Springer, Altuve and Correa: Possibly the 3 best everyday teammates

There is a point during the Mel Brooks classic, “Spaceballs”, where the bad guys space ship led by Colonel Sandurz and Dark Helmet are getting ready to chase down Lone Starr, Barf and Princess Vespa. At first they are going to ramp up to light speed, but it is then decided that this is not fast enough and instead they crank it up to ludicrous speed….. And then they have to stop which sends them crashing around the cabin.

How does this relate to the 2017 Houston Astros? Well they had been rattling along at a strong pace fueled mostly by a balanced lineup that seemed impervious to a real team slump. And this had produced great results as they were the best team in their division, their league and all of baseball at 31-16. But then they decided to step it up to ludicrous speed and rolled through a 10 game winning streak that pushed them to 41-16. Lately, a combination of starting pitching injury, relief pitching weariness and a return to earth by the hitters has sent them crashing down to a still “best in baseball” 44-22 record.

But this is not about the recent negatives surrounding the team. This is about the three Astros who are leading the All Star voting at their positions – CF George Springer, 2B Jose Altuve and SS Carlos Correa. Yes, it can be argued  that they are not clearly the three best everyday teammates in baseball. The Yankees with some combination of wunderkind Aaron Judge, Matt Holiday, Aaron Hicks and Starlin Castro could make the same claim. But it should be noted that the Astros three-some do cover both middle infield positions and CF, which gets a slight nod over CF, RF and DH or 2B.

Without doing extensive research, (please, be our guest) there is a good chance this is the first time the Astros have led the All-Star voting at three positions with the ASG looming next month. And in different ways all three players are deserving. (All stats are entering Wednesday night’s game).

Springer. George has an infectious all-star attitude and numbers to back it up , especially being top 10 with 48 runs scored, 18 HRs and 41 RBIs. His slash line of .275 BA / .347 OBP / .884 OPS is solid as a rock too.

Correa. Young Carlos after a poor April has been climbing the hill towards the top producers. His book end 41 runs scored and 41 RBIs are both top 10 in the AL and his slash line of .293 / .366 / .879 is on the edge of great.

Altuve. Jose has spoiled us so much that some may think of this as a “down” season. He probably won’t put up 25 HRs again, but with this lineup he does not need to do that. That .312 / .381 / .877 line will fly anywhere and paired with 40 runs scored, 11 SBs and 15 doubles (which have become 17 doubles by the 5th inning tonight) he is a premier producer at second base.

The Astros have a lot more balance to the lineup these days, but these three pistons are the key to this motor. They give the Astros one of the most imposing and consistent top of the lineups in baseball.

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178 responses to “Springer, Altuve and Correa: Possibly the 3 best everyday teammates”

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  1. Okay, maybe the 21-year-old comes out tonight and shines.
    That’s what I wrote yesterday and he came out and he did. I sat there watching him sweat and praying for him and he closed out the fifth. Swell job, young man.

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    • For some reason young Mr. Martes did not seem near as chubby when he bore down and battled through the 5th inning. That was a good win for the team and a nice injection of energy by our 21 y.o. Top prospect.

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    • Would like more but under the circumstances I consider this a moral victory too since I think we were all expecting the negative results. Ready for our next challengers.

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      • Not all of us…I was optimistic about the Rangers series. Was expecting them to take 2 of 3 rather than 1 of 3.

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  3. Had to feel great about the debut of Derek Fisher. Showed patience with 2 walks. Showed power with the HR and a near miss on his first at bat. Showed the ability to cut back to a nice two out run scoring single.
    On top of that the HR helped break the game open – came when it was still a tight game and he went with the pitch and went the other way with it.
    Could not have asked for more.

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  4. Dan, I haven’t had a chance to read your post yet because of work. I’ll be back later. Of course I know you’re waiting breathlessly.

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  5. The Rangers are so lucky they get out of Houston without having to face our Ace and #1 TOR starter, Mike Fiers.
    The Red Sox won’t be so lucky!

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    • Watching Martes I had thoughts of 1997 Mike Hampton.
      He was one determined young man last night.

      I want to keep Fisher in Houston. Don’t imagine that’s possible though.

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      • Maybe somebody will head butt Aoki during a HR celebration and he will have to follow Reddick on the concussion DL. It is a great question – what if Fisher has a great week in Reddick’s place? Do they fear another Tyler White flash in the pan? Do they see if they can trade Aoki for a single A pitcher or release him?

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    • I don’t see ANY trade value. Also don’t see the Astros releasing him. I just hope we don’t lose Fisher in a trade for a SP. At this point ( if I had to choose) I’d choose Fisher over KTucker.
      Not much of a sample to make that choice but Fisher just looked in control at the plate last night.

      Wish we didn’t have to lose any prospects.

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      • I agree….Tucker is still a year or 2 away. Fisher seems to be ready now. If Fisher is ready to shine at the big league level, then the Astros just got stronger. Let him play and if he reminds hot, extend him another 7 days. Everything else will sort out.

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    • If we didn’t already have 3/5 of our rotation on the DL I would suggest demoting a pitcher to get a bit longer look at Fisher.

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  7. Tim, I reached out to Bo. This is his reply:

    A very very good team. But they need one more TOR hurler to be able to beat the Tribe. The Indians are loaded. I don’t see the Astros getting by them without a Randy Johnson type trade.

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    • Right now the Indians aren’t even in the playoffs. Let Bopert know that, while it would be nice to have a Randy Johnson type I think the Astros can beat the Indians without an RJ type. Also, there is no RJ type pitcher available.

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      • And for all we know, this was our one slump of the season. The Indians are still due for theirs

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      • There is a lot of baseball to be played. The Indians are only 2 games behind the Twins. In terms of a wild card spot, they trail the Rays by a half game and are virtually tied with the Angels. I believe all three of those teams are more likely than Cleveland to falter.

        I disagree that we need an RJ-esque pitcher to beat Cleveland. We could use some guys who can get left handed hitters out, though. Ultimately our failure against Cleveland comes down to poor plate discipline by the hitters. They get a ton of strikeouts against us on pitches out of the zone. If our hitters make that correction then we’re talking about completely different ballgames.

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      • Tim, the Tribe are the team to beat. Just watch what unfolds. Regardless, there are other reasons why I believe they need to punt prospects (not Bregman) and get a TOR hurler at the AllStar break. Funny thing is, I think Luhnow and Crane will actually make a move for another solid arm. But they have to be willing to move prospects.

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      • yeah i stopped pitching 40 years ago……btw i was rejoicing a couple of weeks ago that we were 20 games over .500. but with all the problems and the rangers et al we are only 23 count em 23 games over .500 now. Tim was right, there was no need to panic.

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  8. Okay – after a rather unimpressive stretch of games against KC, LAA and Tex, let’s see where we rank as a team against the league:

    BA – 1st in the MLB [Team BA .277]
    OBP – 2nd in the MLB [Team OBP .344, 2nd behind Yankees’ .352]
    OPS – 2nd in the MLB [Team OBP .813, 2nd behind Yankees’ .824]
    HRs – 2nd in the MLB [Team total 103, 2nd behind Yankees’ 105]
    Runs – 1st in MLB [1 more than NY Yankees]
    Runs allowed – 4th fewest in MLB [behind Dodgers, Yankees, and D’backs]
    ERA – 4th in MLB [behind Dodgers, Yankees, and D’backs]
    WHIP – 3rd in MLB [behind Dodgers and Yankees]
    BAA – 3rd in MLB [behind Dodgers and Yankees].

    Obviously, our offense weathered the recent storm a little better than our pitching staff did.

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  9. It might be noted that Cleveland’s present winning % – other than against us – is less than .500, that they are 2nd in the AL Central [2 games behind Minnesota], and they are also presently behind Boston, Tampa Bay and the Angels, and are tied with Baltimore, in the AL wild card race?

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  10. If you look back at our 5 out of 6 losses to Cleveland….
    We lost 2 out of 3 to Cleveland on the road by 1 run.
    – In the first loss McCullers started poorly giving up 3 runs in the first inning. The Astros chased them all day – but additional runs given up by McCullers and by Sipp gave the Indians enough breathing room to hold on 7-6.
    – In the second loss Fiers pitched pretty well and left with a 3-2 lead. Devenski, who had pitched the day before was asked to throw 44 pitches one of which was belted for a 2 run homer that was the difference in the game.

    Then they lost in a sweep at home to the Indians. They were coming off a 9-1 streak and were pretty much due for a loss. Having to throw our 3 thru 5 starters did not help, but frankly the Astros struggle as much against the Indians bullpen, especially Andrew Miller and Cody Allen as much as any starter.

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    • If you are one of the best hitting teams in baseball, then you need to hit better against the Cleveland Indians.
      It’s as simple as that. The Astros can no more let the Indians dominate them this year than they let the Rangers whip them last year. They have to man up and play like big boys against the big boys, and that means their pitchers, also.
      Oh, and when their pitchers hit your batters, you have got to hit them back. If you don’t, they will keep throwing at you and hitting your 5’6″ All-Star any time they feel like it. This is not t-ball!

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  11. Ken Rosenthal had a piece today about the starting pitchers that will be available now or at the break. The ONLY one who he thinks has the most value, and could be under control for the next 3 years is………..Chris Archer. BUT…..they are still in the mix for a wild card, and as he says the entire team would go ballistic if the Rays traded him. Evidently the team was NOT happy when the Rays traded Logan Morrison last year, and the straw would be trading Archer. All of you know who I’d trade for…….but at the moment it looks like the Rays will hang on to Archer no matter how many prospects we would offer. Like I said yesterday…..last night’s game was pivotal for these guys. I’m praying that this past few weeks will be the only big hiccup these guys will go through…..but if Keuchel, McCullers and Morton have anymore problems, this team could be in REAL trouble. I love the way Fisher picked out pitches last night, and didn’t swing for the fences at the plate. I never really understood why Luhnow signed Aoki over the winter, as a matter of fact I forget the guy is even on this team sometimes!! I’m a gambler, so I’m betting Fisher stays up.
    As far as Martes is concerned…..if he’s not included in a trade, LORDY can you imagine him being in our ration next year!! He needs to lose fat, and replace it with muscle…..but that guy has unbelievable stuff! BUT……we still need another pitcher!
    By the way Dan I absolutely LOVE the picture of the three Amigos!

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    • Interesting stuff Becky – I have nothing against Aoki, but I sure could see Fisher being a lot more than him over time.
      Mr. Chip does the posting on the blog and as such he picks out the pictures you see above all the articles and I have to agree that he picked out a perfect picture for this post.

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      • Aoki is hitting .279/.325/.668, with 10 BBs and only 20 SOs in 150 PAs. Good Heavens, why would you want to let him go? The problem we have with our offense that Mr. Fisher could help is our DH, who is a great guy and wonderful mentor but who is hitting a team low .234/.285/.690, with 54 Ks and only 14 BBs. Even yet, we can’t keep both Marisnick and Fisher.

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      • Well, to be fair, as bad as our DH has been his OPS is still higher than Aoki. Aoki hasn’t been good and he’s striking out at the highest rate of his career. If I have a choice between Aoki and Beltran I’m keeping Beltran.

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    • Again, Chris Archer is worth the investment. There’s only 40 roster spots anyway. So this year is the year (as long as Keuchel and LMcJ remain healthy).

      It’s not gonna Fiers or HcHugh or Peacock or Musgrove that will help lead this squad to the Promised Land. These guys are serviceable enough from an innings-eating perspective, but NOT serviceable enough to win championships. They need Chris Archer #2, and LMcJ #3, and THAT’s a playoff team.

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      • I don’t think they will and the players were livid when the Rays traded Logan Morrison last year. I don’t think Archer is going to be traded.

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      • It was Logan Forsythe being traded over the winter that got Longoria so upset. Logan Morrison is still playing for the Rays and is a big reason they are still in the hunt. Forsythe posted a .778 OPS with Tampa after hitting 20 HR in 2016, but so far has missed half the season and only put up a .581 OPS for the Dodgers thus far in 2017.

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  12. Oh and would like to point out that after I wrote this post Wednesday before the game – that the 3 amigos were 7 for 12 with 6 runs scored and 3 RBIs

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  13. Heck Dan, everyone has ignored the premise of your post today. Everyone. I agree, day in, day out, with a couple of bumps and slumps along the way, there is not another trio at 4,6,7 in MLB that I’d trade for ours. And it was just weeks ago that a couple of folks here were ready to trade the best center fielder in MLB.

    Getting back to the hijacking, there was a definite boost last night from both Martes and Fisher. But I’d have to say, if I had to lose three out of four of our most talked about prospects, and I sure hope this does not happen, I like most the way Fisher presents himself on the field. He’s the guy I would hold on to. I know that statement is open to ridicule after just one MLB game by Fisher, But I can take it. Go ahead.

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    • Dave – as Eeyore would say to Pooh “Thanks for noticing me.”
      I saw some of Fisher’s ABs in Spring Training and like you said it is a small sample, but I liked what I saw then just like I liked what I saw last night. Just a solid approach at the plate.
      The Tyler White shooting star makes me want to hold back a bit on my praise, but hey I love the excitement of seeing someone new hit the big time.

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      • Ever been to Eeyores Birthday Party? Yeah, I was high on Tyler, probably partially because he is an every man, a long shot, not a real natural athlete. Fisher though, he sure looks the part.

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      • My apologies to you, Dan, and to Dave. I never got back yesterday because I never got truly free of work. Am in total agreement about the three amigos, and what’s more, I dreamed about Carlos Correa last night. He was about 7 or 8 years old but still a star Astro. He was in my grandmother’s house being hounded by the media and he got her committed to remodeling the elementary school across the street. He had a spikey haircut.

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      • Welcome back Diane! Now think hard about this – was it really Carlos Correa at 7 or 8 years old or a full grown Jose Altuve?

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  14. On the last day possible the Astros spent about $4 million on a young Cuban pitcher Elian Rodriguez
    That was about $2 million in bonus and $2 million in “fines” for going over their limit

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  15. Look folks I’m not saying Aoki SHOULD be DFA’D, but if Fisher is the “real deal” I’d love for Luhnow to keep him up. PLUS…..he hits homeruns!! So I hope this clears up any confusion. Thanks, Becky⚾

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    • Tonight Seattle starts a series in Arlington. Paxton – who I wish we could land – will be on the hill for the Ms. Go Paxton!

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  18. Thoughts….
    – Chris Archer – Takes two teams to make a trade. TB is in a virtual tie for the 2nd wild card and they are not going to make that trade now.
    – Derek Fisher vs. Nori Aoki – I would suggest that Aoki come down with some kind of mysterious pulled muscle, but he does not appear to have any muscles…..
    – Not sure who the Astros have to fear from the teams behind them in the division. Which one is going to distinguish itself by separating itself from mediocrity? So far they keep bobbing around .500 or below and struggle to threaten the Astros even through their recent dip.
    – The Astros are 4-6 in their last 10, but the Angels and Rangers have only made up 2 games in that time.
    – One place where more money may be available for player salaries for the Astros next season is that they have gone so far over the “limit” for signing international free agents this season that they can only spend a few hundred thousand for a few seasons going forward. That is a fair chunk of money they will not be spending next season that would be available for salaries.

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    • Against the Red Sox we will face lefties tonight [Pomeranz] and Sunday [David Price]. I don’t think you want to start Fisher against either of those guys. He could, however, get another start Saturday night against the righty Porcello,

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      • I know where you are coming from Mr Bill with lefty vs lefty – but pretty tough to sit the young man after his huge first game. Maybe they will start him tonight and sit him Sunday?

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      • If we are going to start the young man against a major league lefty, I’d certainly rather that lefty be Pomeranz than Price.

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    • You make a great point with Archer. If you are in the race for a playoff spot, you don’t trade your ace.
      I’d like to add a few things to your thoughts:
      -After one game, Derek fisher’s stats look like Mike Trout’s. They won’t look that way after 50 games.
      – If I play that game with Fisher’s stats, I have to play it fairly and look at Martes’s great start the same way. But there is a big difference between the two. If I am looking for a pitcher with electric stuff to come and add to my staff for the last three months of the season and the playoffs, I may already have him in Francis Martes. Why go out and trade a boatload of prospects for a pitcher who earns millions, may only be around for a short time, when I already may have him in Martes.
      -What advantage the Astros have with their lead in the AL West is that they can get all their pitchers healthy and then build around the guys with great stuff and get them ready for the playoffs. The Indians have Miller, but they don’t have three Millers. Look at Peacock with 10 Ks in five innings. Look at Martes with 8 ks in five innings. Hoyt has that kind of stuff with a huge K rate and so does Devenski and so does Morton and so does Feliz. Maybe Paulino does too.
      If the Astros spend the next 3.5 months giving these young pitchers experience to go along with their high nineties fastballs and devastating secondary pitches, they won’t need to give the farm away for a starting pitcher.
      I would put Martes into the rotation and try to get 6 innings out of him there and when October comes he’s a long reliever out of the bullpen who can come in and do what Devenski did last year. Give me three great relief inning and keep their hitters at bay. Do the same with Peacock, and try to give Paulino some starts, too.
      Them you have Keuchel, LMJ and Morton rested and healthy for the stretch and you’ve gotten your young pitchers the experience to come in and face Aaron Judge or Bryce Harper or Nolan Arenado in a game situation in the playoffs.
      Get a good reliable LOOGY for the stretch run and give up a couple of young players for him and he is your Lefty in the Pen for the playoffs and stop trying to make Tony sipp into something he won’t be and stop trying to drag more K’s out of Luke Gregerson’s arm. Those outs are not there anymore.
      The Astros are not pretenders. They are not just contenders. They are the team with the best record in baseball and the best way to improve them is to drop the guys from the team who hurt them when they are in the game and those are players who have been on the team for 2.5 months and have negative WAR. Replace those players with guys who have a better chance to help the team.
      And I am not talking about Carlos Beltran. He does not hurt this team.

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      • There’s a really important point in this post that I don’t want to see lost. In 2015 the Astros just needed a strikeout. Gregerson, as good as he was, couldn’t get it. We had Mike Fiers earning a playoff salary on the bench, but knew he would only be used in a situation where any of the games was out of control. In 2017, Hinch and Luhnow *should* put out a playoff pitching roster that has enough power arms that they can burn them for one hitter here or one hitter there.

        I still think we need another LHP though.

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  19. Some interesting data on the position Tony Sipp puts AJ Hinch in. When do I use this guy?
    -According to Baseball Reference, Hinch has not put Sipp into a high leverage situation this season. In medium leverage situations Sipp’s slash line against is .615BA/.643OBP/1.154SLG/1.797 OPS. Can you wrap your head around those stats? If the game is close, he is going to lose it for you.
    -The numbers against Sipp by a batter leading off an inning: .364/.391/.636/1.028. If you put him in a game to start off an inning he immediately gets the rest of the bullpen in trouble.
    -He is no good as a LOOGY because his stats against lefties are much worse than against righties.
    -The only time he pitches well is when the game is over in the other team’s favor.
    In save situations this year his ERA is 54.00. That is in only two games.
    -If he has had two days rest, DO NOT put him in the game! The slash line on him with two days rest is, incredibly, .400/.478/.650/1.128
    If a batter hits a ball off of Sipp and it goes to the outfield, it’s over! The slash line on Sipp on balls hit to the outfield is…wait for it, .538/.538/1.000/1.538.

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      • The problem is that Luhnow does not have a solution. He’s got no other option. But based on the numbers provided by 1OP, we are better off simply not having a lefty in our pen if that guy is Sipp.

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  20. Regarding the theme of your post – the young ‘three amigos’ that anchor our franchise: one thing we learned in 2015 and 2016 is that, no matter how great the ‘three amigos’ are, they by themselves cannot take us to the World Series. They need a supporting cast. That cast needs to include hitters with high OBP that will be on base for them, and pick up the slack when they have their inevitable bad days. That cast also needs to include starting pitchers that keep the games within reach, and relief pitchers that do not give up leads or let games get out of hand.

    From the looks of things in 2017, we are either there or almost there. The real debate is how we can get from ‘there or almost there’ to ‘definitely there’.

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  21. Fisher and McCann in the line-up against the lefty Pomeranz. Marisnick will start as well. Aoki and Beltran will both sit. Gonzo is back to being our bench guru. Go ‘Stros!

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    • Never thought Marisnick would be the better offensive option vs Beltran. Who would’ve expected THAT before the season?

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    • He looked bad tonight. But, so did most of them. Will Harris could not throw a pitch at the knees tonight. He was scoffing at himself on the mound every time his pitches ended up at the belt.
      If you don’t want to see Kimbrell, you need to figure out that Pomeranz is going to throw high fastballs and backdoor curve balls all night long. Pathetic preparation against him.
      But, that’s the Astros after a day off. They usually take two days off.

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    • Sandy, I’m not sure who has a back up catcher with his offensive stats. The guy has averaged 25 homers a year and his OBP is actually up this year. If Beltran does not awaken, Gattis should see more at bats at some point. That’s what he needs to get going. I look for him to be a bigger factor in the second half.

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  26. OP….I agree. Nearly everytime these guys have a day off in between series they look half asleep at the plate. Somehow I’m not as bothered by this loss as I was with the arlington little league. I have no idea who this new and improved pitcher named Mike Fires is…….but DANG fella glad you finally showed up! How ’bout that steal Mr. Fisher had tonight! I like this kid and his gutsy self!! Yeah…..Billy you were right, bad base running by Springer, but was he being waved home or did he decide to do that on his own??

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    • Same thoughts when I read it.
      If our starting rotation wasn’t so iffy we would be better off not making any trades.
      But we can’t maintain our lead with AAA pitching.

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  28. 2009 draftee Jon Singleton is playing on the same AA team as 2015 draftee Kyle Tucker. So far, Tucker has the higher AA batting average.
    Jon singleton has a 26.3% BB rate this season. The year Bonds hit 73 HRs, major league pitchers walked him at a 26.7% clip. That’s the only time I have seen walk rates as high as Singleton’s from AA pitchers

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  29. Saturday thoughts –
    – Fisher vs. Aoki. Aoki after 141 ABs has 13 runs scored 1 HR and 11 RBIs with 4 SBs and 10 BBs. It is hard to picture Fisher not exceeding that in 140 ABs (especially since he already has 2 R, 1HR, 2 RBIs, 1 SB and 3 BBs in 5 ABs. Yeah he probably would exceed the 20 Ks. I would risk it.
    – Have to agree with ac45 and Sandy – that is a pretty unimpressive list of players to trade for…at least at this point. It may change in the next 6 weeks.
    – Sounds like the cavalry is at least within sight based on this story http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/236835710/dallas-keuchel-lance-mccullers-jr-improving/?topicId=27118380
    – It would be nice if Mr. Paulino gives us something like his buddies Martes and Fiers have given us this time around.
    – Not sure how you decide to send Springer last night – the guy picked up the ball by the time Springer got to third in not too deep right field and he has a good arm. May not have made a difference with how Gattis was batting last night but you never know…

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  31. *PLEASE* don’t fall asleep tonight you rubes……Paulino is gonna need a LOT of help tonight. “Some” good news, Morton is almost ready to go on a rehab start. Those guys can’t get here soon enough.

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  33. As one of the guys on TV said last inning, you can bet you blue booties McCann WILL be catching Paulino in his next starts! Lord, I’m glad we have Brian McCann!!
    We needed to win this game because the arlington little league won today…..and so did the A’s.

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  35. LOL!!! I forgot what these guys do to a rookie when he gets his first win!! They get baby powder whipped cream and anything else they can find and put it all over him and he has to walk around the clubhouse for a minute or two, THEN they let him take a shower!!

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  36. Martes, Fiers and Paulino have taken a whole lot of pressure off Luhnow to make a premature deal. At least for now, they’ve saved him a bundle. I’m smiling tonight. Good night dads.

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  37. Daveb7……guess who has been in talks for Sony Grey? MLB Trade rumors have a piece from the Boston Globe that says both teams are interested in one another.
    If we can’t get Chris Archer. …Sony Gray would look real good in an Astros uniform!

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  38. Happy Father’s day fellas! I hope you get to watch the Open tomorrow afternoon and the Astros tomorrow night! That’s what’s on tap for my husband tomorrow! My father has been gone a long time…….but I miss him everyday❤.

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    • And if my Dad were still around he would watch both of them, too. So, I will try to follow tradition and watch the back nine of the best golf tournament in the world and then watch nine innings of the best baseball team in the world.
      Mrs. 1OP said she would fry some chicken for me, if I will stop at the grocery after Mass tomorrow. Consider that a done deal!
      Happy Father’s Day, my friends.
      Becky, it is wonderful to chat with you. God is so great!

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  39. Bittersweet Father’s day here…it’s the 12th anniversary of our daughter Jessica’s stillbirth. I know she’s up there with my dad looking down at us. ..just thinking aloud. Or in print. You know.

    Haven’t been to a game in 20 years. Still remember that my dad and I would go to every weekend home stand from 1991 thru the strike. Got to meet several of the players over the years, some were real nice (Scott Servais, Luis Gonzales ) some not so much (Pete Harnisch especially ). Was supposed to go to a game in 2005, but…yeah the above story happened.

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    • Hit post before I was ready.

      Every weekend my daughter Jaymie watches the games with me. So tomorrow we’re definitely going to watch them slaughter the Red Sox.

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  42. I’d like to thank you all for the great coverage and comments as well as wish everyone a happy Father’s Day! I don’t get to watch the early innings most days, but try to watch on my phone once I’ve got all the kiddos in bed. In case you were wondering, I have four of them, and as far as I’m concerned they make every Sunday Father’s Day.

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  43. Saturday, Buies Creek lost both games of a double header to 22-45 Winston-Salem.
    One game was 2-0 and the other was 2-1. In each game the loss came as the result of a 2-run homer by recently demoted Courtney Hawkins. Hawkins was demoted from AA because he had 54Ks and only 3 BBs in 89 ABs and was hittinng .135 there. Hawkins is 6’3″ and 250 lbs at age 23 and was a 1st round pick in the same draft as Carlos Correa, 2012. Apparently, his destiny is to ruin 2 Class A wonderfully pitched games by Hector Perez and Franklin Perez on a Saturday afternoon when our Buies Creek hitters decided to take Fathers Day weekend off.
    Sometimes, baseball is boogers!

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  45. Thanks for all the Father’s day thoughts. My dad has been gone 15 years but we took Mary’s dad out for dinner last night. Mary’s mom passed away in Aptil so a little different night this year.
    I’ll watch some of both the Open and the Astros today. We have one son at home and three out in the world and have been hearing from them all weekend.
    Hope everyone has a blessed day today, especially the dads.

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  46. 1OP, I hope Father gave you guys a shout out at mass this morning.

    Here, in my neck of the woods, the sermon from time to time asks fathers to act like fathers. We’ve got far too many single parent situations, putting the next generation at a real disadvantage from a very young age, thus ultimately creating societal issues very hard to reversal once in play. God Bless every real everyday father!

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  47. This old Dad just got to ride the new horse. It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve been up there and three years since he’s been ridden. Sure felt good! We were both a little nervous.

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  49. Luhnow will be in the A’s, ballpark on Tuesday night to see Sony Grey pitch against us. You can take THAT to the bank. It should be interesting how he pitches Tuesday.
    He absolutely knows his name has been in the trade talks with us. How COOL would that be!!! Jim Crane was non committal about what he thinks the club needs. I know
    WE. NEED. ANOTHER. TOR PITCHER.!!!

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  50. Joe is going to be a good pitcher one of these days, but he’s got to learn to bury an 0-2 count. This game could be 5-0 home team.

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