Warm-up Tyler White! See if Max Stassi can extend that 0.00 ERA he has over 1/3 of an inning to another inning or two! Find out if anybody else on the 25-man roster ever pitched in the minors, college, high school, little league or on a video game.
The Astros are not only all hands on deck to begin this week, they are all arms on deck.
The Astros knew coming into this week that they would need to piece together something to cover Tuesday’s game with the Angels. But the news that Brad Peacock was heading back to Houston with some soreness in his pitching shoulder meant that he would not be coming off the IL to start Monday’s game. Since, Jose Urquidy and Cy Sneed were sent back down to the minors and have not been down the required 10 days (Urquidy sent down on the 9th, Sneed on the 11th) they cannot be called on to help. Other pitchers who have been up to the majors and/or on the 40 man roster – Brady Rodgers and Cionel Perez are on the injured list and Rogelio Armenteros if called up for Tuesday’s game would only have had 3 days rest since his last start. Dean Deetz is on the 40 man, but is just back up to AAA after an injury and young Bryan Abreu has been knocked around at AA. Reymin Guduan? Oh lordy we hope not.
The Astros plan for Monday is to start Josh James (who pitched two strong innings on Saturday) and follow with Framber Valdez (who couldn’t get out of the first inning on Thursday in his last start). Best case would be to get a couple innings out of James and maybe five out of Valdez. Worst case…..we won’t talk about that.
Tuesday will be a very interesting day for the Astros who seemed to have all sorts of days off the last few weeks, but not this week. This might be some kind of of Armenteros / Chris Devenski / Joe Smith / White / Stassi sacrificial lamb game where they hope that the bats that came awake in Arlington the last three games continue to pound the opponents.
Or of course the Astros could finalize a trade for someone who just happens to have Tuesday as his day to pitch…..
Your guess is as good as this writer’s at this point. How do you think the Astros will bridge across the next couple games?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
131 responses to “Astros’ pitching: A short-term mess”
When you play as badly as we played these first two games, teams think they can do this to you. And umps- well, we know they are ‘bad cops’, so forget them.
The response? Show up, and BEAT THEM. BEAT THEM BAD, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT. BEAT THEM WITH PITCHING. BEAT THEM WITH DEFENSE. BEAT THEM WITH HOME RUNS. BEAT THEM WITH SINGLES. BEAT THEM WITH HEADS-UP BASE-RUNNING. BEAT THEM WITH APPROACH. BEAT THEM SO BAD THEY HANG THEIR HEADS AND CRY. THEN LOOK THEM IN THE EYE AND SAY: “YOU DON’T KNOW JAKE!”
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But if you don’t beat them, nothing else you do will say anything about you that they don’t think they know.
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That makes me furious at Hinch. Don’t this team have enough to worry about without putting a player in a dangerous position. Come on man! Give the Angles a little time to cool down. It’s not like we don’t have anyone else to play centerfield.
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You know baseball is a mental and psychological game along with being a physical game. You can’t give in to the other team and not play Jake. I know it put him at risk but you have to say I am not going to change the way I play because there is nothing wrong with the way I play or the way Jake plays
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I know you have a point Dan and I do agree. I just feel like it could have been avoided.
On another note. It’s obvious we have a pitching problem but getting 13 hits and only scoring 2 runs? That’s also an on going problem. They have so many opportunities on the bases and just can’t get anyone home.
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I’d make a comment but I think it’s already been said most eloquently. On second thought, 13 hits, 3 walks, 14 LOB, 3 for 18 RISP. The silver lining…The Tuna went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI’s (the only runs scored). My thoughts: ____________ (you fill in the blank).
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Sandy – I understand where you are coming from, but basically what do you do? Never play him against the Angels ever again because it won’t go away.
Unbelievably frustrating game, offensively. In the second inning of the game when a win was still possible, Yuli gets a hit and with one out, Stassi blisters one to left center that the LF makes a fine play on going back. Jake singles and then Springer blasts one that gets caught about a foot short in right field. Could have been a big inning and they got nothing.
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I’m for never playing the Angels again but I guess that’s not an option.
Over and done, I hope.
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Good morning! Obviously, I did not miss much. Jake took his obligatory shot. Hopefully that’s over now. Cole needs to continue being our second half stopper. Our guys need to string a batch of those 13 hits together. Spreading them out is too polite. Time to get grouchy.
Speaking of trades again, I’m happy to see guys like Rojas and Toro playing so well. At least one of those guys might help us get some of the pitching we need. I am more optimistic today!
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I love these nicknames for baseball teams: Amarillo Sod Poodles, Albuquerque Isotopes, Midland Rock Hounds, & Delmarva Shorebirds. I would like to propose for 2019 only (we hope) they become the Houston Swiss Cheese because this team is full of holes.
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OK. We knew it was going to be a rough couple of games. It was. We knew Jake was gonna get plunked. He did. Now we have our stoppers up next. And on the bright side: Armenteros pitched pretty effectively.
Next play!
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So my question to myself. Had I rather Rondon give up 6 runs in the first inning and lose the game there, or is it better to have a starter keep us in the game for 5+ innings and then have Rondon come in and give up 6.
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To be perfectly fair to Rondon….
In his 1-1/2+ seasons with Houston
– He has pitched in 101 games
– He has given up 6 runs once – yesterday
– He has given up 4 runs twice
– He has given up 2 runs five times
– He has given up 1 run 16 times
– He has given up 0 runs 77 times
So you were in practically no danger he was going to come in later and give up 6 runs. I don’t know why they didn’t start James if they were going to use him anyways – they knew from the day before that he was OK starting the game. Rondon has started one game in 397 career appearances – yesterday. –
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Interesting article on MSN Sports. It predicts Trevor Bauer to Houston for Kyle Tucker and Josh James.
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Think it might be possible to win a game tonight?
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https://houston.sportsmap.com/the-time-is-now-for-astros-to-get-in-the-arms-race-and-get-thier-man
I haven’t read this yet but it bears consideration anyway
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The writer is correct that it would be better to complete a trade earlier but with so many teams in the hunt for pitching it is a seller’s market and they probably think they will get more by waiting. At some point some of the buyers will get what they want and there will be less competition and more motivation for the sellers to agree.
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What he [Brad Ausmus] said: Ramirez just missed.
What he meant: I told him specifically to hit Marisnick square in the face. Dang it, he missed by about six inches!
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Robbie Ray pitches against the arlington little league tonight.
I’ll watch him pitch and get an idea what Luhnow sees in him.
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He’s a solid lefty who was very good in 2017, was good in 2018 but missed significant time and has been good this year. Last year and this year he has been very good on strikeouts – around 12 per 9 IP/ bad on walks – between 4.5 and 5 per 9 IP and pretty high in HRs – around 1.4 per 9 IP.
He’s likely to give you an ERA in the upper 3’s.
He is owed less than $3 million for the remainder of this year and then goes to arbitration for one year – probably looking at something in the $9-10 million range.
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Dan….who do you think is the best lefty be ween Robbie Ray, or Matt Boyd?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen either one, but my memory ain’t what it used to be!
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Ray has been a better pitcher over the years than Boyd. They are less than a year apart in age. Ray looks to me like he is more likely to drive you crazy with the walks, but is getting similar results to Boyd this season (both around 3.8 and 3.9 ERA). Boyd has much better control (less than 2 per 9 IP)
Boyd is going to get much more in return because he is probably costing about a $1 million for the balance of this season and is under club control for the next three, while Ray is only under control next season.
Ray would be the safer choice – with Boyd it comes down to whether he is this much improved (striking out 12 per game after normally coming in around 8 in previous season) or is it one-off. This may well come down to what the nerds think they can do when they get their hands on these guys.
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Matt Boyd may not be the hottest pitcher but his personal qualities are outstanding, if I’m thinking of the right guy.
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No Ramirez Angels pitcher last night was suspended 3 games today and Brad Ausmus got a one game suspension. Marisnick was trying to defuse the situation last night……he’s a really good guy.
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Good! Throwing at his head was necessary to get the point across.
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Not necessary 😔
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Big start to the game – 3-0 – after an Altuve single, Bregman RBI double that almost left the park and Brantley no doubter.
By the way there is this guy behind home plate just to the left of the giant Angel A – wears dark clothes and has grey hair and facial hair. Sometimes he looks so intensely at the camera – I swear he’s trying to get discovered for some movie or something – Creeps me out for some reason
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I see him. Weird!
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With the dark clothes with a dark background sometimes it looks like his head is floating there
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Going into the 4th Astros 6….Angels 0. It sure felt good to type that!! We needed this sooo dang bad! The A’S just CREAMED the M’s, today…..and the arlington little league is currently getting beat 18-4!! I’m staying up for this game!!
Anyone else gonna keep me company?!!
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I’ll be around for another 1/2 hour but I have work tomorrow Becky.
It is nice to start the game with good hitting and good pitching!!
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Armenteros will start Sunday – not sure who starts Saturday
Brantley limping after pitched ball bounces into his knee
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Becky, 11-0 in 5th has to be make you feel good
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I am *THRILLED* to see them playing so well! Hinch had a closed door meeting after last night’s game. General subjects were pulling your own weight and addressed the errors. Every once in a while the dad has to get his kids attention.
Go to bed Dan….see you tomorrow!
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Final score Astros 11…Angels 2.
Cole struck out 10 on his 110 pitch tonight for his 10th win this year! We needed Cole to put this team on his back tonight, the guys rewarded him with 11 runs!
AND *N O* ERRORS!
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I obviously am a fair weather fan. Watched until Astros got up 6 runs. Decided that if they lost, I did to want to see it. Also, I didn’t have my afternoon nap. I think “lack of nap” was the real reason.
It is a different team when Altuve hits. Let’s hope Correa comes back and is on fire.
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Astros always have some interesting stats. Right now, they are the only team in MLB that has not issued a single intentional base on balls this year. Obviously they try not to bunt and give away an out, nor walk anyone and give away a base.
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Nice! Let’s keep it going.
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11 runs on 12 hits. Now that’s what I’m talking about.
Great job!
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That had to be a weird game in Corpus Christi last night. The Hooks won 4-0 and had four hits. All of their runs scored on errors and none of them were earned. The top 4 batters in the Hooks lineup were a combined 0 for 16.
But, Enoli Paredes and Willie Collado pitched the shutout.
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This guy gets it! https://sports.yahoo.com/astros-jake-marisnick-doesnt-play-villain-role-well-because-he-isnt-the-bad-guy-045553020.html
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Yeah.
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Correa had 3 hits for Round Rock last night, as the Express came back from a 7-0 deficit and won 11-8.
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A new post should be up this afternoon
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