Hopefully, this post will trigger a complete turnaround by the Astros over the weekend that makes all of this moot. But here is a look at where the Astros are this Friday afternoon before Justin Verlander’s return to the rotation.
- Extra inning games – 0-2 record. The Astros continue their trend of screwing the pooch under the phantom runner runner rules (1-8 in 2023).
- One-run games—0-5 record. The Astros have done everything in their control to be bad in close games.
- Home / Road – the good news is that they are actually better at home (4-9/ 31% wins) than on the road (2-5/ 28.6% wins). The bad news is they are almost equally putrid home or away.
- Home/Road—It is fascinating that a team that has won approximately 30% of its games both at home and away could have such a disparity in scoring. They are 4-9 at home but have outscored the opposition 62-59. Meanwhile, they are 2-5 on the road and have been slaughtered in the scoring department 25-51.
- The Astros bullpen is 1 for 7 in save opportunities.
- In their 14 losses to date, they have lost eight games in which they held the lead at some point and 2 more in which they were tied at some point.
- The Astros lead the AL with 163 runners left on base, 20 more than the Texas Rangers.
- As a team – the Astros pitching staff has the worst ERA (5.24) in the AL, more than half a run behind the 14th ranked Toronto Blue Jays.
- The staff is an equal opportunity abuser of the ERA. The starters are 14th out of 15 in the AL with a 5.05 ERA while the relievers have squeaked up into 13th spot in the AL with a 5.47 ERA.
- The hitting continues to be an enigma as the Astros are 1st in BA (.268), 2nd in OBP (.341), and T1st in OPS (.769) while hanging way down in the 7th spot in Runs/ game (4.35) more than 1.4 runs per game behind the league-leading Baltimore Orioles.
- The Astros have that 1 save so far, which is two behind the three teams tied for twelfth with 3 (Rangers, White Sox and Twins) in the AL. They are 9!!!!! behind the lead leading Yanks.
- The pitching staff has given up the most walks in the AL (86) to date and are tied for 12th with the Yanks with only 150 Ks on the season.
- The Astros have the most total bases (300) and are the toughest team to strikeout (134 Ks) in the AL, but unsurprisingly based on the eye test of their situational hitting, they are tied for last in the AL with 2 sacrifice flies.
- In individual honors:
- They have the worst hitter in the AL with at least 50 ABs in Jose Abreu and his -22 OPS+.
- They have the next to worst ERA in the AL with Blair Henley and his 135.00 ERA.
- They have the pitcher with the worst ERA, who has thrown more than 10 innings in Hunter Brown (10.54 ERA)
- And they have 7 of the 21 worst ERAs in the AL to date – Ryan Pressly, Brown, Henley, Parker Mushinski, Spencer Arrighetti, Shawn Dubin and Joel Kuhnel (though Dubin deserved a better fate).
I could keep going, but I am getting both tired and depressed. The Astros have “earned” their spot at the bottom of the AL West and need to fix a lot of things to get out of this hole.
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
48 responses to “Astros ’24: Last place, by the numbers”
The good news? They can’t keep being this hopeless can they?
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That’s what I say every time I watch the “news”. Yet they just keep on sinking lower every day…….
Not gonna go to MMP and light myself on fire, though.
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Those are some very ugly numbers!
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Nats sure are wearng some fugly unis and their fans are drinking Bud Light. Ewwwwwwwwwww
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JV is qualified for a win. If these guys can actually play as a professional baseball team and hold on to it.
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Thank you, Jesus! That’s the Verlander we were all praying (in our own way) would be pitching today. Fantastic job.
Now hoping the losers in the bullpen don’t blow it again……
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Good Abreu and Pressly both did there jobs as well as anybody could ask of them. Good.
I think either or both of them have a legitimate gripe about the way the newcomer Hader stepped into the closer role they way he did. And OMG, he had to throw 30+ pitches today! Does that mean he’s unavailable tomorrow? s/
I can’t help but think it’s just a tad ridiculous that Espada had to walk out there in the b9 and remind our $19M/year closer that if you are trying to strike batters out, you have to throw strikes…….
Evil Abreu doesn’t look hurt to me. He just looks like a 39 year old soon-to-be former ballplayer who really never was as good as he was advertised to be in Houston. And now he’s just worn out and going through the motions. Kind of.
Whoever recommended to Crane that he spend $60M on this guy SHOULD (the 2nd biggest word in the English language) be at the very tippy top of Crane’s sh__ list for life. Not even invited to the team Christmas party.
Anyway, that’s my take. Good to have JV back. Maybe he can help straighten the kids out.
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Well I noticed that Maldonado is batting a cool .057 while our slugging 1st baseman is hitting a “hot” .073. Glad JV was on tonight and the offense wash just good enough to give him 5 runs to get the “W”. Abreu and Pressley were able to do the job and Hader needed a little encouragement from Espada to get us across the finish line. A good night for Tucker, Chaz, Pena, Dubon, and Diaz. Bregman just is just down right pitiful as all he can do is hit ground outs and pop ups/fly outs. I’d start to treat him like Abreu, let Dubon play third. He sure can hit better. Let’s surprise our supporters with a series win/sweep for a change .
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Z, obviously I would have traded Bregman this past winter, based on my earlier rants, as I think he’s an old 30, but he’s still far superior at third than Frenchie. His defense remains solid. He will hit better as he gets into warmer weather. We’ve got other problems that require immediate attention.
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Just got home from being out and sipping a couple of old rums (El Dorado 15) after dinner at the beach. Totally missed the game. Sounds like we’ve initiated a winning streak. On ward!
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It is very hard to get saves when you trail by 4 or 5 runs entering the ninth inning.
When baseball was baseball, JV would be called a “stopper”. A pitcher who stopped a losing streak.
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Thoughts
But we will take it and hope that the team strings a couple more good games in D.C.
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Oh and “The Cooler” dropped a catchable short hop throw at first base with one out in the ninth that could have made Hader’s night a lot easier.
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Our lost trio; Neris, Maton and Stanek are not impressing in their new jobs. Maybe we’ll get to a point where we are not missing them. We’ve had six pretty good starts in a row now. That’s the most important thing to getting stabilized.
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It’s just a shame our first baseman is doing such a good impersonation of a box elder stump.
Lord, what a worthless excuse for a ball player…….
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Can’t even catch a simple popup. Geesh…………
But at least the Nationals are a class act. Giving the girls with the 2 axe handle rear ends be ball girls. Yuck.
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They must have found this HPU in the same crackhouse where they found the DC mayor…….
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When the ump does not require a pitcher to put the ball in the strike zone, he’s got a big advantage.
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You just can’t let Abreu bat with two RISP in the 7th inning of a one run game. Espada is flat wrong unless he’s got instructions not to pull Abreu.
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I suspect he would be fired in no time if he did.
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Pressley sucks, J Abreu sucks, the Astros suck. Sorry, I just can’t stand it anymore.
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Pressly simply doesn’t have the stones to be a closer anymore. He isn’t fooling anyone and he can’t beat anyone anymore. He needed to be replaced a year ago.
He is NOT going to be replaced in the grand scheme of things by some skinny little punk who can only throw 30 pitches every 2 or 3 days. And even then not for strikes.
This Hader dude seems to have the work ethic of a Cornel post grad student with purple hair, nose rings, and ear hoops the size of the hubcaps on a Buick. It’s not a job, after all. He just deserves the $19M/year because he’s so f*^%$ pretty on camera, you know.
And let’s not even talk about Evil Abreu until I chill out a bit.
This isn’t a professional baseball team. Some rich guy from Houston has put together a collection of narcissistic clowns who dress up as baseball players in front of TV cameras.
What a joke.
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Sticking with the theme of the post, this is a serious last-place team.
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Gonna start calling Evil Abreu “Heinz” because his batting average is 57.
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And Dusty Baker was heard to say, “Do you miss me yet?”
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I’m not ready to bail yet. That was just one more rotten team loss. Despite another good start and acceptable pen work in the 7th and 8th, there were problems all over, starting with the failure to hit and put the game out of reach multiple times. Bregman, Diaz, and Dubon too. Sometimes Mauricio just does not know enough to take a pitch and work a count, especially with two of the best hitters on the planet coming up behind him. Gary Pettis had no business sending Altuve home in the ninth against a known quality arm It wasn’t even close. Diaz put the first guy on base in the 9th, something Pressly certainly did not need. And the pitch that Abrams hit, it was well down and in. I can’t complain about that pitch. But the next one on the two run single, it was grooved.
At this point, Abreu is a poison. I think his teammates would be relieved to see hime go. He can’t even do regular things. A pop up? Management has to find an answer. And no Z, jokingly or not, Dusty Baker has no business running a baseball team and remains the architect of some of these 2024 issues. But I’ll say this for the first time. Joe Espada looks more like a follower than a leader. Sometimes he looks like he’s asking the ump for advice. Wonder what his contract terms are.
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I forgot the sarcasm font with the Dusty Baker comment. I agree with you on that issue. There is just something wrong with this team and they better figure it out soon or there will be no later.
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And unfortunately, Joey Lops is not the answer right now. With 3 more K’s while going 0-5 last night, he’s got 27 strike outs in 15 April games. That won’t work.
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ZOMBIE, ZOMBIE, ZOMBIE!
Okay, I don’t know if I can actually justify a parody of a group called the Cranberries on a sophisticated baseball blog like this (no offense intended, Ocean Spray!). But sometimes, when I look deep into the eyes of the Jose-not-Altuve, Abreu- not-Bryan, Guantanamero-not-Gurriel who keeps sabotaging our already struggling team I have to wonder, as the lead singer of the Cranberries cried out: WHAT’S IN YOUR HEAD, IN YOUR HEAD, IN YOUR HEAD, ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!
The back of the baseball card and the guy playing first base do not line up. What we are seeing instead is a Zombie Apocalypse.
I may just be a ghost – but at least I’m not a zombie!
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Javier to the IL. Arrighetti gets the start today.
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Sorry, Hunter to start.
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Have been unable to post lately. Testing it now
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I departed last night’s gm in the 8th up 4-2 thinking it was in the bag. How foolish of me to think the BP was incapable of coughing up the lead. OP, I’m inclined to agree this is a serious last-place team.
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Good to hear from you Andre!
Sorry you are having posting problems.
The Astros are trailing by 3 early so well on the way to a 1-2 split of this series and continued serious last place contention.
(I will say Hunter looked a bit angry as he struck out the side in the second – good)
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1st inning, Hunter Brown gives up a 3 spot. Let’s just fold the tents, pack up the bags and call it a day.
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I must confess, Parker has frustrated this lineup. And he’s hit just about every edge pitch he’s thrown, to the point where the ump has not called them all. The SO’s would be far more brutal if he does. Of course we are not helping by chasing everything.
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Will the return of injured P stabilize and improve the rotation? It should. How long before the BP recalibrate their howitzers and pitch to expectations? They’d better figure it out because no help is coming anytime soon.
Despite a slow start, the offense should be a bright spot save for our 1st B and Bregman’s notorious slow starts. Often time this vaulted lineup resembles a group of hitters where ‘hits come to die’, unable to get key hits when they want or need them.
I enjoy watching Yordan launch 400 foot moonshots as much as anyone. I also enjoy games like yesterday, 3-4 blistering 100+ mph bullets to all fields, which he can almost do at will it seems. How encouraging is that with the bases juiced? This is not a complaint against Yordan I promise.
When will Bregman stop launching uppercut popups for outs? He is patient, takes his walks and seldom chases, except when he does not. Forget it! Dubon will not take a walk, even with Altuve and Alvarez due up behind him. I know, I’m nitpicking, but I’m flustered. And I’m not done yet.
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Oh, how the mighty has fallen. I am actually feel bad for Abreu, not because of his diminished skillset, but by the process which brought him here. I do not care that the gang that cannot shoot straight are storied, iconic figures from the past. Their prehistoric mode of thinking and advisory skills have helped drag this org into an abyss difficult to rise out of. And that responsibility lies squarely on Crane’s shoulders. I wonder how Cranes investment partners feel about their coffers being drained by poor decision making? It is for that reason I am giving the GM a pass. Some of Cranes business partners should be screaming for him to sweep the carpet clean in his office, empower Brown to utilize his talents to bring this org back to respectability or sink trying. He does not require an advisory board to hinder his talents.
And please, do not continue to insult us with “look at the back of baseball cards”, not from the front office or the dugout. Baseball cards do not pitch or hit as far as I can remember.
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Just checked the box score and am very happy I decided to sleep in instead of watching that garbage team…….
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Loperfido is 2 for his last 23. I watched the game last night. He was swinging out of his shoes. Someone screwing with his swing?
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daveb – yes they tinkered in the offseason
How Astros prospect Joey Loperfido fine-tuned swing for more homers (msn.com)
Andre – lots of good points. I hate to disappoint you and others – I was listening to the pre-game show on the radio coming home from church. They were asking about the slow starts of the big 3 in the bullpen – Abreu, Pressly and Hader. And heart to hand Dana Brown talked about looking at the back of their baseball cards. AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHH
At least when he talked about Jose Abreu he did not point at his baseball card. He said he was scuffling and that he would be sitting some and maybe needed some time off.
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Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler are helping me keep my sports sanity.
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Here is your ray of sunshines –
Jose Abreu did not go 0-4 today.
Hunter Brown made sure the back of the bullpen was off the hook today.
Chas-y Fizz is over .250.
Best I got.
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Dan, Loperfido, after that hot start, looks kind of lost. I think we need to get a guy ready that can hit 20 homers a year but more importantly, get on base consistently, hit doubles in the gap and steal 25. Historically he’s had respectable BB/K ratio’s. So instead, they elevate his swing and he gets a batch of early season dingers in the thin air of New Mexico and ends up discombobulated. I think this guy can figure things out for himself if left to his own devises. As I recollect, Bagwell was in Sugar Land on Monday. I hope he didn’t share more wisdom.
Zanuda was lamenting Bregman and his latest crappy start. The problem with Bregman is that he tries to reinvent his stance every winter and ultimately gets himself unready for the coming season. Right now our back up first baseman has better stats. Bregman gets older every year and starts slower every year. When a team loses all production from the corner infield positions and the back of the pen can’t close games and there is no stable rotation, well, this is the result.
I hope the guys had a nice dinner in Chicago last night and maybe a few extra bottles of wine.
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A shout out to the Crawfish Boxes for linking to us today.
Astros Crawfish Boil: April 22, 2024 – The Crawfish Boxes
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Some of those poor souls over there are getting close to going over the edge.
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I read Javier is on the IL with neck discomfort. Hard to swallow losing so many starters from the rotation with no viable options to cover our wounded warriors. Understandably, that is a storm that has to be weathered. To that end a struggling BP and offense has to step up to help fill that void. What others choices are there?
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Well, Mr. Bill’s Ghost, the Cranberries saw us play and said we look like sleepwalking turkeys. Are your ghost friends haunting the Astros? Is every pitcher who played for Dusty cursed? The whole team is playing like deer caught in headlights.
Astro heads hang lowly
Strike pitches slowly taken
And the violins played such silence
All-stars be mistaken?
But you see, it’s not me, it’s not my fantasy league
In your head, in your head we’re fighting
When their arms give up bombs, and those bombs, drive in runs
In your head, in your head we are crying
In your head, ‘Stros look dead
Bambi, Bambi, Bambi-ie-ie
What’s in your head? Stay in bed?
Bambi, Bambi, Bambi-ie-ie-ie, oh
Boo boo boo boo, Cukoo Cukoo
Fool fool fool fool, Phew phew phew phew
Opponent records breaking
Heartache taking over
When the violins play in silence
We must be mistaken
It’s the same old injuries, since 2016
In your head, in your head they’re still hurting
When their arms give up bombs, and those bombs, drive in runs
In your head, in your head they are dying
Walking dead, in your head
Bambi, Bambi, Bambi-ie-ie
What’s in your head? Stay in bed?
Bambi, Bambi, Bambi-ie-ie-ie, oh
Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, eh-eh-oh, aarrgghh!
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