2015 Astros Regular Season Thread

[eagle eye]

First, my posts here have been ridiculously long. Sorry about that, I'm going to try to do better.

 

Friday Houston won in a back and forth affair that Houston eventually won in extra innings 12-8. Dan Straily did pretty good but I thought he got the hook a bit early. Especially considering Josh Fields promptly gave up the hits that ultimately erased a 5-2 lead at the time. I think AJ Hinch has given the hook prematurely to Straily and Vincent Velasquez. If you are looking for a fault in Hinch that would be one I would point out. Carlos Correa was the hero of the night going 3-6 with a solo HR and a huge single in the 10 that gave Houston the lead for good. Altuve got hit in the arm again. This time around the elbow. It didn't matter as he went 3-5. It was a big night for the offense as everyone who played got at least one hit on the night. It wasn't such a good night for the bullpen as Hinch had to use every reliever he had on the night which leads to...........

 

Saturday afternoon was a different story. Everything good about the offense was bad. Houston did have six hits and 5 of them led off an inning but Houston's bats were non-existant for the most part. Lumberton native Taylor Buchholz tossed a complete game for the Red Sox and came within a strike of pitching a shutout. Jose Altuve led off the 9th with a single. Preston Tucker flew out and Carlos Correa grounded out bringing Luis Valbuena to the dish. With a 2-2 count Valbuena singled to center field scoring Altuve to break up the shutout. Evan Gattis flew out to end the game. Collin McHugh, needing to go deep for Houston after the bullpen was used up the night before. Unfortunately, McHugh was off his game yesterday. Despite this fact he battled and got himself into the 6th inning before he just couldn't do any more good. He got one out in the 6th and then gave up a single and a double to make the game 4-0 when Hinch had seen enough. He brought in Roberto Hernandez and he got out of the inning without any more damage. In the eighth Hernandez gave up 2 runs which made the score 6-0. The final score was 6-1 after Houston's minor rally in the 9th. Not a good day for our boys but tomorrow is another day, as they say.

 

Jim Crane announced yesterday that the Astros are trying to work a trade for a quality starting pitcher. I heard one rumor that former 1st round pick Mark Appel could be part of a deal.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/134642420/astros-trying-to-trade-for-starting-pitcher

 

Astros.com reported that Jake Marisnick, who has been out for a couple of weeks with a pulled hamstring will be activated from the DL today. To make room for Marisnick the Astros have send Domingo Santana back to AAA Fresno. The Astros elected to keep Alex Pressley on the roster for the time being. I thought maybe they would send Jon Singleton down because he hasn't hit well at all since being called up sporting a .158 BA going 3 for 19 with no homers and 3 RBIs with 9 Ks and 2 BBs. He's also been bad on defense. One of the saving graces of Chris Carter so far despite been a big disappointment at the plate has been his defense. I know Houston is hoping Singleton gets on the same track he was on in AAA but so far he has not, not even close.

 

Lance McCullers goes today for Houston trying to build on the nice outing he had last game when he went 7 innings and got his first win in his previous 3 starts. He faces the Red Sox rookie Eduardo Rodriguez who has the same 4-2 W/L record as McCullers with a 3.92 ERA. Rodriguez had gone through a bit of time where he was tipping his pitches by how he held his head. He worked on correcting this problem between starts and he has allowed only 1 earned run in his last two starts.

 

The Rangers and Angels are playing each other in a series right now and since the Angels have fired their GM they are 2-0 and have scored 21 runs while allowing only 2. They beat Texas 8-2 on Friday night and pounded them 13-0 last night. Houston now has just a 4 game lead over the Angels while their lead on Texas is 6.5 games. Both the Rangers/Angels and the Astros/Red Sox series conclude today.

[eagle eye]

Astros lose the game and the series on Sunday to the Red Sox. The most disturbing thing about yesterday's loss is that the bullpen surrendered another late inning batch of runs. The Astros bullpen has, for the most part, been money up until about 10 days ago. Maybe a little longer than that but it's been happening at an all too alarming rate. Yesterday Tony Sipp was tagged with a 2 run home run in the bottom of the seventh right after Houston went up 4-3 on a two run Carlos Correa homer immediately followed by an Evan Gattis solo shot. Of course the defense didn't do the Astros any favors in the 6th inning when Correa and Gattis both committed errors that allowed 2 runs to score for the Red Sox. This overshadowed some good D by Houston, particularly by Jake Marisnick who threw out Hanley Ramirez at third after a single by Pablo Sandoval. Ramirez tried to go from 1st to 3rd on the play and Big Jake gunned him down on a play that wasn't even close. Then, in the 6th Marisnick slammed into the Green Monster just as he caught a lined shot by Brock Holt. Marisnick had been playing Holt shaded to the right field side of center field and he sprinted back and over to left center to make a catch that even the Boston faithful had to applaud. Throw in a couple of double plays and Houston should have gotten the win but for errors and Tony Sipp. Astros starting pitching continued to struggle as Dan Straily and Collin McHugh did Friday and Saturday. Lance McCullers fell into an old habit of nibbling too much and getting into deep counts but, unlike McHugh and Straily, McCullers was able to wriggle out of trouble. Even the one run he gave up was a masterful job of damage control as he started off the inning with men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and only allowing one run to score. In fact, that run was the only one he gave up in his 5 innings and 101 pitches of work.

The worst thing about yesterday's loss was the fact that the Angels completed a sweep (maybe annihilation is a better word as LA scored a 12-6 win Sunday and they outscored the Rangers 32-7 in the series) to close to within 3 games of the Astros. Houston moves on to play Cleveland next for 4 games and LA gets a day off before facing Colorado in a 2 game series and Seattle for 4 games.

As for Houston, they get no break in their schedule because they square off against the Cleveland Indians who are sending Carlos Carrasco to the mound tonight. This is the same Carlos Carrasco who was one out from a no-hitter in his last appearance. He'll face Dallas Keuchel who has a complete game shutout of the Yankees and an 8 inning 4-0 shutout of the Royals in his last two starts. That would be 17 scoreless innings if you were keeping track. Both Keuchel and Carrasco are 10 game winners looking for #11.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2015_07_06_houmlb_clemlb_1&vkey=preview_web_away&c_id=hou#game=2015_07_06_houmlb_clemlb_1,game_state=Pregame

 

Glory be! The Houston fans did it! They rallied enough over the past two weeks to vote in Jose Altuve as the starter at 2nd base in the All Star game! Two weeks ago Jose was 400K+ behind the Royals Omar Infante but he made up around 200K last week and in the final vote he won the starting job in the Summer Classic. Nice job Jose and nice job Houston fans because, in this case, Jose deserves the honor because he is clearly the best 2B in the AL, maybe the whole league.

 

There were 3 calls over turned in yesterday's game and I have two observations about that. 1) It's good that MLB has caught up to the 21st century in terms of being able to use the technology available to get call right. That's what we want in the end isn't it? That the playing field is leveled in team's ability to get calls correct so a missed call can't cost a team a game or a pitcher a no-hitter or any of a myriad of wrongs than can now be made right with replay. 2) When in the hell is baseball going to wake up and use some of the same technology to call balls and strikes. Pitchers and batters alike both feel like they are being treated unfair. You see it in every single game when one or the other is mad at the home plate ump for a call--or non-call. If the technology is used then everybody is working with the same strike zone every time. If you get mad you can only blame yourself if you are a pitcher or a batter if things don't go your way. The argument that it takes the human element out of the game is balderdash. The human element is what causes all the fights! Look how replay has not only pointed out the human element is not reliable but it's based on bias and the heat of the moment. You tell me umps aren't biased when he figures a pitcher is showing him up and I'll tell you that you are full of fertilizer. Instead of a pitch close baseball needs to standardize the strike zone and let the machines call balls and strikes.

Edited July 6, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

I found this item in the Bleacher Report proposing a doable trade deal the Astros could make in their search to improve their starting pitching rotation. It's logical and if agreeable for both parties. why the heck not. Thoughts?

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2515260-6-most-realistic-blockbuster-mlb-trades-that-could-go-down-this-july/page/4

[KABrother88]

I really don't want to give up Phillips in any potential deal...I think he's gonna be a stud in a couple of seasons

[eagle eye]

That's a hard call to make to lose a player with a lot of potential but the starting rotation needs help. McHugh, McCullers and Velsquez have been too inconsistent to depend on down the stretch. Personally, I would rather give up Jon Singleton myself. Maybe include Matt Dominguez too. Two weeks ago I would have included Luis Valbuena in a deal--any deal-- but he's been playing better and hitting better lately. I would hope he could improve on his career .225 BA which makes me really hope that Collin Moran would come along a little faster. He may be another year or two before he's really ready to make the jump to the big club. With the club in 1st place are the Astros going to commit to a real run at the playoffs? I think we'll see how committed they are to winning this year according to the moves they make at the trading deadline. The Astros, under a different regime, sold the farm (literally) to make a run at the World Series in 2004 and 5 and they were screwed for ten years after that. I don't see this regime making the same mistake. In fact, they may take a more patient approach allowing their prospects to mature with a real run at the WS next year of the year after.

 

Astros beat Cleveland 9-4 last night. Dallas Keuchel got his 11th win of the season pitching six innings and allowing 3 runs but he did record 8 K,s. Here lately Keuchel has to be happy the offense is finally giving him some run support. Everyone on the offense contributed at least one hit except for Carlos Correa and Chris Carter. Carter did contribute by working a walk as well as hitting sac fly to score a run but officially he was 0-3 with 3 Ks. Correa helped as well as he did walk once and he reached on a fielder's choice and he scored both times he was on base. The star of the night on offense was Preston Tucker who was celebrating his 25th birthday. He had a heckuva night going 4-5 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs including a solo HR in the 4th. Houston chased Cleveland ace Carlos Carrasco after just 4 innings after he gave up 5 runs on 10 hits and a walk with 5 Ks. Houston's offense scored in double figures in hits (16) and K's (12). Kind of like Big T said before the season began, lot of hits and lot K's, and he has been dead on so far.

 

Dallas Keuchel probably knew before he took the mound last night but he was named to the All Star game last evening. The starter won't be named until later this week but I figure it's between Keuchel and Chicago's Chris Sale.

 

Houston's offense is in for a little more trouble tonight as they face Cleveland's other ace, Cory Kluber. He his a really good pitcher who is second in the AL in K's but he's 1-4 in his last 7 starts with a 3.86 ERA. For the season he's 3-9 with a 3.64 ERA in 118.2 innings of work. The strikeout total is a concern because Houston strikes out---a lot. Vincent Velasquez is on the hill for Houston and hopefully in his 6th big league start he can get his first win. Heck, just get a decision of any kind would be different. Right now he's 0-0 in his 5 starts. I'll be interested to see if A J Hinch gives him an early hook like he did his last two starts. In both games, against the Yankees and Seattle, he went 6.1 innings and left with less than 90 pitches and the lead only to see the bullpen give the lead up almost immediately. I'd like to see him pitch his way out of a jam, or at least try to. A gut check never hurts a guy's progress. Back in the 90's both Mike Hampton and Darryl Kile benefitted from Larry Dierker's belief a starter needs to learn to pitch under pressure.

 

Luis Valbuena was out last night due to a sprained toe he hurt a couple of series ago. He could be back at any time depending on how he feels. I really don't look for him to play tonight. With only six games until the All Star break Hinch could let him sit and really get well heading into the second half of the season.

[eagle eye]

The Astros go from the penthouse to the outhouse which following this team such a rollercoaster ride. On Monday they bang out 16 hits and score 8 runs. Last night they only managed 6 hits and 2 walks and they had the lead off man on base several times but could do nothing to capitalize. It was like a carbon copy of the first two games in the Boston series. The first a convincing win the second a frustrating loss. This time Vince Velasquez did better than he did against KC allowing only 2 runs in his 6.1 innings of work. (BTW this is the 3 start in a row he's gone 6.1 innings) The Astros offense was worse too as Houston lost 2-0. Houston had more K's (9) than hits and walks combined (8). Okay, so the pitching deserves some credit but I can't argue Corey Kluber is better than Carlos Carrasco. A J Hinch didn't give the hook to Velasquez early this time even though he went the same distance. It seemed like, while he was close to the strike zone more than in previous starts, he couldn't get a call from the ump. Cleveland was happy to stay patient in the batter's box and run his pitch count up while making him work extra hard to get out. Vince tossed 104 pitches last night which almost 20 more pitches Hinch had allowed in his previous starts. Since a hot set of games vs Boston Carlos Correa has been ice cold. Preston Tucker is now the hot hitter. Trouble is both Correa and Jose Altuve have hit a slump at the same time and hits Evan Gattis is getting don't coincide with Tucker's. Houston has two more games with Cleveland and their offense needs to get off the mat and do something. With Dan Straily making his second start tonight followed by Brett Oberholtzer on Thursday, who will be called up because after the game Velasquez was sent down to AA to rest, Houston will need a healthy dose of run support. Velasquez was sent down because his innings pitched is really mounting. His high before this season was around 124. So far he's pitched 58 innings already between the minors and big leagues. Vince won't pitch at all in Corpus, he is going there to rest until after the All Star break so he will be rested for the second half of the season. Houston can't afford to lose any more games before the All Star break because the Angels are on fire and they won again last night over Colorado by a score of 10-2. Their offense has become an unstoppable force lately. Ever since they canned their GM the team has begun to kick ass and take names. They are now down to 2.5 games back of the Astros. Houston has been playing around .500 because they can't get any consistency out of their starting pitching, offense or relief pitching. The Astros, quite honestly, are looking like the team we sort of expected going into the season. It's just that we got spoiled by a hot April and May and now we are disappointed because June and, so far, in July Houston is terribly average.

 

It looks like there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Jed Lowrie. (Remember him?) He tore a ligament in his thumb what seems like a hundred years ago. He's been fielding ground balls some and swinging a bat some which is encouraging but he isn't ready for a rehab assignment yet. There is still no time table for his return to the field.

 

One thing I like about A J Hinch is how he keeps players on the DL on the bench to keep the players feeling involved with the team. Except for rehab assignments players on the DL are in the dugout with their teammates. Geoff Blum has commented on this saying he likes Hinch's approach because so many times injured players are on their own doing rehab and at training sites and anywhere but with the team and they feel like they don't matter when they are out of the lineup. You continue to see Lowrie, Springer, Marisnick, Feldman and others on the DL still hanging with the team in the dugout of games. It seems like it is a good way to create a "family" atmosphere which cannot hurt team chemistry one bit.

 

Oberholtzer has apparently spent his time standing in the corner (in AAA Fresno) for his apparently throwing at A-Rod a couple of weeks ago after the Yankees pounded him for six runs in less than 2 innings. Hinch had to send a message to the league that the Astros don't tolerate throwing at batters (probably so opposing pitchers won't throw at Astros hitters). Sufficient time has passed the Astros can justify bringing Obie back to help out a struggling rotation.

 

Lance McCullers start has been moved back from Friday to Sunday to give him extra rest. Like Velasquez, his innings pitched are mounting and he is sure to blast he previous season high out of the water. His previous high was around 104 innings and he's already logged 87 innings between the minor and major leagues. It's been speculated that with all the young arms pushing career highs in innings the Astros could go with a six man rotation when Scott Feldman returns to the lineup. This would also benefit Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh as well. Keuchel leads the bigs in innings pitched with 130.1 and McHugh has 107. It looks like Houston is not selling out the future for present success and I'm happy to see that.

 

The Astros has agreed to terms with 11th round draft pick Patrick Sandoval a left-handed pitcher from Mission Viejo High School in California. He received $900,000, according to MLB.com's Jim Callis, which is the highest bonus given after the seventh round. The club did not disclose terms of the deal. The 18-year-old went 9-3 with a 0.97 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 93 2/3 innings this year en route to being named Perfect Game All-American. --- from Astros.com

This means Houston has signed their first 24 draft picks spanning from the 3 picks in the first round to the 22nd round pick. That, my friends, is good work.

[eagle eye]

Damn, the Astros are not hitting themselves right out of 1st place losing last night for the fourth time in the last six games. After a two run Evan Gattis homer in the first inning the Astros were shut out the rest of the game. The Astros are making the pitching staff for Cleveland look a lot better than their season stats. I admire AJ Hinch for sticking with Chris Carter for so long but something has got to give. The guy is 6-55 hitting with 3 HRs and 3 walks. The only thing that makes him a better choice than Jon Singleton is Carter plays defense much better. Singleton looks like a stumblebum on defense. Personally, I'd rather they both sit and let Marwin Gonzalez play first base. My lineup would be this.

 

1. Altuve 2B

2. Tucker LF

3. Correa SS (he's in a real funk right now)

4. Gattis DH

5. Valbuena 3B (I can't believe this team is so bad offensively I actually opt for Valbuena)

6. Rasmus RF

7. Gonzalez 1B

8. Conger C (tired of Jason Castro)

9. Marisnick CF

 

When this team goes into a slum they all slump. It is really frustrating watching the Astros right now. Over the last couple of weeks the bullpen has been leakier than a home made dinghy. Sipp, Thatcher, Harris, Fields and Neshak have all blown games for the Astros. You could almost imagine AJ Hinch flipping a coin to see who he wants to go blow a game on a given night. Once a strength of this team it is not right now at all. Another strength of the team was scoring runs from the 7th inning on. Here lately they not only can't score early or the middle they can't score late anymore. With the Angels winning their 5th in a row and 9th game in the last 10 they have cut the Astros division lead to 1-1/2 games. The Astros are 6-4 in their last ten but they have looked bad doing it. One more in Cleveland tonight with Oberholtzer (2-1, 4.32 ERA) vs Anderson (1-1, .076 ERA) and that matchup doesn't look good for Houston does it?

[eagle eye]

A couple of days ago I posted a link for a proposed trade scenario to acquire A's pitcher Scott Kazmir that included sending prospect OF Brett Phillips as well as SS prospect Nolan Fontana. KABrother88 replied he didn't like that trade because Brett Phillips is a stud with a world of potential. As luck would have it, today on Astros.com there was a scouting report on Phillips done by MLB.com columnist Bernie Pleskoff. KABro may just be right about Phillips. The only thing wrong with the article is he referred to Corpus Christi as Houston's Class A affiliate and we all know it's a AA club. Get past this and look at the high praise he has for Phillips and his long term potential. This isn't heresay as he has actually had a chance to watch Phillips play.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/135681938/scouting-report-brett-phillips

[eagle eye]

The Astros stunk up the batter's box again last night getting only 4 hits on the night one of which was a solo home run in the 4th by Hank Conger. That was Houston's only run on the night in a 3-1 loss in the series finale in Cleveland. This series was eerily familiar to the previous series in Boston when Houston put up and lot of hits and runs to win the opener in the series only to have the bats go silent in the rest of the games. Brett Oberholtzer made his first start for Houston since his demotion to AAA after a meltdown against the Yankees a couple of weeks ago and he did well. He tossed 5 shutout innings before the Tribe got to him for 3 runs in the 6th. People might blame Obie for not holding the Tribe down but pitching six innings and allowing 3 runs or less is considered a quality start. If you do that you have given your team a reasonable chance to win the game--unless the bats are more limp than a wet noodle. One of the hottest players in the box had been Carlos Correa who turned frigid in Cleveland. He went 0-14 before getting a hit and ended up 1-16 in the series. That's kind of indicative of the hitting woes of the whole darn team. The starting pitching did well in the series. Keuchel went 6 innings giving up 3 runs in a 9-4 win, Vince Velasquez went 6.1 giving up 2 runs in a 2-0 loss, Dan Straily went 6 innings giving up 2 runs in a 4-2 loss and last night Obie just allowed 3 runs. Hopefully Houston can get through the 3 games with Tampa and a win or two to at least remain in 1st place in the AL West. Seattle helped us out last night be beating the Angels so Houston maintains the 1.5 game lead in the division. What I'm really hoping is a week of rest during the All Star break will reenergize the team and get them back on track.

 

The most interesting thing about last night's game was that Mike and Mike threw out the first pitches of the game. Ironically, Greeny did better than Golic who bounced his pitch up to the plate. You have to give Golic a bit of a pass though because he's had about 10 surgeries on his shoulder from his pro football playing days to the present. You can bet Greeny ragged on Golic because he did better with the first pitch.

Edited July 10, 2015 by eagle eye

[KABrother88]

Missed this the other day but Houston agreed to a deal with 11th rounder Patrick Sandavol on a $900,000 deal. $800,000 of that will count toward the bonus pool putting them into the <5% penalty. Doubt we'll see any of the remaining signability guys strike deals but we successfully signed our top 23 picks and 34 of 42 total (81%). Of the remaining dinginess guys are Cole Sands and Luken Baker who might have just been backup plans if they couldn't get Sandavol to ink. 2 more in Connor Biggio and Kody Clemens were more of ceremonial signs than legit picks...don't think there was any real interest to sign them. Remove those 4 and its closer to 90% of our picks signed. Signing deadline isn't until the 18th so there is still a chance at more activity

[puddin tane]

Dropped another. Something has to be done at the 1b and 3b.

[eagle eye]

The Astros are redefining the meaning of the word slump. They got a grand total of 3 hits today and what's the worst part they had the bases loaded in the 4th inning and men on 2nd and 3rd but both situations were with 2 outs and both times the next batter screwed the pooch. To add insult to injury, in the 2nd inning with the D-Ray's Jake Elmore at the plate on a 2-2 pitch the home plate ump Greg Gibson just flat blew an obvious strike call. Dallas Keuchel, Hank Conger and Jake Elmore started off the field when they realized Gibson called a pitch thigh high on inside half of the plate a ball. Keuchel admitted later that he was so pissed he lost concentration and what should have been strike 3 and the 3rd out of the inning turned into a 3 run inning instead. The only runs scored in the game. Later, in the bottom of the 7th pitching coach Brent Strom went to the mound to talk to Keuchel and he deliberately waited until Gibson came out to tell them to wrap it up and play ball. At that time Strom gave Gibson an earful and got tossed from the game. If nothing else it was probably a morale boost for Keuchel to have his coach take up for him like that. Keuchel pitched another gem and he gave the Astros yet another quality start from the starting pitching rotation with nothing to show for it except the Astros 5th loss in a row.

After the game the Astros announced that the club was bringing up LJ Hoes from AAA Fresno. It's not sure who will have to go down but my guess it will be either Chris Carter, Jon Singleton or Alex Presley. I posted a couple of days ago a lineup I thought Houston should go with. With Hoes coming up we better hope he can play first base because I would insert Marwin Gonzalez at 3B. I think it's a little late to make a move with only one more game before the All Star break but maybe this more of message to the team that they are tired of the lack of production by the whole team. Carter would be the most impactful player to send down but we'll see what move Houston makes. With today's loss they are percentage points behind the Angels and are out of first place for the first time since mid April. Of course if LA loses to Seattle tonight the first half closes with Houston having a 1/2 game lead.

 

The SiriusXM All Star Futures Game will played on Sunday and feature the best and brightest of the minor leagues. The teams are divided into a USA team and a World team. The USA team will feature two Astros prospects, P Mark Appel and IF Tony Kemp. Here's a preview article from Astros.com.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/136122784/best-tools-to-be-on-display-in-futures-game

 

The Astros activated Chad Qualls off the DL before Friday night's game and to make room for him they sent Brett Oberholtzer back to Fresno.

 

The real kick in the pants; coming into the series with Tampa Bay the Rays were 2-13 in their last 15 games and had scored the 3rd fewest runs in the AL. Houston was 2nd in runs scored but they have slid down to 5th. Never fear though, they still lead the MLB in K's with 832 which is 43 more than 2nd place Chicago Cubs.

Edited July 12, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

The Astros slump is epic. I'm not saying that it is historically bad, it just seems like it. I'm not saying the team is totally terrible, it just seems like it. The were one win away six days ago from being the only Astros team to win 50 games by the All Star break and they never made it. They played two teams in Cleveland and Tampa that were not only losing but not looking real good doing that. Every starter except for Lance McCullers had quality starts but didn't get any run support. It can be argued that McCullers suffered from lack of run support even though he got more run support than any of the other pitchers did in the D-Rays series but it wasn't like 3 runs was any kind of run explosion especially when Houston blew several chances to score during the game. When a pitcher gives up 4 runs you think maybe sometimes you could get five runs once in a while. Well, not this past week. Lets look at the futility the offense went through from the beginning of the losing streak in Cleveland to the final game yesterday in Tampa.

They went 0-6 vs Cleveland and Tampa. They were shut out twice, scored one run twice, 2 runs once and 3 runs once.

They allowed a total of 19 runs in the six games (that's an average of 3.17 RPG)

They scored a total of 7 runs in the six games. (That's 1.17 runs per game)

They allowed

They stole 1 base in the six games (They were the AL leader in stolen bases going in with 68 and amazingly they are still in first place with 69)

They were 31-188 hitting for a .165 team BA.

They were a pitiful 1-28 with runners in scoring position.

What these numbers tell us is the pitching was there, you shouldn't have to toss a shutout to win and even if they had in two of the games it would only have been good enough for a tie and extra innings. (make that extra frustration) No stolen bases to speak of. They got some hits in a game or two but did not string together hits went it mattered. Shoot, in yesterday's game Houston outhit Tampa 7-5 but Tampa's hits were back to back and done when runners were in scoring position. Yesterday, I was listening to the broadcast and Steve Sparks remarked that Tampa starting pitcher Matt Moore was effectively wild meaning in his 5 innings of work he gave up 5 hits, 3 walks and he had 3 K's. What isn't in the box is the mistakes he made over the plate that Houston failed to make him pay for. Hits were there for the taking and they just couldn't do anything but swing and miss, pop up or ground out.

After a reprieve when the Mariners beat the Angels Saturday night Houston wasn't so lucky yesterday when the Angels opened a can of whoop ass on Seattle and beat them 10-3. It was 9-0 until the bottom of the 8th when Seattle finally scored. What that means is Houston is officially in second place in the AL West by 1/2 game to the Angels. So, now as of July 12 Houston ends their 3 month run as division leaders thanks to the 6 game losing streak they suffered through this past week. On Tuesday Houston was 5 games up on LA and what looked like a significant lead in the division was not after all.

 

Chris Carter needs to go. Going into Sunday's game he was hitting .187 which is ironic because 1-8-7 is the police code for a homicide and Carter is killing the Astros with a dead spot in the batting order. After going 0-fer 4 yesterday he is hitting .185. When he swings he doesn't look like he's generating any bat speed. His swing looks slow, like he's trying to guide the bat through the zone instead of just swinging through the ball. I've said it before and I'll say it again, several players benefitted from the old hitting coach under Bo Porter, John Mallee. Under Mallee Jose Altuve, Carter and couple of other guys flourished. Now, Altuve has taken a huge step back as has Carter and we have a lineup with only two players have a BA above .250. The rest are well below .250 and a couple are still hitting below .200. To me the Astros could use some better coaching in this regard. They especially could use some mentorship as they acclimate themselves to the big league pitching. Maybe it's AJ Hinch's philosophy of being aggressive at the plate. I don't know, but Preston Tucker can't hit a high strike and Carlos Correa can't hit balls in the inner half of the plate which should be the wheelhouse for most hitters and he's getting killed by breaking balls. The whole roster is missing first pitch strikes right down the middle of the plate and whiffing on crap because they are behind in the count. Hopefully, the ASB comes as a perfect time. 4 or 5 days away from the game should help, or we hope it helps. We'll see as they host the Rangers to begin the second half of the season on Friday.

 

From Astros.com - Hinch names his second half rotation and notes a couple of roster moves.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Astros manager A.J. Hinch set his rotation out of the All-Star break, with right-hander Collin McHugh getting the ball for the series-opener Friday against the Rangers at Minute Maid Park. Veteran right-hander Scott Feldman will be activated from the disabled list to start Saturday, and left-hander Dallas Keuchel is likely to start Sunday.

Keuchel, who could start for the American League in the All-Star Game on Tuesday, Feldman and McHugh figure to be linchpins in the Houston rotation for the second-half playoff push. The Astros will hit the All-Star break with a league-tying 91 games played, which means they'll have more off-days in the second half to manage the rotation.

 

"At some point," Hinch said, "we're going to need a full rotation."

Lance McCullers Jr., who started Sunday against the Rays, will be a key member of the rotation as well, but won't be on a regular schedule as the Astros monitor his innings. Fellow rookie Vincent Velasquez is in the same boat, and Brett Oberholtzer and Dan Straily -- both of whom were sent down within the past few days following their starts -- figure to be up again to contribute at some point.

Feldman has been out since late May with a torn right medial meniscus that required surgery. He made two rehab starts at Double-A Corpus Christi, and his return will bolster the rotation. He was 4-4 with a 4.80 ERA in 10 starts, including seven quality starts.

All the while, the Astros will be searching the trade market in the next few weeks to try to add a veteran starting pitcher to the mix.

Worth noting

• The Astros called up outfielder L.J. Hoes from Triple-A Fresno to start Sunday's game against the Rays, giving them an extra right-handed bat against Matt Moore. Starting pitcher Dan Straily was optioned to Triple-A. Hoes was hitting .327 with 21 doubles, three triples, three homers and 47 RBIs in 70 games at Fresno.

Edited July 13, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

Just announced, Dallas Keuchel will be the starter for the AL in the All Star game tomorrow night. Not bad, Dallas, not bad.

[KABrother88]

Dropped another. Something has to be done at the 1b and 3b.

 

Jed Lowrie will be the starter at 3rd when he comes off the DL...don't be surprised to see Valbeuna/Carter shipped at the deadline. A name to watch as a potential future 1st baseman is 2014 2nd rounder A.J. Reed. Just got promoted to AA after hitting .346 with 23 HRs and 81 RBI in 82 games at A+. He looks to be on track for the call sometime next season. Meanwhile I do agree something needs to be done for the stretch run

[eagle eye]

A J Hinch has had to consider innings pitched for his young pitchers. Now, the second half of the season Houston has more days off, way more than they had in the first have, than most other clubs. This will help Hinch juggle the rotation enough to give his young pitchers, Lance McCullers and Vince Vasquez, who will shatter their previous highs of innings pitched in a season even with steps to limit their appearances. The will have Scott Feldman, who comes off the DL this weekend, to add into the mix. He has Brett Oberholtzer in his back pocket in AAA. He can even call up a guy to two for an occasional spot start. Then there is a deal that could land a top starter at the trade deadline. The latest rumor from CBS Sports is that Houston will target Reds ace Johnny Cueto. That would be a nice addition for sure. There is one more option, Mark Appel. So far this season Appel has been leapfrogged to the bigs by McCullers, Vasquez and even Michael Feliz and though he just pitched in relief he has been on the big league roster. The Astros have been patient with Appel. He started the season slowly again this season but he has really come on and his performance in the All Star Futures game on Sunday he pitched a very impressive inning for the USA AS's. He showed a fastball in the 97-98 mph range with good breaking balls and self admittedly he has found a consistent command of the strike zone that he's been lacking most of the season. If he really has found something we could see Appel in an Astros big league uniform by September, if not sooner.

 

Now, if they can just sign an impact bat and we'll be ready to roll!

[eagle eye]

Dallas Keuchel and Jose Altuve both did the Astros proud in the All Star Game. Keuchel started for the AL and pitched 2 innings and except for a throwing error by 3B Josh Donaldson led to an unearned run for the Nationals. Seems that Keuchel just can't get away from a certain amount of bad luck. He gave up 2 hits and the one unearned run while inducing 4 ground ball outs.

Altuve had a base hit taken away by a nice play by the Rockies 2B DJ LaMahieu and he was retired on 2 groundouts in his 4 innings and 2 ABs in the game. Altuve making contact first against NL starter Zack Greinke who struck out 4 of the men he faced in his 2 innings. Altuve also grounded out batting against SF Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner. My point is he did not strike out at all The AL won it's 3 ASG in a row by a score of 6-3 in what was a nice bunch of events including the new and improved Home Run Derby on Monday. Now Keuchel and Altuve can come back to Houston and get a couple of days to relax before beginning the second half of the season Friday at home against the Rangers.

[eagle eye]

Some dates that bear watching in the next couple of weeks,

> July 17 (Today) - This is final day to sign this year's draft picks. Astros geeks (like me) were watching to see if Patrick Sandoval, the Astros 11th round draft choice would be signed meaning the top 20 picks were under contract and that is a big deal. Well, on July 7th he signed a deal meaning the top 23 picks Houston made (Rds 1-21 with 2 extra picks in Rd 1) were officially signed. That left just 8 picks left unsigned out of 42 total picks. THAT is almost unprecedented. Flying under the radar of the All Star break and all the activities surrounding that Houston signed on Tuesday 23rd Rd pick LHP Matt Bower who just completed his junior year at Washington State. That leaves only 7 picks left to sign and today is the last day that can happen. Below is a link from the Washington State web site with a short recap of Bower's career as a Cougar.

 

http://www.wsucougars.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30400&ATCLID=207918164

 

July 31st - This is the trade deadline teams can acquire players without securing waivers. In other words this is really the last day teams can made deals to strengthen their rosters for a playoff push. It's no secret that Houston has been looking into a top of the line starting pitcher to shore up their rotation. Rumors have Houston interested in the Reds Johnny Cueto and the A's Scott Kazmir. It's also no secret the Stros need a bat in the lineup. That could be as big a problem to find as a quality starting pitcher. Houston has big holes in their batting lineup where production is way below par for a team with playoff hopes. Both hot corners have been sorely lacking but the 1B spot is a black hole with Chris Carter and Jon Singleton hitting below .200 with little to no RBI product to speak of but plenty of rally killing K's. 3B has been a problem with Luis Valbuena hanging around .200 and loads of K's himself. He is leading the Astros in home runs with a career high 19 dingers so far but his feast of famine, mostly famine, is an old story I'm tired of looking at. The Astros should get a couple of players back off the DL. Saturday Scott Feldman returns to action following recovery from a torn meniscus in his right knee and Jed Lowrie looks like he won't be long getting back. He took some swings for the first time this week since tearing a ligament in his thumb way back in April. He had a very hot start at bat to begin the season and his was a tough loss at the time but after span of time with Marwin Gonzalez and Jonathan Villar platooning at short Carlos Correa was called up and has performed above expectations, which were pretty high to start with. Hopefully, Feldman isn't too rusty and comes out of the box slowly and we can only hope Lowrie takes back up at the plate where he left off. Lowrie is likely still a couple of weeks away at least and he may need to get used to the idea that he is now a third baseman.

[eagle eye]

The Astros have had a weird weekend. Friday Collin McHugh gives up 11 hits but Texas only scored one run against him. Pat Neshak made the game interesting allowing a run but Houston scored just enough to get a 3-2 win. It wasn't without some nail biting moments. In the 9th Luke Gregerson had a man on 1st with a two out infield single by Rougned Odor and Prince Fielder at the plate. Gregerson got Fielder to ground out to Carlos Correa but that's not the whole story. The hit was a bullet right at Correa who knocked down the ball down out of self defense as much as anything else. He recovered and picked up the ball and threw to first but he didn't have that much on the throw and Jon Singleton, who replaced Chris Carter earlier in the game after Carter suffered a sprained ankle, made a really nice scoop of the ball to complete the out and end the game.

Friday Houston had no answer for the Rangers Colby Lewis. As the game progressed Texas built a 4-0 lead going into the 7th. That's when Houston got off the schnide with a Carlos Correa home run which made the score 4-1. That lasted just 1/2 inning as Joe Thatcher gave up a solo shot to Josh Hamilton to make the score 5-1. Houston rallied in the bottom of the 8th for 3 runs to get Houston to within one at 5-4. Again, the bullpen couldn't hold up as Josh Fields gave up 2 to the Rangers an Houston now faced a 3 run deficit at 7-4. The Rangers runs weren't the only fireworks in the inning as Rougned Odor was slow stepping into the batters box to lead off the inning and after an exchange of words between Odor and C Hank Conger that was about to erupt into a fight both benches cleared as the teams got into a shouting match highlighted by both managers toe to toe yelling at each other. Odor ended up hitting a triple to begin the 2 run rally so I guess you'd have to say Odor won the battle in this instance. Houston came back with 2 runs in the home half of the ninth to get close on a two run shot by Conger who got Houston to 7-6. That's as close as it got as Texas held on to win 7-6.

Today's game was maybe a carryover from the 9th inning dust up as a fired up Dallas Keuchel threw a masterpiece 7 innings allowing just two hits and no runs with no walks and a career high 13 K's. In the 6th inning DeLino Deshields Jr was called out on strikes and he tossed his bat down and stared down the ump. He stood there so long the crowd began to boo and Keuchel yelled "SIT DOWN!" twice from mound. These Astros weren't playing around. One offense Houston banged out 13 hits including 2 homers. One by Colby Rasmus in the 3rd and the other by Preston Tucker in the 7th. Both were two run shots. Luis Valbuena had a big day as he went 4-5 with 4 RBIs in the game. Maybe Houston's confrontation with Texas will keep this team fired up for the stretch run. Again, Keuchel was great illustrated by the fact that Texas didn't have a base runner after a lead off single by Josh Hamilton in the 2nd inning until Chad Qualls gave up a 2 out double to Adam Rosales. Qualls ended the inning by inducing a ground ball by Tomas Telis to keep the shutout intact. Roberto Hernandez got Texas 1-2-3 in the 9th to give Houston a 10-0 win and the series win. Keuchel improves 12-4 on the season and he proved he is the Astros ace with this dominating performance. So far at the Juice Box in 2015 he is 9-0 with a 1.12 ERA.

 

It's not funny but the stupid Angels just keep on winning. Friday they weathered a dominating performance by Boston's Wade Miley who had a perfect game through 5 innings and no-hitter into the 7th when Kole Calhoun doubled to lead off the seventh. Miley's line was 7 IP, 1 hit, 2 BBs and 6 Ks. Boston reliever Junichi Tazawa pitched a hitless scoreless 8th and Boston closer Koji Uehara, he of the 22 saves, came on and with two outs in the ninth Mike Trout hit a 0-1 pitch out of the park for a walkoff 1-0 LAA win. As good as Miley was for Boston C J Wilson was matching him. Wilson lasted 8 innings giving up 5 hits and 3 BBs and 4 Ks but most importantly he didn't allow a Boston run. Boston was shut down in the top of the 9th by Joe Smith setting up Mike Trout for the game winner. To make matters worse Boston was again shut out Saturday when they were the victims a 2 hit complete game shutout by Garrett Richards. The Angels got 3 runs to give them the 3-0 victory. With the Houston loss that extended the Angels division lead to 1.5 games. If Boston can salvage a win tonight that lead goes back to 1/2 game. Go Bosox, at least until Tuesday when they come to Houston. LAA head to Minnesota for a series beginning Tuesday when I will be saying, Go TWINS!

[eagle eye]

It was a good week for Dallas Keuchel. First he gets chosen to be an All Star for the first time. Then he gets chosen to the starting pitcher in the All Star game. To end the week he blows away the Rangers in his first start since the All Star break and tosses 7 shutout innings and records a career high 13 K's with no walks. Nice week indeed. To cap it off to begin this week he is named Co-Player of the Week in the AL for his performance against the Rangers. He shared the honors with Kansas City outfielder Lorenzo Cain who had a really good 3 days after the ASG in their series against the White Sox. Cain had seven hits in 17 at-bats from Friday to Sunday. He flashed his power as well, with two doubles and two home runs. Cain had three hits and a game-winning home run in the 13th inning on Saturday in a 5-3 win. The 29-year-old led all AL hitters in total bases (15) and tied for first in home runs and hits. Congrats to both players but especially to Mr Keuchel who now leads the AL in wins.

 

Speaking of people with big weeks, Craig Biggio will be officially inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame next week and he's going through the final bunch of events leading up to the induction. Here's an article from Astros.com about the biggest thing to happen to an Astros player in franchise history. Biggio will be the first player who played his whole career in Houston to be inducted into the HOF so, yeah, it is a really big deal. We can only hope Jeff Bagwell gets his due next year.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/137559442/biggio-in-final-stages-of-prep-for-hof-induction

[eagle eye]

Houston took Game 1 of their series with Boston by a score of 8-3. They have not really depended on the home run as much since the All Star break but their run production has definitely increased. Of the four games they have played since the ASG the least amount of runs scored was 3 in the opener against the Rangers. Vince Velasquez went six innings and he finally got some run support which allowed him to get his first win. It didn't look good in the 3rd when Boston kept getting these weak hits and the worst blow was a check swing double that scored 2 runs by Mookie Betts (who has been a pain in the ass in the games against the Astros). Velasquez buckled down and stopped the bleeding after Boston scored 3 runs in the inning and that was the only damage the Sox could do all night. Houston's offense had a little trouble getting on track but they finally got to starter Brian Johnson making his first start in the bigs last night. After giving up just one run in the first 3 innings Houston got all over him in the 4th scoring four runs to take a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the game. Several Astros had good nights at the plate but it seemed like everyone made a positive contribution. Even Evan Gattis despite going 0-3 on the night a weak ground ball was enough to drive in a run from 3B. Chris Carter came back after missing a couple of games with a slightly sprained ankle to go 2-3 with a home run. Hopefully a couple of days off was enough to get him going. Prior to last night's game Carter was 0 for his last 20 ABs.

Game 2 is tonight with Collin McHugh facing off against Boston's Joe Kelly.

 

The Angels made up for a rainout on Sunday on Monday afternoon completing the sweep of the Angels meaning they increased their division lead from 1-1/2 games to 2 games up on Houston. The Angels began a series with the Minnesota Twins last night and the Twins had no more luck than Boston did so Houston is still behind by 2. Somebody needs to cool these Angels off. Ever since they fired GM Jerry Dipoto, who had a major disconnect with Angels manager Mike Scioscia, the Angels have been en fuego. It seems like they have been 8 of their last 10 every day for a week and their 6 game winning streak is making it impossible for Houston to make up any ground. This is just July so there are 2 months left in the season but a resurgent Albert Pujols and the other hot bats in the Angels lineup is making the task of retaking the division lead very daunting for Houston.

 

Jed Lowrie is playing baseball again. He began a rehab assignment in Corpus Christi last night. Because he's missed about 3 months of the season with a torn ligament in his right thumb the rehab stint will last at least a week. Lowrie has to get into baseball shape again and he will need some ABs to strengthen his thumb area. It's being reported that he with work at both 3B and SS in Corpus. If Houston continues to have bad production at 1B it's a possibility Lowrie will move to 1B to help shore up the lack of offensive production there.

 

Vincent Velasquez was called up from AA to pitch last night and the move Houston made to make room for him was to option reliever Joe Thatcher to the minor leagues. Apparently, Velasquez didn't just twiddle his thumbs in Corpus as this article from Astros.com details. He learned from pitching coach and former Astro Doug Brocail a thing or two that helped him in last night's start.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/137925146

[eagle eye]

Okay, I'm sick of the doggone Angels. They won their 7th in a row last night against the Twins. What's comical is you look at the standing and it shows how the teams did in their last 10 games and their current win or loss streak. Of course there's the win streak but for the past week the Angels have been 8-2. Pretty soon the losses will drop out but I wanted to know a little more so how have they done in their last 20 games so I looked it up and in 19 games played in July they are 13-3. Wow! I missed the fact that LAA played a double header on Monday with Boston and won both games. So that's why we are now 2 full games behind them in the division. We need Minnesota to win this last game tonight against them and then we need the Rangers to continue their hot streak against the Angels this weekend. If Texas can whoop up on LA like they're whooping up on Colorado in Colorado we should be in good shape. Well that is if they complete the sweep of the Red Sox tonight and at least take 2 of 3 in Kansas City this weekend. Oops KC has the best record in the AL. Stuff really has to fall right for Houston because next week beginning on Tuesday Houston has a huge 3 game series with the Angels at the Juice Box. If all plays out right this time next week we could be looking at a 2 game Houston lead with a possibility of a Houston sweep. If my calculations are correct Dallas Keuchel should be pitching Saturday against the Royals and in the series finale against the Angels. That is a good thing. First things first, beat the Red Sox tonight and worry about tomorrow then.

 

Houston won last night 4-2. Collin McHugh won his 11th game of the season with ties his career high with two months remaining in the season. I think it's a possibility he could win 18 games this season and that's a good thing. Preston Tucker has broken out of his slump and last night he recorded his first career multi-home run game in the bigs. He had a solo shot in the first to give Houston an early 1-0 lead and he had a 2-run HR in the 5th. Evan Gattis added a solo HR in the 4th inning. So, unlike the night before when most of the runs Houston scored was sort of small ball based last night all 4 runs came off HR's

 

Lance McCullers goes tonight for Houston and the Astros will face Boston's Wade Miley who ended up losing to the Angels last week despite going 7 innings and giving up zero runs and one hit. McCullers lost his last outing too, but that was against Tampa on July 12th in Tampa in the area where he grew up. He gave up a career high 4 runs in that game as Houston was in the middle of the 6 game losing streak that cost them the division lead right before the All Star break. That was the last game McCullers pitched as the Astros want to monitor his and Vince Vasquez' innings as they will easily outdistance previous highs in innings pitched. McCullers has 71 K's in his 11 starts this season. He has the second most K's than any pitcher in franchise history in the first 10 starts. He currently has a 4-3 record that would be real sweet to see extended to 5-3 by about 10 o'clock tonight.

[KABrother88]

A deal has been made. Houston had been rumored to have been in talks with Oakland about LHP Scott Kazmir and they have now struck a deal. Houston will send RHP Daniel Mengden and C Jacob Nottingham. Kazmir is having a really good year with some tough luck. Has an ERA of 2.31 but just a 5-5 record. Both Mengden and Nottingham had very good starts at Class A Quad Cities and had since been promoted to Class A+ Lancaster were they hadn't played as well. Mengden was listed as the #22 prospect in Houston's system by MLB.com. I really like this deal to shore up the staff especially if they plan on giving McCullers and Velasquez extra rest down the stretch Edited July 23, 2015 by KABrother88

[eagle eye]

I posted a while back that Kazmir was in the trade talk rumor mill. KABro you are absolutely right about Kazmir being sort of a hard luck pitcher. It reminds me of Dallas Keuchel last year. Now we have two quality lefties at the top of the rotation. Another good thing is that this is Kazmir's last year of his current contract so if Houston and Kazmir hit it off we may get a home team discount going into next year. Another thing, Houston gave up really nothing for this deal so if they wanted to pursue a Johnny Cueto or a David Price they can still do that. Price has been in the latest rumor mills and it's been mentioned that it may be karma that Houston gets Price because his dog is named Astro. Just dreaming here.

[eagle eye]

Houston is wasting no time in putting their new pitcher to work. Scott Kazmir will start for the Astros in Kansas City tomorrow night. To make room for Kazmir the Astros moved Vince Velasquez to the bull pen. It's a great way for him to get innings of work without overworking him. Velasquez' most innings pitched in a season is 110 and if he continues to start he will break that by a long shot. The Astros are looking to limit his innings while stretching him beyond old limits to prepare him for a full season's work in the future. As for Kazmir, he is a Houston native and he currently resides in Cypress Falls in the off season. In an interview Kazmir said he is delighted to be in Houston because he grew up an Astros fan especially the Killer B's. That bodes well for signing Kazmir to a long term deal if he works out in Houston. Not only is Houston fighting for the AL West division but they really need wins over the Royals to aid in acquiring home field advantage in the playoffs. Currently Houston has 53 wins which is 3rd in the AL. Kansas City leads all AL teams in wins with 57 followed by the Los Angeles Angels with 54. Winning the next two series will be key as Houston makes the second half push for the division and the playoffs. But, if things don't go so well all is not lost as we are not even out of the month of July. With August and September left to play they would have time if the next week doesn't go well. But that's negative and I prefer to remain positive.

Now for speculation. Just because Velasquez is now in the bullpen it doesn't mean he won't get some starts down the line. After all Velasquez isn't the only pitcher in the Astros Houston want to limit innings as Lance McCullers needs to be handled well too. These two may be the cornerstones of the Astros future starting rotation and the front office doesn't want to burn them out or get them injured from overuse. So, it is quite conceivable Velasquez and McCullers will each get work. I would think that Houston would hope they could get both men no more than 150 innings, 175 tops which would be career highs for both. It's getting really interesting in Houston. I'm paranoid waiting for something bad to happen but so far I can't be more happy that our team is winning again. All I know is those darn Angels need to hit a real slump--pronto--so I can breathe just a little easier.

 

Houston is currently 53-43, ten games over .500 with a winning % of .552. If Houston finishes the season with a .552 winning % they will have won 89 games and have a record of 89-73. That would be a 19 game improvement over the 70-92 record just one year ago. That is the same amount of games improvement Houston enjoyed from their 51-111 2013 season. With Kazmir is it conceivable that Houston could end up with 95 wins and that should guarantee a playoff spot if not a division win and maybe home field advantage! There I go dreaming again but that is what winning does for you. Houston signaled to their fans they are in it to win it this year. Jeff Luhnow said as much because he said the fans deserve it after suffering through the past 5 seasons with zero hope for anything meaningful. You go, Jeff! We're going along for the ride!