Houston Astros Off Season Thread

[eagle eye]

The Astros played a pair of split squad games today. At home in Kissimmee they faced the Atlanta Braves and battled to a 2-2 tie in 9 innings. In Viera, Florida the Astros faced the Washington Nationals and lost 2-1. This game was of note because it was the first start for Mark Appel and he didn't do half bad. He pitched 2 innings and gave up 1 run on 2 hits, 2 walks and 1 K. The Astros lone run came on a single by Robby Grossman who advanced to 3rd on a throwing error by P Jordan Zimmerman and it followed by a single by Jonathan Villar. The Nats scored on an Ian Desmond sac fly in the first off Appel and a triple in the 7th scoring a run off Kevin Chapaman.

In the Braves game Dallas Keuchel started and went 2 innings without any damage but in the 3rd Keuchel gave up a lead off homer to John Buck, a double to Eury Perez, a walk to Eric Young Jr (remember his dad was a Texas Ranger). Next was a fly out and an RBI single by Freddie Freeman. Keuchel stopped the bleeding by inducing a groundout from Chris Johnson (another former Astro) and a flyout by Andrelton Simmons to end the Braves threat. It was the only two runs Atlanta scored and the inning certainly could have been worse for Houston but Keuchel pitched his way out of trouble in the inning. The Astros scored in the first inning on a bases loaded FC by Colby Rasmus plating Jose Altuve and on a double by Gregorio Petit that plated L J Hoes in the second inning.

Edited March 16, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

The Astros broke out the paddles and spanked the Pirates in their spring training home in Bradenton, Fla. On the shoulders of a 13 hit 13 run attack the Astros beat the Pirates 13-7. The Astros starter Roberto Hernandez had a bit of a shaky outing giving up 3 runs on 4 hits a walk and a K with a homer one of the 3 hits. Hernandez is in a battle for the 5th starter in the Astros rotation and the other two guys he's battling, Alex White and Dan Straily pitched right after Hernandez finished his stint on the mound. White came up next and he pitched two innings giving up one run on two hits and two walks. Staily followed with and and put in 2 innings as well. To me he had the worst outing of the 3. Straily gave up 3 runs on 3 hits with 4 walks and a K. If not a nice throw from L J Hoes to catcher Tyler Heineman to get Steve Lombardozzi at the plate the inning could have been even worse for Straily.

On the offensive side Houston could do no wrong. Well, not exactly, but they certainly did more than enough to overcome the pitching struggles. Robbie Grossman batted leadoff and went 2-2 and scored twice. L J Hoes went 1-2 and scored a run. George Springer went 2-4 with a triple and homer, Chris Carter has found his bat today and he went 3-3 and scored a run had 4 RBIs and Carlos Correa replaced Carter and went 2-2 scoring twice and knocking in a pair and C Jason Castro went 2-4 scored a run and had 3 RBIs including a 2-run homer.

The best thing about today's game is it was on television which, if I'm not mistaken, was the first Astros game telecast this spring. The Astros broadcast team of Bill Brown and Alan Ashby share broadcast duties with Pittsburgh's broadcast team of Greg Brown and Bob Walk. Both teams work for the Root Sports Network and they were happy to share the booth with one another. That Bob Walk guy is a former big league pitcher (I know, right?) and they guy is kind of funny. A lot of comparison's between where Pittsburgh was a couple of years ago and where the Astros are now. There was also a bit of lament that the up and comers hadn't arrived as yet or maybe weren't going to. Nice to see the Astros on the tube again and I hope this will be more frequent going forward.

[eagle eye]

Evan Gattis hurt his right wrist late last week and he still hasn't been cleared to swing a bat. That doesn't mean he has been sitting around doing nothing. The Astros have Gattis doing defensive work as he tries to acclimate himself to playing in the outfield.

 

P Brett Oberholzer is dealing with a slight injury himself. He strained his left lat muscle. He was supposed to pitch a minor league game on Sunday but he was a scratch from that game as he will take treatment and rest the injury.

 

Dallas Keuchel was named the opening day starter earlier this week by manager A J Hinch. Hinch indicated that Keuchel has earned the honor based on his strong 2014 season and his commitment to getting better as a player since the end of last season. A day later Hinch named Scott Feldman his Day 2 starter. This leaves the 3rd starter as Colin McHugh. It's been widely though that Brett Oberholzer will be the 4th starter with Dan Straily, Alex White and Roberto Hernandez the frontrunners to be that guy. Stat-wise Hernandez is having the best spring but there's still almost 3 weeks before opening day.

 

P Lance McCullers is having a real nice spring according to Houston Chronicle writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz in the following link.

 

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2015/03/18/lance-mccullers-making-a-good-impression/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[eagle eye]

The Astros lost to the Mets yesterday 3-1 with projected #3 starter Colin McHugh getting through 4 innings giving up two runs on 4 hits with 3 K's and 0 walks. The two runs came on solo HRs, one in the first with two out to Michael Cuddyer and one to Curtis Granderson who led off the 4th. The Astros could only manage 4 hits of the Mets pitchers on the day. They finally managed to break through in the 7th on two doubles. One was by Luis Valbuena to lead off the inning and one batter later Jonathan Villar doubled Carlos Correa, who pinch ran for Valbuena, home for the Astros only run of the day.

 

Here's some news and notes from yesterday from Astros.com. The news includes an update of Evan Gattis wrist, Colin McHugh rounding into shape for the regular season and news about the Astros 2014 1st pick in the new player draft Brady Aiken leaving his first start of the 2014 season with soreness in his elbow. The same elbow the Astros were worried about when they dropped their offer to Aiken from $6.5MM to $5MM because of concerns over a tendon in the elbow. There is also news about 7 more players removed from the Astros roster including P Alex White.

 

What's the worst off season move by the Astros? It sure looks like it's trading for Hand Conger with the Angels. So far this spring Conger is hitting a lame .095. In 21 ABs so far this spring he has 2 hits with one walk and 9 K's.

 

It's looking like 3B Luis Valbueana is the best pickup. He's been good fielding his position and he's been en fuego. He's hitting .440 going 11-25 with one walk and 6 K's. Matt who? Dominguez that's who looks like if he makes the 25 man roster will be a sub for 1st base and 3rd base. This also means Dominguez will be a weak bat off the bench who has a propensity to hit into double plays. I would say Marwin Gonzalez could be that guy but his spring is not going like it did in 2014. He's hitting just .160 but in his 4 hits he's got 3 RBI's and 3 runs scored and he's only struck out 4 times in 24 ABs. That tells me he's making contact and the hits will eventually start falling in. I'm rooting for Marwin as I am not really a fan of Dominguez.

[eagle eye]

The Astros faced off against the Washington Nationals and it was a pretty good day for the Stros except for starting pitcher Samuel Deduno. In his two innings of work he surrendered 4 runs on 4 hits with 4 walks and 1 K. All the damage was done in the first inning and it was a mountain the Astros were unable to climb even though they tried. The final score was 7-5 as Jake Buchanon, Asher Wojciechowski and Kevin Chapman each surrendered one run as the Nationals held on against every comeback effort the Astros put up. Jason Castro hit a solo homer in the 4th with Luis Valbuena adding a two run shot in the sixth providing the major fireworks for the Astros offense.

 

Dallas Keuchel is on the hill today facing the Yankees and in the 8th the Astros lead NY 2-0. Keuchel pitched 4.1 innings scattering 4 hits with 3 Ks and no walks. Darin Downs pitched the rest of the 5th without surrendering a run. Make Appel came on in the sixth and he's pitched 3 scoreless and hitless innings with 1 walk and 2 Ks. The Astros scored on a 2 run homer by Chris Carter driving in George Springer who tripled right in front of him. With only the 9th to go it looks like Houston will be notching the win today.

[eagle eye]

The past two days have seen the Astros hit the ball -- a lot. On Monday Houston got 12 hits and scored 10 runs. It wasn't a power show because of the 12 hits there were two doubles and one home run. The Stros just hit the ball. This was a day after a 14 hit attack on Pittsburgh Pirates pitching in a blowout win. Monday was a different story because Houston pitching was horrendous as they gave up 19 hits and 14 runs. Unless you like watching a pitcher's duel you probably liked the game with all the offense happening on the field even though the Astros lost the game 14-10. Speaking of pitching starter Scott Feldman, 1st reliever Jake Buchanon and 2nd reliever Darin Downs were terrible. The Braves knocked them around unmercifully. Every time Houston scored a run or two to try to claw back into the game these guys surrendered another cluster of runs. Feldman is going to be your No 2 or 3 starter and at this point in spring training a game like that is a little disheartening. The Astros stopped the pitching hemorrhaging in the 6th when Luke Gregorson came in and shut the door on the Mets attack but even he gave up a hit. Between Gregorson and Josh Fields, Joe Thatcher and Kevin Chapman they combined to shut out the Mets the rest of the game but by then it was too little too late. Yesterday was a continuation of the previous 2 days games in terms of Houston hitting the ball. Against the Mets Houston rattled off 12 hits but only managed 4 runs on the day. In fact, until the seventh the Astros had scattered 10 hits around the park but only had 2 runs to show for it and they trailed in the game 3-2 by virtue of a run in the second and 2 in the 3rd given up by starter Colin McHugh who pitched 5 innings and generally looked pretty good in the game. Houston eeked out a run in the 5th and one in the seventh before putting up 2 more to take a 4-3 lead in the eighth. Houston pretty much stole the game from the Mets in much the same way they blew the game to the other New York team last Saturday. Carlos Correa was instrumental in leading the 8th inning rally with an infield single with two outs. Correa advanced to second on a balk by Mets pitcher Carlos Torres. Robbie Grossman walked followed by Gregorio Petit singling allowing Correa to score and Grossman was able to get to 3rd base. LJ Hoes then singled to center plating Grossman for a 4-3 lead. Jose Altuve ended the Astros 8th with an infield popup. What is significant about this is that Altuve went 0-5 on the day which is unusual in itself but he had zero Ks on the day which means he made the Mets earn every out. Altuve is a true All Star for Houston. If Astros fans were looking for the next Craig Biggio or Jeff Bagwell the search may just be over.

 

Want a dark horse to make the Astros 25 man roster? I'll give you Gregorio Petit. So far Petit has hit .364 (8-22) in just 13 games of spot duty. He's score 4 runs and 2 of his hits have been doubles with no home runs or triples. Petit is 9th on the team in hitting which is better than other infield possibilities like Matt Dominguez (23rd), Alex Pressley (25th) and Marwin Gonzalez (27th). Petit has shown he can come off the bench and get hits and he has shown he can make a spot start and make a good contribution to the Astros offense. He did it in the latter part of 2014 when he was brought up to the big club and he's done it this spring.

 

As far as outfield is concerned it seems to be coming down to a choice between Robbie Grossman and LJ Hoes. Grossman is 7th in hitting on the team with a .389 BA (14-36) with 5 walks and 5 Ks. He only has three extra base hits, 2 doubles and a homer with 4 RBIs. Hoes has been getting steadily better as the spring has progressed. He's 17th in hitting with a .286 BA (6-21) with 3 walks and 6 Ks. The real telling stat is his lack of power numbers. He has only one extra base hit, a double with no homers or triples. I assumed Hoes was a much bigger guy than Grossman but I was wrong. Both players are 6' tall and weigh in around 200 lbs. Unless Hoes explodes the next two weeks or Grossman gets hurt Grossman could have the inside track to the final 25.

 

Asher Wojciewski leads the Astros against the Phillies today at Philadelphia's spring home of Bright House Field in Clearwater Florida. Wojo is battling for the 5th spot in Houston's starting rotation and he may only have one more start to plead his case after today.

[eagle eye]

Thursday was a day off for the Astros and because of rain so was Friday. The boys are back in action today and they are in the 4th inning against the Marlins trailing 1-0.

 

We are now in single digits before opening day and I, for one, can't wait. Got my tickets and I'm ready to take the day off from work and spend the day at the ballpark.

 

On Wednesday the thing big league managers fear most as spring training winds down happened late in the game against the Phillies. On a fly ball to right-center field right fielder Robbie Grossman and center fielder Jonathan Villar collided tracking down the ball. Villar made the catch but he came away with a mild ankle sprain while Grossman bruised his thigh. Grossman actually was able to work out with the team on Wednesday and Thursday which is a good sign for him and so far Villar has been held out of workouts to rest his ankle. AJ Hinch is hoping to have his final roster set by the time the Astros head back to Houston but it depends, in part, on how quickly Villar bounces back. BTW, Grossman is available but, as yet, he isn't in today's lineup.

 

last week I posted that last summer's No 1 pick Brady Aiken had to leave his first game of the season with tightness in his elbow. Well, on Wednesday Aiken had Tommy John surgery ending his season and damaging his draft status this summer. After he and the Astros failed to come to terms on a contract Aiken enrolled in the IMG Academy and it was playing for them he suffered aggravated an existing condition in his elbow. Last summer Houston had offered Aiken a $6.5MM contract after selecting him first overall until they found a problem with his ulnar collateral ligament in a physical after the draft. At the time Houston lowered the offer down to $5MM and that was totally unacceptable to Aiken. Now it looks like Aiken made a mistake passing on becoming a millionaire but in twitter he said he doesn't regret his decision at all. It will be a year, possibly two, before he's back to complete health. He's young and he has time to wait -- for now. Who knows, this would be a chance for him to go to college for at least one year and it probably would do him some good. God knows he's got to do something with his time since he won't be pitching any time soon.

 

In today's game Roberto Hernandez strengthened his bid to be the Astros 5th starter by going 5 innings giving up just one run on 3 hits a K and two walks. Pat Neshak has been shape as a tack this spring and he had another good inning of work allowing 0 hits, 0 runs with no walks and no K's. The Astros have tied the game with a run in the 5th on a Hank Conger HR. Conger, BTW has turned his spring around after a couple of days getting extra work in minor league camp. Before he was hitting .095 and looking like he didn't have a clue at the plate and as of today he's raised his average to .241 and has displayed the ability to hit for some power as well. It's great news for Houston as the competition for the backup catcher spot wasn't very interesting before. Now, with Conger coming on strong, the Astros are going to have to make some tough choices at all positions that now includes catcher. That is one telltale sign the team's talent level is getting pretty darn good top to bottom.

[eagle eye]

Today's game update: Houston played to their 3rd tie game of the spring with the final score being 1-1. The game ended after nine innings. Houston recorded 8 hits on the day while allowing the Florida Marlins just 6 total hits.

 

As you might expect the pitchers dominated this game and I've already posted about starter Roberto Hernandez and reliever Pat Neshak. Tony Sipp pitched a scoreless, hitless 7th and Kevin Chapman pitched a shutout as he went the final two innings. He did allow 3 hits but he didn't walk anybody and he struck out two. The Astros play at home in Kissimmee tomorrow against the Yankees as Scott Feldman squares off against Nathan Eovaldi in a 12:05 PM start.

 

Did I mention it's only 9 days to Opening Day?

[eagle eye]

The Astros have made 8 cuts to the roster. Most notable was Matt Dominguez being optioned to the minor league camp since he was last season's starting third baseman.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/115389382/correa-dominguez-among-8-astros-sent-to-minors

[Big T]

Not surprising considering the numbers that Louis Valbuena has put up this T. BTW, he was named as the potential breakout veteran by MLB a couple days ago. Springer was number one or two on that list for potential breakout star of 2015. Good to see the Stros have two on that list. With Deduno locking up the long reliver spot, that means that there will not be room for either Wojo or Hernandez who are both battling for the fifth spot. Personally I want to see Wojo but they have both been lights out this ST.

[eagle eye]

I agree with you Big T, it's been a nice battle for No 5 but if I had a guess I'd pick Hernandez because Houston has more money invested in him and he's a veteran. If he, or any of the starters should struggle then Wojo would be on a fast plane up to the big club.

 

The Astros just plain sucked against the Yankees yesterday getting shut out 7-0. Scott Feldman had a crappy outing especially for this late in the spring then Brad Peacock made his first big league appearance of the spring. There had been a lot of buzz about Peacock looking so good in his rehab from hip surgery this past off season and he came in and was the same old Brad. By that I mean he had trouble with location and he just wasn't sharp. I suppose I should be less critical because it is his first action this spring but that is his M-O. I was pissed when the Astros traded Jared Cosart and kept him but maybe there just was no market for Peacock. Who knows, but one thing is for sure Roberto Hernandez and Wojo have lapped Peacock in the race for a starter's job.

 

One good thing is Brett Oberholtzer who has been nursing a strained lat muscle will take the hill today against the Blue Jays. Obie has missed two weeks with the lat muscle issue and it will be good to see him get his work in. He should make two starts before the season begins ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! The Astros front office are hoping he can get back into a groove to be able to make a start next week when the games count.

 

The Astros last game in Florida will be Wednesday at Osceola County Stadium against the Tigers. It will be Dallas Keuchel's last spring training start and then they head back to Texas. It's getting close folks!

[eagle eye]

Ok, here,s something that really ticks me off. In MLBs pre-season power rankings they have Houston ranked, get this, 26th out of the 30 MLB teams! 26!! The damn Texas Rangers are ranked higher and they sucked last season and they won't even have Yu Darvish this year! I'll post the link to the whole list later it right now I'm too shocked to function. I want those people drug tested immediately!

[eagle eye]

Brett Oberholtzer's first action in a while wasn't anything to write home about, that's for sure. He pitched just 3.1 innings giving up 5 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and a K. The worst part of the outing were the 3 home runs he allowed.

The most interesting thing about Obie's evening on the hill was that it brought into question whether or not he would begin the season on the DL. After missing what turns out to be almost 3 weeks of spring training with a strained lat it was clear he has fallen behind the hitters as they have progressed through spring training.

It wasn't all bad for Houston as the Astros did score 4 runs on just 5 hits. All the damage was done off Toronto starter David Norris who is one of the Jays top prospects and looks to be their 3 starter in their rotation. George Springer and Jason Castro each homered in the 3rd and Jake Marisnick doubled right after Castro's homer. I don't put too much stock in ST results, I just want to see improvement and as far as the batting order it looks pretty darn solid with Altuve, Springer, Castro and other holdovers from last season performing pretty well. Not to mention how well Evan Gattis has looked, not to mention Hank Conger and a couple of other newcomers look to bolster the chances of this team to better than a .500 record.

 

Wojo pitches tonight in what could be his last chance to make his bid for a spot in the rotation. He actually has already lost one chance because Roberto Hernandez was named a starter by AJ Hinch. Wojo still has a chance because the door was left open by Oberholtzer's poor outing yesterday.

[Big T]

Roster is Finalized! Singleton was sent to Fresno, Olberholtzer and Peacock are on the DL, Wojo was named as the third starter.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/115834428/spring-forward-astros-set-opening-day-roster

 

Opening night Line up

 

Altuve 2B .333 7 HR 68 RBI

Lowrie SS .260 4 HR 50 RBI

Springer RF .278 38 HR 117 RBI

Gattis DH .260 30 HR 100 RBI

Carter 1B .220 27 HR 80 RBI

Rasmus LF .242 22 HR 70 RBI

Valbuena 3B .254 18 HR 67 RBI

Marisnick CF .270 8 HR 57 RBI

Castro C .240 15 HR 60 RBI

 

Rotation

 

Dallas Keuchel 3.89 ERA 15-9

Scott Feldman 4.28 ERA 10-10

Brett Oberholtzer 4.55 ERA 9-13

Asher Wojo 3.88 ERA 2-3

Collin McHugh 3.88 13-10

Hernandez 5.23 ERA 7-13

 

Final Record 82-80

[eagle eye]

I'm glad that Wojo is getting his chance to begin the season. He's liable to be sent down once Obie is completely healthy unless Wojo does what McHugh did last season which is pitch so well the Astros have to keep him in the rotation.

 

As for the lineup on opening day, tickled to death about it. I predicted that if Singleton struggled this spring he'd be back in AAA way back in February.

 

One thing you might have noticed in Big T's post was that Singleton and others have been sent to AAA FRESNO (California). This is a change I totally missed on until I read the post. A little digging and I found that the Oklahoma City Redhawks who were owned by the Mandalay Entertainment Group was sold last fall to a partnership of Mandalay President and CEO Peter Guber and other principles of the Mandalay Group and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The result of the deal was that OKC became part of the Dodgers farm system beginning in 2015 ending the affiliation to the Houston Astros that began in 2010. As for the Astros, they were left out in the cold after the Dodgers bought OKC and they were unable to relocate to Round Rock because the Texas Rangers have a contract with the Express for 4 more years. The Astros and Dodgers weren't the only Pacific Coast League teams to relocate this off season. A record six clubs changed affiliates this off season. The reason Houston latched on to the Fresno Franchise was because the Oakland A's moved to Sacramento. This is crap move for Houston on several levels but the main ones are the Fresno Grizzlies won't be playing much in Round Rock and not at all in 2015. It's also 1,700 miles away from Houston meaning unless Houston is playing on the west coast it will be a pain in the rear to call a player up.

Ideally, if it was not contractually impossible the Round Rock franchise CEO Reese Ryan would love to work again with his dad, Nolan, and his brother, Reid, to bring the Express and the Astros back together. The Express was the AA affiliate of the Astros from 2000 to 2010.

 

The Astros have named free agent signee Luke Gregerson as the team's closer to begin the season. Gregerson and Pat Neshak were acquired this off season to give the Astros a much needed upgrade in their bullpen. Last year's closer, Chad Qualls will be a set up man along with Neshak with Tony Sipp getting his share of innings.

 

In today's game vs Detroit opening day starter Dallas Keuchel has a really nice day. He went 5.2 innings scattering 7 Tigers hits allowing one run with a walk and K. He ended his spring with a 0-0 W/L record with 4 Ks in 91 innings. He finished with a 1.93 ERA and a WHIP of 1.18. The lone run he gave up was with one out in the 6th. Now that's how you finish a good spring training season! As for the game, Houston is leading 3-2 in the top of the 8th with minor league pitcher Tyson Perez struggling but there are two outs in the inning--no make that 3 out with a popout to shallow center by Dixon Machado.

[Big T]

The Astros wrap up ST tonight and tomorrow with their annual two games home stand against the KC Royals. The Astros trotted out a very interesting line up tonight:

 

Altuve

Springer

Valbuena

Gatiss

Carter

Castro

Lowrie

Rasmus

Marisnik

 

I hate Valbuena hitting third. The three spot is reserved for your best hitter and he isn't even the fourth best hitter in this lineup. First time he came to the plate there were men on first and third no one out and he popped out to SS. I mean come on get this guy out of there. Move Jed to the second spot and Springer to the third. I am hoping this is not a representation of the opening day line up.

[Big T]

6 strikeouts through 3 innings so far for the Astros. Gonna be seeing a lot of that this season.

[eagle eye]

6 strikeouts through 3 innings so far for the Astros. Gonna be seeing a lot of that this season.

 

LOL!

[Big T]

Wait for it EE, wait for it...... Astros had a grand total of 15 strikeouts and 2 Walks in last nights game. Only run came from a solo shot by Gatiss in the 9th.

[eagle eye]

Wait for it EE, wait for it...... Astros had a grand total of 15 strikeouts and 2 Walks in last nights game. Only run came from a solo shot by Gatiss in the 9th.

 

Okay, okay I get it. The Stros had a bad weekend at the plate. This was against the defending AL Champs and a team that looked pretty good in the World Series before succumbing to the Giants. Let's not forget who they were playing here. Happy Easter by the way. What we can take away from all this is that the starters the last two days did well. Scott Feldman was efficient in his start on Friday night giving up 2 runs on seven hits in his 87 pitches and 6 innings of work. Yesterday afternoon Collin McHugh was excellent in his outing going 4 innings and 46 pitches giving up just one hit. By contrast losing pitcher Lance McCullers threw 43 pitches in just two inning of work giving up all 3 runs to the Royals, 2 of which were earned.

 

What was disturbing on Friday night is that Pat Neshak and Luke Gregerson along with minor leaguer James Hoyt each gave up 3 runs in 8th and 9th innings. That was not good at all. If those guys do their jobs the final score would have been 2-1. It didn't help any that the defense committed 3 errors in the game but it didn't matter in the scoring because all the runs KC scored were earned.

 

I'll admit the Astros weren't so good at the plate against the Royals. A whopping 15 K's on Friday and another 9 on Saturday wasn't what AJ Hinch wanted to see I'm sure. Colby Rasmus could get sent down if he doesn't turn things around pretty soon, he had a terrible spring and his 3 K's on Friday weren't pretty. Houston did hit the ball on Friday getting 9 hits but they just couldn't get one when it mattered. They stranded 8 base runners 7 of which were in scoring position. On Saturday Houston didn't strike out as much but they also got fewer hits. One run on 4 hits with 9 K's isn't what you want to see in your box score when you lose 3-1 but, again, McCullers is a minor leaguer and he got bashed around a bit. C'est le vie, I guess.

 

At any rate, spring training is over. Houston certainly had it's moments good and bad but they did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for the coming season. We begin the week with Easter Sunday and end it with baseball in full bloom and my favorite golf tournament, The Masters. The weather is shaky but it's not hot. Tell me, Big T, who's got it better than us?

 

BTW, I'll close out my posts on this thread with my prediction for the Astros this year. I don't think they'll improve 19 games like they did last year. That would be asking way too much but I'll say they are a lucky 13 games better. I think their final tally with be 85-77. Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh battle it out for who has the most wins on the club and lowest ERA. I think Keuchel ends up 18-10 with McHugh on his tail with a 17-11 record. I think Wojo will end up in the rotation permanently (this season) and I would not be surprised to see Jose Altuve in the hunt for another batting title.