eagle eye Posted August 12, 2015 Posted August 12, 2015 Houston lost 3-1 last night but what are you going to do. Going in you knew it would be a pitcher's duel and frankly despite Scott Kazmir's league leading ERA Bumgarner had to be the favorite here. And it showed on the field with Bumgarner going the distance giving up five hits and one earned run striking out 12 Astros while walking none. Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap and acknowledge a job well done. Kazmir did well too but he only made 5-2/3 innings throwing roughly the same amount of pitches as Bumgarner. Kazmir gave up seven hits and only 2 of the 3 runs he allowed were earned. Both homers came off the bat of Giants first baseman Brandon Belt (no kidding it's his name!), one in the bottom of the 4th and the other in the sixth. Also in the 6th with a man on 1B the Giants Ehire Adrianza hit what amounted to a swinging bunt up the third base line. Kazmir fielded the ball and he spun and fired toward 1B but he was way off target and the ball ended up the right field line as Jake Marisnick ran the ball down the man on first was able to score the Giants 3rd run. The Astros bullpen held the Giants the rest of the way but enough damage had been done. You knew it was going to be a long night when Jose Altuve led off the game in the 1st with a hit followed by a hit by Carlos Gomez but after a strike out of Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve getting caught trying to steal 3rd in a double steal that saw Gomez end up on 2nd, Gomez stealing 3rd and all that with Evan Gattis at the plate. Instead of getting a hit Gattis struck out extending an 0-12 string at the plate to 0-13. His streak actually got to 0-14 after a ground out in the 4th. He broke his hitless string at long last with yet another triple on the season in the 7th giving him 8 on the season. Another guy with some issues at the plate, Chris Carter, singled home Gattis for the Astros only run on the night. Bumgarner pitched really well and all his pitches seemed to all be working. Hopefully we get a little better result tonight in the 2 game series finale tonight when Scott Feldman takes the hill for Houston with the Giants sending 11-6 Chris Heston up against the Astros. Carlos Gomez saved extra bases or maybe a home run in the Giants half of the 1st. On a dead run straight back to the center field was Gomez snagged the ball just as he crashed into the wall. It was reminiscent of a George Springer play. That's when you knew the game was going to be a dogfight. The good thing about last night was that both the Angels and Rangers lost last night so no ground was lost in the Astros division lead. A lead that was extended by a 1/2 game when the Angels lost their series opener with the White Sox on Monday night. So, Houston leads the Angels by 1 full game and the Rangers by 4-1/2. We'll take even backhanded wins like this. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 13, 2015 Posted August 13, 2015 Every dog has his day apparently and yesterday was Houston's day as they closed out a generally horrible 13 game road trip with a 2-0 win over the Giants. First they got a really good outing from Scott Feldman who pitched six shutout innings allowing only 4 hits. I think it's the best outing he's had all season and it came against a team he had a career 0-4 record against. He just could do no wrong and his relief Oliver Perez, Will Harris, Pat Neshak and Luke Gregerson all were good too. I'm sure that the Astros were happy to see Harris, Neshak and Gregerson do well considering the troubles they have had lately. Perez has been really good since coming to Houston in a deal with the Diamondbacks last Friday. Perez' first game with Houston was this past Sunday when he recorded the only out he was asked to get and the same with the game Tuesday. Yesterday he was sent out to get the 3 left handed hitters coming up in the 7th. He got the first two and allowed a hit to the 3rd man and that was the only hit the relievers allowed as they shut down the Giants offense. Houston got solo home runs from Colby Rasmus in the 7th and Jed Lowrie in the 8th. That was the first HR for Lowrie since he came off the DL 11 days ago. Houston also benefited because of losses by both the Angels and Rangers. The Angels were swept on the road by the White Sox and they begin a series with the Royals in KC. They got to within a 1/2 game of Houston but now they are 2 games back. The Rangers took to the road Monday as well and they have lost the first two games of their series with Minnesota and their 3 game with them is in progress as I write this. The Rangers are now 5.5 back of Houston. The Angels and Rangers playing today/tonight will catch up a bit with Houston in games played on the season. Houston has played 115 games while LA and Texas has played 113 and 112 games respectively prior to today. So far, in the 3rd inning Texas is down 4-0 to the Twins. Hopefully in a couple of hours our lead on Texas will be 6 games. Houston begins a weekend series with Detroit Friday night with Dallas Keuchel (13-6, 240 ERA) facing Detroit's Alfredo Simon (10-6, 4.71 ERA). The Astros really need to get on a winning streak here at home the next 10 games and take advantage of the Rangers and Angels being on the road. It seems like nobody in the AL West has much luck on the road and Houston came rebuild their division lead if the pattern holds true. It's been six weeks since George Springer broke his wrist after being hit by a pitch. It shouldn't long at all that he gets his cast off his arm and can begin doing baseball drills to regain the strength in his arm and hand. Cross your fingers and hope that in a couple of more weeks Houston will have Springer back in the lineup. Does A J Hinch deserve consideration for Manager of the Year Award? Quote
eagle eye Posted August 14, 2015 Posted August 14, 2015 (edited) As you watch the standings at this time of baseball season you start to play the "What if" game. I did that in yesterday's post hoping for the best of outcomes as it pertains to the Astros. At the time of my post the Rangers were down 4 zip to Minnesota but it was only the 3rd inning. In the 4th and 5th innings Texas scored a total of 5 runs to take the lead. Minnesota came back and tied the game at 5 in the sixth inning but Texas came back with a run in the 8th and that's how the game ended, 6-5 Texas. Last night the Angels began a series in Kansas City and danged if the Royal didn't take a 5-1 lead into the 8th inning. LA scored twice to close the gap to 5-3 but they just went off in the 9th. Instead of closing out the game KC allowed the Angels to score 4 runs to take a 7-5 lead. KC came back with a rally in the 9th but they could only manage one stupid run so LA won the series opener 7-6. Talk about a kick in the groin! As a result of the failure of both the Twins and the Royals to hold leads the Angels and Rangers gained 1/2 game on the idle Astros. The division is as follows: [TABLE=class: ministandings] [TR] [TH=class: fg-first][/TH] [TH]W [/TH] [TH]L [/TH] [TH]PCT [/TH] [TH=class: fg-last] GB [/TH] [/TR] [TR=class: fg-first] [TD=class: fg-team_short]Houston [/TD] [TD=class: fg-w]62 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-l]53 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-pct, width: 25].539 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-gb, width: 25] - [/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: odd] [TD=class: fg-team_short]LA Angels [/TD] [TD=class: fg-w]60 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-l]54 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-pct].526 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-gb] 1.5 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: fg-team_short]Texas [/TD] [TD=class: fg-w]56 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-l]57 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-pct].496 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-gb] 5.0 [/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: odd] [TD=class: fg-team_short]Seattle [/TD] [TD=class: fg-w]54 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-l]61 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-pct].470 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-gb] 8.0 [/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: fg-last] [TD=class: fg-team_short]Oakland [/TD] [TD=class: fg-w]51 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-l]65 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-pct].440 [/TD] [TD=class: fg-gb] 11.5 [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Just goes to show you really can't count your chickens before they are hatched. Texas is back home in Arlington to begin a weekend series with Tampa Bay while the Angels continue their series with KC through the weekend. Hoping they both lose is the obvious thing but what really needs to happen is for Houston to win. It would be nice to have a ten game winning streak but I think I'd settle for winning 2 out of every 3 games. It's asking a lot but if Houston can do that then I really believe they will win the division and be set up for a run in the playoffs. I don't think you can count on .500 ball getting it done. It might get them a wild card spot but I wouldn't count on that either. Houston has played 115 games and that leaves 47 games left to play. To guarantee a division title by my 2/3 winning percentage means Houston will need to win 31 of the next 47 games. That will give them a record of 95-67. If they go .500 that means they win 24 (I'm giving them the one game--what can I say, I'm a homer!) which would give the Astros 88 wins on the season. Now, either way, you have to admit this far better than you would have ever hoped way back in April but I'd say our expectations are a little higher now than they were then. I think we all want to win the division and the only was to do that is win games. Win as many as humanly possible. We can still root for Texas and LAA to lose but the fans and, especially the Astros, cannot play ball like that, they need to keep the ball in their hands. To do that, in the words of Al Davis, "Just win, Baby!" Edited August 14, 2015 by eagle eye Quote
eagle eye Posted August 17, 2015 Posted August 17, 2015 Has it been a week to remember. It was semi-successful with Houston going 3-2 in the five games they played. Split a two game series in San Fran and won 2 of 3 against the Tigers. I think it's worth noting that both losses came against two of the best pitchers in baseball. On Tuesday Scott Kazmir went toe to toe with Madison Bumgarner and he took the loss despite giving up just 2 earned runs, 3 altogether in his 5-2/3 innings pitched. Bumgarner went the distance giving up a triple to Evan Gattis and Chris Carter drove him in so at least Houston wasn't shut out. Their second loss was last night to a rejuvenated Justin Verlander who went 7 innings of 3 hit-shutout ball. It was vintage Verlander who was making his second start since coming off the DL. Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the 5th when a disputed play in which a fly ball to left was called out on the field but was reviewed and overturned saying left fielder Preston Tucker trapped the ball. There was a man on 1st who was allowed to score. After the review and the allowed run manager A J Hinch went out to ask the home plate ump why the run was allowed to score. He wasn't uncivil or disrespectful but the ump tossed him anyway. It was then that Hinch got a little disrespectful. Later in the game Tucker came up in the bottom of the ninth with the Tigers still leading 1-0 and jacked a home run to center field to tie the game. Verlander didn't get his win despite earning one. The Astros know a little something about that. This weekend as a matter of fact. On Saturday's game the bullpen was solid until the 11th inning when Pat Neshak came in and gave up 3 runs to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead (more on that later). The best the Astros could answer with was a single run in their half of the 11th on an RBI single by Jed Lowrie scoring Carlos Correa who had singled and stolen 2B. Houston loses 4-2. Not only didn't Verlander get the win but neither did Collin McHugh who pitched a whale of a game himself. He too went 7 innings giving up just 4 hits including the disputed fly ball to left that scored the only run he surrendered. Houston finished the series this afternoon by beating the Tigers 6-5 with a walkoff single by Jose Altuve in the bottom of the 9th. Houston went down 2-0 after the first because starting pitcher Mike Fiers had no idea where the ball was going for much of the 37 pitches he threw in the inning. It was a testament to his grittiness that the damage wasn't more than the 2 runs. Fiers gutted out 5.1 innings before giving way to Josh Fields who came in with one out and two men on base. He struck out the next 2 batters and ended the Tiger threat. At the time Houston had a 5-1 lead thanks to 2 solo homers by Colby Rasmus, a 2 RBI triple by Marwin Gonzalez and a Carlos Correa single that drove in Gonzalez. Never fear the bullpen was there. Chad Qualls allowed 2 runs in the 7th. He got credit for a hold but it really should have been a partial hold but Houston still led 5-4. In the 8th Will Harris came on and allowed 1 run but it was unearned because of a bad throw by Marwin Gonzalez, who was playing 3B, and allowing the runner to advance to 2B because of his throw. A single by Tyler Collins tied the game at 5. Then the miracle happened. In the bottom of the ninth with two outs Jake Marisnick, who was 1 for August at the plate, crushed a 3-2 pitch to right-center field that landed at the base of the wall right in front of the Astros bullpen. Marisnick used his speed right out of the batters box to leg out a triple that set the stage for the walk-off hit by Jose Altuve who crushed the ball himself into the gap in left center. Needless to say the Astros were going nuts. First they mobbed Altuve and ripped off his jersey then they dumped a cooler of water on Jake Marisnick while he was being interviewed and while Colby Rasmus was being interview he got a cooler of Gatorade dumped on him. Needless to say Houston ended the week with a bang. Houston's AL West lead extended to 3 games so far, if the Angels lose to KC tonight the lead will be 3-1/2. Texas swept the Devil Rays and gained a game on Houston and now trail by just 4 games. By the end of the night Houston will either be 2-1/2 or 3-1/2 games up in the division. The road gets tougher for the Rangers as they play Seattle 3 games at home then they had series against Detroit, Toronto and Baltimore. We'll see what the Rangers are really made of in the next 2 two weeks. The Angels go back home to face the White Sox and Toronto then go on the road to face Detroit and Cleveland. Houston plays at home this week with 4 against Tampa Bay and 3 against the Dodgers followed the next week by a road trip to face the Yankees and Twins. I guess we'll find out a lot about this division in the next two weeks of August. One game at a time as they say and Scott Kazmir heads to the hill tomorrow night against Tampa when his mound opponent will be Erasmo Ramirez (9-4, 3.59 ERA). Houston has the best home record in the AL and let's home that continues to be so. Houston has got to find a way with win on the road though. With their win in San Fran on Wednesday they are 3-17 on the road since the All Star break. If they hope to win the division and make the playoffs that number had better change. One other note, Dallas Keuchel won his 14th game of the season which ties him with Seattle's Felix Hernandez for the AL lead and Hernandez, Bumgarner, Michael Wacha, Jake Arrieta and Gerrit Cole for the MLB lead. McHugh lost out on his bid for 14 wins with the no-decision on Saturday night. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 19, 2015 Posted August 19, 2015 The Astros certainly don't make being a fan very easy do they? They began the series with the TB Rays flat a French pancake and got whupped 9-2. It was really closer than that until new reliever Oliver Perez gave up 3 more runs in the top of the 9th. Believe me, 6-2 was bad enough. Houston's bats have gone silent again but really the trouble has been when they need that big hit with runners in scoring position that seems to elude the Astros. Even in their 3-2 10th inning win last night Houston have men on 2nd and 3rd twice, 1st and 2nd once and the bases loaded once and didn't get squat out of it. The times they had a man on third, and this was true on Monday night as well, with only one out Houston couldn't even manage a sac fly. In the two games so far with TB Houston has gone 1-6 and 2-10 with RISP. By rights they should have beaten the crap out of the Rays both games. Instead they split the first two games of this 4 game set. One good sign is that Jose Altuve is starting to string multi-hit games together again which is a very good sign indeed. Carlos Correa is hitting better but he is taking pitches instead of swinging and swinging at pitches he should be taking. We have to keep in mind the guy is only 20 years old and only 3 months into his big league career. We get spoiled so easily and despite his short comings Correa is actually considered one of the best shortstops in baseball already and the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year. To think the guy is hitting .285 and constantly flashing leather in the field it is hard to criticize him but to think he will get even better is sort of mind boggling. Preston Tucker still can't hit a ball up in the strike zone. He either needs to lay off those high pitches or get Evan Gattis to teach him how to hit those high, hard ones. Carlos Gomez is 1 for his last 18 AB's and his batting average has plummeted from .268 to .250 in the last two weeks. I think they need to give the guy some Zanex or a valium to calm his ass down. He has exactly zip for patience at the plate right now. He went 1 for 2 last night and that was on a bunt. It's been a while since he has driven the ball with any authority. He did walk twice last night so that's at least something. His decline has also seen his place in the batting order drop. He has gone from hitting 2nd to hitting 6th. Chris Carter is a lost cause. I really don't expect Carter to be on the Astros roster next year. Too bad because he was so hot the last half of last season you sort thought he had something figured out. If baseball had the 10th Man Award like basketball has its Sixth Man Award the Astros Marwin Gonzalez would be a leading candidate. The guy has played every position except pitcher, catcher and center field and he's hitting a very solid .274. Last night hitting 2nd in the order he went 3 for 4 with a run scored and 2 RBI's including the walk off solo shot to lead off the 10th to give Houston the win. Dallas Keuchel (12-6, 2.36 ERA) goes for Houston tonight while the Rays send Nathan Karns (7-5, 3.53 ERA) to the hill. If Keuchel can run his 11-0 home record to 12 wins he would become baseball's first 15 game winner. (Fingers crossed, orange shirt on, fake beard on!) The Angels won last night beating the White Sox 5-3 to stay 2.5 games back in the division. The Rangers finally lost a home game losing to Seattle 3-2 dropping them back to 4 games behind Houston. The Rangers finish a 3 gamer with Seattle this afternoon as they send Derek Holland to the mound for his first big league game since opening day on April 10th. He is coming off the 60 day disabled list and a 5 game rehab assignment in the minors. GO SEATTLE! Quote
eagle eye Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 Houston wears me out lately. Another stellar performance by Dallas Keuchel wasted but at least he got a no-decision instead of a loss. I think the 2 runs scored by Tampa in 7th came as a direct result from a bad call by first base ump DJ Reyburn who should've called fan interference on a foul ball on the first base side of the field. Luis Valbuena was in position to make a play but fans in the seats reached out and prevented Valbuena from making the catch. Instead of Rays hitter Tim Beckham being out giving Tampa a man on second with 2 out Beckham got another swing and he proceeded to triple to the right center gap scoring Logan Forsythe and putting Beckham on 3rd with one out. I think that Keuchel was pissed about the non call and made a mistake on the next pitch. James Loney came up next and hit a sac fly to right that was shallow enough to make a play at the plate but Preston Tucker's throw was a little off the mark and Hank Conger failed to catch the throw allowing Beckham to make the score 2-1 Rays. If Tucker's throw was a little better or Conger caught the ball on a one-hop Beckham is out by 2 steps. The game was a well pitched game on both sides. The only real mistake made by Rays starter Nathan Karns was a ball he left up to Carlos Correa in the 1st that Correa put in the left field Crawford Boxes to give Houston a 1 zip lead. That lead held up until the 7th. Houston batters couldn't figure any of the Rays pitchers who kept them off balance all evening. Aside from a shaky first inning when Keuchel had men on 1st and 2nd with nobody out until he pitched his way out of a jam to prevent the Rays from scoring Keuchel wasn't really challenged until that 7th. I have to give props to the Astros bullpen. I've criticized the hell out of this group a lot lately and even though they deserved their fair share of the blame for recent Astros losses they stepped up and shut down the Rays from the 8th inning on. Keuchel actually began the 8th but after back-to-back singles to lead off the inning AJ Hinch decided Keuchel was done for the night. Chad Qualls came in a slammed the door shut on the Rays striking out the side. He made it interesting though because after notching a K on the first batter he faced Evan Longoria hit a weak single to left that left the bases loaded. Qualls struck out the next two batters to end the threat. After that Pat Neshak, Luke Gregerson, Will Harris, Oliver Perez and Josh Fields combined for 5 shutout innings in which Tampa did not pose even a remote threat. Carlos Correa was the hero of last night. He had the 1st inning solo homer and in the 13th after a walk by Colby Rasmus, a hit by Jose Altuve after a lead off K by Hank Conger gave Houston men on 1st and 3rd with one out. Marwin Gonzalez came up after Altuve and during his at bat Altuve stole his 32nd base of the year giving Houston men on 2nd and 3rd with one out. This is a pretty familiar scene, one which Houston has time and again failed to capitalize upon. It looked like it was going to happen again with Gonzalez striking out for the 2nd out of the inning. Up came Correa and he served up a base hit to right that scored Rasmus and gave Houston its 3rd walk off win in the last 4 games. It's a shame Keuchel couldn't get his 15th win last night but at least Houston won the game. Colin McHugh will take the mound tonight to try to get the series win over Tampa and his 14th win on the year. Tampa sends Chris Archer (10-9, 2,93 ERA) to face Houston. Both Los Angeles and Texas won yesterday so the division lead remains 2-1/2 on the Angels and 4 over the Rangers. Texas begins a 4 game series with Detroit today and the Angels finish their series with the White Sox before starting a series against Toronto at home on Friday. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 21, 2015 Posted August 21, 2015 The Astros bats are cold as ice. Even though they split the 4 game series with Tampa Bay this week they scored a total of 8 runs in the series. The got excellent pitching for the most part, the starters in particular were really good throughout the series but the Houston offense just plain sucked. You see the Rays laying off pitches meant to entice a swing and working deep in counts and getting walks because they refuse to chase pitches. I wish the Astros would take notice of this because they helped the D-Ray pitchers constantly by doing just the opposite. It got to be a joke to me that with a 2-2 or 3-2 count the Rays pitchers would throw breaking stuff and invariably Houston batters would whiff at a pitch out of the strike zone. Last night Rays starter Chris Archer threw a grand total of 98 pitches in a complete game shutout win. Props to Archer because he did a fine job but Houston hitter helped him out a lot. Not only did Archer get the shutout but he struck out 11 batters while allowing just one hit and one walk in the game. So, Houston loses 1-0 and wasted a really nice effort by Colin McHugh who went 7 innings allowing only 5 hits and one run. On consecutive nights the Astros offense failed to support Dallas Keuchel's bid to win what would have been an MLB leading 15th game and last night they failed to help McHugh win his 14th game tying him for the league lead in wins. Another bit of bad luck, with the loss Houston failed to take advantage of losses by both Texas and the Angels. If you are a glass half full type you could say Houston was lucky that the Rangers and Angel lost so they didn't give up any ground in the division. So, I guess, there's that. Houston begins another tough series against the LA Dodgers. There will be a special ceremony for Craig Biggio at the Juice Box on Saturday and his Hall of Fame plaque will be on display. You get a picture with the plaque that will cost $7 (7 was Biggio's jersey number). Half of the money will go to the BBHOF and the other half will go to Biggio's pet charity in Houston The Sunshine Kids. Biggio is scheduled to make a speech prior to the game Saturday as part of the festivities. After picking up a win as the pitcher of record in Houston's 13 inning win over Tampa Bay on Wednesday night the Astros optioned Josh Fields to AA Corpus Christi and they brought up P Vincent Velasquez. The reason Fields was sent down was because he had pitched the previous 4 games and had to rest making him unavailable for a few games. Houston had to use their bullpen a lot vs the Rays this week and the Astros needed a fresh arm in the bullpen and Fields was the one, according to AJ Hinch, "with options". Lance McCullers has also been recalled from the minors and he will make his first start for Houston in a few weeks on Saturday vs the Dodgers. The Astros are doing McCullers no favors because he will pitching against one of the Dodger aces Clayton Kershaw. Welcome back to the bigs Lance. McCullers was sent down after his last outing against the Rangers on August 3rd when he gave up six runs on 7 hits in 1/3 of an inning. It was by far the worst outing in the big leagues for McCullers. He was sent down to rest and so Houston could limit his innings because he will easily bust his old record for innings pitched in a season and Houston doesn't want to cause any long term problems for McCullers from overuse. The Astros had planned all along to bring McCullers back up to the big club, they just needed to be selective about when they did it. He may be on a limit of innings he pitches per outing but the Astros certainly would love to get 6 innings out of him. McCullers usually lasts about 6 because he throws a lot of pitches in his starts as power pitchers tend to do. George Springer no longer has a cast on his wrist. He has been taking ground ball practice and has been in the weight room as he tries to get back to full strength after recovering from a broken wrist suffered way back on July 1st when he was hit by a fastball from Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez. Springer upped his rehab yesterday by beginning to take dry swings with a fungo bat as a starting point to get his strength and mobility back in his arm and wrist. He will take dry swings and if no problems arise then he will start actually hitting baseballs and eventually progress enough to take actual at bats. It has been reported that he's ahead of schedule and doing everything he's being told in his rehab and he's looking good for an early September return. With both AAA Fresno and AA Corpus looking like they will be in the minor league post season it gives the Astros an option to allow Springer to have a minor league rehab assignment just prior to his return. I understand being aggressive at the plate but Houston takes it to the extreme. A little plate discipline and patience could go a long way toward better pitches to hit and maybe a few more walks meaning more men on base to extend opposing pitchers and create traffic for big rallies. Lord, this whole lineup frustrates me. Is it just me or is anyone else tired of Jason Castro sucking at the plate and bitching about called strikes that are actually strikes. Castro is really a good defensive catcher and he can throw out runners with the best of them but he's a bad hitter. We had a catcher like at one time and his name was Brad Ausmus but his normal batting average was 25 points higher than Castro's. Between Castro and Luis Valbuena I have little to no faith they will get a hit in a given AB. Preston Tucker still can't hit a ball high in the strike zone. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 22, 2015 Posted August 22, 2015 Wow, a no-hitter. There are a lot of ones related to this event that happened last night. What event you ask? Where have you been? (LOL). Of course I'm talking about is the no-hitter tossed by Houston's newest starter, Mike Fiers. Last night was Fiers 1st complete game in his 7 year pro career and his 5 years in the bigs. It was also his first career no-hitter. It was the first time since 2003 that the Astros had a no-hitter but at that time it was done by 6 different pitchers against the Yankees in the old Yankee Stadium. It is the 1st no-hitter by a single Astros pitcher since Darryl Kile did it in the early 90's. That's over 20 years ago. It is the first Astros no-hitter in Minute Maid park which is amazing considering the pitchers Houston has had in the last 16 years. Fiers set a personal record for pitches in a game with 134 and he can thank manager AJ Hinch for trusting that Fiers could handle the extra work even though I'm sure he was praying he didn't hurt himself. Fiers also struck out 10 Dodgers in the game including a devastating 90 MPH fastball on the inside corner that just froze the hitter. He never swung the bat as the ump rang him up. Awesome and another thing pretty awesome is how his team mates celebrated the no-no with Fiers. This is a tight knit team and they root for each other and they always have each other's backs. This is a special team and I sincerely hope they can take it all the way into the playoffs. Watching the Biggio Hall of Fame ceremony at the Juice Box. Pretty awesome. (13 Now, can Houston win tonight? I hope so. Last night the Rangers won. I think Texas has something in that Colby Lewis kid. He shutout the Tigers in a Rangers 2-0 win. The Angels lost last night to Toronto by a score of 9-2. So, the Astros now lead the ALW by 3.5 games over LAA and 4.0 over the Rangers. Houston will send Scott Kazmir (6-8, 2.43 ERA up against Zack Greinke (13-2, 1.58 ERA) so the Astros definitely have their work cut out for them. It's almost time for the first pitch and I'm already taking a valium to help stay calm during the game. (just kidding). Quote
eagle eye Posted August 24, 2015 Posted August 24, 2015 Wow, what a week. The Astros ended the week with highly unlikely wins against the Dodgers best pitchers and they began the weekend with a no-no from their newest pitching acquisition Mike Fiers. It's the first sweep of the Dodgers by the Astros in a long time and accomplishing that feat by besting Zack Greinke and surviving Clayton Kershaw long enough to get to the Dodgers bullpen and finally pulling out a win in the bottom of the tenth by light hitting Jason Castro. Today was the second walkoff home run to win a game by Castro in the last 2 weeks. Prior to this he had one in his career. Life is sure funny. Earlier in the week the Astros couldn't score enough runs to support either Dallas Keuchel or Colin McHugh even though the Astros won Keuchel's game with a walkoff hit to beat Tampa 3-2. This was the theme of the week as Houston won 4 games during this 10 game home stand. The doggone Tampa Bay Rays split with Houston in a 4 game series to begin the week and it was really frustrating watching Houston struggle against a team that had just been swept by the Rangers the previous weekend. Houston ended up 7-3 on the home stand and they were 5-2 this week and the good thing is they actually increased their lead in the division. They began the week 2-1/2 games up on the Angels and they end the week 4 games up on Texas. Why? The Angels ran into the Toronto Blue Jays and despite being at home LA had no real answer for the Jays powerful offense. Add to that a loss to the White Sox last Thursday and you've got a 4 game losing streak. The Angels currently find themselves 5-1/2 games back and now they are in 3rd place in the AL West. What is in store for these 3 this week? Houston - 3 games with the Yankees in NY and a weekend series against the Twins in Minnesota Texas - They come home and have Monday off when they begin a 3 gamer with Toronto and finish the week against Baltimore. LAA - The Angels will also be on the road. After a day off on Monday they have 3 games in Detroit and next weekend they will spend in Cleveland. I think the Rangers, despite being at home have the toughest schedule but Houston has been pretty bad on the road. Crossing our fingers probably won't help so I, for one, won't bother. We just have to hope Houston can change their fortunes on the road as the dog days of August come to an end after this week. Lance McCullers pitched very well today in his first start in a month. It must be noted that the Dodgers 2-1 lead would not have been there if not for a wild pitch that advanced a runner to third followed by a sac fly in the 1st and two wild pitches on consecutive pitches that allow a runner to advance from 1st to 3rd followed by a base hit for their 2nd run in the 5th. To that extent McCullers was his own worst enemy. Oh well. It was nice to see Vince Velasquez come in and bail Tony Sipp out of a jam in the 9th. To make room for McCullers the Astros optioned Preston Tucker to AAA Fresno. In the past week Houston has sent Josh Fields and Tucker down but they will certainly be back in September for sure. Tucker could use some work anyway as he has been struggling at the plate for a little while. He really has trouble with high pitches--the trouble is he can't hit 'em. This trip down could pay dividends in the long run in much the same way Lance McCullers trip to AA Corpus seems to have helped him. It just seems that Houston is making all the right moves lately. I really hope that continues. George Springer has been hitting real balls off the tee and from soft toss. The next step in his progression to get back on the field will be live batting practice. It is expected Springer will take hit first BP this week in New York. It's being reported that AJ Hinch has a date for Springer's return circled on his calendar but he isn't telling anyone including Springer. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 24, 2015 Posted August 24, 2015 Thanks to his spectacular no-hitter last Friday night Mike Fiers was named AL Player of the Week. It is Fiers first such award and he becomes the 3 Astro in 2015 win POTW honors joining Dallas Keuchel and Jose Altuve who won earlier this season. Jed Lowrie left the game early yesterday with what was described as a contusion of the right thumb. After his at-bat in the sixth inning in which Lowrie flew out to right field. When he came out to warm up in the top of the 7th he was experiencing some discomfort and swelling in his thumb. As a precaution AJ Hinch took Lowrie out of the game and brought in Luis Valbuena. After the game Hinch said he had some swelling and it was sore but he didn't think it was related to the torn ligament he suffered back in April that required surgery. They just want to take a cautious approach so he's available for the stretch run of the season. The Astros have two prospects listed on MLB's Prospect Watch this week. This list comes from candidates who are listed in the top 30 of individual team prospects that performed the best in the past week according to position. Here is the link to this list and note that this is the 20th time this season that there is an Astros prospect/s on the list, most of any other team. The Astros on this week's list are SS Alex Bregman and RHP Francis Martes. Still having issues with Windows 10, it just won't post links here for some reason. If anyone can help with some advice I'd appreciate it. The help line at Microsoft has been no help. [h=1]Astros' pair leads Prospect Team of the Week[/h][h=2]Houston phenoms on list 20 times thus far, most of any team[/h]2:30 PM ET Email Print http://m.astros.mlb.com/assets/images/5/4/8/145076548/cuts/use_guw34tb5_3ymrirtp.jpgBy Jonathan Mayo / MLB.com | @JonathanMayo | 2:30 PM ET + 0 COMMENTS MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Team of the Week honors the best performances from the previous seven days. Any player currently on an organization Top 30 Prospects list on our Prospect Watch is eligible, including big leaguers. The Houston Astros might be the feel-good surprise story in the big leagues, but let's not forget much of that has been built from within, taking advantage of one of the best farm systems in baseball. Even with all the young talent up in the big leagues, there's still a lot of prospects down on the farm. Two more of them made this week's Prospect Team of the Week, based on performances from Aug. 17-23. That brings the Astros' total of PTOW honorees to 20, by far the largest total among all 30 organizations. C: Carson Kelly, Cardinals (No. 19 prospect) 6 G, .400/.400/.560, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 5 SO It's been a bit of a struggle offensively for the 2012 draftee this year in the Florida State League, but he's shown signs of life in the second half, with an OPS more than 180 points higher in the second half compared to the first half. Kelly had two three-hit games this past week, and drove in at least one run in each of the last three games of the week. 1B: Travis Shaw, Red Sox (No. 28 prospect) 7 G, .423/.483/.769, 7 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBIs, 2 BB, 9 SO Shaw had been up and down a couple of times between Boston and Triple-A Pawtucket before starting to get regular playing time in August. That move has clearly paid off as Shaw has hit .385/.431/.738 this month. He hit in six of his seven games this past week, homering to start things on Monday, then again two days later. Shaw had five extra-base hits in total, and his five RBIs for the week give him 13 in August to go along with his six homers in the month. 2B: Joey Wendle, A's (No. 16 prospect) 7 G, .448/.467/.793, 5 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBIs, 4 SO After hitting .304/.328/.435 in July, Wendle has kept it going in August, with a .343/.363/.515 line this month. He certainly padded those numbers this past week, hitting in all seven games. Five of them were multihit efforts and the six extra-base hits were a bonus for a second baseman not typically known for his pop. 3B: Ryon Healy, A's (No. 22 prospect) 6 G, .469/.485/.719, 7 R, 5 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 7 SO Healy now has a nine-game hitting streak going as his torrid second half now has him third in the Double-A Texas League with a .307 average. Healy had a five-hit game on Friday, then followed that up with two more multihit games. He raised his batting average 12 points over the course of the week. SS: Alex Bregman, Astros (No. 1 prospect) 6 G, .522/.552/.739, 5 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 7 RBIs, 4 BB, 1 SO, 4 SB Bregman has certainly lived up to his reputation as an advanced college hitter who would move quickly. Already at his third level, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 Draft has a nine-game hitting streak going. Yes, Lancaster is a good place to hit, but any week that includes five multihit games is worthy of consideration. Add in the four extra-base hits and four stolen bases, and it's clear the LSU product shouldn't need a ton of time to be ready to help out in Houston. OF: Mac Williamson, Giants (No. 13 prospect) 7 G, .385/.485/.808, 10 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 13 RBIs, 5 BB, 5 SO It took a while for Williamson to adjust to Triple-A pitching, but it does appear like he's figuring it out. His 13 RBIs topped all eligible prospects for the week, thanks largely to two huge games. Williamson drove in six to start the week, then drove in four more on Friday, a game that saw him go 4-for-4 as well. OF: Tyler O'Neill, Mariners (No. 7 prospect) 6 G, .364/.417/.909, 5 R, 4 HR, 9 RBIs, 2 BB, 7 SO O'Neill's four-homer week allowed him to become the third player in the Minors to reach the 30-homer plateau as he is now tied with Adam Duvall and A.J. Reed for the overall Minor League lead. He homered in four straight games from Wednesday through Saturday. Power is O'Neill's calling card, but he's been a better overall hitter in the second half with a .293/.361/.693 line. OF: Brendon Sanger, Angels (No. 21 prospect) 6 G, .455/.556/.818, 6 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBIs, 5 BB, 1 SO, 3 SB The Angels' fourth-round pick this past June out of Florida Atlantic, Sanger has continued to do what he did in college: hit. He finished the week with a pair of three-hit games and raised his average 17 points for the week, up to .305. Sanger's extra-base ability showed up more as well and his three steals now gives the outfielder nine in 10 attempts during his pro debut in the Pioneer League. LHP: Austin Gomber, Cardinals (No. 22 prospect) 1 G, 1-0, 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 SO Gomber was actually Sanger's teammate at FAU until becoming a fourth-round pick of the Cardinals in 2014. His first full season has been solid, as he stands seventh in the Midwest League in ERA while topping the circuit in strikeouts. Gomber hasn't lost a decision since April 29, including his win on Saturday, his second start that saw him reach double-digit strikeouts. It was win No. 14 for the lefty, tying him for second among all Minor League pitchers. RHP: Francis Martes, Astros (No. 8 prospect) 2 G, 2-0, 14 IP, 10 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 12 SO As discussed above, the California League is a great place to hit, with Lancaster being one of the best hitting parks in the Minors. That makes what Martes did last week all the more impressive. He went seven shutout innings in each start, one at home and one on the road, and he's now gone three straight starts without allowing an earned run. Still only a teenager, Martes has posted a 2.31 ERA in six outings since getting promoted to the Cal League. Jonathan Mayo is a reporter for MLBPipeline.com and writes a blog, B3. Follow @JonathanMayo on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 25, 2015 Posted August 25, 2015 I got the problem fixed, the one where I couldn't post any links. I just wish Houston had some way of injecting some life into their offense. I had some time today watching the rain and here are some interesting facts. The Astros have played 35 games since the All Star break and they have scored a total of 135 runs--that's an average of 3.9 runs per game. Not terrible but when you consider that 8 of the games played Houston scored 6 or more runs only 8 times for a total of 64 runs. The remaining 27 games Houston only scored 71 runs and that averages out to be 2.6 RPG. You won't win many games scoring 2 runs a game. In August Houston has only had three games where they scored six or more and they lost one of those to the Rangers 12-9. In August Houston has played 22 games scoring a total of 72 runs. That's an average of 3.8 RPG but take away the 3 games they scored six or more runs then you subtract the 24 runs scored and you have 19 games with only 48 runs for an average of 2.5 RPG. Not good. Now, the most telling stats, On the road Houston has, since the All Star break scored a grand total of 32 runs in 13 road games since the ASB for 2.4 RPG. Take away the one and only game they scored over 6 runs, that 12-9 loss to the Rangers and you have 23 runs in 12 road games for an average of 1.9 runs a game. No wonder Houston sucks on the road. The only reason Houston is still even in contention is because of it's starting pitching that has been nothing short of phenomenal. Lack of run support and a shaky bullpen have cost Houston a bunch of wins. They should have 75-77 wins on the season if not for those reasons. How about this, since he was hurt on July 1st the Astros without George Springer are 22-22 and they are currently 3rd in baseball for consecutive road series losses. The league leader is Philly with 11 but Houston isn't far behind with 9 series in a row dating back to June 19th when they began the first series in the streak against Seattle. Houston is aggressive at the plate and I believe it's much to their detriment. They swing at a lot of bad pitches with 2 strikes making the opposing pitcher's job way easier. Yesterday is prime example. The Astros chased pitches they should have laid off of and ended up scuttling a lot of potential rallies. The Yankees, on the other hand, are patient at the plate and they rarely chase. It paid off for them last night as Oliver Perez came in for Scott Feldman, who went 8 scoreless innings for his best outing of the year, and he walked the bases loaded with nobody out. Chad Qualls came into an impossible situation and he gave up a sac fly to Carlos Beltran to give NY a walk-off 1-0 win. Props to the Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi who pitched very well too. He went 8 shutout innings too. Ironically, neither starter was involved in the decision which is a shame because whoever won, and it turned out to be the Yankees, deserved the win. Big T said a long time ago that Houston would be a team that hit a lot of homers and struck out a lot. Houston leads the majors in home runs (169) and are 2nd in strike outs (1114) to the Cubs (1133). If I didn't know better I'd say Big T has a crystal ball!. Houston has to figure out how to bust out the sticks. We are less than a week from September--the stretch run of the season--and Houston will have to get their offense in gear pretty darn quick or they could be sitting out in the cold and out of the playoffs. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 Did I ever get my wish. Houston scored runs in the last games of the Yankees series, 15 last night and 6 more today to earn their first road series win since June. Keuchel was dominant last night going 7 shutout innings. He could have gone longer as he had only thrown 88 pitches but I'm sure AJ Hinch wanted to save some wear and tear on Keuchel's arm and Houston had a comfortable 15-0 lead. The Yankees got a run in the 9th to break up the shutout but Keuchel became the first AL pitcher to reach 15 wins and the fourth in all of the MLB with 15. He joins the Cubs Jake Arrieta, San Fran's Madison Bumgarner and St Louis' Michael Wacha. As usual Colin McHugh was less dominating than Keuchel but no less successful. He did give up 2 runs on a 2-run shot by Didi Gregorius in the 7th. McHugh lasted 6-1/3 left after the home run and he gave way to Tony Sipp who closed out the inning. Evan Gattis has had a good series in NY. In the 3 games he's gone 6-12 with 5 runs scored and 6 RBI's with 2 walks and 3 home runs to run his season total to 22 round trippers. Carlos Gomez is showing signs that he's coming out of his slump too. The home plate ump was not kind to the Astros. He called balls when they were strikes for Houston pitchers and he really got under Pat Neshak's skin over that. He came close to giving up a 3 run home run in the 8th because a Yankee hitter got another swing after a strike was called a ball. All I can say is MLB is going to have to ban the batting strike zone box on TV broadcasts or do something to discipline umps for bad calls or go to electronic balls and strikes. Colby Rasmus was rung up on two separate AB's and after the second Rasmus took issue with the ump and got himself ejected. The replay showed both times the ump called balls a strike. Houston has a day off tomorrow before beginning a weekend series with Minnesota beginning Friday. With the win today it gives Houston a 71-57 record, 14 games over .500 which ties a high water mark for them for the season. They are now 5/5-1/2 games over the Rangers/Angels with both playing tonight. The Rangers continue their series with Toronto and they 0-2 in the first two games. LAA is playing Detroit and they are 1-0 after beating the Tigers in the first game of their 3 gamer last night by a score of 8-7. George Springer took BP with the team for the 3rd consecutive day before today's finale in NY. If he experiences no problems it is quite possible he could leave this weekend for a rehab assignment in the minors. Astros.com reports that Houston will be looking to add a catcher, a left handed reliever and a long reliever when rosters can be expanded on September 1st (this coming Tuesday). Houston may have to wait for additional call ups because both AAA Fresno will be going to the playoffs as is AA Corpus Christi. Fresno has been kicking ass as they became the 1st team in either the Pacific Coast League or the International League to clinch its division. They have gone a blazing hot 20-4 in August and own a 13-1/2 game lead in their division which is the largest lead in all of professional baseball. Their 79 wins, which is a lot for the minors, is in the top 3 among all minor league teams. As a matter of fact the Astros High A affiliate, the Lancaster Jethawks are still in the hunt for a playoff berth. The season is slated to end on September 7th. A Affiliate Quad Cities River Bandits will be in the Midwest League and Short Season A ball affiliate the Tri City Valley Cats of the NY-Penn League will be in the playoffs. This farm system is bad ass for sure. Did you know that this year's first round pick SS Alex Bregman has already advanced to High A Lancaster and he's not just playing he's playing well. He just missed hitting for the cycle needing only a home run to complete the cycle in an 8-2 win last Sunday. Bregman is hitting .321 and really distinguishing himself after just 2 months as a pro. Former JetHawk and current member of the AA Corpus Christi Hooks, 1B A J Reed has been named California League MVP. Reed played in 82 games with the JetHawks and was leading the Cal League in batting average (.346), on-base percentage (.449), slugging percentage (.638), home runs (23), RBI (81), walks (59) and total bases (203) when he was promoted to Double-A Corpus Christi on July 12. The 2014 Golden Spikes Award winner with the University of Kentucky is hitting .333 with six home runs and 27 RBI in 36 games in the Texas League. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 31, 2015 Posted August 31, 2015 The Astros had a .500 week. They won 2 of 3 in New York against the Yankees and they lost 2 of 3 in Minneapolis to the Twins. The 7-5 loss to the Twins yesterday wasn't that close, it really wasn't. Houston had 8 hits going into the 9th inning with not a single run to show for their effort. Going into the top of the 9th Houston was down 7 zip and they made it look better with some base activity punctuated by a 3 run homer by Chris Carter and a two run shot by Jose Altuve. That was pretty much all they had left in their guns and the game ended with a fly ball to center by Marwin Gonzalez. The real shame was Houston had base runners but they couldn't get a hit when it mattered. Sound familiar? It should I have written that line a bunch of times this season. The Astros have been shut out now 3 times in the last 2 weeks and until the unexpected outburst yesterday it looked for all the world it would be 4 times. After the Yankees series Houston was up 5.5 games and after yesterday's series finale with Minnesota they left with a 3 game lead because Texas just refuses to go the hell away. The Angels are fading and despite Houston's losses they still ended up 6.5 up on the Angels. Houston begins 3 with Seattle and after a day off gets a rematch with the Twins. All the games are at home at the Juice Box so there's that. The Rangers hit the road this week as they begin 3 with San Diego tonight and after a day off they play a weekend series with the suddenly woeful Angels. We already know who LAA finishes the week with but to begin the week they go to Oakland for 3. Dallas Keuchel closes out the month for Houston as he goes up against a young pitcher from Seattle Vidal Nuno who has made 4 starts this season with an ERA of 4.82 and an overall ERA from all appearances is 2.88. Keuchel is going for his 16th win on the season and hopefully he will be the first AL pitcher to get to that plateau. It's interesting to note that Seattle's Felix Hernandez has 15 wins and is the ace of the Mariners staff but the M's manager Lloyd McClendon pulled Hernandez to give him rest. That's good for the Astros or maybe McClendon doesn't want to waste his ace on a offense challenged Astros lineup. Houston has looked like crap since they left after the Yankees series. They spent the whole series without Carlos Correa as they try to rest him since he pulled a hamstring in New York. The Astros are sitting Correa now so they have him for the stretch run in September similar to what they did earlier in the season when Jose Altuve missed 5 days of games with a hammy issue. As hot as Evan Gattis was in New York including clubbing two home runs in a game last Wednesday and a single dinger on Tuesday he was 1-10 in the Twins series. Jed Lowrie is in a bad slump. He's like 0-33 AB's and it's so bad that even the ball he hits hard teams are making plays on them. He is hitting the ball hard at times and as long as he does they will begin to fall. Houston needs Lowrie to show up especially with Correa out of the lineup. As much as I hate to admit it Houston is probably a year or two away from being a real contender because this lineup just can't hit bad pitching much less playoff caliber pitching. Things will look better when Correa and George Springer get back. Hopefully Springer will not be as cold as Lowrie has been since his return from the DL. I'm tired of Chris Carter. I don't care that he hit a 3 run homer yesterday. It's too little too late for me. I cannot imagine him on the team next season. Same with Luis Valbuena. They should nickname him "Blue Moon" because that's about as often as he gets a hit--once in a blue moon. The lack of consistency out of this lineup is almost shocking as most are not even hitting up to their career batting averages. Thank God for our starting pitching and, yes, even the much maligned bullpen has been good or we would be looking at another losing season. But, we are not losing and the hope is we will start hitting again soon and the pitching continues to be top notch we may actually make the playoffs. September starts tomorrow. Damn. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 1, 2015 Posted September 1, 2015 Lloyd McClendon said last season he didn't think Dallas Keuchel was all that good. This was after Keuchel shut down the Mariners bats IN Seattle. It sounded, at the time, like a bunch of sour grapes. Last night after Keuchel shut down the M's yet again earning his 16th win on the season McClendon softened his comments saying he was tired of being misquoted. He claims he has said that Keuchel doesn't have overpowering stuff and he continued by saying that he never said Keuchel wasn't a good pitcher. This, my children, is a classic example of a man crawfishing on what he has said. It looks like McClendon just doesn't want to admit how good Keuchel really is. Fair enough, I get it. It's true Keuchel is not going to overpower you with heat. He doesn't bring a high 90's fastball to the table but there is more than one way to dominate and over the course of the last two seasons Keuchel has dominated in much the same way Greg Maddux did in the 1990's. He does it by changing speeds and spotting his pitches that confuse, confound and frustrate opposing batters. Keuchel has earned recognition as one of the best pitchers in all of baseball that was highlighted by him being not only named to the AL All Star roster but designated as the starting pitcher. Looking for a staff ace? Look no further than the bearded guy on the mound. He is an ace in every sense of the word and he's a big reason Houston is ahead of schedule in the Astros resurgence to relevancy. He's good enough to inspire a section of the Astros stadium being designated as "Keuchel's Corner" in the left field corner every time he pitches with fans in that section wearing an orange tee shirt that says "Keuchel's Corner" and wearing big fake beards. There are actually two icons at Minute Maid park, Keuchel and Jose Altuve. Going to watch a baseball game is now a viable option because this team is dead-smack in the middle of a playoff race. They are even renaming "Clutch City" from the old Rockets championship teams to "Crush City" in honor of all the home runs the Astros have hit this season 2nd in all of baseball with 179 round trippers. For most of the season Houston led in this category but the red hot Toronto Blue Jays have caught and passed Houston. The Jays now have 184 homers on the season as a team. The Astros are also crushing other teams with their tenacity and never-say-die approach to each game as evidenced by 4 walk-off wins in the last two weeks either in the 9th inning or extra innings. This lineup may not be the best hitting team in baseball but you better put on your big boy pants to play them because they will be hacking away for nine freaking innings or more if needed. On Sunday the Twins were spanking the Astros 7-0 going into the 9th and a lot of teams would have mailed in their last at bats. Not Houston and they managed to make a blowout loss look respectable as they muscled across 5 runs in the inning to make the final score 7-5 including two home runs in the inning. September has arrived and there are only 29 games left and Houston, with a win last night coupled with a Rangers loss to Oakland, has a 4 game lead in the AL West division. Good times! Quote
eagle eye Posted September 2, 2015 Posted September 2, 2015 (edited) Okay, I'm trying a different strategy. I'm not going to speculate on what could be. I'm not going to praise anyone. Here's my stance for the foreseeable future, anything and everything the Astros do is sub par and unacceptable. I'm going totally negative here in hopes that will trigger a big 9 or 10 game winning streak. Last night Scott Feldman who has been pitching lights out since he came back off knee surgery couldn't find the strike zone with a seeing eye dog and a map. He only lasted 2.2 innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits and 5 confounded walks! I don't know what was wrong but whatever it was caused him to hurt his shoulder and that is what knocked him out of the game. Vincent Velasquez didn't fare any better and he wasn't hurt but he gave up 3 hits and two walks and 2 more runs in his 4.1 innings. Then Pat Neshak came in a gave up a 2 run homer as well. The thing all 3 guys had in common is they all gave up 2 out 2 run homers. Feldman walked a run home to account for all 7 runs the Mariners scored last night. Every time the pitching let Seattle score Houston came back to tie the game except for the 8th inning when Neshak gave up his 2 run bomb. The Astros just didn't have any more come back left in them. It looked like Houston would come back yet again in the bottom of the 8th when Colby Rasmus led off the inning with a double plus an extra base on a throwing error giving Houston a man on third with nobody out and trailing 7-5. That was it. There wasn't another hit left in the Astros bag. Hank Conger, Luis Valbuena and Jose Altuve all struck out to end the threat stranding Rasmus on 3rd. In the 9th Houston went down with two weak ground outs by Marwin Gonzalez and Evan Gattis bookending a K by Carlos Correa. AJ Hinch can own some blame too. Jake Marisnick who has struggled for the last 2 and 1/2 months at the plate had a hot night going 2-3 with a home run in the 4th but Hinch pinch hit for him with Valbuena in 8th. Are you kidding me? Even though you know Marisnick has his struggles he has a batting average 24 points higher than Valbuena. I don't care if Valbuena is tied for the team lead in HRs he is also 5th on the team in K's with 95 on the season. I don't care if the M's brought in a RHP in the 8th Carson Smith and you try not to have a righty vs righty or lefty vs lefty at the plate. You go with the hot hand and, for God's sake, don't bring in a guy who is worse at the plate than the guy who's already in there! I also disagree with pinch hitting for starting catcher Max Stassi with Hank Conger. Hank Conger has been awful at the plate lately and Stassi was 1-3 with an RBI. I don't care what the book says to do, you go with the guy who is hitting the ball and it hasn't been Conger. Houston should have won the game. You had a veteran pitcher who has been pitching well vs a rookie who has a limited number of starts in the bigs and an ERA over 4. Houston, on paper, had a huge advantage going in but, that's why you play the game, because baseball doesn't go like it's supposed to --- on paper. So, Houston sucks and they will probably suffer through their 5th shut out in the last 3 weeks in the series finale tonight. This team is filled with losers who ain't gonna do squat. So there--negative enough for ya? If it means Houston wins you ain't seen nuthin yet! Edited September 2, 2015 by eagle eye Quote
eagle eye Posted September 4, 2015 Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) The sorry Houston Astros lost the game and series with Seattle on Wednesday night. Our sorry bullpen struck again as Pat Neshak, Oliver Perez and Josh Fields combined to allow 5 runs total in the 8th and 9th innings. Going into the 8th it was a 3-3 tie. Scott Kazmir started but didn't pitch all that great but only allowing 3 runs isn't horrible given the fact that he struggled the whole time he was on the field. Even if Houston had won he wouldn't have qualified for the win because he only lasted 4.1 innings. Chad Qualls and Will Harris got Houston through the 7th without any further damage. I'm really done with Neshak and Perez, neither one has been worth a crap lately. Houston lost 2 games of their 4 game lead over Texas by falling at home to lowly Seattle. SEATTLE for goodness sake--at home. It's the first home series Houston has lost since the end of May and it couldn't have come at a worse time to a worse team. Houston's bats were limp as usual, they were 2-11 with runners in scoring position. It's messed up, Jed Lowrie can't hit a lick for almost the whole time since he came back off his thumb injury, he breaks an 0-28 streak at the plate earlier this week and he's been getting hits on a regular basis and the rest of the team goes ice cold. These idiots are driving me crazy! Houston begins a weekend series against the Twins who they lost a series to last weekend in Minnesota. It's McHugh vs Pelfry on the mound. McHugh is looking for his 15th win of the season but he'll lose. Houston is in one of their funks. Texas (2 back in the AL West) plays a weekend series with the Angels (5.5 games back of Houston in the AL West) In a perfect world LAA will sweep the Rangers but it also includes Houston sweeping the Twins. That ain't gonna happen. The way they are playing the Astros will be lucky not to get swept themselves. This sucks. Just like Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" somebody turned off the lights on September 1st and put the Astros to sleep or so it seems. Since since September 1st Houston hasn't won a game. (I know it's only 2 games but man, it was freaking Seattle!) Not that it will help one bit but George Springer had another good outing in AA Corpus Christi going 1-2 with a walk, a run scored and a stolen base playing as a DH last night. It's possible that he could be activated for tonight's opener with the Twins. In his four games of rehab at Corpus he hit 4-14 for a .286 BA with a double, a walk and a stolen base. When he got hurt on July 1st he was hitting .264 with 13 HRs and 29 RBIs not to mention playing extremely well in the field. Too bad his return won't help because when Houston gets into one of these funks there's nothing that can be done. Oh well, it's been fun while it lasted (sigh). This means that the position players will be back to full strength except for C Jason Castro who is still nursing a strained quad. Houston will be without starting P Scott Feldman for a start or two because of an inflamed shoulder on his pitching arm. An MRI revealed no structural damage just the inflammation. I'm sure that Feldman is happy his shoulder isn't toast as he already missed about 2 months recovering from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. Did you know?-----At least 5 of the Astros minor league affiliates have qualified for the playoffs! Edited September 4, 2015 by eagle eye Quote
Skinny1 Posted September 4, 2015 Posted September 4, 2015 I find it interesting that the resurgent Astros, doing better than most would have predicted this year, would be a solid 4th place team with their current record if they were still in the National League Central - the season would still look good but getting to the playoffs would be a stretch at this time. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 7, 2015 Posted September 7, 2015 The Astros had another mediocre week. Half of their 6 games they were pretty good and the other half they just plain sucked. These are some no hittin' sonsofbitches most of the time. Most of the guys on the team are hitting well below their career averages. The thing is they keep winning? Not as consistently as you'd like but they are still in first place in the AL West. They actually lost a game in the standings this week because of the inexplicable series loss to the Mariners to begin the week. Here's evidence of what I'm saying. Evan Gattis - career BA .248 - season .240 - 8 points ain't all that bad all things considering. Jed Lowrie - career .260 - season .250 - got to give ole Jed a bit of a pass with his injury and all the time he missed this season but 10 points is 10 points. Colby Rasmus - career .243 - season .227 - 16 points off ain't good Colby. Carlos Gomez - career . 259 - season - 251 - no passes here. When Gomez came to Houston he was batting .268. 8 points off his career numbers is one thing but to lose 17 points in 3 weeks this late in the season? Come on! Marwin Gonzalez - career .255 - season .272 - The one bright spot in the lineup. Here's a guy who is having a career year. UP 17 points. Luis Valbuena - career .226 - season .209 - Another guy 17 points off his career. Jake Marisnick - career .232 - season .236 - Performing about to his potential. No complaints with this but I wish he would find the secret and get up to .280-ish because he's a beast on defense. Hank Conger - career .222 - season .213 - Hammerin' Hank he ain't but he does have 2 of the 4 grand slams on the team. His BA is -9 this year. See what I mean? How the heck are they doing it? Go figure. Today a rookie bested this lineup for 7 innings of shutout ball before they exploded right in his face with a conventional run--you get on base, advance with a hit, a walk and a bases loaded dribbler up the 3rd base line that Jose Altuve hustled an infield hit out of. Easy-peazy right? Then Jed Lowrie cranks a grand salami into the right field seats to take a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh. Game over right? NOOOOOOOOOO. Our bullpen didn't have their chance but more about that later. In the 8th starter Dallas Keuchel allowed his 3rd HR of the game and 4th hit overall. Trouble was it was the 3rd tater he allowed in the game! Interesting fact, Keuchel has not allowed a multi-home run game since since 2012! Now he allows 3 and the lead closes to 5-3. In the bottom of the frame Houston tacks on 3 more runs with a 3-run jack from Jake Marisnick! The Juice Box crowd was going nuts by now but remember I said I'd get to the bullpen? Chad Qualls came out to close and lock the door on Minnesota but he forgot his key because Qualls allowed 2 runs on 3 hits while recording of the 3 outs needed to salt the game away. Now the score is 8-5 with runner on first. How the hell do you get in that much trouble throwing only 18 pitches? Gregerson came on for Qualls the night after he gives up a 2 out, 2 strike, 2 RBI triple to the Twins so who knows what the heck is going to happen. 4 pitches later Jake Marisnick squeezes off a high fly ball at the warning track to mercifully end the game. The real play of the game was the bases loaded grounder Altuve legged out a 2 out hit on. If he doesn't hustle down the line it's inning and threat over with along with the game I suspect. On Saturday Altuve came up in the 9th with the bases loaded and 2 out in 3-2 game that Houston was trailing. Altuve spanked a line shot into left-center field that the center fielder made a nice play on to end the game. This coming week will be a lot like last week--6 games with a day off in between the only difference being the Astros will be on the road. Houston starts out with Oakland for 3 and finished in Anaheim with 3 game against the Angels. The fact is from now on it is only division games for Houston except the two they play in Arizona to end the season. But, that isn't until October. The Rangers only play 3 games outside the division from here on out. That will be 3 against Detroit at the end of the month. Texas has 4 in Seattle and 3 at home against Oakland. Texas just began a stretch where they play 17 games without a day off. Damn, I hate that. The Angels have 2 non-division series to close out the season. Beginning today they play 3 with the Dodgers at home (what does it matter both are a technically at home) and weekend after next they play 4 against Minnesota on the road. Keuchel got his AL leading 17th win of the season last night. I saw stats that has him leading the AL in wins, ERA, innings pitched and WHIP. He is far and away the best pitcher (right now in the AL). I am not going jinx anything but speculating on events that have yet to occur but Scott Feldman will likely not pitch again this season so the Astros are planning a 5 man rotation going forward which means Keuchel should get, or could get as many as 5 more starts. Draw your own conclusions where I'm going cuz I sure as heck won't. Preston Tucker got called up. We knew he would and he was part of the big 5 run rally in the 7th tonight drawing a pinch hit walk subbing for Hank Conger right in front of Jose Altuve's dribbling infield single. It's a bitch when you toss 7 innings of ball and allow one stinking run and don't get the win. That's what happened to Lance McCullers on Saturday night. At least he got a no-decision when Gregerson blew the save. Can anyone explain to me how Gregerson go the save last night when there was only one on and he retired the next hitter in a 3 run game? The math don't add up. Final item, Houston will be sending 7 of their minor league clubs to their respective league playoffs. The irony that Craig Biggio in his Hall of Fame induction year wore the number 7 on his jersey when he was playing to coincide with the success of the minor league system. It Houston makes the playoffs that would be 8 teams in this system in the post season. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/147421794/ Quote
eagle eye Posted September 8, 2015 Posted September 8, 2015 Nice start to the week. A starting pitcher who couldn't find the strike zone and when he did the opposing team spanked it all over the field. Mike Fiers went 5+ innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks and he maybe did the best of the pitchers who worked for Houston yesterday. He damn sure did better than Josh Fields who came in and gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 1/3 of an inning. Joe Thatcher came in a faced one batter and walked him. Vince Velasquez came in and got the final two outs of the 6th and he pitched 1/3 of the 7th giving just one hit but that one hit was a 2 run homer. The only guy who really had any success was Michael Feliz who went 1.2 innings with no hits, runs with a walk and K. Velasquez' giving up that 2 run dinger in the 7th was the deal breaker for Houston. Fiers and Fields combined to give up 8 runs to the Oakland As but Houston battled back and closed the gap in an 8-2 lead to 8-6 on the shoulders of 4 run seventh that featured a solo HR by Jonathan Villar and 3 run shot by Carlos Correa. If Velasquez had held the As down in the bottom of the 7th then the 3 runs scored by Houston in the 8th on an RBI by Villar that scored Evan Gattis from 3rd and a 2 run HR by Jake Marisnick that ran Houston's run total to 9. But, Velasquez didn't do his job and the As scored 10 runs in the game and Houston lost yet another road game. Of course the streaking Rangers travel to Seattle and beat the Mariners 3-0 to close the Astros lead in the division to a mere 2 games. This is September when every run scored counts and every pitch matters and right now you can't bitch about the Houston offense for a change but the one thing that was a strength of this team, pitching, is sucking hind tit in the worst way particularly the bullpen that has cost Houston 3 wins in just the past week. Even when Houston wins the bullpen surrenders runs. That's why you have a bullpen, to close the door on the other team's offense when the starter gets to the point where either he can't do it any more in the game or he's thrown his quota. It's disheartening to watch the offense struggle against guys with upper 3 to lower 5 ERA's and, like yesterday, they finally get on track and score some runs Houston's own bullpen comes in a shuts the door on their own team. Sheesh. Houston seems to be choking a little bit, maybe more than a little. You hate to see it but how else can you explain their recent failures? It doesn't get any easier tonight as Houston sends Scott Kazmir against his old team facing the one guy Oakland can claim to be a true ace of their staff in Sonny Gray who is sporting a 12-7 record with a 2.36 ERA. Kazmir has been struggling in his last couple of starts belying his 7-8 record and 2.50 ERA. Kaz has to be on his game because he dang sure can't count on getting much in the way of run support. It's nice to see Jed Lowrie sort of coming back to where he was before his thumb injury. In the last seven days he's gone 11 for 23 for a .478 BA and a .520 OBP. He's scored 8 runs, driven in 7 with 3 HRs and 2 BBs and 2 Ks. I realize he's not going to maintain this pace for the whole month but I would pencil him in at cleanup and or DH him at cleanup until his streak ends. I know AJ Hinch wants to give him days off because the thumb but it's crunch time and you just can't sit a hot bat when the bats on this club have been so cold. Hinch is wasting people's time continuing to run Chris Carter out. He just ain't got it and he's a momentum killer because he only good for one thing, making an out. It was when they benched Carter for Jonathan Villar that Houston got some production out of that spot in the lineup. Right now, Carter is useless and he needs to sit. You've got guys called up to play who will be better than a .181 hitter. The only reason Carter isn't leading the Astros or the majors in Ks is because he doesn't get to play every day. I hate to say this about anybody but I'm done rooting for this guy because he will only break your heart. Since George Springer has come back Carlos Correa has gotten hot at the plate. Springer is hitting .200 with 5 hits and 4 walks with 6 runs scored with 2 RBIs. His OBP is .333 because of the walks but since Springer has been back Correa has hit .333 with 9 hits, 7 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Between Lowrie and Correa they have a couple of guys on a roll they just need a couple more to roll with them. I guess they have one guy trying to ride the wave in C Max Stassi. He's hitting .286 in his brief work since being called up he just doesn't get many ABs splitting time with Hank Conger who continues to struggle. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 9, 2015 Posted September 9, 2015 Obviously being totally negative is not working out as a good luck charm for the Astros. They are picking the absolute wrong time to suck. This isn't me being artificially negative this is me seeing a situation for what it is. I knew the Astros were screwed when they loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 2nd and didn't score a run. Hank Conger struck out on 3 pitches in a horrible at bat and Jake Marisnick popped out weakly on the infield to end the inning. Scott Kazmir gave up 4 runs on 2 HRs. A solo shot in the 3rd by Billy Butler and a 3 run shot in the 5th by Mark Canha. The real kick in the pants was that Butler and Canha were two of the least likely guys you'd expect to hit a homer. Sad. Houston got five hits and worked only 2 walks on the night. They were 0-5 with RISP. The top six guys in the Astros lineup were a combined 2 for 23 with no walks and 3 K's. To make matters worse there were several pitches with 2 strikes that were shown to be strikes called balls and it seemed like the extra swings resulted in A's hits. It's bad enough when you constantly shoot yourself in the foot, deal with the other team AND you get screwed by the umps. The home plate ump not only didn't give Scott Kazmir calls he deserved he disallowed Carlos Gomez steal of 3rd base because he said he interfered with the catcher's throw to the base. He didn't but the damage was done. Instead of having a man on 3rd with nobody out Houston had a man on second with nobody out. It didn't matter in the end because that was the inning the Astros had bases loaded with one out and I already told you what happened there. So Houston got shutout 4-0 which was the 4th time in the last 3 weeks they have been shut out. To make matters even worse the Rangers who are on the road in Seattle won 9-6 which means the Astros lead in the AL West is but one lonesome game. Houston is a pitiful 4-6 in their last 10 games while Texas is 7-3 and they are riding a wave of momentum right now. I really hate to say it but this lineup coupled with the recent pitching woes doesn't look like Houston has a snowball's chance in hell to win the division and they might be playing themselves right out of a wild card spot with only 23 games left in the season. Damn! Quote
eagle eye Posted September 10, 2015 Posted September 10, 2015 We got our one day a week offense show up last night. Four home runs and 11 total runs in the series finale in Oakland last night. Colin McHugh looked okay for 4 innings then things fell apart for him as he surrendered 4 runs in the 5th and another run in the sixth after 1/3 of an inning McHugh's night was over. For a change the bullpen didn't surrender any runs and Houston had an easy win. It took a little of the sting of losing the series to Oakland and the fact that Texas got ambushed by Seattle as well Houston leaves the Bay Area with a 2 game division lead. McHugh got enough run support early to get his 16th win of the season (he's now 16-7) so now we go into Anaheim for a weekend series with the Angels beginning tomorrow night. Texas will finish their 4 gamer with Seattle this afternoon then they go and face the A's for a weekend series. This all leads up to the biggest series of season because this coming Monday Houston travels to Arlington for 4 games with the Rangers that will likely decide who will win the AL West. Houston will need to man up over the next 7 days beginning Friday because, quite literally, their season will be on the line. A good 7 game stretch and the Astros could actually salt away the division, a disasterous 7 games and Houston will have surrendered the division lead and likely send their playoff hopes swirling down the commode. Houston benefits from having a day off to collect their thoughts, rest up a little bit and refocus on the task ahead. By 10 or 10:30 next Thursday night we will know if it's thumbs up or thumbs down for the Astros 2015 playoff hopes. They have 22 games left in the season and by next Thursday they will have 15 left. Clock is ticking and second chances to make up for mistakes are steadily declining. In many circles folks say that the nut cutting is about to begin. One thing, before the season began we would have been happy to improve on the 70 games we won in 2014 and we've done that but expectations are higher than that now. Isn't it a good thing to be chasing a division championship? Hell yes it is! Quote
eagle eye Posted September 11, 2015 Posted September 11, 2015 Scott Feldman got some lousy news today. He will miss the remainder of the 2015 season due to the right shoulder problem that caused him to come out of a game early last week. He had another MRI on his shoulder yesterday and they found he has a shoulder sprain. He will begin rehab on it immediately and that rehab will continue through the off season. The Astros are hoping Feldman will be ready to go by spring training next year. Feldman was 5-5 with a 3.90 ERA in 18 starts this season, but he had an American League-best 1.33 ERA (four earned runs in 27 innings) over four August starts. He came out his last start on September 1st with shoulder discomfort and he hasn't pitched since. To date he has taken two cortisone shots to help relieve the pain thinking that rest and rehab were all he would need because the first MRI done the day after his injury showed nothing was wrong. When the shoulder didn't respond to the rest and the shots the Astros decided on the 2nd MRI. Houston got some help yesterday when the Mariners managed to beat the Rangers in the 4 game series finale by a score of 5-0. The Rangers ran head on into Seattle's best pitcher, Felix Hernandez, who improved his season record to 17-8. Hernandez went 8 innings giving up just 3 hits and 4 walks with 8 K's as he shut the door on the Rangers offense. Fortunately for the Astros Seattle managed to split the 4 game series with Texas which helped offset the 2 games of a 3 game set against Oakland Houston lost this week. Houston had played two more games than the Rangers up until yesterday. Houston was up 3 games in the win column and only one in the loss column. With the Rangers loss yesterday the Rangers are only one game played less than Houston and they are 2 games down in the loss column. What all that means is Houston's AL West division lead is now 2-1/2 games. A bit lost in the win over Oakland on Wednesday was the fact that, with the home run by Marwin Gonzalez in the seventh inning, it gave Houston 11 players on the roster with 10 or more home runs on the season. This actually ties the MLB record for the number of players on an MLB roster with double digit home runs. The HR outburst also pulled Houston into a tie for the most HRs hit by a team this season with 192. Houston is likely to break the record because they have two players close to hitting 10 homers on the season. Jake Marisnick has 9 and Jed Lowrie has 8. If either one gets to ten dingers before the end of the season Houston will have broken the record set the 11 year old mark set in 2004 by the Detroit Tigers. If you want to count Carlos Gomez' 11 home runs you can't because 8 of them were hit with the Milwaukee Brewers. The only criteria is that they be hit with the same team. Honestly, I would like to make book on who gets to 10 first, Lowrie or Marisnick. Lowrie needs 2 and Marisnick needs one but I think Lowrie is more powerful and really stands a better chance of getting to 10 dingers first. If you consider the fact that Lowrie missed 3 months of the season and still has 8 I don't see why you wouldn't give the edge to Lowrie. I said in an earlier post that it looked like the pressure of a September playoff run was getting to this team and they were losing games because they are choking. This may still be true but according to Astros.com's Brian McTaggert the Astros are staying cool and are in a good frame of mind as they battle through a pressure packed September. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/148556308/astros-to-face-angels-rangers-down-stretch Quote
eagle eye Posted September 12, 2015 Posted September 12, 2015 It is a real kick in the pants when your best pitcher, gold glove pitcher, makes an error with 2 outs in an inning and because he opened the door for more AB's it cost him 3 unearned runs. They were the only runs Dallas Keuchel gave up last night in 6 full innings of work. You need to turn around and get a big kick in the nads for a lineup who can't manage any more than 5 hits, 2 walks and a measly 2 runs against a pitcher whose fastball tops out at 84 mph and curve that comes in around 70 mph. This is the second time this season that the Angels Jered Weaver has flummoxed the Astros. It's freaking pitiful. A J Hinch doesn't get a pass here either. The scouting report is that Weaver throws the ball up in the strike zone and his curve ends up in the dirt most of the time. It's not easy getting on top of the high strike and it usually ends up a weak pop out in the infield which is exactly what happened time and again last night. Hinch gets his share of blame because he has a guy who LOVES the high strike. A guy who has homered and tripled during the course of the season off pitches at eye level. I don't know how he does it but Evan Gattis is a high ball hitter and Hinch had him on the bench last night. ON THE FREAKING BENCH! Instead he sent up Mr Mendoza Line himself, Luis Valbuena to be the DH. Valbuena went 0-3 with a walk and 2 K's last night. Gattis got to eat a shitload of sunflower seeds last night. I looked at the fact that Valbuena is a left handed hitter and Weaver is a righty but sometimes you just have to throw the book out of the window and use some common sense. Another move I didn't like was Carlos Gomez hitting cleanup. Really? Mr Out of control swing himself? His first AB Gomez swung at a pitch so hard he fell down on one knee and was facing the 3rd base dugout. He looked ridiculous. Honestly, I'd rather see Jose Altuve hit cleanup and Gomez hit 2nd. I just know how to explain why Jed Lowrie (0-4, 1 K) just disappears sometimes. He sure was invisible last night. Houston needed to play better on the road down the stretch but so far it's just the next chapter to the same old story. Keuchel gives up 3 unearned runs and it costs him his 18 victory of the season. The 3-2 loss last night was compounded by the fact that the Rangers best pitcher, Colby Lewis, blanked the A's and earned his 17th win of the year. Not only that but Texas pulls within 1.5 games of Houston in the AL West. So far this week Houston is 1-3 on the road while Texas is 3-2. Right now Texas is playing better ball and Houston can't seem to find any offensive consistency at all. If Houston continues playing like they are they will lose the division lead by Sunday afternoon and they will lose at least 3 of the 4 games in Arlington beginning Monday. The more Houston tries to tighten it's grip on first place the more things seem to be slipping away. The way things have been going Lance McCullers will go out and pitch 7 shutout innings and lose 2-0 because the offense just plain sucks, even against half-assed pitchers like Hector Santiago. Especially against half-assed pitchers like Hector Santiago. At least football has started. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 14, 2015 Posted September 14, 2015 What in goodness name can you say? I know what I said when I looked to see what the score was in the series finale with LAA, it was WTF!!!!???? I checked in periodically and Houston was getting their asses handed to them and they went into the top of the 9th down 3 zip. It looked like for all the world Houston would suffer yet another shutout from a middling pitcher when the Angels sent their All Star closer Huston Street to close the door on Houston. Here's how the top of the 9th went- Jonathan Villar flew out to center field. 1 out. Luis Valbuena (pinch hitting for Hank Conger) struck out swinging. 2 out. Preston Tucker homers off Street. LAA 3 Hou 1 with 2 outs. George Springer triples to right field on a line drive just out of reach of a diving Kole Calhoun. Man on third 2 out. Jose Altuve singles to left center, Springer scores from 3rd. LAA 3 Hou 2 with 2 outs. Carlos Correa hit a sharp ground ball up the middle right of 2nd base. Taylor Featherston made a diving stop and should have made the final out easily but the ball was hit so sharply it got stuck in the webbing of his mitt. Everyone safe. Altuve at 2nd, Correa at 1st. Correa given a hit. 2 outs. Jed Lowrie in to pinch hit for Evan Gattis hit a 1-2 pitch just over the right field wall just out of reach of Kole Calhoun for a 3 run home run. Hou 5 LAA 3. 2 out. Pitching change, Jose Alvarez replaced Huston Street. Marwin Gonzalez hit by pitch. Man on 1st, 2 out. Colby Rasmus walks. Gonzalez to 2nd, Rasmus to 1st with 2 outs. Pitching change, Mike Moran replaces Jose Alvarez. Jonathan Villar struck out looking. One of the most unlikely comebacks I have ever seen for sure. Gregerson came in and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the win. Here's the AL West - Houston leads the division Texas (who won today) remain 1-1/2 games back. LAA fall to 4-1/2 games back. Houston begins a 4 game series tomorrow in Arlington vs the Rangers. LAA begins 3 with Seattle tomorrow. I can't take this. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 16, 2015 Posted September 16, 2015 The biggest series of the season began Monday and just like they have in all but one series on the road since the All Star break Houston has sexually molested the poor old pooch yet again. Two games with Texas and it has been a team loss both days. Crap pitching, crap hitting and crap bullpen. The net result is that Houston has lost the division lead for the second time since the All Star break. This time its to a team who was 8 games back on August 2nd. The Rangers have found another gear in the last month and a half and they have lapped the Astros. Now we are forced to look at the Astros season in terms of a wild card berth because it just seems like there is no hope for winning the division. Houston has two games left with Texas and the best case scenario Houston wins both games and leaves Arlington with a game and a half division lead. Judging the way Houston has been playing, both at home and on the road, I have zero hope of that happening. Zero, none, nada. I don't care that Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers are pitching the next two games. Keuchel's last outing was at home and he made a rare error that ended costing him 3 unearned runs. Because the Astros offense that sucks worse than a diary farmer's milking machine the mistake cost Keuchel a 3-2 loss. The guy is a gold glove winner and has made one error this season and it cost him the game. Lance McCullers goes 5 innings and gives up 2 runs and he eats the loss. This wasn't about facing good pitching on the Astros side, it's about the Astros making a half-assed pitcher look like the reincarnation of Cy Freaking Young. Since the beginning of September Houston is 4-9. Instead of shifting into the next gear for the final push of the season they have slammed on the breaks and put the car in reverse. McCullers is also facing the Rangers resently resurrected ace Colby Lewis. I tell you, folks better get their forks ready to stick in the Astros because it don't look good for them right now. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing but Carlos Gomez is out with a mild intercostal strain. The intercostal muscles are location in the rib cage area and judging by the way he's been over swinging at the plate he probably strained the muscles doing just that. You'd have to say that Gomez has been more liability than an asset since he came to Houston. I don't see this as a big loss. Houston screwed AAA Fresno out of their best hitter when Matt Duffy was called up to the Astros on Sunday. Despite their offensive woes Houston has yet to put Duffy in the lineup, not even as a pinch hitter. Duffy, a right-handed-hitting first baseman/third baseman, was hitting .294 with 20 homers and 104 RBIs for Triple-A Fresno, which advanced to the PCL championship on Saturday. Fresno began the PCL championship series with Round Rock (Texas AAA affiliate ironically enough) last night and the Grizzlies lost to RR 9-8 in 12 innings. So, Duffy gets to watch the Astros choke like dogs and is denied the opportunity to help the team he's been with all season finish off their championship. Maybe without Duffy Fresno won't be able to do that either. IMO it's a bad move by the Astros in relation to Duffy. Jed Lowrie will miss more time after fouling a ball off his leg and later in the same AB he was hit in the foot by a pitch. Officially, Lowrie is listed as day to day. Unlike the loss of Gomez Lowrie will be missed when he's not on the field. Very disappointed in this team right now. Houston has 17 games left and there is no time for a slump right now. At this time of the year this isn't a slump it's a flat out choke job. If Houston doesn't watch out they will play themselves right out of the wild card too. The only ray of hope is it's about time for Houston's one game a week outburst of runs and maybe it will be for Keuchel tonight. I hope so but again, I'm not counting on anything with this team right now. Quote
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