Aug 30 2016

Mama never said it would be easy

The Astros have a tough row to hoe to get into the playoffs. So, does everybody else. And there are a lot of everybody else’s involved. Boston, Baltimore, New York, Detroit, Kansas City, Seattle and Houston all have reasonable shots at the two playoff spots in the American League with the Red Sox in the cat bird seat with a 2 game lead for the first wild card spot.

In their last 31 games, the Astros have ten games against the first place Texas Rangers and the first place Cleveland Indians. They have six games against their AL West rivals the Seattle Mariners who start Tuesday a game back of the Astros. But they do have some opportunity games against the likes of the Angels, A’s and White Sox.

It feels like if the Astros  can get to September 19th in reasonable shape, the last couple weeks of the season bend their way. They finish the season with 10 games against the Angels and A’s with 3 Mariner games added to the mix.

After a 5 game stumble in mid-August, the Astros have righted the ship against weaker teams and are on an 8-2 run that is raised them to within two games of the second wild card spot.

So the questions for you today are:

  • What percentage chance do you see for the Astros of getting into the playoffs?
  • How many of the 6 games against the Rangers do they need to win?
  • How many of the 31 games left do they need to win?
  • Which other team do you worry the most about for beating the Astros out of that 2nd wild card?
  • If the Astros don’t make the playoffs will 2016 be a successful year?

 

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171 comments on “Mama never said it would be easy”

  2. Either Feliz doesn’t know the signs or Gattis has decided getting down to block a ball in the dirt requires too much energy. That’s not a good thing when Feliz is down about 4-5 mph on his fastball today.

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    • Cheers to Devenski, Feliz, and Giles, who came in and slammed shut the door Mr. Fiers and some bad defense left open. 4.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 6 Ks. That’s how I spell ‘R-E-L-I-E-F’. Cheers also to Springer, Altuve, and Correa for doing what franchise players are supposed to do, and find a way to snatch victory from the clenched jaws of defeat.

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    • No Springer gripe from me. This guy has played out of position and out of his typical line up slot for most of his ML career and never shows anything but great team oriented enthusiasm. Like I said earlier, not too many 5 WAR guys floating around. But I do worry what this organization might do as he enters his first year of arbitration. In his favor is that he’s the only proven everyday outfielder that we’ve got.

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  5. Astros 3 run rally in the 8th brings them a 4-3 win and a sweep of the A’s. Good job guys to come back on a day when they were down 3-0 early.

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  9. i dont kiss and tell, but i guess i oughta mama and tell. songs in order were from:
    Roomfull of Blues
    Commander Cody
    JJ Cale
    Johnny Winter
    Y’all

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  10. I loved Stanton saying the Astro were really flat today, but were able to overcome that and steal a win. That is exactly what happened today. Deja vu 2015!
    Mama, great job of sweeping your house!
    Astros play three in an almost empty MMP, get a sweep and a day off and then play before three huge crowds in Arlington. Should be interesting.

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  13. I had a long distance phone call, around the 6th inning, and got off when Giles had come in to close the game. I was floored to see the good guys had come back to win! What a group of scrappy players we have! I don’t ever pray for a win, but I sure hope Doug Fister has a special Angel to help him pitch on Friday night! Keuchel is being pushed back a day……not sure why, but let’s hope it’s nothing. I don’t like this team having a day off in between series…..they come off that day playing brain dead.
    Dang……Felix Hernandez melted down in arlington this afternoon, tough to see him get hammered like that, one of the hammers was carlos who.

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  15. Something might be happening. Brady Rodgers only pitched two innings in Tacoma tonight. He struck out the last four batters looking. Then he was removed from the game. Yesterday he was named the RH Full Season All-Star starting pitcher in the PCL. I wonder if he is on his way to Arlington.

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      • Brady has already thrown 132 innings, most in his career. We might get a few more out of him, but certainly not more than 150. I’m still not sold on him. I hope we get to see him in a couple of meaningful situations.

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      • This off day comes at a good time. If Rodgers does indeed join the team(they have an open 40-man spot and he can join the team as a September callup on an expanded roster), he could pitch is needed this weekend in long relief.
        Peacock will probably join the team in a few days and Hoyt and Gustave probably will, also.
        The day off gives Devenski and Feliz time off so they can be used also this weekend.
        The Astros don’t have a starter that can go deep into games right now, with Keuchel being “tired”, so they will pack their roster with all the available pitchers they have and will probably use them all in the next 13 games.

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    • Geese, OP, you almost scared the life outta me.
      The only words I saw were Brady Rodgers and Arlington. For a moment I forgot the Astros were there. My feeble brain saw Rodgers going to the Rangers.

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  17. At the end of a 5-2 loss last night, the highest batting average in the Quad Cities lineup was .226. Four of the players were below .200. Quad Cities is 59-74.

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      • Lancaster has been making a big push for the playoffs and is almost there, so the organization sent most of it’s QC talent to Lancaster and it is paying off(See Tucker, Kyle). The Astros took a lot of talent from CC and moved it up to Fresno, when all of the top prospects went to Houston.
        At that point Lancaster sent pitching and it’s best hitters to CC for their playoffs(See Rogelio Armenteros and others).
        All of this left the cupboard bare in QC, but they made their bed with a horrible first half, so they get to go home right away because of it.

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  18. Morning paper quotes Gattis: “…I’m glad it doesn’t feel like last year…now I feel like we’re chasing instead of being chased, and it’s fun.” This might confirm what a few of us thought during the disastrous spring debut, that they were playing too pressurized and uptight. However, I’m not so naïve as to attribute it all to that. I’ll only believe that’s the underlying reason if they extend this winning streak to rest of season and land in the playoffs. If I could just believe in the pitching, I’d believe we still have a chance. Play, babies, play.

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  19. Enjoy the day off because these next 13 games will determine the Astros season. I think 88-74 gets them a WC spot. Thus, they really need to go, at least, 7-6 over this next stretch and then finish 10-6 with a much easier schedule down the stretch. We will have a good feeling on Sept. 15th whether the Astros will be one of the WC entries.

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    • You are so right. When you think about it, with the position the Astros are in, every game from here on out is a playoff game for them. That is the mentality they need to have right now. Chasing Detroit, Baltimore and Boston and having the Yankees, Royals and Seattle right on their heals, September becomes the beginning of the playoffs.

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      • Not really. The AL East teams will beat up on each other and the same with Tigers, Indians and Royals. They may be about 2 games back if they go 7-6.

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  20. If they could some how pitch and hit and win 2 this weekend it would be huge for the confidence the rest of the way. Texas is playing so well and cocky right now going to be really, did say really tough challenge I accidentally watched the ESPN interview with Gomez after the game yesterday. In his own way he through us under the bus.

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  21. If we are to have a shot – against the odds, I know – what kind of numbers do you think we would need from any or all of the following guys the rest of the way?

    1. Altuve
    2. Correa
    3. Bregman
    4. Springer
    5. Gurriel
    6. Gattis
    7. Rasmus
    8. Gonzalez
    9. Hernandez
    10. Reed
    11. Kemp
    12. Castro
    13. Keuchel
    14. McHugh
    15. Fiers
    16. Fister
    16. Musgrove
    17. Feliz
    18. Devenski
    19. Gregerson
    20. Giles
    21. Rodgers
    22. Gustave
    23. Hoyt
    24. Harris
    25. Sipp
    26. Neshek
    27. Peacock
    28. Marisnick

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    • That’s way too much for me to answer, but I will say that they need June’s team batting stats and at least July’s team pitching stats to get a spot in the playoffs.

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  23. Most critical offensively to my thinking are Springer, Bregman, Correa, Gattis, and Rasmus, *f we are to make it, Springer, Bregman and Correa need to hit .320 with OBPs of over .350 the rest of the way. Gattis and Rasmus need to hit .300 with an OPS of over .315. We also need T. Hernandez to hit at least .275/.325, and no one in the starting line-up can hit under .225/.275.

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