Sometimes the only thing more painful than watching a struggling team is looking back at your own predictions made in the shine of the pre-season.
Top 10 reasons the Astros can repeat – ALL THINGS ASTROS (chipalatta.com)
So, Dan P picked out 10 reasons why the Astros could repeat. How is that working out for ya in 2023?
- Adding the big bat – Jose Abreu – OMG – No, this has not worked like anyone envisioned before the season. Abreu has been bad this season and has been a reason why the offense has struggled.
- Returning the bullpen – In most cases, this was a good thing, but the re-signing of Rafael Montero was a bad thing for most of the season, as was the poor performance of Ryne Stanek. This cost the team a number of games along the way and forced the manager to over-use the ones who were performing better.
- Yordan, Yordan, Yordan – When healthy, he has been one of the best offensive producers in baseball. But he has missed a big chunk of the season due to health and lately has performed as though he is not whole.
- Ready for a Cristian burial – Rather than a better Cristian Javier in 2023, Javier has been a much shakier version and is presently the fourth-best man in a rotation of Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, J.P. France, and Javier. That is not how this was pictured to go.
- Mr. Groundball – Framber has at times, looked like a Cy Young front-runner. At other times, he has looked like the young Valdez, who would often lose his poise. Not all of it is his fault, but the fans expected more than a 9-9 record from Framber this season.
- KT – Of all the items on this list – Kyle Tucker’s contribution has had the biggest positive effect on this team. He will lose the MVP to Shohei Ohtani, but he is a better hitter.
- Killer B’s – The threesome of Alex Bregman, Dusty Baker and Michael Brantley has been a mixed bag. Brantley did not return shortly after the season as we were led to believe. Perhaps he will return this week, but he has been a big bagel so far, through no fault of his own. Alex Bregman has been down with his batting average, and he has hit hot and cold, but he has been the second-best run producer behind King Tuck and is on pace for more than 100 RBIs. I think most of the people on this blog would agree that Dusty’s lineup decisions have cost this team wins this season.
- Hallow Pena – Jeremy Pena has been basically what he was during the regular season, a good defensive player (probably not a Gold Glover) and a so-so offensive player who swings outside the zone way too much. He has not shown anything close to the brilliance that was so evident in the 2022 postseason.
- Adding an All Star – Getting Jose Altuve back has helped the team, though he missed more time with his oblique injury. It has been a plus to get him back, but not as much as if he had not suffered the second injury.
- Lance, Luis, Jose, and Hunter – Lordy, let’s see. Lance never came back. Luis Garcia pitched 6 games, and we will be lucky to see him return sometime in 2024. Jose Urquidy pitched 6 games and then missed three months of the season and has only returned lately. Hunter Brown has given the team quantity, but his 4.50 ERA shows he has not been as good as he flashed at the end of 2022. This area has not come close to what was once expected.
The bottom line, it is quite amazing that a team that has had so many things go wrong could be in a cage match to the death for the AL West title this year. But it is easy to see why it has been a struggle.
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
96 responses to “Why the Astros are struggling this year”
It’s been a tough year. Injuries have caught up to what was a very healthy club in 2022. The rotation, excepting rookie France has regressed significantly. Some guys have not hit as well. Some guys have not played the same level of defense. Great teams become less great for so many different reasons.
Last night it was apparent to any casual viewer that Urquidy was gassed after four innings. 11 baserunners, including 3 walks and only one K over 100 pitches. He’s been out all season! So he gives up 2 to tie the game, and then we still need an out to finish the 5th, and then 3 more in the 10th. Leaving Urquidy in did not save the pen. I don’t hang last night on Graveman. Pitch was down and in and a good hitter hit it.
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I agree, I cringed when Baker left Urquidy in the 5th. I’m surprised they didn’t get more than two runs. Even though the Astros have had these injuries and players not coming up to expectations, I feel the biggest negative is the action Crane took before he hired Brown and brought in j Abreau and giving Dust an extension.
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But my point is easily summarized by a quote after last nights game from Dusty Baker, noted by Brian McTaggart, when speaking yet again about Yainer Diaz.
“I know everybody wants to see him play everyday. But it’s tough when you’ve got a lot to learn. It’s much like a young quarterback. How many young quarterbacks come in and just take over right away. The way we’ve handled it, the way I’ve handled it, he’ll thank me, the city will thank me and the organization will thank me later.”
That’s our season in a nutshell. The manager is disillusioned. But maybe the organization will thank him later. The organization has shown absolutely zero willingness to step in and save the season. What can a fan do besides stay home?
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That’s the biggest line of BS I’ve ever heard lately. Did that happen to Pena? It reminds me of a line from a Dan Fogleberg song, “Tony keeps his Chevy, like a virgin locked in his garage”. In this case it’s Dusty keeping Yanier off the field and on the bench.
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No, Du******. We’re not going to thank you. You ruined our team. Now go lay down by your dish.
To quote Monty Python, I fart in your general direction.
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Talking about rookie quarterbacks though. It’s a different world than it once was. Our manager must not watch Sports Center or read the newspaper. And what about rookie quarterbacks in MLB? Adley Rutschman was 2nd in the ROY vote last year. Yainer Diaz should be the favorite right now. And we’d be a much better team for it.
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Yes, Yainer learns so much sitting and watching a guy who hits a 100 points less, throws out fewer runners and the guy who has a higher ERA for the pitchers he is catching….
Unless I am insane, the Astros would be in first place by a few games if Yainer had played more games at catcher than Maldy. Rutschman is one of the reasons the O’s are a contender, playing their version of Maldy instead would not help the O’s.
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I can’t stand Oregon State. Having said that, Adley Rutschman was amazing in college and all through the minors. He’s been nothing short of great for the Orioles. Diaz has the potential to be even better – he’s that dangerous offensively and his athleticism is underrated. I made a comment on the last post, but I suspect Dusty’s quote last night was about calling for a fastball to Duvall in that situation. However, Maldonado called for fastballs in the prior two games that Duvall hit out to LF…so I’m not sure how confident I am that he would have approached the at bat differently.
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A small point and correct me if I’m wrong, but Graveman was wearing the pitch com so he was calling the pitches, not Yanier.
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Struggling is in the eye of the beholder. Yankee fans probably don’t think we are struggling. We are still on pace for 91 wins. We are 1 game out.
It could be better. If Yainer was playing everyday, that might be 97 win pace. If Chas didn’t spend a good portion of the season being treated as a platoon player might be 97 win pace. If Maldonado wasn’t allowed to catch this team to a tune of a 4.02 ERA, 11/71 caught stealing, leading the league in passed balls, while being the worst hitter in baseball it could be a 97 win pace. Maybe if Abreu didn’t sit at .650 OPS but have his playing time completely protected by a combination of the manager and his contract, it could be a 97 win pace. So many of their problems, self inflicted from the get go. Giving 36M to a 32 year old with 1 year of 68 innings pitched as the biggest thing on his resume. Or 12M to a guy that you have no idea if he is even healthy – spoiler alert, he wasn’t. Or McCullers continues to get paid like a rockstar while shagging fly balls in batting practice every day. Or Garcia doesn’t pitch in the WBC, throwing 53 pitches in one relief appearance before he even has a real ST, and doesn’t get hurt. Or Altuve doesn’t play in the WBC.
Now imagine none of that is a complaint. Any one of those can change our fortune, but if none of them happen? If Baker is called into the principals office and told to play the best lineup? If there weren’t this many injuries to key pieces?
This team is still a playoff team. They can look back in the offseason after they are eliminated in the second round because Diaz is sent out there in the 9th inning to pinch hit for Maldy after we are down 3-1 and asked to save the day in one at bat and maybe Brown can fix some of this. It will start by planning a retirement banquet and party for Dusty. Do it before he even announces anything so he gets the hint. Put his name up somewhere, maybe be creative and name something in the stadium after him. Treat him high class, give him a permanent key to the building, but get him out of the dugout. Let’s see if we can go into this offseason without giving out a bunch of money, get Lance healthy, look at the 7 starters that should roll into ST with a mostly returning pen and lineup, and fix our in season mistakes and hope for better health.
Most of all, they will still be in the playoffs. Let’s hope Tucker, Alvarez, Chas, Altuve they all find a rhythm at the same time, because if that happens they will be dangerous, and that could still be something to watch.
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Lineup is out
Altuve 2B
Bregman 3B
Tucker RF
Alvarez DH
Diaz C
McCormick CF
Singleton 1B
Julks LF
Pena SS
On 610 AM this morning Sean Pendergast said he was going to be hacked off if Yordan plays today when he could not pinch hit in the 10th last night. Well, I guess he will.
Can we get Julks off his 1 for 1000 slump he’s in?
And I guess they will be giving Abreu every other day off?
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So Jake sits, Julks plays. Dan, you’re right. Pendergast is right. At least we’ve got our catcher of the future in the lineup. I know we’re picking at things, but every single day there is some odd thing happening. I’ll be interested to see how Abreu’s back handles playing again. If it’s bad, he won’t say anything, but we’ll see it. But then again, the manager had him playing everyday all season. And I won’t believe Baker did not know about the back issue. But don’t risk Yordan 16 hours too soon with the bases loaded in the 10th.
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Personally, I’m not thinking the Yordan deal is on Dusty. They have medical personnel, who are paid to give them information and if they said “sit him tonight” that is what they do. And of course, he could still get scratched from today’s game. We will see.
I do feel bad for Julks – he was hitting the ball hard early in the season and it all disappeared on him. Yes, his BAbip was too high early, but you don’t usually see like a 1 for 41 digression or wherever he is right now.
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Keep in mind Dusty wrote the lineup yesterday with Yordan in it and then changed it later to swap Diaz in when it was determined Yordan could not go. This may be a decision that will be made closer to game time.
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Dan said; “They have medical personnel, who are paid to give them information….”
You may have put you finger on the crux of the biscuit there. The keys are; 1) being paid by whom?; and for what information? They weren’t able to spot the issues with Kimchi’s back? And if they did, they didn’t tell anybody before the $60M went down the drain?
Pardon my skepticism, but after the last 3 years, my faith in medical personnel has been shaken right down to the foundation and I have learned that they tend to come back with whatever medical conclusions the guy with the biggest checkbook wants.
Did his back get hurt in the wet market in Wuhan?
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As Elton John once sang, “The Bielak is back”! Martinez optioned by to Spaceland.
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Pretty sure I said this when they brought Martinez up. Replacing on mediocre pitcher with another is not going to be an improvement.
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Great start. And it’s too (*&^%$ early to start the Smirnoff’s. Nice……
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I was wondering how long it would be until France came bac down to planet Earth. Now whatcha gonna do, Dusty? Put in Brandon Bielak?
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I tip my hat to Bielak. He did an admirable job under some…….less than ideal conditions today.
Sure would love to be a fly on the wall on that airplane heading to Detroit this afternoon. But then, maybe I wouldn’t want to be there in case somebody does a Prigozhin on it.
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Is it safe to check the final score? Did we keep them under 100? Does JP France have symptoms of PTSD? Did Dusty swallow his toothpick?
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17-1 MaldoNADA pitched the ninth and gave up 4 more. I was sincerely hoping for a comeback line drive to hit him in his big mouth. But alas, I was disappointed once again.
But I watched to the fat lady sang.
Somewhat akin to hitting your thumb with a hammer, it feels so good when it quits hurting.
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The Rangers have no worries about the Astros catching them.
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They’ve gotta be laughing their butts off…..
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The fedex golf tournament was a lot more entertaining.
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Third place in the West. Just barely hanging on to the last WC spot. The best thing that could happen to the Astros now is a total collapse and a nice retirement party for D******* Baker.
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I was not going to have anything to say tonight. The 2-5 homestand against teams we have to beat to get into the post season speaks for itself. A 17-1 loss is just an exclamation point.
But I just listened to the managers post game comments and the first thing he said was that he did not think Yainer and JP France were on the same page from the start, that they were out of sync.
At some point, this devious man, whether he is losing some of his faculties or is just plain without integrity, will be gone. That moment won’t come too soon. To throw his rookie catcher, the young guy that has surpassed every expectation, under the bus after todays debacle is right up there with the worst I’ve heard from an MLB manager.
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I purposely didn’t listen to him because I knew he would do something despicable like that. The man has no integrity. And no intelligence. Even before he got to Houston, he has never accepted responsibility for any of his many failures. IMO, that is not even being a man. It’s being an imposter.
I wouldn’t hire him to be the spell checker at the M&M factory!
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Baker is ridiculous. Diaz was not pitching, France was.
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Sadly, I’m afraid that MoldyNADA really is leading this team right now because nature abhors a vacuum. D******* Baker couldn’t lead a Girl Scout troop with his overinflated ego obscuring whatever vision he did have. He only got his first WS win last year because he was lucky enough to inherit a team that was so good even he couldn’t screw it up. But Brent Strom isn’t there to tell him how to manage a pitching staff anymore.
So tomorrow, we’ll see freaky Framber sweating like a hooker in church because he knows his fastball stinks throwing to MoldyNADA because…..well, just because. I wonder who he’ll plunk with his next temper tantrum…..
The GM needs to step in and tell D****** (yes, TELL him) that Framber will pitch to Diaz whether he likes it or not because we need to find out if the greasy little psycho can grow the f*** up and throw to anybody they need him to throw to.
If he can’t (or won’t) then he’s useless to us next year and we need to use him as trade bait to get a 1st baseman who can hit and a backup catcher to Diaz.
Moldy is already Astros history. He just doesn’t know it yet.
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After that brilliant comment by Mr Toothpick, it’s time for Crane/Brown to step in and stop this madness. If they don’t you can write the season off. I could go on for an hour but it’s time for my “beauty rest” appointment.
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Is anybody thanking D******* Baker yet?
I know the only thing I’ll ever thank him for is not slamming the door behind him when he leaves……
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While I have seen plenty of (well deserved) commentary here about the state of starting pitchers in Houston this year, there’s one thing I haven’t seen mentioned much if at all.
True, injuries have had a devastating effect on this season. No doubt about that. The WBC can be blamed for part of that. I also tend to believe DF Baker overextending the starters can legitimately be blamed for part of it as well. Giants, Cubs, and Nationals fans would likely agree as they’ve also experienced it in Baker’s history of failure. But injuries happen. It’s part of the game and shouldn’t be unexpected. It’s somewhat of a minor miracle that the injury bug didn’t bite us at all last year.
One other thing that I think the organization (such as it is) is feeling is the loss of Brent Strom as pitching coach. It’s hard for me to imagine a Strommy coached pitching staff having the sort of mental meltdowns like we’ve seen this year from Framber, Javier, Monterrible, and others. He would be out there on the mound reading them the riot act and telling them to put on the big boy pants and pitch like they know they can. And he wouldn’t be asking DF Baker for permission to do so, either.
Which is, I suspect, why Strommy is out in the Arizona sun giving them the benefit of his experience and knowledge. He’s too darned old to be putting up with the D******* Baker drama BS. Life is too short for this crap.
I don’t blame him one bit for walking away while he was on top. But I miss him. A lot.
P.S. BTW, are you sure you meant “Hallow Pena”? Because it’s looked more like hollow Pena to me…… 😉
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Not sure if this will work, but I’ll give it a try.
https://sports.yahoo.com/hes-a-god-fearing-man-thats-also-borderline-gangster-why-the-houston-astros-cant-quit-the-worst-catcher-in-baseball-211105661.html
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Seems that after Wednesdays comments Dusty did not think that was enough and has gone public with his desire to turn our catcher issue into a full fledged public conflict. The Astros need to be coming together right now. This distraction serves no good purpose and is not fair to Yainer or Martin either.
Outside of the quote from Framber (the guy with the .824 OPS against since the All Star break) and a couple of Dusty partisans in the dugout that will likely also lose their jobs in couple of months, no other Astro not named Verlander had anything to say. And neither did Joe Espada.
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When I got to this point of the article, I almost lost my breakfast. Maybe you shoulda put a warning label on it?
“It’s not easy to put a metric on: How does he instill confidence? How does he let a pitcher relax so they can focus on executing a pitch, rather than thinking about what pitch they should be throwing? You know, those things don’t get measured.”
Maybe it can’t be measured (the results can and they’re the only thing that matters) but they can certainly be observed. Have the Astros starting pitchers been looking relaxed lately? Certainly not Framber or Javier. Nor JP after the first AB yesterday. And not really Hunter, either. The only one looking relaxed has been JV. Have y’all observed differently?
This is just a puff piece fan boy article not worth the bytes it takes to store it. Sorry. But it’s as far off the mark as a MoldyNADA fastball……
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Let me say something about Yainer before I get to Maldy.
I do think it’s a little unfair for Dusty to say that he didn’t think Yainer and France were on the same page. The poke is at Yainer here. Instead of saying France just had a bad start, they happen to them all, pick it up we will get them next week, he wanted to make sure he was validated in that moment because he hears all the switch to Diaz cries from fans, media, etc. He probably didn’t walk out there and think I’m gonna poke this kid to protect myself, he just wasn’t self aware enough to understand that is what would happen. He is trying to get you to buy into the theory that if Maldy had been catching France throws a no hitter. It’s disappointing from a professional.
I’ve been on the Diaz train since it first pulled into the station. Back in November you can go look at the archives and see where not only did I say Dusty needs to 450 PAs for this kid but I would hand him 1B since the job was open at the time. I wish that had happened, catchers tend to bat about 100 times less than a 1B over a season, and while it would be nice to see some league average catching happening for once this year, Yainer’s real strength is he is a unicorn as a hitter. His ability to get the barrel of the bat to the spot it needs to be with power and quickness are reminiscent of a 23 year old Altuve. It’s not about the counting stats, though they first intrigued me, it was about what I saw when I went and found minor league footage of his time in the Indians and Astros systems. So, yes, I want Diaz behind the plate, now.
But let’s not turn this into Dusty is alone on an island in this. Yes, these pitchers have all thrown to dozens of catchers in their lives (I bet JV has hit 100). Maldy wasn’t their catcher in little league, travel ball, pony leagues, high school, college, minors, etc. And yet, to a man, they all swear by this guy. That’s not to say they can’t throw to Yainer. Of course they can. They aren’t saying they can’t. What they are saying is there is something about the feel of throwing to Maldy – his understanding of every hitter – that is just different than anyone else. Maldonado says he spends 5-6 hours studying film and numbers on hitters before every series (yes, I wish he would spend some of that time studying pitchers that are going to pitch TO him as a hitter), and another 1-2 hours between every game.
Do I think JV wins a Cy without Maldy? Well, yea, he did before. But would it have been a historic 18-4, 1.75 ERA dominance? I don’t know. If you ask JV, he is going to say no. He openly states Maldy calls his games, not him, which is unlike most top of the rotation aces, and gives him credit for his success. So does Framber. It is this currency that Maldy deals in. Dusty buys it all.
I think Brown wants a change. But Brown doesn’t have the standing yet to deal with it. He is a rookie general manager that inherited a great team and a WS winning manager that is extremely respected in every room in the building. He has no choice but to go to the GM’s office everyday and sit and watch the game from his box and wait these guys out. If you think Dana Brown is the boss, I don’t think he even thinks that.
I still have hopes for this season. I think if the right hitters can be healthy and hot at the same time they will have a chance to make some noise in the playoffs. I am also prepared to lose most playoffs games 5-3 because Brown or Javier or Framber or even JV (with his playoff history) gives up 3 in the 4th inning and the bottom of the order can’t scrap against the best pitchers.
I am more interested in the changes coming in this franchise in the offseason if Dusty Baker is thanked, celebrated, and most importantly, replaced.
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Steven, at this point, I’m not buying. Multiple deflective comments by Dusty this week were followed by the Yahoo article yesterday. The manager was pleased to comment in depth on his sage development of talent. Two Astro players were quoted. From a performance standpoint, Framber continues to lose his own credibility. Maldy has done nothing for him since the All Star break. Tonight he needs to win some of his credibility back. Maybe the other players were not asked for their thoughts. But maybe they wisely chose not to comment, because the team does not need conflict right now. They need leadership. Alas, they will have to win without without that leadership at this point because the manager seems more intent on sharing his “wisdom” and protecting his legacy, than anything else.
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Every player on the roster knows that Maldonado’s skills are diminished. It’s no different than Abreu…they all lose something as they age unless allowed pharmaceutical assistance. You’re not hearing players on the roster clamor for Maldonado to sit. That’s not out of loyalty to Dusty. They know his offense stinks. The players want him playing. It’s the same with Abreu. It doesn’t matter how many times people throw out angry comments and call them names here or call into sportstalk radio ranting. Every single one of them is going to adopt the attitude that you and I don’t know as much as we think we do. They’re not wrong. I still think the only answer is to increase Yainer’s playing time at catcher. He’ll improve in his deficiencies and to be honest you’d be hard pressed to find more than a couple losses where those have factored in. I’m still holding out hope for September to be his month.
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Devin, I’m not buying your take either. The players want to win. They want to play with the guys that give them the best chance to win. Of course you’re not hearing players clamor for Maldonado to sit. They are professionals. They are above that. But it sure does not mean they are happy either. There are some disfunction issues with this club, created by the manager. Can the players themselves collectively overcome that? I don’t know. I’m really interested to see if Framber steps up tonight and throws the kind of game we used to expect from him.
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Thoughts –
– The 17-1 game brought a couple thoughts to mind. One of them is – it is only one loss, thank the Lord. The second reminds me of a time I had to do a solo singing at church. I completely mangled it – walked back to my choir director and whispered “Well, at least nobody died.”
– Tiredoldfan – you are going to have a stroke soon. You can complain, but lighten up on the personal insults of Framber and Dusty. Its getting old. By the way looking at that article that Uncleknuckle (daveb) posted – Strommy loved Maldy too.
– That was a terribly disappointing end to a promising 4 game series – should have won the third game. Yesterday was a lost cause.
– JP has pitched to Diaz before with better results unless I’m losing my memory.
– When Maldy was pitching – he threw a couple in the 80’s, but then mostly in the 40’s and 50’s mph. Was strange to me. I did like how they said he was pitching on 3700 days rest or something like that.
– We are in third place by a percentage point. Need to turn this around and it seems like the road has been friendlier to this team than at home.
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Dan,
I was perplexed when Strom tearfully announced that he would not be back with the Astros and was retiring from professional baseball following the loss to the Braves in 2021. And then further when he was hired just a week later by Arizona. Wonder why he left the Astros?
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This may sound a little Petty, I know, but …
Their all good boys … or so say their mamas …
they beat bad teams … and a few good ones too.
They hit pop flies … and leave runners stranded …
and the pitching … well, it’s under review!
There goes Dusty … chewin’ on a toothpick;
how old’s Maldy … who likes to dye his hair blue?
They’ve got ‘Tuve … he’s a Cooperstown shoo-in;
but they’ve had injuries … out the Kazoo ..
and they’re FREE … FREE-FALLIN!
Yeah, they’re FREE … FREE-FALLIN’
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The reason the Astros are struggling is because a lot of teams who we have beaten in the past because they were bad are not bad anymore. The Astros can no longer count on beating them because the Astros aren’t as good as they were.
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1OP, I would also say that it’s likely Martín Maldonado has displayed a work ethic and provided a level of comfort and confidence to our players and pitchers and coaches over the years. But reality, in the form of statistics and analytics, shows us that Maldonado is no longer effective. Our rookie catcher has gotten better performances out of our pitchers than Maldy.
When the other teams get better, we’ve got to adjust. We’ve got to do things differently. We’ve got to get better at things that might not have been so important even a year ago.
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So, should Maldonado’s less than stellar outing on the mound yesterday be blamed on the poor preparation by Yainer Diaz? Someone needs to tell Dusty to go sit down.
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That literally got an LOL here! 🙂
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Listen folks everyone knows that if Maldy had started yesterday instead of Diaz that we would have only lost 15-1…..
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HBP, PB, & a walk in the b2. Quite the battery we’ve got out there today. Great catch by Tucker, but geez. C’mon Psycho, get it together!
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How many errs can the Stros count on to get on base? Five innings and 1 err hit for Tuv. Guess they should count themselves lucky, the Tigers have no hits. Other than the fact Valdez has a no-hitter working, my enthusiasm wanes watching our lineup being unable, at this juncture, to grind out AB’s. I’ve attempted to coach them from my lounge chair on how not to swing at all those junk pitches but they are not listening, lol. See what happens in the top of the 6th.
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Oops, I stand corrected. This feels like a pitchers duel. Both Valdez and Manning are soft tossing those curvy-sinker pitches, nibbling at the corners, mixing in an occasional heater. KT’s last AB saw 3-4 95+ heaters, SO on a 85mph sinker. Offensive junkies don’t like me might have to wait until the BPs take over.
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This HPU went to the Angel Hernandez Hallucinatory School of Umpiring. My God, he’s awful!
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Once again, the lack of a “shut the door” closer comes back to bite the Astros!
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They remind me of a guy I used to work with. He had the charm to get in the door and the skill to do a good presentation. But when it came time to close the deal and ask for the sale, he just couldn’t get the old John Hancock on the bottom line. Last I heard, he was dealing Slurpees at a 7-11.
Which may be a good fit for Ryan Pressly…….
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This team’s performance or lack there or speaks for itself.
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Sorry I hit x instead of z. Maybe don’t want people to know I’m an Astro supporter.
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The Astros struggles. Let me count the ways.
The main culprit we know was injuries to both the pitching staff and lineup.
Brantley has yet to return and both Altuve and Alvarez have missed big chunks of this season.
One of the most feared hitters in the gm has yet to return to form (Yordan). And it saddens me to think this guy might not ever play a full season without some sort of injury given his history thus far.
Dusty! His managerial (mis-managerial) style has has the fandom tethering on the edge of outright revolt. Did Dusty recognize Pressly did not have his slider before giving up all those runs?
Poor performances. Where does that start?
Pena has been lost at the plate most of the season. Crane burned the tm with Abreu. Maldy (nough said). A bench filled with guns that can’t shoot straight. An overworked BP. The SP coming down with a bad case of DTs this 2nd half thus far.
Did I say Dusty?
This loss was gut wrenching!
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You know, you could prevent getting carpal tunnel syndrome by listing the things that have gone right for our boys this year. At this point, I just want it to be over, wave goodbye to DF Baker, and look forward to next year.
And NO ASTROS IN THE WBC NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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NO WBC NEXT YEAR
They don’t play again until 2026
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Not then, either then!
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Thoughts
– I think it was obvious that Maldy and Pressly were not in synch (so who you going to blame now Dusty?)
– I’m sorry – it is easy to dump on Pressly, who did blow the save. I still go back to last postseason when he pitched 10 innings, gave up 4 hits and 0 runs and recorded 6 saves. If you can go back in Astros playoff history and find a closer who ever came close to doing that in a playoff year, I will be completely surprised.
– My gosh, why does this team stop hitting together or all hit together (even when we don’t need it)?
– Even when some calls benefit us, I do not enjoy watching bad umpiring. Baseball never culls the herd.
– Came so close to breaking it open a bit in the ninth – both Yordan and Diaz just pulled it a few inches wide
– Is Yordan starting to line things up? Again he hit the heck out of a ball that stayed in the park – which never used to happen to him.
– Tucker saved three runs there early on with a great stab – He was about 30 feet too short in the 9th to do it again
– Though Framber had the no hitter going through 7, Manning had outpitched him.
Totally unrelated to sports. I used an Amazon gift card for Father’s day to add to my classic rock CD collection. I decided to grab some live albums, a couple of the groups I never had albums from but had heard their live performances were outstanding. An eclectic mix of Neil Young (Live Rust), Sinatra Live at the Sands, Humble Pie at the Fillmore and Little Feat Waiting for Columbus. All outstanding…
Little Feat was terrific – I remember some of their songs from the old days, but never had one of their albums. Great musicianship and vocals – if you like southern rock through a jazzy filter.
Humble Pie with Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton – Robert Plant must have been channeling Marriott with his vocal style and some pretty gutty guitar play between Marriott and Frampton
Sinatra was at his best and had Count Basie’s band and Quincy Jones’ arrangements.
Neil Young started off with a solo acoustic set that morphed into some crunchy rock with his band Crazy Horse.
Oh well, that cleared the palate of the game for me. There is always tomorrow – but this team may be headed towards implosion.
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Little Feat are my absolute favorite. The love of my life was related by marriage to Tim Conners (Willie Nelson’s partner in the Austin Opry House back before the IRS troubles) and we used to have backstage passes to the green room every weekend in the late 80’s early 90’s when Feat came to town quite often. ALWAYS a great show and a great bunch of guys. Fat Man In The Bathtub has always been my favorite boot scootin’ tune.
We had some great times back then. Wish I could remember them all……
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The Astros are certainly frustrating from a fan’s perspective. The Rangers are doing their best to hand someone the Division title and we don’t look to interested in taking it. We have the look of a team that’s mentally exhausted. There’s no enthusiasm, no swagger and precious few clutch plays being made. I wouldn’t have any idea what’s actually contributing to whatever is wrong but I’d wager it’s a number of things. Maybe we’ll kick it into gear. Maybe we’ll have a repeat of 2020. Maybe we just need to get on to next year and start over. I’ll continue to hope for the best.
In addition, I thought for a while we were through with the classless and unnecessary barrage of personal attacks by a single poster on this site…but I guess not. That’s unfortunate. Those kind of inane and excessively negative comments take away from the otherwise thoughtful and incisive analysis by literally everyone else on this site.
Thanks for all you do Dan.
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Hey Jeff – there are always challenges in life, but when I think of some things that people face – just skipping over some comments is not the end of the world.
I appreciate you stopping by and commenting. I am struggling right now, because I can’t just wish the guys to collapse just to change managers. We don’t even know if that would work.
Oh well, maybe I need to stop checking out lineups.
Thanks for joining in – keep coming back and I’ll keep writing.
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You’re right Dan. I’ll go back to scrolling past certain posts without reading the content. In the end, I hope we make the playoffs because there’s a chance we could win it all again. It’s hard to for me to ever be too down on the Astros. Frustration is usually overcome when I remember all the summer afternoons/nights I spent in the Astrodome in the 80s. The games were family affairs involving going with uncles who are no longer with us. The games were so much fun but I remember wishing out loud how I wish we were good enough to ever be in the playoffs. With the exception of ‘86 we never were. And all these years later we are a fixture. So it’s hard to be overly antagonized by their current plight. And you’re right again about changing managers/coaches. I coached Varsity High School basketball for almost 30 years. Sometimes a change is needed. We coaches get stuck in our ways and sometimes not for the better. Players sometimes need a new voice to listen to. The problem is, as you noted, change doesn’t automatically mean things get better. Here’s hoping our team finds the better version of itself tonight in Detroit and going forward.
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Good morning. That was a weird game. We sure sucked. Wiped out 17-1 on Thursday, effectively no hit on Friday. I don’t know how well Framber pitched. He got assistance from the other guys. But he gave us 7 innings without a run. Didn’t not help much though, even as the other guys tried to help us out with 4 errors that should have been at least 5.
As I’ve said before, this is a disfunctional team. Jeff said it again last night.
We can certainly still get into the playoffs. Quite a few teams not running away with it either. I’m interested to see what happens. But other than bringing back Verlander and losing two big prospects, I don’t care one way or the other if we play more than 162 at this point. Might be the best thing to go home and regroup for 2024.
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Am having a heck of a time trying to post again. Dan, I’d like you or Chip to wipe out my account if possible and I’ll try to join up again with another email address. I’d appreciate it.
One more point before I make too many points and get rejected for the 3rd time today. I think the manager has lost his team. Nobody looks motivated, except for Frenchy who got carried away and made another dumb throw last night.
Brantley is a distraction at this point. Bring him up or shut him down. But don’t bring up a guy that will break down in September.
The manager needs to stop talking about the catcher controversy that only he created. Do what you’ve got to do Dusty. You’ll be remember for your decisions.
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Oh and I meant to give a big thumbs up to Mr. Bill and his Free Fallin’ parody
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I sure hope this is a bump in the road and not a free fall. We’ve had some odd losses and some unlikely wins. Instead of dwelling on the loss last night I’m going to choose to go back and watch highlights of Tucker’s grandslam against Baltimore. We talk about big momentum swings in other sports like when a team is in the red zone and throws a pick six. I’m concerned we just saw a momentum swing on the season, but I’m not sure if it was the sweep by the Mariners or the loss to Boston where we failed to win it in the ninth and gave up the three run HR in the tenth. We’re 1-8 in extra inning games this year. None of that matters if you can make it to the postseason, but we now have to lose two fewer games than both the Rangers and Mariners the rest of the way to just tie either club. I’m concerned we’re going to really want a few of these losses back when we get to the last week of the year. And for the record, I agree with daveb that if we miss the postseason it will be awfully hard to justify that trade for Verlander.
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Good morning!
I’m using an old email address that Word Press unfortunately remembers, and it still wants to use the most recent email address I’ve been using, the one I deleted last night. I feel kind of out of sync. A Yainer Diaz thing. By the way, our back up catcher got 15 K’s out ofour pitching staff last night. If the boss won’t say anything, I will. But at the same time, I was pleased to see our leader take the 5 solid innings he got from Hunter Brown and move on the the pen rather than trying to squeeze another inning from Hunter. And a shoutout to Ronel Blanco too. The Tigers have weak line up, but we got the 27 outs we needed. It’s too late in the season to think about tomorrow. Got to win today.
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This is a bit presumptuous right now, but the Astros have to set the 40 man roster one last time with those guys they want to be eligible for the post season by Thursday night, August 31 at 11:59 PM, EST.
Who backs up Abreu if his back goes out again? Who backs up Brantley (I’m guessing he joins the club tomorrow) if he can’t stay healthy? I’m guessing Kessinger stays on the 40, but does Hensley? Singleton? Julks? Bannon? I want to add one guy besides Brantley. Yep, Joey Loperfido. It’s only been 10 games, but he keeps doing what he did in Corpus. The BA is only .267, but the OBP is .410 and the OPS .877. He can steal a base. For whatever reason, he’s playing center most everyday. He can play left or right. But he also play first too. Too many outfielders? Maybe. But Frenchy and Jake and Julks add no punch. And they don’t hit lefty or play a serviceable first.
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I should add the Frenchy is not going anywhere. And Jake would be a shocking demotion if only for sentimental reasons. But I could see him left off the post season roster if the bat does not awaken.
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I like your suggestion for the 40 man, but question whether they have room to add him during September. I think the backup answer is that we’d prefer for Alvarez to play DH, but he’s likely second in line in LF and 3rd in line at 1B behind Diaz. I don’t think we’ll see Singleton on a postseason roster. I thought Hensley did well for us last year, but he’s struggled all year both in HOU and at Sugarland. If not for the versatility I’d say he has no shot at a postseason spot either.
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Devin, I’m just thinking about the post season eligibility deadline right now. I wonder how healthy Abreu and Brantley are even now. We’ll see.
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Looking back on the reasons I gave for the Astros to repeat, I missed a bunch:
-I said that Dana Brown would make sure the Astros would get the best players on the field and I missed that one by a mile.
– I said that Jose Abreu would make the Astros better because he was hungry for a title. I didn’t realize he was actually starving.
– I said the bottom of the rotation would be really good. They turned out to be really good at disappearing.
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And a shout back to the crawfishboxes for linking to us today
https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2023/8/28/23847310/astros-crawfish-boil-august-28-2023
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Looking at the 40 man roster I tend to agree with db7. Banon, Hensley, Kessinger, and Singleton (to a lesser degree) are not shoe ins for the roster. Julks and Meyers are actually suspect too. Brantley? who knows? As for pitchers, there seems to be a few that should be looked at. Loperfido should be given a shot. Don’t think he’d be any worse than some of the others hanging around. Then there’s Will Wagner and Zach Daniels. Both .800+ OPS. We can add 3 for September so nothing should be for granted.
And we might consider throwing in the kitchen sink if it’ll help us get to the playoffs.
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I wonder why the Astros have not posted a line up for tonights game, 2 hours away.
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Brantley??
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I would not start him against the lefty.
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But you think about these things – Dusty doesn’t
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I just hope everyone is healthy. I did not expect to see MB tonight.
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No surprise. Abreu hitting 5th again. Maldy back to catching Javier.
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Down by two already. Pop fly that I think Altuve should have caught (my opinion) and a booted grounded by Javier that they called a hit but was an error (my opinion again) with a 4 pitch walk and a double. All with two outs. Javier needs a psychologist too.
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This is why the Astros are struggling this year:
1. Altuve struck out to lead off and remained oblivious to the ball going to the back stop. He could have jogged to first and been a leadoff runner on.
2. With two outs and nobody on, Javier would have had a 9 pitch inning had the formally excellent defense caught a very high pop up to shallow center.
3. Javier botches a come backer that was still an easy out if he had picked up the ball with his hand instead of trying to use his glove.
4. Then he walks the bases loaded.
5. Then he goes 2-0 and grooves the next pitch for a 2 run double.
26 pitches and a quick deficit. Astros 2023.
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Our 58MM man did hit a long ball and we got one back. If Javier can get on track Sale might be vulnerable tonight.
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All I’m saying is that these are the kind of plays the Astros made previously and the dumb things we did not do previously. It’s hard to be the best for a long time. It’s focus on every bleeping play. And we don’t have that focus.
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Javier is easily my most disappointing Astro of 2023. What do we do with the guy on August 28th with a month plus to go?
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We catch a break when the Red Sox hang their reliever out to dry. Putting a 6 spot on the board with a 3 bagger from Altuve and a long ball from Yordan. Almost felt sorry for Barraclough. Now let’s play some “D”.
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