When you look up offense in the dictionary…

…you see a picture of the 2017 Astros.

The Astros are the best team in the major leagues. Beyond that they are the very best offensive team in the majors.

The team with the most runs/game? Astros 5.76 r/gm

They are #1 in the majors in BA (.287), .352 (OBP), .493 (SLG), .845 (OPS), 1457 Total Bases, 848 hits, 186 doubles,  and 136 HRs.

They have the least amount of Ks in the majors (273).

Sacrifice flies – They are second with 32 (slackers!)

Interestingly and providing a view into their philosophy, they are dead last in sacrifice bunts with five. They give away outs to score runs, but not to move them 90 feet from first to second.

By Position

When you look at their numbers by position (based on what any of their players hit while playing that position) you see why they are so dominant in the AL.

C. First in AL with 64 RBIs, and 48 runs, second with 17 HRs and 17 doubles and .332 OBP, third with .268 BA, .477 SLG and .808 OPS.

1B. First with 26 doubles, second with .307 BA, 4th with 55 RBIs, .521 SLG and .853 OPS.

2B. First with .343 BA, .413 OBP, .558 SLG, .971 OPS, second with 53 RBIs and 26 doubles and 4th with 14 HRS and 57 runs

SS. First with 59 runs, 17 HRs, 62 RBIs, .386 OBP, .529 SLG, .915 OPS, and third with 20 doubles and .308 BA

3B. Second with 19 doubles, sixth with .261/.343/.438/.781 slash

RF. Second with 67 runs, 17 HRs, .305 BA, .530 SLG, .893 OPS, third with 19 doubles and .363 OBP

CF. First with 23 HRs, 56 RBIs, .571 SLG, .941 OPS, Second with 65 runs and .301 BA and third with .371 OBP

LF. Not as much here, but 3rd with 17 doubles, and 6th in HRs

DH. Again a weaker spot, but … second with 50 runs and first with 22 doubles.

By Spot in Lineup

OK, not going to hit every spot, but the Astros are dominant in the American league at the following spots

Leadoff. Tops in runs scored, HRs, RBIs, SLG and OPS, second in BA and OBP

2nd spot. Tops in runs scored, doubles, SLG and OPS, second in BA and third in OBP.

3rd spot. First in runs scored, BA, OBP, SLG and OPS, fourth in HRs and RBIs

7th spot. First in doubles, RBIs, BA and OPS, second in runs scored, HRs and SLG

8th spot. First in runs scored, doubles, HRs, RBIs, OBP, SLG, OPS and second in BA

They are solid at most of the other spots, especially the ninth spot, but their dominance at these particular spots in the lineup make them a formidable force that rolls the lineup over and over.

This is a tremendous lineup that can score runs by the home run or by stringing singles and doubles together in what must be a nightmare for the opposing pitchers.

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183 responses to “When you look up offense in the dictionary…”

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  1. As lethargic as they looked last night, they almost pulled it out. Springer was “sleep walking” until his bat in the 9th and Reddick hit the ball well but at the left fielder. LMJ has got to find a way to get some “soft contact” off of the opposing batters. They now seem to just wait him out which really increases his pitch count and results in more walks. Take a lesson from Keuchel on the soft contact.
    Bregman had a good night and also Altuve (what’s new?). Maybe it was the 5:00AM arrival time. Beltran just doesn’t seem to hit from the left side of the plate as all of his HR’s have all been left handed. Gattis is raking, let him DH more often. Disappointed in last night but tonight is another night. Go get ’em. Nice to know that when we get back up to full strength in pitching that we’ll have decisions to make on the BP and who goes back to Fresno. Kudos to the pitching staff.

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    • I saw pieces of the game. Early on Lance just was not adjusting to the ump’s smaller strike zone but the hitters sure were. Really ran up his pitch count.

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  2. I guess all this offense means we won’t be going after JD Martinez. Dang it.
    The Astros have signed all 12 of their picks acquired in the first 10 rounds of the draft.
    It’s good to see former UH pitcher Nick Hernandez has been promoted to CC. Nick made the All-Star team for Buies Creek and is a reliever.

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  3. It was the wrong night for our guys to stumble on offense. In 4.1 innings, our de facto Ace threw 100 pitches, only 61 for strikes. He gave up 9 hits and 2 walks, and he only struck out 3.

    One encouraging thing about Lance’s outing was that his GO/AO ratio was 9/0. The cloud in that silver lining is that every single fair ball Toronto hit in the air against him went for a hit – and three went for extra bases.

    Next!

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  5. The only reoccurring blunder I keep seeing with this amazing squad, QUIT DH ing BELTRAN BATTING RIGHT HANDED!! He looks worse than Gomez, I’m all for respect and all to a future HOF, but he is an automatic out batting right handed use Gattis more or someone else.

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    • Carlos Beltran is presently hitting 49 points below his lifetime average and 64 points below his average last year. His OBP this year is 77 points below his career numbers and 52 points below last year. His OPS a whopping 104 points below his lifetime number, and 109 points below his OPS from last year. Those drop-offs are from both sides, although he does still do a little better from the left side than the right. Even batting lefthanded, however, he’s only hitting .237/.291/.746. All his homers are from the left side.

      Either Papa Beltran is due for a 2nd half run that will amaze us, or he is indeed ‘done’.

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      • One thing Dan pointed out is that the Astros are not using the sacrifice bunt. One thing Beltran is doing, that many guys are not, is moving runners with ground balls to the right side. Also, in his pinch hit against the Braves the other night he put a really good swing on the ball, but lined out to CF. I think the rest will do a lot of good for Beltran. I think removing him from the lineup hurts us. His 63K in 302PA does concern me though.

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  6. I have postulated that no starting pitcher that is publicly on the market now is so good, and performing so well, that they can be considered a good candidate to ‘help us win’ – or even help us get to – the World Series. That is largely because I don’t think the Rays are sellers, so I don’t think Archer is going anywhere without a trade that would completely blow up our team.

    The secondary question is: Which of the pitchers presently on the market, if picked up by a playoff-bound competitor, would hurt us most?

    What do you think? Assuming the BoSox, Yanks, Indians, Royals, or Rays picked up one of those guys, which one of them would we have more trouble with:
    a. Quintana;
    b. Cole;
    c. Gray,
    d. Verlander,
    e. Marcus Stroman, or
    f. Trevor Cahill?

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    • I think we would have more trouble with Quintana, but I like Stroman to the Astros because I think the other teams would have more trouble with him.

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  7. Mr.Bill, as a fan, I would dread our team having to face Quintana the most in the playoffs from the group you listed. A solid veteran left hander like him would not be what I would want for the Astros to face in a playoff series.

    Question for you and everyone: Are we about to lose Derek Fisher or to me even worse (Kyle Tucker) In this upcoming trading deadline for pitching help?

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    • I think the F.O. considers Fisher to be an expendable trade chip. I think they have been planning all year to groom and ‘sell high’ on him, since he shows power, bat control, speed, and good D, looks major league ready, with a high upside, and offers multiple years of team control. I do not think we will ever see him in a Houston uniform again. I think Fisher, and probably a prospect in the lower minors, goes for a proven lefty reliever.

      I think KTuck is, in the eyes of the F.O., just a much more hyped commodity – and hopefully more viewed as a possible franchise player – than Fisher. I think KTuck, along with Martes, goes for a pitcher who is no better than a Scott Kazmir quality of mid-season acquisition, and who will not by any means significantly help us get to, nor win, the WS. I just hope we get a couple of really good low-level prospects along with Quintana, Cole, Verlander, Stroman, Cahill, or whoever, so that in future years we will not feel so betrayed by whatever deal that Luhnow cuts.

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      • Bill, I could b wrong but if JL does make a trade I think he’ll shoot for the moon with a known commodity other than a Kazmir type or worse. It would b a travesty if he did less. The FO does not trust the health of the rotation & will look to add for a WS run. I could b wrong nor do I have any idea who he trades for but I think he’ll trade for a top shelf commodity

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    • Larry, I think Mr. Luhnow agrees with you. That is why I expect to hear about Quintana’s acquisition soon after the ASB.

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  8. “Offense” in the dictionary: a breach, an affront, an insult, an outrage. Many fans, including myself, would feel all of these if we trade core player(s), or even some outer ring players, for a so-so pitcher who might/might not help. If there’s no ace available, or maybe even if one materializes, the possible effect on this team is unpredictable and possibly scary. Don’t mess with the Astros right now.

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  9. Baseball America came out with their mid-season Top 100 prospect list. The Astros had five players on that list, but most interesting is the new order of our top prospects:
    1. Kyle Tucker
    2. Franklin Perez
    3. Francis Martes
    4. Derek Fisher
    5. Forrest Whitley.
    The last two players weren’t on BAs list at the beginning of the year.

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  10. Who will be DH/ OF or IF next year, when Carlos Beltran is gone?

    In-house candidates:
    – Tyler White?
    – Tony Kemp?
    – Colin Moran?
    – Jon Kemmer?
    – Alejandro Garcia?
    – Derek Fisher [if not traded]?

    FA candidates:
    – Adam Jones?
    – Lonnie Chisenhall?
    – Hanley Ramirez?
    – Josh Donaldson
    – Leonys Martin
    – Other?

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    • Theoretically, I suppose other ‘in-house’ candidates would include Preston Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez.

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      • DH-ing in the major leagues has to be difficult. You do not get in the flow of the game. You sit on your rear 99% of the time. It is obviously hard for anyone we use as a DH to keep any edge at all. Beltran proves it this year. Gattis proved it last year when we compared his offensive stats when catching vs. when DH-ing. For that reason, I really don’t want Altuve DH-ing. We couldn’t stand the immediate 30 point BA drop, 50 point OBP drop, and 100 point OPS drop that comes with the label ‘DH’.

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      • Altuve at DH, Gurriel at 3rd, Correa at SS, Bregman at 2B, Moran at 1B, Fisher in LF,
        Springer and Reddick in CF and RF, McCann and Gattis at C and Marwin and Marisnick on the bench.
        Good mix of Righties and Lefties, Fisher is an improvement over Aoki at the plate and in the field, Hopefully Bregman is the same or better defensively at 2B and Gurriel is slightly better than Bregman at 3B. Altuve is never worn out and steals bases like I steal bacon at the house and Moran’s defense is as good as Gurriel’s at 1B and his bat is better than Beltran’s is this year.
        The Beltran experience factor is no longer in play because he has taught all the other Astros what he knew. The team is $20 million less in payroll with Beltran and Aoki’s salaries missing and they can use that on other guys like Springer and Keuchel who will require raises in arbitration.

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  11. Good afternoon everyone. Three things for today’s discussion:
    1. Most important…Terry Francona, had heart surgery this morning, please keep this wonderful man in your prayers. Brad Mills will step in to manage the A’S game.
    2. The home plate ump last night is BRAND NEW to the majors, and his minor league reputation followed him as well. Marwin wasn’t the first guy he’s tossed.
    3. Carlos Correa will knock the Jays closer to next year, if he ever meets him on the street! Osuna is a *JERK* and doing what he did last night for the last out of the game is all kinds of wrong. My money is on Correa.

    P.S. I certainly hope the boys can give Charlie Morton some early runs, because he’s gonna be on a pitch count tonight. Becky⚾

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    • On #2, I think Margo over-reacted to a close call or two. But it was bad umpiring all night. #1, glad to see Mills managing the All Star Game, just didn’t get there the way we hoped a few years back.

      Finally, saw a note today, that I had forgotten. Devo the Dragon was left available in the 2015 Rule V draft and no team wanted him. Now an All Star.

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      • Doesn’t Devo’s story make you wonder about whether AAA coaches talk to their GMs about players they have faced? When Devo threw that gem to end the AAA season and win the championship in the fall of 2015, how come no AAA coach or manager called their front office and told them how good this guy was?
        In 30 different organizations, not one GM made a move to try and get or keep this guy, including ours.

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  13. WOOOOO-HOOOOO!!!! CHRIS DEVENSKI IS GOING TO THE ALL STAR GAME!!!
    That makes*6* Astros going to represent us!!!

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  15. Thanks rj – I will take the All-star tag, though I feel more like a utility type guy – doing what is needed to help the stars (all of you) do the heavy commenting work!

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  16. The #2 and 3 teams in our division, the Angels [15.5 games back] and the Rangers [16.5 games back], will play each other at Arlington for the last 3 games before the ASB. The fourth place Mariners [17.5 games back] will play the fifth-place A’s [20 games back] over the same period. All four teams start this last series before the break under .500 on the year. Beat each other up nicely, now boys!

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    • Personally I want the A’s, to beat the M’s, and I want Uncle Albert to hit homeruns everytime he’s at the plate!!! Nothing would make me happier, if the Angels swept the arlington little league!!! I’ll probably switch my television over to their games a couple of times to root for Los Angeles!!!

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  17. And I hate to give a tip of the hat to either Luhnow or Crane, but have to on signing almost all the draft picks. I know most will never get past A ball, but they did a magnificent job of drafting and signing. It is now up to the players to produce. (And I hope I don’t get a reprimand from RJ or Tim)

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    • Yeah, the Bukauskas signing was the domino that caused all the rest to fall in place. Everyone who the Astros thought they could sign is signed now. I was hoping we could find a way to sign Breaux, but that was a real long shot to begin with.

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      • Rumor has it that at one stage in the negotiations, Jeff Luhnow got exasperated and said: ‘Don’t Tease Me, Breaux!’

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  18. I watched the replay on final out with Correa. Smoak took some time getting to the bag. Osuna was in no hurry, but it looked like a routine play to me. I sure hope that our guys are not getting upset over nothing. I realize they have been dumped on for years, but we don’t need to pick an unnecessary fight with anyone. Let Odor do that.

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  19. Just a comment. If you go to Baseball Reference, they show that every team in the AL is in the wild card race with 7 games out being the bottom. They dropped the listing of NL teams at 10 games out of the wild card. If that holds, it would appear the major sellers will be in the National League. Miami being the bottom. But Philadelphia, Cincinnati, San Diego, and San Francisco not even on the list.

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  21. For those who are interested in Quintana, Verlander, or Teheran, all three are scheduled to pitch Saturday night. Quintana will pitch against the Rockies in Colorado. The Rockies are 4th in the majors in BA [.276] and 6th in the MLB in runs scored. Can JQ tame their offense in the mountain air? Verlander will pitch against the Indians at Cleveland. If he doesn’t do better than last time out against this major contender [3.1 IP, 7 ER, 9 H this past Sunday], surely he will not be given serious consideration by the Astros any more. Teheran – who has been good on the road but terrible at home in Atlanta this year – will start against the Nats [and Steven Strasburg] in the nation’s capitol.

    Another potential trade candidate, Trevor Cahill will start for the Padres Sunday against the Phillies in Philadelphia. I am not sure what that will prove one way or the other, except he has a real good chance to pick up a win against a really bad team.

    Meanwhile, neither Cole Gerrit nor Sonny Gray is not scheduled to pitch anymore before the break. What you have seen so far is what you get.

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    • Oh, did I forget to mention that another theoretically available starter, Marcus Stroman, will also be pitching Saturday – in a day game against the best hitting team in the major leagues? His mound opponent will be Mike Fiers. Game time is 12:07 Central Daylight Time.

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  24. 2 run homer by Correa in the 1st. 3 run jack by Springer in the 2nd. Individual RBIs by a lot of folks. Springer and Altuve are both 3-3.

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  25. Happy the Astros were not intimidated by this post and decided to reassert their offensive dominance in the majors. And Morton looking pretty salty today.

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  26. That’s what I want to see — Correa RUNNING like a bat outta H even with 12 runs … that’s the only thing that will carry us to where we need to be

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  27. You know, it’s a different world. Imagine all the guys that would love to get traded to the Astros right now?

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  28. You know, it was less than 2 months ago an article popped up on TCB arguing that George Springer was less valuable a hitter than Robbie Grossman.

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  29. Daveb….I was telling my husband, of the pitchers who know they are going to get traded, don’t you know they want to come here! I bet McCann is drooling to catch Sonny Grey! I’m as excited as a six year old on Christmas day, just thinking of who Luhnow is going to bring here! What a complete baseball team we have!
    Awesome!!

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  31. That game was such a joy and Morton made a lot of good pitches with stuff that wasn’t his best. Somebody lit a fire under the Astros tonight.

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  33. Ricky Nolasco took the big nosedive back to earth tonight for the Angels. Rangers win 10-0 even though their leadoff and #2 hitters go 0-9.

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  34. Lead article on MLB.com again tonight: Judge home run breaks Dimaggio’s Yankee rookie record.
    Not a word about the Yankees getting beat again, at home, by the Brewers. New York is 3-7 in their last ten games and trail the Red Sox by 4.5 games.

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  35. I assume Springer will be sending his bat to Cooperstown after being the first guy to hit 27 lead off homeruns before the break, its a major league record. Altuve will get to rest his little legs to tomorrow, Hinch said he’s getting the day off. You know what’s alarming is how MANY pitchers who have gone down with so many unusual ingurys!
    We have been very lucky not to have any of our guys go down with season ending ingurys…..

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  36. After I read about the Brewers beating New York badly, yesterday, despite committing five errors, I got curious.
    Two of the errors were committed by Santana and two by Villar.

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    • Don’t be picking on my guy Domingo. He’s actually not as bad in right as it looks on paper. And it’s only fair to note that he’s hitting .291 with a .383 OBP (in spite of the strike outs) and an .874 OPS. He’s a major league hitter.

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  37. Altuve finally takes the major league lead in batting average at .342.
    Correa is ninth at .320.
    Reddick is tied for 15th at .314.
    Springer is tied for 25th at .307.
    The Astros team batting average leads the majors by 10 points at .288.
    The Astros lead in HRs by seven at 142.
    The Astros lead the majors in doubles by 13, at 192.
    The Astros lead the majors in fewest Ks by their batters. They have 15 less than the Indians at 588 and the Indians have played two less games than the Astros. Houston is the only team with less than 600 Ks, in the Year of the K.
    The Astros lead the majors with an .850 OPS. Washington is second at .814.
    The Astros begin the day with a 16.5 game lead over the Angels and Arlington.

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  39. The Royals have committed 34 errors and the A’s have committed 76. The Royals have played two fewer games.

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  40. Devo says he’s “always had a vision for pitching in Game 7 of the World Series” even though he played in college oblivion just a few years ago, in fact as I understand it, not even as a pitcher at that time. Let’s just hope every manjack one of those Astros has a genuine vision for Game 7 of the World Series.

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    • Diane, I like your comment with one small exception. I like the idea of Devo pitching in game 4 to close out a 4-0 WS sweep for the Stros.

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      • Zanuda, I absolutely agree. I only said Game 7 cause that was what Devo said. Vision is where it’s at.

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  42. Don’t forget to root for KTuck, Derek Fisher, and Yordan Alvarez as they represent the Astros’ organization in the MLB Futures Game this Sunday afternoon!

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  43. A few weeks ago in this space, I asked about the process for scouting the outback for players like those in a coyote league out in Alpine. OP explained a bit, but apparently what they do is not enough. Devo flew under the radar and I’ll bet he’s not the only one. Why don’t some of you retired or semi-retired eagle eyes volunteer as special assistant to the Astros and go looking for future All-Stars whose light is currently obscured?

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    • Devo got scouted in high school but was considered good enough to play junior college ball for a year before Cal state Fullerton recruited him for one year as a reliever. He got scouted a lot because of Fullerton’s reputation, but was only a 25th round pick by the White Sox. He just did not show up until he got in the Astros organization. It seems that a great change up does not attract a lot of attention as a reliever, but as a starter, when you go through the batting order several times and batters still can’t hit that pitch, that’s when coaches start to realize how good that pitch is and they start to put him in situations where he can use that pitch to get the team out of tough spots. That is what the Astros have done with Devenski.
      Devenski has been great for the Astros. But, the Astros have also been great for Chris Devenski.

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  44. In case you didn’t get to watch it, a different Tony Sipp showed up to pitch last night.
    Instead of the lost teen look we have been seeing. Ho looked angry and was pitching very quickly, taking very little time in between pitches. He struck out the first two batters on seven pitches and got the third out on a foul out to the catcher after a seven pitch battle.
    Sipp’s demeanor seemed very different on the mound.

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    • Maybe he was pissed about getting another low low leverage outing. Funny thing is, his WHIP is not terrible.

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    • Is anyone aware of a study that correlates pitching success with working quickly? After watching baseball for a long time it seems obvious to me that those who work quickly are generally more successful, for a lot of reasons. So obvious, in fact, that it’s always puzzled me that it’s not more rigorously pursued.

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  45. One of the most amazing things about the Astros 2017 offense is the improvement in so many areas. Look at 2016 vs. 2017 for all these areas we are #1.
    5.76 r/gm (2017) vs. 4.47 (15th in majors)
    .287 BA vs. .247 (24th)
    .352 OBP vs. .319 (19th)
    .493 SLG vs. .417 (15th)
    .845 OPS vs. .735 (14th)
    27th worse in Ks vs being the best

    These are quantum leaps in improvement and almost beyond belief.

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  50. So they lose 2 out of 3. Hinch is terrible. Can’t he teach them to bunt. Sure sit Altuve when you need him. Devo is over-rated.

    Just wanted to get this in before some that fell off the bandwagon- stood up and got to his/her keyboards.

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    • We’re only on pace to win 109 games now! The sky is falling! Ahhh I wanna punt puppies and set tulips ablaze! !!Time to rebuild!!!

      lol

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