September (plus one game in October) was an interesting month for the Astros as they put up a very good 21-8 record during the month and fell short of holding off the insanely blazing Cleveland Indians who were 26-4 over the same time period for the best record in the AL.
C’est la vie – it is pretty tough to hold off a team that rips off 22 straight wins and has not lost two in a row since August 23rd. But as usual we are not here to shed a tear, but to honor (mostly) the top Astro performers for the last month +1.
Everyday Player of the Month. Josh Reddick.
Depending on how you value stats, this could have gone to a number of players, but Reddick outshone the others with a tremendous .391 BA/.459 OBP/ 1.053 OPS for the month and here is hoping his back is back for the playoffs. Reddick has been a key cog all season for the team with his hustle and excellent play.
Runner-up. Marwin Gonzalez.
Margo was very good again after a mid-season swoon. He had a .363/.440/1.015 slash and 14 runs, 17 RBIs and 11 doubles.
Starting Pitcher of the Month. Justin Verlander.
If he doesn’t win the AL Pitcher of the month also there needs to be a re-count. His 5-0 record, 1.06 ERA and .647 WHIP were brilliant. The .149 BA/.192 OBP/.464OPS that he “allowed” the opponents was insanely good. One more month like that Justin….
Runners up. Brad Peacock and Charlie Morton.
Peacock (3-0, 2.57 ERA, 0.893 WHIP) and Morton (4-1, 2.54 ERA, 1.094 WHIP) should have solidified their rotation spots with strong pitching down the stretch.
Reliever of the Month. Francisco Liriano.
Can you really give this honor to someone who only pitched 5.2 IP during the month? Hey, I invented this I can do whatever I want. Liriano came here with very little experience out of the bullpen and tremendous control problems and was being asked to be a LOOGY. Supposedly the coaching staff convinced him to throw for the middle of the plate and let his ball break to the edge rather than pitch for the edge and have it fly off the radar. Voila – he pitched in 10 games mostly against leftys and his slash against was .105 BA/.227 OBP/.385 OPS. That is sick.
Runnerup. Ken Giles.
Probably the real reliever of the month, but variety is the spice of life. Giles put up a solid 1.64 ERA and had 7 saves while striking out 12.3 batters per 9 innings. Or maybe it was Joe Musgrove with a 1-0 record identical 1.64 ERA and a great 0.909 WHIP in September.
The Maybe It Is Time Award. Carlos Beltran and Mike Fiers,
OK, don’t want to kick Carlos while his home is devastated, so I will ignore his .208/.250/.533 slash and 0 HR and 2 RBIs for the month and give this award to Fiers.
Fiers kept the boat afloat when it seemed like the whole rotation was on the DL, but immediately went into free-fall after everyone else returned. In September he only pitched 9 innings (thank the Lord) with a 16.00 ERA, 2.667 WHIP and a slash against of .463/.532/1.190. There would seem to be no way he is on the playoff roster.
The Other Lefty Award. Tony Sipp.
His peripherals don’t support it but somehow Sipp put up a 1.69 ERA despite a 1.875 WHIP and a .348/.400/1.009 slash against. That means he was putting the runners on but not letting them score. It also meant he was likely letting inherited runners score (4 of 5 for the month scored).
The “What Are You Griping About, Kid” Award. Lance McCullers Jr.
We know you were an All Star earlier in the year. We know you at times have killer stuff including a curve ball with a Ferrari rotation to it. But Lance in September you only pitched 13 innings and not very well – 6.92 ERA, 1.385 WHIP and .264/.328/.837 slash against. Be happy if they give you a bullpen spot.
Great Micro-month Award. Carlos Correa.
In a three game run (Sept. 26 to Sept. 28), Carlos was 11 for 15 with 6 runs scored, 3 HRs, 4 doubles, and 10 RBIs. Now if he saved a little of that for the playoffs, we will be very happy fans.
The All or Nothing Award. Cameron Maybin.
His .186/.226/.666 slash is pretty bad. His 11 hits for the month is bad also. But since he had 6 extra base hits (4 HRs, 1 double, 1 triple) in those 11 he still scored 6 runs and drove in 13 for the month.
So, anyone you want to honor in any way?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
43 responses to “ChipalattAwards: September was full of promise”
Not just for September, but Todd, Blummer and Julia get the “We Didn’t Know How Enjoyable You Are” award until we had to listen to the others brag on the East Coast teams.
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That is correct. The Mrs. and I would complain about the hijinks of the Astros’ broadcasters, especially all the food stuff, but that is tame considering the east coast bias by the networks.
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I am feeling much more comfortable with Liriano as our LOOGY in the playoffs. He could be a very important piece as we are bound to see plenty of LH hitters in our run to the first World Series title in franchise history.
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Me too.
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I have Butterflies already, but I always love your humor when you do the monthly awards. GO STROS from sunny Colorado
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As for Maybin, he was a good pickup considering. Does anybody know the status of JFSF? I was hoping he’d be able to come back at some point in the playoff. Much rather have him and he’s much more deserving. Beltran on the roster is a given whether we like it or not. Fiers chances…slim and none. LMJ…50/50. If he could come out of the BP and give his best 3 innings I could go with that. Otherwise, wait until next year and work on the fast ball location and a change up.
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Everything I’ve heard about Marisnick points to the World Series if at all for a comeback.
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It was a fractured, right thumb on 9/14. Original prognosis was 6-8 weeks. I don’t see him being ready to swing a bat…especially against a world series opponent. Some clubs have reserved their 25th spot for a speed guy. It’s possible the Astros could decide to give him the last spot on the roster in the ALCS / WS with the intention of him being a late inning defensive sub and/or pinch runner who would then not get any expected plate appearances, but that would depend on how well he could throw at that point.
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Pinch runner!!
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I nominate Yuli for the same old, same old award for hitting:
.329 in April
.200 in May
.309 in June
.304 in July
.323 in August
.333 in Sept/Oct
This is a guy who made an adjustment after pitchers figured something out in May and was a guy who could be counted on every month as a .300 hitter.
And we know that May was the month he needed one more hit to be a .300 hitter for the year, not Sept/Oct.
When you look at a guy’s stats for every month, you can tell who is a fluke and who isn’t. This guy can hit, and I think when his legs get healed and he gets to see every pitcher at least once, he could be even better.
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Yuli has been a wonderful addition to the club. What a feat, except for a cup of coffee, skipping MILB and going straight to the Major Leagues and then making major league adjustments all along the way.
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I would still like to see him as the DH next year.
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Just posted on the Astros website. Verlander to start game 1.
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Just from reading that article, I get the drift that there may be some strong sentiment in the Astros corner that Morton and McHugh might be the the favorites to start games, with Musgrove, LMJ and Peacock taking huge two inning roles in Hinch’s bullpen to get to Harris, Giles, Gregerson, Devenski and Liriano in the eighth or ninth.
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The winner of the “Don’t Leave Me In There Too Long Award” is Lance McCullers Jr.
I challenge you to go to Baseball Reference and look at LMJ’s 2017 splits and his career splits.
In both of those categories he is one of the best pitchers in baseball in his stats for the first time through the batting order, for his first fifty pitches of the game and for innings 1-3.
If he can keep the same concept he could be an exceptional middle reliever in the playoffs
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That’s what I am envisioning. I do believe he will play an important role over the next few weeks.
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Tim Bogar and Casey Candaele have been let go by the Mariners.
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Can you imagine if we had traded for Sonny Gray instead of Verlander?
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Dang…..I feel good about Verlander starting Thurs!! Anyone watching the wild card game tonight? You KNOW I will be watching it! I agree with OP, Yuli has been *nails* this year…..but so has Marwin! You can bet your blue bottles Marwin WILL play every single game!
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I’m not happy…….the AL MVP is going to Judge😠. Sorry but this is all kinds of wrong.
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That would be incredibly criminal on so many counts!
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Not surprised. Hasn’t it always been this way? It’s like Houston is an afterthought when it comes to sports.
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Judge’s numbers are there. He has been fabulous this year. He has struck out twice as much as Altuve, but his Old Timey Stats and his New Age Stats are higher than Altuve’s. Jose has the batting title, but this year is the year of the Home Run and Judge has been the King of the HR in the AL all year.
Now, we’re not happy about it and the Astros won’t be happy about it. But, if this pisses Jose off to where he goes bonkers in the playoffs and next year, I could live with that. Light a fire under Altuve and the Astros and let’s see how hot it gets.
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I feel foolishly confident Altuve is going to win the AL MVP. I just think Judge will win the AL ROY going away (probably unanimous), but I don’t think he takes home both ROY and MVP.
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Judge would be a deserving winner. He’s had an incredible rookie season and his team would not be where they are without him.
The same might be said for Altuve too. He carried our group through a rough summer. He runs, plays defense, hits with anyone in the game and has been at it for awhile. Aaron will be a unanimous choice for ROY. Altuve might get MVP partially based on time served and partially based on his MVP worthy season.
It will be a tight vote. .
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In the grand scheme of things Altuve has been more VALUABLE because of his more well rounded game and his leadership on the field. If I was going to consider anyone other than Altuve for MVP it might be Jose Ramirez rather than Judge. May Judge be content with his ROY. In any other year we might be pushing Yuli for ROY.
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Centeno over Stassi for 3rd catcher. Per Hinch” But we felt like the late-game defensive upgrade that we could get from Centeno is an advantage for us.”
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I’m pretty sure his nickname is Juan “Croquet Wicket” Centeno.
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I felt like I was watching Ground Hog Day
Castro strikes out twice with 2 on UGH Go Twins
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He swings like he has the heaviest bat known to man – so slow.
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He swung? I’m impressed..when he was here, he usually let it go by without swinging, and then whined to the umpire.
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He did that on strike 2, a fastball on the inside half of the plate.
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The starting pitchers for the Yanks/Twins combined for a total of 2 and 1/3 innings last night.
The Twins’ first two pitchers of the night were their two best pitchers and they lasted a total of five innings and gave up 7 runs.
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Have to pull for my second and a way back second team tonight. Go Rockies
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Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says that the Red Sox have a better starting rotation, a better bullpen, better outfield, better catchers, better DH and a better bench than the Astros.
The Astros have a better infield and manager. He picks the Red Sox in five.
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Dan P of the Houston Chipsters says the following:
SP’s – the two teams have almost identical ERAs but that is with only one month of Justin Verlander – I’ll say this is EVEN
Bullpen – The Redsox have a better bullpen, but the margin should be closed a bit with the smaller pens in the playoffs – BOSTON
(Note – the following is based on when players are actually at these positions – not a combo of DH + catcher stats or the such)
Catcher – Astros – 87 runs, 33 HR and 103 RBIs – Boston – 73 R, 12 HR, 71 RBIs – HOUSTON
DH – Houston – 77 R, 19 HR, 71 RBIs – Boston – 70 R, 24 HR, 67 RBI – EVEN
Infield – Combined – Houston – 406 R, 106 HRs, 388 RBIs Boston – 345 R, 71 HR, 304 RBIs – HOUSTON
Outfield – Combined – Houston 309 Runs, 78 HRs and 276 RBIs – Boston – 272 Runs, 64 HRs, 272 RBIs – HOUSTON
This does not even look at the fact that the Astros the Astros scored 111 more runs, and beat the heck out of Boston in BA/OBP/OPS – .282 vs. .258, .346 vs. .329 and .823 vs. .736
Any way I’m claiming homerism on Mr. Boston Globe
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Indeed.
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McTaggart says Hoyt and Feliz did not make playoff roster but will stay with the team.
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Saw a note where Solly Hemus died. Back in the ’50’s, as a lad I sent 3 post cards to major league heros. Curt Simmons and Gil McDougal because we shared a birthday. The 3rd was to Solly Hemus because he was my Pampaw’s favorite. Solly Hemus was the only one to respond. A photo with a hand written personal note to me (Hey, I was a kid). I never forgot that and my grandfather treasured the photo and note.
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AC, Didn’t Hemus play or coach for the Houston Buffs? It’s a name I remember from the late 50’s in Houston.
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He managed the Cards in the late ’50’s. Back then just about every Cardinal came through the Buffaloes. Baseball-Reference shows him in StL AA team in late ’40’s.
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So far, two playoff games and four playoff teams and not one starting pitcher could give his team anything good. And the starting pitchers we have seen were the best each team had.
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MVP MVP MVP
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