The Astros finished the month of July, somehow with a 15-10 record. We say somehow because it was a month that Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier combined for 1 win and had ERA’s 6.8+. Hunter Brown barely slid in under a 6 ERA with a 1-3 record. Phil Maton melted down to a 9.64 ERA after a great start to the season. Ryan Pressly had a non-closer-ish 4.15 ERA. Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve missed about ¾ of the month injured. Corey Julks came back to earth hard – ending the month on a 0 for 33 run. Mauricio Dubon and Jeremy Pena had batting averages hovering around the Mendoza line with awful OBPs and OPSs for the month. And Martin Maldonado was even worse than normal.
But somehow the team overcame all these problems and put up a solid month that moved them within a half game of the faltering Texas Rangers. How did they do that? Well, many of the July Chipalatta Awards winners hold that secret.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ pitchers in the month of July.
| Name | Gm | W | L | Svs | IP | ERA | WHIP | HR | Ks/9 IP | BAA | OBPA | OPSA | BAbip | IR/ IS |
| Framber Valdez | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 7.29 | 1.619 | 4 | 10.3 | .299 | .367 | .862 | .367 | N/A |
| Cristian Javier | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 6.86 | 1.286 | 4 | 10.7 | .218 | .330 | .753 | .265 | N/A |
| Hunter Brown | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 24.1 | 5.92 | 1.685 | 4 | 10.7 | .330 | .389 | .914 | .429 | N/A |
| Brandon Bielak | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 27.1 | 2.65 | 1.317 | 2 | 7.2 | .210 | .331 | .641 | .250 | N/A |
| J.P. France | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 31. | 2.30 | 1.245 | 1 | 5.7 | .277 | .310 | .637 | .323 | N/A |
| Ronel Blanco | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 4.50 | 0.833 | 2 | 13.5 | .150 | .261 | .711 | .111 | N/A |
| Ryan Pressly | 13 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 4.15 | 1.000 | 3 | 9.0 | .229 | .264 | .702 | .235 | 3/1 |
| Hector Neris | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2.25 | 1.333 | 3 | 10.5 | .214 | .353 | .829 | .240 | 0/0 |
| Rafael Montero | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 | 2.31 | 0.943 | 2 | 8.5 | .132 | .267 | .609 | .120 | 4/2 |
| Phil Maton | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9.1 | 9.64 | 2.464 | 2 | 6.8 | .333 | .480 | 1.095 | .367 | 10/6 |
| Ryne Stanek | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.1 | 5.56 | 1.235 | 2 | 7.9 | .214 | .292 | .720 | .226 | 9/2 |
| Bryan Abreu | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12.1 | 2.19 | 1.135 | 2 | 13.9 | .205 | .280 | .644 | .292 | 3/2 |
| Seth Martinez | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.2 | 8.31 | 1.731 | 2 | 10.4 | .306 | .375 | .958 | .375 | 4/0 |
| Parker Mushinski | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.1 | 1.69 | 1.125 | 1 | 11.8 | .250 | .286 | .736 | .333 | 1/0 |
| Shawn Dubin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2.25 | 1.250 | 0 | 6.8 | .231 | .353 | .736 | .273 | 0/0 |
| Joel Kuehnel | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18.00 | 3.000 | 1 | 4.5 | .455 | .500 | 1.318 | .444 | 0/0 |
| Kendall Graveman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 2.000 | 0 | 9.0 | .333 | .500 | .583 | .500 | 0/0 |
Note – I added the IR (Inherited runners) / IS (Inherited runners who scored) stat for the relievers.
Starting Pitcher of the Month – J.P. France and it wasn’t even close. The cool, calm, tall drink of water was exactly what the team needed. Led the team in wins, innings pitched, ERA and WHIP in July. He had a fairly high batting average against, but didn’t let traffic score that often and only gave up 1 HR.
Runner-up – Brandon Bielak – OK, if not him, who? He had the second most wins and the second best ERA. He had the problem of giving up unearned runs – but even if you add that in, he was giving up less than 5 runs per 9 innings, which is still better than Javier, Valdez and Brown.
Last Month – J.P. France – Starting Pitcher of the Month / Framber Valdez – Runner-up
Relief Pitcher of the Month – Bryan Abreu – After some struggles in June, he seemed to get his mojo and a little better control back in July.
Runner-up. Hector Neris – He was the Mr. Houdini of July as he seemed to have someone base all the time, but with minimal runs given up.
Last Month – Hector Neris – Relief Pitcher of the Month and Ryan Pressly – Runner-up
The Under the Radar Award – Rafael Montero -We flinched whenever he entered the game, but he actually pitched a lot closer to what we were expecting from him entering the season in July.
Here is a quick stat chart of the Astros’ position players in the month of July.
| Name | ABs | Runs | Dbls | HRs | RBIs | BBs | Ks | BA | OBP | OPS | BABIP |
| Martin Maldonado | 59 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 24 | .136 | .150 | .472 | .156 |
| Jose Abreu | 95 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 10 | 19 | .263 | .333 | .754 | .292 |
| Mauricio Dubon | 90 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 16 | .200 | .234 | .501 | .233 |
| Jeremy Pena | 79 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 14 | .205 | .262 | .531 | .238 |
| Alex Bregman | 96 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 12 | .260 | .343 | .832 | .244 |
| Corey Julks | 72 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 16 | .194 | .281 | .517 | .246 |
| Chas McCormick | 77 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 23 | 11 | 24 | .351 | .440 | 1.128 | .438 |
| Kyle Tucker | 92 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 23 | 14 | 14 | .359 | .446 | 1.119 | .356 |
| Yordan Alvarez | 18 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | .389 | .476 | 1.254 | .385 |
| Jake Meyers | 41 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 | .244 | .296 | .661 | .321 |
| Yainer Diaz | 72 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 14 | .264 | .299 | .854 | .245 |
| Jose Altuve | 30 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | .300 | .400 | .967 | .368 |
| Grae Kessinger | 18 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .278 | .316 | .816 | .308 |
| Bligh Madris | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .154 | .267 | .421 | .222 |
Positional Player of the Month (Tie) – Kyle Tucker and Chas McCormick – These two carried the offense for the month. Tucker had a slight edge in runs, doubles and homers, but due to a certain manager, who did not always play Chas despite how hot he was, he had 15 less at bats than Tucker in July.
Runner-up – Alex Bregman – His 18 runs scored and 16 RBIs were a big contributor to the offense even with him only hitting .260 for the month.
Last Month – Kyle Tucker – Positional Player of the Month and Alex Bregman and Jose Abreu – Tied for Runner-up
Special Recognition – Yainer Diaz – He was not Yordan Alvarez when Yordan was gone, but he put up a solid month with his 6 HRs, 14 RBIs, .264 BA, .854 OPS (don’t ask about his OBP). This was not bad for a rookie who hits better when he is playing a position than when he is DHing like he did so much this month.
Biggest Surprise (Positive) – JP France – He was decent starting out, but he took it to another level during July, where he was the best starter on the staff.
Runner-up – Parker Mushinski – He has been up and down from the minors, but when they have used him, he has looked like he belongs.
Last Month – Biggest Surprise (Positive) was J.P. France and Yainer Diaz was Runner-up
Biggest Disappointment – Framber Valdez – Yes, I know he just threw a no-hitter a couple days ago. But that was in August. In July he was not performing well, which was bad enough, but he was falling into meltdowns like we have not seen since his early days in the rotation. Hopefully, that is all in the rearview mirror now.
Runner-up – Cristian Javier – Just a step better than Framber, his last start in July showed flashes of his swing and miss invisiball. The fans are hoping he comes all the way back to the pitcher who was tremendous down the stretch and through the post season in 2022.
Last Month – Biggest Disappointment was Rafael Montero / Martin Maldonado and Cristian Javier Tied for Runner-up
Some Comments on July
- For the offense, July was a tale of two cities as it seemed like hitters were either very good (Tucker, McCormick, Bregman) or very bad (Maldonado, Pena, Dubon, Julks). OK, you might throw Abreu in the middle area, but there was a lot of highs and lows here.
- Your loyal servant was disappointed that neither Chas or KTuck were the AL Player of the month. Yes, I know Shohei Ohtani hits and pitches well. But along with his flashy 9 HRs and 1.152 OPS, he only had 14 RBIs – way under the Astros duo who were way above him in BA. And his pitching was so-so 2-2 and a 4.97 ERA for the month. Should he have gotten the award over them just for hitting and pitching? Well then just retire the award until he stops playing.
- Kind of strange that Javier’s ERA was so close to Framber’s when Framber’s other numbers (WHIP, BA against, OPS against) were way worse. I guess he just did not stop them at all when they got on base.
- Weird that Hector Neris had 3 wins for the month, more than Valdez, Javier and Brown put together. Wins are always an odd category.
- Look at those comparative numbers between Maldy and Diaz. But two things this week have helped Dusty stay with Maldonado going forward. The no-hitter he called and caught and the trade for Justin Verlander, who will no doubt want to stick with the guy he knows.
- It is sure good to see Altuve and Alvarez back in there. Those are difference makers in this lineup.
As usual, it is your turn to comment. Any awards you disagree with? Any new ones you want to award?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
116 responses to “ChipalattAwards for July”
I appreciate the effort in this post, Dan. Lots of good data there. I agree with you re: Mushy being the biggest surprise from July. I winced and held my breath every time he came into a game, but he did a good job.
If only there was a better format for your charts. Awfully tough to read. I just hope my eyes don’t stick this way long term like my Mom warned me. I think she was kidding, but I’m still not 100% certain.
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Dan, I never disagree with your choices. But I think Chip sabotaged your graph making ability.
By the way, more and more discussion about Jon Singleton. What a tease! But he might show up at some point this month. He’s the kind of bat a team might want in the dugout on a post season roster.
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Players like Singleton are a funny thing. He has been so hot that he has even cut his strikeout rate in half in the last 3 weeks. Right now all he sees is a 30 MPH softball every at bat.
I really wouldn’t want him on my bench though. He doesn’t do anything well that you might ask him to do. His career K rates don’t really make him a great pinch hitter. He seems like a hitter that has to be getting ABs to get rolling. He isn’t pinch running for anyone. He isn’t entering a game as a defensive sub.
I would love to see him get 500 PA’s though and see what he can do. If you can wait out a slump and let him get comfortable I am betting he could hit .250 with a .340 OBP and hit 30 HR. He is just going to play a not great 1B, strikeout a lot, and frustrate you at times with prolonged slumps, but he is showing when he is hot, he is hot. His only real opportunity in the big leagues was at 22/23, and that has to be disappointing to him today.
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No Diaz in the lineup , but there’s that sure thing Maldy @ .167. I’m beyond PO’d. And how much you want to bet that Maldy’s back next year now that Lee has been traded.
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Hopefully our owner will let his GM build the team next year. But we probably can’t underestimate the persuasive ability of JV, especially if he pitches us deeply into the post season.
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I feel your pain, Z. It’s maddening.
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I would be fine with Maldy back if he understands he catches once a week (you could assign him JV duty). The best thing that can happen honestly is Dusty rides off in the sunset after a 2nd WS win.
Pena should not be batting 2nd. He should be hitting 9th, and honestly, splitting time with Dubon. I am scared of Yordan playing in the field as much as anyone, but the best configuration for this team has him out there 5 times a week so that Diaz can be in the lineup.
It’s obvious to me that Dubon is a better bat to ball guy than Pena, even if Pena has more power – neither are going to draw a walk and besides Pena hasn’t hit a dinger in a cool minute. Diaz should be catching, but I do get there are things we don’t see that Dusty does behind the scenes. Regardless his bat should be in there 5-6 times a week. McCormick is our broken record. There isn’t a planet in the solar system that Meyers should ever be in the lineup over McCormick. If you are going to have them both that means Yordan is at DH and likely Diaz is not in the lineup. Dusty is killing me. I think he knows what I want to see and every single day he is just like, screw this Steven dude, I am going to make at least 2 spots in my lineup piss him off. Not only am I going to play Pena, I am going to bat him second! That ought to set him off. I mean, I have to make sure everyone is getting ample time off and is well rested, well, everyone except my 1B that can’t hit anymore. That guy, no days off, and I’m gonna plop him right in the middle of the lineup to kill every rally before it starts! I got this guys!
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I don’t want Maldy back because I think he’s got too much influence on the club as is right now. It could make the Diaz transition problematic. For instance, if Javier was to have a bad first inning next April with Diaz behind the plate, might he grumble? Enter Maldy next start?
All I’ll say about your other frustrations is what I’ve already said. If we win anything, it will be in spite of Dusty Baker. I don’t think Jim Crane will step in at any point. And it’s pretty clear that Dana Brown has no on field power.
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When you can’t throw strikes you give up the long ball. @#!^
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Looks like Javier wasn’t watching Framber the other night as he’s doing exactly the opposite. Pitching from behind to every hitter and throwing them right down main street and watching them fly over the outfield fences.
Might have to find a good movie to watch before long. This shows all the signs of getting real ugly real quick.
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Watching MaldoNADA at bat takes me back to my childhood on the farm. Yeah, Dad, that pig is ready for market…….
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That’s funny! Had to laugh. But he did get a hit and drive in a run.
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Isn’t it great to be able to watch baseball history and see things you don’t see very often? Like no hitters and an RBI from MaldoNADA? Sure glad I didn’t miss it.
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How much are the Yankees paying this HPU? I’m seeing some VERY questionable calls.
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Are we really sure that’s MadoNADA playing? Looks a lot like Chris Christy…….
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So that’s what a 1-5-3 double play looks like when the umpires were paid for before the game started!
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Pena is in way out of his depth. This is pathetic that he’s in the 2 hole…..
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Oh my goodness. Maldy 3-3 and Tuv catches a break. Com’on Pena
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Pitiful. Pena and Abreu both choke more than my ex-wife. I think I’d rather see her batting with RISP than either one of em. Couldn’t be a lot worse. She also collected a lot of money for doing nothing.
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Good morning!
Should have won that ballgame, in spite of the Javier first inning.
We can’t kid ourselves too much longer. Our offense has too many weak spots. Jake has a 92 OPS+. Is he coming around or is last night what we should expect? Julks has an 80 even though his BABip is still at .315. Abreu has an 80. We keep thinking he’s turned the corner, but he has not. Pena had a good past week, but that all fully disappeared last night. No way we can expect a 3 for 3 night out of Maldy again. Plenty of missed opportunities against a club that tried to make it easier on us.
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OK I’m a little mystified about one thing last night. Why send Dubon to PH for Maldy when he was 3 for 3? Yes Dubon had a swinging bunt hit but then Altuve tries to hit a home run when everybody knows he’s not going to get a pitch in his wheel house. It was a fluke but the guy was seeing the ball well. What’s worse is getting runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and getting either no runs or just one. This happens far too often.
Javier couldn’t throw a strike in the first inning which led to 3 runs but settled down and was decent after that. Maybe jitters but who knows.
Why is Bregman batting clean up? He should be 5th or 6th? It should be Tucker or Alverez in the 3rd and 4th spots. Notice that the Yankees bat Judge in the #2 spot and that seems to work pretty well. Maybe we can trade Mr Tooth pick for Arron Boone.
And Chaz should be hitting before Abreu. Talk about an empty uniform. Just keep throwing inside to him and it’s about an 80% chance of an out. Pena just seems almost lost at the plate. His discipline is a little better but these guys have got to learn to go with the pitch instead of rolling over a weak ground out(s) to the SS or 3rd base.
Graveman issues a walk that comes back to bite us. So far not impressed. Wasn’t impressed on his last appearance either. One more thing I noticed about that 1st inning. Javier couldn’t find the plate with the fastball or slider but yet he kept throwing them until he put one right in the middle and boom, back to back jacks. The next inning whatever he was throwing was hitting the corners. I’m just perplexed. When it doesn’t work try something else. We should have won that game against a lesser team!
And the Rangers won so now 1.5 games back.
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Vegas odds on Maldy going 4-4 were astronomical!
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My breakdown of that Bader at bat –
We are at 0-2 count with 2 outs and noone on in a tie ball game. He then throws two pitches nowhere near the zone trying to get a bad swing. Now the 2-2 pitch, either he fooled Bader and he wasn’t offering no matter what, or Bader recognized the spin and look from seeing from 3rd curveball in the AB and knew it was going to break out. It was a good pitch. A lot of guys would have went down right there. Ball 4, not close. So he walks a guy that would be batting 9th in a lot of lineups, a guy with the threat of turning that into a defacto double (which he promptly did), and a single to a punch and judy guy like Volpe, game set match.
I didn’t like Graveman’s body language after it got back to 2-2. He seemed like he was anxious after what had been a good outing up to that point. Like he knew, ok, get this out, get this out, ok, now, get this out, but he just couldn’t.
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When Maldy was pinch hit for, I almost kept my mouth shut. But, to the Mrs., I pretended to be Dusty:
Dusty: Maldy! You had THREE hits! Sit down! You’re too hot!
Dubon! My boy, you’ve been cold so get up there and hit!
I said it with such gusto that the wife was crying with laughter. Sad, but it was probably true.
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“Why send Dubon to PH for Maldy when he was 3 for 3?”
Are you kidding? That’s one of the few things the Clown has done lately with which I do agree. The odds of MaldoNADA gettinng a 4th hit in that situation were about the same as that of a Congressman telling the truth and turning down a check from a banker
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Nice tidy up on the site Dan! Or Chip, thank you! I just wish I could like posts again. It was working for a day or so.
By the way, was Pena running all out on the grounder hit into the hole mid game?
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I don’t know, but I do know he hit into a bad double play, he struck out on a pitch that was so far out of the zone that it ended up at the backstop with no hope for the catcher, and then he ran to first seemingly completely unaware that he couldn’t advance on a dropped strike 3 if there is a runner on 1st.
People love his heart, I hate his acumen. They say baseball is played in your head. Right now his head is a cloud of mistrust in himself and his ability.
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You can thank Chip for the tidy up – daveb – I told him the problem and he made updates to fix the charts.
I watched very little of the game last night. Glad I didn’t haha.
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Wow, and my iPhone “likes”. Wonder why the devious Mac continues to flummox me?
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Yesterday I shared my – never will see the light of day – lineup
Altuve 2B
Tucker RF
McCormick LF
Alvarez DH
Bregman 3B
Diaz C
Abreu 1B
Pena SS
Meyers CF
If Maldy has to play – then it is
Altuve 2B
Tucker RF
McCormick CF
Alvarez LF
Bregman 3B
Diaz DH
Abreu 1B
Pena SS
Maldonado C
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I shared that with my brother on a text – not y’all – to be clear
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I’ll share mine –
2B – Altuve
3B – Bregman
DH – Alvarez
RF – Tucker
CF – McCormick
C – Diaz
1B – Abreu
LF – Loperfido (that’s right, its loppy time)
SS – Dubon
If I was completely unphased by contracts and money and ego, I would replace Abreu with Singleton today because he can’t do worse, and he might be motivated to do better (who would have ever thought someone would use Singleton and motivated in a sentence together). Is there a world where you call up Singleton, send down Julks and put Yordan in LF 4 times a week to DH Singleton? 40 man spots for Loperfido and Singleton are probably the reason they are not here. They have enough to contend with 40 man wise with Urquidy and possibly Brantley in the next few weeks (Urquidy I think is in pencil to start Sunday).
I do have hope that by the time game 1 of that first playoff series rolls around that Brantley will be penciled in to LF/DH and the two spot and let Bregman drop to 5th and everyone else down a spot.
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Hope I’m wrong but the chances of seeing Brantley before September are slim and none. Chances of seeing him in September are slim and doubtful. Also, what makes any one think that he’ll start and make an immediate impact? I’m sorry but my cynic scale just went up a few notches.
If we’re not going to play Kessinger then send him down and give Loperfido or Singleton a crack at it. And that doesn’t mean him being a place warmer on the bench.
Did anybody hear the comment made by Joe Davis (I think) and the response by Smoltz about how the fans feel about Dusty. Obviously, it’s no secret how the fans feel about Mr Toothpick. Smoltz added that the players and Management love him though and what a great manager he is. Of course what are the odds that the players would speak up? I thought it interesting.
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Man, after Maldy went 3-3, Diaz might be confined to the bench for a week or two (just kidding).
I am all for moving Pena out the 2 hole for Chas (even Bregma. He walks). Pena has no confidence nor has he adjusted to the sliders opposing pitchers know to feed him. Abreu, if he took more walks pitchers are willing to give him (he’s paid to drive in runs, not walk) would get better pitches to hit I think, or at least give Chas/Diaz a chance to drive him in. And yes he should move back for now.
Julks needs his mojo back. Down on the farm allowing another to come up perhaps. Managers usually put their non or pedestrian hitters at the back of the bus, don’t they?
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I’ve avoided posting my lineup I guess because it seems an exercise in futility. Really, our only chance of Diaz getting the backstop job is to have Maldy go down with an injury. And I can’t hope for that. Maybe if I knew there was discussion of his return in 2024 I’d change my mind.
But Steven comes close to what I’d do. Loperfido would come up and go to left. Frenchy though? He just does not hit. Is Kessinger bad at short? It’d probably too late for him to get a shot, but I hate to see a guy do nothing. He’s here for an emergency only I suppose.
I have to admit. I understand what Baker is doing with Pena. Historically, even this year, he has hit best from the 2 slot. Dusty is trying to get him going. But he looks more lost everyday. And not just at the plate.
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I also recognize Baker is just trying to get the kid going.
Can he sit on it and accept the bad performances that cost us games (he definitely owns a piece of last nights L)? Does he have other viable options? I don’t think he really does. So I don’t blame him.
The question is when does he get hot? Every player that gets there is capable of it. He was in the playoffs last year. We need a week like that soon to help keep the pressure on Texas. You just wish as a fan it was more consistent, because when he looks bad he is swinging at pitches so bad even the catcher can’t catch them.
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Somebody must be feeding Dusty the Clown some of our advice. Today’s lineup:
Altuve 2B
Bregman 3B
Alvarez, Y DH
Tucker RF
Diaz, Y C
Abreu, J 1B
McCormick LF
Peña SS
Meyers CF
Good to see MaldoNADA get a taste of what happens to you when you have a good game on a Dusty Baker team. Grab some bench, lardazz!
I’d probably still switch Abreu and Chas. But at least Pena is out of the 2 hole. He doesn’t belong there. I really thn he belongs in Sugarland, but that may be too extreme.
But all of them need to play baseball as if they know how. Which is not what they did yesterday.
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It’s imperative that this particular lineup produces tonight.
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Absolutely!
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No Judge in the Yankee lineup tonight, either, thank God. I thank the Deity because it turns my stomach looking at that ugly SOB and I really don’t want to sit here with a puke bucket on my side table all game.
But I suppose it really doesn’t matter since all Yankees are ugly SOBs……
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Yeah that lineup looks like a hybrid of my lineup and Steven’s – Cmon Astros get on a roll tonight
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Damn! Another one of these national broadcasts with the Yankees homers. C’mon boys, make em cry!
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This umpire cam sucks!
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But one really has to hand it to AppleTV. If I didn’t know it before seeing it, I never woulda guessed that the camera was built by a 12 year old in Thailand……
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Nice start! Yainer must want the day off tomorrow……
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C’mon Yordan. WTF?
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Better late than never, I guess.
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Gold glove my hairy azz…………………
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Good God, don’t we have ANYBODY who can fill that 2 hole? Grrrrrr……………
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Has Tucker been taking baserunning lessons from Altuve? Brain fart? C’mon Tuck, you know better than that.
Another wasted opportunity. I hate it.
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How long are Astros fans stuck watching this Abreu guy swinging like a bush league dropout? My God, he’s terrible!
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Having him wearing the uni is a disgrace to all Astros past, present, and future. He needs to sit on the bench and make room for somebody who can hit and field their position.
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I miss Yuli. He woulda picked that throw from Tuve.
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Looks like our lineup did a better job than Dusty’s normal one. Good job by Hunter Brown who gave up two of the cheapest HRs possible. On the radio they said those would have only been home runs in Yankee Stadium.
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Hunter did a good job. Those homers were cheapies. Neris, Monterrible, and Pressly all had me nervous as a cat, however. And the 3 for 11 with RISP (especially Abreu with his ohfer 5 2 K crap) made me wanna throw up.
Another half assed effort from Pena at SS. Even though he redeemed himself by turning that DP on the next batter, that ball went off his glove, for crying out loud. His so-called gold glove. Disgusting.
I think he let that ROY, WS MVP hoopla go to his little empty head. He got lucky with a couple IF hits. But if I was manager and saw that kind of lackadaisical effort from my SS, he’d be sitting on the bench for a couple games. But unlike the Clown, I wouldn’t be trying to be Mr. Popularity in the clubhouse. That won’t happen.
Meyers is a great center fielder. That was a beautiful catch today. But my God, he looks awful at the plate. Gotta learn to lay off that crap out of the zone and extend his at bats or he isn’t ever gonna get anything to hit.
Abreu has got to be one of the worst FA signings in MLB history. He stinks so bad I’m gonna start calling him Kimchi! I really, really miss Yuli.
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Some Astros player’s news: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/08/astros-release-blake-taylor-joe-perez.html
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Our favorite line up of the year has been relegated to the archives. I’d been hoping for Kessinger to get a start in place of Pena. Not quite. I was hoping maybe Dusty would keep Diaz in the lineup at first by giving Abreu a day off. Wrong. I was hoping Frenchy in center for JV was a myth. Nope. Well, Dusty has gifted Verlander with a gem of a line up today. If he needs to pick his catcher and CF, he deserves it.
By the way, what is Loperfido still doing in Corpus?
.306/.400/.563/.963
18 homers in 288 AB’s
20/22 steals.
Heck, at least bring the guy into Sugarland.
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Hey, I’m just glad to see Kimchi on the bench where he belongs. Hopeful they have him chained down and gagged so he can’t talk to the rest of the team. I really don’t think Frenchy belongs in CF. But whatcha gonna do?
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Urquidy starts Sunday
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I am probably on an island here, but I don’t give up on Jose Abreu. Yes – awful the last week. But you look at his numbers for the whole month of July with 15 runs scored , 4 HRs and 15 RBIs and a decent slash .263 BA/.333 OBP/.754 OPS – considering the Astros played 25 games in July – that is the equivalent of 97 runs scored and RBIs and 26 HRs. He had similar numbers in June. With two outs and RISP he is slashing .397 BA/ .444 OBP/ 1.255 OPS for the season. Yes, they should be giving him more days off – I agree with that. But he can be of value. It’s just that the first two months of the season dug him a hole that he has not totally dug out of.
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You’re entitled to your opinion. On a remote Pacific island is the right place to open a kimchi pot. Hopefully downwind of wherever I am. But some folks like kimchi. That’s cool.
You can have my portion.
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Yordan was out from June 9th to July 25th. During that time Abreu had a .286 BA/ .331 OBP/ .814 OPS slash with 20 runs scored, 7 HRs and 28 RBIs. Folks don’t want to admit it, but he was one of the main reasons that the Astros offense stayed afloat while Yordan was out.
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Sure, I accept that. But he’s judged at the end of the season. Those two good months for him were what we were expecting from him every month when we decided to give him a three year deal. A 79 OPS+ is tough to look at at this late date. And his defense is certainly in decline. I was hoping a trip to the Bronx would get him going again. Not so. I’m really hoping Brown finds a way to move him during the winter, which of course would mean picking up most of his salary. But we’ve got to find a better option too. Hopefully someone that costs the minimum. Then we’re actually saving some money on his lost deal.
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Yeah, that’s our gold glove SS waving at the ball like he’s riding on a float in the Rose Bowl parade. The rookie queen……
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Maldy lobbied for Verlander to return. Verlander and Framber wants Maldy to catch them. The MLB pundits spoke of the Astros resigning Maldy for two yrs with Dusty and Verlander. They reasoned the Stros should at least allow Maldy to C Verlander and Framber, allowing Diaz to catch everyone else. A darn shame this should even be a debate if true. This stinks all to high Heaven and I am fuming at the thought of it.
I see Pena back in the 2 hole & he promptly K’s after Tuv walks. Kessinger and Dubon while Diaz sits as a reserve to sub later if they fall behind. There are too many K’s and rally killers in this lineup.
Yes UK, Loperfido looks like someone worth giving a shot over the options available to us now.
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This is what you get when you let the inmates run the asylum. It’s no different in baseball than it is for society in general. The same is true in the corporate world. When management is afraid to be tough because they might be seen as “bad guys” by the worker bees, the product declines in quality. We’ve all see it before.
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As much as I was making fun of that AppleTV broadcast yesterday, I’ve got to admit. This AT&T broadcast today is absolutely HORRIBLE. Half the time, there’s no video (which may be a blessing for Stros fans as there’s nothing good happening to watch anyway) and the rest of the time there’s no audio. As an engineering type of guy formerly in the telecom business, I know it’s not a lack of technology at AT&T causing this. It’s a shortage of competence in maintaining the infrastructure at Yankee Stadium.
That place needs to be knocked down and buried. But the Hoffa family prolly wouldn’t like us disturbing their patriarch now.
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Hey, how about that Kendall Graveman trade? If you ask me it sucks!
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I did not like losing Lee. He would have been an excellent back up for Diaz next year.
I wonder if Verlander will have second thoughts about future line up similar to todays if he loses three in a row. He could have a catcher with a 1.014 OPS.
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I wouldn’t argue with you, Z. I wasn’t that impressed with him the first time around and he’s done nothing to change my mind this time.
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I’m running out of negative adjectives to use when writing about this team. Absolutely pathetic. No matter how good your pitching may be (and ours is not all that great) no team has a snowball’s chance in Texas of winning when they have 16 strikeouts.
Everybody today (without exception) looked pathetic.
I honestly wish I hadn’t wasted my time watching them.
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The team appeared to be sleep walking today with a huge shoutout to the homeplate umpire. Sixteen strikeouts??!! Quit swinging at the first pitch fellas.
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True, that HPU was giving Cortez strikes on the outside edge that he wasn’t giving to Verlander. That’s to be expected when you’re at Yankee stadium with the crew that includes Angel Hernandez. We all lmow they’re bought & paid for.
But that’s no excuse for playing like a group of blind Girl Scouts. They were ALL terrible today.
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That sure was a stinky line up today. But our hitters, the bad ones and the good ones alike, really stunk up the place. I’d bet that when a few guys saw that line up this morning they were not thrilled. These guys are all adults, but sometimes it’s got to be harder to get pumped up when you know your manager is screwed up.
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Regret I did not post the article I read on Goggle. Believe it captioned how Maldy could be an Astro another 2 yrs. It quoted Brown as saying Diaz is the C of the future. We all believe and greatly desire that outcome. What this implies to me is that a test of wills become imminent during Hot Stove. The buddy system that appears to exist in this org might make Brown wish he stayed in Atlanta. Then again he might be allowed to shape and mold this tm. Hope this is all hot air I’m blowing.
A good winning streak would surely be nice right about now
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Unbelievable… from MLB news…
Aug. 4: RHP José Urquidy to start on Sunday vs. Yankees
Manager Dusty Baker said that Urquidy is slated to return from the 60-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation) to take the mound in Sunday’s series finale. Right-hander J.P. France will come out of the bullpen in the game. The move to push France to the bullpen is likely not permanent.
“We think it’d be better on Urquidy and his arm and everything else for him to start,” Baker said prior to Friday’s game vs. the Yankees. “And if you’re going to bring in a reliever, J.P.’s done it before in the Minor Leagues, where he’s piggybacked [off a starter].”
Urquidy has relieved before. Baker is talking out of both sides of his mouth. France has been the best starting pitcher for us since coming up and now, he is relegated to the bullpen??
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Yeah, I read that before the game and was left just shaking my head. To me, Urquidy is the one who should be in the bullpen. He wasn’t doing all that well when he got hurt.
“Baker is talking out of both sides of his mouth.”
That’s what you do when there’s nothing between your ears.
This move does fit completely with my Dusty Baker theory that I can’t mention here, though…..
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That is really hard to believe Sarge as you said he has been the best starting pitcher for us in June and July. I think Dusty is doing even more stuff just to show us he is in charge.
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France in the pen allows them to greatly limit his innings. If Urquidy doesn’t pitch well after a few starts you can move France back in Sept.
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Good point Devin – You are looking at the big picture…
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Watching sportsmap Houston there was a comment made that a couple of scenarios could be in place. Dusty could remain the manager and we’d see more if the same or Maldy could become a player/manager and catch Framber, JV, and whoever he decides he wants to catch. I sure hope not as this club is on the cusp of becoming a dynasty or a dinosaur. I’m beyond understanding the line ups he throws out there. It’s so obvious why he never won a World Series until he came to Houston. I feel it was about a 90-10% in favor of the players .
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The only thing MaldoNADA should become is a distant memory. As soon as possible.
What could he possibly offer as a manager or coach. Will he teach everybody how to strike out like a girl and bat for an average below the Mendoza line?
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If Jim Crane wants to keep a GM around, he needs to let Dana Brown chart the course for the Astros going forward. I sure don’t see a player manager scenario. Nor Baker coming back. And ultimately Verlander wants to win. If he has not already, he’ll see quickly that changes need to be made over the winter.
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Good morning!
Loperfido watch: .306/.403/.570/.973
Another homer last night.
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Diaz sits.
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