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ChipalattAwards for July

July was a very different, yet successful month for the Astros.

  • In April they outscored the opposition by 31 runs (131-100) but ended up barely above .500 at 14-12.
  • May they outscored the opposition by 26 runs (153-127) but ended up 15-12.
  • June they really kicked it up, outscoring the opposition by 70 runs (170-100) and ended up a strong 19-9.
  • July they only outscored the opposition by 24 runs (123-99) but were much better in close games as they put up an equally strong 16-8 record for the month.

As you will see, the Astros did this without really having dominating performances by anybody.

Here is a quick chart of the Astros’ pitchers in July….

Name W L Saves Innings ERA WHIP BAA OBPA OPSA
Zack Greinke 2 1 0 27 3.67 1.222 .248 .301 .834
Luis Garcia 1 0 0 15.2 3.45 0.894 .190 .230 .557
Lance McCullers Jr./td> 3 1 0 30.1 3.86 1.319 .231 .318 .677
Framber Valdez 3 1 0 33.1 4.05 1.650 .246 .375 .748
Jake Odorizzi 2 2 0 25.1 4.62 1.382 .265 .333 .823
Jose Urquidy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Pressly 0 0 6 12 3.00 1.000 .196 .245 .593
Ryne Stanek 0 1 0 11 2.45 1.273 .186 .304 .489
Bryan Abreu 1 0 0 9.2 3.72 1.345 .225 .295 .620
Brooks Raley 0 0 1 2.1 11.57 2.143 .250 .500 1.500
Cristian Javier 0 0 0 11.1 2.31 1.371 .238 .333 .643
Blake Taylor 2 1 0 11 4.09 1.545 .214 .340 .673
Brandon Bielak 1 0 0 7.2 2.35 0.783 .185 .241 .575
Andre Scrubb 0 0 0 3 0.00 0.333 .100 .100 .200
Joe Smith 0 0 0 6 9.00 1.333 .333 .333 .917

How are the Chipalatta Awards given out with no really outstanding stats for the month? Correctly of course.

Starting Pitcher of the Month. Zack Greinke – This was a tough pick. Garcia had the best looking numbers of the starters but only clocked about ½ the innings. McCullers and Valdez had more wins, but their stats were down a step. Greinke overall had solid numbers with ERA and WHIP. One bothersome stat is the .834 OPS against. Not good and tied to him giving up too many bombs.

Runner-up. Lance McCullers – He had the three wins and the ERA under 4. He had 30 innings and seemed to be healthy, which is maybe more important than any other stats for Lance.

Last Month – Starting Pitcher of the Month – Framber Valdez / Runner up – Jake Odorizzi

Relief Pitcher of the Month. Ryan Pressly – There are arguments for others, but he obviously was continuing to be successful in the highest leverage situations. He did finally give up a few runs this month, after a scoreless June, but none that really mattered and went 6 for 6 in save situations.

Runner-up. Ryne Stanek? Cristian Javier? OK – let’s give it to Stanek as he affected more games. His numbers are better than they seemed to be – of course, that is because he gave up runs in a couple late July games. He was scoreless in 9 of 12 games and allowed earned runs in only 2 of 12 games. He also stranded all three runners he inherited during the month.  

Last Month – Relief Pitcher of the Month – Pressly / Runner-up – Blake Taylor

Special Recognition Award. Andre Scrubb – He, unfortunately, ended up on the IL, but he had three nice appearances in July, where he threw three scoreless innings, stranding two runners he inherited, gave up one hit and importantly, walked no one.

Name ABs Runs Dbls HRs RBIs BBs Ks BA OBP OPS
Martin Maldonado 48 8 1 3 6 7 17 .188 .291 .687
Yuli Gurriel 86 12 5 1 12 6 16 .291 .344 .727
Jose Altuve 100 21 5 8 22 7 15 .260 .308 .858
Carlos Correa 73 10 6 1 9 8 24 .178 .256 .557
Alex Bregman 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Michael Brantley 77 14 4 2 5 9 8 .299 .386 .815
Myles Straw 69 11 4 0 7 7 16 .232 .303 .592
Kyle Tucker 79 10 7 7 17 4 15 .291 .325 .971
Yordan Alvarez 75 11 1 6 17 9 25 .213 .294 .761
Chas McCormick 36 6 3 1 8 3 14 .250 .317 .734
Aledmys Diaz 19 6 2 3 8 0 1 .421 .450 1.450
Abraham Toro 74 15 2 6 11 5 15 .230 .296 .796
Jason Castro 30 1 0 0 1 6 13 .133 .278 .411
Robel Garcia 34 3 1 0 0 4 15 .118 .211 .358

Positional Player of the Month. Jose Altuve – He only hit .260 on the month, but was terrifically impactful with a team-leading 21 runs scored, 8 HRs and 22 RBIs. What would he have had with his normal .330 BA? Well, at least his old school Altuve batting average….

Runner-up. Kyle Tucker – Tucker has been on a steady arc upward after hitting in bad luck early in the season. Tucker was the second-best run producer on the month and would have had even better numbers if he had not missed some games with a medical issue.

Last Month – Positional Player of the Month – Carlos Correa / Runner-up – Michael Brantley

Special Recognition Award (Part 2). Aledmys Diaz – His 6 runs, 3 HRs and 8 RBIs in 19 ABs would be the same as 30 runs, 15 HRs and 40 RBIs in 95 ABs (less than Altuve had for the month). OK – small sample size, but it came at a prime time to help the team.

Biggest Surprise (Positive). Brandon Bielak – Gee whiz, last months biggest surprise (Abraham Toro) and runner-up (Myles Straw) both play elsewhere now. Anyways, a little tough picking a surprise at this point of the season and Bielak was just sent down to Sugar Land with the plethora of relievers, who showed up in trades this weekend, but he’s the pick. His 2.35 ERA and 0.783 WHIP are a surprise because it is a lot better than he had shown before. And of course, this is a small sample size deal…..

Runner-up. This spot for rent – Nobody else really surprising me here. 

Last Month – Biggest Surprise – Abraham Toro / Runner-up – Myles Straw

Biggest Disappointment. Carlos Correa – After killing the ball in June, he seemed to trip up with missing time around the All Star break due to a medical issue. He basically had the worst slash (.178 BA/ .256 OBP/ .557 OPS) of the regulars, though he seemed to be warming up at the end of the month.

Runner-up. Yordan Alvarez – It probably shows how much is expected of this young man, when he gets this spot after putting up 10 runs/ 6 HRs and 17 RBIs in July. But he’s a much better hitter than the man who slashed only .213 BA/ .294 OBP/ .761 OPS with 25 Ks.

Last Month – Most Disappointing – Ryne Stanek / Runners-up– Nobody

The “How is he getting at bats” Award. Robel Garcia – Don’t think you can put the word slash in with a .118 BA/ .211 OBP/ .358 OPS line unless it is describing slashing your career short. Considering he had only 2 ABs less than Chas McCormick in July – it’s not making much sense.

A Bad Stat….. After it seemed like half the starting lineup could have been “voted” the top every day in June, July was quite a fall-off in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. One thing that really sticks out is their walk to strikeout ratio. In July, they only had 75 walks against 194 strikeouts and that is not a good way to run the offense. This is an area they need to improve down the stretch.

As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any you want to award?

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94 responses to “ChipalattAwards for July”

  1. Never vote on a post using your phone. A 5 star – a 3 star both look the same. I think we need a Special award for Click. Maybe called “ Thanks for Finally Doing Your Job” award. Perhaps the olive branch on top goes to Crane. And to Manager Mickey Story at Sugar Land goes the “Give us Your Best Player and You Get This Tired Guy Back” award.

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  2. I’m giving Dusty Baker the nod for July. His club won two thirds of their games while several guys had a really bad month.

    Honorable mention goes to Aledmys. He had a couple of big games, especially the opener in San Francisco. And without him around, we might not have been able make the Graveman deal.

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  3. “The You Can Change the Zip Code But You Can’t Change the Player” award goes to Enoli Paredes. He came in to close our the 9th last night leading 7-4 for Sugar Land. He immediately gives up a 3 run home run and the Skeeters lose in the 10th.

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    • Did Click win the “Bait and Switch” award for saying he was going after starting pitchers. And is he seeking the “Wait and See” award by watching the rest of this year. He has $90+/- million coming off the books.

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  4. It might be wise to look at July’s schedule and add that factor to the awards equation.
    Because of the ASG break, the Astros only played 24 games in July. Of those 24 games, 21 of them were against opponents with records over .500.
    The three games they played against a losing team was the series they swept against the Rangers.
    When you look at that 16-8 record against the level of competition, it looks even better.

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    • The Astros were 5-3 in 1 run games in July – 1-0 in extra inning games.
      They were….
      6-1 against the Cleveland Nameless Hoard
      2-1 against Oakland
      1-2 against Yanks
      1-2 against White Sox
      3-0 against Texas
      2-1 against Seattle
      1-1 against Giants
      They were 8-4 on the road and 8-4 at home

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  5. August looks like this…including Sunday’s game against SF
    15 road games at…
    1 Giants (66-39)
    2 Dodgers (64-43)
    3 Angels (52-53)
    4 Royals (45-59)
    3 Rangers (38-67)
    2 M’s (56-50)

    12 home games
    4 Twins (44-62)
    2 Rockies (46-60)
    3 M’s (56-50)
    3 Royals (45-59)

    Once they get past the next two against the Dodgers, only the M’s are over .500 and possibly the Angels. They have to take care of business, but this is a month they could stretch that division lead out.

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  6. The July Big Breeze-Maker Award goes to:

    1. Robel Garcia [15 Ks in 34 ABs = a 44 % K rate;
    2. Jason Castro [13 Ks in 30 ABs = a 43% K rate; and
    3. Chaz McCormick [14 Ks in 36 ABs = a 38% K rate].

    Thanks, guys, for keeping the opposing team comfortable by generating all that hot air.

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    • Asheville is going to prove to be anomalous like Lancaster was, in that the field will result in higher numbers. Here is s glimpse of the short short porch there, and the long overdue promotion of Matthew Barefoot.

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      • Isn’t that Greenville’s field? Asheville’s park is 326′ down the LF line and a real short 296′ down the RF line.

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      • Yes, Greeneville, good catch.
        Being Asheville’s first year, it will be interesting if the South Atlantic League will offer enough competition to have tested them from Fayettville to Corpus.

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    • 38th rounder. A courtesy pick? 30 games at short as a Woodpecker. Two at second and two at third as a Tourist. How long does Freudis keep his job at short as bad as he’s playing both on the field and at the plate?

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      • Sometimes I think the FO makes decisions and then refuses to acknowledge they may have been wrong. A few examples are those promoted to the Astros and within a month or so, they are DFA’d. Again, just guessing about Nova and most recently Miguelangel Sierra. He went from High A batting .203, skipped Double A, and got promoted to Sugar Land so he can hit .186.

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  8. The ‘Take A Walk on the Wild Side’ Award (since the ASB) goes to:

    1. Framber Valdez – 13 Free Passes (BB + HBP) in 17.1 innings
    2. Rhyne Stanek – 6 Free Passes in 7 innings
    3. Jake Odorizzi – 8 Free Passes in 13 innings
    3. Christian Javier – 4 free passes in 6.2 innings

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  11. Great pitching effort by LMJ tonight. Knucklehead ward goes to Altuve for getting picked off 1st with two outs taking the bat out of Brantley’s hand. And why is Robel Garcia still on this team. 0-3 with 4 LOB and a throwing error. Blake Taylor does his job yeah! Astros up 1-0

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  12. Wow, our guys silenced the hostile crowd! Making Beuhler throw 113 pitches through 6 innings was an accomplishment. And at this point, Lance has taken over the Ace role in our rotation. Excellent game. Graveman had his inning. Stanek looked like a closer. Taylor got his out. So nice to know we have a pen. Victor Gonzalez had not given up a homer to a lefty all season. Next goal is getting Garcia out of the picture. He’s not a ML baseball player. Hopefully Yuli’s stiff neck is better today.

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  13. Whew – none of our guys got hurt by flying garbage [or garbage cans]!
    Whew – our guys were patient at the plate, and wore Buehler plumb out.
    Whew – LMJ had it all working!
    Whew – Yordan hit a bomb in his first appearance in Chavez Ravine!
    Whew – we won and the A’s lost, extending our lead back to 5 1/2 games!
    Whew – Alex Bregman finally got a hit for Sugar Land – a 2-BAGGER, no less!

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  14. I read this morning that the Astros drew the largest crowd to watch a major league game this season. Guess there are more ways than one to become famous .

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    • Always good to hear from you Sandy, even if it has to do with how many hooligans went to the Dodgers game…..lol
      They would not show what was going on in the stands or on the field when the game was interrupted over and over again.

      Did y’all see this – I saw it happen last night and it is the first time I remember ever seeing something like this happen.

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  15. I watched about 1/2 the game last night and followed up with the rest this morning:
    – This was the rowdiest reception the Astros have received yet and they did not melt down, but looked like toughened steel
    – Walker Buehler was really tough last night and Lance stepped up to be better. What a gutsy performance for Lance, who looked the ace last night
    – Speaking of gutsy – the Blake Taylor strike out of Max Muncy was that. 1-0 game, two guys on and he gets down 3-0, digs out of that to 3-2 and then gets fouled off, fouled off, fouled off, but does not groove one as he gets Muncy to dive after an unhittable slider after 8 fastballs in a row. I thought McCullers was going to explode with excitement after that one.
    – I really thought Yordan was going to go deep in one of his earlier at bats against Buehler when he had a Muncy like at bat and kept fouling off pitches and finally hit one well that was caught. He teed off on a tough low pitch by Gonzalez who does not get hit well by leftys – huge home run by the young man
    – Graveman got in a bit of trouble, but settled down and made some good pitches to get out of it including a 98 mph fastball on the inner edge of the plate
    – Stanek finally had a 1-2-3 inning – nice to see
    – The Astros won a playoff quality game against a playoff quality team on the road – nicely done guys

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      • Well, Sarge – real men – like Yordan – don’t come close to the wall with their hits….(Sarcasm font time)
        It is good to see Maldy making better contact here lately. Helps to turn that order over.

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    • I’m wondering what tonight’s matchup (Odorizzi – Scherzer) will bring.
      Jake’s last three starts have been so-so
      3.1 IP – 4 runs
      4.2 IP – 3 runs
      5.1 IP – 3 runs

      Max’s last three starts have been bad, so-so and good
      3.2 IP – 7 runs
      7 IP – 4 runs
      6 IP – 1 run

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      • I think we can get at Scherzer. And it’s time for Odorizzi to show he can keep us in a big game against an elite starter. Otherwise, he might end up watching the post season in two months, even at 9 million a year.

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    • “Bird’s Nest” Dubin has had a circuitous route. Many of those JUCO kids are just tougher having gone through the winding road, too. Shawn will have to be roster’d before Dec. Rule 5. I will guess that Pena and Conine will be the other two. This leaves quite a few exposed like Scott Manea in the Davis trade, or Julio Robaina lefty starter). Jojanse Torres escapes bc of TJ, but the one I’m most worried about is Austin Hansen. Most will call me a theorist, but even though he had an elbow injury earlier in AAA and hasn’t been the same since, I find it an excellent strategy to stay below the radar and off the top 20, so that he’ll be passed over by other teams. Mark my words, if Hansen & Dubin are healthy in ’22, they’re going to be really good.

      Btw, Ralph Garza just got claimed by Twins, Nivaldo Rodriguez got picked up by the Tigers, and Ryan Hartman by the Orioles. Seeing the connection? Not too shabby for guys who were never top 20’s.

      Also, yesterday we got to see Yainer Diaz in Fayettville. He was the “throw-in” on the CLE deal, Straw for Maton. In that game Sandle and Loperfino had good games, two late rounders we just drafted! CF, Jordan Brewer made a circus catch to rob a HR. Here is the Diaz clip.

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  18. And under the infinite payroll heading – the Dodgers just signed Cole Hamels.
    They lost Dustin May to TJ Surgery
    Kershaw has been hurt for awhile
    Bauer is on the suspended list
    So just go out and get Scherzer and Duffy and now Hamels who probably will have to ramp up for a while before we see him.

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  20. In the dropping like flies category, Anthony Rendon gets hip surgery.

    They paid him $28MM for -0.1 WAR, and owe him $200MM more in the coming years. You hate to see it inside your own division, and all.

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      • CC hits one off of Kelly. At least we get some satisfaction. Altuve 0-4 with 4 K’s. Looked absolutely terrible. Swinging at pitches a foot off the plate in the dirt. Bull pen did a great job for 5 IP. 3 hits, 1 walk, 3K’s. Almost pulled it out in the 9th with a 2 HR by that Tucker fellow. A 500 road trip so not too shabby against 3 good teams.

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  22. $27 million? Sounds like Click might regret that move.
    The only at bat that made listening to this game worth it, was the homerun Correa hit off Joe Kelly.THAT WAS PURE KARMA! Dusty said he thinks Baez and possibly Bregman might be back in this home stand, and they’re going to have to make some serious thinking about the bullpen. I have some ideas, but I’ll leave it up to you guys to make your recommendations!

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  23. I’ll try to be encouraged. Our pen got the job done again. A couple of our bats made them sweat late. Correa was way overdue. Maybe the crowd finally got to Jose. But I sure did want that 5-3 road trip after winning the first one against the Dodgers.

    We can win our division with Odorizzi, but the idea is to get help from him in keeping other guys innings counts down. Once again, his post game remarks were very candid. His mechanics sucked. We could see that. His pitches had nothing on them. But of real concern to me is that he did not seem at all engaged. If a ten year veteran can’t get himself prepared for the opportunity given to him last night, then he should not be pitching for this club. Maybe Click can pay half his salary to go somewhere else next year.

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  24. One question I have is why did LMJ pinch hit for Yimi instead of Greinke? I can give you a plethora of reason of why it should have been Zack. I’m befuddled. What was Dusty’s thinking? Any ideas or info?

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    • I was about to post this myself. Dusty is not sharp enough to manage this team, the team is winning despite him. While I do not want anyone to suffer by losing their job, Dusty should have a rather huge savings account to fall back on by now. I saw this move and thought, what the heck??? Bah.

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    • Here are a few thoughts….
      1) First, he had a short bench with Yuli’s neck problem, so he pinch hit with a pitcher early in the game saving his actual bench for later….
      2) He was probably holding Greinke back to hit in a more critical spot – probably seeing them behind 7-2 with Scherzer pretty much dealing as a lost puppy
      3) He went with lefty vs. right with LMJ a left handed hitter??
      4) He thought that since Lance hit on Tuesday night he might be more comfortable hitting again on Wednesday
      5) If anything happened to his pinch hitter – he would have more time to replace his starting pitcher for Sunday than his starting pitcher for Sunday

      Or knowing Dusty – “I told Greinke he had tonight off and that means he had tonight off?
      By the way is it possible Greinke was not even there – maybe he and Framber got sent to Houston early to get ready for their next starts? Or Greinke made a stop off to see his family (maybe in Arizona)?

      Enough excuses?

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    • I was sleeping. But even today it sure makes no sense to me. Too few good things might happen compared to bad things that might happen. That’s our ace, the guy we just paid 80 plus million. Dan, nice excuses though.

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  25. James Rodney Richard passed away today. Rest easy my friend. I had met him many years ago after he had been found homeless. He was so appreciative that I had recognized him and humbled as I praised him for his accomplishments.

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    • That was a painful life Sarge. From being on the top of the world, to the physical issues he tried to explain, that were not found, and then tragedy. As a society, I think we let him slip through the cracks. Rest well JR.

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  26. Odorizzi has been pretty consistently disappointing for the fans, but what happened last night was just ugly – 3.0 IP, 7 R, 6 ER, 6 H (4 of which were HRs), 2 BB, and 3 Ks.

    On the year, out of 14 starts, he has managed exactly TWO (2) ‘quality starts’ – i.e. the July 2 start against the ‘Used-to-Be-Called-Indians’ [6.0 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BBs, 2 Ks] and the July 9 start against the Yankees [6.0 IP, 2 R (both runs earned), 7 hits, O BBs, 2 Ks];

    Over his last 7 games he has started he has averaged well less than 5 innings per appearance [so much for his ‘innings eater’ reputation].

    Over his last seven starts his ERA is a sickening 5.14; somehow his WHIP is almost respectable (for fifth starter) at 1.38.

    Strommy and the F.O. are going to have to figure out pretty quick if his ship can be corrected – and if he has any place at all either on a playoff roster or the 2022 club.

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  27. Question: Is Robel Garcia the best utility infielder available to us?

    He is slashing all of .155/.221/.435. He has 41 strikeouts in 103 at bats [right at a 40% K rate]. And he is anything but impressive defensively.

    Since Alex Bregman does not appear to be making enough progress to be projected back any time soon. Is it time to DFA Robel and give someone else a chance? How about CJ Hinojosa [.311/.338/.836 at AAA]? Or Jacob Wilson (recently picked up on waivers)? Or even David Hensley .275/.334/.754 (at AA)?

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  28. Some baseball thoughts that have been twirling around in the space between the ears:
    * When MLB adopts the universal DH, National league clubs will be shopping big-time for DH’s. When it happens the AL teams will no longer have to face the dilemma that the Astros faced in their last five games. Yordan will be able to DH as many games as they want to and the other 8 best hitters will be at their positions, also.
    * When MLB goes to electronic balls and strikes, pitch framing will be worth less than horse dookie. It will be a thing of the past. Offensive minded catchers will be at a premium because they will not have to spend wasted time on framing and they won’t have to concentrate on whether a pitch is called improperly. More time for batting practice and more time for practicing pop times throwing baserunners out. Good hitting catchers will be in vogue again.
    * The Astros did not have to pay Greinke, Altuve and Verlander their full huge salaries last year. They only had to pay them for 60 games.

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  29. Will this home stand finally give Jacob Meyers family a chance to see his first major league start? In his three pinch-hit appearances so far, he is 0-3 with 2 strikeouts.

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  30. Tell me please, how many games have Maldonado played at first base before tonight???

    Then, no good deed goes unpunished by the management… Correa hits a homerun last night and sits tonight…

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      • MLB did not do the guys a favor on Wednesday anyways. A courtesy game time of 2 or 3 pm would have gone over quite well since our guys had to fly back that night, across two time zones, losing two hours. MLB usually schedules a matinee time when teams have to fly out and across time zones. But then, MLB does not like the Astros.

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      • Sargeh, that’s a fair comment. The Astros should not have been playing on Thursday night in Houston after a night game in LA. But we had several guys gut it out last night and play. “Captain” should have done the same.

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  32. You have an EXTREME ground ball pitcher O the mound….and the first baseman is extremely essential for that. Exactly how many times has Maldonaldo played first base?? I understand that his bench players (that are left) play the outfield, but man that’s not giving Valdez a warm and fuzzy felling. AND….giving your only true short stop a day off?? The moves this manager makes are UNBELIEVABLE. Let’s hope Valdez doesn’t get hurt because of it.
    Rest in peace J.R. Richards….I used to charter the guys when they were in the NL EAST and J.R. Richards loved to flirt with us, and sit on the jump seat and show us how many baseball’s he could fit in that MASSIVE hand! I loved going to the Astrodome, and watch him pitch. Remember the guy who would hang the number of strikeouts each pitcher would have? He and Nolan Ryan would regularly have 12-15 strikeouts every time they pitched, and sandwiched in between them was our lovable knuckle ball pitcher Joe Niekro! Many great memories of J.R. Richards. RIP brother🙏

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  33. Machete has played 19 games as at 1B before tonight. The other option might be to use Castro, who has played 3 games at 1B before tonight, but they probably want to keep Maldy’s legs fresh so he can get all those infield hits, triples and stolen bases :-p

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  36. How come Taylor Jones did not get brought in to play first? Why is Garcia even on the roster? Is Carlos hurt? More Covid crap? Something is wrong. Dusty Baker does not control the roster. Or did Carlos want his day off? Yuli was expected to play? Is he getting ready to go on the IL? Our club got caught with its pants down tonight. No way it’s all on Dusty.

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  37. It’s a shame, but we lost perhaps our best starter when the goo rule went into effect. Without Urquidy on the horizon and Odorizzi of no help, we’ve got a real problem.

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  40. Actually Framber has pitched well excluding the 2nd inning. He kept missing his spots and threw too many fat pitches. Hey how about that Astro offense so far. Only one hit against a guy with a 6 plus ERA.

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  42. I remember two biographies that I read. One was Lou Gehrig talking about how often he was “fatigued “ during his career. And the other was Cal Ripken talking about how he only wanted to play every other day because was “fatigued “ but the manager always made him play “fatigued or not.” Then I may have dreamed all of it.

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  43. I understand that it can be a grind of paying 162 games over a period of about 182 days but the other side of it is these guys are getting a heck of a lot of money to do this. I’m sure that’s more than Gehring or Ripken even imagined. There was a period where I and my group had to work a refinery shutdown in Metarie, LA. It was 12 hours a day and 7 days a week for almost 120 days. In fact there was a 4 week span where we were working 100 plus a week. We did it though and when it was almost over the team members started asking to be released. I obliged each one because they have given it their all. When the last worker was laid off the controller called me from CA and said pack up all your stuff and you can do the close out at the home office. Boy was I ready. The moral is we gave it our all until the job was done. For those of you that have done this kind of work before you’ll understand.
    I understand the ball players dilemma but you have a job to do. I suspect it’s the same in any business or in life. I just want our guys to give it their all too. Now with that motivational speech let’s go out there and win the rest of the games on this home stand. Maybe a sarcasm font is apropos here.

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      • This is a similar sports story from the 1980’s. The Dallas Cowboys had Steve Pelleur as starting QB. Tom Landry sent in Reggie Collier to replace him. Collier ran a couple plays. Then went to the sidelines and told Landry he was winded (fatigued?). Needless to say, the Man with the Hat was extremely upset and that was the end of Collier’s career in Dallas. It was different times.

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    • Well let’s say Carlos is like me in that I never could sleep on a plane (of course I was always in coach). And he gets home after an overnight flight, tries to get a nap but has a newborn at home, so he is exhausted…. oh the heck with this.
      I would say most of us have worked when we were tired. Z set it out well above. I did that in Iraq working 12 hours a day for 7 days for 12 weeks in a row. Now that was only engineering on my part, not hands on turnaround stuff like Z, but it does get to you. But you keep going and fighting through it. Yesterday we could have done with some more Correa and no more Robel, but it did not happen. Will it help us with a fresher Correa down the road? I doubt it.

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  44. I get that we don’t have Castro or Maldy in the lineup for their bat but putting both of them in at the same time with Robel (what a waste) is like chalking up 3 automatic outs. Yes Castro had a HR last night and I love it when Maldy hits but all three together? What the hell was Dusty thinking? And I don’t think he’s being told how to make up a lineup card.

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    • That is one big reason that I hesitate to actually buy tickets and physically go to a game anymore. The line-ups that get trotted out by our ‘Stros are unpredictable, and, like last night, are often a slap in the face to fans who spend a LOT of hard-earned money to see the starters. Add the endless insult of ugly line-ups [which includes any line-up with Robel Garcia in it] to the completely uninspired [read that BORED and BORING] on-field performances, and I really do not know why anyone pays the big bucks to go to MMP anymore.

      Maybe Astro fans at MMP are going to have to start boo-ing like crazy, carrying insulting signs, throwing inflatable garbage cans on the field, and throwing every ball an Astro hits in the stands, be it in foul territory or in HR areas, back – you know, the way the fans in ballparks where our guys actually show up and play inspired baseball do.

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  45. Well, get well soon, Yuli!

    See you later Robel.

    Welcome back, Taylor Jones.

    And nice to have you on board, Jacob Wilson!

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    • All welcome news, and a long time coming!

      I’ll check but you must be saying Robel got DFA’d?

      Interesting, Wilson got the call and not Hinojosa. Has to be a bit of a kick in the pants for as hard as he and De Goti have worked. This is where we find out those young men’s mettle to endure.

      I’m actually a big fan of Taylor Jones who has had the hardest time getting AAA results in the MLB. He suffers from the same as AJ Reed. Harder to start the swing on 5 mph more velo in the jump up. Hope he gets that synched up, he’s a really smart kid with high character.

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    • Ah, I see it now. Forgot Robel had the option left, which by using it, makes the journeyman less marketable as a trade piece. I can imagine they floated Garcia at the dealine as an add-on. Now wonder they claimed Wilson not long ago. To give us an idea though, Wilson couldn’t even beat out Kemp in OAK.

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  46. Recall the following night after Darryl Kile tragically died, Bagwell and Biggio sat out. In heroic fashion, Jeff PH in the late inning when Lord above must’ve approved & hit the game winner.

    Seems like with Dusty–who really knows which decisions are his alone?–when he gives the day off, he means it. I can only surmise this is an indication that the player gets FULL rest, and the risk would be in pulling a muscle if they aren’t “hot” and ready to go otherwise. Not many Marin Gonzales’ around these days, who can come in cold. The difference between now and yesteryear imo is players suffer much more from inflammation type of issues, even more so than 3 yrs ago.

    There are stories that fans in PIT threw batteries at Dave Parker, even being pulled from the game, simply because in a Steel Mill Town, working class guys were upset he was making $1M annually. Our manager is always going to take heat for fans thinking these guys are paid well enough to play through it. It’s certainly not Baker’s first rodeo, having to address Barry Bonds criticism so often. That’s why Crane hired the “human punching bag.”

    You just have to trust the wisdom of the latest technology which is telling our staff about load management, and how to spread this out over the dog days of Summer. Last night was a real stinker. It made me think of how coming off the “high” of winning that 1st game in LAD, it’s harder to get up for teams you should beat. This happens a lot in college football, and it takes a real talented coach to keep the momentum going under these circumstances.

    Incidentally, I’m applying for a diplomats position. How am I doing? This is a big reason I follow the prospects, because when the Astros are doing poorly, I can always fall back on 4 teams who are yet fighting it out on the farm. Lots of positive things in the world when you have eyes for it.

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  47. Laureano just got suspended *80* games for PED’s. Of course he said “I never knowingly took anything illegal” RIIIGHT! That’s a plus for us because that kid comes alive when we play the A’s.
    I may be wrong, but I don’t remember Hinch giving so many guys days off…but like I said I don’t remember that. Yuli to IL because…wait for it THE HOTEL PILLOWS! Maybe Yuli should bring his OWN pillow when they are on the road!

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  49. I am fed up with Baker’s handling of the bullpen. Last night, he trotted out Graveman and Pressley for the eighth and ninth innings, in a tied ballgame. They are closers. They should have been saved for the extra innings when the opposing team has a runner on second to begin the inning. As it turned out, the club had the other relivers, who are known to give up a hit or two each time out, on the mound and runs were, indeed, given up. Those instances led to the loss. Ugh.

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