eagle eye Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Ninth Inning Top of 9th - Pitching change - Neshak out, RHP Will Harris in to pitch, Grossman remains in the game playing LF, Colby Rasmus to CF, Moss K 2-3 PO (1 out), Gomes F9 (2 out), Murphy 4-3 (3 out). Cleveland 2 Houston 0 Final Line for Neshak - 1 inning pitched / 1 run / 2 hits / 0 walks / 1 K Bottom of 9th - Shaw out, Cody Allen in to pitch, Gattis K (1 out), Carter F3 (2 out), Castro K (3 out) Game over. Final Cleveland 2 Houston 0 Final Line for Shaw - 1 inning / 0 runs / 0 hits / 1 walk / 1 K Final Line for Allen - 1 inning / 0 runs / 0 hits / 0 walks / 2 K's R H E Cleveland 2 7 0 Houston 0 4 0 For Big T - Cleveland pitching recorded 13 K's and had only 3 walks. Tonight Scott Feldman was the hard luck loser like Kluber was on Monday. Both teams 1-1 on the season. Tomorrow's finale has Trevor Bauer going for Cleveland vs Asher Wojciechowski for Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KABrother88 Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 And the race is on! What race you ask? To see which happens 1st. A.) Houston gets no-hit. B.) Opposing pitcher strikes out 21 Now the law of averages says the no-no because frankly it's a semi common thing and that the 21 Ks would set the new record...but this is no average Houston team. Yesterday Cleveland was 2 outs away from a combined No-No until Jed Lowrie got ahold of an 0-1 pitch and smoked it to LCF for a solo HR. In 3 games this year Houston has been struck out 7 (all 7 to SP), 13 (10 to SP in 6.1 IP) and 16 (11 to SP in 6 IP) times. Not what you would call a positive trend. I know it will level back out but to put it into a little more context, the 2013 Astros team set a MLB record for strikeouts in a season with 1,535...your 2015 Astros are on pace for 1,944. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 The no hitter will happen first. Lol Hell it almost has thre times in three games already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KABrother88 Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Being just a little facetious there...a very disturbing stat though is Houston has 8 hits this season vs 36 Ks...Yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puddin tane Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Gattis may break Carter's strikeout record....before the all star break Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KABrother88 Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) Round 1 of the Battle For The Silver Boot goes to the good guys by a score of 5-1. CF Jake Marisnick went 3-3 and drove in 2 runs, Jed Lowrie hit a solo home run for the 2nd game in a row and Colby Rasmus added a PH 2 run shot in the top of the 9th. SP Colin McHugh was solid on the bump going 6 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits and struck out 4 while walking 2. As a team Houston collected 10 his on the day after having only 8 combine the first 3 games Edited April 10, 2015 by KABrother88 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Houston got back on track a little bit anyway, beating the Rangers 5-1 today in Arlington. You can add 7 more K's to the Astros total but at least you have 10 hits to balance the total. It's tough when your top 3 hitters are Jake Marisnick (.429), Robbie Grossman (.333) and Jed Lowrie (.308). It certainly isn't how the Astros expected to begin the season. Houston had two players homer today, Lowrie in the first and Colby Rasmus in the ninth with one man on. The other 2 runs came on base hits and good base running and an error by the Rangers. One thing is encouraging, the starting pitching except for Wojo has looked pretty darn good. Between Keuchel, Feldman and McHugh they have given up a combined 2 runs in their 19.2 innings of work. I think we can forgive Wojo since he made his first ever start in the bigs yesterday. The Tribe roughed up the kid in each of his 4 innings of work. Butterflies and constant pressure by the Indians hitters was Wojo's undoing. I think it's lucky that Houston gets to face the Rangers this weekend after getting a bitter dose of a good ballclub like the Indians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 The only good thing today was the pitching. The Astros accidentally had ten hits and five runs. They didn't get those hits because the were smashing the ball. Hell, the two home runs barley snuck over the fences. This offense just doesn't look ready right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share Posted April 11, 2015 BTW, i will take seven K's any night for this team. Seven K's is a good night. Any night under ten K's will be a good night. Not being derisive at all, this team is built in a way that it will score runs and hit home runs but it will K at a historic rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 (edited) The only good thing today was the pitching. The Astros accidentally had ten hits and five runs. They didn't get those hits because the were smashing the ball. Hell, the two home runs barley snuck over the fences. This offense just doesn't look ready right now. We maybe need to slow the truck down just a hair. We are 4 games into a 162 game season. We are 2-2 and 3 of the 5 runs the Astros have scored so far have been small ball runs. I don't think we can make definitive statements about what this team will be after such a short sample size. We need to do the same thing the Astros hitters need to do---be patient and let the ball, or the season, come to us as the case may be. This certainly isn't the way spring training went and I think things will settle down once the team starts hitting better. The Astros can't panic or press to force the issue. Sit back and relax and swing at good pitches. Carter looks like he's coming around and Gattis only had one K yesterday and while he didn't get a hit he did put the ball in play. Sometimes just doing that brings good results which it did yesterday because Gattis reached base on a Rangers error. Springer is going to get better and Rasmus is actually better now that I he looked in spring training. All I'm saying is don't assume what Houston is now is what they will actually end up being. Look at the standings. We are 2-2, in 2nd place 1/2 game behind the 3-2 A's. The world as we know it is NOT ending. That's all I'm saying............ Edited April 11, 2015 by eagle eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) I have to tell you boys, I'm pissed. Dallas Keuchel pitches another gem even though the ump squeezed the crap of him in the 7th he left with a 4-2 lead. 3 pitchers combined in the bottom of the 8th to blow the win for Keuchel. It remains to be seen if the 4th pitcher of the inning can at least preserve the tie. Neshak was supposed to be a top notch set up man and he has sucked so far in every appearance he's . Joe Thatcher, he was responsible for the Chris Carter error that allowed the Rangers go from hanging on to a 2-1 lead to a comfortable 5-1 lead in last night's game and now Chad Qualls walked two, hit a batter and gave up a sac fly to tie the game. Both runs are charged to Neshak and Thatcher but Qualls SUCKED! Most of his pitches weren't even close to the strike zone. I was wrong, Hinch left Qualls in the game and he got the final out but not before he hit pinch hitter Shin-soo Choo on a 1-2 count to reload the bases. He got Leonys Martin to ground out to end the inning but I have no doubt if Martin had been patient Qualls would have hit him too. Excuse me, I have to go swear a lot right now and possibly punch a wall. I can't imagine how pissed Keuchel must be. Shades of 2014 is rearing it's ugly head. Edited April 12, 2015 by eagle eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puddin tane Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Gattis sucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 I think Gattis will come around.... First time in the AL and hasn't seen most of these pitchers but he needs to get it figured out very quickly. EE, if this was last years bullpen then this game wouldn't have gone extras. It would have ended 10-4 in the 9th. Yes, I am being sarcastic, but this bullpen is definitely improved. Just get rid of Thatcher. The offense still look Terrible! Thank god for Marisnick and Conger. Who the hell would have thought that I would be saying that this past off season?! Fire Dave Hudgens and Allen Zinter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puddin tane Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Theses guys suck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 At the end of the first week Houston was 3-3 despite a terrible offense. Then the come home and look like crap. The defense is making errors, the offense is a limp bisquit and the only saving grace up until the A's came to town was the pitching. Monday Feldman got slapped around like a red-headed step child an Houston lost 8-1 and they only managed 5 hits in the game. Shoot, Altuve had 3 of the 5. The Astros were getting on base though because they were 0-8 with runners in scoring position. Last night Brad Peacock made a surprise start and he pitched pretty well going 5 innings allowing 3 runs. Not bad for a guy coming off hip surgery last fall and making his first big league appearance since the surgery. Unfortunately, Houston got shut out --- again. The Astros got 8 hits last night but they can't seem to get one when it counts. They stranded 7 runners in scoring position and 11 base runners over all. One encouraging sign is the team is starting to make contact with the ball. Sooner or later those hits are going to start finding some holes or, at least, you'd think so. Typical of the day was Jason Castro batting in the bottom of the 8th and he hits a line shot into deep right field. The ball was hit hard enough to get out of the park and with 2 men on base it would have tied the game at 3. Castro didn't get any elevation on the ball and it was just a line drive out the right fielder caught on the run toward the foul line on the warning track. The A's tacked on a run in the ninth and Houston lost 4-0. The Astros have only been shut out twice in their first 8 games but their offense has been so bad it seems like more. This slow start, if it continues, will cloud the team for the rest of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I've said it before and I'll say it again, Houston's starting pitching has been excellent deep into the second week of the season. Last night was not any different. Collin McHugh was on the hill against the A's in the series finale and he was just plain good. He only pitched 5.2 innings but he went deep into counts which included giving up only 6 hits and striking out 11 batters. He tossed 102 pitches and shut down the A's offense on the night. McHugh almost escaped a 2-out bases loaded jam in the 2nd only to have A's SS Marcus Semien leg out an infield single hit to SS Jed Lowrie to plate Billy Butler who was on third. It was an extremely close play but Semien's hustle down the line just did beat Lowrie's throw to first. At the time the A's trailed Houston 2-1 on the strength of a two run blast by Lowrie that scored Jose Altuve who doubled to lead off the game. Altuve, BTW, is looking like Altuve again. He has had multi hit games the last two days and he successfully stole 3rd base, which you hardly ever see done in the bigs, just before Lowrie's home run. It is worry-some that both George Springer and Chris Carter have seemed to have lost their mojo at the plate. Before he broke his ankle last summer Springer was an All-Star caliber player but so far this season he looks like a minor leaguer again at the plate. His defense is still top notch but he needs to find a way to get his hitting groove back. Same with Carter. The second half of 2014 he was statistically the best hitter in baseball but this season he's reverted back to the 2013 Chris who set an MLB record for K's in a season. Right now he's hitting a meager .067 with 13 K's in 30 ABs. Still he's not as bad as Evan Gattis (14 K's in 32 AB's) and Springer (16 K's in 34 AB's). As for Gattis he finally got a hit on Monday breaking a 0-22 start to the season and he's gotten hits in all 3 games against the A's. He did go 1-4 last night and he only struck out once. So, I hope this all means Gattis has it worked out and he will be okay going forward. The Astros continue their current home stand tomorrow night when the Los Angeles Angels come to town. I will be Hernandez vs Weaver with a 7:10 PM start time. If you like baseball collectables Saturday night is your night. The first 10K fans will get a replica of the 1965 AstroDome. This is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the 8th Wonder of the World. Wish I could go, darn it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Last night was a better game. That is exactly what I expected from the Astros offense and it was good to see that they were able to string together some hits and cap it off with a little power. Collin McHugh needs to learn how to get batters out quickly. Last night he got away with 11 K's in 5.2 innings, but this Astros bullpen is not yet deep enough to hand the ball to them in the 6th inning. Qualls, Neshek, and Gregerson are great for the 7th, 8th and 9th but hand the ball off too early to the pen and they are likely to blow it. The pitching has had flashes of brilliance this season and that is great to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Okay, somebody's got to give some love to Dallas Keuchel. His is now 2-0 (it should be 3-0), His ERA is 0.90 and he's only given up 2 runs in his three starts that encompasses 20 innings of work. Last night he tied up a LA Angel lineup that has begun the season among the best in the bigs. In six innings and 105 pitches Keuchel gave up zero runs on just 2 hits, 3 walks and 7 K's. The bullpen did it's job this time around especially Chad Qualls who blew the hold in Keuchel's last start. Qualls pitched 1 inning giving up nothing in runs, hits or walks and he recorded all three outs in the inning via the K. Qualls has really struggled so far in the regular season including giving up a 3 run bomb to Mike Trout the 8th inning after Houston scratched and clawed it's way back to a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 7th. Friday night game over at that point with Qualls eating the loss as well he should. The 7th inning last night was a different story. 3 batters-3 K's on 12 pitches, easy-peasy. Pat Neshak came on in the 8th and gave up a hit, got a K and retired the Angels without a run. Luke Gregerson pitched a perfect 9th with 2 K's to shut the door on the Angels. On offense George Springer got his first home run of 2015 in the sixth inning. It was a solo shot that gave the Astros a 1-0 lead and qualified Keuchel for the win. One inning later Robbie Grossman hit a 3 run shot that was the final margin of victory for Houston at 4-0. Houston goes into the rubber game of the series with Scott Feldman on the hill trying to redeem himself from the bad outing he had his last time out in a 8-1 bashing by the Oakland A's in which they scored all 8 runs off Feldman, 7, earned off ten hits including 3 home runs, a walk and 0 K's. He'll be facing Angels ace Garrett Richards who is making his first start since injuring his left patellar tendon covering 1st base against the Red Sox last August. It's a couple of pitchers with something to prove and it should be a good game. With the sun shining today you may want to listen to it while you're doing something outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 Astros take the series with a 4-3 victory today. This offense is still looking god awful but the Astros are some how .500 at 5-5. If the offense can get going and the pitching stays good, things could get a bit interesting in H-Town this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Actually Houston is 6-6 and they are 2-2 in the 4 series they've played so far. Also, they have played 3 series against division opponents, the Rangers, the A's and Angels and they are 4-2 in those series. The starting pitching has been really good with a combined record of 5-5 with 2 no-decisions all this with Houston having the last place hitting numbers in the American League. Heck, the are worst hitting team in baseball. Yes, even lower than 2nd to last Texas Rangers. The good news is the team wide hitting funk seems to be turning around. Altuve is back to his multi-hit games and has raised his average above .300 for the first time this season. After a frigid start to the season most of the other guys are coming around. Evan Gattis is making consistant contact and the rest of the lineup has cut down on K's which were coming by the bushel basket to start the season. Even Chris Carter has cut down on the K's but he is having trouble finding holes in the field to get any hits. But, as long as he's making contact that will come. The Astros 6-6 start is actually their best start since the 2006 season. That's encouraging. Houston will be severely tested this week as they hit the road for a 9 game trip that begins in Seattle tonight and finishes the week in Oakland. They begin next week in San Diego facing the Padres in inter-league play. The end April and begin May at home against the Mariners again. It will be a big road trip and hopefully Houston will still be within spitting distance of .500 when they get back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Okay, Jim, a coworker of mine just stepped into my office and said, "You know, I'm starting to be a believer in this Astros team." Not being one to want to burst anyone's bubble this early in the morning and being somewhat of a believer myself all I could do was smile and nod in agreement. I continued by saying, "I read a tweet during the early part of the game that said Houston was one of 3 teams in the bigs without a bases loaded hit." Oh, the Astros haven't lacked for chances they just hadn't come through until the top of the eighth last night when Jose Altuve hit a bases loaded double down the left field line to break a 3-3 tie and give the Astros the 6-3 lead. Shoot even Altuve had two other chances earlier in the game. Both times there were 2 outs in the inning and Jose got wood on the ball but no money shot. Two routine outs to end the inning. Jake Marisnick had a nice night, in fact hustle and good base running and damn good slide into home gave Houston their first run of the game in the 3rd and that was all Marisnick who has been the best damn #9 hitter in baseball so far this season. The Astros exploded for 5 runs in the top of the 8th highlighted by Altuve's 3 run double but no hit was bigger than the single up the middle for Chris Carter which plated the Astros first run of the inning ignited the rally IMO. Carter has looked lost at the plate so far this season but a hit like that, especially late in the game, can really do wonders for a player's confidence and may be the spark that gets him going. It would be nice to see Carter stroking the ball in April instead of having to wait until July like last year. Kudos to Collin McHugh who went 7 innings and earned the win to go to 3-0 on the season. A cool stat that came out is that McHugh is 10-0 in his last eleven starts dating back to last August. Yeah, Keuchel and McHugh, not a bad one-two punch Houston has there. Pat Neshak pitch a perfect eighth with 3 K's and Chad Qualls pitched a perfect 9th with 2 K's to close out what looked like an impossible win considering Houston's struggles at the plate and how hard McHugh had to battle the Mariners hitters without his best stuff. Let's talk a look at where we are. 1st Place in the division 1-1/2 games up on Oakland. Guaranteed a series win regardless of what happens today in Seattle, 4 game winning streak, our top two pitchers are 5-0 and Luis Valbuena is hitting the cover off the ball. Who's got it better than us! (I know we're only 14 games into the season which is just under 9% of the season but all in all it's pretty cool to talk about our FIRST PLACE ASTROS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big T Posted April 23, 2015 Author Share Posted April 23, 2015 IDK if any of y'all are watching this game, but Rasmus just got called out on strikes on a ball that was literally six inches off the ground. Worst strike three I have EVER seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 (edited) IDK if any of y'all are watching this game, but Rasmus just got called out on strikes on a ball that was literally six inches off the ground. Worst strike three I have EVER seen. LOL! I lasted until the 7th before I had to go to bed and that home plate umpire was horrible. Not only did Rasmus get rung up on a low pitch Luis Valbuena got rung up on a high and tight breaking ball. That call got Houston's batting coach kicked out of the game. I've heard of a big strike zone but from the ankles to the shoulders and 6" off the black on both sides of the plate? C'mon. You could live with it if Houston was getting the same leeway but Roberto Hernandez seemed to pitching to a tighter strike zone than Seattle starter and former Astro J A Happ. The real killer was Chris Carter's K with the bases loaded in the 8th. I never saw it but it's stuff like that which makes me lose sleep out of frustration. It's a shame because Carter had his first multi-hit game of the season and his first home run of the season earlier in the game. In fact the homer came in the 7th which, unfortunately, was a solo shot. How many times have you heard the phrase, timing is everything? In this case it was, sadly, a perfect example of that old cliché. The Mariners first run of the game was the reverse of this in that the M's took advantage of a lead off walk, a wild pitch, a sac fly and an RBI ground out that allowed Seattle to take an early lead in the game without a single hit. It's on to Oakland tonight and we did win the series at Seattle so we can't be too sad. BTW Carters homer last night was on the one year anniversary of his first home run in 2014. Same date, same stadium, same opponent. I mentioned in a post yesterday that the hit he got on Tuesday night might be one that gets him going, so far so good! The team as a whole needs to start hitting with men on base. I'm really tired of seeing a box score with Houston going 1-8 or 0-10 with RISP. That stat has got to improve for Houston to have any real success this season. Again last night Team RISP: 1-8 and Team LOB: 10. Not good. Edited April 23, 2015 by eagle eye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KABrother88 Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 It's not secret that I have an addiction to keeping up with prospects...I'm gonna try to compile a small breakdown of how some of our top guys are doing in a couple weeks when the sample size grows some...but I gotta throw this out there...Carlos Correa is tearing the cover off the ball as a 20 year old in AA. In 12 games he's currently hitting .360 (18-50). 9 of his 18 hits (50%) have been doubles and he's cracked 2 HRs while driving in 14 runs and scoring 11. I would love to get down to CC for a weekend...that team is loaded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle eye Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 It's not secret that I have an addiction to keeping up with prospects...I'm gonna try to compile a small breakdown of how some of our top guys are doing in a couple weeks when the sample size grows some...but I gotta throw this out there...Carlos Correa is tearing the cover off the ball as a 20 year old in AA. In 12 games he's currently hitting .360 (18-50). 9 of his 18 hits (50%) have been doubles and he's cracked 2 HRs while driving in 14 runs and scoring 11. I would love to get down to CC for a weekend...that team is loaded I wouldn't be surprised to see Correa in AAA by July, a couple of others as well. As much as I'd like to see these kids come up to the big club I'm scared to rush them. I want to see sustained success at the level they are at before moving them up. That said, I think it's quite possible Correa could be in Houston in 2016. KA, I look forward to seeing your list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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