Can the Astros just skip the All Star break?

Perhaps that question above has a definite NO answer for the two certain All-Stars (Jose Altuve and Will Harris) and the one potential addition to the game (George Springer). They all want to stop and enjoy the national acclaim of playing with the best of the best. And truth to tell, I am sure that most of the balance of their team are looking forward to a few days away from the game, heading home or heading out on vacation.

But with the Astros on a tremendous run and not (knock on wood) waiting for someone to come back from the disabled list, the fear may be that they lose their recent mojo over this break.

Since the Astros have topped out at a seven-game winning streak this season, it may not be apparent how hot they are right now. Since the 22nd of May they have been a tremendous 29-11 (28-8 against teams outside the state of Texas). More recently they have won 16 of 20. The four losses in the last three weeks were as follows:

  • A 4-2 loss to the Reds in 11 innings
  • A 6-1 loss to the Royals that was 1-1 until a seventh inning Fister-Sipp meltdown
  • A 7-6 loss to the Chi-Sox
  • A 4-1 loss to the Chi-Sox where they were only behind 2-1 heading into the 8th inning

So, basically in the last 20 games, they have won 16 games and had a real shot in all four losses late. You cannot ask for more than that.

So, the questions for you are as follows:

  • Are you looking forward to this mid-summer celebration of the National Past time?
  • Will you actually watch the game? How about the Home Run Derby?
  • Are you afraid the Astros will lose the momentum they have built up over the last 6 weeks during the break?
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172 responses to “Can the Astros just skip the All Star break?”

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  3. I’ll be watching the ASG simply because I’ll be needing a baseball fix to get me through. No to the home run derby.

    Not too worried about the Astros momentum. They’re in a groove right now.

    Becky is right on about Hill. Sure wish he was available.

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    • Yes. Same for Gattis, Gomez, and Marinsnick, But against Hill [or name your lefty], the goal is just to get him to 100 pitches and take our chances against a reliever. So the objective now is just l-o-o-n-g at bats.

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  7. The 790 10th inning show is saying what I said……man, Rich Hill sure would look good in orange and blue! He would only be a rental, because he was only signed for a year…..so, I’m not sending Bfegman, or Rogers, or Musgrove for him. But….DANG we could use another lefty in the rotation. We lose…the other team in texas…losses we can’t get ahead😠😠 Fister pitched well after that 2nd inning bases loaded crapola…..Sipp was Sipp. What is up with the Correa errors???? Oh well…..we missed Sonny Gray so life is good!

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  8. I hate the all star break. I know the players deserve time off, but the period is a sporting desert. In past years I have even tried talking myself into caring about boxing/MMA/whatever.

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  11. Fresno destroyed Reno tonight, 14-0. Hauschild threw 8 innings allowing two hits, 1 walk and nine Ks. Guduan finished with a perfect ninth.
    Reno is a real good hitting team, with their lineup still batting .279 at the end of that game, but they touched Hauschild for two singles.
    Bregman, White, Tucker, and Teoscar had huge nights and Singleton had two hits for a change. Moran had two hits and a SF. Fresno had 20 hits total. Homers by Bregman, White and Tucker.
    Martes gave up 6 hits and 1 earned run and 1 unearned run as CC beat Springfield 4-3. He did not get the decision as CC scored late. Danry Vasquez and Garrett Stubbs had big nights at the plate.

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  12. Daniel Mengden gets the ball for the A’s, tomorrow…….he was in the trade for Lowrie in 2014. I hope he doesn’t bring a shut out in that arm tomorrow night.

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    • Wasn’t he in the trade for Kasmir last year, along with Nottingham? We signed Lowrie as a free agent and then traded him for McCurry last November.

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  14. yes i am looking forward to the allstar game.
    yes i will watch it (at least in part) but prob not the homerun derby
    i hope they dont lose big mo. but they could use the rest. start a new run after the break.

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  15. well glad that posted, i have been having trouble getting on again for some reason. i think it has something to do with being logged in previously on mlb.com.

    holy moly! daveb (our resident cynic) had a purely positive comment on dan’s previous post. Im gonna buy a lotto ticket. have a cold one on me dave!

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    • Got to keep you guys on your toes rj. Cheers! One thing….that rookie pitcher on the A’s throwing tonight looks like a pretty good talent. Wish he was our kid.

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      • I think I would have rather made the playoffs last year and gained valuable experience, but that’s just me.

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      • Tim, hindsight is 20/20. A good argument can be made neither trade helped the Astros reach the postseason. However, standing pat and missing would likely have drawn equal criticism.

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      • Yep, but considering we made the playoffs by 1 game and both Kazmir and Gomez provided a positive WAR for the Astros you can also argue they wouldn’t have made the playoffs unless the trades were made. It goes both ways.

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      • …but that’s not true. I genuinely like and root for Scott Kazmir, but he provided 0.0 WAR for Houston last year.

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      • Tim, you’d have a hard time convincing me that they would not have made the playoffs without those trades. And of course I’ve always claimed that they would have been better positioned today without the trades. But I also know that I won’t convince you otherwise either.

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      • It’s not that you can’t convince me, but it’s just that you don’t know. If they hadn’t made the trade they may or may not have made the playoffs, but the trades didn’t hurt our chances.

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  16. Maybe the Astros will answer my question by limping into the All-Star break. Maybe they do need a break and re-boot. They need to at least split this series with Oakland – they need to win 2 of the next 3 to not have a bad taste heading into the break.

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  17. If anyone is going to the game tonight I have decided to wear my gray, dri-fit shirt with Dragon Baseball on the front (Round Rock High School). I will be wearing my Astros cap. This will make it easier to spot me. 🙂

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  18. The entire Colorado Rockies team is voting for Springer to go to the A’S game!!!
    How cool is THAT!! I have no idea why, but I’ll take any extra votes Springer can get no matter WHO is voting for him!!
    I’m sooo damned sad about what happened last night in Dallas…..I can’t get my brain wrapped around it. So….. I’m going to think better thoughts and concentrate on what makes ME happy……that would be the boys playing for my favorite team! *VOTE* !!

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  20. Lots of talk around baseball about Bregman. Not hearing much about Teoscar Hernandez. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised at the end of the season.

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    • It’s hard to make out Hernandez. K rates been a little high, until this year at AA, where its fully within what I would hope a power hitter would be. His BABIP’s are great except for last years debacle – and that kind of dropoff, one of two things happened IMO, either he was dealing with an injury that affected his swing but wasn’t serious enough to DL him, or he had Lexington hangover.

      Anyway it goes, unlike some bombs that was easy to see coming like Marisnick by just looking at their minors numbers, he is keeping us on our toes. I can see him being pretty good. I can also see him being that high strikeout guy that hits .230 with a 30% K rate. I can also see .270 with a 20% K rate and 20 homer kinda power. Lets hope for the best.

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  22. There’s a chance that both of these players will be in the starting lineup for the Astros next April. As an avid LSU fan, I’m not in the least surprised by Bregman’s success, but I am by Teoscar. I had almost written him off as another of the high strikeout all or nothing hitters (mostly nothing). But he’s having a breakout season with his new ball contact skills.

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    • That means they should have re-done it before this. What this means is they need to stretch out until the last moment to re-do it – right?

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    • He used to be with Boras and left. It turns out Boras is the best and Jose deserves the best. It will be interesting to see where Altuve spends the rest of his career.

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  24. We still have 3 games to go before the AS Break. We are at home against a team we lead in the standings by 9 games. While they are no push-over, as we discovered last night, if we are going to be a legitimate play-off team we need to do in these three games what play-off contending teams do – which is ‘GET IT DONE’ at home.

    We need play-off calibre efforts from McHugh, McCullers, and Keuchel.
    We need patient, workmanlike at bats from someone besides Altuve.
    We need smart base-running decisions.
    We need good, sharp throws from our defense.
    We need our relievers to quit walking people and setting up late inning rallies by our opponents.
    And we need to slate somebody in at DH that is not our back-up catcher.

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  25. We will be sitting in section 133…..for tomorrow afternoons game.
    Row 22
    Seats 1 and 2
    I have short blonde hair, and I will be wearing my orange Springer T shirt with lots of *B L I N G*!! I’d be happy to shake your hand Tim.

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    • Let’s hope he channels his frustration toward whatever Mr. Mengden throw his way tonight. A cycle, or a multiple HR game, would be a good way to say ‘Wanna vote again?”

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  28. Against Mengden you have to be patient. His M.O. is that he will strike out some people [his SO/9 is presently at 9], but he will also walk some people [his BB/9 is presently at 3.8]. He will not give up a lot of home runs [present HR/9 = 0.90] but if you are patient he will give you some hittable pitches you can put in the holes and the gaps [present hit/9 = 8.1]. His MLB WHIP is 1.323 [way higher than his MiLB WHIP] and his MLB ERA so far is 3.48 [way higher than his recent MiLB ERA]. His stats will just get better with time – but let’s make sure doesn’t happen TONIGHT!

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  29. I will watch the HR derby (maybe muted to avoid the obnoxious “back, back, back”). Will also watch ASG because even fluff baseball is better than no basebal. It appears that this year it is the AL vs. the Cubs. I think the break will provide a much needed rest for the pitchers. We have been fortunate to have a staff unaffected by Injuries and I hope it holds. I’m not counting McCuller’s DL because I think his “injury” at start of season was a very fortuitous way to limit his innings to keep him available through October. I just hope the hitters don’t get confused and lose their mojo and come back thinking its April.

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  31. Pinstripe Alley suggested a trade of Beltran for Fisher, Moran or J.D. Davis. I know many on here have the dreaded P.A.S., but I would trade Davis for Beltran. Beltran would be our DH and a nice upgrade from Gattis. Thoughts?

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    • Agreed, Tim. Due to the presence of Bregman, Moran and Tanielu, J.D. Davis is probably the most expendable of our prospects. I personally would also give up Moran if they wanted a left-handed 3B instead of a RH third baseman.

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    • Wow – he is having a very good year for his age. I’d do the deal – one of those three plus a lotto ticket arm would be my suggestion. If NYY turn into sellers then Beltran will cost more than just one prospect.

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  33. Mengden sure does have a convoluted throwing motion. Hopefully once or twice through the lineup, we’ll start whacking him.

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  35. Someone said it earlier the boys look slow, tired, and bored, not sure why when your back in a pennant race. Uncle Jeff must have had a team meeting and bummed every one out.

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    • If you watch the highlights you can see my boys and I jumping up and down during VB’s moonshot. We knew it was gone before it landed. What a crazy and exciting finish.

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  49. While I’d like to claim the kudos for bringing them good luck, I wasn’t at tonight’s game! I’ll be at TOMORROW’S game! So heap your praise on Valbuena, because without that bat in the 9th……we lose! I just hope they have a little less drama when I go to the park tomorrow. Have I said how much I *LOVE* walk offs! WOW!! I’ll have my lucky Springer shirt on at tomorrow’s game……the last time I wore it Springer hit thw walk off!

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  50. Last night Teoscar Hernandez surpassed Alex Bregman [who did not play] in BA and OBP. Teoscar’s slash line at AAA is now .329/.429/1.247. Bregman still leads Teoscar in OPS, with an unbelievable 1.310.

    By the way, Teoscar’s strikeout rate so far in AAA is only 15% [

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