Houston Astros Regular Season Thread

[Guest eagle eye]

Okay I want to play the what-if game. So, with sound of the Mathew Broderick's 2nd most famous movie "War Games" electronic invitation, "Shall we play a game?" ringing in my head I put this to you, BRI faithful. Just for one minute pretend you are either the club president instead of Reid Ryan or GM Jeff Luhnow and assume you have carte blanche to do whatever you want to make the Astros better. This could reference whatever you choose concerning the Astros organization as a whole from the baseball, public relations or media perspective. Your assignment is to tell us what 3 things you would change as we leave 2013 behind (we can assume the season is fundamentally over, right?) and look toward 2014. So, "Shall we play this game?"

[Big T]

2013 stats

 

Chris Carter - Salary this year $494,000

AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB AVG OBP SLG SO

360 48 76 155 14 1 21 54 50 .211 .312 .431 155(JEESH)

 

Josh Hamilton - Salary this year $17,000,000

AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB AVG OBP SLG SO

421 55 94 173 24 2 17 56 32 .223 .280 .411 116

 

Who's better for the money?

 

We have all seen star players have "down years." Maybe not to the extent of Josh Hamilton but they still had down years. So with that said I think that Josh Hamilton at $17,000,000 is still a better deal than Khris Karter. He is a better fielder and still a more potent offensive threat who has shown over the lifetime of his career to be a star player. Karter has only shown the ability to run into a ball every now and then and strikeout at astronomical rates. Until Hamilton has a repeat of this type of season I still rank his $17,000,000 deal ahead of the K machine.

 

I actually have to admit despite my complaining I do like Chris Carter and he should stay the Astros DH next season.

[Big T]

Okay I want to play the what-if game. So, with sound of the Mathew Broderick's 2nd most famous movie "War Games" electronic invitation, "Shall we play a game?" ringing in my head I put this to you, BRI faithful. Just for one minute pretend you are either the club president instead of Reid Ryan or GM Jeff Luhnow and assume you have carte blanche to do whatever you want to make the Astros better. This could reference whatever you choose concerning the Astros organization as a whole from the baseball, public relations or media perspective. Your assignment is to tell us what 3 things you would change as we leave 2013 behind (we can assume the season is fundamentally over, right?) and look toward 2014. So, "Shall we play this game?"

 

Technically the Astros have not been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Just saying.

 

If I could do three things to make them better.

 

1) Not sign any type A free agents. If they did they would have to give up their second round pick. But then again if they could some how get Shin-Soo Choo it might be worth it.

 

2) Get bullpen help from either the FA market or via a trade.

 

3) Bring up Singleton and Springer in either April or may if they don't break camp with them and also give Folty, Tropeano, Wojo, Correa, DDJ, Fontana, and McCullers extended time in ST with the MLB club. Lets see what they can do. I wouldn't expect any of them to break camp with the Stros but at least they can get a small sip of coffee in MLB camp.

 

Don't forget that they are still a year to two years away from being relevant again. So really you don't want to do to much during the offseason this year. Next year could be a different story however.

[Guest eagle eye]

Houston actually hung on to win! They beat Oakland 5-4 last night but when I went to bed Houston was leading 5-1! Thank goodness they hung on to win. Jordan Lyles won the game going 7 innings and Chai-Jen Lo got Chris Young to strike out to end the game moments after narrowly giving up a walkoff home run that so close it had to be reviewed the umps. This stops the latest losing streak at 6 in row and Jared Cosart goes to the hill to try to ice the series. It would be the first series that Astros have since-----it can't remember.

 

Travis Blackley just went from the outhouse to the penthouse. He was traded to the Rangers for cash considerations. The Rangers probably made the deal because they found out that they lost Matt Harrison for the season with a lingering back injury. This comes a few days after the Rangers will be without Colby Lewis for the rest of the season due to bone spurs in his hip.

 

So, how 'bout this for a weird fact----Jason Castro is currently the longest tenured player on the Astros squad.

[Big T]

Houston actually hung on to win! They beat Oakland 5-4 last night but when I went to bed Houston was leading 5-1! Thank goodness they hung on to win. Jordan Lyles won the game going 7 innings and Chai-Jen Lo got Chris Young to strike out to end the game moments after narrowly giving up a walkoff home run that so close it had to be reviewed the umps. This stops the latest losing streak at 6 in row and Jared Cosart goes to the hill to try to ice the series. It would be the first series that Astros have since-----it can't remember.

 

Travis Blackley just went from the outhouse to the penthouse. He was traded to the Rangers for cash considerations. The Rangers probably made the deal because they found out that they lost Matt Harrison for the season with a lingering back injury. This comes a few days after the Rangers will be without Colby Lewis for the rest of the season due to bone spurs in his hip.

 

So, how 'bout this for a weird fact----Jason Castro is currently the longest tenured player on the Astros squad.

 

SO close it had to be reviewed doesn't quite tell the whole story EE. It missed being a Walk off Home Run by 1/10 of an inch. Literally if it had been any closer to the pole it would have brushed it and been a HR. As it was the A's announcers thought that it had brushed it. There is a point in the video where it may look like it took a very slight deflection, but I don't think it did. What looks like a possible deflection is the ball hooking to the left of the pole.

[Big T]

How about them Stros! Game one the ball hooked foul and the Astros win. Yesterday Brandon Barnes goes over the fence to rob the A's of the walk off home run. What's in the water in Oakland?! Cosart had a great game of six innings of no run ball with 4 K's and 1 walk. That brings his K/BB ratio to even this season. Carter hit his 22 long ball of the season and Carlos Corperan continues to be the surprise of the team with another big at bat in the 11 to give the Astros the lead. Fields came on to save and gave up the leadoff double then shut them down. Talk about exciting last two nights.

[KABrother88]

How about them Stros! Game one the ball hooked foul and the Astros win. Yesterday Brandon Barnes goes over the fence to rob the A's of the walk off home run. What's in the water in Oakland?! Cosart had a great game of six innings of no run ball with 4 K's and 1 walk. That brings his K/BB ratio to even this season. Carter hit his 22 long ball of the season and Carlos Corperan continues to be the surprise of the team with another big at bat in the 11 to give the Astros the lead. Fields came on to save and gave up the leadoff double then shut them down. Talk about exciting last two nights.

 

It was actually Grossman who made the game saving catch but Barnes did add a couple of plays to his highlight reel...a catch against the wall in center then throwing out a runner at third that tried to tag from second. Defensively Barnes has been everything that Houston could have hoped for and he doesn't get enough credit around the league cause this team is so bad. If he can manage to get his average up to .270 to .280 he could be a mainstay in the outfield cause he can flat out go get it out there

[Guest eagle eye]

Well, it was asking a lot for Houston to actually sweep the A's in their own yard. Erik Bedard got roughed up early and he took the loss as the Astros bats were "Cold As Ice" as in the title of the Foreigner song. It was the first series win since June if I'm not mistaken so there's that.

 

Here's a hodgepodge of info from Astro-land concerning their future plans, a recall of a familiar player to the roster, Bo Porter's feelings about the increased use of instant replay and my favorite Bo Porter is looking forward to Texans football! I'll bet he is!

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130814&content_id=57011280&notebook_id=57033802&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

 

Here's another hodgepodge. This time about Jared Cosart's historic beginning to his career, confidence in the Astros young roster and kudos to Carlos Corporan.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130815&content_id=57093944&notebook_id=57100046&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

[Guest eagle eye]

A week or so ago I posted a challenge for BRI'ers to play GM or team president and offer 3 changes they would make to the Astros organization. At the time I didn't give mine but now is the time so without further ado--------

 

1) I have no complaints about the moves the current front office have made but I may have spent a little more on some free agents that could teach all these youngsters how the pro game is played. Yes, I know they have had a couple of guys but I'm not talking about journeymen guys who can't hit better than .220. I'm talking about guys who make a difference. When Biggio and Bagwell came up they got to learn from guys Like Billy Doran, Glen Davis, Kevin Bass and Craig Reynolds. I know Houston has been dumping salary but if they invested in a guy or two that was established and relevant. They could always trade him/them in the summer but the for the greatest benefit I always feel like players learn so much for respected veterans.

 

2) I would have done a better job of marketing starting with cutting ticket prices. A little show of faith would not hurt one bit especially since it was clear Houston wasn't going to scare anyone in their first year in the AL.

 

3) First and foremost the Houston brass inherited a total bullshit deals from the previous regime in terms of their radio and tv deals. ComCast Sports seems to have pissed off everyone who has anything to say about it. None of the Beaumont/Pt Arthur market is carrying the tv broadcasts which is hurting the Astros. Yes I know they suck and ratings may not be all that great but there are a lot of teams Astros fans would probably like to see that they never have before. This impasse with ComCast is a real lose-lose deal. Then you have the radio deal that makes no sense at all. Why would you step down in the quality of your media? The Astros had been with 740 AM forever and you could pick it up without a problem most of the time but in 2013 they stepped back and were broadcast by 790 AM with a broadcast range about the size of a Matt Schaub bomb to Andre Johnson. The radio deal makes no sense to me at all. Jim Crane never said outright the media deals were simply awful but he sure inferred the heck out of it. So did GM Jeff Luhnow who acknowledged they inherited bad deals. Fox Sports Southwest is established and they were loyal to all of Houston's teams. Without a doubt I would try to do something to reestablish lost revenue through the media outlets.

[Big T]

Brett Oberholtzer had a quality start today giving up single tally's in the 2nd,3rd, and 4th while pitching six innings. This leads me to one of my biggest MLB pet peeves. How can six innings of three run ball which adds up to a 4.50 ERA be considered a quality start? I mean conceivably pitcher could have 25 quality starts out of 32 and have a ERA of over five! The definition of a quality start should be changed to 2 or less runs through six innings or three or less runs through seven innings. 2 through six comes out to be a 3.00 ERA while 3 through seven comes out to be around 3.66ish ERA. Just one of the dumbest stats in Baseball IMO.

[Big T]

Oh and the bullpen is attempting to cough up another big lead. It was 7-3 Astros but it is now 7-5 with another inning to go.

[Guest eagle eye]

Holy pine tar, Batman! The Astros have won two series in a row! The young starters on this team are continuing to give their team a chance to win almost every outing. You can't ask more than that. As for the quality start thing, I believe it has to do with keeping the game close and going those six innings which helps to preserve the bullpen. Giving up 3 runs in 6 innings doesn't help the starting pitcher's ERA but it does carry the team through 2/3 of the game allowing a manager to use his set up man and closer and saving the rest of the bullpen for those outings where the starter isn't so sharp like Saturday's game when Dallas Kuechel wasn't at his best. Also, 3 runs isn't too much to ask of a normal offense to overcome hence the phrase "quality start". I agree if a pitcher has an ERA of 4.50 that ain't great but the 'quality' part of the start isn't about him it's about what he gave his team in terms of keeping the score close and saving the bullpen.

How about L J Hoes! This guy has been playing really well. He fast, he has a good arm for right field and he doesn't hit .210! As a matter of fact he's the first guy to hit over .300 since Jose Altuve began the season and maintained a .300+ average into June.

[KABrother88]

Holy pine tar, Batman! The Astros have won two series in a row! The young starters on this team are continuing to give their team a chance to win almost every outing. You can't ask more than that. As for the quality start thing, I believe it has to do with keeping the game close and going those six innings which helps to preserve the bullpen. Giving up 3 runs in 6 innings doesn't help the starting pitcher's ERA but it does carry the team through 2/3 of the game allowing a manager to use his set up man and closer and saving the rest of the bullpen for those outings where the starter isn't so sharp like Saturday's game when Dallas Kuechel wasn't at his best. Also, 3 runs isn't too much to ask of a normal offense to overcome hence the phrase "quality start". I agree if a pitcher has an ERA of 4.50 that ain't great but the 'quality' part of the start isn't about him it's about what he gave his team in terms of keeping the score close and saving the bullpen.

How about L J Hoes! This guy has been playing really well. He fast, he has a good arm for right field and he doesn't hit .210! As a matter of fact he's the first guy to hit over .300 since Jose Altuve began the season and maintained a .300+ average into June.

 

Now if we can just figure out how to get Josh Hamilton out...glad he isn't telling his secret to his teammates.

 

Hoes is starting to make the Bud Norris deal even better...he's always hit at every level and now looks to be figuring out how to do it in the majors...I think he could stick in the 2 hole and Villar seems to have gotten comfortable in the 9 hole.

 

Its no secret that I am a huge George Springer fan so a post wouldn't be complete with out me touching on him...he hit his 35th HR last night and it was also his 100th RBI...right now he is sitting on 35 HR and 39 SB with 15 games to go...he's hit 6 HR in his last 10 games so if he stays hot a 40-40 season is not out of the question. Luhnow has already said he would not be called up until after OKC's season/post-season is over at best but didn't expect to call him up even after that

 

One more prospect tidbit...Carlos Correa is hitting .332 with only 8 HR but 31 double so as he matures some of those will become HRs...but the stats that caught my eye was against LHP he carries an average of .443 and an OBP of .534...also has 19 BB vs 9 Ks against southpaws in 97 ABs...and he's still just 18 years old.

 

Also found this article...the 10 best minor league stadiums...Houston affiliates landed 3 on the list...Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark (AAA Oklahoma City) at #9, Whataburger Field (AA Corpus Christi) at #6, and Modern Woodman Park (Class A Quad Cities) #1

[KABrother88]

After taking a foul ball off the mask in last nights 16-5 drubbing it appears Carlos Corporan is headed to the 7 day concussion DL and Houston will call up AA catcher Max Stassi who has been playing very well this season after missing a number of games to start the year. Now all 3 players received from the Jed Lowrie trade with Oakland will be in the active roster.

 

Houston will send Jarred Cosart to the hill tonight to face Travis Blackley of the Rangers who was acquired from Houston a couple weeks ago...hopefully Houston can muster a few runs to support Cosart as he faces a tough Ranger lineup

[Big T]

IDK if I like calling up Stassi. All he's going to do is molder on the bench with Castro playing everyday. I understand the need to bring up another catcher with Corp on the DL, but I don't bring up Stassi. He's playing to well to have him sitting on a bench and there is no way your taking Castro out of the lineup. So unless they put one of them at DH then it's a bad move by the front office.

[KABrother88]

IDK if I like calling up Stassi. All he's going to do is molder on the bench with Castro playing everyday. I understand the need to bring up another catcher with Corp on the DL, but I don't bring up Stassi. He's playing to well to have him sitting on a bench and there is no way your taking Castro out of the lineup. So unless they put one of them at DH then it's a bad move by the front office.

 

I kind of take it as a September call up in August...he's had a good season so they want to reward him for a week and give him a couple ABs then send him back down in time for the AA playoffs. They also called up David Martinez who had an excellent stint in CC (14-2 with 2.02 ERA)...not really considered a prospect anymore at the age of 26 but has been good this season non the less...to make room for him Houston DFA Wade Leblanc who was just called up yesterday and gave up 5 runs (1 earned) in 2.2 innings last night but sported a 5.40 ERA in 55 innings this season

[Guest eagle eye]

The Astros won their series vs the Angels and it should have been a sweep and they carried that momentum into Arlington where they stared down the Rangers and were promptly swept. The shame is after an opening shellacking by the Rangers who scored 11 runs in the 4th inning en route to a 16-5 pummeling Houston could've and probably should've beaten them in the last two games. The bullpen was the nemesis AGAIN and as we go into the last week of August you just have to wonder about this team in September. But wait! Houston travels back home to the friendly(?) confines of the Big Orange and home cooking seems to have sparked the team because in the bottom of the 7th the Astros are whoopin' the Blue Jays 10-2. Whoops, check that. Robbie Grossman just hit a two out two run homer off Darren Oliver to make it 12-2. I know I shouldn't be as giddy as I am because the bullpen still has two innings to blow the lead and the game but this offensive outburst is pretty nice to see.

 

Can you believe it? First Carlos Corporan is concussed and it out for a while to heal from that and the Astros call up Matt Stassi and in his second major league game HE's concussed. Holy crap, can you believe the luck. (That's what Stassi is probably saying!) Actually, Stassi is lucky as hell he wasn't hurt worse as he was hit by a pitch that caromed off his shoulder and hit him in the face. X-rays showed no fractures which was a good thing especially compared with the pitch that hit Atlanta outfielder Jason Heyward in the head and fractured his jaw. Both of these plays happened just hours apart on the same day. Stassi is on the 7 day concussion DL and he's lucky it's only that.

 

Here's an article from Astros.com about a record setting pace that George Springer is on in OKC as he nears an historic 40-40 season.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130821&content_id=57783444&vkey=news_hou&c_id=hou

 

The injuries to Carlos Corporan and Max Stassi were bad for them and for the Astros but for career minor league catcher Cody Clark got the call up to the big club for the first time in his career. Clark has spent 11 years in the minors with the Rangers, Braves, Royals and Astros. When asked how he felt about the call up Clark said, "It was a dream come true". It appears that Houston has its own version of Crash Davis but unlike Davis he is going to get his shot in the bigs. It may only be for a week or so while Corporan and Stassi recover from their concussions but as baseball stories go this is certainly a feel good story if there ever was one. GO CODY! BTW if you don't know who Crash Davis is you need to rent the movie "Bull Durham" because as sports movies go, this one is top 5 easy!

[KABrother88]

The Astros won their series vs the Angels and it should have been a sweep and they carried that momentum into Arlington where they stared down the Rangers and were promptly swept. The shame is after an opening shellacking by the Rangers who scored 11 runs in the 4th inning en route to a 16-5 pummeling Houston could've and probably should've beaten them in the last two games. The bullpen was the nemesis AGAIN and as we go into the last week of August you just have to wonder about this team in September. But wait! Houston travels back home to the friendly(?) confines of the Big Orange and home cooking seems to have sparked the team because in the bottom of the 7th the Astros are whoopin' the Blue Jays 10-2. Whoops, check that. Robbie Grossman just hit a two out two run homer off Darren Oliver to make it 12-2. I know I shouldn't be as giddy as I am because the bullpen still has two innings to blow the lead and the game but this offensive outburst is pretty nice to see.

 

Can you believe it? First Carlos Corporan is concussed and it out for a while to heal from that and the Astros call up Matt Stassi and in his second major league game HE's concussed. Holy crap, can you believe the luck. (That's what Stassi is probably saying!) Actually, Stassi is lucky as hell he wasn't hurt worse as he was hit by a pitch that caromed off his shoulder and hit him in the face. X-rays showed no fractures which was a good thing especially compared with the pitch that hit Atlanta outfielder Jason Heyward in the head and fractured his jaw. Both of these plays happened just hours apart on the same day. Stassi is on the 7 day concussion DL and he's lucky it's only that.

 

Here's an article from Astros.com about a record setting pace that George Springer is on in OKC as he nears an historic 40-40 season.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130821&content_id=57783444&vkey=news_hou&c_id=hou

 

The injuries to Carlos Corporan and Max Stassi were bad for them and for the Astros but for career minor league catcher Cody Clark got the call up to the big club for the first time in his career. Clark has spent 11 years in the minors with the Rangers, Braves, Royals and Astros. When asked how he felt about the call up Clark said, "It was a dream come true". It appears that Houston has its own version of Crash Davis but unlike Davis he is going to get his shot in the bigs. It may only be for a week or so while Corporan and Stassi recover from their concussions but as baseball stories go this is certainly a feel good story if there ever was one. GO CODY! BTW if you don't know who Crash Davis is you need to rent the movie "Bull Durham" because as sports movies go, this one is top 5 easy!

 

Springer hit his 37th HR tonight and stole his 40th and 41st bases last night. He was 10 more games to get three HR to get the 40-40. Here is an article posted earlier this year giving HR factors for each MILB ball park and OKC is the 3rd highest pitcher friendly park in the PCL in term of HR...and Springer only has 6 of his 18 AAA HR at home...does still have 2 games left in Round Rock with was 7th of 18 team and slightly a hitters park

 

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?content_id=41998650&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&ymd=20130225

[Guest eagle eye]

The Astros got their brooms out but they didn't get to use them. After beating the Blue Jays in the first two games of the series Houston had a chance for a sweep and they came oh so close. A one run lead going into the top of the ninth which was the only score of the game Houston had a 1-0 lead but, there's always a but with these Astros, the bullpen just couldn't hold it. Rookie pitcher Chia Jen-Lo just couldn't hold the lead allowing 2 runs to the Jays and that's what the final score ended up being, Blue Jays 2 Astros 1. Feel good story of the week was the call up of career minor league catcher Cody Clark had the bases loaded with two out in the bottom of the ninth but he just couldn't come through with a walk off winning hit. He grounded out to end what could have been a storybook ending for Clark. Bo Porter said in his postgame press conference that if Clark had gotten a hit to win the game Hollywood would have come knocking to do his story but as it was it turned out to be nothing but a missed opportunity for the Astros in a dismal season of disappointments. Chia Jen-Lo could do nothing but sit by himself on the bench after the game wondering what the hell happened. What happened was he didn't attack the strike zone like he had before yesterday's game and walks got him in trouble. Lo gave up a run on one hit and 3 walks and a strikeout in 1/3 of an inning of work and Kevin Chapman came in and gave up slow roller that score a run from third which was Lo's responsibility to give the Blue Jays the win.

[Guest eagle eye]

Gee, what has happened in the last week? Even for a losing team there is always something going on. First off, Houston won their series against the Blue Jays and they took the opening game against the White Sox on the road in a slug fest by a score of 10-8 that saw the Astros explode for 5 home runs. That was before they crashed back to earth by losing the last two games of the White Sox series and now they have lost 2 in a row to Seattle.

 

I had to laugh at the teaser on the Astros web site, "Astros early lead slips away as Peacock struggles". The Astros lost 7-1 last night so at one point Houston led 1-0, wow.

 

Lucas Harrell continues to struggle as Jared Cosart pitched 6 innings of one run ball vs Seattle on Wednesday and left the game with the score tied 1-1. The one run was all Houston could manage off White Sox pitcher Chris Sale who went 8 innings to get the win. Harrell came into the game in the seventh and promptly gave up 4 runs and he gave up another run in the eighth for a final score of White Sox 6 Astros 1.

 

Paul Clemens got his first MLB start on Tuesday going six innings of one run ball. Clemens gave up only 4 hits with 2 walks and 2 K's for a really nice outing. Former starter Erik Bedard came in and pitched a scoreless 7th but as Houston took a 3-1 lead into the 8th when the wheels came off and Bedard gave up 3 earned runs to blow the lead and give the Sox the victory in the second game of the series.

 

Since their 10 run outburst on Monday the Astros have scored 3, 1, 2 and 1 runs since. The Astros have wasted nice outings by Jared Cosart, Paul Clemens and Jordan Lyles with their poor bullpen work as the Astros are now at the 90 loss mark and it's not even the end of August yet. Fortunately, Houston can wave bye-bye to August after today. Sunday is September 1st and the Astros, like all of MLB, will be able to expand their rosters to 40 players.

 

As for the September call ups don't expect George Springer to be among them. OKC is heading to the AAA playoffs as they clinched a playoff birth on Tuesday in a win over Nashville and they entered Friday's game with a record of 80-60. They will begin playoff action Sept 4th in OKC vs the winner of the American North Division. OKC joins AA Corpus Christi and A Lancaster and A Quad-Cities who have clinched playoff spots for the Astros minor league system. Not only that but short season Tri-Cities and Rookie League Greenville are in first place and could give Houston 6 teams in their system playoff spots! Houston's minor league total record of 458-340 (.574 winning %) is the best in baseball for the second year in a row after being dead last in 2010 and 2011. As a result Bo Porter talked about having a very limited call up of players on Sunday because the organization wants to give these young players the chance to win championships after working so hard all year to get to this point. To me, I think this is a good call. Houston is trying to nurture a winning attitude in the minors that I'm sure they want to see migrate to the big club and calling these players up now won't benefit anyone at this point.

 

BTW, George Springer and pitcher David Martinez were named Texas League Player and Pitcher of the Year for what they accomplished at AA Corpus Christi before being called up to AAA OKC. They were joined in the Texas League post-season All-Star team by pitcher Mike Foltynewicz, third baseman Jonathan Meyer and catcher Max Stassi.

 

Worth noting: On Aug 30, 1969 Larry Dierker became the first Astro pitcher to win 17 games in a season with a complete game 2-1 win over the Pirates.

Jason Castro entered Friday's game with an eight-game hitting streak, during which he was batting .500 (13-for-26) with four home runs and seven RBIs. In August, Castro was hitting .360 with five homers, 14 RBIs and a 1.132 OPS. Castro was named AL Player of the Week for Aug 19-25. It was second such honor this year as he received the award for the week of May 20-26. During that week Castro hit .529 (9-for-17) with two doubles, three home runs and five RBIs with a .619 on-base percentage, 1.294 slugging percentage and 1.913 OPS. He led the AL in batting average and extra-base hits in that span.

By contrast Jose Altuve is in a bad slump but Bo Porter says he's sure Altuve will snap out of it. Bo Porter feels like he's pressing trying make things happen which is normal when teams struggle to score runs. Altuve's BA has dropped to .266 as of last night's game in which he went 0-4 at the plate hitting 3rd in the line up. Altuve has also hit much better in the 2 hole than anywhere else in the lineup and hitting 3rd or 4th puts a lot of pressure on a player to produce.

[Big T]

What about Brett Olberholtzer?! This guy has been light out.

[Guest eagle eye]

I don't know but Olbie looked pretty good today and Houston avoided being swept by the Mariners.

[Guest eagle eye]

As we begin September let's take stock of what happened in August. I doen't seem like it was as bad as July was but let's look and see.

First off the Astros record in August was 8-21 (.276 winning %). Ouch. The Astros did improve on the 6-18 (.250 winning %) record by a whopping .026 percentage points.! The Astros had maybe a dozen chances to win a lot more games but their bullpen could not hold a lead to save their lives. Especially after closer Jose Veras was traded to Detroit the bullpen was just bloody awful.

The starting pitching got younger last month as Jared Cosart, Dallas Kuechel, Jordan Lyles, Brett Olberholzer, Paul Clemens and Brad Peacock make up a six man rotation. In fact, besides having the youngest starting rotation in the whole MLB they have the youngest bullpen too. The only real veteran is 34 year old Erik Bedard who was moved to the bullpen to make room for the youngsters moving into the starting rotation. The rest of the bullpen is manned by young guys up from AAA OKC. The vets were all traded or sent down to AAA meaning Houston began it's real commitment to a full blown youth movement in their pitching staff.

Jason Castro has emerged as a real star actually winning AL Player of the Week honors for the week of Aug 19th. Castro has shown the reason why he was a first round draft pick in 2008 but this year is the first year he's started and played the season completely healthy and the results speak for themselves. Unfortunately, in today's game Castro had to leave after getting a couple of RBI singles vs the Minnesota Twins. He left with a sprained knee, the same knee he tore his ACL on in 2011. Castro was the Astros rep in this year's All Star game and deservedly so.

The most important thing about such a dismal summer it gives the Astros an almost shoe-in opportunity to secure the 1st pick in the 2014 New Player Draft next year. As of today the Astros nearest competition for the 1st pick is Miami and they have 6 more wins than Houston. All things considered, Houston will have to go a long way to win enough games to overtake Miami for worst team in baseball with just one month left in the season.

[KABrother88]

Olberholtzer was the key piece of the Bourn trade in 2011. He was fairly highly regarded then but not near what the Astros could and should have landed in that trade. Since then he has been inconsitant and it kind of looked like he wouldn't amount to much. He was terrible when he was pitching in relief earlier this season but since he stepped into the rotation he has been excellent. Now will that be the case when the league starts to get a book one him?...probably not. But this season has been all about the hope and anticipation of what is to come in the future. As of now, to me, I'm seeing this as as starting rotation (in no particular order) leading into next season with their age will be on opening day...of course that is a long ways away so you never know what it will actually be.

 

Cosart - 23

Olberholtzer - 24

Lyles - 23 (seems like this guy is much older since he debuted so young)

Peacock - 26

Keuchel - 26

 

Wild Card goes to Wojciechowski who will be 25. He will get a good hard look in ST and wouldn't be surprised a bit if he is in the rotation opening day.

 

To me Lyles should probably be in the bullpen. I've complained for a long time about it but it just seems that everything is going great until the 4th or 5th inning and he implodes. Some guys just don't have the mentality to be a reliever and can only perform on days when they know for sure they are gonna pitch...he may be that kinda guy...but he is still only 22 and has time to develop some more and maybe figure out those middle innings.

[Big T]

The Astros have not been shy about announcing that they will be spending a little money this off season so I wouldn't be surprised to see a FA or two in the rotation. Someone like a Dice K or something along those lines. And I actually wouldn't be surprised if they were in the hunt for some this years crop of Japanese players.