2016 Houston Astros Regular Season

[eagle eye]

The Astros suck. They simply suck. When one or two phases of the game work there is always, always one phase to sabotage the whole deal. Tonight they got good starting pitching from Dallas Keuchel who went 7 innings giving up only 2 runs. The offense stank for most of the game and I'm talking about 99% of the game. It's bad enough that the Astros hitters couldn't hit for squat and when they laid off pitches the ump called them strikes. In the 7th the Astros had men on 1st and 2nd with no outs and got nothing. In the 8th inning Carlos Correa led off the inning and he was rung up on a piss poor called strike 3 on a 3-2 count. The call incensed Correa who argued with home plate ump Ben May. AJ Hinch came out of the dugout and ate on May's tail enough that he was ejected. The scoring in the game for Seattle was all on HR's. A solo shot in the 2nd by Kyle Seager, a solo shot in the 3rd by Robinson Cano both coming off Keuchel and the killer was yet another solo shot by Cano off Tony Sipp who had pitched the 9th inning without incident but Cano led off the 10th and Sipp gave him a fastball up with a 1-2 count. There should have been no pitch up or near the strike zone against a hot hitter link Cano but Sipp made a mistake and Cano made him pay with an opposite field no-doubter. This is just the sickest team right now. Carlos Gomez got kicked out as the Astros were taking the field for the 10th inning when he got into a heated argument with the 1B ump. Gomez totally lost his cool and had to be restrained by George Springer. I wish Springer hadn't been there and Gomez hit the ump who deserved it and got cut for being a jerk. I am so sick of Carlos Gomez. Needless to say it but I will, I am pissed.

[eagle eye]

I've had a chance to sleep on it and I'm still pissed. Just another frustrating day at the ballpark and another wasted 3-1/2 hours. You see things that encourage you like Keuchel finally pitching a decent game. I know, giving up two HR's isn't great but for a guy who pitched 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs, that is a quality start in anyone's book. If you think about it, this is basically the same team that we saw last season the only difference is they aren't hitting HR's or rallying in the late innings like they did in 2015. The starting pitching has settled in and is really looking more like the staff we thought they'd be when the season began. Overall the hitting is not even close to last year though. Only Jose Altuve looks like the same guy which is to say he's awesome but generally speaking Jose isn't getting much help. The Astros are certainly not getting the HR or RBI production they got last season. Luis Valbuena led the team in HR's for a big part of the season '15 but he just got his first one of '16 last night. In 25 games and 73 AB's he finally jacked one and it was very 2015-ish as he did it in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game but the other phase of the Astros has been unbelievably inconsistent. Of course that's the bullpen. They have looked like the bullpen in the 100 loss seasons. Sometimes they get the job done and sometimes they screw the pooch big time. The bullpen was directly responsible for the losses to Seattle on Thursday and last night and more times than I can count this season. They aren't at the bottom of the heap like they were a week or so ago because of a couple of outings this past week where they were actually pretty good but ranking 23rd in all of baseball in ERA with a 4.28 isn't anything to be proud of either. Want to know who's best? It's the White Sox but Seattle is 2nd in relief pitching ERA. It's no small correlation to bullpen success and leading your division. Houston was in this boat for every month except September last year and they led the division for almost every day of the first 5 months of the season. The pitching went south and Houston lost games and it looks like Houston has begun the season right where they left off last September.

 

Houston plays the last game of the series with Seattle today with Collin McHugh (3-3, 6.59 ERA) going up against Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma (1-3, 4.03 ERA) at 1 o'clock-ish at the Juice Box.

 

Old home week. I should have mentioned this earlier because I was taken aback when I saw this. Seattle has a new manager this season and that guy's name is Scott Servais. If you have been following the Astros for the last 20-25 years you know that Servais was the backup catcher for Houston from 1991 to 1995 when the Astros actually began their 15 year run as a top tier team in the National League. Also on the staff is former Houston ace Mike Hampton who is the bullpen coach. It doesn't stop there because there are 3 other former Astros on the M's staff. They are IF Tim Bogar (1997-2000), 2B Casey Candaele (1988-1993) and P Mel Stottlemyer (1982-1987). Stottlemyer was drafted in 1982 and pitched 5 season in their minor league system before being traded to Kansas City in 1987. Stottlemyer pitched just one season, 1990, in the bigs. Bogar is the M's bench coach, Candaele is the 1B coach and Stottlemyer is the pitching coach. In all there are 5 former Astros coaching on a 9 man staff.

[eagle eye]

Houston came back on the strength of 7 innings of good pitching by Collin McHugh, timely hitting by the offense including some unusual plays and Tony Sipp actually didn't suck as he closed the game with 2 scoreless innings. The win allowed the Astros to split the 4 game series with Seattle at 2 wins each. Splitting a 4 game series is like kissing your sister and it is pretty much a wasted 4 days leaving the Astros in the same situation as they were in before Game 1 of the series began, behind the division leading M's by 6.5 games. At least they didn't lose the series and lose even more ground so there's that. The most shocking play of the game came in the 3rd inning with men on 1st and 3rd and 2 outs. Colby Rasmus came to the plate and got down in the count 1-2 when the play of the game occurred. As usual the M's defense was shifted to the right side of the field with 1B, 2B and SS lined up between 1st and 2nd bases. The 3B was deep in the hole where SS normally plays. AJ Hinch called a dangerous play asking Rasmus to lay down a bunt up the 3B line with 2 out and with a 2 strike count. If Rasmus failed to execute the bunt it's strike 3, inning over. Rasmus got the bunt down and it stayed fair but it didn't go far up the line. Starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma got to the ball quickly but he didn't get a lot on the throw to first and Rasmus hustled down the line and beat the throw. Jose Altuve scored from 3rd upping the Houston lead to 2-0 at the time Now, Carlos Correa was on 2nd and Rasmus was at first still with 2 outs. Marwin Gonzalez followed with a single to center field scoring Correa and extending the Astros lead to 3-0. McHugh gave up a solo shot to Robinson Cano in the 4th as he narrowed the score to 3-1 but the Astros were having none of it on Mother's Day. They added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh giving the Astros the final margin of victory at 5-1. This was a day when the Astros stole 5 bases, 3 by Jose Altuve tying his own personal record and the Astros, who normally live by the long ball, won playing small ball using stolen bases and singles to win the game. By far the gutsiest call I've seen in a long time AJ Hinches call for the bunt by Rasmus in the 3rd was special and really risky. Asking a cleanup hitter to bunt is dangerous enough but to call it with 2 strikes takes some cojones. Got to give props to Hinch for the call.

 

The past week wasn't terrible if you look at the results. Houston went 4-3 for their first winning record in a week this season. They beat the Minnesota Twins 2-1 before splitting the series with Seattle. The win in the series with the Twins was the Astros first series win in 2016. The starting pitching did a really nice job this week as the 2-5 guys have seeming hit their stride. Dallas Keuchel seems to have figured out how to pitch again as he gave up just 2 runs in 7 innings of work on Saturday night. Unfortunately, the Astros failed to give him any runs support and they ultimately lost 3-2 because Tony Sipp did suck in that game. Finished the week in last place in the AL West but they didn't lose any more ground to division leading Seattle and they are showing signs that they may be coming out of their funk and playing better baseball. Right now it's small steps and the next step on the ladder is the LA Angels who are in 4th place in the division at 13-18 and a game and a half lead over the 12-20 Astros. Houston begins a series against Cleveland tonight while LA plays St Louis who are struggling through their own bad start to 2016. The Angels have lost 3 straight so I hope the Cards can keep that going beginning tomorrow night. These should be the goals this week. Win both series against Cleveland and Boston and take over 4th place in the AL West. Baby steps but it's a long season and there's time to take small steps.

[eagle eye]

The Astros have now won 2 games in a row twice after beating Seattle on Sunday and the Cleveland Indians last night. They did it against the Indians' ace Corey Kluber who has vexed the Astros in the past but he didn't last night. In the 3rd inning Houston became Kluber clubbers touching up the Indians right hander for 2 runs and six straight batters going to the plate before a single out was recorded. The Astros scored 5 runs in that 3rd inning with RBI's coming on 2-RBI doubles by Jose Altuve and Colby Rasmus and what amounted to a swinging bunt up the first base line by Marwin Gonzalez. Jose Altuve broke the scoreless tie with a 2 run double to start the 3rd after Luis Valbuena singled and Jason Castro doubled. After a walk and a single by George Springer and Carlos Correa loaded the bases Colby Rasmus singled in 2 more runs to make the score 4-0. George Springer made a beautiful head first slide at home just ahead of the throw. He slide on the inside of home plate touching the base with his left hand as he slid by easily out of reach of the catcher's attempt to tag him out. Marwin Gonzalez was the 6th Astros hitter to come to the plate and still there were no outs in the inning. Gonzalez hit a swinging bunt up the first base line which Kluber fielded and tagged Gonzalez out but it allowed Carlos Correa to score from 3rd upping the Astros lead to 5-0. Tucker did the same thing for the 2nd out of the inning but it did advance Rasmus to 3rd. Carlos Gomez walked and the Astros had batted around with Luis Valbuena, who led off the inning coming to the plate. The Indians pulled Kubler at this point and brought in Kyle Crockett who struck out Valbuena on 4 pitches. The damage had been done though and Houston never looked back as they got 7 innings of from starter Mike Fiers who allowed just one run, that coming in the sixth, on 3 hits, 2 walks with 4 K's. Ken Giles and Scott Feldman each pitched one perfect inning to close out the game. Houston got some more insurance runs, one in the sixth and one in the eighth to make the final score 7-1 but it was that 5 run outburst in the 3rd that won the game for Houston. Nice win and a second chance to win 3 games in a row for the first time this season come tonight when Chris Devenski (0-1, 1.46 ERA) will make his 3rd big league start against Cleveland's Trevor Baur (2-0, 5.14 ERA) who is also making his 3rd start of the season.

 

Can I talk about Scott Feldman for just a second? In 4 starts to begin the season Feldman was 0-2 with an ERA of 4.58. On April 30th AJ Hinch moved Feldman to the bullpen to give rookie Chris Devenski a shot at starting. Devenski pitched well in his first big league start going 5 innings and allowing just 2 runs. Feldman came into the game in relief of the guy who took his spot in the rotation and all he did was pitch 3 perfect innings. No runs, no hits, no walks and 3 K's. It was a shame to waste 2 good pitching performances but Houston's bats were quiet as a summer evening and the A's beat Houston 2-0. Feldman's next outing was on May 4th against Minnesota in Houston. He pitched a perfect inning on the way to a 16-4 drubbing of the Twins. Last night was his 3rd appearance out of the bullpen and again he was perfect closing the game out in the ninth to seal the Houston win. Man, I'll tell you having an effective Feldman in the bullpen has been a godsend. With Pat Neshak, Tony Sipp and Ken Giles being way less than consistent Feldman has solidified the bullpen and since he's gone the 'pen the whole staff has gotten better. Nice move AJ Hinch, both with giving Devenski his shot and putting Feldman in the bullpen.

 

Lance McCullers pitched a game on Saturday in AAA Fresno in his first real game action of 2016. He did a nice job tossing 5 shutout innings allowing 2 hits, 2 walks with 7 K's. He flight connection issues getting back to Houston arriving on Monday pushing his bullpen throwing session back in Houston back until today. If he isn't feeling any soreness from Saturday's work and if all goes well in his BP session today McCullers could make his first start of the season in Boston on Friday night. The only difficult thing for AJ Hinch to decide will be who is the odd man out in the Astros rotation. It won't be an easy decision either because all 3 guys on the back end of the starting rotation have been pitching really well. Mike Fiers, Chris Devenski and Doug Fister have all been pitching their collective arses off. It's a nice problem to have---to many good starters---but who is the odd man out? Or maybe Hinch will decide to go with a 6 man rotation for a while. Devenski, being the rookie of the group could be the odd man out. It's a shame because in his two starts for Houston he deserved to win both games. In the first have gave up 2 runs and lost 2-0 and in the second game he left with a 4-2 lead and the bullpen had a major melt down and Houston lost 7-4. He could be the pitcher the Astros have the most options with. I hate to say it but Devenski could end up in AAA by the weekend. If this is his last start in a while I hope he gets the win.

 

All of a sudden Houston is starting to be rich with catchers. Max Stassi was activated off the 15 day DL this past weekend and he was optioned to AAA Fresno and is catching every day. Stassi broke his hamate bone in his right hand in spring training that required surgery to repair. Also last weekend Evan Gattis began a minimum ten day stint in AA Corpus Christi to get into playing shape as a catcher. The plan for this spring was to give Gattis work at catcher, a position he's played in the big leagues before coming to Houston, and use him as a backup catcher and DH. Gattis has been catching every other game to this end for the Hooks. It sort of looks like job security for the current backup catcher, Erik Kratz, may be in jeopardy.

 

Here's the list of the Astros top 30 minor league prospects. Notice Tyler White is on the list at #13.

 

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2016?list=hou

[eagle eye]

Looking on the bright side the Astros have won 2 of their last 3. Yeah, that's the ticket. Look on the bright side. It certainly sounds better than the Astros losing a game in 4 hit shutout by a pitcher with an ERA over 5. That's what happened though. Tevor Baur made Houston look pretty bad most of the night. In fact, besides the 4 hits Baur allowed he gave up 4 walks but he offset that with 9 K's. The fact is Baur only gave up 3 hits and 3 walks in 7 innings of work. Bryan Shaw pitched the 8th and gave up the fourth hit and Cody Allen pitched the 9th and he gave up the 4th walk. Baur had 7 K's while Shaw and Allen each had one. Despite only 8 base runners in the game Houston did have a chance or two but their old bug-a-boo of not hitting in the clutch jumped up and bit them again. The Astros were 04 with RISP and they stranded 6 base runners on the night. The only Astro to do well was starter Chris Devenski who put up another quality start going 6.2 innings giving up just 5 hits, 2 walks with 5 K's and allowing 2 runs. Pat Neshak came in and took care of the last out in the 7th but the wildly inconsistent Josh Fields came in an allowed 2 insurance runs to score (not that Cleveland needed them) in pitching the 8th inning. He gave up the 2 runs on 3 hits, no walks and a K. Trouble was one of the hits was a triple and another one was a double with a single sandwiched in between. It could very well have been worse if Colby Rasmus hadn't combined with Luis Valbuena and Jose Altuve to throw out Mike Napoli, who doubled home Francisco Lindor, who got caught between 2nd and 3rd thinking Rasmus throw was going to home plate. Valbuena cut the throw and had Napoli dead to rights running him back toward 2B then throwing to Altuve who completed the out. Houston did flash some leather in the game as Devenski did benefit from some really nice defensive plays behind him but it's all for naught when you can't score runs. Houston ended up losing 4-0 which brings me back to that silver lining at the beginning of this post. Houston has won 2 out of their last 3. That sounds a lot better than what actually happened last night.

 

There was a Lance McCullers sighting in the Astros dugout last night. He completed throwing his bullpen session earlier in the day and had no issues. The Astros will gauge how he feels today and make a decision on his return to the field. So far everything looks good for his return to the starting rotation this weekend in Boston. This is great news for him but somebody, Chris Devenski probably, will not be happy because their gig as a starting pitcher will be over for the time being. Personally I think it may be prudent to use McCullers out of the bullpen for a little while. I sure wouldn't hurt ship Josh Fields to the minors. Despite being able to throw in the mid to upper 90's Fields isn't dependable at all. Last night it didn't matter that he sucked because Houston wasn't going to come back in the game but it has mattered in the past and will matter in the future and you just can't have that in the bullpen.

 

Poor Chris Devenski. The guy has had 3 really good starts, the first 3 of his career in the big leagues, and has nothing but an 0-2 record despite giving up just 6 runs in 17 innings pitched. He has 15 K's in 3 starts and 27 K's in 8 appearances and an ERA of 1.72 which is more than twice as good as any other guy who has started for the Astros this season. With Lance McCullers coming back and with Devenski being the youngest of the starters he may lose his job. It's a blessing that Houston has to make this sort of choice and it's disappointing that someone is going to be left out in the cold.

 

Jason Castro went on paternity leave yesterday for the birth of his first child. He is allowed to miss 3 days for paternity leave so he will be back in the dugout this weekend in Boston. Max Stassi, who just did come back from being on the DL after surgery on his hand to repair a hamate bone was called up to fill Castro's spot. The question will be whether Stassi stays with the big club or is optioned back to Fresno. Erik Kratz was signed just shortly after Stassi was hurt in spring training and he's been serviceable but he's no Hank Conger (lol). Stassi was slated to be the backup catcher back in the spring but the injury changed all that. Who knows, even if Stassi sticks around what will happen to him when Evan Gattis comes back from AA Corpus Christi where he's been sent to sharpen up his catching skills? The Astros aren't likely to keep 3 catchers on the their roster so whether it's this weekend or next week Stassi will likely end up in Fresno.

[eagle eye]

Yesterday's series finale with Cleveland was one for the books. Literally. First, the Astros won their first walk off game of the season after a 16 inning marathon that took 5 hours and 9 seconds to play. The 9 seconds was the time Marwin Gonzalez line drive walk-off HR and the resulting trip around the bases took to end the game. The next thing of note was this was the 3rd longest game at the Juice Box in it's history. A total of 18 pitchers were used in the game, 10 by Cleveland and 8 by the Astros. The box score was perverted too. The Indians banged out 14 hits for the game but Houston pitching allowed but one walk in the game. That walk was allowed by Pat Neshak in the 12th inning. By contrast Houston only had 5 hits in the game but the were walked 12 times. 17 total base runners but that was countered with a whopping 18 K's. Cleveland only had 11 K's. Both bullpens did a good job and kept the other team at bay until Gonzalez' homer in the 16th. In fact Cleveland pitching tossed 8 innings, from the 8th to the 15th, of no-hit baseball. Carlos Correa broke through with the Astros first hit since the 7th inning leading off the 16th. Rasmus followed with a fly ball out to CF then Gonzalez, on the first pitch he saw, drilled the liner into the right field seats to win the game. Houston had taken a 3-2 lead on Cleveland with single runs in the 6th and 7th innings but Luke Gregerson blew the save in the 9th allowing a double to Mike Napoli and an RBI triple to Carlos Santana (Oye como va!). Carlos Correa flashed his defensive skills several times during the game saved a run when he knocked down a ground ball when the Astros defense was pulled with Santana on 3rd and got the batter out at first while still holding Santana from scoring. He also made the play for the last out of the inning sending the game into extra innings. The blown save was Grergerson's first since August 12th of last year, a total of 16 straight saves converted before yesterday.

You almost had to think Houston was going to lose the game after they stranded a small army of runners in the first 3 innings. In the 1st Altuve singled, Springer walked and Correa walked to load the bases with nobody out. What followed were 3 straight strike outs by Rasmus, Gonzalez and Valbuena. In the second the Astros loaded the bases but with two outs. For the second day in a row Altuve was walked intentionally and George Springer worked another walk but Carlos Correa grounded out to short to end the inning. In the 3rd Gonzalez doubled after Rasmus began the inning with a K. Valbuena walked to give Houston runners at 1st and 2nd but Carlos Gomez struck out and Max Stassi grounded out to short to end the inning. In all in the first three innings Houston stranded 8 base runners. Houston was oh for 8 with RISP until Correa singled in Jose Altuve in the 6th inning.

The Astros runs came on a George Springer HR in the 4th. The RBI single by Correa in the 6th, an RBI single by Preston Tucker in the 7th and Gonzalez' 2 run HR in the 16th. The Indians scored a run in the 3rd on a Jason Kipnes single, a run in the 4th on a Mike Napoli solo HR and the RBI triple by Santana in the 9th. The final score of this marathon was Houston 5 and Cleveland 3.

 

Gonzalez was the offensive hero of the game going 2-7 with a double, a home run, a run scored and two RBI's. Of course he had the biggest hit of the game with his walk off dinger in the 16th. Not be lost was the job done by the 8 pitchers in the game. First Doug Fister was really good going 7 innings and allowing just 2 runs. He continued the streak of quality starts by the Astros which now stands at 7. Astros starters have gone 7 innings in 5 of those 7 games. Will Harris pitched a perfect 8th and you almost have to forgive Gregerson's failure in the 9th, the odds of blowing one finally caught up with him after 16 straight saves. To his credit he had a man on 3rd in a tie game with only one out and he sucked it up after blowing the save and got the final two outs to send the game into extra innings. Scott Feldman pitched the 10th allowing 2 hits but no runs and Ken Giles and Tony Sipp followed by Pat Neshak who got the Astros through the 13th without allowing a run. Then came Michael Feliz. Feliz is on his 3rd stint in the first month and a half of the season but after he was roughed up in his first two appearances he has figured it out. Yesterday he came on in the 14th and he was dominating. He allowed no runs on one hit and no walks with 5 K's in 3 innings of work. In the process he got his first big league win. He was steadily bringing 97-98 mph fastballs on the Indians while mixing in a low to mid 80's slider. AJ Hinch had nothing but praise for Feliz after the game as well he should. When it comes time to make a roster spot for Lance McCullers my vote would be to send Josh Fields down and keep Feliz, he has certainly earned it.

 

Houston ends their 10 game home stand with a 6-4 record and showing signs that they are beginning to play like the Astros of 2015 at last. The offense is still struggling some but they are showing signs of waking up. They still strike out way too much but it's hard to temper being selective at the plate and still remain aggressive. Houston now goes on a seven game road trip and it's a tough one. They will be facing the Red Sox for 4 games beginning today followed by the AL best Chicago White Sox for 3. Dallas Keuchel (2-4, 4.70 ERA) will lead off the trip for the Astros as he faces David Price (4-1, 6.75 ERA) of the Red Sox. This trip will feature the return of Lance McCullers to the lineup for the first time this year. Collin McHugh and Chris Devenski finish off the trip to Boston on Saturday and Sunday. First things first though. Keuchel looked like his old self going 7 strong innings in his last start giving up just two runs. Now he needs a game where he gets some run support to help right his ship and get back on a winning track.

 

Yesterday's win was Houston 3rd series win of the season and they have a ways to go to get back into this division race but at least they are showing signs of life. This win yesterday may go a long way toward turning the slow start of this season around for the Astros. They aren't going to a cake walk on the road this next 7 days but they are not lambs to the slaughter either. They are certainly capable of winning their share of the games.

[puddin tane]

Yesterday's series finale with Cleveland was one for the books. Literally. First, the Astros won their first walk off game of the season after a 16 inning marathon that took 5 hours and 9 seconds to play. The 9 seconds was the time Marwin Gonzalez line drive walk-off HR and the resulting trip around the bases took to end the game. The next thing of note was this was the 3rd longest game at the Juice Box in it's history. A total of 18 pitchers were used in the game, 10 by Cleveland and 8 by the Astros. The box score was perverted too. The Indians banged out 14 hits for the game but Houston pitching allowed but one walk in the game. That walk was allowed by Pat Neshak in the 12th inning. By contrast Houston only had 5 hits in the game but the were walked 12 times. 17 total base runners but that was countered with a whopping 18 K's. Cleveland only had 11 K's. Both bullpens did a good job and kept the other team at bay until Gonzalez' homer in the 16th. In fact Cleveland pitching tossed 8 innings, from the 8th to the 15th, of no-hit baseball. Carlos Correa broke through with the Astros first hit since the 7th inning leading off the 16th. Rasmus followed with a fly ball out to CF then Gonzalez, on the first pitch he saw, drilled the liner into the right field seats to win the game. Houston had taken a 3-2 lead on Cleveland with single runs in the 6th and 7th innings but Luke Gregerson blew the save in the 9th allowing a double to Mike Napoli and an RBI triple to Carlos Santana (Oye como va!). Carlos Correa flashed his defensive skills several times during the game saved a run when he knocked down a ground ball when the Astros defense was pulled with Santana on 3rd and got the batter out at first while still holding Santana from scoring. He also made the play for the last out of the inning sending the game into extra innings. The blown save was Grergerson's first since August 12th of last year, a total of 16 straight saves converted before yesterday.

You almost had to think Houston was going to lose the game after they stranded a small army of runners in the first 3 innings. In the 1st Altuve singled, Springer walked and Correa walked to load the bases with nobody out. What followed were 3 straight strike outs by Rasmus, Gonzalez and Valbuena. In the second the Astros loaded the bases but with two outs. For the second day in a row Altuve was walked intentionally and George Springer worked another walk but Carlos Correa grounded out to short to end the inning. In the 3rd Gonzalez doubled after Rasmus began the inning with a K. Valbuena walked to give Houston runners at 1st and 2nd but Carlos Gomez struck out and Max Stassi grounded out to short to end the inning. In all in the first three innings Houston stranded 8 base runners. Houston was oh for 8 with RISP until Correa singled in Jose Altuve in the 6th inning.

The Astros runs came on a George Springer HR in the 4th. The RBI single by Correa in the 6th, an RBI single by Preston Tucker in the 7th and Gonzalez' 2 run HR in the 16th. The Indians scored a run in the 3rd on a Jason Kipnes single, a run in the 4th on a Mike Napoli solo HR and the RBI triple by Santana in the 9th. The final score of this marathon was Houston 5 and Cleveland 3.

 

Gonzalez was the offensive hero of the game going 2-7 with a double, a home run, a run scored and two RBI's. Of course he had the biggest hit of the game with his walk off dinger in the 16th. Not be lost was the job done by the 8 pitchers in the game. First Doug Fister was really good going 7 innings and allowing just 2 runs. He continued the streak of quality starts by the Astros which now stands at 7. Astros starters have gone 7 innings in 5 of those 7 games. Will Harris pitched a perfect 8th and you almost have to forgive Gregerson's failure in the 9th, the odds of blowing one finally caught up with him after 16 straight saves. To his credit he had a man on 3rd in a tie game with only one out and he sucked it up after blowing the save and got the final two outs to send the game into extra innings. Scott Feldman pitched the 10th allowing 2 hits but no runs and Ken Giles and Tony Sipp followed by Pat Neshak who got the Astros through the 13th without allowing a run. Then came Michael Feliz. Feliz is on his 3rd stint in the first month and a half of the season but after he was roughed up in his first two appearances he has figured it out. Yesterday he came on in the 14th and he was dominating. He allowed no runs on one hit and no walks with 5 K's in 3 innings of work. In the process he got his first big league win. He was steadily bringing 97-98 mph fastballs on the Indians while mixing in a low to mid 80's slider. AJ Hinch had nothing but praise for Feliz after the game as well he should. When it comes time to make a roster spot for Lance McCullers my vote would be to send Josh Fields down and keep Feliz, he has certainly earned it.

 

Houston ends their 10 game home stand with a 6-4 record and showing signs that they are beginning to play like the Astros of 2015 at last. The offense is still struggling some but they are showing signs of waking up. They still strike out way too much but it's hard to temper being selective at the plate and still remain aggressive. Houston now goes on a seven game road trip and it's a tough one. They will be facing the Red Sox for 4 games beginning today followed by the AL best Chicago White Sox for 3. Dallas Keuchel (2-4, 4.70 ERA) will lead off the trip for the Astros as he faces David Price (4-1, 6.75 ERA) of the Red Sox. This trip will feature the return of Lance McCullers to the lineup for the first time this year. Collin McHugh and Chris Devenski finish off the trip to Boston on Saturday and Sunday. First things first though. Keuchel looked like his old self going 7 strong innings in his last start giving up just two runs. Now he needs a game where he gets some run support to help right his ship and get back on a winning track.

 

Yesterday's win was Houston 3rd series win of the season and they have a ways to go to get back into this division race but at least they are showing signs of life. This win yesterday may go a long way toward turning the slow start of this season around for the Astros. They aren't going to a cake walk on the road this next 7 days but they are not lambs to the slaughter either. They are certainly capable of winning their share of the games.

 

 

 

 

you could could save a whole lotta typing by just saying "THESE GUYS SUCK!" and just copy and paste it a couple times a week. That's all the analysis this team needs.

[eagle eye]

#theseguyssuck - I can't understand why Dallas Keuchel is so bad right now. He looked decent in his last outing but so far this year about the best thing you can say about his is he has battled. Unfortunately he's battling himself more than he is opposing batters. He gave up 8 runs in 6 innings the bulk of which came off a 2 run HR and a 3 run dinger. The hits I don't really care about because he's given up hits but he hasn't, in the past, allowed a hit or two burn him. Keuchel is a mentally tough competitor but he's lost the ability to spot his pitches for strikes the way he's done the past two seasons. You wonder if he didn't hurt himself pitching in the cold weather on opening day in NY. An article on Astros.com talks about his lost velocity but he has seemed to regain that but he can't fool batters right now. Last year I compared Keuchel to Greg Maddux. Both guys didn't have overpowering stuff but they both outthought you and they had pinpoint control that forced hitters to swing at pitches they could do nothing with. That control is something Keuchel has lost since the season began. Last year Keuchel walked 51 batters in 232 innings pitched. So far this year he's walked 22 batters in just 50 innings. Control is lacking for sure. I don't know what happened either because he dominated in spring training. He looked like he got a bit better in the offseason but, he definitely struggled in New York where it was cold as heck and the wind was blowing like a hurricane. In Milwaukee in his 2nd start he walked 6 batters and allowed 6 hits in a loss to the Brewers. In his Game 3 he looked like his old self back at the Juice Box against the Tigers. He notched his second win of the season and you figured, okay-he's got it going now-all is well. Wrong. In four of the last 5 starts he has stunk. In his 3 starts in May he's given up a whopping 25 hits, allowed 15 runs with 9 BB's and 15 K's. That sucks and couple that with the fact Houston doesn't give him any run support and it's a recipe for disaster. In this case, since his last win against Detroit on April 15, Keuchel is 0-5 with an ERA over 7. That is a disaster.

Is this offense really that bad? Yes, yes they are. #theseguyssuck. Houston's 11-1 loss to Boston on Friday the 13th drops them to a 14-22 record but they are no longer in last place in the division. Taking 2 of 3 against Cleveland elevated them just above the Angels who have a record 13-21. Apparently the Angels starting pitching is dropping like bowling pins to injuries and the team is finding out just how cruel life can be without good pitching. The Astros get a reminder of this every 5th day when it is time for Keuchel to pitch. Maybe the hash tag should be #theseguyssuckbutnotasmuchastheAngels.

Edited May 13, 2016 by eagle eye

[puddin tane]

Keuchel

[eagle eye]

Nice graphic and it explains a lot of what I was talking about. Houston prevailed last night overcoming a bad 2nd inning by Lance McCullers. They hung on and Luke Gregerson got the Sox out in the 9th to get the save. Unfortunately, on his birthday no less, Gregerson blew the save today. With the Astros up 5-4 in the ninth with 2 out Gregerson, who had a man on first had an 0-1 pitch down around David Ortiz' knees that Big Poppi drove into the gap in left center scoring the tying run to send the game into extra innings. I say of course because Houston had blown several scoring chances earlier in the game ,most particularly, in the 8th when Marwin Gonzalez got to 3rd base on a double and he was moved to 3rd on a sac bunt by Luis Valbuena. Then, with Jason Castro up, there had to be a squeeze called because Gonzalez took off from 3rd. The pitch was outside to the left handed batting Castro but Castro didn't offer at the pitch and Gonzo was dead meat who was cut down in a rundown. He did manage to make the pickle last long enough so that Tyler White, who had been intentionally walked after Valuena's at bat, to get to 3rd. Castro walked bringing up Jake Marisnick, he of the .080 or so BA, struck out to end the inning and the threat. I look forward to AJ Hinch's post game presser to find out what really happened on the play. The game is in the 11th now with Castro at bat again with one out. That out, BTW, was a strike out by Carlos Gomez who continues to be only a little less useless than Jake Marisnick with a bat in his hands. Castro struck out on a 2-2 pitch that bounced at home plate. The Red Sox have Uehara on the mound and his fastball is topping out at 88 mph and Houston can't seem to hit his weak ass stuff. Marisnick is up now and with a 2-2. Holy crap! Marisnick gets a 2 out double on a bloop fly to right that fell out of Hanley Ramirez' glove. This is Jake's 3rd hit in 28 AB's on the season.

This is the 3rd time in 4 days an opposing pitcher has intentionally walked Jose Altuve who is 3-4 with 2 walks today. Springer is up. He has the biggest hit of this game when he hit a grand slam way back in the 2nd inning. He's been shut down ever since going 1-5 on the day, but it is just about time he got hold of one. Never mind, he popped out to short ending the inning. Giles pitched the 10th, I wonder if he stays in for the 11th. #theseguysstillsuck.

Edited May 14, 2016 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

A while back I posted that 2 outs is kryptonite to the Astros. Michael Feliz has been amazing in his last 4 outings but he gave up a single to Xander Bogaerts and he advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch to David Ortiz that was really more about a failure by Jason Castro. Then on a 2-2 pitch Feliz left one up and Big Poppi again drove the ball to left center that scored Bogaerts from second for a walk off double to end the game in the bottom of the 11th. That's two games in 3 days Gregerson has blown. How many ways can this team blow wins? There seems to be no limit to their ineptitude. #theseguysreallyreallysuck.

 

BTW, why pitch to Ortiz? The guy was a single short of the cycle as he went 3-5 on the day including a walk for the day. I thought it was an unwritten rule of baseball that you don't let the other team's best player, or in this case best hitter, beat you. But that is exactly what happened with a triple in the 9th to tie the game and a double in the 11th to win the game. With a man on 2nd who cares if Ortiz gets first. Just like the Sox did in the 10th intentionally walking Altuve. In large part this is on AJ Hinch. Pitching to Ortiz in the game situations in the 9th and 11th plus calling a suicide squeeze with one out with a left handed batter at the plate is silly. I have no idea why Houston couldn't even make contact on Uehama. He is the ultimate junk pitcher with an 88 mph fastball and a 79 mph splitter but Houston batters couldn't touch him. I could forgive Gregerson for the blown save on Wednesday since Houston came back and won but now I am pissed. The scouting report on Ortiz is he likes the ball down so why did Gregerson and Feliz give him pitches down. Both pitches were right over the middle of the plate about knee high which is right in Big Poppi's wheel house. #theseguyssuckandi'mpissed.

[puddin tane]

We had 3 starters today with lower batting averages than Castro. Hell, I didn't think that was possible! Tucker, no bueno, and marisnick.....no bueno I just can't stand, he brings nothing and acts like he's all that. Tucker and Jake need to be sent down. You can't out hit Castro, you got no business in the bigs...goes for NoGo GoGo also

 

#theseguyssuckandshouldbeplayingcoedslowpitchsoftball

[puddin tane]

Digging a little deeper,aside from Bregman, the 'stros don't have jack diddly squat for hitters down in the minors. All the OF suck, which is why we are stuck with gomez, tucker and marisnick. No fear tho, Gattis will be back in a lil bit to DH.....hahahaha. We are in deep dookie

[eagle eye]

First off, the Astros should have won this series against Boston. Despite the fact that the Sox have been on fire lately scoring 10 runs or more in 5 of the 7 games they played this past week and Houston should have won the series. A blown save, a misjudged fly ball, a ball lost in the sun that actually his the defender in the shoulder--just a litany of stupid crap derailed what should have been a good week. Instead of leaving Boston with a series win and a 5-3 record for the week they rumble, bumble and stumble their way to a series loss to the Bosox and a 3-5 record for the week. Houston slid back into the AL West cellar and they are now 7.5 games behind new division leader Texas who won their series against Toronto and the gang fight in the 8th inning of the game.

A side note, I have really come to hate the Rangers. I don't like their manager, he is a world class tool bag. I actually began to hate that guy after his sucker punched AJ Hinch last year during a game. The Rangers seem to get into it with pretty much everyone and I blame the manager for that. I cannot stand Rougned Odor, if there's a player I would like to see take a 98 mph fastball in his earhole it would be him. Aside from Prince Fielder, I pretty much can't stand the rest of the team as well. I will give Adrian Beltre credit for at least getting Jose Bautista out of the brawl and he did it without Bautista getting hit any more. Okay, so I'm good with Adrian Beltre.

As puddin tane alluded to the Astros don't have a lot of hitting on the horizon from the minors. Partly because the Astros have promoted their best to the bigs in the last 3 years. Correa, Springer, Tucker (P) to name 3. Tyler White started out en fuego but he has cooled off tremendously. I guess you knew it was coming but it's hard to imagine he is this bad. I said it last year and so far it bears saying again, I am not fan of Houston hitting coach Dave Hudgins. I think the last time Houston bats started coming around was under former hitting coach under Bo Porter John Mallee. Last season, Hudgins first in Houston, several Astros had career worst years and this year they are even worse. The best hitter in the system since Carlos Correa was traded away last summer for Carlos freaking Gomez and Mike Fiers. Let's look at the deal that brought Gomez to Houston. Domingo Santana is the cleanup hitter for the Brew Crew. He has missed time recently because of a shoulder problem similar to Lance McCullers. Santana was hitting .231, with a .345 OBP, .421 Slugging % and an OPS of .755. P Josh Hader was included in the deal and he's tearing up AA for the Brewers Biloxi team. So far in 2016 Hader hasn't allowed more than one earned run in any outing this season, entering Monday with a microscopic 1.04 ERA and a .198 average against in seven starts. The tall lefty -- he stands 6-foot-3 -- also has fanned 46 in 34 2/3 innings. Another player in the trade was OF prospect Brett Phillips. Before the season began he was the 9th best OF prospect in MLB. He is currently the 2nd ranked prospect for the Brewers as he continues to tear up AA pitching. Currently Phillips is hitting .258, OBP .348, Slg % .468 and a .815 OPS. What Houston got was Gomez and P Fiers. Fiers has been the better half of that deal but giving up high quality prospects like we did for what we've gotten out of the players is nothing short of highway robbery. This deal the one that sent Mark Appel to Philadelphia are two deals I think GM Jeff Luhnow blew. #I'msodepressedthattheseguyssucksobad.

Dallas Keuchel has another chance to throw batting practice to the Chicago White Sox tomorrow in that series opener in Chicago. He will face Carlos Rodon who Houston could have drafted a couple of years ago when they selected the boy who still hasn't throw a pitch at any level in the pros. Selecting Brady Aiken enabled Houston to miss out on Rodon but enabled them to select SS Alex Bregman, who is Houston's #1 prospect, who is playing for the Corpus Christi Hooks. Bregman isn't ready for the bigs yet. That was proved in spring training where he wasn't able to hit above .100 before being sent to minor league spring training.

Yesterday Valbuena had a big day going 2-5 with 5 RBI's. The painful things about that is 1) Houston lost the game and 2) the 5 RBI's yesterday matched Valbuena's RBI total in his previous 101 at-bats. Valbuena is still only hitting .208. Preston Tucker has struggled all season and AJ Hinch has seen enough. The Astros optioned Tucker to AAA Fresno after the game last night. I believe the feeling is he needs to play every day and get a lot of AB's to break him out of the funk he's in. Hinch said the corresponding move will be made prior to the series opener with the White Sox on Tuesday.

Another move being made is Evan Gattis is returning to Houston and he will join the team in Chicago. He comes back as the backup catcher/DH and to make room for him the Astros have released Erik Kratz although an official designation has not been released. I'm fine with that. Kratz was hitting (and I use the term loosely) .069. He is the only person on the Astros roster hitting worse than Jake Marisnick. Personally, I think Jake needs to hop on the mellon truck to the minors with Preston Tucker so they can regain their stroke and, more importantly, their confidence. Carlos Gomez is hitting (again, using the term loosely) a pathetic .182. I say pathetic because he was an All Star for goodness sake. Gomez also made the mental error that allowed Boston to come back in seventh inning to tie the game at 9 and eventually take a 10-9 lead which cost Houston the game. Gomez made two errors on the day. In the 2nd he lost the ball in the sun and it dropped in for a hit that the batter, Josh Rutledge, whose hustle turned it into a double. Rutledge scored in the inning as did 3 more Bosox who took a 6-3 lead after two innings. Errors by Gomez accounted for 3 runs in the game which the Astros lost 10-9. To say I'm tired of Gomez is an understatement.

[eagle eye]

We didn't have to wait long to find out who would get the call up to the bigs to replace Preston Tucker who was sent down to Fresno because he wasn't hitting the ball. The Astros brought up a guy who Jose Altuve can see eye to eye with. That would be 5'6'' Tony Kemp who has been hitting .298 for the Fresno Grizzlies in 34 games played. Kemp is evidently a popular guy around the league because even ace pitcher David Price tweeted his congratulations to Kemp who is joining the Astros in Chicago as they begin a series with the Pale Hose.

 

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/05/16/178447512/astros-call-up-tony-kemp

 

We may have sold the Astros a little short yesterday saying they don't have anyone in the minors who can hit. That is not strictly true. Alex Bregman is hitting quite well, thank you, for the AA Corpus Christi Hooks. So far this season in 24 games played he has hit .330 (29 for 88) with some pop evidenced by his 8 doubles and 8 HR's. Bregman has also driven in 23 runs, he's scored 23 runs and the best thing about his stat line is he's walked 14 times with only 9 K's. That's highly unusual for anybody in the Astros organization, working more walks than he has strike outs. Yesterday was the first day he has worked at 3rd base as a pro. Bregman was drafted as a shortstop but Houston already has a pretty good one in Carlos Correa. There is a big hole at 3rd base that is currently being manned by Jose Valbuena or Marwin Gonzalez. Neither guy is really doing well at the plate and that's the key thing. Houston needs offense. Too often it's Altuve, Springer and Correa with some help by Rasmus and White then nada, zip, nothing. It's like Houston is back in the National League only instead of one pitcher batting ninth they have 3 pitchers batting 7, 8 and 9. Maybe there is some hope in minors. Bregman needs work and he probably needs to play this and next before you consider bringing him up. There is another prospect who looks like he would be a better option than what Houston has is 3B Colin Moran. Moran is now in AAA. He's hit .288 so far and he's a natural third sacker. The only thing that is disturbing is his BB/K ratio isn't good at 9/32 and his power numbers (3 HR's and 7 doubles) don't justify his propensity to strike out.

[eagle eye]

There have been some developments this morning worth noting.

1. 3B Colin Moran is being called up from AAA today. There is no word as yet as to what move the Astros will make to create room for Moran on the roster. Moran was the No 6 overall pick by the Miami Marlins in the 2013 draft. He, Jake Marisnick and Francis Martes were all part of a package deal that Houston made with Miami that sent Jarred Cosart, Austin Wates and Enrique Hernandez to Miami. In this article from Bleacher Report they don't paint a great picture of Moran which is nuts considering how high he was taken in the draft. One thing for sure, he almost can't be any worse than Luis Valbuena has been so far this season. I did say "almost".

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/05/astros-to-promote-colin-moran.html

 

2. GM Jeff Luhnow, again from an article on Bleacher Report, said that Carlos Gomez is very close to being benched. (Yippee!!)

 

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/astros-gm-says-carlos-gomez-has-to-start-hitting-to-avoid-being-benched/

 

I'm getting a lot of info from Bleacher Report this morning so here's some more items with an accompanying link to the articles.

 

Evan Gattis has joined the team in Chicago after completing his 10 day stint in Corpus Christi to refamiliarize himself with being a catcher. He was a catcher with Atlanta prior to Houston acquiring him just before the 2015 season. He did not catch at all in his first year with the Astros. Hopefully, he can add some pop to a fairly limp lineup when he returns to the lineup, likely tonight against White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon. It's being speculated that Gattis will catch on Thursday with Collin McHugh on the mound.

 

http://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-Evan-Gattis-ready-to-catch-again-in-majors-7503161.php

 

Here's another article about Carlos Gomez that includes a slide show of veteran players who have been busts after coming to Houston. This is in all of the big 3 sports.

 

http://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Is-Astros-Carlos-Gomez-the-latest-veteran-to-go-7482802.php#item-38488

[eagle eye]

Everyone was bragging about Luke Gregerson getting 16 straight saves in as many opportunities dating back to August of last season but now he's blown 3 saves in the last 6 days. Gregerson is lucky Houston is 2-1 in those games. Houston won in 16 innings when he blew his first save against Cleveland on May 11. On May 14 against Boston Houston lost in 11 innings and last night the Astros won in 11. The final score of the game was 6-5 because of a 2 run tie breaking HR by Evan Gattis in the top of the inning but Tony Sipp looked like he was trying to help the White Sox come back allowing a run in the bottom of the inning. Thank goodness there was a man on when Gattis went yard or the game may still be in progress. As it is in a six game stretch Gregerson has one save and 3 blown saves. That is crazy stuff. You cannot make stuff like this up. If you wrote this in a book critics would say you are crazy writing stuff like this because the Astros finding so many ways to lose is not real, it can't happen, you obviously don't know baseball.

 

Tyler White finally broke out of the prolonged slump he's been in since the 3rd week of the season. Last night he went 3-4 with 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored. His hits were 2 home runs and a double. He came into the game hitting .234 and walked off the field with a .252 BA. Let's hope that this is trend rather than an anomaly.

 

Evan Gattis was back from his AA catching assignment and he apparently found his hitting stroke while he was there. He left for Corpus Christi hitting .203 and after the smoke cleared Gattis had gone 2-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored along with 2 BB's and no K's. One of the hits was a 2-run shot that won the game in the 11th inning and his BA is up to .221. Gattis figures to be in the lineup every day as a DH or playing catcher as he is now the Astros backup catcher.

 

AJ Hinch said he was gaining confidence in Ken Giles and he also said he planned to use him in increasingly stressful situations. You can't get any more stressful than bases load, one out which is the situation Houston was in with one out in the 7th. Giles came in and looked like the hard throwing reliever we thought we were getting when he was acquired from Philadelphia in the offseason. All Giles did was strike out the first two batters he faced saving the game for Houston at the time. Mixing a 98 mph fastball with an 87 mph slider he just blew the White Sox away.

 

Dallas Keuchel didn't get the loss last night and he didn't get the win either. What he did was go 6+ innings allowing 3 runs. He didn't allow a walk in the game until the 7th when he walked 3 batters on 12 pitches not really even coming close to the strike zone. It was a cool night in Chi-town last night and Keuchel said he got cold and lost his control. Thank goodness Ken Giles was able to stop the bleeding without allowing a run in relief of Keuchel. It wasn't a great outing by Keuchel but at least most of the way he looked like his old self. That is encouraging but we've seen that before so let's reserve judgment on whether or not he is righted his ship.

 

Houston is still stranding a small army of base runners. They had scoring opportunities in the 5th when they loaded the bases and in the 7th and 8th when they had men on 1st and 2nd and they didn't score diddley. They were 4-10 with RISP but they stranded 11 base runners during the game. The offense isn't the only problem because Houston has scored runs lately. In loses to Boston over the weekend they scored 6 runs and 9 runs, both were losses. Last night they had to score 6 and that was almost not enough. Why? Because the pitching has gone south. The starters and the relievers have hit a rough stretch as they can't seem to not give up runs in bunches. So far this season, the Astros have not meshed as a team with pitching and offense and in some cases their defense can't seem to get on the same page. The fact that they have actually won 16 games to date is rather amazing.

 

Last, the Rangers were in 1st place for like one day. After an emotional series with Toronto they head out west to play 4 with Oakland. They lost the series opener on Monday and they lost again last night. After the loss Monday night Seattle reclaimed the division lead. The M's were off on Monday after being swept by the Angels and the day off apparently helped because they beat the Orioles 10-0 last night. Houston is only 7 games back of Seattle which gives fans hope that the Astros still can come back if they can just gel as a team for a stretch of games over a couple of weeks. #theseguyssuckbutheyarenotoutofityet.

[eagle eye]

If you didn't realize it Houston has already won the series with Chicago by winning the first two games. This is the 4th 2 game winning streak of the season and it's also the 4th time they've had a chance for a 3 game win streak. Winning today won't be easy as the Astros will have to face Chris Sale, he of the 8-0 record and 1.67 ERA, but it's not an impossible task especially with the Pale Hose struggling. They are in the middle of a 4 game losing streak and it would be really nice if we could make it five. Houston sends Collin McHugh to the mound sporting a 4-3 record and a 5.58 ERA. McHugh always seems to get run support which is something that is like last season. The game tonight starts at the usual time so Houston won't get an early departure from Chicago.

 

Last night the two players Houston just brought up got their first big league starts last night. Colin Moran played 3B last night and he went 0-3 with a walk. Tony Kemp got the start in left field and he had a really great game. He went 2-3 with a walk and no K's plus he had an assist throwing out Adam Eaton who singled to left and he tried to stretch it into a double. It's a play that Jake Marisnick could have made and maybe even Carlos Gomez but neither of them would have gone 2-3 and added a walk. That's kind of what Tony Kemp is, a guy who hits the ball. He's not a hot dog like Gomez and he's sort of what you would have hoped Jake would be but he isn't a good hitter and that isn't going to change. Kemp is a guy looking to get a base hit first and foremost with enough pop to hit into the gaps and even get a HR or two. This is what the doctor ordered in terms of a more consistent offense and a guy who can keep a rally going. Let's see if Kemp can hit in the .290 range like he did in AAA and Houston has gotten the best of the deal if they release Gomez.

 

George Springer had men on first and second in the 8th inning with nobody out after Tony Kemp and Jose Altuve both worked walks to begin the frame. Springer hit a hard ground ball just inside the 3B bag. Trouble was the Sox were playing the lines and the ball went right to 3B Todd Frazier who stepped on third beginning a 5U-4-3 triple play that ended Houston's threat and their half of the inning. It is noteworthy to point out this is the White Sox second triple play of the season which is something that hasn't been done in 38 years. The last two triple plays were completed in the first two month of the season since 1978 when---wait for it---Houston did it. Both TP's were against Texas teams with the first on coming on April 22 against the Rangers. Talk about a situation dripping with irony! The line on the TP against the Rangers began with a Mitch Mooreland line drive to right field that began an F9-3-2-6-2-5 bases loaded triple play.

 

Doug Fister got the win going 6.1 innings allowing 3 runs on 9 hits and one walk with 5 K's. Ken Giles, Will Harris and Luke Gregerson cleaned up for the Astros tossing 2.2 innings of shutout ball. Fister ties Collin McHugh for the best record among the starters with a 4-3 record. Last night was Fister's 6th consecutive quality start and he's been the most consistent starter for the Astros. So far, I'd say Houston made a good deal when they signed him in the offseason. Gregerson had a 1-2-3 ninth for his 9th save of the season. Talk about hindquarters tightening up when he entered the game though. Your closer is supposed to inspire confidence that the game is over instead of the feeling of doom when Gregerson enters the game. Oh well.

 

Houston recorded 13 hits last night with every player with an at-bat in the game, except for Colin Moran, got at least one hit. That is what you'd call a relentless attack. Houston still had too many non-converted scoring opportunities going a woeful 2-13 with RISP. Besides the triple play that Springer hit into the Astros hit into two double plays, one each be Jose Altuve and Jason Castro. Speaking of Castro, I have to give him credit for hitting better lately. Last night he went 2-3 with a walk and he scored all 3 times he got on base. He and Colby Rasmus had solo home runs that were the margin of victory for the Astros.

[eagle eye]

0 for 4 in attempts at a 3 game winning streak. Most of the time I would rank on the Astros for blown opportunities or failures to do their jobs. No excuses this time however because Chicago's Chris Sale was just too good last night. Sale tossed a complete game last night allowing only one run, no walks and 9 K's. He was really good, just have to give him props. Collin McHugh wasn't bad either. He held the White Sox to 2 runs in 7 innings of work. He allowed just 5 hits and just one walk with 8 K's. He allowed a run in the second and a run in the 7th. Houston only got to Sale one time and that was a solo home run by Evan Gattis in the top of the 8th. Gattis is the only Astro to really get to Sale. Beside the home run he got another hit in the game as he went 2-3 on the night and he's the only Astro to reach base more than once. Altuve, Springer and Gattis were the only ones to get a hit off Sale. He really was that good last night. Gattis also caught his first game since 2014 last night and he did a nice job. Gattis admitted to being nervous going into the game but he said after the first pitch he settled down and had a really good game behind the plate. Houston returns to the Juice Box tonight to face their old nemesis the Texas Rangers. It will be Lance McCullers making his second start of the season going against the Rangers Colby Lewis (2-0, 3.12 ERA).

[eagle eye]

Ever get the feeling of deja vu? The overwhelming feeling that you been in a situation before. I'll bet Houston had that feeling last night. After losing in the series finale in Chicago by a score of 2-1 when the Astros were dominated by White Sox starter Chris Sale the Astros began a weekend series against cross state rival Texas. The Rangers sent Astros killer Colby Lewis to the mound. In his previous 12 starts Lewis was 9-1 with the last loss coming 6 years ago. Make that 10-1 after he dominated Houston and led the Rangers to yet another 2-1 loss. There were another similarities to last night's game as well like Lance McCullers pitching 6 innings for Houston in taking the loss. McCullers made one mistake last night and was to Prince Fielder, he of the .193 BA, who hit a gapper to left center scoring two runs, the only 2 runs Texas scored in the game. Colby Rasmus knocked in the Astros only run of the game with an RBI single that scored Jose Altuve who doubled to start the Astros half of the 9th. With Rasmus on 1st Evan Gattis came to the plate with the ability to hit a walkoff HR but after battling Rangers closer Sam Dyson for an 8 pitch at-bat it was the last pitch that did Gattis and the Astros in when he swung and missed for a game ending strike out. Instead of conjuring up the last game heroics of 2015 with a walkoff dinger Gattis just had to walk off with his Astros teammates with yet another loss. The Astros are now 17-26, 9 games under .500 and 8 games behind 1st place Seattle. #dammittheseguyssuck.

 

Another good thing the Astros had in common with the past two games was some really nice bullpen work for the Astros. Michael Feliz came on in the 7th inning and pitched 3 scoreless innings allowing no hits and no walks with 6 K's. Stellar job by Feliz. On Thursday Scott Feldman came in for Houston in the 8th inning and he pitched a scoreless, hitless inning for the Astros with one K. Both guys did an outstanding job but you have to give Feliz the nod as the reliever of the week for his work last night.

Edited May 21, 2016 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

#WTFtheseguysbeyondsuck.

[puddin tane]

#WTFtheseguysbeyondsuck.

 

Ha

[eagle eye]

It's hard to say this past week sucked since the Astros split the two series they played but it's how they lost the last 4 games that makes this past week a total failure. Everything looked great after Houston beat Cleveland two games in a row to guarantee the series win. In the finale Houston ran up against White Sox ace Chris Sale who shut down their offense. They lost the game 2-1 but Sale didn't just shut down the Astros offense for one game because the home team didn't score but 4 runs in the next 3 games. I gave Sale credit for his work on Thursday but I am not being so generous to give the Ranger pitching the same credit. Houston's offense is just pathetic and they have been since the season began interrupted by intermittent games where it appears the Astros have busted out of their team wide slump only to go back to sucking again. How do explain the Astros having only one man hitting over .300 and the next highest BA is .254 by George Springer. Carlos Correa is battling a horrendous slump going a mere 1-19 in his last 19 AB's. Guys who started the season hot, Colby Rasmus and Tyler White, have gone frigid both batting .238 and .230 respectively. I still have a problem with the Astros hitting coach because this season Houston again leads the majors in K's with 445 and they lead the majors in swinging strikes with about 860. A part of that is because they are not able to even make contact. Pitchers have been making mistakes in the sweet spot of the strike zone but the Astros hardly ever make an opposing pitcher pay for a mistake. The other reason is this lineup is swinging at pitches that are out of the strike zone as soon as the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. They look like little girls at a Sunday picnic. I have been critical of Dave Hudgins since last year and I'm even more critical now. The Astros routinely take pitches they should swing at and swing at pitches they shouldn't. That's coaching. I include AJ Hinch as part of that problem because this roster struggled to score runs in spring training and with a rare exception or two have continued to struggle through the first 7 weeks of the season.

Maybe we just expected too much from George Springer and Carlos Correa. If you think about it Springer has been in the bigs for just about 2 seasons but he's only played in 225 games. He came up in June of 2014 but missed most of the season after his call up because of injury. Last season he missed 40% of the season due to a broken bone in his wrist. 225 games is roughly a season and a third. He's still a rookie and Correa has already been dubbed a Hall of Famer but he's only played 99 games in 2015 and 44 games so far this season for a total of 143 games in his CAREER. The kid is still a freaking rookie. In the past 20 AB's he's looked like a rookie. I realize there are growing pains but to rely on production of such young players is really not a recipe for success. The veterans on the roster aren't helping either. Colby Rasmus, Jason Castro and Luis Valbuena have consistently sucked. I can't help but blame AJ Hinch and Hudgins for a big part of the Astros problems. They went 2-4 this past week and they are at 17-28, 11 games under .500 which is a season low. They are also 10 games behind division leading Seattle. BTW, the Astros, after being swept by the Rangers over the weekend are 0-6 against them this season. Did I mention I now hate the Rangers? Dallas Keuchel pitched well for 5 of the 6 innings he worked but he gave up 5 runs in the one bad inning he had. At the time that put the Astros in a 5-0 hole which there was no way they were going to overcome. 2 outs is still the Astros kryptonite because of the 7 runs Keuchel allowed 5 were with 2 outs, 4 of those came in the 5 run 3rd inning. Pat Neshak also pitched an inning and when he had 2 outs he gave up a 2 run homer to Nomar Mazara who drove in Prince Fielder who doubled earlier in the inning. The count on Mazara was 2 balls and 2 strikes. Get the feeling that the Astros won't give the number 2 as their lucky number? I cannot tell you the level of disappointment I feel right now. #evenpuddintanethinkstheAstrossuck.

[eagle eye]

Lance McCullers returned to action a week and a half ago following Dallas Keuchel in the Astros rotation. Now, the pitching rotation is changed again. Doug Fister, who is really having a nice season after a bit of a rocky start will go for Houston tonight. Fister is 4-3 with a 4.22 ERA. He had been the 5th guy in the rotation but when McCullers came back Collin McHugh was pushed back to the #3 starter with Fister still at #5. Now Lance McCullers has gone to #4 in the rotation and Mike Fiers is now the 5th man in the rotation. Who knows why AJ Hinch is doing this. Maybe he's just shaking things up a little to try to get the Astros out of this horrendous funk they've been in. Maybe he wants to reward Fister for his work so far who knows. Last week after his first bad start of the season

Chris Devenski was moved back into the bullpen after he was part of a 6 man rotation the Astros employed when they went through a stretch of games where they didn't have a day off. Now last week and this week both features a Monday off so Devenski became the odd man out. He has pitched as a starter and out of the bullpen this season and he's done a really nice job. His W/L record doesn't reflect how well he's pitched but that's because Houston's offense stinks to high heaven.

Houston faces a 3 game set with AL East division leading Baltimore tonight. As I said Doug Fister takes the hill against Baltimore's Chris Tillman (6-1, 2.61 ERA). Another easy pitching matchup. Yeah, right.

[puddin tane]

Lance McCullers returned to action a week and a half ago following Dallas Keuchel in the Astros rotation. Now, the pitching rotation is changed again. Doug Fister, who is really having a nice season after a bit of a rocky start will go for Houston tonight. Fister is 4-3 with a 4.22 ERA. He had been the 5th guy in the rotation but when McCullers came back Collin McHugh was pushed back to the #3 starter with Fister still at #5. Now Lance McCullers has gone to #4 in the rotation and Mike Fiers is now the 5th man in the rotation. Who knows why AJ Hinch is doing this. Maybe he's just shaking things up a little to try to get the Astros out of this horrendous funk they've been in. Maybe he wants to reward Fister for his work so far who knows. Last week after his first bad start of the season

Chris Devenski was moved back into the bullpen after he was part of a 6 man rotation the Astros employed when they went through a stretch of games where they didn't have a day off. Now last week and this week both features a Monday off so Devenski became the odd man out. He has pitched as a starter and out of the bullpen this season and he's done a really nice job. His W/L record doesn't reflect how well he's pitched but that's because Houston's offense stinks to high heaven.

Houston faces a 3 game set with AL East division leading Baltimore tonight. As I said Doug Fister takes the hill against Baltimore's Chris Tillman (6-1, 2.61 ERA). Another easy pitching matchup. Yeah, right.

 

Fister has been pitching very good (by Astro standards). If Hinch starts Valnobueno again, he should be fired on the spot.

 

Devinski played in the field in hi school and college, stick him at 3rd or OF. can't be much worse.

 

Fiers bores me to death.