eagle eye Posted July 19, 2017 Author Posted July 19, 2017 Brad Peacock is becoming money as a starter. It makes deciding who will be bumped from the starting rotation a very hard decision for A J Hinch. With Collin McHugh coming back Saturday the initial rotation change is easy. Joe Musgrove is moving to the bullpen. Musgrove has struggled since coming off the DL, easy-peezy. Who get the hook when Dallas Keuchel returns then Mike Fiers and Peacock will have a little nail biting time. Both deserve to start so what does Hinch do? Peacock has been the name bandied about probably because Fiers has seniority. Who knows but, isn't this a really good problem to have? So Carlos Correa will be missing 6-8 weeks because he has a torn ligament in his thumb suffered while swinging at a pitch in Monday night's game. This totally sucks but the good news is he will be back in time to regroove his swing in time for the playoffs. Houston will likely use Alex Bregman at short and Marwin Gonzalez at 3B. Gonzalez' bat will help replace the loss of Correa's bat. That goodness Houston has quality depth. The team also brought up Collin Moran from AAA to add some depth on the bench. George Springer gave fans a scare with a hand injury last night and it reminded me that this whole magical season so far can be for naught if the injury monster comes to Houston for a most unwelcome visit. Please injury monster stay far, far away from Houston. Quote
eagle eye Posted July 22, 2017 Author Posted July 22, 2017 The competition between Mike Fiers and Brad Peacock for a spot on the starting rotation is a white hot item these days. Why? Because both have been pitching their asses off with one not a clear cut favorite over the other. Peacock was terrific in his, and the Astros, lone win over Seattle earlier this week and Fiers taking the hill on the road in Baltimore had a lot to live up to. Fiers was awesome last night in the Astros 8-7 win. He went 7 complete innings allowing just one run on six hits, a walk and 9 K's. When he left the game he had staked the Astros to a 7-1 lead. Can't ask more from your starter than that. You could ask a little more from your bullpen though. Michael Feliz came on in the 8th and he allowed a runs making the score 7-2. Collin Moran, who was called up from AAA Fresno on Thursday in the midst of a hot streak, hit his 1st ever big league home run in the bottom of the 8th to give Houston an 8-2 lead. Who would have ever thought that Moran's blast would end up being the game winner but, it was. James Hoyt, who has been drowning in a sea of his own ineptitude, continued his struggles. He came on in the 9th and promptly allowed 2 runs to score and he had two more base runners on when he got the hook. All that while recording just one out in the inning. On came Chris Devenski who gave up a 3 run shot to the O's Jonathan Shoop to make the score 8-7. Devenski settled down and got the next batter, slugger Chris Davis, who inexplicably was asked to bunt, giving the Astros a gift for a 2nd out. The move to have the power hitting Davis bunt will be something Orioles manager Buck Showalter have a lot of splaining to do. Ken Giles came in for Devenski to face the O's Mark Trumbo and Giles set Trumbo down with a K to end the game and earn him his 22nd save on the season. With James Hoyt continuing to struggle and Dallas Keuchel likely returning off the DL this week Hoyt probably should be the odd man out and be the one sent back to AAA. It's clear Hoyt has lost his mojo and a trip back to the minors seems like a necessary thing to help get his confidence back. Mike Fiers resurgence after a dismal first 9 games of the season is nothing short of remarkable. Fiers went 0-1 in 4 starts in April, and he went 1-1 in his first 5 starts in May. His struggled earned him a trip to the bullpen in favor of Brad Peacock who had been pitching well out of the bullpen all season and given Fiers' struggles earned him a shot at the starting rotation. Fate intervened however as Joe Musgrove went on the DL just a day or two after Lance McCullers went on the DL still leaving a spot open for Fiers. One more shot at redemption. Fiers pitching repertoire consisted of 5 pitches, the fastball, curve, change up, slider and cut fastball. In his first nine starts Fiers gave up a whopping 18 home runs and they all came off either the slider or the cutter. In a less-is-more strategy Fiers scrapped the slider and cutter and focused on the other 3 pitches and the result has turned the season around for him. Since May 30 Fiers has gone 6-2 and his record should be even better but he has been victimized by a shaky bullpen along the way. He was in consideration for AL Pitcher of the Month for June until his last start was derailed by Michael Feliz who allowed runners credited to Fiers score screwing up his ERA and saddling him with a loss and costing Houston the game. In his 10 starts since May 30 Fiers has also been very bullpen friendly going 7 innings 4 times and 6 innings another 3. From May 30 to now Mike Fiers has been the ace of the Astros staff. You could argue that Brad Peacock has been the ace because he has gone 8-1 since becoming a starter but Peacock has been the beneficiary of some incredible run support. In July the fewest runs scored by the Astros when Peacock pitched was 6 runs this past Tuesday against Seattle. Before that Houston scored 19 against Toronto, 16 against Atlanta, 6 against Oakland. Peacock only got 4 runs in a win against Oakland on June 17.... You get my point. My vote is for Fiers to remain in the rotation because he has seniority and all other things being equal that is the deciding factor for me. Peacock has already shown he can work out of the bullpen with success so it makes perfect sense. George Springer broke out of a 3-23 slump in a big way with a 3-5 performance last night. He is one player who did not benefit from the All Star break as he was on a torrid streak before the Mid-Summer Classic. With Carlos Correa out 6-8 weeks with his thumb injury it will be even more imperative that he hits well. Jeez, could Collin McHugh be living a more charmed life. Well, aside from that whole nerve thing in his pitching elbow that has caused him to miss the whole season so far. McHugh will get his first start of the season tonight in Baltimore but the good news is Baltimore is sending Chris Tillman to the mound. Why is that good for McHugh? Tillman is 1-5 in 12 starts this season with a 7.20 ERA in 55 innings pitched. His last outing, probably the best of the season was against Texas where he went 6 innings and 2 hits and one run in a no-decision. If Houston can jump all over Tillman early it could give McHugh enough breathing room to get through 5 or 6 innings without too much stress. Good to see McHugh back. Many people don't remember 2015 when Dallas Keuchel won the Cy Young with 20 wins on the season Collin McHugh was second in the bigs with 19 wins. He struggled last season but a return to that 2015 form would be a big boost for the Astros. The trade deadline is looming ever nearer. July 31st is it, just 9 days from now and Houston really, really needs a left handed reliever. I'm just saying, let's get a move on Jeff Luhnow! Quote
eagle eye Posted July 23, 2017 Author Posted July 23, 2017 Houston won 8-4 last night but just as important, Collin McHugh made his 2017 debut and he didn't look bad--for 4 innings. He got into a little trouble in the 5th and then it got worse. McHugh gave up HR's to Adam Jones and Jonathan Schoop and what made matters worse, they were both 2 run shots. So, all of a sudden, a 1-0 lead turned into a 4-1 deficit. McHugh was done after the Schoop's blast and I'm sure he would like to have a couple of pitches back but all in all I think he did okay. He did throw 4 shutout innings and he threw 77 pitches which is pretty good for his first major league outing of the season. It's a very encouraging sign and it's something to build upon for his next start. Both McHugh and Astros manager AJ Hinch agreed that McHugh pitched very well for the most part and McHugh even worked in a slider he learned to throw during his rehab. Brad Peacock taught McHugh the pitch and he used it pretty effectively to right handed batters last night. McHugh admitted he had trouble locating his fastball all night and the second home run to Schoop was thrown in a pouring rain. McHugh is back and I believe he's only going to get better. The offensive star of the game was Marwin Gonzalez who led the team going 2-2 on the night all in relief of Collin Moran who was hit in the eye by his own foul ball. Houston came right back after Baltimore scored the 4 runs in the 5th with a 5 run inning in the top of the 6th capped by Gonzalez 3 run homer giving the Astros a 6-4 lead. The Astros closed the gap on the O's 4-1 lead when Yuli Gurriel homered after Josh Reddick hit a ground rule double. Gurriel's homer made the score 4-3 at the time. Gurriel's homer was followed by a singles by Evan Gattis and Carlos Beltran. Gonzalez assumed Moran's count and he proceeded to bash that 3 run homer. In the article linked below is a recap of Gonzalez heroics and there is video of Gonzalez' homer and the play where Moran was injured. I feel bad for Moran, the guy just got called up and night before he got his first big league home run then this fluke play happens. I would be willing to bet he misses time with this injury if for nothing else but being in the concussion protocol. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/243833342/astros-colin-moran-injured-on-foul-to-face/ Another guy who deserves mention is Francis Martes who came into the game in relief of McHugh and he tossed 2.1 scoreless innings to earn the win. Luke Gregerson pitched a scoreless 8th and Joe Musgrove came in and pitched a scoreless 9th to salt the victory away for the Astros. It is very encouraging seeing Musgrove pitch a perfect 9th after all the struggles he's had lately. He got the Orioles out 1-2-3 on two groundouts and a 3 pitch strikeout of Welington Castillo. Tonight Lance McCullers will try to rebound after his last start, a no-decision after he went only 4.2 innings allowing 6 hits and 5 runs, 4 earned against Seattle, a game Houston eventually lost. Since coming off the DL on June 24 McCullers has struggled going 1-1 in 4 starts with an ERA of 7.02 and he hasn't gone more than 5 innings in any of those starts. His mound opponent Dylan Bundy is looking to build on a quality start in his last game against the Rangers. Bundy's start was part of the first back to back quality starts since June 1 and 2 as the O's swept the Rangers in four games earlier this week. Quote
eagle eye Posted July 24, 2017 Author Posted July 24, 2017 The Astros won the series between them and the Baltimore Orioles but they should’ve swept the Orioles. They lost yesterday’s game by a score of 9-7 largely because Astros pitching sucked. The Astros used 4 pitchers yesterday and the only one not to give up runs was Michael Feliz and he only pitched 1/3 of an inning in relief of a really ineffective Lance McCullers. Let’s break down McCullers first since he was starting and was responsible for 6 of the Orioles 9 runs. He gave up 9 hits and 2 walks and he hit two batters with only 3 K’s in just 4.2 innings of work. It was the 3rd straight game McCullers failed to make it out of the 5th inning of a game. McCullers started the season well, even winning AL Pitcher of the Month for May but the chinks in his armor began showing up in late May. His last start before he went on the DL for a back problem was more “McCullers-like” when he went 7 innings allowing just one earned run with 2 walks and 8 K’s on June 8. McCullers was out 16 days with the back and since he’s come back from the DL it almost looks like he forgot how to pitch. He is 0-3 in July with a 9.88 ERA. Given how bad McCullers has been and how good Mike Fiers and Brad Peacock have been when Dallas Keuchel returns from the DL this week (I hope) maybe it’s Lance that needs to go down to AAA. Chris Devenski has been terrific all season but since he was named to the AL All Star team he has not been the overpowering, devastating pitcher he had been the first 3 months of the season. In his last 3 appearances, he has given up 3 runs, all homers, in just 3.1 total innings of work. Yesterday Devo allowed a solo shot by Mark Trumbo which tied the game at 6 in the 7th inning. Two out of his last 3 outings resulted in losses by the Astros. Is it because of overuse? Good question but one I wonder if that has all that much validity because he’s only pitched 58.1 innings this season in 40 appearances. When you count all the times he’s had to get warmed up in the bullpen and never actually come into a game the actual amount of wear and tear on his arm goes up a lot. Tough question after all. Luke Gregerson did what LG does from time to time – he stinks. He came on in the 8th yesterday and he gave up 2 runs, the winning runs in the game. Gregerson gave up 2 runs on 3 hits as he just basically failed to do his job very well yesterday. He will likely go 4 or 5 appearances before he does this again so that’s just what you get from Gregerson. Yesterday just wasn’t Houston’s day for pitching. Houston’s offense tried to save the day again as they overcame a 6-3 deficit to take a one run lead after 5-1/2 innings making the score 7-6 after a 4 run 6th inning. Jose Altuve had a 4-hit game including a 3 run HR in the 3rd to tie the game at 3. Marwin Gonzalez went 2-3 with 2 walks and Nori Aoki when 3-4 including a 3-run home run in the 6th to tie the game at 6. Other than those 3 and a contribution by Jake Marisnick that was it for Houston’s offense. Josh Reddick did have a sac fly that gave Houston a brief lead in the game but the rest of the Astros lineup when 0h-fer for the game. Oh well, you can’t win them all. For the week, Houston went .500 losing 2 of 3 to Seattle at home and winning this recent series over Baltimore. The Astros still own a commanding 17 game lead over 2nd place LAA, Seattle and Texas. The Astros also have the #1 seed in the AL by a wide margin, and yes, it’s time to start thinking about playoff positioning. August is just 8 days away and the trade deadline is just 7 days off. From here on out, the standings matter. The only thing Houston doesn’t have with a 65-33 record is the best record in baseball. That mark is still being held by the hated Dodgers with a 68-31 record. Eff the stupid Dodgers. Quote
eagle eye Posted July 25, 2017 Author Posted July 25, 2017 The Astros won 13-4 over the Philadelphia Phillies in a dominating performance by the Astros offense and especially by Jose Altuve who went 4-4 with a walk on the night. I didn’t realize it before last night when I looked up the standings that Philadelphia record-wise is the worst team in baseball. I just sort of assumed Philly was somewhere in the middle of the pack in NL East but such is not the case and I was worried about this trip to Pennsylvania for nothing. Houston should beat the Phillies and at very least take the series. Since I hate everything sports related about Philadelphia it causes me great joy to see them suck to the max. There was a downside to last night’s game and that was the fact that George Springer left after the 3rd inning with left quad discomfort. AJ Hinch said after the game that pulling Springer was precautionary and with the lead the Astros have in the division they can afford to conservative. Hinch did say Springer would not be in the lineup tonight and he’s day to day for the next few days. This is the great fear, that the injury monster will come to Houston for a visit. Just about the time the starting pitchers who have been on the DL start to come back the Astros begin to have issues with position players. Carlos Correa is already out with a bad thumb until mid-September and Colin Moran is out indefinitely with a broken face. Houston officially put Moran on the 10 DL Sunday with a facial fracture listed as the reason. There have been a couple of scares to other players recently as well. Please Mr. Injury Monster don’t come to Houston! If you must torment a team go to LA and hammer the Dodgers! Speaking of coming off the DL, Dallas Keuchel is tentatively scheduled to make his first start in two months this weekend in Detroit. Collin McHugh is slated to make his second start of the season in Detroit as well. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/244179152/ace-dallas-keuchel-nearing-return-to-astros/?topicId=27118380 To fill in for George Springer the Astros have called up their #4 prospect Derek Fisher and he will most likely be in the lineup tonight against Philly. Tyler White was called up yesterday to fill in for in for Colin Moran and he was in the lineup last night. White entered the game in the 4th inning after Springer went out with his quad injury. White went 1-4 with an RBI in his first action in the bigs this season. White played first base and Yuli Gurriel moved over to his most familiar position, 3B while Alex Bregman moved to short. Marwin Gonzalez, who had been at SS, moved to left field. Carlos Beltran who had been playing left field came out of the game and Nori Aoki came in for Springer and played right. Josh Reddick moved from right to center field meaning the Astros made 7 moves all to compensate for the loss of Springer. Gurriel played 3B for the first time all season and he looked like he had been playing third every day. With all that movement, there was only one error in the game and that was a throwing error by White who was trying to get a Phillies runner at 2B. The throw tailed toward the outfield side of the bag and pulled Alex Bregman off the base. If Bregman was as tall as Carlos Correa there would have been an out instead of an error. There was a 2 hour rain delay and both the starters in the game were not able to go more than the 3 innings they had pitched before the delay. Joe Musgrove came in for Brad Peacock and he did a terrific job. This is amazing considering his recent struggles but he went 3 full innings of 2 hit ball and he didn’t allow a run or a walk in his outing. He also got the win as Houston exploded after the rain delay scoring 5 runs in the top of the 4th to extend their 3-1 lead to 8-1. The only downer was in the 7th inning when Tony (Oh Shit) Sipp came in for Musgrove and he gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk. Another surprise was James Hoyt, who has been struggling more than anyone in the Astros pitching staff, pitched the final two innings and he did not allow a single run. He did give up 3 hits and a walk but that is nothing. That had to be a big confidence booster for Hoyt. Good for him. Please Jeff Luhnow, find a left handed reliever before the trade deadline. Counting today you only have 7 days to make a deal so let’s get cracking mister!! I hope you all are paying attention because you are witnessing historical greatness when Jose Altuve takes the field. Go to Wikipedia and look him up and just marvel at his accomplishments so far. He’s in his seventh full season in the league and people are already talking about him being in the Hall of Fame. Altuve had his second consecutive game with 4 hits last night as he went 4-4 with a walk before being pulled in the bottom of the 7th for Oh Shit Sipp in a double switch. As of right now Altuve is batting .507 in the month of July. That batting average is by far the highest BA for a month in MLB HISTORY. His road BA of .443 this season is the best since baseball integrated in 1947. Historic, I’m telling you. Appreciate this because it doesn’t happen often that you replace one HOF player with another at the same position. Houston was blessed to have Craig Biggio for 20 seasons and he deserved his trip to Cooperstown a couple of years ago. After 7 years it’s looking like Jose Altuve, who succeeded Biggio at 2B, is well on his way to Cooperstown as well. Altuve is currently batting .365 with an OPS of 1.005. Only Justin Turner of the freaking Dodgers has a higher set of number (.369-1.035) Altuve has more hits, HR’s, RBI’s and way more stolen bases than Turner making him the better hitter of the two IMO. Altuve is well on his way to his 4th Silver Slugger award and his 3rd AL Batting Title in 4 years. The next closest AL hitter to Altuve is Jean Segura of the Mariners who is hitting .329. If Altuve continues to hit like he has in July by the end of September we may be wondering if he will be the first player since Ted Williams of the Red Sox in 1941 to hit .400 or better for a season. How ‘bout them apples? Enjoy what you’re seeing folks because a player like Altuve doesn’t come along every day. Quote
eagle eye Posted July 26, 2017 Author Posted July 26, 2017 The Astros won 5-0 and there was not really any threat by the Phillies at any time during the game. Astros starter Charlie Morton when 7 innings allowing no runs obviously on only 3 hits with just one walk and 9 K’s. I think that last night was the best Morton has pitched all season as he extends his record to 8-4 for the season. It wasn’t like it was a cake walk because Morton struggled for 4 or 5 innings with his command which included hitting two batters. Tony Sipp pitched 1/3 of an inning (2 batters) as he got an out and allowed a double and that was all AJ Hinch was going to put up with from Sipp. Francis Martes finished off the 8th for Houston and Ken Giles closed out the ninth but with a 5 run lead it was not a save situation. Houston lost another starter last night as Alex Bregman hit a triple in the third but he tweaked his hamstring rounding 2B and he came out of the game. Bregman did score the Astros first run on an RBI SAC fly by Nori Aoki. For the 2nd night in a row the Astros played musical positions with the departure of Bregman from the game. Yuli Gurriel again went to 3B and Tyler White came in the game at 1B. It wasn’t the huge 7 position change from the night before but the key thing about all this is, the Astros have someone go out and the team doesn’t miss a beat offensively or defensively. This team is deep and on a night with George Springer still riding pine because of a tweaked quad the team still banged out 5 runs on 7 hits. The offense had one of its big innings in the 6th that began with a one out double by Jose Altuve. Josh Reddick single to plate Altuve and Yuli Gurriel singled after Reddick’s AB. Evan Gattis struck out but Marwin Gonzalez picked him up with an RBI single that scored Reddick from 2B making the score 3-0. Derek Fisher was up next and he singled scoring both Gonzalez and Gurriel who had pulled off a double steal to get them over to 2nd and 3rd. Derek Fisher was caught stealing 2B to end the inning but Houston had plated 4 runs in the inning and they now enjoyed a 5-0 lead. Derek Fisher not only had a nice game as a batter he made 2 really nice plays in center field that cost the Phillies runs both times. If Houston has interest in landing a starting pitcher or a left handed reliever it might cost a prospect like Fisher and it doesn’t hurt when a player that could be on the trading block plays well. It also makes it hard to let a player like that go. Quote
eagle eye Posted July 28, 2017 Author Posted July 28, 2017 (edited) Yesterday was an off day so today this post is dedicated to Jeff Bagwell. On Sunday he will be inducted into the ML Baseball Hall of Fame. There have been other players who were Houston Astros that are in the HOF. Guys like Nolan Ryan, Joe Morgan, Nellie Fox and Eddie Mathews but none of these guys played their entire careers in Houston like Craig Biggio and, as of Sunday, Jeff Bagwell. Nolan Ryan was beloved in Houston as he hailed from nearby Alvin, TX and was, for all intents and purposes, a hometown boy. He was there in 1980 when Houston went to the playoffs for the first time and they slugged it out with the Philadelphia Phillies in a 5 game series that went the distance and every single game went to extra innings. He was there in 1986 when the luckier than crap Mets beat Houston in 6 games in the NLCS. The final game went 16 innings when the Mets got 3 runs in the top of the 16th to take the lead and the Astros tried to respond scoring 2 runs of their own. With the tying and winning runs on base Kevin Bass struck out to end the game and the Astros season. 1980 was when I really formed a hatred of Pete Rose and 1986 was when I began to hate the blasted Mets. To this day, I am tickled to death that Rose never made the HOF and the Mets have spent 31 years in mediocrity. The dumbest move the Astros front office ever made was to allow Nolan Ryan to get away. Apparently, the Astros looked at Ryan’s age and they tried to underpay him. Dumbass move because Ryan pitched another 5 years and he threw 2 more no-hitters to set the all-time record for no-no’s at 7. Morgan went on to star for the Big Red Machine in Cincinnati while P Nellie Fox and 3B Eddie Mathews played at the end of their HOF careers in Houston. Now, speaking of Joe Morgan, there is a nice article by nationally renowned sports reporter Mike Lupica who interviewed Morgan about who could be the next HOF bound Astro, Jose Altuve. http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/244761854/joe-morgan-talks-about-jose-altuve I sort of digressed a little because I did say this post was all about the Bagwell. The following links are from Astros.com and they are all about a truly great baseball player and a guy who character on and off the field represented the Astros in the finest possible tradition. In my best Ed McMahon voice I’ll say, “Heeeeerrrrrre’s Baggy!” The first post is from former Astros relief pitcher Larry Anderson who, in August of 1990 was traded by the Astros to the Boston Red Sox for AA 3B Jeff Bagwell. That trade was pivotal in Bagwell career and Anderson is glad to be part of Baggy’s legacy. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/244802162/larry-andersen-on-hall-of-famer-jeff-bagwell/ The next post is from MLB.com’s Joe Posnanski who talks about Bagwell’s consistency and recounts what he believes in Baggy’s best game as big leaguer. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/244657474/jeff-bagwells-career-marked-by-consistency/ This final link is an interview with Nolan Ryan who will be in Cooperstown this weekend for the induction of Astros great Jeff Bagwell and his former battery mate at Texas Ivan Rodriguez. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/244802166/ryan-on-seeing-bagwell-rodriguez-inducted/ The end came too soon for Bagwell. He played for 15 years but the final two were disappointing for him as he battled a shoulder condition that ended up ending his career. I wish those last two years plus three more would have been granted to Bagwell. Any question about whether he deserved to in the HOF would have been dashed because a healthy Bagwell would have eclipsed 500 HRs and his RBI and runs scored totals would have left no doubt his deserved to be in the Hall. As it is when you look at what he accomplished in his career it’s truly amazing. Did you know that Bagwell is the only player in MLB history to record six seasons hitting 30 or more HR’s, driving in 100+ runs (RBI’s), Scored 100+ runs and recorded 100+ walks? Did you realize he is the only first baseman in history to hit 30 or more HR’s AND steal 30 or more bases? BTW, he did it twice. Beyond all the stats Bagwell was the best defensive first baseman of his era. He’s the first guy I ever saw get right in the batter’s face when he squared around for a bunt. If you haven’t played ball you can’t imagine how intimidating that is. He was the best at turning the inside-out double play, the 3-6-3 or 3-6-1 twin killing. Aside from the stolen bases category there really isn’t a day to day stat talking about base running but Bagwell was a great base runner. Despite not being blessed with a lot of speed he was able to stretch a single into a double or get from 1st to 3rd on a hit simply because he had great instincts and he knew when he could take the extra base. That’s how he could record 100 or more runs scored 9 times in his career. Jeff Bagwell was my son, Chris’, favorite player. He copied his batting stance when he played ball and he was a good hitter as a kid. Chris is in the army and won’t have any leave or you can bet your bottom dollar we’d be making it to Cooperstown for the induction ceremony. As it is, we are going to the Juice Box on Jeff Bagwell Hall of Fame Weekend next weekend when the Astros are back home from the current road trip. He is on 6 days of leave and he asked me to get tickets because he didn’t want to miss that opportunity to see Bagwell in person. Tonight, the Astros are in Detroit for the first game of a 3-game series. The significant thing about the game is it will feature Dallas Keuchel who will make his first appearance since June 2nd when he threw 6 shutout innings in an Astros win over the Rangers. Keuchel has missed due to a pinched nerve in his neck. He’s had two good rehab starts leading up to tonight’s return and he’s chomping at the bit to get back on the field. Detroit will send RHP Jordan Zimmerman (6-8, 5.75 ERA) to the hill. The game starts at 6:10 PM. Edited July 28, 2017 by eagle eye Quote
eagle eye Posted July 30, 2017 Author Posted July 30, 2017 I'll get the unpleasantness out of the way first, the Astros lost the Tigers 5-3 yesterday evening. Rookie pitcher Francis Martes basically took a shit all over Collin McHugh's really nice start. McHugh went 6 innings allowing just one run on 4 hits, 1 walk and 7 K's. The nice thing was he did all that in just 82 pitches. If it hadn't been just his second start of the season McHugh likely could have gone 8 innings considering the way he was pitching. As it was, McHugh was none too happy about having to come out of the game. I'm sure intellectually he understood but that is just how competitive people are -- they want to compete to the very end. Martes came into the game in the 7th inning and he just stunk. He faced 5 batters in the inning and he gave up 3 runs with 2 K's. Martes also hit the first batter he faced and uncorked a wild pitch that scored a run. He gave up an RBI double followed by a single and that's all AJ Hinch could stand. Martes was given the old heave-ho in favor of Chris Devenski who allowed an RBI single that scored the go-ahead run that was left on base by Martes. Houston went from a 3-1 lead to a 4-3 deficit in the inning. One silly run is nothing for this Astros lineup, right? Wrong. for the second day in a row the Astros bats were held in check by a half-asses pitcher with an ERA over 5. Like the day before Matthew Boyd came into the game sporting a 5+ ERA and like Boyd he pitched seven innings for the Tigers and both allowed just 3 runs. Unlike Friday night when Houston rallied from a 4-3 deficit to win 6-5 Houston had no such comeback in them yesterday. It was the first time in 20 games that Jose Altuve failed to get a hit snapping his 19 game hitting streak. Marwin Gonzalez kept his on-base streak alive as he now has 30 straight games when he's gotten on base. The Astros have now gone 60 straight with at least one double during a game. Houston's offense is in a bit of a slump right now. This was bound to happen at some point but it drives you crazy when you have seen them score runs in bunches on practically everyone and constantly come up short. The miracle is they keep winning somehow at least half the time. The Astros are now 8-6 since the All Star break but this struggling is in no small part due to the fact that since ASB Houston has lost George Springer for almost two weeks, lost Carlos Correa for 6-8 weeks and had Alex Bregman on the bench with a pulled hamstring. They also lost Colin Moran to a freak injury in which he fouled a pitch and the ball hit him in the face breaking a bone. He will be out indefinitely with that injury. It's hard to keep scoring scads of runs when you lose your leadoff hitter, your cleanup hitter and a major contributer -- 3 starters in all. It still sucks when the Astros lose. It doubly sucks when a pitcher, who is making a comeback after missing the entire year up until earlier this past week, comes in and pitches a great game only to see the bullpen blow up his fine effort in less than 10 minutes. We've got to let this go because it's Jeff Bagwell's HOF induction day! Baggy will go in the HOF with "Pudge" Rodriguez, Tim Raines and front office man, John Schuerholz and long commission of baseball Bud Selig. I don't like Selig, I think he was a gutless putz and it's such a self serving move by baseball it kind of makes me sick. That being said come 11 o'clock central time I will be parked in front of my TV to watch the 2nd home grown, home town player in Houston's history go into the HOF. It's 6 years overdue but at least he made it and I'm going to enjoy every minute. Quote
eagle eye Posted July 31, 2017 Author Posted July 31, 2017 I have one thing to say, this team has no sense of the dramatic. On a day when all time great Jeff Bagwell is inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame the Astros suffer their worst loss of the season. The Detroit Tigers beat Houston 13-1 and it was almost the Astros 2nd shutout in the past week. If not for an oh-by-the-way home run in the top of the 9th by Alex Bregman the Astros loss would have turned into humiliation on top of misery. Way to go guys. Today was just so disappointing on so many fronts. The Astros 60 game streak of doubles in a game ended. The announcers on the broadcast said that Marwin Gonzalez' 31 game streak of getting on base ended but that's not true. Gonzalez got on base by a fielder's choice so I'm not sure what the criteria is there. All I know is Houston is in a slump. When they pitch they don't hit. When they don't hit they don't pitch. When the starter pitches well the bullpen stinks. It's just a bogus journey right now. Hopefully, as they return to Houston for a home stand you hope this little bump in the road will right itself. Houston lost their first road series since April when Cleveland beat them up. They did split a 4 game series last month in Kansas City so it hasn't been all roses. Jose Altuve was hitting over .500 for the month of July when Houston went to Detroit but now he is hitting .484. I know, it's .4 freaking 84 which is phenomenal and still on pace to set an all-time record to a BA in a given month but I'm greedy and I don't think Jose can push his BA back above .500 with just one game left in the month. The Astros starting rotation over the weekend was less than impressive. Not completely a bust because of Collin McHugh's six innings of one run ball but Francis Martes crapped all over that that by allowing 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th. Houston only got 3 runs out of Dallas Keuchel who was obviously rusty. Judging by his outing he is 3 or 4 starts away from being his old self. Lance McCullers is still struggling. He did pitch 5 complete innings which he hasn't done since coming off the DL but he allowed 5 runs in bargain. He allowed 8 hits, 4 walks and he hit two batters. He pitched to two batters in the 6th but after walking the lead off guy and allowing a single after that AJ Hinch had seen enough. Joe Musgrove came on in relief of McCullers and he allowed a run to push the Tigers lead to 6-0. That was nothing compared to the 7th in which Tony (OH bloody Shit!) Sipp came on. He actually recorded an out while he was on his way to allowing 5 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. One of the 3 hits was a grand slam by Justin Upton that pushed the Tiger's lead to 11-0. In a give up move AJ Hinch saved some wear and tear on yet another reliever by sending Tyler White to the hill to pitch the 8th inning. White allowed a walk then a 2-run homer to James McCann to stretch the lead to 13-0. That was the final score of the game with nothing really great to talk about. Jose Altuve did rebound from his oh-fer night Saturday to go 2-4 but overall the offense was a disappointment. They stranded 8 base runners in the early innings when they had Tiger's starter Justin Verlander on the ropes and after Verlander settled in that was pretty much all she wrote. Houston finished up a 9 game road trip today and they finished 5-4 for the trip which is good but in 2017 Astros standards, it had to be a disappointment. In the past week Houston went 3-3 finishing with a .500 record for the second week in a row. Hopefully, being humiliated in Philadelphia and today in Detroit will help them kick start another winning streak. With Jeff Bagwell Hall of Fame Weekend being celebrated this coming weekend we'll see if they can rise up and put a stamp on what should be a joyous 3 days celebrating Houston's latest Hall of Famer. The Astros still own the best record in the AL by a big margin and they still hold a 16 game lead over Seattle and 18 game lead over the Angels and Rangers. What is driving me crazy is the pricks from La-la Land just won't lose. The Dodgers are currently on a 7 game winning streak and if they beat San Francisco tonight they will be 6 games better than Houston. Damn, I hate those damn Dodgers. July will be over tomorrow and the beginning of a 4 game series with the Tampa Rays. A chance to sleep in their own beds for the first time in almost two weeks and hopefully find where they lost their mojo. Many people feel like they lost that during the All Star break and judging how they has struggled since I am not inclined to argue. Time to right the ship and start playing some ball. The offense needs to pick it up, the starting pitching needs to knock off some rust and Lance McCullers should overhaul his game. My suggestion would be to go over film when he was AL Pitcher of the Month in May and compare that film to the total crap he's been in July with Pitching Coach Brent Strom and figure out how to get back to his May form. The bullpen has been lousy and inconsistent in July. Nobody has been trustworthy and, for God's sake Jeff Luhnow, get rid of Tony Friggin' Sipp. The trade deadline is over tomorrow so, Mr Luhnow, get off your dead ass and make a deal for a credible left handed reliever, PLEASE! Quote
eagle eye Posted August 1, 2017 Author Posted August 1, 2017 The Astros came home and it really helped them. Despite a grueling 9 game road trip in which they were gone from the friendly confines of the Juice Box for 11 days. During that road trip the bottom third of the Astros lineup pretty much disappeared, especially in Detroit when they went a cumulative 5-31 or a weak .161 BA. In contrast, in last night’s 14-7 win over Tampa the bottom third combined to go 6-11 for a .545 BA, they drove in 9 of their 14 runs, they scored 8 of the Astros runs and the 9-hole hitter, Jake Marisnick was the clear offensive star of the game going 3-4 with 2 home runs with 5 RBI’s and 4 runs scored. When Houston has been at its best the bottom of the batting order has produced making the lineup from top to bottom a true “murderer’s row”. Charlie Morton made another quality start going 6 innings allowing just two runs on 2 hits with 3 walks and 5 K’s. Unfortunately, one of the two hits was a Corey Dickerson 2-run jack in the third inning but otherwise Morton was in complete control as he has extended his season record to 9-4 tying team leader Dallas Keuchel with 9 wins. The only question now is who will be the first to get to double digit wins. It’s getting so that I just can’t watch a Houston reliever pitch. It’s just too frustrating. As money as the group was for 3 months, they began to struggle in July and it’s gotten so I don’t trust any of them. I do have to give props to Reymin Guduan because he did pitch a scoreless 7th in relief of Morton but then it all fell apart. Michael Feliz pitched to one guy in the 8th, Corey Dickerson, and he homered making the score 11-3 at the time. Then came Francis Martes who had another bad outing going just 2/3 of an inning allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. By the time he left the game the score was 11-6. Houston answered the Rays 4 runs with 3 of their own in the bottom of the 8th to make the score 14-6. A little breathing room heading into the 9th inning. AJ Hinch is apparently a glutton for punishment because he trotted out Tony (Oh Shit) Sipp to pitch the final inning. Sipp did get through the 9th to close the door on the Rays but not before he gave up a solo HR to Lucas Duda who led off the inning. I just hear the wheels turning in AJ Hinch’s head, “Please Francisco Liriano, don’t miss your flight to Houston! I need you BAD!” Jose Altuve added to his list of multi-hit games going with a 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s and he added a stolen base just for grins. He was replaced in the lineup by AJ Reed in the top of the seventh. Smart move by Hinch protecting Altuve in a blowout game considering he is already down two of his big 3 players with George Springer out with a quad and Carlos Correa out with a thumb injury. When Houston completed the trade late yesterday to get Francisco Liriano from the Toronto Blue Jays I was so happy I almost yelled out loud! The Liriano deal was the only move Houston made before the end of the non-waiver trade deadline. The Astros pursued both Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray but both picked other teams. Darvish went to La-La Land while Gray switched coasts going from Oakland California to New York, New York leaving the A’s for the Yankees. Houston’s trade with Toronto to get Francisco Liriano didn’t really cost too much in terms of who they had to give up. Houston sent Nori Aoki and their #9 prospect Teoscar Hernandez. Fairly cheap giving the value of a reliable left handed reliever. Liriano was a starter in Toronto but he will be used out of the bullpen. With Lance McCullers going on the 10 day DL with a back issue Brad Peacock with return to the starting rotation. Game 2 of 4 with the Tampa Rays is tonight with Mike Fiers (7-5, .371 ERA) goes for Houston and Tampa sends the fiery Chris Archer (7-6, .380 ERA) at the Juice Box. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 2, 2017 Author Posted August 2, 2017 The month of July was a hoot but it did not come without some disappointment. The Astros sported the best record in baseball until the last weekend before the break when the Dodger pushed their record ½ game better than Houston’s. Houston was the first team in years to win 60 games before the All Star break or, they would have been if not for the Dodgers going on an epic run beginning in June. This run of the Dodgers is incredible and they don’t seem to be able to stop. They are currently on a 9 game winning streak extending their MLB leading win total to 75-31. Jose Altuve could have set an MLB record batting average in a month as at one time up until the Astros last road trip to Detroit his bat cooled off and he lost up to 25 points on his monthly batting average finishing with a .486 BA for July. Still incredible but not what fans were hoping for him. Houston also lost that series in Detroit for their first road series loss since April. People were worried about the All Star break being a bad thing because all the players who were on hot streaks might have those streaks broken and maybe all those worry-warts weren’t wrong. Since the break the Astros have lost Carlos Correa to a thumb injury that will keep him out until mid September. George Springer has miss two weeks with a pulled quad muscle. Alex Bregman missed 3 games due to a pulled hamstring. Colin Moran, a day after hitting his first major league home run literally broke his face when a foul ball caromed off his bat and straight into his left eye area. Will Harris developed shoulder problems and he’s currently on the DL because of that issue. Lance McCullers struggled since returning from the DL with a back issue and he’s currently on the DL for the same thing. Mike Fiers lost his mojo in July as he went back to struggling to keep the ball in the park. In his first games of the season Fiers gave up 18 HR’s. Then after a near miss of being sent to the bullpen because of his struggles he righted the ship and had a great June going 4-0 which should have been 5-0 had it not been for the bullpen and he didn’t give up a HR in that time. July was different. Fiers was struggling to keep the ball in the yard again. In his 5 starts in July he gave up 6 HR’s but he won a couple of the games because he got good run support. Another thing that is incredible about the Astros July is the bullpen, once a strength of the team floundered to the worst ERA in the majors for the month. All that the Astros still finished the month of July with a 15-9 record. Since the All Star break the Astros are barely a .500 ball club at 9-7. The Astros finished the move with the best record in the American League and they finished July with a 16 game lead over 2nd place Seattle. Life is not terrible but Houston has a recent history of late season collapses and Houston did nothing to allay the fear of a major slump by starting off August with a very frustrating 6-4 loss to Tampa last night. Mike Fiers again struggled as he gave up all six Ray’s runs in his 6.1 innings of work. Fiers battled but in yet another game he gave up 2 home runs in the game and Evan Longoria hit for the cycle against him. Jose Altuve went oh-fer for the 2nd time in the last 3 games and Derek Fisher is proving not to be a decent replacement for George Springer at the top of the lineup and it’s not helping that Josh Reddick has cooled off at the plate as well. I know I’m sounding gloom and doom but the top of the lineup hasn’t exactly been a scoring machine lately and the reason Houston won 14-7 on Monday night was because the bottom third of the batting order came up big in the game led by Jake Marisnick’s 2 HR and 5 RBI night. Last night the bottom 1/3 went 2-11 with Alex Bregman the lone highlight of the group. He went just 1-4 in the game but the one hit was a 2 run homer. With the Houston loss and another Seattle win Houston’s division lead has shrunk to 15 games. Houston could have started off August by getting their 70th win of the season but that will have to wait hopefully for just one day. Dallas Keuchel makes his 2nd start since coming off the DL tonight in game 3 of a 4 game series with Tampa. In his first start Keuchel went just 3 innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits with 3 walks and, you guessed it, 3 strikeouts in what turned out to be Houston’s only win against Detroit last weekend. Keuchel did his bulldog impression as he battled through those 3 inning of work throwing 79 pitches. He will look to rebound as Collin McHugh did in his second start on Saturday. McHugh went 6 innings and 82 pitches allowing just one run. McHugh was on a pitch count since it was just his 2nd start of the season or he surely would have gone deeper into that game. Keuchel might be on a pitch count as well but if he can go 6 with a similar success as McHugh Houston will definitely call that a win. If nothing else it will be a huge moral victory. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 3, 2017 Author Posted August 3, 2017 Keuchel wasn’t bad but he did give up 3 runs, 2 in the 1st and 1 in the 3rd, but he got through 5 innings and threw 87 pitches. He’s almost back and that is a very good thing. Last night the Astros offense sucked again. Austin Pruitt (who?) pitched 6.1 innings of 5-hit, 1 walk, 3 K, shutout ball last night. He is 6-2 in limited work this season but his ERA was 6.63 going into the game. He shut down the Astros offense last night or maybe it was just the inept slumping Astros offense that helped him out. Last night’s 3-0 loss to Tampa was the 3rd time they had been shut out in a week. Jose Altuve went oh-fer for the 2nd night in a row and that is the first time that has happened since early June. Since August began on Tuesday the Astros have no wins, Altuve has had no hits and the pitchers are getting no run support. Keuchel pitched well enough to win except for the fact that the Astros can’t score any runs. The most glaring oh-fer last night was the 0-9 with RISP highlighted by the fact that Houston hit into 3-inning ending double plays. What is scaring me is the past two seasons Houston has had major collapses in August and September and I’m scared to death we may be in for an epic, historic collapse. Then, I stop and think, good grief it’s only 2 games. Then, I think yet again and I say no it’s been the last two series because the Astros looked like crap in Detroit last week end. Then, I think again and I realize this Rock and Roll Hoochie-Koo began last Wednesday when the Phillies, the last place, worst team in baseball, stupid-assed Phillies Beat Houston 9-0 That’s when this losing crap started. Since that game Houston has lost the series with Detroit and they are down 2 games to 1 to Tampa heading into the series finale today. The best the Astros can hope for is a split and the worst is they could lose their 2nd series in a row. All these things haven’t been happening to Houston to this point and that brings me full circle back to worrying about an August and September swoon. Good grief. The honors for July came out yesterday and Jose Altuve won AL Player of the Month and 32 year old Yuli Gurriel won AL Rookie of the Month. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/246006048/jose-altuve-yuli-gurriel-earn-al-honors/ Last night was Dallas Keuchel’s first loss of the season and in the last two starts his league best 1.67 ERA has risen to 2.15. The Astros have been waiting for their top two pitchers to return to the lineup for at least two months and when they got back they get squat for run support. Kids, thank the Astros offense for sucking. Thank you for sucking Astros offense. Great, now go play with your death rays but don’t vaporize the cat this time. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 4, 2017 Author Posted August 4, 2017 Collin McHugh did a nice job last night. He did allow two runs but only one was earned in 6 innings and just over 100 pitches. I think it's safe to say McHugh is back. The only thing will be for him to stretch himself to 7 innings and that would be the best case scenario for the Astros. That's two straight games McHugh went at least six innings and it's also the 2nd straight game the bullpen shit all over his comeback parade. In Detroit last Saturday it was Francis Martes to did the honors. Last night newcomer Francisco Liriano did his best Tony Sipp imitation as he combined with Chris Devenski to allow three runs in the 7th that flipped an Astros 3-2 lead to a 5-3 deficit. 5-3 was the final score as Houston floundered all game again struggling to get a hit that mattered. Houston got 9 hits in the game but 8 of them belonged to Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman who was batting 2nd last night and Yuli Gurriel who batted 3rd. The only other hit was recorded by Derek Fisher who batted 6th last night. Houston is dead-smack in the middle of a team wide slump. The starting pitching hasn't been bad but the relief pitching has been and now the offense can't score enough runs to bail out the bullpen. Tampa won their third straight against Houston meaning, of course, Houston has lost 3 straight. Fortunately, 2nd place Seattle also lost to Texas last night maintaining the Astros 15 game lead in the AL West. Brad Peacock will try to turn things around for Houston as the Astros begin a 3 game set against the Toronto Blue Jays. It's also Jeff Bagwell HOF weekend at the Juice Box so it should be pretty festive all weekend. It will be even more festive if Houston stops sucking like they have for the past week. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 8, 2017 Author Posted August 8, 2017 The Astros looked dead in the water. They had one good inning of offense in the 5th and after that it was a good game to take a nap. Trouble was my son and I were at the game. Mike Fiers was going along with little hassle but that old bug-a-boo of allowing home runs popped its ugly head up twice in the game. In second Fiers allowed a two run homer to Mr Bat-flip Jose Batista. It was a moon shot-no brainer HR up by the train tracks in left field. The problem was there shouldn’t have been a man on except for the fact that Yuli Gurriel ole’ed a throw from Marwin Gonzalez at short that allowed the 9 hitter Darwin Barney to reach first. Batista’s homer immediately followed. Fiers got through 6 innings without any more damage and he was even staked to a lead with the aforementioned 3 run fifth. Then came the 7th inning and it just seemed Fiers just forgot how to pitch. CF Kevin Pillar lead off the Blue Jays half of the inning with a single and former Astro Nori Aoki crushed a ball into the Astros bullpen in right field for Fiers 2nd 2-run HR of the game. So now, Fiers no longer has a lead, in fact, he had given the Jays a 4-3 lead at that point. Fiers day was over on the first pitch to the next batter, Darwin Barney, when Fiers hit him. That was Fiers’ second hit batsman of the game. Luke Gregerson came on in relief of Fiers and proceeded to record an out, allow a single and get the lead runner at home on a comebacker to the mound. 2 outs and all he needed was to get one more out and the inning was over. Didn’t happen, Justin Smoak doubled over Jake Marisnick’s head in center scoring both runners on base giving the Jays a 3 run cushion with the score now 6-3. The way the offense had struggled all day I just knew Houston was going to lose. The Astros had runners on 1st and 3rd twice and the bases loaded with one out and they failed to score even one run. The afternoon was long and frustrating and most of the 15K + in attendance were still there to see the Astros complete the loss in the 9th but it didn’t happen that way. Jose Altuve led off the inning with his 3rd hit of the game. Josh Reddick was called out on strikes and Reddick didn’t like it. He gave the home plate ump hell over it and got himself tossed. AJ Hinch was just a tad slow getting out of the dugout, too slow to save Reddick from getting the old heave-ho. Hinch and the ump had words and it seemed to fire up the crowd and I’d suspect the Astros got fired up as well. Yuli Gurriel singled to left followed by a single to right by Marwin Gonzalez loading the bases. Carlos Beltran hit a slow roller to 2B that scored Altuve from 3B but it gave the Astros 2 outs trailing 6-4. It was the old man Beltran's legs that saved the game as he hustled to first taking away the double play which would have ended the game. Alex Bregman then tripled to left field scoring Gurriel and Gonzalez tying the game at 6. C Juan Centeno stepped up with a walk-off line drive into right scoring Bregman from 3B completing the unlikely 4 run 9th to give Houston its 71st win of the season. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he was in Houston yesterday afternoon. Houston lost to the Jays Saturday night as their offense continued to struggle. They did force the game into extra innings but Francisco Liriano again did his best Tony Sipp imitation and allowed the go-ahead, and eventually, the winning run to score. It’s rough when Houston trades a solid outfielder and a prospect for a left hand pitcher who can’t seem to get anyone out. Aoki’s 7th inning 2-run HR was just a slap in the face of the Astros front office. Saturday night was also costly as Evan Gattis was hit by the Blue Jays Corey Dickerson whose follow through on a fly ball out to right came around and the bat hit Gattis squarely on the side of the head. Gattis finished the game but he ended up being placed of the 7-day concussion DL. Juan Centeno was called up to fill in for Gattis and he got the winning hit in yesterday’s game. Houston actually had 3 rookies in the lineup yesterday. Juan Centeno, Derek Fisher and JD Davis who had been called up earlier in the week as AJ Reed was sent back to AAA Fresno. Davis, who had just recently been called up to AAA from AA Corpus Christi spent only 16 days in AAA before the call-up. To think that Houston is still able to field a competitive team is pretty remarkable. Houston did get some good news, they are expecting George Springer to return to the lineup on Tuesday night when Houston begins a 3-game series with the Chicago White Sox. Dallas Keuchel will be making his 3rd start after coming off the DL as well. Honorable mention: Reymin Guduan and Francis Martes did a nice job. They had trouble putting batters away but they persevered and didn’t allow a run in their combined 2 innings of work. Martes ended up getting the win. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 9, 2017 Author Posted August 9, 2017 (edited) This is short and sweet. Houston lost to a struggling White Sox team that is last in MLB in offense because Astros ace Dallas Keuchel was just plain bad. In four innings and 92 pitches he managed to give up 8 runs on 10 hits with 3 walks and just 2 K’s. Keuchel’s strength is his accuracy and location and he didn’t have either last night. It was set up perfectly for Keuchel last night for him to take the next step in his return. Going into his 3rd start since coming off the DL he went 3 innings in his first start and 5 in his second giving up 3 runs in each of those games he would be looking to extend his innings worked and cut down on the runs allowed. That didn’t happen as he gave up 3 runs in the first inning alone. A White Sox team that has been struggling offensively teed off on Keuchel again in the 3rd with 3 more runs. The Sox added two more in the 4th on a 2-run HR by C Kevan Smith (who???) making the score 8-3 at the time. Houston scored 2 more runs via solo HR’s by Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel both coming in the 7th inning. Houston had their chances against White Sox starter Derek Holland but he did a better job than Keuchel of getting out of jams he created. Houston stranded 10 base runners on the night and they were 1-8 with RISP. Certainly not the outcome you’d expect from a team with the best record in the AL playing the team with the worst record in the AL. Collin McHugh goes for Houston tonight looking to get his first win in four starts since coming off the DL. McHugh should have at least 2 wins but the Astros bullpen crapped all over 2 really nice starts in his last two outings. The Astros pitching hasn’t been what you would expect when your top 3 starters come off the DL. Lance McCullers came off the DL in July after suffering back problems and he wasn’t able to last 5 innings in the 3 starts after coming back. After his last start, he went back on the DL with recurring back issues. Keuchel went on the DL on June 5th with a pinched nerve in his neck and he came back two weeks ago only to struggle in all 3 of his starts. Collin McHugh came back just a few days ahead of Keuchel and he’s actually pitched pretty well but has nothing to show for his 3 starts except frustration with a leaky bullpen. The Astros are playing less than .500 ball since the All Start break and it’s mainly because of poor pitching both by the starters and the bullpen. That will need to tighten up considerably if Houston hope to do anything in the playoffs. Alex Bregman has been on fire lately. He now has a nine game streak of games with an extra base hit. He has raised his batting average up from around .250 to his current average of .273. He has hit so well that he was moved from the bottom third of the batting order to leading off last night. He delivered a bases loaded triple in the 2nd inning to briefly tie the game at 3 all. Jose Altuve continued with his usual multi-hit game going 2-4 with 2 RBI’s, a run scored with a 7th inning home run. You cannot ask more from him as he leads all of baseball with a .365 BA and he’s also become the MLB leader in WAR (Wins Against Replacement). With just shy of two months left in the season Altuve is producing numbers that will again have him in contention for league MVP. George Springer was originally supposed to get back into the lineup last night but the Astros decided to wait one more day. Instead they put him through a rigorous workout yesterday before the game to really test his quad and he passed all the tests. Unless he has a negative reaction to the workout he should be in the lineup tonight. Edited August 9, 2017 by eagle eye Quote
eagle eye Posted August 10, 2017 Author Posted August 10, 2017 Now, this is getting ridiculous. Collin McHugh hadn’t pitched badly especially in his previous two starts prior to last night. The fact is, he did a good job for 4 innings holding the White Sox scoreless. Then all hell broke loose and before you knew it the Pale Hose had a 4-zip lead and that would be all they would need to win the game the game and the series. Why? Because Houston made yet another half-assed pitcher look like Cy-freaking young. The Astros avoided being shut out for the 4th time in the last two weeks when they got an oh-by-the-way solo HR from JD Davis in the top of the 8th. Houston got a grand total of 6 hits and 1 walk – 7 total base runners against the worst team in the American League. I am officially pissed off at this team. Since the All Star break they are a sub-.500 team and their top 3 starting pitchers look like warmed over doo-doo. They are collectively crapping away 4 months of excellent work. So far in August the Astros are 2-6 and their lead in the AL West is down to 13 games. Still sounds comfortable, right? There are still 7 weeks left in the season and if they go 2-6 the rest of the way that lead will be gone. Keuchel, McHugh and McCullers better send a search party to find their mojo or this team is in serious trouble. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 11, 2017 Author Posted August 11, 2017 The Astros were swept by the White Sox in the 11th inning after Ken Giles blew the save attempt in the bottom of the 9th. Giles ruined a really nice outing by Brad Peacock who allowed just one run in 6.1 innings of work. Chris Devenski and Luke Gregerson finished off the 7th and 8th innings respectively setting up Giles to be the hero of the game. Apparently, Giles preferred being the goat. The Astros offense continues to struggle despite having George Springer back the past two games. Back to Giles, he snatched defeat right out of the jaws of victory when, with one out in the 9th, he allowed a solo home run to Yoan Moncada. Moncada had been a pain in the neck the whole series for Houston and he showed up in the 11th singling home Leury Garcia for the White Sox walk-off win of the game and sweep of the series. It’s maddening to see the worst team in the American League beat the Best Team in the AL. Right now, Houston is finding ways to lose but the disappearance of the offense is the most disturbing. On the road, the Astros have averaged 6.8 runs per game but for the most part they can’t seem to score more than 3. Last night, instead of winning a tough 2-1 game they lost in extra innings 3-2. The Astros send Charlie Morton to the bump tonight in Arlington as Houston begins a weekend series against the Rangers. The Rangers counter with Cole Hamels. Judging by the pitching matchup you have to give the edge to the Rangers in this one. There are rumors that seem to be gaining momentum involving a deal between the Astros and Detroit involving starting pitcher Justin Verlander coming to Houston. Verlander has struggled the past couple of years but some of that may be the Tigers struggles as a team. Verlander would be a good addition that at least fills a void left by Lance McCullers. Houston’s top 3 starters have been struggling since they came off their stints on the DL with none of the 3 getting a single win and with McCullers returning to the DL with back problems. Houston is now 2-7 in August and they were lucky they didn’t lose any more ground in the division. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 13, 2017 Author Posted August 13, 2017 WTF is going on here? Houston pitching can't contain anyone, the offense can't seem to be able to score more than 3 runs, that's if they score at all and even their defense has been showing holes. The are now 2-9 in August and they are currently in the middle of a 5 game losing streak. They are now 12 games up in the AL west. This is so disheartening. I'm trying to resist climbing out on the ledge but since the last weekend of July to now this team sucks. In the past five games every starter has sucked, the relief pitchers have sucked and the offense is as stagnant as pond water in the middle of August. This current streak of futility began with Dallas Keuchel on the mound and today he is going out to try to stop Houston from being swept for the second series in a row. Houston has now lost 3 straight series for the first time this season. The only thing that will make this losing streak bearable is if they re-ignite and get on a hot streak that carries them through October. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 14, 2017 Author Posted August 14, 2017 The Astros squeaked by the Texas Rangers on Sunday to avoid a second consecutive sweep in what was its second lousy week in a row. The final score yesterday was 2-1 and it was a hard-fought nerve wracking game. From a bases loaded jam in the 5th, an unlikely man on third jam in the 6th Dallas Keuchel was really good going 6.2 innings allowing just a single run on an Adrian Beltre solo HR. Yesterday’s performance was a far cry from the egg he laid in the opener against the Chisox at the beginning of the week. Yesterday we saw the Keuchel we’re used to seeing. Chris Devenski came on in relief of Keuchel and he got the final out of the 7th but he started the 8th out with back to back walks. A J Hinch immediately pulled Devenski and brought in Ken Giles. Giles wasn’t dominating but he got out of the jam he inherited thanks in large part to the double play that ended the inning on a ground ball to Yuli Gurriel at first who went to second for one and SS Marwin Gonzalez coming back to Giles covering first for the twin killing. Jose Altuve homered in the 4th to give the Astros the first lead they had in the 3 games with Texas. Texas came back with a solo HR by Beltre in the 6th but Houston answered right back with an RBI single by Carlos Beltran in the top of the 7th. The past week was lousy. You have to call ‘em like you see ‘em and the Astros were squarely behind the 8-ball this past week. They went 1-5 which included being swept by the White Sox and damn near being swept by the Rangers. This past week, in order of games, the Astros scored 5, 1, 2, 4, 3 and 2 runs. You don't win many games scoring like that even though in their only win they just score 2 runs. They remain atop the AL West but they are damn lucky they didn’t lose more than a single game in the standings after the week they had. At the end of previous week, they were up 13 games on 2nd place Seattle now they are up 12 games on 2nd place Los Angeles. This past week’s 5-game losing streak was the longest of the season for Houston and continued the lousy beginning to the month of August. So far, Houston is 3-9 for the month and they have been swept twice, once by Tampa to begin the month and again this past week to Chicago. The Astros hadn’t been swept all season until August rolled around. Houston begins one of those weird home and home 4-game series with Arizona beginning tonight in Phoenix. They will play two in Arizona and come home the a play the final two games at the Juice Box. Hopefully, Dallas Keuchel has shown the rest of the starters how it’s done as every starter lost last week. The starting pitching has struggled all month but you hope that Keuchel has helped change the mindset of his compadres as they head into the 3rd week of the month. Houston will play 11 of their final 14 games in August at home which gives them a choice opportunity to turn things around and break out of the slump they have been in since the last week of July. I thought there couldn’t be anybody worse than Tony (Oh Shit) Sipp but I was wrong. In what has turned out to be one of the worst moves made by GM Jeff Luhnow acquiring Francisco Liriano has been just awful. BTW, all of Liriano’s appearances for Houston has been in this dismal month of August. In 4 appearances since he became an Astro Liriano has gone 0-2 with a 5.96 ERA. The crazy thing about it was Liriano came to Houston with a 6.75 ERA and as a starting pitcher prior to coming to Houston he was 6-5 with a 6.75 ERA. I’m thinking Luhnow looked at Liriano’s record and thought, “This guy sucks but he’s better than Tony Sipp. Or, he can’t be any worse!” So far, if that was what Luhnow was thinking he was wrong on both counts. Now, Luhnow completed a deal for another relief pitcher. The Astros got Tyler Clippard from the White Sox for cash or a player to be named. Let’s hope this is a better deal than the one for Liriano. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/248328582/astros-trade-for-pitcher-tyler-clippard/ Quote
eagle eye Posted August 15, 2017 Author Posted August 15, 2017 The Astros lost 2-0. Despite the loss, Collin McHugh was pretty darn good. He went 6.2 innings and just allowed the 2 runs. That officially counts as a quality start. The bullpen didn’t allow a run in relief of McHugh so that makes two games in a row the ‘pen didn’t spring a leak. Not a bad thing. The offense continues to struggle big time. The Astros haven’t been shut out all season until August and it’s now been 5 times. I hate August. The great thing is after Keuchel’s nice outing McHugh backed him up with another one. Both men turned in quality starts and that is the beginning of breaking out of a slump. It’s the offense that needs to figure things out. They have sucked this whole month and they have failed to get a hit when it really matters. Last night the Astros hit into 3 double plays plus they had a strike ‘em out-throw ‘em out double play as well. You have to give credit to Zack Greinke who improved to 14-5 on the season and 11-1 at home. Greinke is just a good pitcher. I would love it if Houston had him but the Diamondbacks are in contention for a wild card so they aren’t parting ways with a him any time soon. The Astros conclude the 2nd game in this series in Arizona this afternoon at 2:40 PM after which both teams will pack up and head to Houston for two more at the Juice Box. Brad Peacock will be on the mound for Houston while Arizona sends Anthony Banda (who?) to the bump. Banda is a rookie making his 4th big league start. He currently sports a 1-2 record with a 4.60 ERA. Peacock became the Astros first double digit winner on the season back on August 4th against Toronto. His season record is 10-1 with a 3.07 ERA. The Astros wasted no time in using their newest pitcher, reliever Tyler Clippard whom they acquired from the White Sox on Monday. Clippard came in a pitched the 9th inning and he did struggle a bit allowing a hit and a walk before retiring the side. The key was he was the anti-Liriano by not allowing a run. Liriano has done nothing but allow runs. Clippard, a former All Star, can hopefully add much needed relief to a heavily taxed bullpen. Last night was a good start. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 18, 2017 Author Posted August 18, 2017 The Astros offense took yesterday off and were shutout for the 2nd time in this series with Arizona. This time a half-ass pitcher with an ERA over 4 did the Astros in. It did help one bit the ump gave him a strike zone wider than a bat is long. Mike Fiers wasn't terrible but again yeilded multiple home runs (2) including an inside the park job. 4-0 was the final score and the only good thing you can say is that at least Houston didn't lose the series with Arizona. Some consolation, huh. Dallas Keuchel will go tonight against Oakland and hopefully he builds on the great outing he had in his last start. Quote
eagle eye Posted August 21, 2017 Author Posted August 21, 2017 The Astros got great pitching and scored enough runs to win on Friday and Saturday to clinch the series win with Oakland. It’s disturbing that Houston can’t score more than 3 runs in any game against the worst team in the AL West against pitchers whose ERA’s approach 5. They got great outings from Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh who allowed just one run and no runs respectively. Truth be told, Brad Peacock got seriously hosed by his own defense in a ridiculous display of little league baseball beginning with a wild throw from SS Alex Bregman trying to get a runner out oat 2B. Bregman’s throw ended up in right field corners as the runner he attempted to throw out scored easily. The A’s batter that hit the ball that began the play was going for 3B when Marwin Gonzalez tried to gun down that runner but his throw went wide and ended up in the left field corner allowing the 2nd run to score easily. All that happened in the top of the 1st inning and put Houston down 2-0 right out of the box. Peacock didn’t surrender an earned run until the 6th when Oakland got one run. As it turns out, it was the winning run as Houston got its second run in the 7th on a Marwin Gonzalez HR to lead off the inning. It made the score 3-2 at the time. On a weekend when the center fielder for the Pennsylvania Junior League named Jack Regenye made an amazing catch that carried him over the center field wall Houston looked like the little league team in the first inning yesterday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5HkxXVkwlM I had to go to the A’s website to get the video of the two errors that led to the A’s first two runs. BTW, the A’s 3rd run came on a bases loaded passed ball. Not a good day for the Astros. What the hell has happened to the Astros offense? http://m.athletics.mlb.com/news/article/249614936/athletics-edge-astros-to-salvage-series-finale/ So, the Astros had a so-so week splitting a four-game series with Arizona which was weird in, and of, itself. The D-Backs won the first and last games by shutout winning Game 1 3-0 and taking Game 4 4-0. In between Houston banged out 28 hits and scored 18 runs winning by the scores of 9-4 and 9-5. To figure this team out right now is beyond my ability. The only thing that might explain this offensive funk is Carlos Correa went on the DL with a torn ligament in his right thumb on July 18. Since Correa went on the DL the Astros are 15-17 and for the month of August the Astros are 7-12. After losing 5 series in a row they tied Arizona and they won their first series since July against Oakland this past weekend. The Astros have seen a double digit lead in the American League dwindle down to just 4.5 games over second place Boston and 7 games in front of 3rd place Cleveland. Their division lead is holding at 12 games over 2nd place Los Angeles Angels. There are six weeks and 38 games left in the season which is plenty of time for Houston to lose the #1 seed in the AL. There are things that looks hopeful for us Houston fans. First Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh look like they are back. With 2 really good appearances in a row it sure looks like Houston’s #1 and #2 starters are where they need to be to lead the team into September and beyond. Carlos Correa is ahead of schedule and could actually be back before the end of August. Lance McCullers has pitched a simulated game yesterday throwing 3 innings worth of pitches and he felt good when he finished. The test will be how he felt later yesterday and how he feels today. If he’s good the next step might be a rehab assignment at Corpus Christi. It took Keuchel and McHugh 3 games to knock off the rust but if he comes back in two weeks 3 games would be close to the end of September. If he’s healthy that is a good thing. The Astros website is reporting that both catchers, Brian McCann and Evan Gattis are close to returning. McCann could come off the DL as early as Wednesday and Gattis will go to rehab assignment this week in Corpus. Will Harris, who has missed a full month of games with shoulder soreness will go on assignment soon as well as Tony Sipp. I don’t care about Sipp at this point because Francisco Liriano has allowed just one run in his last 5 appearances. I’m not nearly as mad at Liriano as I used to be. Tyler Clippard has been pretty damn good since coming to Houston. He’s not allowed a run in 4 appearances as he’s got 2 holds and a save. He’s just given up one hit and one walk in 3.2 innings of work. If, by some miracle, Lance McCullers comes back by the 1st of September as well as the return of Correa, Harris, Gattis and McCann Houston will be set up to make run for a strong final month of the season. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 1, 2017 Author Posted September 1, 2017 Thank the Lord August is over. What a crap month for the Astros and for all of us, at least the past week. For many, this disaster called Tropical Storm Harvey won't be over for a very long time. I hope that all of you in the Golden Triangle are surviving with your health and your homes in tact. For so many, me included, that have had flood waters invade their homes I sincerely pray for each and every one of you that your lives can get back to normal as soon as possible. We can look on the bright side and that is we have had two days, yesterday and today, with bright sunshine. That is a very good thing indeed. Water levels in the reservoirs are coming down according to local news and they have stopped or slowed down the amount of water released at Dam B and Toledo. All good things. Be safe, be careful and be kind to your neighbors. As for the Astros, August just sucked. At times during the month we had pitchers, catchers, the starting short stop, the starting 2nd baseman, the starting center/right fielder all on either the DL or days off because of injuries. At one point Houston had both catchers and 3 starting pitchers on the DL. The good news is they got 2 of the 3 pitchers back this month. It took a couple of starts by each to get into a groove. Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh are back and pitching well. I don't count the game against the Rangers this past Wednesday because of all the worry the Astros have about their homes. They did win the series finale 5-1 yesterday afternoon and they are probably back in Houston now. More good news on the horizon is that Lance McCullers is close to returning. It is being reported that he will make his first start next week in Seattle. Carlos Correa is way ahead of schedule in his return. He has already made several rehab appearances in Fresno and he should be back with the team soon. That's some of the good news but let's take a look at August. For the month, it was a disaster as Houston had its first losing month of the season. They went 11-17 in August and began the month being swept at home by Tampa Bay. Everyone who was hitting lights out went stone cold. Everyone but Alex Bregman had a decided dip in their batting averages. When George Springer came off the DL with his quad pull he was cold as ice. The bullpen had the best ERA in the majors in August but every time they had a hiccup it cost Houston a win. Houston got LHP Francisco Liriano at the trade deadline and in his first 3 appearances it looked like he was Tony Sipp's inept older brother. He has settled down and he's got several good appearances under his belt. The last week of the month saw the events of Hurricane Harvey unfold and their trip to Los Angeles to face the Angels was a success but that series ended right as Harvey hit the Texas coast the first time. The team could not go home because by the end of the series last Sunday Houston was suffering the worst from the storm. The team traveled to Dallas and the Astros asked the Rangers to swap home series. They wanted to play in Arlington this past week and they would give Texas their home stand in September but the Rangers said no and both teams were forced to travel to Tampa and play in the Rays stadium. It was considered a home series for Houston but not really. There were only 3,000 or so people in attendance in yesterday's finale. Some home field advantage. It was all gamesmanship by the Rangers and I hate them now and forever for what they did. I don't care that the Rangers organization donated a million dollars to Houston's relief fund what they did making Houston travel again to Tampa all the while worrying about there families, friends and their homes is inexcusable. I will personally never root for the Rangers again in my life, they are dead to me. The Rangers need to learn a lesson about class from the Cowboys, Mavericks and Stars. The bad thing you have to say about Houston during August is the offense, by and large, sucked. No two ways about it. Aside from a few sporadic games when they scored a lot of runs it was rare for this offense to score more than 3 runs in a game. You don't win much like that and Houston didn't win much in August. Hope for the month of September is here. First Carlos Correa and Lance McCullers are going to return soon and that is a good thing especially if McCullers can stay healthy. A bad back is a very tricky deal and I, and all Astros fans, hope he is back to full strength and will remain that way from here on out. In the past week Houston also made a couple of roster moves of note. First, yesterday Houston claimed OF Justin Maybin of the Angels off waivers. His hitting line is .235/.333/.351 and he has stolen 29 bases this season which ties him with Jose Altuve for more steals in the AL. Maybin is fast and a good fielding outfielder which add more depth to an already deep position. Also, late last night just before the deadline for signing players who will be eligible for the post season rosters Houston dropped a bombshell. They made a deal for Cy Young winning pitcher Justin Verlander. Not only will Houston have Verlander for the stretch run but he's also under contract through the 2019 season. Pretty freaking sweet, Jeff Luhnow! The Astros were supposed to begin a series at home tonight with the Mets but considering the circumstances the game today was postponed until Saturday when Houston will play a double header. Having today to see family and friends and check on their property will be a huge relief for Astros coaches, staff and players who had to look at the devastation over the last week and could do nothing to help. A day to reconnect with their families, many of whom had to evacuation their homes, can do nothing but bring peace of mind to them. Below are links to a couple of articles about the acquisition of Maybin and Verlander. September is starting off well for the Astros and I hope for all of the Golden Triangle. This is the second day in a row we've had sunshine and hopefully we can all start the rebuilding part of our lives. It is my prayer that Beaumont can restore their water supply today. That would be a huge load off people's minds to not have to worry about water. Thanks to all the first responders, rescue personnel both government sponsored and the many, many volunteers who have worked tirelessly since this all began on Tuesday. And thanks to all the people across Texans and around the country for their donations of money, food, water and essential items. Saying 'thank you' just seems like it's not nearly enough to show our appreciation for these people. God bless and God speed. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 2, 2017 Author Posted September 2, 2017 I forgot to attach the links for info on the Cameron Maybin and Justin Verlander deals so I will take care of that right now. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/251757752/astros-trade-for-pitcher-justin-verlander/ http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/251796534/justin-verlander-fits-astros-needs-perfectly/ http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/251848802/justin-verlander-thanks-detroit-houston-fans/ http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/251659028/astros-acquire-cameron-maybin-on-waiver-claim/ So, there is good news abounding. Carlos Correa could be in the Astros lineup for the first time since July 17 on Sunday in the finale of the series with the Mets. Lance McCullers is eying a return in Wednesday's game on the road in Seattle. Damn, can you see all the ducks lining up for Houston? Even though the Astros endured a miserable August record-wise they are still 2.5 games up on Cleveland for the best record in the American League and they are 4 games up on Boston. Cleveland is red hot right now and it's about time for them to come back down to earth. They are 9-1 in their last 10 and they have won 9 in a row. I'd say it's about time Houston got on one of those rolls and an emotionally charged return to Houston could be the spark that ignites the fuse on an extended winning streak. Need a bit of irony in your life? If so, then buckle your seatbelt because this one is a doozy. Houston begins a their home stand against the NY Mets in a double header today at 1:10 and 7:10. The Mets starting pitcher in Game 1 is named -- wait for it -- Harvey, as in Matt Harvey. That is too, too weird. Quote
eagle eye Posted September 5, 2017 Author Posted September 5, 2017 Astros win their 5th in a row behind Dallas Keuchel tonight. Offense starting to score runs and they needed that O to sweep the Mets this past weekend. Thank goodness for September!!! Justin Verlander makes his Astros debut tomorrow night. Lance McCullers on Wednesday and the best news is Mike Fiers is headed to the bullpen! Quote
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