It feels like a season ago, but a couple months ago at the end of May, the Astros were in a bit of a pickle. They had just placed SS Carlos Correa on the IL where he joined fellow starters and All Stars Jose Altuve and George Springer on the list. Oh, and super-sub Aledmys Diaz was on the list already as was backup catcher Max Stassi and starting pitcher Collin McHugh. They had struggled and would continue to struggle with that 5th spot in the rotation and things got dicier when the team had to put 4th starter on the IL at the end of June.
Somehow the team managed a winning record in June (15-12) and then as the wounded began to return they did even better in July (16-8). Even with all that, the shape of their pitching rotation “Verlander, Cole and Miley and two days of your manager being Wily” scared the heck out of the Astros’ fandom. The trade pickups of Zack Greinke, Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini and Martin Maldonado has given the team a super boost that mirrors the Verlander pickup in 2017.
The changes since the beginning of May are pretty amazing:
- Correa, Altuve, Springer, Diaz and Stassi all come off of the IL. That meant all those at bats that went to Jack Mayfield, Derek Fisher, Myles Straw and Garret Stubbs came to and end.
- More importantly the musical chairs in the infield with Yuli Gurriel playing 3rd, Alex Bregman playing SS (or sometimes Mayfield or Straw) and Tyler White playing 1B ended also. The defense has tightened up quite a bit with folks in their rightful spots.
- Wunderkind Yordan Alvarez owns the DH spot that Tyler White could not even rent in 2019. In 80 more at bats, White had 8 less runs scored, 10 less HRs and 20 less RBIs. Alvarez’s .340 BA/ .422 OBP/ 1.115 OPS slash has been amazing in its consistency and in its quality. His 41 RBIs in 41 games is ROY great.
- Maldonado takes over the backup catcher spot from Stassi. Martin is not a great hitter, but in 3 games he already managed to match Stassi (in 31 games) with 4 runs scored and 1 homer. Oh and he caught 3 games that the Astros won and where the opponents scored 3 total runs and of course the no-hitter on Saturday.
- The 4th and 5th spot in the rotation, which have been a hodge podge of Framber Valdez, Corbin Martin, Jose Urquidy, Rogelio Armenteros, Josh James and the one start disaster that was Hector Rondon is now the hopefully rejuvenated Aaron Sanchez and All-World Zack Greinke. The Astros starting depth goes from questionable to formidable.
- Joe Biagini and his high spin rate subs in for Urquidy in the current bullpen adding to the humor rate and hopefully the performance rate.
- They still expect the return of Ryan Pressly, Josh James and Brad Peacock between now and the end of the year.
The bottom line is that the Astros since the end of May have added in (or added back) 6 former All-Stars to a roster that was pretty strong before the additions. They have to prove it all on the field, but they have a team that can be as tough as any in the majors going forward.
CHIPALATTA 
Look at you, Dan, with fresh ideas while others cower on a hot Monday.
The situation reminds me of when Peacock and Fiers took charge in early summer of 2017, when the team was hurt badly by injuries to its pitching staff.
Guys really stepped up and then Luhnow went out and got some reinforcements.
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The team has been ‘good’ all along, but is sure looks better – indeed, it even ‘scary good’ – in August. In May and June we had several guys who we really wanted to see succeed, but who just couldn’t get untracked – guys like Tyler White, Tony Kemp, Derek Fisher, Jack Mayfield, Garrett Stubbs, and a veritable parade of AAA pitchers. Many of those guys are no longer in the organization – and those that are still in the organization are out of the mix.
In May, Springer, Altuve, Correa, Diaz, McHugh, Harris, and Smith were all on the IL. Yuli was struggling. Bregs was feeling the pressure, and swinging for the fences. Stassi was worse than useless, and Chirinos was having to catch so much that he was wearing down. And we were still good enough to win more than we lost. In fact, at our worst and weakest, we somehow still managed to take charge of the division.
Getting the IL guys back helped immensely. The promotion of Yordan Alvarez was huge. And then came Jeff Luhnow, the master of the trade deadline! Now? Scary good – even on our worst day.
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The Rockies represent the first real ‘test’ for our ‘scary good’ team.
Our new hero ‘Lanky Greinke’s’ first start in orange and blue will come against a team who trots out four regulars who are hitting over .300 – [Blackmon, .324; Murphy, .300; Dahl [on IL] .302, and Arenado .305]. They also have Trevor Story, who is hitting .283. Story, Arenado, and Blackmon all have over 20 HRs. And eight of their starters have OBPs over .320. [I know, it’s the Mountain air, and the Coors Field expanse; STILL!]
Hopefully, Zack G.’s Houston debut will turn out at least half as well as that of his new teammate Aaron Sanchez. But admittedly, Mr. Sanchez set a pretty high bar!
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But nice we get’em at sea level, Mr. Bill. The Rockies team OPS is .894 at home but .669 on the road!
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If you want to read what the “Boston Spit” writes, here is an example of them saying how lacking Cora is now. It has been said One day in the penthouse and the next day in the outhouse.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/08/04/sullivan/movzLI4WTCUw7wFr3QXf0J/story.html
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ac45 – Managers look great when the athletes are producing and look bad when the athletes are stinking up the joint.
AJ Hinch looked like a loser when his D’Backs were losers and looks like a Mensa scholar when his Astros are tearing it up.
It was pretty evident that the Red Sox bullpen was going to be a problem if it wasn’t shored up coming into the season. Then Eovladi went down and when he came back he is terrible. Cashner came over and he is terrible. Guys like Sale and Price have ERA’s quite a bit over 4.00
The manager is the easy target, but you are only as good as your talent and this year the Red Sox talent is mediocre and so is their record.
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I never believed Cora should have been anointed last year, but at the same time, he’s no miracle worker. It illustrates that Hinch seems to have a better job though. His boss is prepared to get help when he needs it..
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Well, on Saturday night, Nolan Ryan said this team is better than the 2017 one, so I’m guessing he should know. I don’t have a “liker” either so will manually enter that I like the above from OP, Mr. Bill, Mr. Bill, roadthriller and ac45. (By mistake entered ac46, but whoever that is can’t possibly be as astute as ac45.)
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And I like all the likes too, including Sandy’s and sargeh’s and Dan’s and Dan’s column.
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It sure was painful at times having Bregman try and put this team on his and Yuli’S shoulder. Our starters having to be nearly perfect, I sat on pin and needles a lot when those guys were on IL. I was surprised at how well the guys from our AAA team really chipped in to keep these guys winning! Now at least two of the guys from Round Rock that got traded, are now on a major league team playing everyday! Greinke joining the rotation we have a “three headed monster” that should give the yankees pause . Unless something awful happens this 2019 team *IS* better than 2017! And…NO November baseball! GO ‘STROS⚾
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So far, Tyler White is not doing any better in LA than he did in Houston. He is 1-12 since becoming a Blues Brother. His BA in a Dodger uni so far is .083, and his OBP is a dismal .267. I love Tyler, and wish him nothing but the best. But man, he has had a tough year.
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You wonder if the Dodgers traded for him to see if they can learn anything about the Astros prior to a potential World Series rematch
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Makes more sense than his hitting ability but he was a pretty decent fielder according to the stats.
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speaking of upward arc. korey lee has jumped to #4 on the astros top 30 prospect list.
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That’s because he’s a #1 pick. He gets the high ranking. I hope he fulfills their confidence.
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Former Astros prospect, 11th round pick Patrick Sandoval, starts on the mound in his MLB debut for the Angels tonight.
The Astros know how to draft.
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Went to the website for the local (ha) newspaper and I noticed on the Astros section it no longer displays the standings, stats, and box scores. It’s 2019, no way am I buying a newspaper subscription just to see something we can see for free on a real site.
No skin off my chest…every time I went to their site a video would play and completely slow down my browser,so they can have their little site that looks like it was last updated in 2007
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Houston will be without a daily newspaper pretty soon. Why bother? Even the website is terrible.
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One can argue we’ve been without a newspaper for years!
I normally get nostalgic and wistful when time passes by and something once useful goes by the wayside, but not in this case. It’s time to put it out to pasture
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OP….that young man making his debut tonight with the Angels did pretty good!
He pitched 5+ innings gave up 2 runs! The guy who followed him was a train wreck!
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Becky, at the last minute they decided to use an opener for Sandoval and the opener gave up 5 runs in the 1st inning.
Oakland got beat tonight by the Cubs.
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Did anyone else see – Villar, J hit for the cycle last night. Good for him.
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Simon, he’s an excellent athlete. Just never seemed to be able to channel the energy consistently.
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Please don’t tell Becky, but he has a fistful of errors again this year. In 2019, the lowest Astro is Altuve at 0.960 fieding percent and 8 errors in 245 chances. Villar 17 errors in 438 chances and .961. No Astro has double digits in errors.
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The Astros have played 113 games. Chirinos has played in 85 (3 as DH) and El Machete has played 81 games. I was wondering why Stubbs was called up. So it appears both may need time off later in the season.
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Yes!
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Stubbs was called up because Chirinos has a sore shoulder. That is why Martin M caught those games.
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I saw that but Chirinos caught the last game. Maybe Stubbs stays until they think they need another pitcher. This goes back a couple weeks wondering who was the emergency catcher. With 12 pitchers and 13 position players, we may see him gone again with 3 weeks until September 1st.
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It seems the players are pumped about tonight’s game. Apparently Bregman was ready to go on Sunday, tempted to stay over at the park Monday and wait. Smile. I am truly looking forward to tonight to see what ZG does. This is the wildest mix of personalities this observer can recall. The potential chemistry intrigues me, all under the mystery man himself, AJ.
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Yes, we all remember what a boost it was when Verlander came aboard 2 years ago, and this Greinke deal seems to have created the same kind of juice. It seems like the “last minuteness” of those deals is a real booster too. All we need now is the return of The Panda!
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Prolly everybody here knows, but I didn’t, that was Maldonado’s first no-hitter. So that was a once-in-a-lifetime confluence of events. And the guys gave him a lot of credit. That he would be brought back now, when even Hinch thought he was lost forever, to me is some kind of sign. And batteries are all about signs. 🙂
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excellent comment diane! i did not know that was his first no no. “and batteries are all about signs”. classic.
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Apparently in 2010 ZG requested that the Royals trade him, saying he was not motivated to play for a rebuilding team. Let’s see if we can supply a little incentive for the man.
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The ascension of this tm continues with the SR greatly improved from 3 peas in a pod into 1-4 gems & a diamond in the rough at the #5 spot. The BP has been stretched to include both strength & meaningful rest for the backend guys. The SR & BP guys should not go into postseason worn out barring inj.
This vaulted lineup should feature a different hero nightly. And Dan, that upward arc you so eloquently wrote about will transcend moving forward. GS MVP run was marred by inj (we know his Hydesque abilities come postseason). AB, while very good, will get gooder (LOL). Altuve stormed back doing that familiar ET refrain, “He’s Backkk!). Air Yordan has already help make pitchers loathe this lineup. Yuli’s lightening in a bottle should be shared with Reddick, who’s stats have trended south lately. My point being is this teams upward arc has room to propagate into something more remarkable over time, including the postseason.
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I remember when Verlander came here, Altuve was talking to the media and he said “I just really love Justin Verlander”. Verlander came to the park the next day and gave Altuve a shirt with that on it, and had one made for himself saying “I just really love Altuve”! I wonder if Altuve will say that to Zack Greinke after his start tonight! You can bet if Zack wins this game tonight the T.V. media will be asking Altuve what he thinks! Ya gotta pass the Altuve test!
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The M’s Tim Beckhan got popped for 80 games for PED’s.
You just can’t fix stupid.
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It’s SRO for tonight.
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has anyone seen an update on strom’s condition? this is a big deal, we need him to continue to help sanchez (and all the other pitchers)
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Strom isn’t by himself. He has an assistant that is learning Strom’s methods and the Astros have Verlander, Cole, Miley and LMJ in that clubhouse to help Greinke and the newbies prepare.
Also, there is Chirinos, Maldonado, and Hinch.
These are the Good Hands People.
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Charlie Pallilo: “This Astros team is stacked like Pamela Anderson in the 90’s”.
EPIC
https://houston.sportsmap.com/4-exciting-scenarios-for-the-astros-stretch-run
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I would be happy if Charlie was on an AM station for the drive home. He is the only one that actually talks baseball.
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Deuce-0. Give Marquez credit. He turned around and looked.
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Sloppy defensive and a couple of untimely walks finally caught up to us. Time to beat up on their pen and shut them down at the same time.
I think Greinke will say he was not very good tonight. Kind of reminded me of a righty Keuchel.
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Greinke doesn’t look that sharp tonight.
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I know that no one asked me, but you can shove two of those Earned Runs onto the Shift nerds account.
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Let’s see – 3 unearned runs – 2 earned runs due to the shift – Greinke pitched a shut out??
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I wonder if he was a bit over pumped – when his control was off it was way off
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The changed the scoring to all runs are earned.
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Please Lord don’t let our bullpen lose this game for Greinke! Anytime I see Rondon in to pitch I start panicking.
They changed the error to a hit, and gave Zack 5 earned runs. I’m sure Greinke was pretty nervous tonight…..I’m just glad our guys could give him some runs!
The A’S are beating the pants off the Cubs. Good thing we will stay 9 games in front of them!
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Collin’s timing is all off – his arm was lagging behind his body – then he hurried up and pulls it across
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Collin roughed it out and we win!
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Lousy pitching by all 4 pitchers tonight. Constantly falling behind and then trying to nibble against a team of good hitters.
Who in the world decides to throw a 66 MPH pitch to the weakest hitter in their lineup?
Thank goodness for Brantley, Correa and Gurriel. They saved the day with their bats.
I guess winning when you don’t play well is the sign of a good team.
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A win is a win…..but McHugh made me turn off my radio until it was over.
Update on Strom….feeling better and will be back somewhere on the up coming 10 game trip. Hinch said when he went to see him in the hospital, Strom was going over the NL leaders…so I guess he is getting better!
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Great post Becky.
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My feeling is the same as Becky’s. Greinke had to be nervous last night, especially since he has made it clear he is not a spotlight seeker. What will be interesting is what kind of change and improvement (hope) we will see after he has settled down, become more familiar with staff (Chirinos and he have never even met before), and the Strom and Stromlings have had input.
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Greinke will provide an interesting challenge for Strom and his team. His skill-set is very different from that of Verlander, Cole, Sanchez, or even McHugh. His soft-tossing approach requires a whole lot of two things: [1] precision in location, and [2] more strategic planning to keep hitters guessing. Watching last night, my first thought was ‘how in the world has this guy been so successful for so long, when he just keeps lobbing softballs in the hitting zone?’
I also wonder if, when soft-tossing Zack is pitching, all bets are off in regard to our shifts. Those shifts are designed to work with hard-throwers, not lobbers.
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Wondered that too, Mr. Bill. Is he a “finesse” pitcher or a “fine mess” pitcher?
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Good points, Mr. B.
Dallas Keuchel redux? Do you think Greinke is as dependent on the ump’s strike zone as DK seemed to be?
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Obvious that ZG’s control was off last night from what I saw. Didn’t see the innings where the scoring took place but did watch the 1st few innings and he looked like he was missing something. I don’t mind the soft tossing if he can keep the hitters off balance. I suspect that is what has made him successful in these last few years. As with any pitcher, if you can’t get your breaking stuff over the hitters will just sit and wait for the fastball. Strom to the rescue!
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Good to see the Zack Greinke Astro debut done and over with. He’ll help this club. We got another win last night. A lot of distraction though. Time to get settled back in and focused on the stretch run. And let’s not forget about our guy Wade Miley. He’s still very relevant too.
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I saw a right handed Wade Miley in Greinke with fewer awards and fanfare. He appears to be a nibbler. And was slightly off with his control. Both of these guys can NOT live in the high zone like JV and Cole.
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One of the Rockies guys said it was always an adventure facing Greinke.
He said Greinke plays chess while he’s on the mound!!It appears we have another cerebral pitcher in the rotation! Reminds me of how Charlie used to pitch! AND….*I LOVE THAT*!
Gotta tell you what he said after last nights game….
“Sure was noisy in her”, and he got bored last night in between innings, nothing to do but sit there! YEP!! I REALLY like this guy!
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Here…not her.
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The front office is yet to call me, but when they do – I will tell them to keep Grienke, Sanchez, and Biagini for a while and leave Whathisname1, Whatshisname2, and Whatshisname3 in the minors for a while.
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Didn’t realize they had an early game today. I take it GS was given off today, not hurt or anything.
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Well, thanks to OldSchool, just found a score of 10-2 Astros in the fifth?
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Yuli is absolutely UNREAL! On fire does not describe him right now.
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Yes, well, dear Zanuda, send an update. No clue here at work.
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What a slacker. Hits a 3 run homer and then he only gets a 3 run double. Before you know it he will be hitting RBI singles and what good is that?
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Looks like “trade bait” to me if he can only hit singles. (yes I’m kidding)
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I’d like to thank Puma for explaining why batters swing at some of the ridiculous pitches, like CC just did, they swing at. His analysis these past two days, while lengthy at times, helped explain why a hitter would swing at a pitch 2 ft or more off the plate. CC & Diaz were in full swing mode, looking horrible swinging.
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Well, now I’m curious. Why does a hitter swing at a pitch 2 feet off the plate?
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Once again, it seems like the majority of the team voted to go on a ‘let’s everybody see who can look worse striking out spree’. Six outs in a row have now come by strike-out. But we have a hold-out!!!! Yuli refused to play that game today- and as a result the score is 10-2 Astros.
My message for the rest of the team? Be like Yuli!
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True that Bill. Maldi has been sitting on the soft stuff mostly, trying to take his walks and just did. It drives me nuts watching the whole tm whiffing like they did the other day when pitchers like the “Hitman” Milone carve them up with all that soft stuff outside the zone.
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The good news is that it seems to come and go in waves – kind of like nausea!
If I were a scout for the Yankees, Rays, Twins, Indians, or any league leader in the NL, however, I would sure be taking note each time another team lucks into the discovery of another color of our offense’s ‘Kryptonite’.
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Well I just found out we had a game today! The cool thing is that we’ve got so many different guys that can take turns being Yuli for a day.
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Dan……message me please.
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Becky – sent you an email
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75-40 -best record at the 115 game mark in team history.
Day off tomorrow, then the ‘Stros take their show on the road for 10 straight. They have 3 games in Baltimore, followed by 3 in South Chicago; then they finish up the trip with an important 4-spot out in Oakland.
After tomorrow, the guys will not get a day off until Monday, August 26. Bullpen arms will be at a premium in this stretch, so it sure would be nice to get Ryan Pressley back before the final game of the series with the Orioles. Unfortunately, they are talking now like it may be well into September before we get another look at Josh James.
Can Yuli keep surging? What will Aaron Sanchez do for en core? Will Zack Greinke be dominant in Chi-town, facing hitters who don’t know him like the back of their hand like the Rockies did? Stay tuned!
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Of the five leaders in ERA in the AL, three are Astros (Verlander, Cole, Miley) and one is an a former Astro (Morton). Jeez.
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A Myles Straw lead-off walk and a bomb off the bat of KTuck gives the Express an early 2-0 lead over El Paso. Can Jose Urquidy – who hasn’t been ‘right’ since his short stint with the big club – hold onto that lead?
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Answer: hahahahahahahahaahaha!!!!!
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Tucker ties it up, 4-4, in the 3rd inning with a sac fly.
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Some thoughts:
* The Astros had an outfield of Diaz in LF, Marisnick in CF and Brantley in RF and won 14-3.
* I said earlier in the season that Gurriel would come around and got pinned down by someone to actually name some numbers. I’m pretty sure the numbers I gave out, that looked good at the time, are not even close to what he’s producing.
* Jose Altuve is now Jose Altuve.
* Carlos Correa is hitting as well as he was before he got hurt.
* Alex Bregman is starting to hit.
* The mixup between Correa and Altuve in the field Tuesday night was the shift doing it’s thing. When you are not in traditional positions you are going to make some non-traditional mistakes.
* The Dodgers have slightly better numbers than the Astros. But ESPN stats says that the Astros have played the hardest schedule of anyone in MLB, so far. Their opponents have the highest winning percentage, .513.
* Baltimore got crushed by the Yankees at home. Now the Astros travel to Baltimore. Then Baltimore travels to Yankee Stadium on Monday. Oh, boy!
* Oakland lost today and is 10 games back.
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Can you imagine if the Astros had played worse teams?
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And speaking of the Orioles, I see that Chris Davis went after his manager last night. Luckily, he can’t hit anything.
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Jose Urquidy gave up 11 runs on 14 hits in 4.2 innings tonight against the best hitting team in the minor leagues, El Paso.
So the Round Rock Express counters that by scoring 20 runs on 23 hits against El Paso’s pitchers.
Final score is 20-12.
Brad Peacock pitched a perfect 7th inning.
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Becky contacted me yesterday and let me know that Chip’s mom had minor surgery and passed away. I contacted Chip and he wanted folks to know. If anyone goes to his facebook page he has the following there about his mom and his dad
“This sweet lady joined my dad today. She was undergoing what was considered a routine procedure in New Orleans this morning.
There are no words that can possibly communicate the blessing these two have been to countless families and to Joey and I. Even this week, she was talking to me about the things she needed to do for people and she assured me that God wasn’t finished with her yet. “I have a mission,” she told me.
Still, she missed Roy Bailey Jr. terribly, as you can easily see from her posts on Facebook. These two were special. And I’m overwhelmed, but honored and privileged to be able to call them mom and dad. Now and forever.
For those of you who have helped her, blessed her, driven her and even taken care of things at the house in recent years, thank you. You sewed into a wonderful lady and God will bless you in turn.”
Chip sent a lovely picture of his mom and dad and for the life of me I can’t post it here. Please keep them all in your prayers.
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