Even with a bit of a bobble at the end of the month, the Astros had a strong performance in June, going 19-9 and outscoring the opposition 170-100.
In June, the Astros led the majors in runs scored (170), hits (281- more than 10 per game), BA (.296), OBP (.378), SLG (.488), and OPS (.867). The pitching was also solid in June, coming in with a second-best in the AL ERA (3.60) and WHIP (1.18), though the fans know that was more due to starters than relievers.
So, how about giving out those always cherished ChipalattAwards for the month?
Starting Pitcher of the Month. Framber Valdez. The rotation, as a whole, was strong for the month, but Framber was the best, going 4-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 0.990 WHIP. He is taking over that ace mantle that he grabbed in the late season and playoffs last season.
Runner-up. Jake Odorizzi. Coming off his earlier injury, Jake has been good to very good. In June, he was excellent, going 2-1 in 5 games with a 2.45 ERA and a great 0.773 WHIP. His slash against was .149 BA/ .210 OBP/ .467 OPS, which were the best numbers from the starters.
Note – Everyone who started for the Astros in June was good or better, including Zack Greinke, Lance McCullers, Jose Urquidy and Luis Garcia.
Last Month – Starting Pitcher of the Month – Jose Urquidy / Runner up – Luis Garcia
Positional Player of the Month. Carlos Correa. It’s tough to not pick Michael Brantley, who batted over .400 for the month, but Correa was the most impactful Astro in June. Carlos had a top-notch slash in June (.330 BA/.451 OBP/ 1.089 OPS) paired up with 23 runs scored, 7 doubles, 7 homers, 22 RBIs and his usual excellent play in the field.
Runner-up. Michael Brantley. Brantley was terrific in June with a .410 BA/ .456 OBP/ 1.022 OPS slash. His 14 runs scored, 8 doubles, 1 home run and 15 RBIs were a good step behind Correa in effectiveness, but I’m sure glad we have this guy on our side.
Note – There were a lot of great numbers in June – look at these slashes – Kyle Tucker (.338/.373/ .893), Yuli Gurriel (.366/.429/ .934), Jose Altuve (except for a .257 BA, but had .395 OBP/ .980 OPS), Yordan Alvarez (.280/.395/.905) and Myles Straw (.330/.413/.845).
Last Month – Positional Player of the Month – Kyle Tucker / Runner-up – Jose Altuve
Relief Pitcher of the Month. Ryan Pressly. Maybe we should retire this award as no one in the bullpen is challenging him for it. Pressly, in nine games, went 2-0 with 5 saves, a 0.00 ERA (yes, not a run this month), a 0.556 WHIP and an absolutely ridiculous slash against by the league of .129 BA/ .156 OBP/ .285 OPS. Going the opposite way of his bullpen compadres, he was extremely stingy, giving up only one walk in 9 innings.
Runner-up. Blake Taylor. Taylor came back from the IL and after a few early struggles has settled in to be one of the more dependable choices in a bullpen where that is not that hard to do. He appeared in 11 games in June, putting up a 1.69 ERA and 1.125 WHIP. He did lose a couple games along the way, but he showed some toughness too.
Last Month – Relief Pitcher of the Month – Pressly / Runner-up – Kent Emanuel
Biggest Surprise (Positive). Abraham Toro. After not showing much at the plate in a couple other shots at the bigs, Toro looked a whole lot better this time around as he hit .297 BA/.372 OBP/ .832 OPS with 6 runs scored, two HRs and 13 RBIs in only 37 ABs. His offensive performance took some of the sting out of the loss of Alex Bregman to injury.
Runner-up. Myles Straw. After looking lost and useless at the plate the first couple months of the season, Straw has turned it around, showing a good eye at the plate and returning to the on-base machine he has shown at other times in his career with his slash of (.330 BA/.413 OBP/.845 OPS).
Last Month – Biggest Surprise – Chas McCormick / Runner-up – Tie – Jake Odorizzi, Framber Valdez, and Jose Urquidy
Biggest Disappointment. Ryne Stanek. Hate to give it to him again, but his results are not matching the big-time arm he has. In June, he pitched in 11 games with a 6.97 ERA and a 1.548 WHIP. He should be better than this.
Runner-up. None given this month
Last Month – Most Disappointing – Ryne Stanek / Runners-up (tied) – Andre Scrubb, Enoli Paredes and Brooks Raley
The “Maybe This Was a Sign of Problems” Award. Alex Bregman – Bregman, who has been excellent at walking as much or more than striking out – was sitting at an uncharacteristic three walks and 14 Ks in June when he went on the IL. Just wondering how much his leg was bothering him before finally packing it in for a while.
The “Root of the Problem” Award. Enoli Paredes. In June, Enoli had an absolutely excellent .091 BA against him. However, his on-base percentage against was an absolutely abysmal .444 OBP. In 3.1 innings, he gave up 1 hit, but 6 walks and 1 hit by pitch. And that is why Paredes is not in the Astros bullpen right now.
As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any you want to award?
CHIPALATTA 
I’d like to add to the awards by thanking the Astros coaching staff and training crew for doing a great job under some tough challenges in the month of June. They have done a great job keeping the Astros winning despite all the injuries and games missed by the players.
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Sunday, Brooks Raley became the first pitcher in MLB history to induce a double play on the first pitch of an inning, according to Brian McTaggart.
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I know I had never seen that play before. What impressed me was that there was no hesitation and the throw was perfect. And I had little expectation of a good outcome in that 10th inning. So that made it pretty special.
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Putting a runner on second in extra innings is second only to the DH as the most anti-baseball rule change. They are both devastating.
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100%.
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https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/07/astros-outright-francis-martes.html
The Astros opened up a spot on the 40-man and Martes passed unclaimed through waivers. He is 25 years old.
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Yordan is back.
Machete is back.
Garza is sent down.
Solomon is sent down.
Stubbs is sent down.
There is one spot open on the active roster.
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Well you activated two position players and sent down 3 pitchers? There must be a pitcher on the way. Josh James? Joe Smith? Bryan Abreu? All doing rehab.
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I agree with the awards except for Biggest Disappointment, I would say losing Kent Emanuel for the rest of the year due to injury; especially when it looked like he could be another dependable reliever other than Pressly.
Regarding that topic, here is an interesting read on possible bullpen trade targets:
https://apollohou.com/2021/07/02/arms-race-the-astros-championship-puzzle-and-deadline-reliever-fits/
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Yeah I guess for me Disappointment meant disappointing performance, but yes the loss of Emanuel after all he went through to get up here and the good arm he showed when he made it was disappointing to us all.
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Thanks for the link on relievers. I had mentioned Rodriguez before, but the other guys have attractive points too.
A lot of this comes down to how much they think they want to hold on to pitching prospects. Also the 40 man logjam is going to be an interesting thing to watch.
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I know nothing about these guys listed. However, as we move down the list, I think we already have a couple or so equal to them. So unless we are using “a change of scenery” as the reason, there is no improvement that I see. However, Richard Rodriguez seems interesting. As stated, I know nothing about him but a guy that 6-4 and 220, who allows people to call him “Perro Flaco” (Skinny Dog) gets my vote.
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Historically the Astros have done what it takes to make the club better for a deep run into the post season. We don’t really have any holes in our roster with the exception of the pen. I think Crane will want Click to fix that regardless of how he has to do it. We might see a couple of surprises over the next few weeks.
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Of the relievers I have seen, Dillon Tate and Tyler Wells (Orioles) would be of interest. Kyle Zimmer (KC) may be a one year wonder but cheap.
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Yeah, Dillon Tate intrigues me.
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Oh, and my vote for the Surprise of the Month has to be that Robel Garcia is still on a major league roster.
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-The Giants, Dodgers and Padres all lost on Monday. Not sure how many times that has happened this season.
-The 3rd place Padres have a better record than the 1st place Mets.
-In their last 10 games the Brewers are 8-2, the Reds are 7-3 and the 3rd place Cubs are 0-10.
-A little more than halfway through the season, the Orioles trail the Red Sox
by 26 games. By the time they trade off their players they are probably going to be a bad team. TeeHee. They still beat the snot out of us.
-Seattle is 45-40. With their -42 run differential, their expected record is 38-47. Baseball is weird!
-The Twins have climbed out of last place. They lead KC by a half game.
-4th place Colorado leads 5th place Arizona by 14.5 games.
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Yeah and the Astros with their +137 run differential should be 55-30 instead of 52-33.
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Thinking further on the question of who might take that open roster spot from the injured on rehab….here is my ranking….
1) Joe Smith – 2 games at Sugar Land – 2 scoreless innings, 0 hits, o walks , 3 Ks
2) Josh James – 2 games at Fayetteville – 1 at Sugar land – 3 scoreless innings with 3 hits, 3 walks, and 3 Ks
2A) Bryan Abreu – 4 games at Sugar Land – 4.1 Innings, 1 hit, 1 BB, 1 run, 6 Ks (very positive to see only 1 walk in 4.1 innings)
4) Austin Pruitt – 2 games at Fayetteville – 3 games at Sugarland – 5.2 IP – 8 hits, 2 walks, 6 ER, 2 Ks
I never know what to think with this front office. Maybe they left the spot open because a trade is happening? I would think they bring Smith up because of his successful history (ignore earlier this year). Abreu and James are intriguing. Pruitt may never see the light of day.
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I think it will be Smith, but I want it to be Abreu.
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Looking at tonight’s game….
– Chris Bassitt, the A’s starter tonight, lost to the Astros in the opener this season giving up 3 runs in 5.1 innings. He lost his second start, but has won 9 straight decisions since then. In his last 15 starts, he is 9-0 and the A’s are 13-2. In those starts he has a 2.74 ERA and a WHIP under 1. He is their ace.
– Since coming off the IL, Framber Valdez has started 7 games. He is 5-1 and the team is 5-2 in his starts. In six of his starts he has given up 1 or 2 runs, in the 7th start he gave up 3 runs. His ERA is 2.18 and he has a 1.037 WHIP – he is the Astros ace.
– We know Yordan has been activated – assume he is in the lineup. No word yet on Tucker or Brantley. It would be nice to have those guys tonight (though only Brantley has had solid success against Bassitt from those 3).
– Baseball is weird as OP stated. The Astros were last home for a 3 game sweep on a 3 game homestand by the Orioles, they then go to Cleveland for a 4 games and sweep those and then come back home. Not so sweet home sweet home?
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Tucker and Brantley both in the lineup tonight. Uncleknuckle will be there too.
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I’ve always wanted to sit in the first row of the Crawford Boxes. Tonight I’ve splurged.
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What are you wearing Dave B? We can watch for you as the Astros bloop home run after home run into the first row.
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Dan, I’ll be incognito, but my goal tonight is to catch two Astro dingers and make it on Sports Center. So if you see an older guy laying out across someone’s lap, that might be me. It is section 103 though, so that narrows things a bit.
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Per the MMP seating chart – section 103 is the section closest to the FOWL pole on the fair side of it.
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Abreu off the IL and active for tonight’s game. There you go, Dan.
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Not Valdez’S night tonight. WAAY too many walks…and and all out ambush by the A’s. 6-3 top of the 5th. Bielak ready in the bullpen. Tough night for sure.
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TIE GAME!!! ALVERAZ WITH A 3 RUN HOMERUN! !
Dave is watching an AWESOME game!!!
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Well I jinxed the two aces tonight.
Huge night for new papa Alvarez!
Nice to see Abreu pitching well.
Dave B must be having fun up in the Crawford Boxes tonight.
Keep going boys!!
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Great game to watch. Everyone seemed to contribute something. Interesting how A’s went from hitting everything to hitting nothing. Someone once said that baseball is weird. I don’t remember who?
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Biggest comeback win of the year – good job Astros
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Great comeback win tonight. I was watching the Asheville Tourists lose to Greensboro tonight on a walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Pitching was pretty mundane and there were a couple of bright spots. CJ Stubbs threw out 3 batters on an attempted stolen base but committed one error by throwing the ball into center field. Zach Bierman went 2 for 4 with a home run in the 9th to tie the game. Freudis Nova was unimpressive at the plate and committed an error. Probably see at least one more game this week and maybe two.
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An excellent night at the ballpark. A knowledgeable crowd of Astro fans in the Crawford Boxes. Great spot to watch a game, especially when you can follow the flight of Yordan shots all the way to landing. So much fun coming back against the A’s ace. Seemed like he was getting a lot of low strike calls, but my eyes are not so good these days. The Astros battled him though, plenty of long counts. Is Framber hampered by grip problems suddenly? He did fight his way through 5 innings though. Huge six outs by Abreu. Great throw again by Correa. Big hits by a couple of the new guys. We’ve got a pretty scary club and the A’s were shell shocked. Dan, I was 14 seats in from the pole. 103 is a great location for expensive St. Arnold beers too. Just across the concourse.
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Astros batters have more hits than any team in the AL.
Astros pitchers have allowed fewer hits than any team in the AL.
Astros fielders have committed fewer errors than any team in the AL.
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The Baltimore Orioles have played 85 games and 71 of them have been against above .500 teams.
The New York Mets have played 81 games and 16 of them have been against above .500 teams.
The Milwaukee Brewers have played 86 games and 21 of them have been against above .500 teams.
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At some point in time, the schedules need to be re-balanced. It’s nice to have shorter flights. But the Met’s and Brewers have no business in first place. The game had more integrity at one time. Today it has less and less. But at the end of the day, our guys are prepared to play and beat anyone. So the scheduling, computer driven or otherwise, has simply made our club better.
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The Astros are 40 and 19 against .500 plus clubs. No other team is even close to those numbers.
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Same lineup order as last night, but Alvarez is the DH and Brantley is in LF.
Joe Smith back off the IL and becomes reliever #9, as the Astros send Taylor Jones to Sugarland and the team is home for the next five games plus the AS break. Sugarland plays at home until they fly to Tacoma next week, so the Astros will be covered for players until then.
I believe they want nine relievers for flexibility against the A’s and Yankees.
They will probably add a position player and subtract a reliever at the end of the break.
If they need changes midstream, the Skeeters are 25 miles away.
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That 25 mile trip is 3 days in a covered wagon but only 2 days if they use the Southwest Freeway and a car or van.
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Interesting splits for Jose Siri for the year, last 7 days, last 28 days, and last 90 days.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=siri–000jos&type=bgl&year=2021
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Good win again for the Astros – two rockets by Altuve and Tucker, good pitching by everyone but Javier – 5-1/2 games up!!
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Another come from behind win for the guys tonight. Good pitching when needed. Garcia pitched well enough to win and the bull pen held on when things got dicey. Shame he didn’t get the win. Altuve with the big blast and Tucker with the HR to win it. Team is playing some solid baseball right now and all are contributing. Kudos to Straw who is now hitting .273 and Toro who is a more than decent fill in for Bregman. Never would have thought it but I’ll take it any day. Don’t have to always score 10 runs but nice to score enough for a “W”. Widen that gap between us and the rest of the division.
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I gotta admit I didn’t think the guys had a chance against Manea, lefty’S have been their weakness. I had to turn off my radio when Javier had the bases loaded and no outs. Great win, and I hope McCullers can seal the series tomorrow!
5 1/2 game lead is delicious!
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Jut a thought here. I seem to remember that Greinke wanted to get some plate appearances this year along with an opportunity for a stolen base. As we have some games with the Western Division of the National league (Padres, Dodgers , and Giants) I would hope that Dusty will set up the pitching so Greinke gets the opportunity to do so.
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– Last night’s dagger was in the hands of Kyle Tucker.
– Since the off-day, the bullpen has looked more reliable. Today’s early game will be a test for them.
– Wednesday’s meeting about Athletic’s future home did not go well.
– Two come-from-behind wins by the Astros to begin this series brings us to a McCullers-Montas matchup.
– The Yankees travelled to Seattle and have won the first two games there. Then the M’s play the Angels and the Yankees come here.
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It happened in July, not June, but the ‘I’m just Not Really Into You’ Award goes to Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve, who turned down an invitation to be reserves at the 2021 relocated All-Star Game. Well done, fellas. We feel you!
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Just something to look for in this offseason besides the looming CBA talks:
The Yankees have around $140 million in luxury tax commitments for 2022 and that does not include any of their 18(that’s right, eighteen!) arbitration eligible players.
In contrast, the Astros have $117 million in luxury tax commitments and five arbitration eligible players. You can add $18 million to their payroll, because I’m pretty sure they are gonna retain Gurriel and Pressly options.
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I think this is a great move:
https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/jose-altuve-carlos-correa-to-skip-2021-asg
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I think that’s great.
Although I’m kicking myself in the ass right now because I’m on my way to a poorly scheduled doctors appointment while my brothers are on their way to the ballpark. I’m just a knucklehead.
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A few opportunities but no bananas. After the 1st a good outing from LMJ. Montas was just about unhittable. Lot’s of great locations for the 1st called strikes and then we flailed away at the split finger. Two of three is OK though.
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