The Astros’ marathon begins, but what does it mean?

If a baseball season was a marathon, which it is, one game would be like running 850 feet. That is not nothing, and in fact for most of the seasoned folks on this blog that would be a nice little 280+ yard dash. But compared to the 6 month death march of a season the first few games barely move the needle towards October.

One of the joys of the first week of the season is writing about real happenings, rather than the mental imaginings that are ground through in the off-season. It is no longer speculation about who will be retained from the season before, who will be released, who will be protected, who will be traded, who will be signed as a free agent, or who will make the team in spring training.

However, the trap of early season musings is finding things to write about that won’t seem ridiculous. The moment one complains about the lack of hitting, the team busts loose. Praise the pitchers and they immediately lay an egg. And then there is the eternal problem of “jinxing” the home team by being overly optimistic about them.

But going back to a term invented here (talk about hyperbole), YIE – Yes It’s Early, but the first 3 days of the season went about as well as could be expected for the Astros.

Consider this:

  1. The biggest concern coming into the season was Dallas Keuchel‘s Cy Old performance in 2016. He was Cy Young brilliant in the 3-0 opener against the Mariners.
  2. The second biggest concern was having a healthy Lance McCullers Jr. to start the season after beginning and ending 2016 on the DL. He was barely a notch below Keuchel in a very strong showing in the Astros 2-1 “beat down” of the M’s.
  3. The third biggest concern was – who the heck is Charlie Morton and why did the Astros give all that money to a guy with a terrible career record and ERA. Boom – Charlie and his newly acquired fastball were one pitch short of brilliant to start off the Astros’ 13 inning walk-off 5-3 win on Wednesday.
  4. Chris Devenski looked shaky all spring and then turns in a no-hit, 7 K, 4 inning masterpiece to bridge the Astros towards that 13 inning win.
  5. Ken Giles was a mess last April, but already has two strong saves this season.
  6. The Astros are 3 games up on their supposed closest competitors in the division, the Rangers and the M’s after 3 games.
  7. Last season, the Astros did not win their first game where they scored only 2 runs until May 1st and they have already won 2 games where they only scored 2 runs in the first 9 innings. In fact in 2016 the Astros lost 11 of the first 12 games where they only scored 2 runs.
  8. The Astros won Wednesday, coming back in the 7th to tie it, having Brad Peacock get out of a bases loaded no out jam not of his making to give up only one run and getting 2 out, 2 strike heroics from Nori Aoki and especially George Springer on a walk-off dinger to set the clubhouse dancing.
  9. The Rangers were an unsustainable 36-11 in one run games in 2016 and are 0-1 to start the season.
  10. Sam Dyson the Rangers closer saved 53 out of 58 opportunities in 2016. He is 0 for 2 in 2017 as the Indians have rallied twice against him in winning the first 3 games of the season.
  11. The Astros burned a bunch of pitchers Wednesday night, but….Luke Gregerson and Ken Giles got the night off and Feliz, Peacock, Gustave and Sipp are all available for Thursday’s game.
  12. The Astros have done this with sporadic offensive contributions by most of the team. But there have been signs, especially in Wednesday’s game that the end of the lineup is no longer a black hole and is able to sustain innings and flip the lineup over to Springer who responded with all 5 RBIs.

So, YIE, but the team and the fans are all feeling good about themselves in the first series of the season.

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150 responses to “The Astros’ marathon begins, but what does it mean?”

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  1. The Astros did not win three games in a row in 2016 until May 24-26 against the Orioles.
    The Astros have scored a total of 10 runs in their first 3 games and are 3-0. The Rangers have scored 15 runs in their first 3 games and are 0-3.
    There is no way the Astros would have signed the Same Old David Martinez to a minor league deal and assigned him directly to Fresno. Something is up. I know Martinez played winter ball and something tells me he has come up with some new pitches that must have showed well in a tryout with the Astros this week. We’ll see.
    One of the comforting things about the Astros is that Collin McHugh and James Hoyt are a phone call away when needed. If I know Hinch, he will want Gustave to get back out on the mound as soon as he can.
    Yes, the season is a marathon, but I know that if that front pack breaks away from the rest of the runners and you’re not in that front pack, your goose is cooking fast. Start fast and stay in front. Your chances of winning are much better.
    Season opens for minor leagues today. Who am I following? Kyle Tucker in a real ballpark setting rather than a Hangar with a wind tunnel. Garrett Stubbs, with a bat in his hand and the wind blowing in from right field. Forrest “Gump” Whitley in full season ball Quad Cities at age 19. Yordan Alvarez, wherever he starts out playing.

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    • I’m not sure about that on the David Martinez signing. They can’t demote Fiers or Peacock. If Feliz stays with the big club when McHugh finishes rehabbing then it’s likely Gustave goes down…opening a spot for a starting pitcher. I think Martinez gives them a known quantity who will eat innings at AAA. Remember, they will have the younger guys on inning/pitch count limits.

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  2. The difference between a marathon and a baseball game is that all the 850 foot intervals count equally. You can’t lay behind the log up to the ASB and then pen your hopes on a big ‘kick’ at the end. Every single game against a division foe – be it in April or in September – is equally important.

    That said, this team has started the season with three big wins AGAINST A VERY GOOD DIVISION RIVAL – and has been doubly blessed to have our other VERY GOOD DIVISION RIVAL beaten in emotionally-devastating ways [to their fans, at least] by a club outside our division.

    We have a long way to go. But starting 3-0 could be really important the rest of the way.

    Of course, 4-0 would be better.

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  3. Watching Devenski’s performance was fascinating. Normally a change up is a surprise pitch – not a main weapon though a few practitioners like Trevor Hoffman and Doug Jones thrived on the changeup.
    At times last night it felt like I was watching Mariano Rivera who dominated with his one pitch – cutter. They knew or should have known the changeup was coming but they couldn’t hit it and couldn’t lay off.

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    • Devo’s change-up moves hard in an unpredictable fashion like a nasty mix between Mike Scott’s splitter, Joe Niekro’s knuckler, and Rivera’s cutter.

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  6. Dan, a death march? Back in the old days, when I was going to 70 plus games a season, I might feel close after a ten game homestand, but that’s when the beer was cheap and I wasn’t. But never did I hesitate to get out to the Dome the next night! I suppose it might feel that way playing for a 100 loss club in September, but thankfully we’re heading in. Different direction.

    What strikes me early on is that there are some good teams out there. I think Seattle will be one of them and the Indians are still very tough. There are going to be four or more teams in the AL alone that are liable to match any record we might put up. It will come down to health and new guys stepping up. And letting our All Star center fielder own centerfield. Had to throw that in. I’m delighted being up 3 zip and am just as interested as ever to see how the roller coaster ride ahead plays out.

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  7. Bregman and Altuve, we really need you to break out the big sticks tonight!

    Oh, and a few timely hits from Springer, Correa, Beltran, Gurriel, Aoki, Gonzal-nick and Gatt-Cann against the Mariners’ young lefty wouldn’t hurt either!

    Meanwhile join young Joe and I as we take a little walk down Ventura Highway:

    ‘Chewin’ on Big-League Chew, you finally made the Show-oh-oh.
    But tell me: How long do you wanna stay here, Joe?
    Some people say, your town this year is Fres-no.
    Prove ’em wrong, son! Go “1 and 0”!

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  8. Much as I like Del Gustave, last night was the reason I felt Hoyt should’ve taken the last spot. In the bad outing he had in the Spring, Gustave showed the same inability to find the strike zone. Eventually he’s got to shake off the jitters, but when it cost us in a hard fought game, it makes you wonder why take that chance now? Hoyt already has wipeout stuff too if strikeout pitching is our relief’s calling card. Guys on MLB Network talk a lot about when the pressure is on to ‘let up a little and pitch to contact throw some BP’. By mixing up the changeup so well, Devo could feast on the over anxious M’s. Without those secondary pitches, and despite a sticky spot to debut, he’ll have to find his niche in Fresno if McQ comes back.

    Collin is one I have reservations about. Is he hiding that sharpness The Dragon pulled out of the hat?

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      • It’s a total second guess, except Dan and I both mentioned it beforehand, and it’s no coincidence Jandel was the very last reliever we had “available.” He was thrust into a game right out of the shoot that Hinch didn’t want to be so high leverage, surely. Anyway, the point is that maybe Hoyt is more prone to the long ball by elevating too often and at least Gustave pounds down, if not wild at times. He reminds me of Feliz and instead of being sort of herky jerky, he gets into a rhythm, the kid has a really live arm! Lots of these trials by fire in one-run, top flight, division games.

        There was hay made yesterday about Keuchel throwing Gatorade on Gustave at the Springer homeplate celebration, so the “pick-me-up” attitude, win/lose as a team is already there. He’ll bounce back.

        Anyone report on McQ?

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    • My understanding is that there are other providers: Comcast/Xfinity and AT&T/DirecTV, maybe others. Can you please explain the problem? I guess I do not understand and cannot imagine why you would or should miss this season.

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      • Non of those cable providers are out here. Xfinity only has a business contract.
        I can go to a Mexican restaurant and see them…..but not at my house. Believe me I’ve checked every Avenue to see them, but to no avail. MLB TV is blacked out in Houston because we have Root Sports, same thing in Dallas Ft Worth, because they have Fox Sports 1. My sister tried to order MLB.TV over the winter, but she found out the same thing I did. I have written SEVERAL blazing hot emails to Suddenlink.
        Thanks girlfriend for your concern.

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    • Astros games are blacked out on MLB.tv if you live in Texas (or the other 5-state region). Thus, she still wouldn’t be able to watch the Astros on MLB.tv (I have a subscription so I can watch other games, or the Astros when I travel outside the 5-state region).

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  10. Sorry, but it is ‘on’, baseball widows!

    At 6:00 pm tonight CT the Buis Creek Astros kick off their first season as Astro affiliates at home against the Winston-Salem Dash [White Sox affiliate];

    At 6:30 pm tonight CT the Quad Cities River Bandits kick off their 2017 campaign by throwing Hector Perez against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers [Brewers affiliate];

    At 7:10 pm CT the Corpus Christi Hooks, behind Trent Thornton, travel to Arkansas to kick off their season against the Arkansas Travelers [Mariners affiliate].

    At 9:05 pm CT Colin McHugh will throw the first pitch of 2017 for the Fresno Grizzly Tacos, who are hosting the Reno Aces [Diamondbacks affiliate].

    Somewhere in there, there will be another game involving some team called the new, improved Houston Astros, who will be riding into the stadium – and hopefully out of it – on brooms.

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    • A tangent, but while looking up when our affiliates play tonight I noticed a story about under the radar prospects. It had two Astros errors in it – first it indicated we were still playing in the California league and second it referenced Heineman…who is actually with the Brewers now. I had been getting excited that ESPN and other media outlets were promoting Houston, but apparently the writing staff at milb.com hasn’t gotten the memo yet.

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    • Akeem Bostick will be the opening day starter for Buis Creek. Kyle Tucker will bat 3rd behind Myles Straw and Jason Martin, and will play CF for the Astros tonight.

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  11. Y.I.E. But here are the Astros’ hitters strikeout percentages so far, from worst to best [Altuve has struck out 4 times so far; Springer and Beltran 3 apiece]

    Marisnick – 50%
    Altuve – 30%
    Beltran – 25%
    Gonzales – 25%
    Springer – 21.4%
    Correa – 18.2 %
    McCann – 16.66 %
    Gurriel – 11.11%
    Reddick – 0.83%
    Bregman – 0.71 %
    Aoki – 0.00 %
    Gattis – 0.00 %

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    • Yep, Musgrove had to overcome some clear bad ball/strikeout call(S)! Which he did. With the camera angle at MMP now, there’s little question anymore when the entire baseball is within the zone.

      The Haniger HR on 3-2 … Joe made him look foolish with the first filthy tight curve, then threw the same pitch again and didn’t get the call. It was like that all series, where their pitchers held serve. Both runs he gave up were just momentary lapses.

      From the second guess dept. last night, not sure why we pulled Feliz after 2 (maybe let him go one more inning?). He was rolling! That pushes Gregerson to the 9th, and so on. I know, silly, but I am wondering. I said this in the Winter and for years – keep the hot hand in the game. Okay, don’t use Feliz for an extra day, but keep him in when he’s making them look like minor leaguers.

      Oh well long flight back to SEA, let em have one. We couldn’t put our foot on their neck when needed.

      But the reality is we held their best players in CHECK like nobody will. Our pitching was superb overall. Their relief in Altavilla and Diaz did a good job as expected – the key is to keep them out of the game. We’ll have to hit better in Safeco.

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  17. I’m going outside the line here for a minute folks……..the U.S has bombed Syria.
    Whether you voted for him or not, please let us pray that no lives were lost, and that our Lord has His hand on the shoulder of our president. This is not the way president Trump wanted to start his presidency, but it appears no one wanted to help these poor people but America. I know the pictures of babies dieing in the street made ALL of us sick. I’m not telling you this was ok…..it has happened, and now we need to pray that God will guide our president. Pray for the Syrians, and pray for America. God bless you for your prayers.🙏🙏🙏❤ Becky

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  18. This may help Becky and others. One way to watch the Astros in Texas is to buy a “tailgater” or other device. I bought a G2 with 2 receivers at Camping World. Just need a view of the Southern sky. Buy the basic package and local sports package. You get Root Sports. That route is about $500 plus the monthly fee.

    If you have high speed Internet (and I don’t) you can subscribe to MLB about $30 a month. Then use Chrome as your browser. There are simple programs on the Internet that are free and change the location of your computer. I had high speed in the home we sold. I used the software to log on and my IP address showed Hong Kong. (You can pick other US cities). When I would select a game I always started with another team. Sometimes it would say that game is blacked out. I would then go to the Astros and watch them. That worked for me, in Texas, for the MLB package. Now is that legal, I don’t know but it works.

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    • I understand that these regional sports networks are paying mega millions but one would think they would want as many paying customers as possible. Most of us are not looking for “free” but just want it simple.

      And the dumbest thing is MLB lets you watch every game of every team except the one you want to watch.

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    • The MLB TV blackout rule is also, utterly ridiculous. It gets challenged every year and looks like it will be relaxed…but then nothing happens.

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    • It’s not just Houston. Most Dodgers fans living in L.A. can’t watch their favorite team unless they subscribe to Time Warner. At least you have the option of getting DIRECTV in almost all of the greater Houston area.

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  20. Living on a low fixed income, my extravagant spending is for Direct TV, to be able to watch the Astros. Someday, I may have to make a choice between food or baseball, but I’m not quite at that point, yet.
    The Astros got another good start out of their rotation last night. With the entire vaunted infield not hitting, the Astros pitchers have no room for error..
    The team averages exactly three runs per game in the first four games so, naturally, they lost the first game that their pitching staff gave up 4 runs.
    The big question was the pitching. So far, it’s the hitting that has not been there.
    Looking to take two of three from the Royals and win that series. KC will probably be looking for blood after getting spanked by the Twins.
    Collin McHugh pulled himself from the game after one inning last night and Fresno got blasted 13-6 in their opener. They gave up more runs in one game than the Astros gave up in their four-game series.
    How is it that every time an Astros pitcher throws a pickoff attempt to first base, Gurriel’s tag makes the play look close?

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  21. Y.I.E. But is it possible the WBC is indeed having a negative impact on the guys in the heart of our line-up? The ones who have yet to get untracked as we expect are . . . . [wait for it] . . . .Bregman [who sat on the bench for the USA] Altuve [who alternated playing time with Odor on the Venezuelan national team], Correa and Beltran [played for Puerto Rico].

    Of course, then there is Gurriel, who was not allowed to play in the WBC because he defected, and who has nevertheless gotten off to a worse start statistically than any of the rest – well, except Marisnick, from whom we expect and should expect nothing good involving a Louisville Slugger.

    Ah, but then there is Nori Aoki – who played for Japan in the WBC and just keeps rolling [.429/.556/.984].

    Y.I.E. And because of absolutely phenomenal pitching [well, except for two ugly half-innings out of 31] we have started the year 3-1 against a VERY good team. I am thankful for that. But here is hoping that the middle of our order starts to come alive in the KC series.

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      • Sandy – you made my day with the comment of the week.
        I don’t know if it is just a simple team slump or if it is the Hudgens Effect.
        We know Altuve will hit at some point, but he’s sure not doing much now
        I don’t like how Correa is taking strikes and arguing about it
        I don’t know why Beltran has one regular hit, two excuse me infield hits wide of the shift and nothing else
        I don’t know why Gurriel who I thought had a solid swing looks like he has been training with Marisnick.
        I don’t know why we are back to relying on home runs for most of our scoring
        I don’t know why a team with some really good right hand bats struggles against leftys

        I do know that when I have heard Hudgens talk about his hitting “philosophy” that it sure did not sound like the kind of hitting instructor I would want for my team

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  23. Becky,

    DIRECTV serves your area and carries Astros games. Call Brent Harriman at 281-361-2730. That’s a direct line. He said he deals direct with corporate, will get you good price, and hook you up soonest. Girl, you’ve been through too much not to be able to watch your Astros. Tell Suddenlink you’d rather switch than fight.
    .

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    • THANK YOU DIANE!!! I will call him Monday! Going to my 50th high school reunion this weekend in Beaumont!! Can’t wait to see the head cheerleader, who weighs 300 pounds now!! Don’t you just love *karma*!

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  24. Dan I agree about Hudgens philosophy. I read an article a couple of years ago about the Mets and how they improved after he was let go.
    A lot of fans would argue that a pitching coach doesn’t have that much influence on hitters.
    I keep thinking of Gomez. He looked lost here but improved after going to the Rangers. He gave all the credit to their coach.

    There is a reason good hitters come here and forget how to hit. They move on and find their stroke again.

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    • I started to post this the other day, but whenever I think of Hudgens and the Astros hitters struggling it reminds me of Wayne Graham. Anyhow who has spent 5 minutes around him has surely heard him speak about the importance of preparation. Early in his career his team wasn’t hitting during games. In the batting cage they were all monsters ripping line drive after line drive into the top corner of the nets. It dawned on him they were preparing wrong – they were hitting pitches they’d never see…and doing it repetition after repetition. He shifted the strategy to variable speed / location BP and the results on the field were immediate. The hitters began reacting to the pitches again.

      I don’t know how the Astros prepare for each pitcher. I do know they often look as if they’re going up there blind and routinely give away half the plate to the pitcher. If Hudgens isn’t actively making changes to fix this then he needs to be replaced. We’ve, of course, made the argument it should have happened already.

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  25. When asked about the Astros’ vaunted new offenses struggles so far this season, A.J. Hinch said: “We’re not going to have some of the at-bats we’re having.”

    Let’s hope he meant: ‘Starting with the 5 at-bats I foolishly and unnecessarily gave to Jake Marisnick.”

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  26. Y.I.E., but coming into this series the Royals are:
    – 27th in the majors in BA [we are 12th];
    – 26th in OBP [we are 24th];
    – 28th in runs scored [we are 15th];
    – 27th in Extra Base hits [we are 7th];
    – 14th in HR [we are tied with the Dodgers for the ML lead].

    Their pitching staff is dead last in the majors in WHIP [2.00 as a team] ( we are 6th in the league), and they are tied with the other win-less team, the Rangers, for the 4th highest total of runs allowed (we are tied for 22nd).

    The goal is to win this series, and to do it one game at a time. Tonight vs. Vargas is a good place to start. Come on, Alex, Jose, Carlos, Carlos squared, and Yuli. And come on Fier-man Mike!

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  27. Carson Larue – the Astros 14th round draft pick in 2016 – gets the start tonight for Quad Cities. His claim to fame so far is that he hardly ever walks anybody, gives up very few hard hit balls, and tends to get a lot of ground ball outs. Go get ’em, Carson!

    Left-hander Kent Emmanuel will start for Corpus Christi, and Fresno will throw Brady Rodgers to try to slow down the Reno Aces hit parade and get the Griz their first win.

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  28. I’d rather be in a collective batting slump than a pitching slump. Great pitching wins games, even without bats, in our case, three of four. I have always believed a hitting coach gets too much credit or too much blame when guys hit or don’t hit. I’d be very surprised if Beltran has listened in on any Hudgens wisdom. He’ll start hitting on his own. In fact, Hudgens job is probably quite safe, as most all of these guys will start to hit, sooner than later. The only guy I’m a bit concerned about is our first baseman. Our first basemen just don’t hit period, and going back to last year, Yuri has not shown that he can make the leap from the Cuban National team to MLB. He’s got a nice soft glove though. That’s something. It pays Jakes bills.

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  30. Dan, good question. Fiers impresses me no more than he did last year. If he stinks up the joint, I hope someone makes it impossible not to be given a shot.

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  32. Well Sipp just pitched the craziest shutout inning with no help from Altuve who has forgotten how to hit and field.

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  33. Well…..that was an ugly inning. Look, Gustave might throw 900 MPH but the kid is clearly not ready to be up with the big club. I know I’ll probably get slammed for it, but in my opinion, he’s in over his head. PLUS…..these guys are not playing the cleanest of games.

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  35. Well at least tomorrow they get to face a right handed starter….what? Duffy is a lefty too?
    #%€¥<+= yo mama …..

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    • I think Dave is dead on. It is my guess the offense turns it around on the road hopefully we can get enough pitching to win these next 2 at home, but I think you’ll see an improved offense once we hit Seattle.

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      • I kept thinking that they need a change of scenery – though I wish it was against a team without so many left hand starters like Seattle.

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  37. Hits! Hits! We don’t need no stinkin’ hits. (Not!)

    Tatoo better go to Mr Roarke and get some magic for this line up muy pronto.

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  38. Of course when guys are in slumps they look bad – they take the good pitches and swing at the bad. In the old days (maybe 5 years ago) guys would get out of slumps by hitting it back up the middle. Now in the Seasons of the Shift there always seems to be a fielder near 2nd base.
    I just am not seeing good approaches at the plate and since Dave Hudgens came here I have a hard time discerning change when a hitter is in a slump.

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    • if it helps you to have a bogey man coach, instead of the actual players, then so be it. It makes me sad reading smart people not being able to tip their cap to those opponents getting it done. Vargas had the nasty slider working, his changeup with similar results to Devo. Have no problem singing Devenski’s praises, or maybe it’s the Mariner’s hitting coach that stinks?

      Very few players give credit to coaches by name bc they’re all supposed to be professional hitters by the time they make MLB, and bc they pick up tips everyday, all the time (in real-time in batters box) from any and all sources, video, pitcher tendencies. We have an entire staff that scouts the next team we play, giving vital info to hitters. I’ve seen huge changes in launch angle, in plate discipline and pitch recognition. But guess what? Just as soon as we make strides, they’re ready to execute on the less-than-sweet spot in EVERY Astros swing. We are trying to acquire and draft pitchers with swing and miss, and hitters who expressly make contact. That is the Luhnow Way by which all other “philosophies” (as if Hudgens is stuck in the mud?) fall under. It is the players’ responsibility to hit the baseball, not Dave Hudgens.

      Think about it like this. Nori Aoki swinging and almost running before he hits, adjusting his bat angle on the fly to hit opposite field, not knowing if it’s a breaking pitch or not. What exactly can you “teach” that guy? He’s doing it like every other veteran, based on years of experience. Hudgens is there to tweak, not mold… anyway, that’s my opinion only.

      Great teams are getting shutout by superior pitching across the league. It’s early.

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  39. A few points Gov –
    1) Yes the bulk of the hitting responsibility is the hitters
    2) I am not judging Hudgens based on the first 5 games of the season – this goes back farther
    3) Some of the responsibility for hitting success or failure must go to the hitting coach. If not – why hire one – why not just hire a video coordinator?
    4) Yes Aoki is probably not listening to Hudgens, but not a good example since he is hitting

    My problems are as follows:
    – I don’t know what Hudgens did to get hired in the first place. The Mets hit worse and worse under him and then improved after he left. He was Hinch’s hitting coach once. He was part of Moneyball when it was innovative. When he got hired he said he believed in getting on base and hitting home runs. Whoopie do
    – I can’t find it right now, but in 2015 I wrote a post that basically showed that most of the hitters under him were down from their career numbers.
    – We know in 2016 we had hitter after hitter in slots 5-9 that were in a funk and never improving or trying somerging new. Rasmus, Castro, Gomez, Marisnick along with practically every young gun we brought up including Reed, Moran and White were stinky.
    – White bugged me a lot. He went from a guy using the whole field to a guy who was swinging out of his shoes.
    – Yes the hitters should hit better. But they should have a better hitting coach

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  42. Looks like same old team from April 2016 UGH, with this offense lucky not to be 1-5.
    Lunhow has done his job , time for some leadership and results.

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    • Sandy,
      You’re spot on. With apologies to the “Gov” there’s something wrong in Mudville here because Mighty Altuve, Correa, Springer, Gurriel, Bregman et all. can’t seem to get a hit. Too many times opposing pitchers have ERA’s of +5 and we make them look like Cy Young. Same song, different verse. Yes it’s early, but let’s not wait till the end of May to fix the problem or we’ll be looking up in the standings instead of down.

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  44. I had more fun at my 50th reunion than these guys did tonight……and they get millions to play a game. Didn’t even check what happened until I got home rather late, but it doesn’t seem like Gregersen was “on” tonight. Oh well……gotta get em tomorrow!

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  45. Hey Astros! When you are having trouble generating offense – it is best not to lose 3 base runners in the first 2 innings. Quit stretching those hits into outs!

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    • Side replay showed it was about knee high, but Moss was sitting on change-up and it was over the middle of the plate.

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      • He must have the longest knees in the world – haha – I just saw where it was vs the box so I will bow to the side view

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  50. They finally score with out a home run – more like a home walk.
    Wonder if Gattis has ever had 3 walks in a game.

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