Sep 12 2017

On another note: Musical message from Astros’ fans

The poor fans who post on this blog have been so confused and conflicted and confounded and concerned about their Astros, that it is time to send out a set of Musical Messages to you all. It is up to you to pick where you fall in this 1960’s/70’s rock and roll collage…

For those who believe this is the year – Jay and the Americans’ “This Magic Moment”

For those who believe the early season performance was a house of cards – Styx’s “Grand Illusion”

For those who don’t think we will win it all, but like to imagine it happening – Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”

For those who have been through 50+ years of frustration – Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”

For those who have watched the insane run of the Cleveland Indians – Led Zeppelin’s “After the Levee Breaks”

For those who think the team just needs to pull together and get their mojo back – Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out”

For those who just can’t be crushed again – ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down”

For those who are Polyannas about our team – Aerosmith’s “Dream On”

For those who think this is just the start of a dynasty – Chicago’s “Only the Beginning”

For those who doubt A.J. Hinch’s leadership – Peter Frampton’s “Show Me the Way”

For those who are totally cynical after years of letdowns – The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

For those who can’t believe the ups and downs of a baseball season – Moody Blues’ “Ride My Seesaw”

For those who always feel paranoid about the MLB Front office – Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them”

For those who have given up on 2017 – The Doors’ “The End”

For those who think the team just needs to relax – The Eagles’ “Take It Easy”

For those who can’t wait for the Astros’ bad play to end – CCR’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain”

For those who think that the city of Houston deserves something special – Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown”

For those who think the Astros have it in them – David Bowie’s “Heroes”

And of course for those who have no doubt – Queen’s “We Are The Champions”

So where do you stand musically on the Astros?

 

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186 comments on “On another note: Musical message from Astros’ fans”

  1. On the positive side . . .
    – Tyler White is now hitting ,341 with an OPS of 1.061
    – Hoyt, Sipp, and Guduan all threw scoreless innings, and neither Sipp nor Guduan walked anybody
    – at least Hinch didn’t put in Francisco Liriano
    – the Quad City River Bandits won their first game in their league championshp
    – a black hole did not swallow the earth and its solar system

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  3. So glad I didn’t watch I bet Crane has to be thrilled at all of this , If I owned a piece of the team I would be in his ear Like WH is this crap.

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  4. There have been three seemingly unsinkable ships on the great MLB ocean this season:

    1. The HMMS Astros, who cruised through May and June;
    2. the HMMS Dodgers who dazzled in mid-summer;
    3. the HMMS Indians who are the darlings of August and early September.

    Only one ship will make it to the home port. The stinking icebergs will demolish all the rest. Gentlemen, place your bets.

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  5. It is too early to tell – we know. But from what you have seen so far, which of the Astros’ rookies/call-ups of 2017 has the brightest future in the MLB – and which do you see as having no MLB future at all:

    1. Francis Martes?
    2. Collin Moran?
    3. Tyler White?
    4. J.D. Davis?
    5. Derek Fisher?
    6. Tony Kemp?
    7. A.J. Reed?
    8. Reymin Guduan?

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    • Dan’s purely un-scientific, eye ball thoughts:
      1. Francis Martes – Heck of an arm – some nasty stuff – he is pitching like you would expect a 21 y.o. to pitch – inconsistent and needs to learn more about pitching.
      2. Derek Fisher – He has speed and power – needs more reps to catch up with major league pitching
      3. A.J. Reed – Has done nothing in his callups – strikes out way too much – but damn 34 HRs and 104 RBIs at AAA – Pray he does not have Jon Singleton disease
      4. Colin Moran – hated that he got hurt – looked like he had really developed since his bad call-up in 2016
      5. J.D. Davis – Yeah he is slower than Brian McCann’s grandma, but he has a good power stroke – probably a DH down the line
      6. Tyler White – This guy should probably be ahead of Davis, but I just don’t know if he will ever be given enough of a chance
      7. Reymin Guduan – Only #5 because I think he may be the only lefthanded pitcher in the organization other than Keuchel….so far stinking it up at Fresno – he doesn’t throw enough strikes and when he does they hit them(He should really be at the bottom of this list
      8. Tony Kemp – I should put him higher – his minor league stats should be earning him a better chance – but will it ever….

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    • Reed only has 6 PA and 1 K in 2017 at the MLB level. Likewise, Moran hasn’t seen enough action for us to really predict. However, I think both of those guys are good enough to start for some teams in the league. Assuming Beltran does not come back and no free agent splash is made, I suspect Moran – White – Reed battling it out for DH is the biggest spring training battle.

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    • I would play Reed as much as possible during spring training next year and play him the first month on the big club. Move Gurriel to designated hitter. Sprinkle Moran in there as the left-handed DH. Use White as the supersub to replace Gonzales. Pitch Martes in rotation during ST and if he pitches well, move McCullers to 8th inning setup man.

      That takes care of four of the guys listed.

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      • You have some great thoughts here, Sarge. I think they will pick up Marwin’s club option at $5.125M. He is so valuable as a super utility guy and his numbers make him well worth more than this. I also think they will keep one of White or Reed on the club, but not both. Although Gurriel is not a strong defensive 1B he is better than both Reed and White so I would keep him primarily as the 1B with Reed and White as DH possibilities, if both are on the team. I think Moran has a leg up on Reed as LH DH/bench bat.

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  6. Brightest future: Colin Moran because most think he can hit and has added to his power. Actually can field two positions, 3B/1B. Also, he bats from the left side which allows him to have more ABs against opposite handed pitchers. He also has developed his swing to go the opposite way against lefties who pitch him away. Finally, he can get to 1B from the left side of the batters box as a LH batter faster than JD Davis can from the right side. Moran is slow, but is two steps closer to the 1B bag from the outset. On the other hand, we haven’t seen Moran pitch, yet.
    I like Martes’s future, too.
    I like Guduan because he has so much time to develop as a relief pitcher. Five years from now, I can see him as a good reliever in somebody’s pen.
    I worry about AJ Reed because he is limited to 1B/DH and, for those, he has to hit major league pitching and he has not done that.

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    • Considering the rumors were true and Moran was the centerpiece in the botched Zach Britton trade do you think he will be traded this off-season? The Astros definitely need to add another power bullpen arm and Moran is probably blocked at 3B by Bregman and 1B by Gurriel. Moran probably has more trade value than Reed so I can see him being jettisoned this off-season. What are your thoughts?

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      • Yes, I think he had a ton of value before the injury. However, I don’t think a power arm for the pen is really a pressing need so much as guys who can control the zone. Specifically, I would look for a lefty who can throw a slow curve for a strike at will.

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      • That’s not a bad observation on Moran and the team, I just have to be honest, right now I’m not sure I get anything that there are thinking, I’m lost.

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      • Tim, I would like to see Gurriel moved to DH next season so he could hit every day and have less chance of injury. Gurriel has proven himself this year as a hitter and his salary drops by $2 million every year, which is perfect for a DH approaching his middle 30’s. Then I would like Moran to win the 1B job, putting our home grown guys at all four spots in the infield.

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      • I can live with that idea, OP. I think Moran is an upgrade defensively over Reed or White at 1B so moving Yuli to primary DH works for me in this scenario.

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  7. If they sent Marisnick back to Houston for evaluation, he is probably hurt bad and could be lost for the season and playoffs. Didn’t see the play because I wouldn’t watch the game, but that is a blow to the Astros, losing their 4th outfielder and late game defensive replacement. I guess that means they’ll have to let others play CF, instead of playing their best center fielder, George Springer.

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    • Jake hit a ball that blooped in to right field between multiple fielders. He stopped coming around 1st and when the ball got bobbled – he hesitated and went for 2nd. Tried to slide around the tag and jam his hand in there and hurt his thumb in the process. I did not have the sound on so I don’t know if they could see more than I could.

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  8. Mike Fiers suspended 5 games for throwing a high-hard one in the direction of Luis Valbuena’s head. I didn’t see it, but I did hear Fiers say he thought Valbuena was disrespecting with his bat flip after clubbing a homer.

    Look, Valbuena is a hot dog. He was a hot dog when he played for us. He does ridiculous looking bat flips over shallow pop-outs to the outfield. Unfortunately, he seems to have found his stroke just in time to hurt his former team. And even more unfortunately, we have had ZILCH in the way of an offensive answer in this series.

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  9. Marisnick out for the year with fractured thumb. With Derek Fisher struggling the way he is, that makes the Cameron Maybin pickup look pretty big right now.

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    • I wonder if players ever thought about using the mitten on their hands before they injure themselves, rather than after. I guess that would be too smart a solution. Preventative maintenance is not practical when the player still makes millions while rehabbing, and the team still has to pick up their tab.

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  11. This all I’m going to say this afternoon……the boys need to come back home. They left Houston with a three game sweep of the Mets, but they NEED to come back home and get the love of THEIR home fans. They have bad mojo right now, and getting back to Minute Maid is their “safe place”. WE need them to come home.
    Tough break for the Astros AND Marisnick, I wish that hadn’t happened, but it did and whether it’s George, or Maybin…..we are gonna need their best defense in center!!
    The pitcher who got 5 game suspension doesn’t need to be talked about by me.
    He punched his ticket to another team next year, and that’s exactly as it should be.
    I truly hope the guys can get a win tonight…..they need it so bad. Becky⚾

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  13. It didn’t look like anything special on Jake’s head first slide. And the play was over and done whe he grabbed his thumb.

    As to Fiers, thank you Commish. It appeared that he was ordered to throw “at” Valbuena and it went 3 feet over his head. He was NOT throwing “at him.”

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  26. Devo manages to get the outs after a HR to the Astro Killer Pujols. He could benefit from learning another pitch in the off season. We’ll take the “W” any way we can get it. At least it was worth staying up until 1:30AM today.

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  27. Going back to “who to keep” for next year, the “bottleneck ” that Chip talked about years ago is now here. Several will not be here at Rule V time. That means other clubs know more than we know.

    Their trade value is for younger players. Or the other team will wait to see who gets cut and it costs almost nothing. The Astros view them as AAAA players. There is probably a”Robbie Grossman” that another team will take, but not giving up much to get him.

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  29. Last night, Fort Wayne’s Gabriel Arias got three hits off of Patrick Sandoval of Quad Cities, two doubles and a triple. None of his teammates were able to drive Arias in.
    Arias, from Venezuela, is 17 years old.

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    • The best news of the day is that Patrick Sandoval is LEFTY. We actually have a LEFTY in the system who has demonstrated the ability to shine under the pressure of a championship series.

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      • Patrick is a 20 year old left-handed pitcher from Mission Viejo, CA. We drafted him in the 15th round in 2015. At Quad Cities this year, he was 2-2 with a 3.83 ERA, a still too-high WHIP of 1.35, and 48 strikeouts in 40 innings. He still needs a lot of work, but I like the way he rose to the occasion in an opponent’s park to put his team 2 games up in a league championship series.

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      • You’re right, Devin. It surprised a lot of people that we were able to sign him. It was a coup for Luhnow and company.
        They have five years(I think) from the time he was drafted before he is subject to Rule 5, so they want to bring him along at a steady pace.
        Throughout his professional career he has pitched in leagues where the average player is two years older than he is, so he is getting tested.

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  30. Hooray – our road-weary Astros are finally coming home! Considering how ugly our time in Oakland was, I’ll happily take a 5-5 road trip closed out by taking two out of three from our closest division rivals in their home park.

    Today’s song choice: “Tie A Yellow Ribbon”.

    The last home stand of the year starts with three games against the Mariners [who will come right at us with James Paxton (v. Morton), and Erasmo Ramirez (v. Keuchel), followed by the impressive Moore kid (vs. Verlander)]. After that comes three opportunities for revenge against the White Sox – who swept us mercilessly in the Windy City the last time we faced them. Let’s return the favor, guys! The home season ends with three more intense contess against the hot dog bat-flipper Valbuena, the perennial MVP candidate Trout, and the ultimate Astro-Nemesis, Pujols.

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  31. The boys and I are leaving Round Rock early tomorrow morning to catch that game and stay the night to attend Sunday’s game also. We are hoping to see the division clincher. Today is my birthday (I won’t give my age, but suffice it to say I may be among the young ones in this blog…I kid). I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday weekend than at Minute Maid Park watching the Astros with my 2 favorite Astros fans.

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  33. dave’s nephew, Tyler White, replaces Yuli tonight in the #8 spot and playing 1B. Altuve DHing and Reddick is the only lefty in the lineup against Paxton.

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  35. Felix Hernandez was on a pitch count last night because it was his first start after being on three DL. Tonight will be Paxon’s, first start back as well. Think he will be on a pitch count as well? That would be great if so…..he’s a very tough lefty.
    Heard this last night from the radio guys, when the guys came back for the series with the Mets, Springer could not go home. Freeway was shut down with flooding, so I’m sure he will be THRILLED to get back home! He lives in Sugarland.

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    • He is starting to look more comfortable in the bullpen. I think he made a strong case last night to make the playoff roster. Hinch put him in the game in a ‘hold’ situation and he did a great job. Let’s hope this carries over, but needless to say, it was a very impressive outing by Liriano.

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    • It would sure be nice to see this kind of performance from him become consistent. After the disastrous start to his tenure on our team, he’s got a lot of ground to cover to earn a playoff roster spot, but his last 2 outings at least provide hope.

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