Random Astros’ thoughts on an “indoor” weekend

Like most folks in Southeast Texas, Dan P is spending the weekend indoors as an unwelcome weather event named Harvey spins directionless like a kid’s top to the west of us. So, what the heck, might as well toss out some random baseball thoughts to pass the time.

The AL West Can’t Catch the Astros. There have been discussions about the Astros slumping or collapsing or (fill in with your own verb). Back on July 28th the Astros were at their zenith with a 68-34 record and 18 game lead in their division. They have stumbled since then to a 9-16 record and slid to 12.5 games ahead. That sounds like a team plummeting towards disaster. But in reality in the last 12 games the Astros have increased their lead from 12.0 to 12.5 games ahead. The Astros were vulnerable, but as the lame return from the DL, the window is closing. The key is that the other teams in the division have not really played well enough to threaten them. The Angels? They have never been better than 4 games over .500 and after hitting 64-60 have slid back to 65-63 after last night’s game. The Rangers? They were 3 over .500 at 24-21 and have bobbed along to 64-63 heading into Saturday’s games. The Mariner’s? They topped out at 3 over at 59-56 and today are 65-63. The A’s? Not going there.

Did Twitter Controversy Turn Around Alex Bregman‘s Season, Maybe so or maybe not. Bregman had already started to improve a little when he got into a bit of a nasty twitter exchange with a fan, back on July 10th. He was hitting a pretty pedestrian .254 BA/.338 OBP/.756 OPS at the time. Since then he has raised those numbers to a robust .286/.363/.856. In his 37 second half games he has hit a nasty .336/.404/1.046, scored 27 runs, knocked in 24 runs and totaled up an impressive 22 extra base hits. Maybe the tweeting did not turn him around or maybe it was part of the maturing process.

Playoffs – Road or Home? Normally this would be a silly question, but the Astros have been good at home (37-29) and dominant on the road (40-21). But there have been holes cropping up in their road performance as they were 36-13 prior to their recent 4-9 slide on the road. The Astros should want to have that home field advantage at least through the AL side of the playoffs and hopefully their regular season road performance will embolden them on the road in the playoffs.

Baseball is as Weird and Unpredictable as Harvey. The Astros began the season with one week of a hitting huff, but were soon hitting on all cylinders with offense, starting pitching and relief pitching carrying them to new heights. They then had a historic offensive performance in July, while their bullpen (over-worked with the injuries to the rotation) struggled during that month. Then we roll into August and the bullpen is the best in baseball, the rotation is improving and the offense is the biggest problem they are having. Who knows what will be the best and the worst parts of the team heading into the playoffs.

So….any thoughts you want to share today?

←
→

148 responses to “Random Astros’ thoughts on an “indoor” weekend”

Newer Comments »

  1. Still scratching my head over the decision to keep J.D. Davis up. He’s impacted at least two games with his lack of ability to play third. He does not seem to have a real pulse for the speed of the game at the ML level. I understand wanting to leave Yuli over at first where he’s made a home. But I’ve also seen White look more comfortable at third. And you know you’ll get more good at bats from White. But if not White, then bring up Kemp and make Marwin the temporary full time guy at third. I know Marwin was getting a night off, but I would have at least brought him in late to play D. This game will not mean all that much at the end of the season, but it was the lost opportunity to put a fork in the Angels that offends me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • It was definitely a frustrating loss and probably the toughest loss all year. Davis is a future DH, but he’s not a competent 3B and never will be. They wanted to protect one of his options by keeping him on the major league roster, but he’s not deserving of it.

      Like

      Reply

      • If protecting an option is the reason for keeping him here, I understand the rationale, but I do not accept it. It was a poor decision. Saving a guys option should not come at the expense of putting an over matched guy on a ML infield. And I agree, his future, if there is one for him, is certainly at DH. He’s slow now and will only become less mobile. But really, how is this guy our 14th best prospect?

        Like

      • I agree with your sentence and also agree it was not a justifiable decision. However, I don’t think Tyler White would be the difference between the overall W/L record. Let’s not forget that Davis’ HR on Friday was very instrumental in the win. Also, I am not going to judge his future capability as a major league on this short sample. He is ranked 14th for a reason and he has legitimate power. He will never be a good defensive player, but neither is Tyler White. I would rather have White on this team than Davis, but with this big lead a mistake like this is not going to make a difference on how the season ends.

        Like

      • I have a problem with a future DH being ranked 14th in the system, unless of course the system is not as strong as we want to believe.

        Like

      • He has unbelievable power. Many great hitters who are poor defensive players, but have that type power are ranked high. He is probably our best power hitter in the minor leagues and this has value.

        Like

      • He should be a 1B, but when you can throw 95mph they want to at least try to keep you on the left side. I think people are forgetting that Davis has not played next to Correa yet. The “double” by Simmons yesterday was unfortunate, but Davis shouldn’t have deflected it in the first place. Bregman needed to let him know with no uncertainty it was his play. Let them play side-by-side a few weeks and that probably happens.

        Like

    • I watched Bregman come up last year and struggle, but he was having buzzard’s luck. Davis is having no luck at all.

      I posted last year that I was in a black out zone for May of 2016, but I have only seen Tyler White look comfortable at the plate. To choose between the two seems academic.

      Like

      Reply

      • 45, I will disagree with you here. It’s not a luck thing. Bregman is an excellent athlete. Davis is a marginal athlete. We’ve got a couple of folks here on the blog that could beat him down to first. And I know Becky and Sandy move better laterally than the big galoot. Fair point on White not being an answer at third either. That’s why I also suggested Kemp. That would have put Marwin at third. The good news is that Carlos should be home soon.

        Like

  2. As to the playoffs, I know it was your older post of “if the season ended now” but this team currently is better than the wild card team especially if they burn their best starter to advance. But this team does not match up well with Cleveland or Boston. And lets not even talk about the Dodgers or Nationals.

    Now the season will not end now, so lets hope we have a couple call ups that force their way onto the playoff roster because we have at least 5 that need to “ride the pine” if we are to compete in the playoffs. And we need our Red Cross team to make it back healthy.

    And I think Morton should go out to left field for that inning that he is going to stink. He looks like the best in baseball, and then stinks it up, only to return and be dominant again. So he just needs to tell Hinch, when that is going to happen and play left for that 1/2 inning.

    Like

    Reply

    • So, which 5 guys do you think should ride the pine? Some might consider Beltran at this point, but he might have a guarantee in his contract keeping him on the 25 man. And you never know what those old bones might do once the post season juices start flowing. I don’t think we have a better option than the veteran. Sipp, no confidence. Gregerson might get left behind, if Harris is on top of his game and Musgrove continues what he’s doing. Would you rather have Martes or Gregerson? Fiers, what do we use him for? We don’t need a five man rotation in the playoffs. My biggest concern now is Fisher. We need him to hit. And he’s not. But I can’t really envision a call up forcing his way on to the post season roster except for one guy. Armenteros threw a one hitter over 8 innings last night, but he’s not even on the 40 man. He had a one hitter his last time out too. When was the last time we had a AAA guy do that? And if Fisher does not hit, then I guess Kemp has an outside shot.

      Like

      Reply

      • Correa’ s return should remove the Davis question. I would hope LMJ and Harris take care of two pitching slots. So out of the 5, we know a couple starters should be out and I would hope a couple September call ups catch fire and solidify their spots.

        Like

    • I won’t include Liriano who has been more down than up, but Martes and Clippard have been pitching well. Giving up a 3 run homer to a guy who went down on one knee to reach it – I don’t know if I’ve seen that before and Reddick touched it as it was going out.
      Hey, if you had Tyler White up you could put him at 1B and move Gurriel to 3B.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Dan, that would be a consideration for me, but I think the club does not want to move Yuli around at this point.

        Like

      • Dan, us old guys are not so flexible. Bregman can go third, short, second. Yuli is like us. We’re victims of habit.

        Like

  4. I guess I have been watching different games, if JD Davis is our future DH, we will never be Al Champs. I would package him and Singleton for Liriano and Clippard , Oh wait we did that already!

    Like

    Reply

    • By future, we are not talking about October. We are talking about 2018, 2019 or 2020. Making the jump from AAA to major leagues is the toughest adjustment in all of baseball and labeling him a bust after such a short sample size is very short-sighted. Let’s give him more time to develop before we suggest he won’t be a decent major leaguer.

      Like

      Reply

      • Admittedly, this is my last time through the blog for tonight. Fingers crossed, all family still dry in Houston, no killer rain bands yet, We’ll see what happens. But Tim, you’ve already suggested that Davis has the ceiling of a DH. He has to end up being a hell of a DH to warrant the 14th spot in the prospect rankings. Great power and a cannon arm will never make a ball player a guy that you can hide on the playing field. And his swing, at present, will get eaten alive by ML breaking balls. I will follow his fortunes, but I just don’t want to do it now, on the Astro roster.

        Like

  5. First, I want to offer my prayers to those of you in the Houston area. The flooding appears to be of epic proportions and causing massive devastation. Please be safe and I am praying for the best for all of you.

    Second, with the upcoming Rangers series scheduled to start in Houston on Tuesday do you think they will move that series to Arlington and the series during the last week of the season to Houston? I can’t imagine the flooding will subside enough to allow games to be played this week.

    Like

    Reply

    • I also don’t see any possibility of baseball being played in Houston on Tuesday. It would be irresponsible. I’m sure we’ll hear something from MLB later today when it’s time to determine where the Astros and Rangers should be flying to.

      I’m thousands of miles away but talking to family by the hour. My brother just left his car at a higher location and walked a half mile through a couple of feet of water to get home, where the house is 3 plus feet above the grade of the road. His subdivision has never flooded before. And from all indications, this rain event is far from over. Pretty scary.

      Like

      Reply

    • No…..Dallas/ Ft. Worth is expecting big rain, Wed.-Fri. That would rain out the series in arlington. *IF* they can get here, the chance of playing would be better in Houston.
      But….I’m not making the plans, God is.

      Like

      Reply

      • The forecast I saw for DFW shows the larger percentage of rain arriving Thursday. They could play Tuesday and a DH Wednesday, it appears. Of course, the forecast could change between today and Wednesday.

        Like

  6. I took the loss last night hard. But with so many people I know stuck inside homes waiting for water to rise, there is a voice telling me to forget about the loss and save room for prayer and hope.
    I want my daughter and her family to leave Kingwood now, while they can still get out, but they want to stay and protect their home, which has never flooded. Everyone I knew in New Orleans lost their homes in Katrina, and I don’t want something like that to happen now in Houston.
    My daughter and her husband have purchased acreage here to build a farm and move and live a simpler life, but may have waited a bit too long.
    So there is this balance I am trying to maintain between worry and the calmness I am supposed to show as the patriarch of my family and AstroWorld helps me hide the worry.
    I think last night’s game was more important than Hinch did. A series win against the Angels was right there for the taking and Hinch could have used his best relievers and sealed the deal and left his less trustworthy guys for Sunday, after the series had been clinched. It was 6 to 1 when Peacock left it in his managers hands. I feel like his manager didn’t give it his best shot.
    I’m not stuck inside, but I feel like I’m stuck.

    Like

    Reply

    • Prayers for your daughter and husband. It’s very scary in the Houston area.

      Who do you think Hinch should’ve used? Giles was probably not available as he threw the previous 2 games and over 45 pitches combined. He could’ve used Musgrove again, but Clippard is better against LHs (Calhoun was the 1st batter he faced) and he made a great pitch to Simba, but he made an even better swing going to his knees to hit a HR. Clippard has pitched well for us and if not for McCann allowing a 3rd strike go through his legs he probably doesn’t allow any runs on Thursday. I definitely did not want to see Giles pitch 3 games in a row. He’s more important for October than he is now. I guess you could’ve used Musgrove over Clippard, but bringing in Clippard in that situation was completely justifiable. The same goes for using Liriano in the 7th inning with 2 LHs due up that inning.

      Like

      Reply

  7. I have good news and bad news. Good news is I’m high and dry so far in Kingwood and I still have power. Bad news is……I’m *STILL* pi$$ed off about last night’s game.
    Davis (I’ve never “seen” him play) is up because Moran nearly lost an eye in Baltimore, AND he has eye popping numbers in AAA. BUT….last night’s loss can’t be laid at his feet. Bringing in a guy that is *putrid*, to get outs, then allowing the game get totally out of hand by bringing in Clippard who had to get ready in a nano second is TOTALLY on A.J.Hinch. DON’T ask me who I would have put in! I AM NOT THE MANAGER!! I can’t drink enough sweet tea to get this cr*ppy taste out of my mouth.
    If anything changes with this flooding on my end I’ll let you know! Everyone inside the loop….I’m praying for you, because the worst is still to come…TOMORROW!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I am very glad to hear you’re safe.

      If you’re going to question Hinch’s bullpen management at least offer a scenario that you would’ve done instead. I don’t think Clippard was rushed into warming up and Liriano pitched decent, but was hurt by poor defense. I understand you’re upset about the loss, but when you criticize without offering other options it falls on deaf hears for me. Clippard has a history for being very tough on LHs and he was brought in with 2 of the next 3 hitters being LH. Its easy to do hindsight managing after the fact, but if it worked like expected there would be no second-guessing today.

      Like

      Reply

      • I get it. Then how can you say his decisions were wrong? Not all correct decisions turn out well. The Astros rely heavily on statistics to determine bullpen management. If all decisions turned out as expected there would be no blown saves. As far as I can tell a team has never gone through a season without blowing a save. Obviously, in hindsight, different decisions made by Hinch could not have been any worse, but just because the results aren’t good doesn’t make the decision process involved wrong.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Kevin,

        We’re here to discuss and debate the Astros. If you have any insight you want to offer I’d welcome it. Thanks again for your kind words to all of us yesterday offering your condolences to those affected by this monster storm. It was greatly appreciated.

        Like

      • Tim, I’m not here to debate the issues and I’m pretty sure Becky isn’t here for that either. I am here to vent, discuss, talk, love. I am not here to debate or get debated. I hate debate. I hope I am as crystal clear on this.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Then you don’t have to debate. I don’t like the petty venting and, in my opinion, the wrongful blaming, but this blog is here for all us Astros fans to vent how we wish. You use it to vent and I use it to question the silly blaming after every loss. Use it how you wish and I will do the same, but I would appreciate it if you would refrain from name-calling as it serves no purpose. That is your choice, though.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Here we are talking about where to play the Astro – Ranger series. At the same time, imagine everyone with the Astros out on the road, away from home, helpless at managing their own situation back in Houston, their families having to deal with it themselves. IAH is a mess, mostly diverted and cancelled flights. Our guys might not even be able to get home.

    Like

    Reply

    • Home games should not be moved to the opposing team’s field. That is just crazy. The Commissioner should postpone all Astro games – home and away – until the floodwaters recede and some sense of normalcy is restored. If that postpones the postseason, so be it.

      Like

      Reply

      • I think the option would be to switch the 2 remaining series to the other team’s home park. Thus, this series would be played in Arlington and the series at the end of the season will be played in Houston.

        Like

  9. Tim…..cut it out. I’m in no mood for it, and neither is anyone else.
    Daveb….you are so right. The big airport as well as Hobby has a no fly zone going on, and both are flooded. The worst is yet to come tomorrow, we are expecting up to 50 inches total rain, and this place is under water ALREADY! The arlington little league series will be made up sometime in Sep. I would imagine the guys will probably fly in to Dallas overnight and maybe through Tues or Wed. They have family here and I’m sure they are worried to death about them as well. The worst flood Houston has had in a looong time was Allison in 2001…..but THIS is *HISTORIC*!! Let’s get a win today fellas….I need to get this nasty taste out of my mouth.
    Luhnow just said they will fly to Dallas after today’s game.

    Like

    Reply

    • Becky, I am asking you to cut it out as well with the silly blaming after a frustrating loss. If you want to vent and indicate how frustrating the loss was I can relate, but when you want to, in my opinion, blame the loss on the manager without any differing opinions then I will need you to cut it out or accept my questions on why you falsely blame the manager. Deal?

      Like

      Reply

    • Thank you Becky, TIm discussion and different opinions are great, but it can be done with out arrogance , being condescending, rude, narcissistic, Bullying, obnoxious, and self Righteous Bull shit.

      Like

      Reply

      • there wasn’t any foul language, that Texan Talk, just observations I’m sure you have heard about 1000 times in you short life

        Like

  10. Tim, getting away from the growing catastrophe back home for a minute, as I said earlier, I would have done everything reasonable to put that fork in the Angels last night. First of all, as I noted earlier, I would have had Marwin take over third when the lead got to be 6-1 for obvious reasons. We put this game away and Marwin can have Sunday off too.

    Yes, Giles threw an inning on both prior nights, but his last outing before that was on the 18th.

    Musgrove threw an inning on the 23rd and 25th. He’s been lights out. And he had the 21st and 22nd off.

    Devenski has thrown 6.2 innings on the month, and I think that’s by design, to get him rested.

    Gregerson is the forgotten man, maybe of his own doing, but he had a good inning on the 22nd and 24th.

    I’ll guarantee you that every one of those guys wanted to be in on the action last night. And I would have had them all prepared to go to work. I’m happy to see Tyler Clippard get put meaningful situations, but we simply did not go with our best guys last night and none were in any danger of being overworked. As a result, the Angels still have a faint heartbeat today. We gave them new life. I think we’ve got to start getting more aggressive and go for the throat when the opportunity is right in front of us.

    Like

    Reply

    • I appreciate your response and you list some valid reasons. It appears Hinch made the decisions based upon matchups. Clippard has been deathly against LHs throughout his career and, if not for a WP that McCann should have prevented, he would have had no runs scored upon him going into the game last night. Clippard has been pitching well for this team. Also, Liriano, after struggling early joining a new team and in a new role had really been pitching much better lately. Thus, I think both decisions were easily justifiable. They just didn’t work as planned.

      Like

      Reply

      • Call me old school, but that’s why I prefer a manager/GM that uses their gut instead of always letting a computer make the calls. Just sayin.

        Like

      • We have had managers and GMs like that in the past, but none has been as accomplished as the manager and GM we have now. I choose to trust their decision making, however they go about do it.

        Like

    • It’s funny, everyone’s upset about who Hinch used or didn’t. I’m upset Martes walked Trout to start the eighth with a three run lead. At some point they have to execute their pitches.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. Tim –
    Straight away – if other folks want to vent they have the right to vent and their arguments do not have to meet your level of “proof”. Folks don’t need to be jumped on for their opinions – they don’t come here for this. State your opinion and whatever facts you want to throw out there, but don’t tell people that their opinions are silly or do not meet certain standards you think they need to meet to make you happy.

    Other folks –
    If you don’t like the way Tim expresses himself – ignore him. He may grate on you, some of you may grate on him. I may grate on everyone. But everybody QUIT TRYING TO GET THE LAST WORD.

    There is too much bad stuff going on in the world and I don’t need to spend my energy trying to make this a “fun” endeavor.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you, Dan. It’s clear that I grate on people, but they grate on me when they call our manager, GM or players idiots or other similar names. Last night was probably the most frustrating loss this season and I get everyone wants to vent differently. I try to refrain from name-calling, but I will question others when they lay blame where I feel is undeserved.

      Like

      Reply

    • All I’m saying to everyone is get your opinion out there and don’t try to change everyone. Because I’m the only one who is right – just ask me.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Thank you Dan. That was well put.
      The reason this is my go to blog is because I can say what I feel like and not be ridiculed for it. Let’s please keep it that way.

      Like

      Reply

  15. Wahoo blew another lead geez we are limping into September , not good.. Good thing we have all the leadership in the dugout and front office Whew

    Like

    Reply

    • Kevin, I don’t think along the same lines that you do sometimes, but I’m guessing we’d have a regular cold one in the driveway if we were neighbors.

      Like

      Reply

    • Yes sir! Many are just speaking out of frustration from our recent little slump. They know we are in good hands all through the organization. I think I find myself agreeing with you more than anyone else on here, RJ.

      Like

      Reply

      • people like to bitch and people like to blame, its just human nature. i do the same myself sometimes especially when i have problems in my life. but as far as the astros organization goes, the proof is in the pudding and the pudding is 28 count em 28 games over .500 with a 13.5 game lead in the division on august 27.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. As concerned as I am about the situation in Houston, and generally pissed about my favorite ball club right now, I’ve got to admit to enjoying all of the banter, some a bit too much, on our home blog today.

    Like

    Reply

    • Russell,

      Sorry about the tree out back. Probably a good one. Stay dry though. Hopefully being a bit north and west from Houston will help you all drain out quicker.

      Like

      Reply

  19. Yes we would, to me its not about agreeing , I can appreciate different opinions and observations, and I am wrong a lot, I’m a big boy. I just don’t see the need to be rude. Now I do hate when the stros loose and It bugs the hell out of me that they got complacent and have gotten sloppy. I have said this before, it wasn’t all about the trading deadline, it was not thinking about upgrading the pitching in June, when LMJ and DK got hurt again. Not taking anything away from this teams awesome run, but I’m not sure my grand daughter could not have managed that team.

    Since the going has got tough the performance, and all levels of leadership has looked bad.

    Like

    Reply

    • If you go back and read the comments you will see the only person being rude was he person who used the ‘BS’ word. Otherwise, it was just engaging banter and differences of opinion.

      Like

      Reply

      • If it is ok for RJ who you agree with to say others “bitch” it is ok for someone you don’t agree to use the letters “BS”

        Just my objective opinion

        Like

      • I disagree, but that’s for another day. Bitch, in my opinion, is not considered foul language, but you may think differently. BS is foul language and there is no way to sugarcoat it.

        Like

    • I just don’t see it. They went on an incredible run when Keuchel and LMJ went out. Since the all star game, they have coasted but with their injuries maybe they needed to coast. When they lose it’s all about bad leadership, when they win the players get the credit. The GM and the manager have still given us a AL leading team.

      I think everybody should relax and enjoy the run!

      Having said this team keeps me up at night because I want them to win it all so bad!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    • Thanks for asking – doing fine now – though they say stress can bring it back and if I have to keep breaking up arguments among the children ….

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      • That is true Dan. Stress does bring them on. I have had three bouts with them in my adult life. Cheell…. 😉

        Like

  23. Exhausted, spent, worn out, gassed, tired, weak, happy!
    The big difference between the Astros and the Angels today? Our balls went to the wall and theirs didn’t.

    Like

    Reply

  25. I was a nervous wreck in that 9th inning, but in the 8th inning when McCann hit that triple my oldest son and I were high-fiving each other. This is why I love baseball so much. The bond between a father and his son, the emotions you experience watching this great game together and the history that you can share is not possible with other sports. We both thought Trout was going to catch that ball, but once we saw it was missed the elation we shared is indescribable. What a great win!

    Like

    Reply

  27. I’m a little late to today’s party but enjoyed the back and forth banter. It does get a little deep sometimes but remember some of us are much more emotional about our team than others. We all want us to get to the promised land of a WS victory and we get frustrated when (IOHO) we think that the owners, GM, Manager, or players don’t perform like we thought that they should. But there is joy in Astroland for Mighty Pujois has flied out and we took 2 of 3.
    Wish I could send you some of this NC weather that we’re having. Stay high, dry and safe all. Prayers for all for my home town.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  28. OP….did your daughter and her family get water in their home? Where I am, we are dry….but I’m quite sure there are some places (on the San Jacinto river) did get flooded. I’ll say a special prayer for them tonight.

    Like

    Reply

    • No water in their house. But she appears totally befuddled about how much rain is falling. She has lived in Houston her entire life and thought she had seen it all. She has a garage apartment at her house that could end up saving them from disaster.
      Goodnight, Becky and all of Houston. I hope to be be able to fall asleep praying that the weather breaks.

      Like

      Reply

  29. I’m going to ignore the noise….Good night everyone, and for those of my friends who live inside the city limits I hope and pray you are safe and dry. Go ‘Stros!

    Like

    Reply

  30. Over here in Fort Bend County we have had a little reprieve from the rain but… because they are expecting the Brazos River to reach 800 year flood levels!!!!! They are setting up both mandatory and voluntary evacuations for 130,000 people. In our condo we are voluntary but they have not released the mandatory maps yet so my father in law and my brother and his wife could be in the mandatory. This is driving our stress levels sky high.

    Like

    Reply

    • Dan, sorry to hear about that. Understand stress. Let us just meditate a bit on Noah and his family. And the rainbow, of course. I’ve been fighting water in my apartment and prepared a bag with a few items in case I had to leave. Very little sleep because when I hear the rain start I come wide awake, unsure what will happen. However, I settled in my mind I was ready to lose everything, and if I started over, it would only be with bare essentials, nothing more. Once you settle that in your mind, you get a kind of peace. I’ve been praying for many days and nights about this storm and about all the sadness and loss I see. Yesterday morning, I became a little upset with the Lord having this thing stall and hurting so many. And yes, people in the Bible did get upset with their Creator from time to time. I will be specifically thinking of you, as well as thousands less fortunate than I. Sandy, thanks for asking about me. Best to all. And thanks to the many volunteers who are going out there with their boats, kayaks and even rubber duckies to help those in need.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      • Thanks Diane
        This morning we found out that my father in law and my brother and his wife are in the mandatory evacuation zone. So we will soon have 6 people in a 2 bedroom condo which is five floors above the fray.
        Pray the levees hold and all the folks can move back this weekend.

        Liked by 2 people

    • It can be done Dan. We have been doing it for over a month now, with 2 of the 6 people being under the age of seven. And we have no flooding. Just people with no jobs, no money and no place else to live.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  31. Stat of the day
    I think it was Blum who mentioned that while Springer no longer trails McCann in stolen bases – he now trails McCann in triples 1-0.
    That was a huge hit yesterday – I love what that grizzled veteran to the team. Cannot say enough about how Altuve turned a simple ground ball to the best defensive SS in the AL into a rally starting infield single. Unbelievable hustle play.

    Like

    Reply

  32. I was browsing through stats this morning, also. Here a a few interesting stats:
    The Astros are first in all of baseball in sacrifice flies and last in baseball in sacrifice bunts.
    The Astros are first in baseball by a pretty wide margin in not striking out(Is that amazing or what?), and are now second in baseball in striking out opposing batters(3 Ks behind Cleveland).
    The Astros have moved up from the middle of the pack to seventh in stolen bases.

    Like

    Reply

    • I like the sac fly stat. I started looking into how many they had in previous seasons and believe the numbers were pretty low. They’ve capitalized quite a bit. Josh Reddick needs only two to tie the single season franchise record.

      Like

      Reply

  33. Wahoo MVP

    1.) Jose Altuve, 2B, Astros: The diminutive Altuve is the anti-Judge in terms of size and in-season consistency. After hitting .347/.417/.551 in the first half, when the 5-foot-6, 165-pounder lagged a bit behind the 6-7, 275-pound Judge in the MVP race, Altuve has slashed an even better .370/.410/.578 since mid-July. Today’s Altuve has opposing pitchers longing for the early career version who packed little punch at the plate and was really only a threat because of his speed.

    These days, not only does Altuve continue to terrorize hurlers when he gets on base (29 steals), but he’s obliterating his competition in the AL batting title race. Altuve has posted a .356 mark that’s 36 points above second place, and he leads qualified hitters in OBP (.415). The formerly powerless Altuve also slugged his 20th homer Sunday, contributing to the AL’s fourth-ranked slugging percentage (.565) and a more-than-respectable .209 ISO. All of that adds up to 6.0 fWAR and could lead to top AL honors for the five-time All-Star. Not bad for a once-overlooked Venezuelan prospect who joined the Astros on a $15K bonus 10 years ago.

    Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  34. On another Note I spent 9 years In H Town my Folks 32 , watching the news right now, makes my heart break, it is really bad, man oh man. So much pain and grief for months and months )-:

    Like

    Reply

    • Sorry op – Brazos River west side and our evacuations are on the east side – supposed to peak at 59′ – I think that 54′ is the highest ever

      Like

      Reply

  37. We are pretty much cut off from the rest of the world out here, and with nothing else to do but watch the news, I’m getting storm fatigue. The river is expected to rise to nearly 70 ft by Wed and that would spell complete disaster for nearly 1/2 of this area. I keep reading this blog to see how everyone is doing, and my heart breaks for you Diane. I too have prayed that our Lord would stop the rain. OP….I wish I could do something for your family, I really do. This storm unfortunately has brought the worst out in our country. Trust me, it won’t go un noticed. I would say stay safe, but I know each one of us is peddling as fast as we can, I’ll just sit here and keep praying for our state, AND our country. Much love, Becky⚾

    P.S. MLB is working to try to get another teams park to play this series, and it looks like it “might” be the Rays ballpark. Stay tuned.

    Like

    Reply

    • That’s what I’m reading, too. Astros and Rangers headed to TB and Astros will probably stay and play the Mets there, too. This from Evan Grant, Rangers beat reporter, who apparently has more contacts than our beat reporters.

      Like

      Reply

  39. I just saw on ESPN the reason the Astros playing Texas in Tampa Bay, the Rangers refused to swap home and home series because of Harvey. Hmm another reason to not like the Oklahoma Rangers

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  40. I hope this creates a huge karma jinx for those South Denton Strangers. I hope their WS drought exceeds the Babe and the goat jinxes combined.
    What slimebags

    Like

    Reply

  42. Concerning the storm, I was living in Arlington in June1976 which was the only “rain out” in Astrodome history. One of the radio announcers was Bill Merrill. A nice man that only got the job because he volunteered.

    The Dick Risenhoover early in the game, looked at the scoreboard, and said in a surprised voice “Wow, Houston Astros had a home game rained out.”

    Bill Merrill then added, “It must have been a day game.”

    Like

    Reply

  43. Been without power most of today, but it came back on about an hour ago. Jim Crane and his investors have pledged $4 million to the Houston recovery. Pretty dang nice of him. The Texans, and Bob Kraft of the Patriots have pledged $1 million as well! The controversy over the home field advantage wasn’t lost on Lance McCullers.
    He called the arlington little league’s president out over it. This is gonna be a VERY long road trip…..I hope some of the guys can reconnect with their wives and children real soon. Altuve asked Hinch “how many more days do iI have to carry this on my heart”? You know he is EXTREMELY worried for his little family😢
    OP…..we tried to get out and about this afternoon, but several streets were impassable. I said a prayer for your family here in Kingwood last night, that’s all I can do. I hope they are dry and safe. We are blessed in our city, sooo many people from the “Cajun Navy “brought many boats to help with our citizens that were in dire need of being rescued! Texas and this city will be ok…..we just gotta wring out our socks and we’ll be good to go!! God is good❤

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • That’s good stuff Becky – Rockets owner Les Alexander is donating $4 million – JJ Watt donated $100,000 and has raised an additional $400,000
      Good people!

      Like

      Reply

  44. I also read that the Rangers refused to swap series. I won’t even comment on that. Instead, what I’ve seen from afar over the past few days, besides an unprecedented rain event, probably never duplicated in the United States, has been an equally remarkable outpouring of humanitarianism. Volunteers from Nebraska helping evacuate a seniors facility, the Cajun Navy, a group of guys driving hundreds of miles into the storm pulling their shallow water boats to help rescue stranded souls, individuals inviting strangers into homes, at a time when their own food and fresh water supplies are dwindling. I’m sure it’s not all perfect on the ground, but I’m proud of what I’ve seen from Houstonian”s and so many people from all across America that have come to lend a hand.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Absolutely! They were talking about people who had flown in for a convention – the convention was cancelled and the folks who were stranded here went over and volunteered at the George R Brown convention center. Great folks!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  45. We have watched people, volunteers, leaders, FEMA, the Governor, etc. etc. working together to do all that is humanly possible. So sad, yet heart warming.

    Then some idiot writes a piece wanting to know why Houston didn’t evacuate and states that “Sylvester Turner, a Democrat.”

    Texas has shown it is monolithic when it needs to be. Now is not the time for finger pointing or blaming.

    Like

    Reply

    • We ALL saw what it was like when Houston was told to evacuate during Rita.
      It would have been impossible to evacuate this city for this storm. It doesn’t matter what political party this mayor is, the man had to make a HUGE decision to make and I think he made the right call. We are ALL mayor included, peddling as fast as we can. I’m proud of my city and my state!!

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

    • I’m a staunch Republican and I think that jumping on Sylvester Turner for this is ridiculous. Not near enough time or places to send 4 milllion people.
      They were misquoting what the governor was saying about evacuation. When the hurricane was headed for the fairly sparsely area between Corpus and Houston that they should evacuate between Corpus and Houston.
      Folks are all helping out here …except that rat b@$t&/d Ranger’s owner.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  46. We lived in Bellaire during Hurricane Carla. I remember helping dad nail up plywood to cover the many windows and doors we had. We could not find enough plywood, so we nailed anything we could find over the windows, including doors from inside the house and the redwood picnic table and benches. Some windows had fake shutters and we ripped them off and covered the windows with them.
    We spent two long days inside listening to the most erie sounds you could imagine.
    When the eye of the hurricane passed over Bellaire it grew perfectly still. My dad opened one door and we all went outside and stood in the sunshine with a circular wall of clouds looking like something from Independence Day Movie.
    After a half hour outside, my parents and us five kids went back into the house, boarded up and spent the next 24 hours inside with candles because there was no power. We had water because of the Bellaire water tower. That Hurricane was so powerful because of the winds. We didn’t have flooding because Bellaire was out in the sticks and west of us was all farm land so we had lots of ground and little concrete.
    Never forgot this. 14 year olds think they will live forever, but I had some doubts those two days.
    The construction on that old house had wood siding on the outside covered with asbestos shingles and wood siding on the inside of the exterior walls. It even had wood siding on the interior walls walls covered with sheetrock, I wonder if it had been modern construction, if we would have survived 120 mph winds. The house was built like a fort by a home builder back in the late 40s.

    Like

    Reply

    • 1OP, I was only 10 then but remember my Dad taking the door ( looked like a gate) off of the storage room in the garage and nailing it over the big picture window on our house in Pasadena. We also taped all of the windows. I remember the streets flooding and and we couldn’t go anywhere for several days. My grandfather lived in the Heights section and my mother was concerned that White Oak Bayou which was just below his house would flood but they were spared. Our house too had that wood shake siding and we lost a few pieces but weathered the storm. our house was built in the early 50’s and held up well. The problem these days is there is no place for the water to go since everything is concrete and asphalt. No way for the ground to soak up the water. Not saying that 25 inches would be any different over 50 years, but not the same situation. My continued thoughts and prayers for all of you.

      Like

      Reply

  47. 8/29 9:20 AM. They are showing boats rescuing Kingwood residents. Pray that Becky and others stay safe. Our daughter’s house in Spring has water up to the second floor. They evacuated in time. There are no words to describe what we are seeing and experiencing.

    Like

    Reply

    • We are dry…..but power is mostly off. Our generator quit working yesterday. I have power on now for a few minutes, so I’m using it to check in with you folks.
      Please pray hard for us…..this in just *HORRIBLE*. Much love, Becky⚾

      Like

      Reply

  48. We’ve had hurricanes, tropical storms, huge floods, but this is beyond anything imaginable.
    So many sections of town with 1000s of people displaced – so many houses, cars under water and we are still having rain and the rivers are still days from peaking.
    Usually these things are worse for one area of town – this seems so bad all sides of town.
    I hope everyone does not forget the folks down and around Rockport who got wiped out when the hurricane first came ashore. They are hurting badly there and all the attention is on Houston.

    Like

    Reply

  49. The Rangers are getting roasted by many in the national media and fans of other teams across America. The only defense I am seeing of the Rangers decision is from Rangers fans and their beat writers. Whoever made that decision had to foresee the bad public relations disaster this would be. Some times you just have to suck it up and do something you don’t want to in order to save face. The Rangers made a bad decision and the reaction has been swift and harsh.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  50. This is a continental record rainfall. Thousands and more in distress facing loss of life. Mayor Turner and judges doing their best. Peeps from other cities and out of state BUYING BOATS to come in and help. Folks, let’s cool the criticism, whether it’s of government officials or baseball officials. This is life and death.

    Like

    Reply
Newer Comments »

Leave a reply to Billy Castillo Cancel reply