2016 Houston Astros Regular Season

[eagle eye]

I hope it's noticed that I almost completely refuse to give credit to opposing pitchers because Houston's offense is so bad they have to show something before I give a pitcher credit for doing well against the Astros.

 

Take last night for an example. In 13 innings of work Houston the Astros were 2-10 with RISP and they left 9 men stranded on base. That ain't all pitching so I'm not giving Chris Tillman credit. It may seem unfair but I'm here to crucify the Astros not elevate the opposition. Tillman gave up 3 hits and 2 runs, both coming on a Luis Valbuena HR in the bottom of the 5 giving the Astros the lead in the game at 2-1. It's one of the VERY few times Houston has homered when there was actually a man on base. Houston has cornered the market on solo HR's. The Astros strike out like there was a sale and they stocked up for the winter on K's. This is nothing new but what is different is when they did connect they hit the ball out of the park last year and this year it is a pop fly, a foul ball caught or a K. For the game Houston got 8 hits and 5 walks. They ended up with 3 runs. Fortunately 3 was enough last night as Houston's pitching does get credit for good work. Doug Fister went 5-2/3 innings with almost the same line as Tillman, 3 hits, 2 runs and 3 walks. The difference is Tillman gave up a 2-run dinger while Fister gave up two solo HR's. The relievers, 6 in all, combined for 7-1/3 innings of shutout ball. The relievers also tied a club record for K's with 16. The only real hiccup was in the 9th when Luke Gregerson tried like heck to blow the game by loading the bases on 2 hits and a walk coming with 2 outs. Gregerson wriggled out of the inning with an inning ending strike out.

 

It's hard to criticize Valbuena too much since he got the 2 run dinger that put the Astros on the board. I wonder why the Astros brought up Tony Kemp and Colin Moran if they weren't going to play them every day. The way they've done Moran is a disgrace. I am assuming they brought them up to provide an offensive spark but it hard to do that when you start once a week.

 

Collin McHugh (4-4, 5.13 ERA) faces off against Tyler Wilson (2-2, 3.68 ERA).

[eagle eye]

For the 5th time this season Houston has a chance to win 3 games in a row. We all know they have failed to get over the hump the first 4 times and frankly it won't be a cake walk tonight. Both games have been hard fought games but for a change this season Houston has hung in there and managed to pull out a win. The won the first game 3-2 and last night the final was 4-3. For the second night in a row the bullpen combined to go 3.2 scoreless innings after starter Collin McHugh left the game to shutout and shutdown the Orioles offense. It is the second game in a row the Astros pitching recorded at least 18 K's for the game. On Tuesday the bullpen combined for a franchise tying record 16 K's in 7.1 innings of work with Doug Fister's 3 K's on the night game Houston 19 K's for the game. Last night McHugh battled and his 10 K's of Oriole hitters led the way to 18 K's for the game. Between Pat Neshak (who got the win in relief of McHugh), Ken Giles, who has turned his season around and he's been nearly unhittable for the month of May, Will Harris and Luke Gregerson weren't perfect but they did well enough to give Houston the win. Houston's offense is still very anemic but at least in the last 2 games they were less so which enabled them to score just enough to win. I'm not holding my breath in this series finale tonight. Houston has not swept and opponent or won 3 straight game this season a playing a division leader trying to do that isn't inspiring much confidence. I'll take the series win, which we have already, and go from there.

 

After the series with Baltimore Houston will have concluded nearly two months of the season in which they have had the 5th hardest schedule in the majors according to it's opponent's winning percent. It's true that it appears like every series this year except for the Twins they have played a team that is in 1st or 2nd place in their respective divisions. Beginning Friday Houston's schedule gets easier for a while. They will face in order LA Angels, Arizona and Oakland none of whom has won more than 21 games this season. The next nine games Houston has a chance to make up some ground they lost over the first two months of the season. It would be sweet if they go into that stretch will a series sweep of the O's but really I think that's asking too much but I'm just saying.

 

Maybe everybody on the Astros roster should spend 10 days in Corpus if after they return to the big club they hit as well as Evan Gattis has hit since he came back from relearning how to play catcher. Since his return to Houston Gattis has hit over .300 with 3 HR's, 4 RBI's and 4 runs scored. He's caught two games as well and did a really nice job. Collin McHugh worked him to death last night because he threw a bunch for 58 foot curve balls and Gattis kept them in front of him for the most part the entire time McHuch was on the hill. Gattis let one get away from him that allowed a run to score but that was ruled a wild pitch by McHugh, which it was BTW, he did great job on the night. It's nice to have Gattis do a good job catching. He's the best hitting backup Houston has had for a while. Win-win. Gattis dual duty as B/U catcher and DH opens up a roster spot for an extra pitcher or position player which is a win-win-win for the Astros. We'll see how my theory goes as Carlos Gomez is doing rehab work right now in Corpus and he had a huge night last night in his second rehab game going 1-4 and he also had three outfield assists including one in the 9th inning that saved the game for the Hooks. The one hit he got was a 417 foot bomb he hit in the 5th inning which turned out to be the game winner. Gomez is slated to play a few more games in Corpus as he is rehabbing from a rib injury he suffered in Boston that landed him on the 15 day DL.

[eagle eye]

Wow, they actually did it! It wasn't even a one run game even though it looked like it might be when Ken Giles struggled a bit in the ninth allowing a run to score before finally getting the final 2 outs. Houston finally won 3 games in a row and in the process swept their first 3 game series since August of last season. Coincidently, Luis Valbuena hit his 3rd home run in as many games. His 2 run dinger gave the Astros a 3-1 lead they would never relinquish on the night. Valbuena's HR came in the 2nd inning in answer to a run the O's scored in the top of the frame. Houston took the lead when George Springer led off the game with a blast into the Crawford Boxes in left field. Springer followed that up with a massive blast onto the train tracks in the 5th inning to extend the Astros lead to 4-1. Both of Springer's bombs were solo shots but it's nice to see him start hitting the ball. This turnaround for Springer began on Tuesday when Houston, coming off being swept by the Rangers, needed to shake things up. AJ Hinch decided to do the shaking at the top of the batting order. He put Springer hitting first and Jose Altuve hitting second. The move kick started Springer who has gone 6 for 12 with a string of 2's as in home runs, RBI's and runs scored. Altuve had been struggling prior to the Baltimore series and it continued two games into that series. In fact, Altuve went hitless in 4 straight games for only the second time in his career. His batting average has plummeted 37 points from .348 last week to .311 after last night's game. It would have been worse than that but Altuve finally got a hit going 1-4 on the night. Fine, Springer like hitting leadoff and maybe Altuve is breaking out of his slump. Nice.

The Astros pitching set a record during the Baltimore series. As a matter of fact it's really a pretty big deal of a record as Houston pitching set an MLB all time record for strike outs in a 3 game series logging a whopping 52 against the Orioles. They had 19 on Tuesday night, 18 on Wednesday and last night they capped off the series with another 15 K's. The Astros are the first team since 1913 to record at least 15 K's in a 3 game series. Pretty epic, huh?

This looks like last year's Astros who won a lot of games via the long ball and last night Houston scored all 4 runs with homers. Nice. Maybe thinks are finally looking up but I am not going to count on it until I actually see it happen.

Tonight the Astros begin a series with the Angels of Anaheim. Mike Fiers (3-2, 4.35 ERA) goes against Matt Shoemaker (2-5, 6.81 ERA).

 

Now, if we can just get the Cards to catch a little fire in the SLC tourney the planets will be properly aligned.

[eagle eye]

Houston couldn't go 4 straight wins and Mike Fiers was just awful in the 3rd inning anyway when he allowed 6 runs to the Angels. The Astros offense was awful the whole game except the 9th inning when it was too little too late. The Angels won 7-2 ending the first 3 game winning streak of the season. It confounds me how the Astros can make a half-assed pitcher look way better than he is. Last night's game featured the Angels Matt Shoemaker who came into the game with a 2-5 record and a 6.81 ERA and he went 8.1 innings allowing just seven hits and 2 runs with 11 strike outs. His line would have been better the Angels reliever Cam Bedrosian allowed 2 runners that Shoemaker put on base score.

One good thing came out of last night's game, 3B prospect Colin Moran got his first big league hit since he was called up prior to the series with Baltimore. He also got his second big league hit as he went 2-4 on the night and his second hit drove in the Astros only two runs of the game. Small victories. Colby Rasmus also had a good game for a change. He went 2-4 as well but unfortunately he couldn't get a hit with a runner on base. The Astros went back to their old habits of getting hits and walks but they couldn't get things done with base runners on. Houston went 1-4 with RISP and they stranded 6 men on the night. I wish Houston would stop making these crappy pitchers look like Cy Young. This offense hasn't gotten on track yet. It's a good thing I didn't think everything was okay when they swept the Orioles because I knew it wasn't.

The sweep of the Orioles was a good thing for Houston because it allowed them to jump ahead of Oakland and get out of the AL West cellar. If they had beaten the Angels last night they would have tied them in the win column and just been 2.5 back in the loss column. What's really discouraging is the Angels have struggled all season mainly because of their pitching. Injuries have decimated the Angels starting rotation and that's another reason the lack of offense by the Astros last night is so discouraging. #theycanthittheirasseswithbothhands

[eagle eye]

Dallas Keuchel looked for all intents and purposes like he was going to struggle again when he gave up back-to-back HR's to Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in the first inning of last night's game. The two dingers trumped the run the Astros scored to lead off the inning on an RBI groundout by Carlos Correa scoring George Springer who led off the inning with a double. Springer continues his red hot hitting streak that began when he was moved to the leadoff spot in the batting order to begin the series with Baltimore earlier this week. Springer when 3-5 last night leading the Astros attack. Jose Altuve tied the score in the 5th on a sac fly to right field that scored Jake Marisnick from 3rd base. Marisnick surprisingly enough had a nice game last night going 2-4 for his first multi-hit game of the season. The coup de gras was administered by Jason Castro in the sixth inning. After Evan Gattis was hit by a pitch putting him on first base Castro, with 2 out and a 2-2 count crushed a low fastball to straight away center field to give Houston a 4-2 lead.

As for Keuchel besides the back-to-back home runs he only gave up on other hit on the night which was a leadoff single to begin the 2nd inning to the Angels 2B Johnny Giavatella. After that Keuchel never gave up a run and he retired the next 18 batters in a row. Vintage Keuchel finally arrived for 2016. The best thing is, and what makes last night's performance truly vintage is Keuchel did not walk a batter on the night. Walks have plagued him so far this season and to see him dominate by hitting his spots and not walking anyone was great to see.

Pat Neshak and Tony Sipp combined to stifle the Angels in the 8th inning while Luke Gregerson pitched a 1-2-3 9th for his 11th save of the season. A good job by the whole team last night in evening this series with a 4-2 victory. The standings in the AL West tightened up a bit with Houston's win. Right now they stand at 21-29 while the Angels are 22-27. If Houston wins today they will be tied with LA in the win column and 1/2 game back in the loss column. The Astros are in a virtual tie for last place with Oakland who also won yesterday beating the hell out of Detroit 12-3.

Houston closes out their series this afternoon with the Angels and they begin a series on Monday with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Today Houston will send Doug Fister (4-3, 4.12 ERA) to the hill while the Angels counter with former Astro Nick Tropeano (3-2, 2.86 ERA). Tropeano was drafted by Houston in the 5th round of the 2011 draft and he was traded to the Angels in November of 2014 along with C Carlos Perez for Hank Conger who only played one season for Houston in 2015. Conger is now with Tampa Bay.

[eagle eye]

The Astros had a good week. That's an understatement. After yesterday's 13 inning ordeal that resulted in an 8-6 win in which the Astros offense tried like heck to not win the game while the relief pitchers kept them in the game. Only Ken Giles failed to do his job allowing the tying and go ahead runs giving the Angels their first lead of game since the 1st inning when Kory Calhoun hit a solo HR. Giles didn't have his best stuff but as well as he's pitched lately and the way the game flowed yesterday I guess we can give him a bit of a pass.

Doug Fister did a nice job going 6 innings allowing 3 runs but only one of them was earned. Errors by Luis Valbuena and Evan Gattis helped the Angels rally in the 5th and 6th innings to tie the score at 3. Houston took the lead in the 5th on the strength of a 2 run HR by Jake Marisnick, yes Jake hit his first round tripper of the season. The Astros got a 3rd run on a 2 out RBI single by Jose Altuve who had his best game in a while going 4-6 on the day. In the end the Astros got a jolt in the 13th when Carlos Correa, who was not in the lineup on the day, came in a jacked a 3 run HR to give the Astros an 8-5 lead. Luke Gregerson struggled a bit in the bottom of the inning allowing the Angels a run on a wild pitch of all things to tighten the score to 8-6 but it was too little to late for the Angels who lost the series to Houston 2 games to 3.

 

As for the week Houston went 5-1 and won both series for the first time this season. They also got their first 3 game sweep of the year when they beat Baltimore and beating the Angels 2 out of 3 went a long way toward turning their season around. All the one run games Houston had been losing started going the Astros way. Their record stands at 22-29, the same as the Oakland A's but Houston is ahead in a tie breaker meaning the A's are in the cellar. Houston is just 1/2 game in the loss column behind the Angels who are 22-28. The top of the division changed to as Seattle was swept over the weekend by Minnesota of all teams. The Rangers took over first place in the AL West but only by 1/2 game. Houston is 7.5 games back which means the good week they had enabled them to make up 2.5 games on the division. Not a bad week at all. Just ask George Springer who was moved into the leadoff spot to begin the week and he raised his batting average nearly 30 points and that despite going 1-7 in the series finale with the Angels. Dallas Keuchel also had a nice week as he shut down the Angels on Saturday on a 3 hit, no walk gem that was the first sign of the Dallas Keuchel of 2015. Now, the trick is to keep it going.

 

Houston begins a home and home four game series with Arizona beginning today in Phoenix. Collin McHugh (4-4, 5.13 ERA) goes against Edwin Escobar making his first start of 2016. He's made 2 appearances and he's pitched 2 innings in the bigs this season with a 4.50 ERA. This sounds like a trap game so Houston needs to take care not to let this rookie get the better of them. This is an afternoon game that starts at 3:10 PM.

 

Happy Memorial Day!

Edited May 30, 2016 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

Memorial Day was memorable for more than one reason when you talk about the Astros. First the camo uniforms baseball players wore yesterday in honor to the men and women past and present who have served in the armed forces was pretty cool. I can really see a burst of people wearing the camo hats as much as people love their camo! Props to all the people who have served and especially those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom. Thank you all.

On a more, less somber, note there were some memorable things about the Astros 8-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. First there was Collin McHugh who threw his first career complete game going all nine innings allowing 3 runs on just 5 hits and 8 K's. The big key for McHugh was that he only walked one batter during the game. Keeping runners off base is a real key to success for a pitcher and McHugh was on top of his game yesterday. This was also the first complete game of the season for Houston and the first since Mike Fiers' no-no last August. After the 13 inning game in Los Angeles and after a lot of work overall lately the bullpen needed a rest and they got it. Nobody even warmed up yesterday. McHugh's performance brought down his ERA from over 5 to 4.82.

The Astros did what you'd expect offensively when facing a pitcher in Edwin Escobar who has a grand total of 2 innings of big league experience making his first ever big league start. They pounded out 13 hits in the game, 10 off Escobar and the Astros scored all 8 of their runs on Escobar who only lasted 3.1 innings. Houston scored 4 runs in the 2nd and 2 runs in both the 3rd and 4th innings before Arizona pulled Escobar and put in Randall Delgado to stop the bleeding. The Astros did not score a run the rest of the game after Escobar came out but it didn't matter because 8 runs was more than enough to get the job done the way Collin McHugh was pitching.

It's now been two games in a row that Houston has scored 8 runs in a game. For this team so far this season that it a big deal.

As for the division standings, nothing changed at all because both the Angels and the A's both won so Houston didn't make up any ground at all. In fact every single team in the AL West won yesterday. Sometimes you can't catch a break.

Today the Astros play the 2nd of 2 games in Arizona with the game beginning at 2:40 PM with Houston going with Lance McCullers (1-1, 4.60 ERA) while Arizona sends Patrick Corbin (2-5, 4.21 ERA). Houston also will likely have CF Carlos Gomez who completed his rehab work at Corpus Christi and will be activated for today's game. I hate to be a naysayer but I'm no fan of Gomez and with more at-bats Jake Marisnick has been hitting the ball much better since Gomez went on the DL. We'll see how this goes. Maybe Gomez will react the same way Evan Gattis did when he came back from AA. Prior to going to AA Gattis was hitting under .200 and since he's been pretty darn good. with a current BA of .243 and in his last seven games he's hitting .276. I don't know about you but I'll take that all day. Gattis has also done very well behind the plate in his two appearances as a catcher he has done very well. His last game he caught he went 13 innings in Los Angeles on Sunday and he went 2-6 at the plate with 2 runs scored. It may be a coincidence but since Gattis has become the backup catcher Jason Castro has started hitting the ball much better. Maybe he finally saw someone who could actually take his place if he didn't start hitting the ball.

[eagle eye]

To make up ground in a division doesn't mean everything is okay if you win. Now, if you win it's a good thing, obviously way better than losing but, when you are playing catchup in a division race you need the other guys to lose to make up ground. For the second day in a row every team in the AL West won. Houston finally gets on a bit of a winning streak and everyone else does too. Damn the luck.

That said, the month of May was better than April by a big margin. The Astros record in May was 17-12 which really surprised me when I counted the W's and L's. Aside from a stretch where the Red Sox and Rangers abused them they had a pretty good month. In fact, Houston is oh-fer against the confounded Rangers. Something the Astros will have a chance to rectify next week when they travel to Arlington to face the Rangers for 4 games. The starting pitching has been above average as has the bullpen with a few exceptions. The only thing that has been lacking is offense. Until the past few games Houston has been sub par eeking out a run here and run there and because of the quality pitching they were in almost every game they played. The numbers prove they won more than their fair share. There has been some movement within the division this month as the division lead has bounced back and forth between the Rangers and the Mariners and the bottom of the AL West has moved as well. The one good thing is all the winning has elevated the Astros from last place to 4th place but it is a very tenuous 4th. The Astros trail the Angels by 1/2 game and lead the A's by a tie breaker. So you see what I mean? Tenuous.

The Astros now have a good backup catcher, one that may be better than the guy starting. Slowed by an offseason injury Evan Gattis was late to start the season but after a 10 day trip to AA Corpus Christi to relearn how to catch he has come back and he's been pretty darn good behind the plate. In fact in the past week he's thrown out two base runners. He's been doing his DH duties on days he doesn't catch and he's added some punch to the offense. The biggest change has been a shake up in the batting order moving George Springer to the leadoff spot and dropping Jose Altuve into the 2 hole. Since the move last Tuesday Springer has caught fire hitting .419 with 3 HR's, 8 RBI's and he's scored 7 runs. Springer's has ignited the Astros offense and they have actually been scoring runs. If they can keep it going in June they should be on their way to making a comeback like the Rangers did last year.

 

June begins today with the home part of the 4 game set with Arizona. Houston swept the 2 games in Phoenix and the hope is they can do the same back in Houston. The Astros begin the month with Mike Fiers (3-3, 5.20 ERA) taking the hill against Arizona's Robbie Ray (2-4, 4.67 ERA). Things are looking up for Houston right now and hopefully they keep it going against the D-backs and A's this week before another showdown with the Rangers next week up in Arlington.

[eagle eye]

The Astros have won 5 straight now for their longest winning streak of the season. They beat Arizona in 11 innings but it really should have been a 9 inning game but for the a severely gagging Luke Gregerson. Gregerson went into the game in the 9th with a 3 run lead but 4 batters and one out later he was pulled leaving the Astros in a 4-4 tie. When the D-Backs Jake Lamb hit a 2 run HR to right-center to tie the game the camera showed Gregerson bent over at the waist as he blew his 4th game of the season. It's bad enough with a one run lead but to be unable to protect a 3 run lead is just unacceptable. He certainly owes the team a big fat apology because the Astros deserved better that they got from Gregerson. Mike Fiers went 6 innings allowing just one run and Ken Giles and Will Harris each had a scoreless inning in relief. The Astros were flashing quality leather in the field with some really nice defensive plays. IMO the best of those was a diving catch in the 3rd inning when, with runners on 1st and 3rd and one run already in, 1B Paul Goldschmidt hit a sinking liner to left field. Jake Marisnick dove at the ball catching it just before it dropped in for a hit. It was a highlight catch worth looking at. There were plays made in the field that kept the D-Backs down including a throw out from Carlos Gomez to third to cut down a runner, Gomez also robbed Michael Bourn from extra bases with a catch against the wall in center field and George Springer throwing out Ricky Weeks trying to push hit bloop hit into right field into a double. The link below includes video of all of these plays.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/181645934/astros-outfield-makes-highlight-plays-in-win

 

The good thing about the win was Seattle, Texas and the Angels all lost last night which means the Astros picked up a game on the leaders and they are now only 6.5 games back of 1st place and the Astros and A's, who also won last night, are tied for 3rd place with Houston above Oakland by a tie breaker. The Angels fall into last place because of their loss last night to Detroit. Another good thing is Houston has clawed it's way to within 4 games of .500 on the season. That may sound a little like 2012 when Houston lost 111 games but it's definitely showing signs that this team is developing a chemistry together and that almost all cylinders are firing.

 

Cross your fingers because Houston will be looking to run their win streak to 6 games in the series finale against Arizona this afternoon. Dallas Keuchel (3-6, 5.58 ERA) will try to continue the success he had in his last outing when he looked like the old Dallas in a strong 7 inning performance where he only gave up 2 runs on 3 hits with no walks and 5 K's. The fact that Keuchel is at home where he was virtually unbeatable in 2015 is another plus going for Keuchel. Arizona sends their ace Zack Greinke (6-3, 4.71 ERA) to the hill to try and stop the Astros offense. In 2 of his last 3 starts Greinke has given up 3 and 4 runs which should be enough for Houston to win if Keuchel pitches like he can as long as Gregerson isn't allowed to pitch.

[eagle eye]

Houston lost 3-0. For six innings it was a pitcher's duel between the D-Backs Zack Greinke and Houston's Dallas Keuchel. Both dominated and it was just a question of who would blink first, if at all. It was Keuchel who blinked first as he never recorded an out in the seventh. He gave up a single, a double, a hit batsman and a single when AJ Hinch had seen enough. Keuchel left the game with men on first and second and a 2-0 deficit. Pat Neshak came on and promptly gave up a run on two sac flies that got the runners to 2nd and 3rd with the first one and the second scoring the man on 3rd. When the dust cleared on the top of the 7th inning Houston trailed 3-0 and you just knew, the way Houston was flailing at the baseball on offense there was not a snowball's chance in hell Houston would come back. Greinke and the Arizona relievers had Houston swinging wild at pitches not even close to the strike zone. The whole team failed to show any plate discipline at all. The Astros only managed 5 hits and only walked -- oh yeah -- they didn't walk at all during the game. So, the winning streak ends a 5 but I'm not complaining because it's been a good run lately and maybe yesterday's game was an anomaly. You just don't run into a Zack Greinke every day. It was really bad luck for Keuchel who pitched well for six innings and in the end he only truly gave up 2 runs. I don't count the run Neshak allowed even though it was Keuchel who put the man on, it's the reliever's responsibility to stop the bleeding. I think even though the man may have been put on by the previous pitcher the reliever should get charged with the run or runs so he is statistically held accountable. This makes two starts in a row that Keuchel has pitched like he did in 2015. After all you go 6+ innings and only allow 3 runs you've done your job. It certainly isn't Keuchel's fault the offense did nothing but whiff all day.

Houston plays host to the A's tonight through the weekend. It's interesting to note that Oakland didn't play yesterday so the tie between the two team was broken in the A's favor. They are alone in 3rd place 1/2 game ahead of Houston going into tonight's game. If, and it's a big if, Houston manages to sweep or at least win the series they will be in 3rd place alone. It would be the ideal situation if they sweep because it would put them up by 2-1/2 games and they would be alone in 3rd place in the division. Of course it could go the other way but I'm not even entertaining that possibility. I'm staying positive. I think. Houston sends Doug Fister (4-3, 3.86 ERA) to the mound in tonight's opener and Oakland counters with Jesse Hahn (2-2, 4.15 ERA).

 

BTW - I know we, as Astros fans are a little down about yesterday's loss but consider how the folks in San Diego feel. After 5 innings against Seattle yesterday the Padres were ahead by a score of 12-2. Looked pretty good for the home team until the wheels blew completely off the car. Seattle scored 5 runs in the 6th tightening the score to 12-7. Okay, that inning hurt but they were still 5 runs up with 3 innings to play. No worries, right? The coup de gras was in the 7th inning when San Diego stood and watched the Mariners score 9 times to take a 16-12 lead in the game. Get this, after the first 5 batters in the inning the Padres still led by 5 and had two out with the bases loaded then the roof caved in. The Mariners hit seven straight singles scoring all nine runs in the inning before Robinson Cano made the last out of the inning on a ground ball to 2nd base. A total of 13 batters went to the plate for Seattle in the inning and the Padres used 3 different pitchers in the inning. The win was the largest comeback win in Mariners history and the 29 runs was the most ever scored at Petco Park in San Diego. You think Houston has its problems, how would you like to try to explain a game like that to someone? Maybe our troubles aren't that bad after all. The Padres scored an oh-by-the-way run in the bottom of the 7th but it wasn't enough as the game ended with the Mariners beating San Diego 16-13. Ouch.

[eagle eye]

Wow. Houston exploded for 7 runs in the first inning of the series opener with Oakland and they never looked back. They were substituting players by the 5th inning after they had extended their lead to 12-0. Every player who batted last night except Luis Valbuena got at least one hit. You could tell Valbuena was frustrated too because after his last couple of at-bats he threw his bat to the ground. I think it's safe to say he was embarrassed because he couldn't connect on one ball. He did contribute though working 2 walks and scoring a run. In the end Houston bombed Oakland by a final score of 12-2. Fister got the win upping his record to 5-3 and lowering his ERA to 3.51. He went 6 innings and allowed no runs on 4 hits with 2 walks and 3 K's. Evan Gattis was the star of the offensive show going 4-5 with a home run. He drove in 4 runs, scored a run and he had no walks or strike outs. It was a nice win breaking a 5 game winning streak by the A's and in the process Houston took 3rd place alone in the division. Now, while I'm happy Houston won it always worries me when they score runs like they did last night because it never seems to fail that they will get shut down today and lose in a 3 hit shutout. Oh wait, that already happened to Houston on Thursday. It will be Collin McHugh (5-4, 4.82 ERA) going against Oakland's Kendall Graveman (2-6, 5.09 ERA). The game begins at 3:10 this afternoon and the way the weather looks it might be the only thing to do this afternoon.

 

I went back and looked because it has occurred to me that Evan Gattis has been catching a lot lately. So Gattis has caught 5 of the last six games and Houston has gone 5-1 in those games. I'm not saying it's all been Gattis but how many backup catchers catch 5 days in a row when the starter is not injured? In his last 7 games Gattis has been hitting .267 with 2 HR's, 7 RBI's and he's scored 5 runs. Could AJ Hinch be sending a message to Jason Castro and the rest of the team that if you don't hit the ball you'll ride the pine? If he is I'm glad to see him try to light a fire under these guys and it seems to be working.

 

Jake Marisnick started the season out soooooo freaking bad at the plate. A couple of weeks ago his batting average bottomed out at .048 as of May 12 but in the last three weeks he's been hitting the ball much better. Much better. He has actually raised his BA to .192 which ain't great but when you consider where he was it's pretty darn good. Since May 13 when he went 1-4 getting his first home run of the season his BA have been steadily climbing. He has raised his BA up from that low of .048 to .192, that's 144 points, which isn't bad. When Carlos Gomez came off the DL on Tuesday it hasn't cost Marisnick any playing time because AJ Hinch saw Jake hitting the ball much better and deserved the playing time. Jake has always been an above average fielder with a cannon for an arm so with him on the field the defense is much better. I'm glad to see things turn around for him and I hope he keeps it going.

 

Tony Kemp is another guy who is a nice surprise. Since he came up in early May he's hit .226 and played some nice defense. He has been a nice asset for the Astros and he's produced despite limited playing time. By contrast Tyler White, who started the season red hot has kind of settled down to be what he is, a talented rookie. His .223 BA is indicative of a player who was pretty good in AAA finding out that life in the bigs is not as easy. I think White will be okay. He reduced his strike outs from 22 in April to 18 in May which is a good sign. White didn't strike out much in the minors because he was good at making contact putting the ball in play making the defense earn an out. I think both White and Kemp will be good players but we have to remember they are still rookies.

 

Another guy we need to be patient with is Carlos Correa. He still hasn't played a full year of big league baseball and the media is anointing him the next Astros Hall of Famer. Correa is still only 21 years old. He started out the season pretty well as he finished April with a .271 BA but he struggled in May as his BA fell to .239 for the month. He has done much better lately hitting .360 in his last 7 games with 8 RBI's and 4 runs scored. We have to remember how young Correa is and understand he's still just learning the big league game. He takes too many good pitches and he strikes out too much but he will get better. You just forget how young this roster is. We all need to lighten up on the expectations a little bit as we understand this team is going to get better.

 

Just one last thing. How good has our starting pitching been? I don't have time to look up all the numbers but it seems like Houston get one quality start after another and there are very few games where Houston isn't right there with a chance to win which they have been doing much more of lately. For the most part the bullpen has been pretty darn good too. All the gears haven't started to mess just yet but as long as you have good pitching you have a real chance of making some noise in your division and in the league.

[eagle eye]

Houston won yesterday by a score of 6-5 clinching the series win over the A's. It was the 5th time since May 11th that a game should have ended after nine innings that didn't. Luke Gregerson blew yet another save yesterday allowing a game tying home run to former Astro Jed Lowrie. To add insult to injury it was Lowrie's first homer of the season. After the game Gregerson said Collin McHugh told him that the team still has faith in him. That's kind of what team mates say when you struggle but when Lowrie's ball flew over the right field wall George Springer hung his head and leaned against the right field wall spoke volumes about the frustration over Gregerson's recent struggles.

The heroes of the game yesterday offensively were Colby Rasmus who went 2-4 for the game. His second hit, also his second double of the game, came in the bottom of the 12th setting up another hero, Carlos Correa, to get his 3rd walk off hit in his young career driving in Rasmus from 3rd to win the game. Rasmus also contributed a gem of a defensive play in the top of 12th. Jed Lowrie smacked a ball to deep left which Rasmus missed catching but he recovered so quickly he was able to grab the ball bare handed and throw out Lowrie with a perfect strike to 2B. This was the final out of the inning and you could see the frustration on Lowrie's face who just knew he had hit a double. He was truly shocked to be thrown out when he believed in his heart he had a lead pipe cinch double. It was a really nice play by Rasmus. The Astros finish up this home stand and the series with Oakland today beginning at 1 o'clock. Lance McCullers (2-1, 4.79 ERA) goes against Oakland's Sonny Gray (3-5, 6.19 ERA). Gray has been a very good pitcher for the A's until this year when he's struggled. He is being activated today off the DL. He's missed some starts because of a pulled muscle in his chest so hopefully there will be enough rust on him to allow the Astros a window to score some runs. Gray is 4-1 lifetime against the Astros. Houston needs this win today to maintain their momentum going into the series with Texas beginning tomorrow night.

 

Yesterday in pre-game batting practice the team had an extra target to shoot at. Somebody on the team parked Tyler White's white Range Rover at the warning track in front of Tal's Hill in center field. Carlos Gomez even knocked a ball off the roof of the vehicle.

 

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/06/04/182106076/astros-pranked-tyler-white

 

During the celebration of Correa's walk off hit yesterday the pranking didn't end as this article from Astros.com shows.

 

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/06/04/182181922/jose-altuve-steals-jake-marisnicks-hat-after-astros-win

[eagle eye]

It took only 9 innings for Houston to complete the sweep of the A's yesterday and the 5-2 win came with both the long ball, Carlos Gomez and Evan Gattis both hit solo homers to erase an early 2-0 lead in the 5th and 6th innings respectively. Houston played small ball to score 2 runs, one in the 7th and one in the 8th to take a 4-2 lead. In 8th inning Houston also got another insurance run to push the lead to that final 5-2 score. With a run in and the bases loaded with 2 outs Colby Rasmus hit a lamp duck to the left of the pitcher's mound about half way between home and mound. The A's pitcher, Marc Rzepczynski, slightly overran the ball and he reached between his legs grabbing hold of the ball. He tried to wheel around and throw out Rasmus at first but he completely lost his balance and fell to the ground without a throw. Jake Marisnick scored from 3B giving the Astros a somewhat comfortable lead. Now, comes the test. Houston travels to Arlington to face a 4 game series with the Rangers. The same Rangers who lead the division by 3 games after kicking Seattle's helpless ass over the weekend. The same Rangers that have not lost to Houston in 6 games this season. It doesn't look good which is a shame because the Astros had a pretty damn good week overall.

Houston started out in Arizona for the first half of a 4 game home and home by winning both games in Phoenix. They returned to Houston on Wednesday and took the next game against the D-Backs but they lost the finale. A 3 games to 4 series win was a good thing as Houston headed into the weekend series with Oakland. The subsequent sweep was good for so many reasons but mainly because it put some space in the division race with the A's and it also gives them some momentum as they face Texas. Houston is 8-2 in their last 10 games as are the Rangers with both teams far and away better than the other 3 teams in the division. The Astros are alone in 3rd place in the division and because of their recent hot streak they are but 2 games under .500 with a 28-30 record. Houston needs to at very least split the 4 games with Texas. It would be awesome if Houston can win 3 games. I'm not even considering a sweep of the Rangers because that just isn't going to happen. In reality, I just want the split and if they get it I'll be happy.

[puddin tane]

#kengilessucks-theastrosaretherangersbitch

[eagle eye]

#kengilessucks-theastrosaretherangersbitch

 

LO-freaking L! It just wasn't Ken Giles that sucked. Carlos Correa had a routine double play right in front of him until he did his best juggling act that delayed the start of what should have been an inning ending double play only managed to get the lead runner allowing Adrian Beltre to reach first base which set up Redneck OH-der (Notice I refuse to refer to Rougned Odor by his real name--notice I choose to pronounce his last name the same way you pronounce the word describing a bad smell. Such is my disdain for this guy.) Truth be told Mike Fiers continued a trend Astros starters have shown lately giving up runs in the 1st inning before rebounding and eventually winning the game. For whatever reason nobody seems to be able to explain Houston can't beat these mother effers. Fiers gave up 3 runs in the first but Jose Altuve got to Colby Lewis for a 3 run homer, his first round tripper in a while, that tied the game at 3. In the seventh Houston actually took a 5-4 lead but you just knew the Astros wouldn't be able to hold it. The lead didn't even last a half inning as the previously unhittable Michael Feliz gave up the tying run in the bottom of the 7th. It's all very frustrating and adds yet another log on the fire of my dislike of the Rangers. Below is the recap of the game from Astros.com that included video of Correa's juggling act in the 9th inning.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/182558680/astros-make-costly-mistakes-in-one-run-defeat

[eagle eye]

The Astros failed yet again to beat the confounded Rangers. The had their chances but I don't know if it's pitching (Cole Hamels was on the mound for seven innings) or just bad luck or the simple fact Texas just played better. It wasn't as though Houston didn't have their chances. They got the lead off runner on base in 6 of the 9 innings but they ended up going 3-9 with RISP and they stranded a total of 7 base runners. The 4-3 loss was a big kick in the gut for the second time in two nights. As for last night, I have to give a measure of blame to AJ Hinch. Dallas Keuchel went 7 innings and had thrown 102 pitches. It was time to get him out of the game. It was the kind of performance that was old school Keuchel. In those 7 innings he had given up just 2 runs on 7 hits, no walks and 8 K's. After retiring the first batter in the 8th Keuchel gave up a hit, a 2 run homer to Ian Desmond and another base hit and his knight was over. Instead of taking 7 innings of really good work on 102 pitches Hinch pushed Keuchel's luck and gave him the 8th to the detriment of the team. That wasn't Hinch's only mistake. I have always had a problem with Hinch's dedication to keeping the righty vs lefty-lefty vs righty dynamic and last night when right handed pitcher Sam Dyson came in it was obvious in Hinch's mind to counter with a left handed pinch hitter. The situation was Houston had come within a run of the Rangers when Colby Rasmus led off the inning with a double. After a K by Marwin Gonzalez Carlos Gomez walked and Luis Valbuena singled up the middle scoring Rasmus and Gomez, in a rare heads up moment, went from 1st to 3rd on the play. So, Houston had men on 1st and 3rd with but one out. If Tony Kemp wasn't a rookie who had been in the bigs for but a few short weeks it would have been different but he came in for Jake Marisnick with his rookie enthusiasm and his rookie impatience. Dyson had been a bit wild and the situation called for a bit of patience. Let Dyson worry about that man on 3rd and try to control his pitches, that would the thinking of a veteran player but a rookie was trying like hell to score that man from third. Dyson threw 3 pitches to Kemp none of which were strikes. All 3 pitches were outside but it didn't stop Kemp from trying to lay down a bunt and make two ill-advised swings that he stood no chance of making contact with and thus was the end of a truly horrendous at bat by a guy who, IMO, should not have been put in that situation in the first place. George Springer ended his night of frustration with a K that ended the game. Springer's at bat was frustrating because he got 2 belt high fast balls down the middle of the plate. If a Houston pitcher made two mistakes like that to hitter that hitter would have made the offending pitcher pay dearly for the mistake. Springer watched the first one fly by for strike one and swung and missed the second one for strike three. Game over and loss #2 to the Rangers was in the books.

 

Tonight Houston sends Doug Fister up against Yu Darvish who is making his 3rd start for Texas as he just came off the DL after missing last season and most of this season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. His first two starts were both wins and his ERA is a healthy 3.38. Fister has been the Astros most consistent starter and he will have to be on top of his game tonight. Houston, quite frankly, blew two golden opportunities to steal two wins and the rest of the series will even more difficult now.

[puddin tane]

Not a big fan of some of Hinch's moves this year. Shoulda pulled Kuechel, but then again, who do you go to? The bullpen sucks.

 

neither kemp nor marisnick belong in the bigs...or gomez..or white..or valnobueno..

 

bat flips on warning track fly balls and singles? Bush league.

[eagle eye]

They finally did it, the Astros finally beat the stupid Rangers. The final score was 3-1 and in all honesty it should have been worse. The Astros had Jason Castro on 2B after a single and a stolen base. Jose Altuve singled up the middle but Castro got a terrible jump off 2B. 3B coach Gary Pettis sent Castro home anyway and he was thrown out by two or three steps. If you are going to send a guy the play at the plate should at least be close. It wasn't and I think Gary Pettis sucks as a 3B coach. That was in the 3rd inning. In seventh Marwin Gonzalez and George Springer singled and with men on 1st and 2nd and one out Altuve doubles down the left field line scoring both Gonzalez and Springer. I don't know if it was Pettis again or Altuve but the end result is the Rangers caught Altuve in no man's land between 2nd and 3rd and he was an easy put out. The Astros should have had a man on 2nd with one out but instead they ran themselves out of a base runner and had two outs. There were at least 3 fly balls that Ranger outfielders made really good plays to rob the Astros of extra bases. The Astros got good pitching from starter Doug Fister to closer Will Harris. The Astros sent 5 pitchers to the mound and, for the most part, they all did a good job. Michael Feliz rebounded from a shaky start on Monday night and Pat Neshak didn't suck which is a win for the Astros. Tony Sipp tried to suck but he was pulled before he could do too much damage and it was actually Neshak that pulled his butt out of the fire. Will Harris has been awesome so far this year and I'll say no more about that for fear of jinxing him.

It is very possible the Rangers got some bad news last night. In the 5th inning Yu Darvish threw a slow curve ball to George Springer for strike three but it appeared that Darvish had hurt himself. He walked Jose Altuve on 4 pitches and his fastball velocity was down nearly ten mph. After a coaching visit to the mound the wounded Darvish got Correa on a hard hit liner to deep right field for the 3rd out of the inning. That was the end of Darvish's night. 5 innings and only 76 pitches. Darvish is coming off Tommy John surgery last year and last night was only his 3rd start in the bigs since early last season. I don't like the Rangers but I hate to see a guy as talented as Darvish go down and I hope this is just a minor setback. The irony here is Darvish had been throwing his fastball in the upper nineties but he hurt himself throwing a 68 mph curve ball.

The Astros play the finale of their 4 game set this afternoon at 1. The Astros send Collin McHugh (5-4, 4.97 ERA) to the hill and his counter part is Martin Perez (4-4, 3.24 ERA). Despite the discrepancy in stats this is the best pitching matchup the Astros will have in this series. Perez is 4-0 in his last 4 starts and he is 4-2 overall against the Astros. McHugh hasn't faced the Rangers yet this season but he's one of only four Astros with at least 4 wins against them (4-0, 3.99 ERA) in his career. The bottom line is Houston has a real chance of getting out of Arlington with a split and that's all I really wanted before the series began on Monday.

Interesting factoid: Since August 14, 2014 only Jake Arrieta (35), Clayton Kershaw (32) and Zack Greinke (32) have more wins than Collin McHugh (31). Notice that's since 2014 so almost 2 years worth of starts. Pretty impressive stuff for a guy who doesn't have impressive stuff. I guess that is not true, he has impressive stuff but he's not dominating like the first 3 guys on the list.

[eagle eye]

Houston is getting out of Arlington and I'll bet they are glad to be rid of the place. After losing yesterday afternoon's frustration fest by a score of 5-3 and also losing their star shortstop to an ankle injury for an undetermined amount of time the Astros are lucky to get out of north Texas alive. They lost the game, they lost the series 3 games to 1 and they lost their shortstop. The classic lose-lose-lose situation. Collin McHugh chose a bad time to suck going just 3.2 innings allowing 7 hits and a walk with 6 K's giving up 4 runs. The offense sucked but that isn't anything new and so many other sucks against the Rangers I won't take time, or subject myself to the frustration, to list. Leaving Arlington is a pleasure I'm sure. Screw the Rangers. The one good thing to hang your hat on is the fact that losing 3 out of the last four games didn't hurt Houston in the standings in terms of their hold on 3rd place because the Angels were swept in a 4 game series with the Yankees and the A's have lost 5 in a row meaning Houston actually gained a game on both of them by virtue of their lone win against the Rangers. Small victories. But, another loss is losing another 2 games to the Rangers for the division. They came in 7 back of the Rangers and they leave 9 back. Ideally, you take things step by step so with that in mind Houston is taking aim at 2nd place in the division as they have made up 2 games on Seattle who have lost 4 of their last 10 games and hold just a 4 game lead over Houston. Watch out Seattle, we're coming for you!

The Astros move on to Tampa to take on the D-Rays for the weekend. The Rays are in last place in the AL East and it's a chance for Houston to regain some of the momentum they lost in Arlington. The Astros begin the series tonight with Lance McCullers (3-1, 4.23 ERA) and their struggling offense with face the Rays Matt Andriese (4-0, 2.52 ERA). Uh, oops. 4-0 on a last place team? As the Jetson's faithful dog Astro (see how I tied that in??!!!) used to say "Rah-Roh, Reorge!" (For those who never saw The Jetsons Astro cold talk but every word started with R - so Astro was trying to say ah-oh, George) I couldn't be more worried considering the Astros won't have one of their top 3 hitters out of the lineup. If it's me I move Altuve to 3rd in the batting order, keep Springer in the leadoff spot and use Tony Kemp as the 2 hitter. It protects Kemp enough that he stands a good chance of seeing good pitches to hit. What Houston really needs at this point is for either Evan Gattis, Colby Rasmus or Luis Valbuena to start hitting up to their potential because the middle of the Astros lineup is pretty bad. You cannot say guys who go oh-fer or 1 for 4 are getting the job done. If at least two of these guys hit .270 you really have something. It's not worth the trouble if all they do is hit .240-ish. #theastrossuckagainsttherangers

[eagle eye]

#astrosarechokingdogs

 

You can spread the blame for Houston's 4-3 loss to Tampa last night but the bottom line is the team choked. They had every chance to win the game and they blew it--big time. Forget that Lance McCullers sucked at the beginning of the game allowing 4 runs in the first two innings and he was a replay away from making it 7 runs as a potential 3 run bomb by Evan Longoria was just foul. Longoria ended up hitting into a double play to end the inning and end another D-Rays scoring threat. Evan Gattis came up twice with the bases loaded and 2 out and choked both times. The first time he hit a weak pop fly to center and the other, in the bottom of the ninth with the game on the line, he hit a slow roller to short that made the SS throw weakly off balance and Gattis still couldn't leg out the hit. Don't forget Colby Rasmus strike out on 3 pitches just before Gattis in the ninth. All Rasmus had to do was make contact and the tying run scores but it was not to be. Aside from the scare in the 4th McCullers pitched well except for the 1st and 2nd innings. He just has to figure out a way to not suck to start a game.

I was right about moving Jose Altuve to the 3 hole in the batting order but I was wrong about Tony Kemp taking Altuve's old spot hitting 2nd. Instead AJ Hinch went with Marwin Gonzalez and the top of the order, 1 thru 4 ,had a good night but they couldn't get a hit when it was needed to score runs. Even Rasmus who went 2-5 couldn't get a hit when it mattered in the 9th. The old bug-a-boo that kills Houston raised its ugly head yet again as Houston went 3-10 with RISP and they stranded 11 base runners on the night.

The Astros play this afternoon sending Mike Fiers (3-5, 5.00 ERA) to the mound and Tampa counters with Chris Archer (4-7, 4.73 ERA). The game starts at 3:10 this afternoon.

The one good thing is the Rangers playing in Seattle lost 7-5 to the M's. In fact, every team in the division lost yesterday except Seattle. Small victories.

[eagle eye]

The Astros won for the first time in 13 games in Tampa. For the D-Rays it was the longest such streak against any team so Houston finally got that monkey off their back. The 4-3 win was hard fought all the way but they got it done. Even with the previously unhittable Will Harris closing it was a struggle. Harris allowed his first run in like forever and would have allowed more if the Astros hadn't completed a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat and the game. The Astros are still choking dogs because they had opportunities and it's my feeling that it's easier to blame the Astros for their failures than it is to give credit to the opposing team. After all the Rays are a last place team so it must be the Astros own fault. Flawless logic IMO.

Luis Valbuena has been hitting the ball much better lately. He went 1-4 yesterday but that one was a solo HR that provided the final margin of victory so I guess you'd have to say he was clutch yesterday. The fact is over his last 7 games he's hitting .409 and his last 15 games he is hitting .294. Not bad and it seems to be over an extended time frame. From May 6 when he was hitting a season low .175 he has raised his BA to .242. It's a nice contrast to Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus who can't seem to hit their asses with either hand much less both. Gattis is hitting a weak .220 while Rasmus is just slightly better at .222. The guy who is really struggling is Tyler White. His BA continues to plummet as he is currently hitting .213 and he doesn't seem to have much of a clue at the plate. He's also run into some bad luck. Yesterday he slapped a line drive that would have been extra bases but it went right to the first baseman for an out.

Guess who is leading the team in strike outs. Never mind, you won't get it because three players are tied for the team lead in that category. Carlos Correa, Colby Rasmus and George Springer all have 68 K's on the season. I think all the success the Astros had hitting home runs last season has tainted their swings. Correa especially but he's just celebrated his first anniversary as a big leaguer back on June 11. For all intents and purposes he is still a rookie. Same with White but it doesn't help when they continually have bad at-bats. I still don't like the Astros hitting coach.

 

Dallas Keuchel (3-8, 5.44 ERA) faces off against the Rays Matt Moore (2-4, 5.56 ERA) today at 12:10. Keuchel is coming off a good outing that could have been great if AJ Hinch hadn't let Keuchel pitch a very unfortunate 8th inning against the Rangers. If Keuchel exits after 7 he allows just 2 runs but instead he allows 3 more hits to his total and 2 more runs that ended up costing the Astros a win and Keuchel yet another loss. Keuchel has had 3 quality starts in a row with but one win to show for all his work. He is 1-2 in those games but if he could get some run support the story would be different. The problem is none of the Astros starters have been getting any run support lately. You wonder if that is going to change any time soon.

[eagle eye]

The fact that Dallas Keuchel and the Astros defense had a major meltdown in the 5th inning yesterday doesn't really matter even though that meltdown provided Tampa with the runs to win the game. The fact is, if everything stayed the same and Keuchel only allowed 1 run instead of 5 it wouldn't have mattered, the Astros would still have lost. Why? Because the offense was offensive yesterday. I could give the Rays Matt Moore credit for a game well pitched but eff that. I am not going to say it's all pitching when the guy pitching is 1-4 in his last 5 starts and has an ERA over 5. THAT guy isn't tossing a 2 hit, 2 walk shutout. Unless, of course, the team he's pitching to seems to need a seeing eye dog at the plate. What's even worse is both hits came from the same guy, Jose Altuve. The two walks at least were worked by two different players, Tyler White and Jason Castro but it didn't matter because the rest of the Astros lineup just plain sucked. Not just at the plate but in the field as well. Jose Altuve and Luis Valbuena both committed errors that cost the Astros in that disastrous 5th inning but there was enough boneheadedness to go around. It was just a sad way to spend a rainy afternoon.

 

Houston travels to St Louis to take on the Cardinals tomorrow night. Houston will be sending its newest bestest pitcher Doug Fister to the mound with his gawdy 6-3 record and his 3.34 ERA to face off against the Cardinals LHP Jaime Garcia (4-5, 3.89 ERA). Both guys have had 12 starts on the year but Fister has enjoyed a little more success. Don't be surprised if Houston isn't shut out again. Then again, they have been decent after a day off so who knows? #lordaretheseguysfrustrating

 

After losing the series to Tampa it just apt way for Houston to cap off a crappy week of baseball. First, they lose 3 of 4 to Texas then they lost 2 of 3 to Tampa giving them a 2-5 record for the week. This was after a couple of really good weeks when they climbed out of the cellar in the AL West to being alone in 3rd place in the division as the week began. Now, Houston is still alone in 3rd place but only because the Angels and A's suck even worse than the Astros. Last season you could count the AL West as one of the toughest divisions in baseball but this season, not so much. Houston did lose 3 games in the division race to the leading Rangers who can't seem to lose especially to division foes. The Rangers took 2 of 3 against Seattle this past weekend. The Astros are their own worst enemy. Their starters give up too many runs particularly in the 1st two innings and the bats couldn't be colder if Mr Freeze shot them with his freeze gun. On Saturday there was an article on Astros.com about how the bats were heating up after a Friday night 4-3 win. To be fair it was just acknowledging that Houston had finally scored more than 3 runs in a game against Tampa but this morning one of the articles about the game yesterday talked about how the Astros bats had cooled off. Sheesh, if I can see that irony everybody can and it's a little lame of the writers on the website to have done this. #notpayingattentiontowhatthehellisgoingon Houston is in for an interesting week as they go interleague Tuesday and Wednesday playing the Cardinals, who seem to be struggling as much as Houston, followed by a home series against the Reds. Two days off this week should benefit the Astros who have just completed a stretch of 20 games without any days off. They certainly played the Rays this weekend like a team who needed a break.

 

The 2016 MLB Draft is in the books and in less than 2 days of the completion of the draft Houston has agreed to terms with 6 of them. The team has not officially announced that there have been deals made. They won't do that until the players pass their physicals. It's a nice start for the Astros who, under the new signing rules in baseball need to be done by mid July rather than mid August under the old system.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/183494452/astros-agree-to-deals-with-draft-picks

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/183668498/ronnie-dawson-jake-rogers-agree-to-terms?topicid=167757330

[eagle eye]

Houston has agreed to terms with their fourth round draft pick, LHP Brett Adcock from the University of Michigan. The official announcement won't come until after Adcock passes his physical in Orlando today and if he passes that he will go to short season Class A Tri Cities for the summer. This makes the 7th of the Astros top 10 draft picks who have agreed to terms. The Astros, as do all MLB teams, have until mid July to sign their players.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/183861628/astros-brett-adcock-agree-to-contract-terms

 

After sitting out 3 games because of a sprained ankle Carlos Correa is slated to return to the Astros lineup in St Louis tonight.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/183609798/carlos-correa-progressing-after-ankle-sprain

 

The Astros have a 2012 draft pick, Brady Rogers, who is really showing something at AAA Fresno. In his last 4 starts he is 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/183866362/brady-rodgers-pitching-well-at-astros-triple-a

 

The Oakland A's did what nobody else can seem to do in the AL West and that's beat the Rangers. In fact they opened a can of whoop ass in Oakland and beat the Rangers 14-5. The A's win coupled with an Angels loss flipped the bottom of the division standings with Oakland now in 4th place and the Angels now the cellar dwellers. The Angels lost their series opener to Minnesota 9-4 last night. Houston and Seattle were off. Everybody is in action tonight and that includes Houston who had an official off day yesterday and they also obviously took Sunday off too losing to Tampa 5-0 in a total give up game.

[eagle eye]

Houston beat a red hot St Louis Cardinals team 5-2 last night mainly because Doug Fister was just short of awesome. If he had been awesome it would have been 5-0 but who's nit-picking here? The fact is Fister pitched 7.1 innings allowing the 2 runs on 5 hits but to demonstrate how efficient he was, when AJ Hinch pulled him in the 8th he has only thrown 87 pitches. It's very possible that Fister could have gone the distance but it was also the longest outing of the season for him so that could be why Hinch pulled him when he did. Tony Sipp and Ken Giles each got an out to close the 8th and Will Harris got the save. It was clearly Fister's show however. Besides pitching a whale of a game he also laid down a beauty of a sac bunt in the 3rd to move men on 1st and 2nd up 90 feet in the 3rd inning. He laid down an equally nice bunt in the 5th but it was well played by the Cards 3B Johnny Peralta and Marwin Gonzalez, who was on 2B, could not advance. By holding Gonzo at 2nd Peralta almost lost Fister at first but he made the throw at the last minute and got him. Fister also hit a 2 run double in the 7th to pad a 3-2 lead at the time and it provided the final margin of victory for Houston. Clearly last night Doug Fister was the Astros MVP. Colby Rasmus homered to give the Astros a 2-1. In fact, Rasmus, who batted 6th last night followed by Carlos Gomez, Marwin Gonzalez and Fister accounted for every run scored and all but one of the Astros RBI's. George Springer got the other RBI on the night as the bottom of the batting carried the day, or night, for Houston.

Houston plays one more in St Louis before returning to Houston for a weekend series against Cincy. Tonight Collin McHugh (5-5, 5.22 ERA) faces off against Adam Wainwright (5-4, 5.21 ERA). The game is going to start an hour earlier tonight, at 6:15 PM. Why? I don't know.

 

> Fister is now 7-3 on the season and the Astros have won the last nine games he's started since May 1st.

> Prior to last night's game Houston had to make a couple of roster moves.

1. Luke Gregerson was granted leave for a family emergency. He could miss from 3 to 7 games.

2 To replace Gregerson Houston brought 3B Danny Worth up from AAA Fresno and he was in the lineup last night batting 2nd for Houston. He when 1-4 on the night with no walks and most importantly no strike outs.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/184034284/astros-callup-danny-worth-luke-gregerson-away

 

> Carlos Correa was back in the lineup after missing three games due a bad ankle he hurt in the final game against the Rangers last Thursday. Correa went oh-fer with 2 K's batting cleanup. It was interesting to note that Altuve remained 3rd in the batting order even with Correa's return. It almost seems that the cleanup spot in the Astros lineup is a black hole for anyone hitting in that spot. It's fried Rasmus and Evan Gattis who have each tried to man that spot in the lineup. Somebody has got to crack the code in that spot soon because you can't have a cleanup hitter who can't hit.

[eagle eye]

What the hell is going on?! Houston was supposed to get and day of rest and go into the series with Cincy recharged and ready to go. Oh yeah, I forgot, this is the Astros we're talking about. What was I thinking. First they make a guy with a nearly 6 ERA look good by banging out 8 hits but scoring only 2 runs. Pat Neshak was up to his old tricks again as he crapped all over a nice outing by Lance McCullers who went 6.2 innings and he gave up only 2 runs on 8 hits. Yet another quality start by the Astros rotation. Neshak couldn't take the late inning heat I guess because he gave up 2 runs on 2 hits in the top of the 11th and Houston responded with nada, zip, zero in the bottom of the inning to lose the series opener 4-2. Sorry Carlos Correa who hit a solo HR to lead off the 8th to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Sorry Carlos Gomez who got the other Astro RBI in 6th by singling in Marwin Gonzalez. Gomez, it must be noted, went 3-5 for the game raising his batting average to .210. It's the first time all year he's been above the Mendoza line. Colby Rasmus' BA continues to tumble as he went 0-4 on the night and Evan Gattis also went 0-4 as he is teetering on the bring of the Mr Mendoza's line at .205. Who in God's name has a DH who bats .205?

Today Houston played pitty-pat with the Reds again. This time making a kid who hadn't pitched an inning in the majors until today look like Cy freaking Young. Cody Reed went 7 allowing 4 runs on 6 hits, 3 BB's and 9 K's. Nine. Is that pathetic or what. #theseguyscan'thitshit There is a little hope I suppose. First George Springer got a walkoff base hit in the 11th to give Houston a 5-4 win. Definitely a good thing. 3B Jason Worth went 2-5 and is starting to look a little like he did when he was hitting .345 in AAA. Marwin Gonzalez is continuing to hit. I think he likes that 2 hole in the batting order. Jason Castro also got a couple of hits. Evan Gattis went 1-3 but it was a doozy as he hit a 2 run homer to give the Astros a 4-2 lead in the 7th. Never fear because Ken Giles came on in the 9th and he gave up a 2 run dinger to Cincy to tie the game and send the Astros into yet another extra inning game. Mr Giles owes Dallas Keuchel a big fat apology for taking a big dump on what should have been Keuchel's 4th win of the season. But noooooooooo. Keuchel's 5 hit, 2 run, no walks and 6 K's was just flushed down the toilet. At least Keuchel got a no decision out of it. Small victories. So Houston heads into the series finale tomorrow with Mike Fiers (4-3, 4.76 ERA) against a one armed, one legged, crosseyed monkey, oops. It's really going to be Brandon Finnegan (3-4, 3.61 ERA). Good pitcher but Houston will make him look better, of that I have no doubt.

 

On Friday the Astros activated P Luke Gregerson off the family leave list. To make room on the roster the Astros optioned the feel good story coming out of spring training, Tyler White, back to AAA Fresno. After starting the season being named AL Player of the Week for the first week of the season things just sort of slid downhill for him. Maybe this will send a a little wake up call to the rest of the roster that if you don't hit you will not be around long. I doubt it and maybe a trip to AAA will be just what the doctor ordered for White. More at-bats and a better chance to work on his hitting that he wasn't getting in Houston. I really can't explain Rasmus or Gattis though. Both guys have just sucked the past 3 weeks. Both choking in RBI situations not even making contact but just striking the hell out. That's another thing, Houston is leading the majors in K's, by a comfortable margin. I hate their hitting coach. This all or nothing approach this team seems to have is driving the hell crazy. Houston has 658 K's and we're not even at the half way point of the season yet. The next team is Milwaukee with 647 and the next team after that is San Diego with 623. Are you feeling me yet? Sheesh, Elmer Fudd could give these guys better advice. If I'm the coach I tell these guys to cut back on their swings and just try to make contact and use the whole field. Park your ego a home and just be happy with singles. If you get a HR great! But stop swinging from your heels and let's try to hit .275 as a team and shoot for scoring 5 or 6 runs a game. Do that with the pitching we've been getting and we'll win most of those games. What do I know? I'm just a schmuck at a keyboard.