May was Astros’ turn-around month

It may not seem like it, but May was a successful month for the Houston Astros. A month that began with the Astros sporting a dreadful 7-17 record, ended with the team going 17-12 during the month. That would be a 95 win pace over a whole season.

Yes they were a mediocre 10-11 for the first three weeks of the season, but after winning less than 30% of their games in April, mediocre was a step up. The seven wins in eight games to end the month are the key to their modest resurgence.

The pitching staff, especially the bullpen, has been the key to stabilizing the team. Both the starters and relievers were the worst in the AL in April. The starters are now 13th in the league and rising and the bullpen has risen to the 6th best in the league by ERA.

But it has been a better offense in the last week or so that has really gunned the engines. The bottom end of the lineup has finally helped the cause. The year to date numbers for Luis Valbuena, Jason Castro and Jake Marisnick are pretty poor, but they are all much improved over the last couple weeks.

The biggest boost to the offense in their 7 wins out of 8 games tear at the end of the month has been George Springer. In the last week he has 3 HR / 7 RBIs / 7 runs scored and is posting .444 BA / 1.335 OPS. Since moving into the leadoff spot, he has sparked an offense that sputtered so much over the first six weeks of the season.

Going forward – here are some questions:

• Can they keep this momentum going through June?
• Is pitching or offense more of a key to their success?
• Who will be the 4 key players to watch in June?
• Who do you think will likely be replaced in June on the team?