2019 Houston Astros Season

[eagle eye]

The Astros had a good week didn't they? Going 5-1 is a good week isn't it? They split a two game series with Milwaukee to start the week but they finished off the week by sweeping the Mariners. It didn't look like the Seattle series would start off all that great as Wade Miley never recorded an out as he gave up 5 runs in the first inning and his relief gave up two more in the second. The Astros were down 7 zip before fans got settled into their seat. Never fear though right? Houston scratched and clawed their way back into the game and they completed the comeback with 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game. In extra innings both teams scored one run in the 12th but in the 13th Josh James, in his second inning of work, shut down the M's which led to Michael Brantley's walkoff 2 run homer to end the game with an Astros 11-9 win. The Astros struggled a bit to get a 7-4 win and Saturday it was Justin Verlander in his first start since his no-hitter last weekend. All Verlander did was go 7 innings allowing just one run with 7 K's and no walks. Trouble was the Astros only scored one run through six innings. It looked like Detroit all over again where Verlander pitched a two run complete game and lost. In the bottom of the 6th Alex Bregman homered to tie the game at 1 and the bottom of the 7th saw Josh Reddick get a sac fly to score Kyle Tucker who had doubled to lead off the inning. Tucker advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch and he scored on Reddicks fly ball. That was all the runs Verlander got for the game but he did get his 18th win of the season, best in baseball. By contrast Gerrit Cole got 21 runs of support in a 21-1 blowout of the Mariners on Sunday to complete the sweep.

 

 

Houston ended the week in first place in the AL West by 9.5 games and they also were tied with the Yankees with 94-50 records which is the best in the AL and the whole of MLB as the Dodgers have been slumping lately. It would have been nice if the Red Sox had swept the Yanks but the Bosox lost 2 or 3 over the weekend and they are losing in the finale of the series 4-0 to NY. Not to worry as Houston began a 4 game series with Oakland and they are putting the same kind of whupping on them that they put on Seattle yesterday. Through 4 Houston is leading 11-0. Whoa! With 18 games left in the regular season Houston needs only 6 wins to reach 100 wins for the 3rd straight season which justification for those brutal 100 loss seasons as Jeff Luhnow rebuild this franchise from the ground up. The only thing I hope is that Mr Luhnow signs Gerrit Cole this offseason. The guy is just amazing and I would rather Houston sign him rather than Carlos Correa. Nothing against Correa but you win with pitching and Correa has spent every season he's been in the bigs on the IL at some point or other. You just can't give him mega bucks to a player who only plays 100 games a season.

[eagle eye]

The last two games have been tough for Houston. On Tuesday tha A’s pummeled the Astros 21-7 as Wade Miley failed to last even one inning for the second start in a row. Houston sees a blowout from the other side of the fence and I hope they don’t like it. Last night the got 5 great innings of work from Jose Urquidy that crapped on by a miserable performance by Josh James. When Uriquidy left the game tha Astros were up 2-1. When James got the hook the Astros were down 4-2 and James hadn’t even recorded an out. George Springer tried to ignite a lackluster offense by hitting two solo HR’s to no effect. Hopefully Justin Verlander can get the team back on track tonight. The A’s seem to have figured out the Astros so I hope they don’t have to face those A’s in the playoffs.

[eagle eye]

To say this was an up and down week for the Astros is big understatement. For the 2nd time in less than a month Houston loses 3 out of 4 games to the Oakland A's. All I can say is I hope the Astros don't have to play them in the playoffs because it seems that Oakland has the Astros number. Then Houston rebounded to sweep the Royals in Kansas City this weekend.

 

In the A's series they began the set with a 15-0 pasting of the A's behind the pitching of Zack Greinke which set an Astros record for most runs in consecutive games, 36. The win also gave Greinke his 15th win of the season making his the 3rd starter with 15 or more wins. Wade Miley remained stuck on 13 wins as he failed, for the 2nd game in a row, to get out of the first inning as Houston found themselves down by 7 runs before everyone got to their seats. It was the 3rd straight start he failed to even last 4 innings. No good for a starting pitcher. Houston ended up losing Game 2 with the A's 21-7. Game 3 saw Jose Urquidy throw 5 really nice innings of work allowing but one run but Josh James came on in the 6th and gave up 4 runs to the A's and that was enough to cost Houston the win as the A's took it Houston 6-3. With Justin Verlander on the mound in the series finale on Thursday you knew it would either be a Houston win or Verlander wouldn't get a bit of run support and he would lose. It was the latter as Verlander gave up 3 runs and all Houston could muster was 2. I looked up a frustrating set of stats. In August and September Verlander has made 8 starts and in 6 of them he got a grand total of 12 runs from his offense, an average of 2 runs per game. In those same 6 starts his record in 3-3. It's amazing he got the 3 wins and one of those was the no-hitter he threw against Toronto and the only reason was because Abraham Toro hit a 2-run homer in the 9th inning to break a scoreless tie. In the other two games he gave up 8 runs losing 87 and in the other the Astros actually scored 15 runs giving him is only comfortable win in the last month and half as Houston beat Tampa 15-1 yet another game in which he only gave up one run. To watch the Astros offense screw over this guy is so frustrating I can't watch when he pitches any more. In the loss on Thursday the Astros left the bases loaded twice and finished the game 0-10 with RISP.

 

The Astros bounced back in KC but it wasn't easy. Friday and Saturday's games were very close until late HR's broke those games open. On Friday it was a 1-1 tie after 8 innings as Gerrit Cole gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the 8th to create the tie. George Springer picked up Cole with a 3-run homer to give the Astros a 4-1 lead which ended up being the final score. That win gave Cole his 17th win of the year. Cole also set a franchise record of 13 wins without a loss. I'll bet Verlander was seething at the run support Cole gets. In Saturday's game Zack Greinke got the win. It was his 16th of the season and it also made him only the 2nd active pitcher to beat all 30 teams. Geinke and Max Scherzer are the only two active pitchers to have done this. In the series finale today you had to wonder if Houston would have another Wade Miley meltdown. Aside from a run in the 3rd Miley was back to his old self. He went 6 innings and looked good again. Houston had given him a 7-2 lead after 6 but the Astros added some more late inning magic as they tacked on a run in the 7th and 4 runs in the 8th to give Houston an easy 12-3 victory.

 

For the week Houston went 4-3 and remain atop the AL West by 7.5 games over Oakland. The Astros magic number to clinch the division crown is down to 5. The Astros now are tied with the Yankees for the best record in the AL with identical 98-53 records. Houston is just two wins away from joining a very short list of teams who have recorded 3 consecutive 100-win seasons. Pretty sweet, right? Historic even. Houston has Monday off and on Tuesday they begin their final homestand of the season beginning with two against the Rangers. They finish the week with 3 against the Angels. Good news is the Astros plan to activate Carlos Correa off the IL on Tuesday and it looks like Brad Peacock is finally healthy and will be back with the team this week too. It turns out that Peacock had a pinched nerve in his neck and it's been addressed and he says he feels better than he has in a long time. Also, Ryan Pressly is close to coming back as he rehabs following arthroscopic surgery on his knee a month ago. Big additions just in time for getting a few games in before the playoffs. Houston has been getting good work from a couple of their prospects recently. Abraham Toro has been good and what's great about him is he's a switch hitter. Kyle Tucker has been much better in his 2019 stint in the bigs than he was in 2018. He's gone 7 for 13 with 3 HR's and 8 RBI's since being called up. Of course we all know about the amazing start to Yordan Alvarez' career. The Astros future is in good shape.

[eagle eye]

A lot of cool stuff happened at the Juice Box last night. First Houston swept the two game series with the Rangers by winning the game last night. The Astros reduced their magic number to clinch the AL West to just 2 games. Those are the secondary good things because there was some real milestones achieved with the win. First Gerrit Cole tied a record for most 10+ strikeout games in a season. He got exactly 10 K's. With his 8th K Cole became only the 3rd Astros pitcher in franchise history to record 300 K's in a season. Cole also notched his 18th win of the season tying him with German of the Yankees for 2nd most wins in all the bigs. Justin Verlander leads the pack with 19 wins. From a team standpoint the Astros won their 100th game of the season and they are the first to reach the century mark. It is the 3rd straight season they have won 100 or more games in a row and only about 5 or 6 teams in MLB history have done this and Houston joins this elite group. The reason that Houston is the first team to 100 wins is because the good ole Angels of Anaheim beat the Yankees earlier in the evening keeping them stuck on 99 wins. The Dodgers won last night and they are tied with NY for the second best record. It's significant because the team with the best record overall get home field advantage throughout the playoffs. It's a given that either Verlander or Cole will win the AL Cy Young, too bad they can't tie and, thus, both win -- or can they???? With the Astros Yordan Alvarez a likely shoe-in for the AL Rookie of the Year award and the Astros could have a clean sweep of the top 3 postseason awards if Alex Bregman manages to beat out the Angel's Mike Trout for AL MVP. One last thing. Even though it looked he was going to blow it last night by letting the first two Rangers batters on base in the 9th inning Roberto Osuna managed to get the save for Cole and in doing so he became the fastest closer to get to 150 career saves and he's only 24 years old. Not too shabby there but I wish Osuna would stop making it necessary to make sure I'm well stocked with antacid meds.

 

More good news on the home from not related to last night's game. Ryan Pressly has completed all his rehab stuff and the Astros announced he will be activated in time for this weekend's series against the Angels. Brad Peacock may be back too. If the weather doesn't prevent him from going to the Juice Box to throw one last bullpen session and he doesn't have any after effects of that session Peacock may be back Friday as well. The Astros got Carlos Correa back from IL Tuesday and he played in the opener against the Rangers but he sat out last night's game. The Astros plan is to ease Correa back into the lineup so they don't chance re-aggravating his back. I would bet he starts Friday night and likely Sunday afternoon in the Astros last regular season game at home.

 

Houston could end up with 2 20-game winners by the end of the year. Both Verlander and Cole will get 2 more starts before the end of the season. Verlander needs one of the 2 to reach 20 and Cole needs to win both his starts to hit 20. That would be pretty cool. Also, Verlander needs 11 K's to join Cole in the 300 strikeout club. It seems like a very doable task assuming AJ Hinch doesn't cut down on Verlander's innings to save him for the postseason. He already pulled him early out of Tuesday's Rangers game despite only throwing 87 pitches in 6 innings of work.

[eagle eye]

With exactly one week left in the season the Astros finally clinched their 3rd straight division title. George Springer was not going to let Justin Verlander wait for run support on the first start he was making to win his 20th game for the second time in his career. In his first 3 AB's Springer hit home runs, two solo shots and a 2-run blast that staked Verlander to a 4-1 lead. Verlander didn't have his best stuff but he battled through 5 innings and 92 pitches to leave the game with a 4-2 lead though the top half of the 5th inning. Then the roof caved in on the Angels as Houston scored 6 runs in the bottom of the inning to reward Verlander with a 10-2 lead which was more than enough for him to qualify for win number 20 which leads the majors by 2 wins.

 

So, Houston now has tied the 1999 Astro team for second most wins in franchise history with 102. Two more wins in the last six games and they will set an new franchise record for wins in a season with 104. The current record is 103 set last year. Houston went 4-1 in their games this week. They stumbled on Saturday night as the team could not overcome another 1st inning meltdown by Wade Miley. He actually pitched to 2 hitters in the 2nd but both reached base and Houston was only trailing 3-0 at the time so AJ Hinch gave him the hook. The one concern for Houston going into the postseason is Miley. He has 3 disastrous outings in his last 4 starts. It's too late in the season to let him work out his issues and I wonder if he will even make the postseason roster. Brad Peacock returned to the lineup today and he pitched a scoreless 6th inning. With some innings of work he could be a fourth starter if needed if Hinch decides he can't depend on Miley.

 

Houston is set up to finish the season strong which will help get them to set new records. In the post game speech AJ Hinch said he was proud of his team and he mentioned all the great things and postseason hardware this team will get and the last guy he mentioned was Alex Bregman's chase for league MVP as he hit his team leading 39th homer or the season. With front runner Mike Trout done for the season over a week ago all Bregman can do is try to pad his numbers so he can possibly steal the trophy from Trout. It won't be total larceny because Bregman has put up really good numbers including the fact he leads the majors in walks which gives him a really nice OPB of .419 which is 3rd behind Trout (.438) and Christian Yelich (.429) and both were done for the season a while back. It's all about how much Bregman can impress in these last 6 games.

 

3 straight division titles is awesome, 3 straight 100 win seasons is amazing. In this decade Houston has endured 3 100 loss seasons and 3 100 win seasons. You can't discount how the baseball Gods aligned in Houston with Jim Crane buying the team with the MLB league office saying the Astros had to switch to the American league in doing so. The hiring of sabermetric guru Jeff Luhnow to rebuild the team pretty much from scratch was key to the Astros turnaround. Moves that Luhnow made like the acquisition of Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Michael Brantley and drafting guys like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer and Alex Bregman. It's a team that could win for a few years to come but nothing is promised. Ask the Boston Red Sox what happened to expectations this year as they missed the playoffs the year after they won it all. Or the Kansas City Royals who defeated Houston in the ALDS in 2015. The Royals won it all in '15 and have sort of disappeared off the playoff radar since. Houston has made the playoffs 4 times in the last 5 years and that consistency is not to be overlooked. Having a great record doesn't guarantee success. Ask the 1997-99 or the 2005 Astros about that. They still have to produce on the field and the attitude AJ Hinch talks about that this team has would lead us to believe they won't get the big head about their stats. Come to the ballpark every day and grind. That blue collar ethic could very well carry them a long way in the postseason.

 

Houston finished their home games today and they are the first team in franchise history to win 60 games as they went 60-21 at home which means there is a very real home field advantage to Minute Maid Park. Only Houston and the 1998 Yankees have won 60 games at home which is pretty special too. Houston has a day off tomorrow and they play two in Seattle and 4 in LA against the Angels. Verlander will pitch one more time and he will try to get just 6 K's to get to 3000 for his career. It would be nice if he can get it done this season. As soon as he does it I'll bet he gets to sit down. I think it would be unrealistic to think he would get 12 K's in his last start which is next Saturday but wouldn't it be cool?

[Dracula]

With 6 games left, the Astros are one game up on the Yankees,and owning the tie breaker, and 2 games up on the Dodgers for the best overall record and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. With a little bit of breathing room, I would imagine that Miley gets another start but his leash will be so short, that his feet will barely touch the ground. I don't think that he will be the 4th starter but he will be in the bull pen and will be given the chance to continue to work through whatever is going on.

Since the first round is best 3 out of 5, but spaced out somewhat, wouldn't the Stros just go with Verlander, Cole, and Greinke?

[Dracula]

This series, with the Rays, may be the biggest comeback since the Red Sox's were down 0-3, to the Yankees, and then won 4 straight. The Yankee's must be absolutely screaming for the Ray's.

[eagle eye]

It’s been crazy busy the last couple of weeks and I have opinions about the Astros going back at least that far. Thoughts two weeks old are worthless at this point but my current opinion of the fortunes of the Astros is rather bleak. The pitching for Houston, except for Greinke’s stinker in Game 3 has been good to excellent. Verlander and Cole in Games 1 and two were as dominant as people thought they would be. Even yesterday’s game, even though Verlander got roughed up a little early and he had an early exit because working on short rest in this case didn’t agree with him at all, 4 runs isn’t the end of the world. Still, for a team with as great an office as the pundits say they have the Astros offense has been limping along for a couple of weeks heading into the playoffs. If you look at the Astros run production through the first 4 games it hasn’t been great at all. Even though they scored 6 runs in Game 1 you have to remember 2 of those runs were scored on an error. So, in four games Houston has scored 4, 3, 3, and 1 runs. They are lucky to be tied in this series and not eliminated. It’s not like Houston hasn’t had their chances, they have stranded a small army on the bases because there are very few clutch hits in this lineup right now. Hell, there are very few HITS in this lineup right now. In Game 1 Houston did okay scoring 2 of 3 times with RISP and leaving 4 runners on base. In Game 2 it was bad. Houston was 0 for 4 with RISP and they stranded 7 baserunners. In Monday’s Game 3 loss the Astros were 1-6 with RISP and they stranded 7. In yesterday’s Game 4 they were 0-3 w/RISP and they stranded 5. What’s even worse is their hit production. In order of games played they have had 5, 10, 7 and 6 hits. That’s 28 hits in 128 AB’s for a team batting average of .219. As much as Houston pitching has carried this team this year it would be nice if the offense woke the hell up. If you give up 4 runs you would think the offense would pick a brother up once in a while seeing as how he has carried this team in his 34 starts this season. If Houston doesn’t win this series it won’t be because of Greinke and Verlander and possibly Gerrit Cole, it will be because the offense didn’t do their job. The Yankees swept their series against Minnesota scoring 10, 8 and 5 runs for a total of 23 runs in 3 games. Houston has scored at total of 13 runs in four games. That’s an average of over just two runs per game. You ain’t gonna win very many games scoring just two runs. The offense needs to get up off their collective arses and start producing because if they don’t, even if they manage to pull out a Game 5 win over Tampa they will be destroyed by the Yankees. When I say Go Astros now it isn’t a cheer of encouragement it is an angry plea for them get the hell going.

[Dracula]

Lord have mercy Eagle. The Astros are at home, with Cole on the mound. They have every advantage, in their favor, to win game 5 and then this whole mess will be forgotten. But, if they don't, the biggest choke trivia question will have 3 possible answers; Bill Buckner, the 2004 Red Sox comeback vs the Yankees, and the Astros.

[eagle eye]

If you were to ask me if I’m nervous about tonight’s Game 5 of the ALDS I would have to say, “Darn tootin’ I’m nervous.” Especially since on the National League side both Game 5’s last night were both won by the road teams breaking the backs of teams in the Dodgers and Braves heavily favored going into their respective series. Houston was considered the ‘Dream Team’ heading into the playoffs and after winning the first two games of the series last weekend the Astros were following the popular notion of how this series was going to go. The new week saw Zack Greinke molest the pooch by giving up 6 runs in just 3.2 innings. Apparently have nearly two weeks off between starts was not a good thing for him. Verlander came back Tuesday on short rest and allowed 4 runs in, ironically enough, 3.2 innings of work. That said, 4 runs isn’t the end of the world but the offense didn’t back up its ace with any run support. The offense is letting the team down and unless something happened between Tuesday’s loss and today that limp noodle offense could be the Astros downfall in this playoff series. The Dodgers had the 2nd most wins in the regular season, second only to Houston, and they were unceremoniously bounced by team that, on paper, wasn’t nearly as good as the Dodgers. The Braves, on paper, were better than St Louis but that didn’t stop the Cards from jumping out to a 10 run lead after the first ½ inning on the way to a 13-1 series clinching win. Two road teams in a best of five series beat heavily favored opponents to advance to the next round of the playoffs. Naaahhh, I’m not nervous at all with our heavily favored Astros hosting the underdog Rays in the win or go home Game 5 tonight.

[Dracula]

It was fun trolling, on the Dodgers twitter thread last night. Those fans were banging their heads against the wall. I suggested the door frame and they were full of suggestions as well. Having said that, I think the Astro's bats bounce back tonight. This is why they get paid the big bucks or it's going to be a really long off season for them. Just ask Clayton kershaw how long his offseason has been so far? We'll see.

[Dracula]

the biggest choke trivia question will have 3 possible answers; Bill Buckner, the 2004 Red Sox comeback vs the Yankees, and the 2019 Dodgers.

[eagle eye]

the biggest choke trivia question will have 3 possible answers; Bill Buckner, the 2004 Red Sox comeback vs the Yankees, and the 2019 Dodgers.

 

I might go for Mitch Williams fail against Toronto. The Nats have a pretty good team. The Astros were close to being that 'famous choker' group before they rebounded in Game 5.

 

Houston vs the Yankees tonight is going to be big for Houston. They really need Zack Greinke to be MUCH better against NY than he was against Tampa last Monday. Need him to win, but he won't do squat if the Astros offense doesn't come to play. Go 'Stros!

[eagle eye]

Houston got a much better start from Zack Greinke that he gave them last Monday. He went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs. That is the basic criteria of a quality start but when you have an offense stuck in the mud this is what you get. Couple that with the bullpen's epic fail, mainly Ryan Pressly's second playoff stinker in a row. You have a formula for a Game 1 loss. Masahiro Tanaka started for the Yankees and for a pitcher who has struggled all season the Astros lame offense made him look like the second coming of Roger Clemens. During the regular season Tanaka had a 11-9 record with a 4.45 ERA in 32 starts. Last night Tanaka went 6 innings allowing 1 hit and one walk and zero runs. My worst fear came true. I said before Game 5 of the ALDS that IF Houston managed to get by the Tampa Bay Rays if the offense didn't pick it up they would be in big trouble. People, the Astros are in big trouble. First off, they have lost home field advantage which is big because in the format of the ALCS it's a 2-3-2 schedule meaning they could close out the series in New York even if Houston wins tonight's game. The Astros have dug a huge hole for themselves and even though the spin on this loss is, "just one game" it was a big loss. The men in the Astros locker room have to suck it up and figure out how to break out of their offensive woes, pronto. Justin Verlander is up today and hopefully he will inspire some resurgence in the Astros offense. Trouble is, the Astros offense is usually a no-show when he pitches.

[eagle eye]

In the 5th inning of last night’s Astros-Yankees game it looked bad for Houston. Two men on for NY with just one out. Starter Zack Greinke had put the second man on base when AJ Hinch pulled the plug on Greinke’s night. Enter Ryan Pressly. Normally that has been a good thing but when Pressly came back from knee surgery in September it wasn’t really that old reliable, dominating reliever we have grown used to seeing. Pressly was giving up hits and runs like he was running a fire sale. In the playoffs he has been unable to get anybody out. So, in the middle of a high leverage situation Hinch turned to his go-to guy for such situations. Trouble was this hasn’t been the same go-to guy for the better part of a month. Oh well, Hinch knows his guys we’ll trust his judgement but, it was nervous time as you watched Pressly walk to the mound from the bullpen. The first batter Pressly faced was Aaron Hicks and after 6 pitches Hicks took the trot to first base. Here we go, bases now full of Yankees and a pitcher many have lost some faith in was still on the mound. Next up, Astros killer Gleybar Torres. Pressley befuddled Torres and he struck him out. Two down but Eduard Encarnacion was up. Pressly bared down and struck out Encarnacion. 3 batters faced. He threw 6 pitches to each batter for a total of 18 pitches in the inning. 1 walk and 2 huge K’s and the Astros maintained their 3-1 lead. Houston got that lead on a 3-run Springer Dinger in the 3rd. Houston extended their lead to 6-1 when Carlos Correa had his own 3-run homer in the top of the 6th. Josh James came on in bottom of the 6th for Pressly and gave up a 2-run homer to Gary Sanchez to tighten the score to 6-3. Houston added a run in the 8th when Houston had runners on the corners and with the Yankees infield in to stop the runner on 3rd from scoring Yordan Alvarez hit a ground ball to 2B Gleybar Torres who miss played it allowing Alex Bregman to score making it 7-3 Houston. In the top of the ninth Jose Altuve lead off with a ground ball to 2B and, again, Torres misplayed the ball and Altuve instead of being the first out of the inning ended up on 2B. A wild pitch by Yankees reliever Jonathan Loaisiga put Altuve on 3rd. Next up Michael Brantley singled home Altuve which made the score 8-3. Of the 8 runs Houston scored 3 were unearned thanks to 4 fielding errors made by the Yankees defense. The final score ended up 8-3 as Roberto Osuna came in and got the final 4 outs of the game.

Houston now leads the Yankees 3 games to 1 in this best of seven series. Game 5 is this evening with a 6:08 CT start time. Justin Verlander will start for Houston while James Paxson starts for NY. This is a pitching rematch from Game 2 in which Verlander went 5 innings allowing 2 runs. Paxson only went 2.1 innings allowing a run on 2 hits. It was in this game that Springer and Correa combined to help Houston get the win with home runs. Springer hit a solo shot in the 5th to tie the game at 2 and Correa hit a walk off solo HR in the 11th to secure the Astros first victory in the ALCS. Verlander looked good coming off a loss to Tampa in Game 4 of the ALDS when he pitched on short rest. Houston has the Yankees on the ropes and they have a guy in Verlander that is at the top of his game right now. Cross your fingers, Houston could close out the ALCS tonight with a win!

One item of note. CC Sabathia came into the game in the 8th inning in relief of Adam Ottavino but he left after facing just three batters because he suffered an injury on his pitching arm. Sabathia is going to retire at the end of this season after a long and distinguished career in the major leagues. If you watched that game you might have seen the last appearance by him in a game.

[eagle eye]

Houston jumped out to an early lead and they maintained it in a very hard fought game all the way to the 9th inning. Then Roberto Osuna came on and did that magic thing he does - blows saves. The first batter in the top of the 9th, Gio Urshela, singled to left field. Brett Gardner struck out and then DJ Lemahieu came up and after a 10-pitch at-bat and with a 3-2 count Lemahieu went opposite field for a home run to tie the game. In the bottom of the 9th Martin Maldinado struck out and Josh Reddick popped out to 3B Gio Urshela. With 2 outs George Springer drew a walk and with a 2-1 count Jose Altuve took a high hanging slider and smashed it off the wall in left center field just right of the Crawford Boxes for a walkoff 2-run homer. Altuve beat Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman in a tit-for-tat home run to come back from the blown save by Osuna. With the win the Astros take the ALCS 4 games to 2 which was a great comeback after losing the opening game of the series last Saturday. The Astros managed to take the Game 2 on Sunday and they went into Yankee Stadium and took Games 3 and 4 before losing Friday to make the series 3-2 heading back to Houston. Because of how steady and clutch Jose Altuve has been throughout the ALCS and because of his clutch hitting he was named ALCS MVP. Nobody deserves it more. Now the World Series will begin on Tuesday night in Houston! The Astros are making their 2nd appearance in the WS in the past 3 seasons. A banged up and injured Astros team was beaten by the Boston Red Sox in the 2018 ALCS but their 311 wins over the past 3 seasons is the best in MLB history.

 

As for the WS, the pitching rotation sets up perfectly for the Astros to face the best pitchers for the Washington Nationals. On Tuesday Gerrit Cole leads off of Houston facing Max Scherzer, Game 2 should feature Justin Verlander on full rest vs Stephen Strasburg and for Game 3 Zack Greinke will pitch the first game in Washington vs Patrick Corbin. Game 4 could be a bullpen game for Houston while Washington should counter with Anibal Sanchez. If it goes that far the whole rotation should repeat itself for Games 5,6 and 7. Last night in a post game interview Carlos Correa said the Astros were looking to put together a dynasty and should they win this World Series it would go a long way toward reaching that goal.

[eagle eye]

Just so you all know, I'm not saying squat about the Astros until after tonight's game. The superstitious bugger in me doesn't want to jinx anything that is taking place. Fingers and toes crossed? Check. Nervous as heck? Check. About to puke when game time comes around? Check. Cole vs Scherzer Round 2. I'll be lucky if my heart doesn't explode from the anticipation. God, I'm too old for this sh*t!

[eagle eye]

As far as the Astros are concerned, I can be silent no longer! After the end of Game 2 of the WS I was in despair. The Washington Nationals were clearly THE hot team in the playoffs and they had dispatched the Astros at home in the first two games of the Series pretty easily. Things looked bleak because the Astros offense had struggled during and just before the playoffs. That wasn’t bad enough then we have the subpar performances of Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander. I wasn’t expecting this series to go more than 5 games tops.

 

The Astros must have known something needed to be done because after the Game 2 loss the team had a closed door, players only meeting. We may never know what was actually said in that meeting but it seemed to have changed something in the team.

 

Zack Greinke came out in the first game in Washington and he had a gritty performance allowing 1 run on 7 hits with 3 BB’s and 6 K’s. It seemed like Greinke was constantly in trouble but he prevailed. The bullpen backed him up with shutout ball the rest of the game. The Astros played small ball scoring their first two runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings on RBI singles by Josh Reddick and Michael Brantley. In the 5th Brantley singled home Jose Altuve for the Astros 3rd run and Robinson Chirinos homered in the sixth. Greinke allowed an RBI triple to Victor Robles in the fourth and that’s how Game 3 ended, a 4-1 win for the Astros.

 

Game 4 belonged to Jose Urquidy. The Rookie was flawless for 5 innings and even Fox commentator David Ortiz wondered why AJ Hinch pulled him after 5 scoreless innings. Urquidy had only thrown 67 pitches allowing just 2 hits, no walks with 4 K’s. With Houston leading 4-0 going into the 6th Josh James came on and didn’t do very well. In just 1/3 of an inning he gave up two walks and left with men on 1st and 2nd after facing only 3 batters. Will Harris came on and allowed an infield single which loaded the bases and a ground ball out that scored the only run of the game for the Nats. Harris struck out Howie Kendrick for final out to get out of the jam. Houston played small ball for their first two runs getting an RBI single from Alex Bregman, who had been cold as ice in the playoffs, and an RBI single from Yuli Gurriel who had also been pretty tepid at the plate. In the 4th Robinson Chirinos joined an small group of players to homer in back-to-back WS games when he hit a 2-run shot to make the score 4-0 at the time. In the 7th Houston worked a couple of walks and got a single from Michael Brantley when Alex Bregman stepped up and unloaded on a pitch into the left field seats for a grand slam. Suddenly, it was an 8-1 lead and that’s how the game ended. It also ended with the Astros evening the series at 2 games apiece.

 

Game 5 was going to be a rematch of the Cole-Scherzer duel begun with a Scherzer win in Game 1. Just hours before the game a pinched nerve in the Scherzer’s neck that pretty much incapacitated him forcing the Nats to turn to Joe Ross. Now Ross is a pretty good pitcher but, he is no Max Scherzer, and though he tried his best Houston took advantage of the situation. Yordan Alvarez, making his first start since Sunday’s Game 1 loss took Ross deep for a 2-run homer in the 2nd inning. Carlos Correa took Ross deep with a 2-run dinger of his own in the 4th. Gerrit Cole was his usual dominating self. He went 7 innings allowing just one run on a Juan Soto homer in the 7th making the score 4-1. Houston kept piling on as Gurriel singled home George Springer in the 8th and Springer capped the scoring with a 2-run Springer Dinger in the 9th to put the Astros up 7-1 and that is how the game ended with Joe Smith and Ryan Pressly pitching scoreless 8th and 9th innings to sweep the 3 games in DC giving Houston a 3-2 series lead.

 

Houston still needs to win one more game and you’d think Justin Verlander is the guy you would want on the mound. I thought so until I heard on Golic and Wingo this morning that Verlander is Oh-fer in World Series games dating back to 2006. In 2017 Verlander was 0-1 in two starts but the Astros got the win in extra innings in his Game 2 start. This WS Verlander is 0-1 after losing his first start in Game 2 as he faces a rematch with the Nats Stephen Strasberg. There are conspiracy theories at work that think that Houston will lose Game 6 because there will be too much revenue lost if there isn’t a Game 7. That thinking sent my anxiety levels through the roof. Thanks Kim and thanks Keith. I am convinced I will need to be put into a medically induced coma to survive this series.

[puddin tane]

no worries, eagle, stros got this

[eagle eye]

Weird World Series, one where no game was won by the home team. Historically weird because this had never happened in any of the major sports. This feels like what must have been felt by the 2001 Seattle Mariners. The M's won a record 116 games that season setting the AL record for wins in a season and they also tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for most wins in either league only they lost to the Yankees in the ALCS. When Houston swept all three games in Washington you just felt that the team had turned a corner and they were going to actually get this thing done.

 

The Nationals had a good season but, they sort of backed into the playoffs and they were on the verge of being eliminated in the Wild Card play-in game before they rallied and moved on to the NLDS. From like the 8th inning of the play-in game through the World Series the Nats were the hottest team in baseball. They scalded the heavily favored Dodgers and followed that by sweeping the over matched Cardinals. But, who in their wildest dreams outside of Washington DC would have thought the Nationals could actually beat the 'invincible' Astros?

 

Houston cruised into the playoffs and even though they didn't clinch the AL West until very late there really was no doubt the Astros were the class of the AL. However, in the last week to 10 days of the season Houston's offense seemed to be mailing it in. They finished the season playing the weak little sisters in the AL West, the Angels, Mariners and Rangers but they struggled to score runs against teams that basically sucked and were playing out the string to get to go into their offseasons. Houston did win 9 of their last 11 games and they needed to because the pesky Oakland A's just wouldn't go away. This year was different than 2018. That team had guts and heart as evidenced by Jose Altuve playing with a cracked kneecap and Carlos Correa playing with a very bad back. Lance McCullers was pitching with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow that required Tommy John surgery as soon as the season ended. Heart and guts. To be sure, the 2019 Astros had their challenges. Altuve was struggling the first half of the season suffering residual effects of the knee surgery he had in the offseason. Correa battled his bad back and a broken rib he got getting a massage of all things. However, after the All Star break Altuve returned and whole team seemed to catch fire. The only team hotter than the Astros was, you guessed it, the Nationals. The problem with the Astros this year was that they would go into slumps and despite all the depth when one guy slumped everybody slumped and that is what happened to the Astros heading into the playoffs. The struggled to beat the Tampa Bay Rays. It took all 5 games to finally prevail. They struggled to hit Yankees pitching but managed to pull the ALCS out in 6 games. Then it got weird. Gerrit Cole was not himself in Game 1 and offense was invisible as Houston lost the WS opener. Justin Verlander was smacked around in Game 2 so Houston left for DC and Game 3 down 0-2. Great performances by Greinke and Cole in Games 3 and 5 were sandwiched around a surprising and morale boosting performance in Game 4 by Jose Urquidy sending the series back to Houston for what was surely going to be a big home field celebration. That didn't happen. Whatever offense the Astros found in Washington stayed in Washington. In Game 6 Verlander pitched well giving up 3 runs in 5 innings but he left the game with his team down 3-2. The bullpen didn't step up and rather than being the bullpen they were bull squat. To make matters worse the offense didn't score after putting up 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Houston didn't get many base runners against Nats starter Stephen Strasburg but when they did they didn't take advantage of their opportunities. Houston was 0-4 with RISP and they stranded 6 base runners. The bullpen was leakier than the SS Minnow with Ryan Pressly the only one not to give up at least one run.

 

It came down to Game 7. A last chance for redemption. Zack Greinke against Max Scherzer, the same Max Scherzer who 4 days before was scratched from Game 5 because of a severely pinched nerve in his neck. It was a great battle between two former Cy Young award winners. Scherzer lasted 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits, 4 walks with 3 K's. Houston had him on the ropes several times but couldn't make him pay. Greinke was much better going 6.1 innings allowing no runs until the top of the 7th when he gave up a solo HR to Anthony Rendon to make the score 2-1. Greinke walked the next batter and his night was done. Trying to keep the game in favor of the Astros, AJ Hinch pulled Greinke and brought in old reliable Will Harris. The game was in the hands of the bullpen and the bullpen didn't come through. Harris gave up a 2-run homer to Howie Kendrick giving the Nats a 3-2 lead followed by Roberto Osuna who gave up a run to make it 4-2. Joe Smith gave up 2 more making it 6-2 and that's all she wrote. The offense scored a run in the 2nd and a run in the 5th but in the end the Astros offense blew too many opportunities and failed to break the game open for the home team. Houston went 1-8 with RISP and stranded 10 on a night when Nats ace, Scherzer, struggled to get through 5 innings.

 

In the end, the thing I feared going into this series was the Astros shaky offense and they disappeared when they were needed most. They had their opportunities but they failed to put together good at-bats when they needed them. This team basically choked with the series on the line. What made matters worse was the failure of the bullpen to do their job. The Astros bullpen was a big strength of the team all season. It even carried the team though the murky waters of the playoffs but when the team needed them most in Games 6 and 7 they were an epic fail. Houston had to deal with the fallout of former Assistant GM Brandon Taubman's tirade about how happy he was the team signed Roberto Osuna directed at female sports reporters in the Astros clubhouse after clinching their berth in the World Series. One of the female reporters is an big advocate against domestic violence and the Astros signed Osuna who was on suspension for domestic violence at the time in 2018. Who knows why Taubman taunted these women but it got him fired. Not before the Astros who misguidedly tried to show Taubman some loyalty by backing what he said by saying a subsequent article by the reporter was just a vindictive rank a the reporter who made the whole thing up. It turned out the reporter was right as rain and the Astros front office had rotten egg on their faces and they scrambled to do damage control. The fallout from that incident isn't likely over as the MLB league office may have some more punishment to levee on the Astros. Not a good look. Another thing that was not a good look was antics by Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa following home runs in the series. They displayed an arrogance that might be easier to swallow from a team that actually did something to be arrogant about. In the four games at home the offense stank and the bullpen wasn't much better. You want to give credit to the Nationals, fine, but for me they did what Houston could not, come up clutch when they had the opportunities.

 

The only thing left in this season are the postseason awards. The Astros will take home their fair share of hardware but it sort of rings hollow with this loss. The 2017 season was magical. The Astros were special on the field as evidenced by so many late rallies to win games, the magic of Springer in the playoffs and the overall feel of the team on the verge of greatness. The way the team overcame all the hardships associated with Hurricane Harvey, it was just a different feel. It was different in 2019. No magic, no feeling of 'the guys will pull it out' the way they did in '17. Even Tropical Storm Imelda that hit and flooded Houston and SE Texas yet again didn't have that same feeling of 'Texas Strong' in the Astros clubhouse. No magic, just a business as usual vibe. Fans were proud of the team and all the wins stacking up but, to me, it didn't feel special. In the end, it wasn't special but, it was a season to be proud of. 2nd place is still pretty damn good but nobody ever has a parade for the losing team. The only thing I hope for is that the team opens up their pocket book and signs Gerrit Cole. Hopefully, Cole will remember that it was in Houston that he turned his career around and got to where he. That should be worth a bit of a hometown discount, don't you think? 7 months of struggle and to come up short is really the pits. Thank you for a fun season Houston. Let's take it back in 2020.

Edited October 31, 2019 by eagle eye

[puddin tane]

why.........pull.....Greinke….

[eagle eye]

why.........pull.....Greinke….

AJ Hinch thought the same thing — in hindsight.

[eagle eye]

The final activities of the 2019 season are winding down as the year end rewards are being handed out. As expected, the Astros have won their fair share hardware this year. Let's take a look at who won what.

 

Wilson Defensive Player of the Year awards - This award is a bi-league award meaning they don't give out awards to AL players and another set of awards to NL players. MLB just looks at who was the best at their position for fielding. There is also an award for best defensive player and the best team defense. The Astros did not have anyone win their position award although a couple of Astros were finalists none won. Houston did win Defensive Team of the Year which is pretty cool. Wilson created this award in 2012 to honor the best defensive players in baseball. The award is determined by sabermetrics which is different than the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. Wilson is, of course, a major manufacturer of baseball equipment including fielding gloves.

 

Rawlings Gold Glove Awards - Houston had four finalists, Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel, Alex Bregman and Josh Reddick but, none of them won. This award was created in 1957 by Rawlings, makers of baseball gloves, to honor the best fielders at their position for each season. It is voted on by coaches and managers around the league but they can't vote for their own players. About 25% of the vote comes from sabermetric numbers provided by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Although no Astros won an AL Gold Glove, Zack Greinke won one for the National League after spending the first 4 months of the season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

 

Baseball Digest Rookie of the Year - As expected the Astros' Yordan Alvarez won the AL ROTY award. Alvarez was called up just before the All Star break. He made his debut on June 9th against the Baltimore Orioles going 1-3 with a 2-run homer in his first game in the bigs. Overall in 2019 his batting line was .313/.412/655 with 27 home runs and 75 RBI in just 313 at-bats. He was the 9th youngest player in all of MLB. This award is given by Baseball Digest magazine. The MLB ROTY award will be announced Monday, Nov 11.

 

The Silver Slugger Awards, given to the players with the best batting average for their respective position. The Award is given to American League and also to the National League players. Jose Altuve had won 5 straight Silver Slugger awards from 2014 through 2018 but his knee issues that lingered into the first half of this season after offseason knee surgery caused him to have an off year overall at the plate. When he came back after the All Star break he left the AL in hits and

 

There are two awards that Astros are still in the running for. The Cy Young Award is given to the best pitcher in each league. This years it's a two man race with the award going to either Justin Verlander or Gerrit Cole. There is a 3rd finalist, former Astro Charlie Morton, but he has no shot given the numbers Verlander and Cole put up. Both men deserve to win and it would be awesome if they are so close they declare them both winner. This isn't likely to happen so my preference is Verlander who won the most games in all of baseball and he also recorded his 3rd career no-hitter this season. The Cy Young will get announced next Wednesday.

 

MLB MVP award has an Astros as a finalist. Alex Bregman joins the Angel's Mike Trout and the A's Marcus Semien. Bregman put up some great numbers this season. He is first in WAR (8.4) and walks (119, 2nd in OBP, 3rd in Slugging Percentage and OPS. He tied for 3rd in HR's and was 4th in runs scored (122) and 5th in RBI's (112). Unlike Trout or Semien, Bregman started at two positions during the season. He was the primary man at 3B but he also made 59 starts at shortstop. The MVP for both leagues will be announced next Thursday.

[eagle eye]

The big 4 of the post season awards for the 2019 season were awarded this past week. Yordan Alvarez won the AL Rookie of the Year Award on Monday in a unanimous vote. Absolutely, deserved and no surprise to anyone.

 

I don't care who won the Manager of the Year if it wasn't AJ Hinch and he wasn't even a finalist. But, that award was announced on Tuesday.

 

On Wednesday the question on everyone's mind was, "Is it Cole or Verlander?" Well, it was Verlander. For the first time since 2001 and 2002 teammates finished 1-2 in the voting. That would be Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling with the Arizona Diamondbacks back in the day. Verlander and Cole won every single 1st and 2nd place vote with Verlander winning 17 1st place votes and 13 2nd's with the numbers reversed for Cole. Personally, I glad Verlander won so, for me, I am happier than I would have been if Cole had come out on top. It would have been awesome if they could have tied and both share the award but that just wasn't going to happen. One bittersweet bit of info is that it is highly unlikely that, like Johnson and Schilling, the Astros won't have a chance to repeat the 1-2 finish next season with the likelihood that Cole will be with another team next season. Cole has already turned down the $17.8 MM tender offer but that's no indication of Cole's interest in returning to the Astros. It was just a one year deal and it was obviously lower than I'm sure he will command in free agency. Astros owner, Jim Crane, has said the team will make a run at signing Cole. Is Crane willing to shell out the dough necessary to keep him? Is Crane going to be okay with getting penalized under MLB's luxury tax for teams exceeding the salary limits. I don't think the actual money is an issue but Houston also has to field a contending 25 man roster. Are the Astros thinking the return of Lance McCullers next year, after more than a year off rehabbing after Tommy John surgery, that he will be able to replace Cole? I don't think so. Given McCullers' past performance and frequent trips to the IL I doubt McCullers will be the answer to the question, "Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? -- uh, I mean Gerrrit Cole."

 

A side note, the last time the Cy Young AND ROY was won by teammates was - wait for it - 2015 with none other than the Astros Dallas Keuchel and Carlos Correa winning those awards. Pretty cool!

 

The final award, League MVP's, were announced Thursday and it was not really any big shock that the Angels Mike Trout won the AL side of the award. Blah, blah, blah, Mike Trout, blah, blah, blah, he's great, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah. Blech!!! The Astros Alex Bregman came in second in a closer vote than you'd expect given how much the baseball media kisses Trout's derriere. I know, it's sour grapes but, for goodness sake Trout missed a whole month of the season. Bregman played two difficult positions during the year, shortstop and third base and he led the league in walks and was top 10 in every major statistical category and he played the whole season. Whatever. Kids, tell Mr Trout congratulations even though he's a putz. Congratulations Mr Trout. Great, now kids go play in the snow. Have a snowball fight and don't forget to use your sling shots to keep your hands from getting cold.

 

Baseball's 2019 season is over now. It ended on a low note with the Astros coming up one game shy of another championship. It's kind of like having your gall bladder removed. Your okay and you will survive but there is a void that will never, ever be filled. You could get ten gall bladders installed in your body but it won't make up for the one you lost. Oh well, aloha 2019 and as they say, "There's always next yearl" The old 90's song "Closing Time" by Semi-Sonic comes to mind. Peace-out! We'll track the Astros offseason moves all the way through spring training next year but this thread is closed. Thanks to all who gave this thread a look and thanks for the contributions as well.