Where have the road warriors gone?

It seems like a season or more ago, but way back in April, the Astros won six games in a row on the road and then came home and added fou more wins for the critical 10-game winning streak that has been the foundation of their current three game lead in the AL West.

The Astros were an amazing 10-2 on the road in April and an acceptable 5-6 on the road in May. Since then they have been a miserable 7-22 away from the friendly confines of Minute Maid Park. Lately they have managed to be even worse as they have lost 10 of their last 11 games on the road, which is unfortunate as they have become a really tough team at home building a brilliant 38-18 record in the first four months of the season.

Considering the Astros play 29 of the last 54 games on the road, including the next seven, it is important that they at least partially right the ship, if they hope to hold on to their division lead or even make the playoffs as a Wild Card.

So what has happened on the road especially this recent stretch of 1-10? During that 11 game stretch the Astros have averaged 2.27 runs scored and given up 3.82 runs per game. If you drop Monday’s 12-9 loss from those stats (because it was truly an outlier) – the Astros’ pitching staff has given up an average of 2.5 runs in those other 10 games while the hitters have only put up 1.6 runs per game.

As a wise man once said, it does not take long to look at this horseshoe. As has happened in almost every down period of the season, the hitters have been the players missing in action. The pitching staff will have an occasional clinker, but in general they have given the team an opportunity to win in the vast majority of games played this season. It has been the hitters’ failures on the road that have brought the team to its current state.

So, what do you think is the answer?

  • Does the team need to play more situational small ball on the road where the home runs are fewer and farther between?
  • Does the lineup need a shakeup on the road?
  • Is it just the normal ying and yang swing of statistics and the Astros are about to bust out with another 6 game road win streak?
  • Is the answer sitting in the dugout with a cast on his hand for another 3 weeks or so?
  • Something else?
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106 responses to “Where have the road warriors gone?”

  1. lets see * Altuve is batting like Eddie Brinkman, Valbuena -whatever, carter sucks, JFSM whats his average since may 1st 140..They look to me like a bunch of dudes that just realized they’re in a pennant race and their ( u know whats) just tighten up big time.

    Hope they can get over this funk fast!!!!!

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  2. Release Carter
    Send Jake to Fresno
    Give Altuve a day….or two off.
    Bring up A.J.Reed…let’s see what ya got kid.
    This is a critical road trip, and they laid three eggs in Arlington. You either fish, or cut bait.
    No matter how much we might like some players….this is a business, and there aren’t that many games left….we can’t keep losing.
    PERIOD.

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  3. Something has to give. I think Becky is right Carter is going to be released (should’ve happened last week) and Singleton should’ve stayed up. Singleton seemed to be breaking out of his slump. You can’t expect your pitchers to never give up a run or two. Situational hitting has gone out of the visitors clubhouse in every away park we’ve played in recently. Tonight was just another example of never getting the big hit. We’ve got to play better baseball if we want to be playing well into October. I think we are going to gain some confidence in Oakland and hopefully begin a new road winning streak. Hopefully the team will get some rest and recover and begin playing better baseball.

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  4. First my harsh comment. This “road team” looks like a team on their way to the cellar. Second, realistically they were one hit per game from winning 2 of 3. And it did not need to be a HR. My frustration level goes up when a ground out ties the game and they are swinging for the fences. OR when a fly ball scores a runner from 3rd and they are swinging for the fences. OR try a bunt if no one can make contact. OR on a close pitch with the bases loaded, take one for the team.

    As to the post from DanP, I believe we have been lucky at MMP on fly outs going 315 feet and landing in the Crawford boxes. On the road, those are just OUTS.

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  5. Good teams find ways of pushing a run across the plate in situation hitting. Bad teams, well you know where I’m going with this one. We’re not a bad team but there’s something wrong as AC45 denotes when you have numerous opportunities to win and we can’t get the big hit or even make contact when that is all we needed.

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  6. Some thoughts…
    – I agree with Becky that Altuve needs a day off and frankly King Correa probably needs one also.
    – I know they get cheap Crawford Box homers at home, but they also seem more relaxed and expecting good things to happen. They are really pressing out on the road. And heck a couple 315 foot fly ball outs in the right places on the road would have made a big difference.
    – They are a very young team and even when you look at some spots where they are older (Gattis, Valbuena) they are not a very experienced major league team.
    – On top of this they did not need Kazmir to get in the big hole early. I know that there were a lot of unearned runs, but that was due to his own error and he did nothing to minimized the first inning damage.
    – I sure would love to see Springer in the middle of this taking some hacks. I know there would be a bunch of Ks but there would be positives too.
    – They really need to turn things around in the next 6 games all on the road. At least they still have a lead, but now they have the Rangers and Angels to worry about in the rear view mirror.

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    • They are definitely pressing. They are swinging at pitches out of the strike zone more than ever and you can see it in their faces. A young team that has never experienced a pennant race can go through this. Hopefully, they can persevere and be stronger, but many players on pressing. I also agree that Altuve is in a desparate need of a day off. His batting average is plummeting and pitches he would line for hits last year are either foul balls or ground balls this year.

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      • Altuve’s in his non-hustle mode too, witness his lack thereof in covering first base on the bunt last night. He runs to get there and gives Conger a target (which he clearly needs). JFSF just needs to go down, learn how to hit, and then come back. Singleton needs to be starting first base every night. Part of the bunt issue last nite was having someone on first base who has never played there. First base is a mess, and Jon can fill that better than anyone we have. Leave Jed at third. Try set lineup for a while. Moving folks all over the field and throughout the lineup is creating issues.
        Please come back George Springer – sooner rather than later. Please.

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  7. I will reiterate something astrocolt45 wrote yesterday – he was thankful that the team was still in the lead so far into the season. I would say there were zero of us who thought they would be in contention at the end of May, much less after the first week of August.
    It is a positive that these kids are getting tested by fire in a pennant race at such a young age for most of them. And every time I think they are about to sink to the bottom or have a complete free fall, they show toughness and inner grit and turn things around.
    It was a 3 game road sweep in Oakland back in late April, that included a couple of games with late inning heroics that triggered the 10 game winning streak that put this team in the driver’s seat. Paraphrasing Robert above, maybe it is time for them to get some of that swagger and confidence back in Oakland again.

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  8. Pointing out their faults doesn’t explain why they win at home and lose on the road.
    They lose on the road because the other team plays better at home. They lose on the road because they haven’t learned to bear down in tense situations and make the plays. They lose on the road because their faults can’t be overcome against teams who are after them personally, now that they are on top.
    They lose on the road because the road is harder and they aren’t quite good enough yet. They are getting beaten on the road because none of their players are battle hardened vets who have been through a pennant race, and the teams they are playing have.

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  11. And here is a list of the current Astros who have MLB playoff experience:
    1. Jed Lowrie;
    2. Scott Kazmir;
    3. Evan Gattis
    4. Hank Conger
    5. Pat Neshek;
    6. Luke Gregerson;
    7. Carlos Gomez
    8. Anybody else?

    These are all great guys, and good ballplayers, of course. But they are not the nucleus of the leadership of this team. The nucleus of our team is very young and extremely green. The immense talent will win out in the end, I am confident, but we are in for some ugly days, and ugly series’, especially when the above named veterans do not deliver shining performances themselves.

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  12. And……..quit putting a first base glove on guys who have no, or little experience there. That little problem needs to get fixed, and fixed …NOW. Either leave Carter there, and take your lumps with his bat, or bring Singelton back up and leave him here. First base is giving me a bad headache, I can only imagine what Hinch is going through!!

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    • If those are the choices and your worry is the glove, you would have to go with Carter. Even though Singleton has played 1B a long time, I’m not sure his instincts on what balls to go get and what balls to cover the base on are any better than Valbuena or MarGo.
      But that means you have Carter swinging at air 2 or 3 times a game.
      Shoot me now.

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      • Stop with the experiments pee or get off the pot. If first base is the biggest problem right now, and we know that’s *not* the biggest problem…..put a guy over there who’s natural position is first base. It’s maddening looking at the lineups, and thinking oh good Lord…..will the real first baseman for the Houston Astros please stand up!

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      • Usually, a non-firstbaseman playing first will make errors only when it is a crucial point in the game. I have no facts or statistics to back this assertion.

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  13. There are some hidden reasons for the road woes. Altuve has a huge difference in all his slash line stats between home and road. So that is your team leader and current leadoff guy who doesn’t hit well on the road this year. He also doesn’t walk. Almost never.
    Ironically, Altuve has not hit well in day games either. Huge differences in stats from night games to day games for him, which doesn’t explain the last three nights, but it does tell you not to expect anything from him in a day/road game.
    Marisnick has been awful since April, simply awful. So with Altuve having road woes, Marisnick not producing anything, and Springer out, the base stealing is almost non-existent on the road, because your top basestealers aren’t on base.
    There are four guys on the team who refuse to take a walk: Gonzalez, Marisnick, Gattis and Altuve. When those four are not hitting, their production at the plate is zero, because they will not get on base at all. Because they refuse to walk anytime, they see a ton of pitches out of the zone and either miss or make weak contact. Right now, with all of them in a funk, you get almost nothing from them.
    If you get almost nothing from the four guys I mentioned, subtract Springer from the lineup, and add Carter, Valbuena, Singleton, Castro in, with their tiny batting averages, you are left with Gomez and Tucker(who is not being given consistent ABs) and Rasmus. to try and carry your team.
    Conger is probably the worst defensive catcher I have ever seen in the majors. The Angels have to be giddy having gotten Perez for Conger. That may be Luhnow’s worst misjudgment of talent since he has been here. He is the only MLB catcher I have ever seen with two bad arms and his dancing behind the plate drives pitchers mad!
    Matt Duffy has always had problems with strikeouts and walks, but this season his BB rate is way up and his K rate is way down. He has hit .300 for the entire year at Fresno with 80 RBIs so far. One of the most amazing stats I have run across is that Duffy, with his troubles walking in the past, has more BBs this season than Altuve and Marisnick combined.

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    • For whatever reason OP1, you gave me a laugh, “Conger is probably the worst defensive catcher I have ever seen in the majors”. It’s true. I wonder how he got a job catching in the first place. Ironically, he might end up a decent DH one day.

      Syd, Altuve is many things, but I have yet to see a “non-hustle mode” out of the guy. He had to come a long way to get to the bag on that play. And he got there. It was a terrible throw, way behind him. Maybe we should focus on his lack of discipline at the plate, because hustle is not an issue with him.

      Good veteran teams typically do play better on the road. And while there are not many good road teams in MLB today, .500 ball gets the job done. Imagine where our guys would be today winning half their games away from home.

      I never thought I’d say this, but I’d bring Hoes back. He’s going to give us a better at bat than Jake can right now. It’s tough enough for Hinch to have three or four guys out of 12 that he just can’t count on, but Marisnick has been lost since May. Something has to get done.

      And last, I’d try to find a spark. My guy is 33rd round pick Tyler White. Atluve had all of 35 games of AA ball before he got the call. White’s got 87 games between AA and AAA and is killing it. The most impressive thing is his plate discipline. So I bring him up. I don’t know how he looks around the bag, but they’ve given him 15 games at first out of his 28 starts with Fresno. Maybe they are putting a rush on his order. I hope so.

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      • You didn’t watch him. He did have a long way, but he merely jogged until Conger got to the ball, then hustled the rest of the way. If he had gone full speed, who knows, but at least he would have been there when Conger turned. As it was, there was no one on first. Hustle is an issue with him on occassion. Sorry. He hustles when it means something to him – beating out a throw for a hit, stealing a base, and yes scoring a run when running from first base. All I suggest is watch him – you will see. I do agree it was a terrible throw, but might have been better if Altuve was waiting on the base instead of running to the base. Yes – Conger is a terribly terrible defensive catcher. Really bad.

        I agree with bringing Hoes back. He makes contact and is a pretty good outfielder until George returns.

        And yes, we need a real first baseman as stated before.

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      • I went back and watched the entire sequence on the bottom of the 1st. Here is what I saw. (We had a none 1st playing 1st – that is key). On the swinging bunt which went a long way toward 1st, Valbuena chose to cover the bag. Then on the 1st pitch to 2nd batter, the ball rolls all the way down the 1st baseline foul and again Valbuena chose to cover the bag. Altuve also covered the bag on that foul ball. Then on the next pitch, Valbuena charged home on a bunt that went 3 feet toward the pitcher and he made no attempt to cover first. Altuve did hesitate. He may have missed a sign or there may have been miscommunication between him and Luis. But neither of them threw the ball into right field.

        Adding to the post above, when Altuve gets hits and steals bases we tend to win. When he does not, we tend to lose. So if we want to use circular logic, those losses are his fault and not the fault of the other couple guys that tend to not hit anytime. But right now, he is not squaring the ball on the bat. No question that he is pressing and he is not happy with his current performance. Six – eight weeks ago the same cycle happened.

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      • In Deep East Texas, “non” is always written with an extra “e”. Sort of like here is written “Chere.” And over there is written “Chyonder.” We make liberal use of our Artistic License even though we flunked the literacy test.

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  14. I’m not sure what the answer is, I think it is a combination of a few things, first off I think they are pressing to hard and trying to be the hero all by themselves, instead of making contact to drive in one and tie the game they are going for the big hit to win it.
    They need to get back to what they were doing earlier and what they do at home and that is have faith in themselves and each other to get base hits and string some hits together and then when one fails to do so the next person comes up and picks him up.

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  15. It might not hurt for our guys to spend part of the upcoming days off studying how the Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, and San Francisco Giants hitters manage their plate appearances and attack the pitches in the zone. All these teams lead the MLB in important offensive categories. The ‘Stros rank 17th in OBP and 25th in BA – and yes, it should come as no surprise that we are the only league leader in the top 10 among all teams in SO.

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    • Funny you should mention that. Awhile back I had a back-and-forth with Tim where I posited our winning could not continue without an improved OBP. Well, if yesterday is an indication, it’s actually Avg. that needs to improve. We somehow took 8 walks yesterday! I know…SSS

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      • Devin, when I was coaching I had a mantra for my pitchers – BBs = Rs [walks equal runs]. That mantra holds true for Astros pitchers – but it obviously does not hold true for teams that face the Astros.

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      • I remember that discussion. My rebuttal that a higher slugging percentage could, to some extent, offset a lower OBP. Unfortunately, guys like Gattis and Carter are not slugging like we expected. My point is that a decent OPS was important, whether that was achieved via high OBP or slugging was irrelevant, as long as the OPS was at a decent level. When you’re not getting on base then you better be slugging with those hits.

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  16. Relative to Mr. Altuve – this season he is last among qualifiers with 3.25 pitches per plate appearance.
    Now before you say ah-ha he needs to be more patient, last season when he was great, he was last among qualifiers with 3.10 pitches per plate appearance.
    So I think it comes down to how he is swinging these days.
    Just for grins – the player facing the most pitches per plate appearance is….. wait for it……Chris Carter.

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    • Dan, I still think that for Altuve to reach a more elite level, and I know, he’s already about the best second baseman in the game overall, he’s got to make it tougher on the pitcher. Maybe he can keep hitting .300 by doing things the way he always has. But I think he can, if he really wants it, keep an OBP in the .375 range, and that will almost guarantee him an average well over .300.

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    • It is my opinion that Altuve makes too much contact to watch too many pitches. If he swings, he makes contact and puts the ball in play. Right now they are not being hit hard. Whereas it takes a minimum of 3 to strike out a batter. So those guys that seldom make contact will by default see more pitches. Also it should not surprise anyone that Altuve leads the team in grounding into a double play. A strikeout king stays out of the double play.

      And one stat of Biggio that is unbelievable, he got 191 hits in ’97 and has -0- GDP. B-G-O struck out 107 times that year. Altuve has 44 in 101 games this year.

      If we ever have an intra squad game, I want the 1st two picks (Altuve and Correa) and you can have the next 5.

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  17. Hoes needs to come back to replace Marisnick. Actually, I don’t understand why he hasn’t been given a legit shot. He didn’t do well last year, but was alright the year before.

    Springer…is he coming back or not? About 3 weeks or so ago, I remember reading something at the chron (*puke*) that he was closer to returning than Lowrie. Ahem. Considering he finished last year on the DL, I’m starting to wonder if he has any sort of regenerative issues or something. Get the man some B-12 or some glucosamine chondroitin, and quick!

    Can Conger play 1B?

    I’ve been saying Carter needs to go for a long time. I’ve never seen anybody as nonchalant as him after making an out, and it infuriates me. Guy couldn’t care less, and I hate that.

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    • Springer will be evaluated again when the team comes home from thus road trip. He AND Hinch are hoping the news is positive. I wouldn’t expect him back before the middle of September.

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      • The injury was July 1, as I recall. That means he’s not even at six weeks in healing right now. Best case scenario was 6 weeks off, then slowly start rehab and build the strength back up. Becky’s right, normal healing would delay Gorgeous Georg’s return to the Astros’ line-up until sometime in September.

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  18. On the other side of things, way down at the farm, on a suddenly less-than-wonderful Lancaster team, 3rd baseman J.D. Davis is quietly putting together a pretty impressive year. He’s just hitting .279, but his OBP is .360, his OPS is .848, he has hit 18 HRs, 24 DBLs, and has driven in 77 RBIs. Between Colin Moran, J.D. and Alex Bregman, we might just have some depth at 3B for the first time in a long time.

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    • And at Corpus, 1st baseman A.J. Reed is in a bit of BABIP slump right now [for him], but he is still hitting .267 in his short stint at AA, has an OBP there of .381, and has 5 HRs, 5 DBLs, and 21 RBI in just 23 games. If you add in his Lancaster stats – well, you’ll want him here right now, and he’s not quite ready. But as others have said, what have we got to lose with giving Tyler White a shot while Reed matures?

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      • A.J Reed, and J.D. Davis were drafted together in 2014!! Look how FAR these two guys have come in just a year!! AND…..Alex Bregman is tearing it up *already* and he was drafted the first week of June!!!! I can’t wait to see J.D. Davis up here the end of next year, or for SURE by the beginning of 2017!!!

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  19. Do you remember how the Giants won the WS with smoke and mirrors??? They played SMALL ball!! Start working on bunts, and quit thinking the next pitch will be a home run!!

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  20. If I were going to improve this team I would try to improve it the same way I have been improving it all year. Bring up the guys who are rocking in the minors.
    I needed pitchers so I brought up LMJ and VV. They helped. I needed an outfielder, so I brought up Tucker and it worked. I needed a SS and I brought up a 20 year old and it worked.
    Now we have Gomez and Lowrie and soon will have Springer. So who else will help? Kemp, Sclafani, White, Reed, Moran, Hoes, Duffy, Musgrove, Heineman? They may not be ready, some will say. I say, how do you know? Did you think LMJ was ready?
    All I know is that we have guys on this team who are producing zero or negative WAR. Maybe the guys in the minors aren’t quite ready, but they might be and the sample we have of our players who are not producing is large enough to show they aren’t going to. So bring us up some players who might actually contribute to wins.
    Do you want to lecture me about Rule V and losing players by DFA or waiver? Here’s the wall. Talk to it. If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s that your company will not step up with unqualified people, and that young person with a can-do attitude who wants to help you succeed, will outproduce someone who is entrenched and doing a lousy job.
    It’s really not a gamble, because I already know we won’t reach the big time with guys who are not producing now, so I have a better chance with younger, faster, hungrier guys who have succeeded at lower levels and want to show they are ready to follow in DDJ’s and Tucker’s footsteps.
    By the way, DDJ was pitching fine when we let him pitch. When we started coddling and moving him in an out and blattering on about innings and protection and sending him up and down, that’s when he got it in his head he wasn’t supposed to be here. Just set up a GD best five man rotation and give them the ball. Winning cures everything. and guys who have been killing it in the minors don’t worry about failure, they worry about whether they can spend less than $20 bucks a day on food and play ball for six hours. after riding a bus all night.
    I spent the last five years getting my minor leagues good. If I have negative WAR players in Houston I ship them out and bring in a kid who isn’t one.

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  21. Kevin McKanna of The Woodlands, Tx, was the starting pitcher for Tri City tonight. He pitched four perfect innings. Ralph Garza of New Braunfels High School gave up one BB in his four innings and a third 2015 draftee, Zac Person of LSU, pitched a perfect ninth inning for a no-hitter against Aberdeen. Tri City wins the no-no 5-0.

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  22. Case in point tonight, runners at the corners with one out, and Marisnick won’t lay down a bunt!! As fast as he is, he could have beaten it out. Altuve up….strikes out.

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      • It’s raining – maybe getting ready for a delay. Bottom of 5th. Lawrie leads off the inning with a dinger off of Feldman. A’s now lead 2-1.

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      • Here is the only game report you need, Becky. We need Preston Tucker, and he’s not in the line-up again. Lowrie [who obviously is not back to strength yet, Rasmus, Gattis, Valbuena, Castro, Marisnick are the bottom six. The result so far is predictable – after Correa [who just got picked off after a walk], we’ve got nothing.

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  24. Why does this team treat the other teams pitcher like a Cy Young Award recipient? ? This guy is making his second big league start…..and these guys can’t push over more than one stink’n run. I got nothing, and neither does this team.
    #shakingmyhead

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  27. If you went to sleep thinking we lost this game……SHAME on you!!! Gregersen blew the save, Jed had a throwing error…….but we went to the 10th. And Jed drove Altuve in! Harris came on to save the day….WE WON!!! I hope Hinch puts ear plugs in his ears, because Da club is gonna be REALLY noisy tonight!!! Jeez what a game!!

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  28. Back in April the first game of the 10 game winning streak was a 5-4 extra inning road win in Oakland. That was the game where Keuchel pitched 9 shutout innings, we scored 2 in the 10th, Gregerson gave up 2, we scored 3 in the 11th ( thank you Robbie Grossman) Neshek gave up 2 and Qualls closed it out.
    Weird.

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  29. So the answer to the Astros’ road woes and offensive woes is for the first four players in the lineup to go 7 for 16 with 5 runs scored, 1 HR and 5 RBIs. Pair that up with the rest of the lineup going 2 for 21 and voila – you have a win.
    Altuve is the offensive trigger and getting 3 hits last night was critical to their success.

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  30. Thanks for asking RJ. The MLB feed is very good. I should have spent the $20 a lot sooner. Thanks for the recommendation to use it.

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  31. We know we have a decent shot at getting some offense from the top 3 in the order every night. Some nights that’s just about enough – especially if you add in a contribution from Tucker and/or from Lowrie. But the rest of the line-up is pretty bland, especially on the road. We need our DH to make something good happen at least once a game. We need 1B help – offensively and defensively. And, of course, we need Springer back where he belongs in right. If we are still in it by the time Springer comes back, and we get an infusion of 1B help and at least a little situational hitting improvement at DH and C, we have a decent shot at the playoffs. But right now that’s a lot of ifs.

    After all, who in their right mind is going to continue to pitch to Carlos Correa if we don’t get someone in the line-up following him who, if he is on base, can can consistently make things happen that change the game?

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  32. Serious question: who have s the team MVP? Last night I was thinking Correa better get votes for league MVP, but as Dan points out, it feels like we win when Altuve is on and lose when he slumps. I know we also win when Springer catches fire too, though…but he has to be in the lineup.

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    • In my mind the MVPs for the Astros in the following order are:
      1) Carlos Correa – He is just so productive at such a young age and such a superior 5 tool player at 20 years old. He is a difference maker. Again he is htting on a 162 game pace of 98 R / 44 HR / 114 RBIs
      2) Dallas Keuchel – 22 starts and 22 times he has pitched 6 innings or more. Even when he does not have his best stuff he toughs it out. Third in the league in ERA, second in WHIP and innings pitched – he gives them a chance every time out.
      3) Jose Altuve – He is critical to their offense, but has been inconsistent this season vs. the brilliance of last season. He is very valuable when hitting well, but a source of team failure when he isn’t.

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    • My perspective: Pitching is key, so Keuchel is probably my overall MVP, but it could turn in to Keuchel-Kazmir co-MVPs if Kazmir does what he is capable of the rest of the year.

      From a position player standpoint, Altuve is our rock. At 25 y/o he is suddenly the wily, consistent veteran presence. He fuels almost all our rallies. But he was that, and did that, last year too [less one year of age], and we still didn’t win. Carlos Correa has brought us into prime time relevance. He is the one primarily responsible for making Altuve’s unique brilliance work in a way that gives what is a rather mediocre team – except for him, Altuve, and potentially Tucker and Springer – the chance to go home a winner every night.

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  33. Watched the 9th and 10th inning this AM with the A’s audio feed. They talked about Lowrie always giving a team a quality at bat. His error allowed the game to be tied but he had a great AB in the 10th to drive in Altuve. Maybe if others at the bottom of the line up see him have success and the ball stay in the park they will cut down a little on their swings. I believe it will send a message to sit a couple free swingers and call up an OBP player.

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  34. I don’t work for MLB TV but just wanted to add again that I am currently able to see most of the games by using Chrome. Then Chrome has a simple add on for Zen Mate that shows your computer is in a different location. It is a Free ap. There are other ways to watch and avoid the black out. However, you may find that the game in New York or Atlanta is blacked out.

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  35. Last night (this morning) was a prime example off what happens when your closer hasn’t pitched in 3 or 4 games. Gregersen couldn’t throw a strike if his life depended on it, and he found himself in trouble with two on nobody out…..Thank goodness we got another shot at redemption. Even if we are down by big numbers, you have to keep your closer sharp. The guys really, REALLY needed this win last night, and if they had lost that game it might have led to disaster for this road trip.

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  36. The Astros have two players on their team who have negative oWAR and negative dWAR. They are Chris Carter and Evan Gattis.
    I just don’t know how the team can ignore that. Two replacement level players actually improves the team at those two positions.
    The defenders say we need their offense. Well, no!
    The defenders say we need their defense, Well, no!
    Let’s here it for their base stealing.
    As far as team chemistry is concerned, guys who hit and field might just fit in, too.

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    • OP as far as Gattis goes I have one word – triples…..
      No, it is so weird that we are getting so much offense from two spots that are weak on most teams – 2B and SS and getting so little from 1B and DH. Plain odd

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      • I refuse to believe that Carter (and a couple in Fresno) are not on waivers right now. No team parks a $4.1 million player on the bench unless they have no choice. He has to be a mini-Wandy where you will have to pay another team to take him. Thank God JL did not “sew him up” with a multi year contract.

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    • When Springer returns I would like to see Tucker getting more time at DH with Rasmus starting in LF. We can give Gattis and Marisnick occasional starts, depending on the opposing pitcher. I have grown frustrated with Gattis.

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    • Yeah I wrote about Correa and he went into a mini-slump (out of it last night) – maybe I will blog everyday on a subject we want to turn around:
      – Chris Carter is Untradeable
      – Gattis One Homer in the Last Two Weeks – Is His Power Gone Forever?
      – How Bad is the One Baserunner that Conger Threw Out this Season?
      – JFSF or Stevie Wonder – Who is the Better Batter?

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      • Conger threw out JB Shuck on May 29.
        Conger has not been thrown out trying to steal a base this season.
        The Astros are 20-25 in games in which Conger has played.

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      • Wanted-1 plate of Fresno Tacos.
        Will trade one first baseman and one designated hitter who stops at third base on home runs. Negotiable on the number of Tacos.
        e-mail Ground Control

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  38. One win, and we all realize the world as we know it is not ending! Of course, that might change again tonight. God bless Jake, he made another great catch last night, but he’s just absolutely helpless at the plate. He has to go down. Altuve is a head shaker sometimes, looking terrible in his first two at bats, but then looking like a batting champ again in his next three. And jeez, Correa is a non stop highlight reel. I don’t know if we’ll end up seeing Springer this year, but it sure will be nice to see all of these young guys playing together in 2016. I’m cautiously enthusiastic about watching meaningful Astro games into the end of September, but if it does not happen, so be it, I’m already excited about next season. In the meantime though, let’s get Carter off the roster too. Between him and Jake, there is room for two bats, fresh bats anyway.

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  39. I watched Lowrie’s at bat in the tenth inning just now, because I had grandbaby stuff last night. Even though I knew what was going to happen it was amazing to watch him climb out of the 0-2 hole and hit that ball to the opposite field on 3-2.
    Then watched Harris give up a gift single to the place Correa should have been playing at SS, but Harris comes back and starts a terrific DP and Altuve makes a great stop on a shot for the last out. Great stuff.
    I don’t necessarily want to jinx him, but Lowrie’s numbers this month are right in line with what he was doing before he got hurt. What a difference he could make.

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    • It is good to have some real major league at bats in the lineup – Altuve, Gomez, Correa and Lowrie. They have to hope that a couple of those hot/cold guys go hot for a month or more.

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  40. Until Springer gets back Marisnick will be in the lineup. The catch he made last night, was as we have become to expect from him……Tucker does not make that catch. While I love Tuckers bat, he is not a good left fielder (neither is Gattis), so lets hope the doc’s tell Springer some good news next week, we REALLY, REALLY need him out there.

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  41. Mark Appel’s outing was not as it appears in the box score.
    He gave up one fly ball and one popout
    He gave up two line drive singles and three ground ball singles and a single off of his own glove.
    Every other out was a strikeout or a ground ball.
    One run scored on a single
    One scored as a result of a Singleton error
    One scored on a groundout and one scored when the reliever came in and gave up a single.
    He didn’t have a ball hit hard off of him for most of the night.
    The four walks were the things that hurt him the most.

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    • Man, Billy C – that is hard to wrap my head around – though I must admit that I have not been tracking how any of those three are doing this season, though I suspect it is not well.

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    • HA!HA!HA!HA!!!!! The Braves have been trying to unload Johnson for two years, and now it looks like they eat the money owed to him for Bourn, and Swisher!! I hope the Indians don’t mind having a guy who rarely hits the ball, and has a very fowl mouth!

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  44. Something we haven’t talked about from last night’s game is that Scott Feldman only gave up *2* runs, and both of those were on single home runs!! That was a quality start, and I’ll take that any day! The bearded one goes tonight, may our guys give him a nice cushion to work with early!!

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