize that our win-loss record is largely a product of an organizational strategy for which I am responsible. Rather, I made this decision because I believe we need a new direction in our clubhouse. "What we will seek going forward is a consistent and united message throughout the entire organization. It is essential that as an organization we create an atmosphere at the Major League level where our young players can come up and continue to develop and succeed. Ultimately, I am responsible for creating that culture, and I will do everything in my power to do so -- even when it means making difficult moves like the one we made today.

 

What that says to me is that, like the Patriots, there is a goal of producing an "Astros Way" of doing things and a unified attitude and mindset. Porter and Luhnow didn't agree on stuff so Porter's two year tenure in Houston is over. I do respect Porter in the way he has conducted himself. He's taken responsibility for his failures and he hasn't thrown his players or the Astros organization under the bus in the media. What happened in the club house stayed there. Got to respect that.

 

The first hint at trouble was a players meeting with Porter in the tunnel under the Astros dugout in Boston a couple of weeks ago. Porter refused to talk about the meeting or what was said which was a good thing. But, it did hint at discord in the club house. Then last week the article broke about the rift between Luhnow and Porter and you had to know this wasn't going to end well for Porter. I said so in a post at the time and it's turned out to be true. Again, I'm not sure the timing is all that great but it is what it is.

 

And Big T, as far as who would want to manage the Astros. With their farm system and a solid starting rotation I would imagine the line is pretty freaking long.

 

The month of August seemed to suck for Houston. The month started with 3 wins in Toronto and ended with 3 or 4 wins against the Astros 2013 bitches, the Rangers. Houston ended up with a record of 15-14 with strong play by Jose Altuve, Chris Carter, Jake Marisnick and Dexter Fowler. Jon Singleton continues to disappoint and hopefully a new manager can help him out. August is the only month this year other than May the Astros had a winning record. (The were 15-14 in May as well but somehow that month of May seemed much better.) Dallas Keuchel ended up the month with an 0-2 record with a 3.21 ERA and a complete game (which was a loss). He went at least seven innings in all of those starts giving up only 16 runs in those starts but the Astros couldn't seem to muster any offensive support for Keuchel scoring only an average of 1.71 runs per start. Scott Feldman has a resurgence in August going 4-2 on the month with 2 complete games. The bullpen is a hold-your-breath-and-hope unit as likely to blow a game as save one. Still no Matt Albers or Anthony Bass sightings as yet and George Springer might be shelved with a bad quad that doesn't seem to want to heal. We'll see what happens in September when the Astros face division foes and playoff contenders for the most part. It remains to be seen what how the team does under the interim manager whoever that is. One note. Former Astros SS Adam Everett has been brought in to be the bench coach. I like Everett so I hope he makes a good impression and hangs on with the staff.

[eagle eye]

The Astros introduced their interim manager and new bench coach today. Tom Lawless is the new head man and is likely getting an audition for making the move permanent in 2015. Lawless was tutored by MLB legend Whitey Herzog and he's been a player and coach for a long time. As a player he best known for a 3 run homer off P Frank Viola in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series for the St Louis Cardinals that led to a 7-2 Cardinal win. He has spent the past 4 years in the Astros organization including this year where he's been the infield coach at AA Corpus Christi. He spent a few weeks as interim manager of the AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks while manager Tony DeFrancesco was out due to an illness. Lawless also coached Team China in the 2008 Olympics. He is very excited for this opportunity and he made no bones about it. He's waited a long time for an opportunity like this. (Take note here Big T! Somebody does want this job.)

Lawless is joined by former Astros SS Adam Everett who will be the bench coach. Everett was a spectacular short stop during his playing days which included a trip with the Astros to the 2008 World Series. He is very passionate about this next step in his coaching life and he still maintains a fierce loyalty to the Astros organization.

In the press conference Lawless and Everett seems to have a really good chemistry together and they will bring a great deal of enthusiasm and energy to the job. Only time will tell about what the last 24 games of the season will bring but just judging from the presser today you find yourself kind of rooting for them to succeed.

 

Houston added seven players in the September call up today. Here's an article from Astros.com about who they are.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/hou/astros-add-seven-to-big-league-roster?ymd=20140902&content_id=92748942&vkey=news_hou

 

I don't know how the rest of the month will shake out but tonight the Astros are taking on one of the hottest teams in baseball and the leaders of their division, the Los Angeles Angels and they are in the top of the 8th leading 7-3. The top seven hitters in the lineup have at least one hit with Jose Altuve again leading the way going 3-4 so far. Dexter Fowler, Robbie Grossman and Jason Castro all have 2 hits so far with the bottom of the 8th coming up. Brad Peacock did a good job taking a 7-0 lead into the 6th when he gave up one run and he was in trouble in the 7th allowing one run and leaving a man for reliever Kevin Chapman who allowed the run to score on a double by Gordon Beckman.

Update: the Astros held the Angels to no runs in the 8th and they have Gregorio Petit on first with one out and Robbie Grossman at the plate. I'll update as things develop.

[eagle eye]

Grossman singles to center field and Pettit raced to third on the play. The Astros have men on 1st and 3rd with one out. The Angels are changing pitchers with Jose Altuve due up. Did I mention Altuve hit his 7th home run on the year in the 3rd inning? A solo shot that upped the Astros lead to 4-0.

Good grief, Altuve just can't be stopped. He doubled to left field scoring Pettit and advancing Grossman to 3rd.

Dexter Fowler was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Chris Carter struck out swinging. 2 out.

Jason Castro flies out to center. 3 out.

Houston takes an 8-3 lead to the 9th.

[eagle eye]

Josh Fields is pitching the 9th. He pitched a scoreless 8 and is in his second inning of work.

 

Howie Kendrick hits a ground rule double to right field.

Erick Aybar flies out to center. 1 out.

Chris Iannetta pops out to SS. 2 out.

Grant Green pinch hitting for Brennan Boesch hits a hard deep fly ball to left where Robbie Grossman jumps in the air and makes the catch for the 3rd out and the win.

 

This makes the first win as a manager for Tom Lawless as Houston takes down the division leader in the opening game of a short 2 game series vs the Angels.

Brad Peacock get the win giving him a 4-8 record. The Angels CJ Wilson takes the loss. No save situation tonight.

 

Games over 2013 - + 9

Edited September 4, 2014 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

In an earlier post Big T asked, who would want the Astros manager job with the lack of stability that has been present the past few years? The fact is a big league manager's job is rare. Only 30 of them to go around. So, if one becomes available, as they say, the line forms to the right. Not only is the new interim manager Tom Lawless getting an audition for the job. Today GM Jeff Luhnow said that the key to the Astros manager search will be transparency whatever the hell that means. But according Bleacher Report Craig Biggio's name may be in the ring. Astros.com is reporting that Tampa Bay bench coach Dave Martinez is interested in the job. Fact is, Martinez was on the short list of candidates when Bo Porter was hired. Martinez has never been a manager before and Luhnow said that a candidate without previous managerial experience isn't a deal killer. All things considered it's just speculation right now. My point is there is a long list of people who would love a chance to manage an up and coming franchise to what Sports Illustrated dubbed the 2017 World Series Champs! It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

 

What's unfolding is another surprising game with the division leading Angels. Through 7 innings Houston is leading 2-1 behind a nice outing by Colin McHugh. Go Astros!

Edited September 5, 2014 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

Well, Houston didn't hang on to that 2-1 lead. They increased it to a 4-1 lead before Chad Qualls shut the door on the Angels giving the Astros a sweep of their two game series. In case you were wondering this gives Houston 61 wins. Ten wins better than last year which was the low point of the Astros organization of over 50 years. And danged if that rascal Chris Carter wasn't the catalyst for the win. You might say he was the reason Houston won along with starting pitcher Colin McHugh who went 7-2/3 giving up but a single run on 4 hits with no walks and 8 K's. But, it was Carter's bat that pushed the Astros over the top with a 2-home run game upping his season total to 35 dingers, most coming since July 15th. Carter is taking a page from the Jose Altuve school of hitting going 3-4 last night with 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored. And no strike outs. This is significant since Carter was the MLB strike out king of 2013 with a grand total of 212 whiffs. So far in 2014 he has 154 which will increase before the season is out but whatever the number is it will be better than last season. He's already set a career high in home runs, and is currently tied with a career high in RBI's (82), and is one run behind his career high of 64 runs scored. His career high batting average of .239 was set in 2012 while still with the A's but he only had 218 ABs in 67 games played. In 2014 Carter has a .231 average after 437 ABs and 124 games. Carter is only 27 and as a power hitter he's only in the infancy of his career. Hell, he's only played 2-1/2 seasons in the bigs. A light might have come on in Carter's head back in July because what he's done since isn't a fluke. It's not a hot streak with him falling back to earth. No, this is something different. He's had mini slumps in the last month and a half but he's gotten right back on track and kept cranking out hits, home runs and RBI's at a furious pace. Statistically, he's been the best hitter in the Astros lineup the past 6 weeks. Even better than the amazing Jose Altuve. No kidding, look it up. It's looking like Houston really does have a couple of budding stars to build around. Not bad Jeff Luhnow, not freaking bad.

[eagle eye]

Well, Houston got about a day and half off as they traveled to the west coast to begin a three game set against the A's. It wa business as usual for Houston. Good starting pitching, home run to get on the scoreboard early, a home run by Chris Carter with a man on (and I'll give you 3 guesses who was on base and the first two don't count) to give the Astros the lead and the bullpen closed the door for the win. Easy-peasy right? Seems so. The Astros have now won 5 straight, 6 or their last 7 and 11 of their last 16. Speaking of Jose Altuve he inched closer to 200 hits with 2 more hits giving him 196 for the season and he added a stolen base to up that total to 51 most in the AL. BTW Carter's home run gave him 36 on the season which is tied for 2nd in MLB for most HRs one behind Baltimore's Nelson Cruz. Brett Oberholzer was in for 6.1 and Jose Veras and Tony Sipp combined to finish off the A's.

 

Over 2013 - +11

[Big T]

Also, if I am not mistaken, that was win number 62 on the season which means the next win will guarantee that the Astros will not lose 100 games this year. May not seem like much, but that is huge!

[eagle eye]

Also, if I am not mistaken, that was win number 62 on the season which means the next win will guarantee that the Astros will not lose 100 games this year. May not seem like much, but that is huge!

 

How right you are Big but it took an extra day to log that 62nd win. With a 3-1 lead in the 9th manager Tom Lawless, who has pushed all the right buttons so far since taking over the reins, pulled a huge boner. First he did something I was in favor of by letter Scott Feldman take the hill in the 9th to complete his complete game. Unfortunately, Feldman gave up a couple of hits after recording an out to start the inning. Lawless pulled Feldman with one out and men on first and third. In came Chad Qualls which is where I felt Lawless made his mistake. Why? Because Qualls has 17 saves and 4 blown saves this year and 3 of the 4 were against the A's. Qualls took the hill and BAM he gave up a 2 run double to tie the game and then BAM a single to score the winning run. Qualls faced 2 batters, didn't record an out and in six pitches cost his team the game I'm sure Houston thought they had won. After the game all Qualls had to say was he had to admit he was Oakland's bitch in 2014. He didn't quite say it like that but that was the gist. Why Lawless sent Qualls to the mount is anybody's guess but if you second guess anything you have to think that was the thing to question.

 

So, today everybody's sad sack #1 starting pitcher, Dallas Keuchel, took the mound in the rubber game of the series with the A's. Keuchel went 6 innings giving up only one run but it was the seventh that did him in. After Houston took a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh it looked like Keuchel's fortunes had turned with a new month but they didn't and it was his own fault. He allowed 2 earned runs in the inning surrendering the lead by the time the inning was over. Down 3-2 through a scoreless 8th and with Tony Sipp the pitcher of record Houston did it again. They scored 2 runs in the inning largely due to the poor pitching of the A's relievers who allowed 5 walks and a sac fly that scored the tying and winning runs. Sipp got the first two outs in the bottom of the 9th then allowed a walk and Josh Fields came in and shut the door on the A's to give Houston their 63rd win of the season.

 

As Big T alluded to this 63rd win is significant because it means there is no way Houston will lose 100 games for a fourth consecutive year. They are in the midst of a really nice turnaround this season and you can chalk it up. Houston is now +12 over last season's record and counting with 19 games left in the season. As for Dallas Keuchel, well let's just say his bad luck streak is alive and well but I hope the fact his team continues to win is consolation for his ill fortune.

[eagle eye]

The Astros Brad Peacock has been pitching well of late and on Monday he joined Dallas Keuchel, Scott Feldman and Collin McHugh as pitchers who pitch 7 excellent innings and get no run support and leaky relief pitching that results in a no-decision and eventually a loss. So, Peacock can feel a different type of frustration. For much of the year it's been a frustration of pitching like crap and getting hammered but now he's kind of figured something out and he see's the other side. It's not an unusual situation this year for the offense to go on vacation. Couple that with the fact that Houston was facing Seattle ace Felix Hernandez and it was going to be tough to score runs. He only went 5 innings but the bullpen in Seattle is better and more consistent than Houston's. Check that, Houston's bullpen is consistently inconsistent. You know what I mean.

 

Last night Houston got a great game from Collin McHugh who went 8 innings and he gave up just one run which, unfortunately, tied the game in the bottom of the 8th. It was a solo HR from 1B Logan Morrison. But unlike the luck say a Dallas Keuchel has, McHugh got off the hook because Houston came through in the top of the ninth with a run to retake the lead. You'll freak out when you see how they did it. K by Jason Castro to begin the inning. K by Jake Marisnick--2 down. Walk by Jon Singleton. Excuse me, what? Yep, that wasn't a mistake. Singleton had a really nice at-bat to earn the walk which is totally against what the free swinging Singleton has been all season since he was brought up in June. Next up was the double play machine Matt Dominguez who grounded to short but deep in the hole with no chance for a play at either second or first base. Men on first and second with two out. Next up is Jonathan Villar who was demoted this summer because he couldn't hit. Villar was a September call up and he was in the lineup last night. He actually made some nice defensive plays in the game as well. But, in his last at-bat Villar works until he got a pitch he could handle and he singled to right field scoring Singlegon. Robbie Grossman struck out after a pitching change and the inning was over. McHugh was still the pitcher of record and having tossed only 100 pitches he could've came out to try to finish the game. Instead Tom Lawless decided on rolling out Josh Fields to close out the game. I was like WTF! Fields has been dismal up until recently when he's actually come in and pitched pretty well. Fingers crossed I'm rooting for Fields, at least until he screws up. Batter #1 flies out to center--1 out. Batter #2 called out on strikes--2 out. Batter #3 grounds out to Jonathan Villar, who, fittingly, makes a nice play to gun down the runner at first--3 out. Ballgame.

 

Above 2013 --- +13

Jose Altuve is Oh-fer in Seattle. O-7 so far with one game left to play in this series. Presently, he is clinging to a one one-thousandth point lead over Detroit's Victor Martinez for the AL batting title. Altuve is now down to .336 while Martinez, in a bit of a slump himself, is hitting .335. Everyone needs to get their rally caps on and help Jose through this. We can't lose this thing with only 17 games left!

 

Jake Marisnick looked so good there for a while didn't he? Lately, it's a different story. In his last 10 games Marisnick has only 5 hits in 30 at-bats. In case you were wondering that's a .167 BA. C'mon Jake, you're better than this. Or maybe not and opposing teams just have had time to make a book on his strengths and weaknesses. C'mon Jake, please be better than this.

 

Tri-Cities was knocked out of the New York-Penn League Championship series losing the rubber game of the three game series to State College. Nice follow up to their championship from last season. Tri-Cities is the short season A league affiliate of the Astros.

 

The High A Lancaster JetHawks are in the finals of the California League after sweeping their series against the defending California League Champions Inland Empire 66ers for the South Division championship. Now they will begin a best of 5 series for the League Championship against the North Division Champs the Visalia (California) Rawhide beginning Thursday night in Visalia.

[eagle eye]

The Astros won the series against the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night. It was a big night for one of the Astros players as well. 2B Jose Altuve became only the second player in franchise history to log 200 hits in a season. Altuve went 2-5 for the game and his second hit of the night, a single in the seventh off Seattle pitcher Danny Farquhaur, broke the 200 mark. Another Astros who enjoyed a special night was Houston pitching prospect Nick Tropeano got his first major league win in his first major league start. He went 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks and 5 K's.

 

Over 2013 - + 14

 

After a well deserved day off Houston began a weekend series with the Los Angeles Angels last night and it seems a day off doesn't help the Astros. It may have cooled them off. They faced the division leading Angels and it appeared that they would continue spanking their division rivals asses as they carried a 3-2 lead into the 5th inning. That's when it all fell apart and it was started by a dropped fly ball by Jake Marisnick and the flood gates opened up as the Angels scored 7 runs in the 5th inning. Starter Brett Oberholzer went 4.1 giving up 5 hits, 6 runs but only 4 earned. September call ups Jorge De Leon (.1 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs) and Samual Deduno (1.1, 2, 2) combined to give the Angels an insurmountable lead. The final score was 11-3 and in the end it wasn't that close. Angels ace CJ Wilson got the win going 5 innings allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks and 6 K's. A group of 4 relievers combined to finish off the Astros.

 

It was another multi-hit night for Jose Altuve who 2-4 in the loss maintaining a .337 BA which also maintains a tenuous lead over Detroit's Victor Martinez (.335) for the AL batting title. Martinez went 2-4 as well last night against Cleveland. Come on Jose, 15 games, do let up! If Jose does hang on to win the AL batting title he will become the first Astros hitting ever to win the honor. So, please Jose, man up dude. The finish line is in sight.

[eagle eye]

The Angels showed why they are division leaders and the Astros showed why they aren't. Division leaders have good starting pitching, good relief pitching and consistantly good hitters and a star or two and they play defense. Also rans may have these qualities on occasion but it's the lack of consistancy that is often the difference.

 

Last night Houston got good starting pitching from Scott Feldman who gave up 2 runs in his 6 innings of work. Both runs coming off solo shots by a guy many consider the best player in baseball, Mike Trout. Houston only managed a single run so Feldman was in line for the loss despite a nice outing where he battled through 111 pitches and allowed 8 hits and a walk. The offense took the night off but Angels pitcher Jered Weaver by tossing 7 innings of 1 run ball allowing 4 hits, a walk and 12 K's. 9 of the 12 K's were by Chris Carter (3), Jason Castro (2) and Jon Singleton (4). Upon Scott Feldman's departure Mike Foltynewicz pitched to two batters retiring the first and allowing a single to the second. In came Darin Downs who couldn't record an out but he did manage to walk two batters which scored a run. Jose Veras came in and recorded the final two outs but not before he gave up a walk to score a run and hit which scored a run taking the Angels from a 2-1 lead to a 5-1 lead. Lack of offense and inconsistant relief pitching has been Houston's problem a lot this season. Houston got a run on a Jose Altuve RBI double in the 8th but the game was over after the Angels half of the 7th.

 

As for Altuve, he kept on keeping on in his march to an AL batting title by going 2-4 and upping his BA to .338 which his closest competitor Victor Martinez of the Detroit Tigers went 1-4 in a Tigers win over Cleveland lowering his BA to .334. All this with 14 games left in the season.

 

Altuve, Part II. One of the bright spots in the Astros loss was the fact that Altuve did go that 2-4 and the other significant thing about that is he now stands at 204 hits on the season which is 6 behind Craig Biggio's franchise record 210 set in 1998. Six to tie and seven to break. If Altuve continues to hit and maintain his lead in the AL batting title race it's a deadlock cinch he sets a new mark.

 

Altuve, Part III. With his 61st multi hit game of the season he extends his AL leading mark in that category but he also tied Kevin Bass' franchise record set in 1998 (that must have been a heckuva year for Houston:happy:). One more multi hit game and Altuve sets another franchise record in a magical season for him.

[eagle eye]

Well it took a month and a half but Dallas Keuchel got two things he hasn't had in a while. Run support and a win. It's no coincidence that if you have one you usually get the other when you pitch as well as Keuchel has the past 6 weeks. Trouble was the run support part hasn't been there as he's been stuck on 10 wins since the end of July. Well, the dry spell is over and Keuchel finally got win #11 today. The offense showed up scoring six runs which was more than enough for the win as Keuchel pitched to two batters into the 8th allowing only 1 run on 3 hits with a walk and 4 K's. Jose Veras and Tony Sipp shut the door on any hopes the Angels had of coming back in the late innings and Houston stopped the Angels winning streak at 10. The top five hitters in the lineup along with #9 hitter Gregorio Pettit drove the offense and gave Keuchel all the runs he needed for a comfortable win. What was the damn score you ask? Why 6-1 and it gives the Astros a little boost heading back to Houston and the final home stand of the season beginning with 4 games with the Cleveland Indians.

 

Altuve watch, Part I - By going 2-4 at the plate today Jose has become the franchise all time leader in multi-hit games in a season with 62--and counting. Kevin Bass set the mark of 61 multi-hit games in 1998.

 

Altuve watch, Part II - The two hits raises the total hits on the season to 206 which is just 4 hits behind the current franchise leader Craig Biggio who set the record in 1998. There are only 13 games left in the season and I feel pretty confident that Biggio's record will fall.

 

Altuve watch, Part III - The AL batting title race got a little more space today as Jose's 2-4 upped his BA to .339 while Detroit's Victor Martinez' BA fell to .331 after he went 0-5 in Detroit's 6-4 win over Cleveland. The 13 games left will be nail biting time for all of us Jose-boosters.

 

One last thing Over 2013 count? +15 The other thing is Houston season record is 66-83. How would 70 wins sit with you? With Houston's quality starting pitching and (sometimes) timely hitting all we need is a lousy 4 wins. A 20+ improvement over last year would give us 71+ wins. Would any of you have thought we'd be at this plateau by the end of the season? I'll bet not a lot of you. Life is getting a lot better in Houston don't you think? Rockets playoff contenders, Texans 2-0 with an eye on 3-0 and the Astros looking like a MLB baseball team again. Life is getting really good.

 

Just a sidebar but it's no bad thing that Lamar is 2-1 on the season. Have we ever had a winning record since we revived the football program? I don't care if we played the School for the Blind a win is a win is a win. Life is good in Southeast Texas.

Edited September 15, 2014 by eagle eye

[Big T]

I believe I called a 72-90 season for the Stros. I need to go look it up to see for sure but there is still a chance!

[eagle eye]

I believe I called a 72-90 season for the Stros. I need to go look it up to see for sure but there is still a chance!

 

I looked around and couldn't find your prediction. Doesn't mean it isn't there but it could have been lost when the site was upgraded.

 

Along the same lines Houston opened their series with Cleveland with a 3-1 win last night giving them 67 wins. This second biggest thing of the game besides the win, of course, was that Chris Carter's 12 game hitting streak came to an end. It will now be time for another streak to begin tonight. He went 0-4 with a K last night but with a .236 BA he's flirting with setting a career season high in BA which is now .239. He already has career highs in home runs and RBI's as with 13 games left. His hot streak has tailed off but in the last 30 days he's still hitting .237. Let's hope he finishes the season strong.

 

Altuve watch, Part I - Altuve continued his blistering hot streak of the past few games as he went 3-4 last night upping his hit total to 209 which is just one behind Craig Biggio's record. So, one hit to tie and two to break the single season franchise record of 210 hits.

 

Altuve watch, Part II - With the 3 hits his season batting average is now .342 which continues to lead the AL. The closest contender to Altuve's AL Batting Title is Detroit's Victor Martinez who went 2-5 in the Tigers 8-6 win over Minnesota. Martinez stands at .332 giving Altuve a bit of a cushion of 10 points with 13 games to play.

 

Altuve watch, Part III - Last night's game gives Altuve another multi-hit outing which only is adding to his franchise record for multi-hitters which now stands at 63. This is a team mark and it also leads the whole of the major leagues in multi-hit games. This is just a magical season for our young second baseman. Every single day his is extending MLB leading stats, AL stats and extending franchise records. The only hitting stats that weren't challenged by Altuve is the home run mark and the RBI mark but otherwise he's just killing everything. It's too bad we can't watch him as he does it.

[Big T]

I think it was in the off season thread. But then again I'm not sure.

[KABrother88]

From the Astros Spring Training Thread

 

I can almost smell it! God I love this time of year. Looking forward to the first ST game and seeing exactly how improved this team will be. Will also be exciting to see Springer, Singleton, Folty, and Appel in ST. I think this team could make a significant leap this year. I don't think 72 wins is out of the equation. I would be very surprised to see more than that though.

 

http://www.bigredinsider.com/forums/showthread.php?3552-Astros-Spring-Training-Thread

[eagle eye]

In the second game of the 4 game series with Cleveland, Houston's bats were stymied by some good pitching by the Indians Cory Kluber (16-9) who went 7 innings giving up just one run on seven hits, 2 walks and 14 K's. Yep, 14. By the time he left the game Kluber was enjoying a 4-1 lead and despite an oh-by-the-way run in the 8th Cleveland was never really in danger of losing the game. One thing the Indians couldn't take away from the Astros was the hot bat of Jose Altuve. Going 2-5 on the night Altuve equalled and passed Craig Biggio's single season hit record of 210 and it took less than a week to do it after he hit the 200 hit mark. He had been in a bit of a slump as he approached the 200 hit mark but once he eclipsed that the pressure seemed to be off and he hasn't been without a multi-hit game since. Jose was only the second player in franchise history to get 200 hits in a season and it seemed inevitable that Biggio's mark was a sure bet to fall. But with the rest of the 2014 schedule against playoff contenders except for the Rangers who come to Houston on Friday it looked like it would take a while. NOT! Altuve has gone 2-5, 2-5, 2-4, 3-4 and 2-5 in the last 5 games to lap Biggio. In the mean time he eclipsed the franchise record for multi-hit games previously held by Kevin Bass and continues to lead the either the bigs or the AL in several categories including batting average. His BA currently sits at .343 ten points ahead of his only contender at this point with only 12 games left to play, Victor Martinez sitting a .333. Jose will have to stay the course because 10 points is easily made up if you don't hit the ball. It seems like destiny for the 5'6" second baseman who has overcome all odds to become a star in major league baseball. I hope it's destiny fullfilled.

 

George Springer is done for the season. He has been out since July 19th with a strained left quad muscle and despite all his best efforts including a rehab assignment where he suffered a setback of the quad injury he hasn't set foot on the field since. So, with two weeks left in the season the Astros felt it was in Springer's best interest to shut it down for 2014. Springer was proving to be ready for the bigs as he added a punch to the Astros lineup from the moment he hit Minute Maid field after being called up this past May with the Astros struggling through a dismal April. They really needed the boost from it's best prospect and the Astros got that and more. Springer played in 78 games hitting .231 with 20 HRs and 51 RBIs and an OPS of .804. Not a bad first year.

 

C Jason Castro is the Astros nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award which recognizes a Major Leaguer who best represents baseball through positive contributions both on and off the field including sportsmanship and community involvement. Each team in baseball nominates a player on their roster for the award named for a player who epitomized the spirit of giving. Clemente lost his life in a plane crash delivering relief goods to victims of an earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua in 1972. He was 38 years old at the time of his death.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/94992128/renovations-coming-to-minute-maid-park-in-2015

 

The Astros have announced that they will be upgrading the ballpark for 2015 focusing mainly on the Club Level and Upper Deck areas of the stadium. Astros officials including president Reid Ryan have been touring MLB stadiums this summer to get ideas to improve the fan experience at the ballpark. Here's an article from Astros.com about the renovations.