Growing up, I was kind of confused about this Genie (or Jeannie) in a bottle thing. If you watched the Twilight Zone episode, I Dream of Genie, you knew if you found the special bottle, a genie would appear and grant you three wishes only. On the other hand, if you were an astronaut and you found a bottle on a beach, this great-looking woman named Jeannie, scantily clad for that time on TV, would appear and would not limit you on wishes. In fact, she might be granting you wishes even when you were not apparently wishing for them. Hilarity ensued.
Today, this is a simple assignment. Pretend I am the first genie, and I appear to you in your man or lady cave. I am granting you three wishes only, but I do have some conditions on them. The wishes must be related to the Astros of 2024, but they can’t be team-related.
In other words, you can’t wish that the Astros come roaring back, make the playoffs and win the World Series. Well, you can wish that, but the genie can’t grant that to you.
No, you have three wishes that you can apply to three different players on the major league level or even in the organization for this season.
That may sound easy, but there can be some nuances here. Do you wish for a great season from someone like Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, or Yordan Alvarez, who normally give you a very good season anyway, even when they miss time? Do you want a big turnaround from Jose Abreu or Alex Bregman? A great comeback from injury from Lance McCullers Jr. or Luis Garcia? A wonderful rookie year from Joey Loperfido or Spencer Arrighetti?
So that is your assignment for today. I will chime in with my picks later today, but you have a fresh canvas here. What are your three wishes for which three Astros?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
79 responses to “Astros 2024: You have 3 wishes”
Heck, Dan, I rated your post as excellent just based on the Barbara Eden reference.
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God bless her – she is still around at 92 and will turn 93 the day before my birthday in August.
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And even at 92, she looks hotter than a 3 dollar pistol! If you happen to be a 90 year old guy. Which I’m not yet……
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I wish for Christian Javier and Jose Urquidy to return as good as they ever were.
That would give us a starting five of JV, Framber, Javier, Urquidy and Blanco. Yeah, I’d be fine with that.
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I was going to note today that it’s a huge night for Hunter Brown. He needs to take charge and show us the guy he was during the first half of 2023. He needs to help this club get a win tonight. If you want to give me a whole year of good Hunter, I’ll take it.
Yes, Loperfido is my next guy. But I’m just going to wish that he gets the time and regular play (much of it at first base) to prove himself. He’s done it at every level so far. I think he’ll bring a real, much needed spark to this club, given the opportunity.
I’m going to give my next wish to Ronel Blanco. He’s done so much already. We always talk about a couple of new guys stepping up each year and having a big impact. Give him continued good health and excellence on the mound.
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Alright, I’m going to wish for Jose Altuve to win the 2024 WS MVP award. After that, I’m going to wish for LMJ to win the “I can’t believe his arm is finally better and he’s throwing like an All-Star” award…which I just invented. Finally, I’m going to wish for Jose Abreu to win the power ball lotto and decide it’s time to go ahead and hang them up early.
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My guess is that Jose Abreu is not a big spender. He’ll be okay.
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Well verdicts finally in. Kessinger to the 10 day IL and Kuhnel was DFA. There is a chance we could lose Kuhnel. I would have thought Blair Henley was the guy to get off the 40 man.
So the can is kicked down the road 10 days and Loperfido will open in LF tonight.
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I just read that the Astros are 23rd in sprint speed in MLB. That’s another reason to get younger.
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Just wow (Chip notified me of this).
Astros To Option José Abreu – MLB Trade Rumors
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Just wow. No one thought they would. Here we are.
Espada said Loperfido would open in the OF, he wasn’t sure where he was at in comfort at 1B yet, so maybe it’s Singleton time?
Sorry, I can’t believe I said that with a straight face.
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Are you serious? Joey Loperfido was an All-ACC 1B at Duke. I know you all didn’t like Dusty Baker…but Espada just makes me shake my head at something different every day / game.
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Well, that takes care of my first wish.
My second wish is for good health for the entire team the rest of the season. My third wish is that all those injured pitchers get well and come back stronger than ever.
That’s not asking too much, is it?
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My brother just texted me that Loperfido is going to be wearing Yuli’s #10
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I think the best of news considering all of the options. But I’m also hopeful that Loperfido is able to show an ability at first base that perhaps some have overlooked. First base is the place that needs the most help right now.
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We’ll see if it holds after Abreu, but Espada said yesterday that Loperfido will start by playing in the OF. Some blah blah about comfort and helping him feel comfortable in the field to focus on the hitting or something or another. Also said something about Chas still nursing a hamstring so he will probably be in LF. It all sounded to Bakerish for me to pay to much attention too.
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If the reports are true that the Astros will play tonight with a 25 man roster because no corresponding move for Abreu has been made as of yet, that’s flat out odd, especially since they had a day off yesterday. They couldn’t have Cabbage fly back to Houston? He’s already on the 40!
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There you go lineup for tonight –
2B – Altuve, 3B – Bregman, DH – Alvarez, RF – Tucker, SS – Pena, C – Diaz, LF – Loperfido, 1B – Singleton, CF – Meyers with Brown on the mound.
I like it honestly, if Chas is indeed actually out. 4 lefties at once.
I don’t think you will see Lopefido at 1B for a minute, at least until Chas is back. I think they want him getting his initial PT in the OF, and once he is comfortably offensively start the defensive shuttle.
What I hope happens, is Singleton understands this is the last hurrah. He may not get another chance in major league baseball to prove what he thinks is his worth. A run like he had at AAA that got that callup to begin with can solidify an actual big league at least as a backup for the next 2 years or so. If he hits .210 for next 2 weeks, he is probably following Abreu. Even if he hits .250 but shows no extra base power, he is probably gone. Take advantage Big Jon, this franchise could use you having the best 2 month run of your life right now.
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My first one is for all of the teams that play against the Astros, for the rest of the season and post season, to lose every game against the Astros.
Second, the MLB gods will smile on the Astros and grant the Astros some very, VERY fine prospects in the 2024 draft.
Third, MLB post season awards are held by members of the Astros team.
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Sarge, you broke Dan’s stringent rules, but I sure appreciate your sentiment.
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Who needs rules when they’re thinking about Barbara Eden?
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But none of my wishes were Astros team related.
The first was about other teams.
The second was draft related.
The third was post season awards related. <smile>
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This game will be my first look at Joey Loperfido. I hope he opens up a long successful career tonight!
I’m so happy about Heinz Abreu shuffling off to Buffalo I’m darn near giddy. Except I’m too old to do giddy these days.
It feels too much like a reaction to one of my meds….. 😉
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Why do they keep sending Hunter Brown out there? He’s worthless. A 3 run bomb in the first puts us behind the old 8 ball again.
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I hate it when they bring in the DEI marketing puke chick to sell bobbleheads and cheap plastic garbage while their team makes a dog’s lunch of the game of baseball.
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Can’t get much better a debut than that! Nice going, Joey!
Bye bye, Heinz. I hope you enjoy Flahdah. You’re gonna be there for a while now…..!
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A spark?
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I’m surprised that Brown has recouped. Hopefully, he can get through a couple more scoreless innings. And then we have a Breggy bomb, a Loperfido 1st hit (2RBI’s) and a Singleton upper deck blast. I’m almost ecstatic over this. WOW!
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And then, back down to Earth…
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Oh my. This bullpen is doing it again. Of course, the brain dead HPU isn’t helping at all……
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If we think this umpire stinks (and I do) just wait until tomorrow. Angel Hernandez will be behind the dish.
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That was almost a must win last night. And Joe Espada almost gave it back. We got 5 quality innings from Brown. From your 5th starter, that’s excellent. Even the first was not a terrible inning. He was victimized by a tough zone and a 331 foot second row Crawford Box fly ball on a pitch that was off the plate.
So give Montero the 6th with nobody on base. The entire pen was rested. Instead, Hunter gives up triple, homer and is still left in to walk the next guy as Montero watches from the pen.
If this club does not regroup and Espada gets sent home at The All Star break, tonight’s game will be one of the examples of his poor decision making.
God Bless you Victor Caratini. We’ve got the best backstop combination in MLB. And congrats to Joey Lops, making good on his first RISP chance. That was a big hit to get out of the way.
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Hunter put himself in that spot in the 1st though. He had no command early. He was throwing uncompetitive pitches that were in the dirt or 2 foot off the plate. I appreciate how he buckled down and started throwing good pitches but what happened to him in the 1st was all him it wasn’t bad luck. You can’t keep throwing 3 pitches so far out of the zone that you fall behind 3-0 or 3-1 and have to give in. Was that Naylor pitch a bad one? In a vacuum no, but he had runners on because he fell behind to Kwon and the number 2 hitter (can’t remember his name now) and had to throw hitters pitches because he threw pitches a high schooler wouldn’t swing at, then he ended up having to face two guys back to back that can hit pitches out of the zone because of the garbage you did to the first two. He has to walk out there and be better.
And I immediately thought when I saw him on the mound to start the sixth, at 84 pitches, and that tough first inning in his rearview, he should not have even walked out there for the 6th. Montero may have had a different inning if he started it fresh. Maybe not though. It is Montero.
We needed every big shot last night. Caratini got the last one in, but to get most of our RBI’s from guys that were either scuffling to this point or making their debut is going to be huge for their confidence tonight. I don’t know if you are a career .200ish guy hitting your first homer of the season is epic bat flip worthy, but we got an epic bat flip. Bregman getting off that suck train even for just one night with Singleton is going to be big for both of them. Or they both could go 1 for their next 20. I don’t know.
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Lol, Steven, I like your long version. We both agree that when Hunter struck out the side in the 5th, he should have gotten a big hug and the rest of the night off. His 84 pitch line was pretty good at that point. Right now he’s a 5th, 6th, or 7th starter on this club. That’s a solid outing for anyone in the back of the rotation. I hope he starts building on the good things he’s done.
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Link back to the Crawfish boxes for linking to us
Astros Crawfish Boil: May 1, 2024 – The Crawfish Boxes
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Thoughts on last night’s game:
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Yeah, I did not want to pile on Espada. I’m pretty sure he and his dugout associates simply spaced on the 6th inning HBP call. By the time Joe went out, it was too late. But the manager needs to be intimately aware of those “shorten the game” rules. Had someone been awake, that game might have ended 8-7 in 9 innings.
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Given the small sample I’ll admit it’s a bit harsh to always criticize Espada. He’s trying to see what he can get from players in different situations, but obviously with the hole they’ve dug he doesn’t have much if any room for error. I don’t mind sending Brown out for the 6th, but he definitely needed to be ready to pull him. I’d like to tip my cap to Hader for going out there in the tenth. I think the narrative on the end of last season on him was pretty bogus. We certainly don’t want him going multiple innings with frequency, but stepping up when there was far more for him to lose than gain should be recognized.
I’m still a Singleton fan, but do want to see Loperfido at 1B some. Abreu took the focus off how badly Chas and Jake have played so putting him in one of their spots makes sense, but I do think Chas can bounce back and at least be reasonably productive.
Do our hitters chase as many pitches out of the zone on the road as they do at home? I feel like we can go entire games where the opponents only chase a couple, but we’re seeing multiple bad swings per inning.
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Kelly – thanks for chiming in. Is Lil Al Yordan Al-varez? Or is it an AI version of the perfect player. Enquiring minds want to know.
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I’m guessing, but I think Lil Al would be Altuve. He is little anyway……
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Lil Al is Altuve, the Greatest Astro of All Time!
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I love number 3. You would fit right in here.
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Victor with the hit of the game! Astros fan Elton “Rocket Man” John had this to sing about it:
Oh, Caratini
You got ‘Stros much love
Caratini
And you rake it where it strikes
And give it to the rightfield seats
Oh, Caratini
You got ‘Stros much love
Caratini
So we see you when we can
You make us all a fan can be
And we want you to be our macro-bat
We want you to be our slugger
Oh, there were others
Who would treat you cruel
And, oh, Caratini
You always had the tools
Caratini
You ride so much pine
Caratini
Though you’ve grown beyond your years
You still retain the cheers of youth
Oh, Caratini
You don’t got much time
Caratini
But you barreled it up, that blast
Searching for some fastball grooved
And we want you to be our macro-bat
We want you to be our slugger
Oh, there were others
Who would treat you cruel
And, oh, Caratini
You always had the tools
And we want you to be our macro-bat
We want you to be our slugger
Oh, there were others
And we’ve known quite a few
But, oh, Caratini
We’re still in love with you
(You stepped into the lineup from a bad dream
Making the team that we had seem suddenly shiny and new)
Oh, Caratini (oh, Caratini)
We’re so in love with you
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I can feel the vibe
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HAHA
Very good. I see what you did there…..
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What a pitiful effort. Ten wins and twenty losses. Last place in the AL West.
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That was a tough one. This team pretty much needs to win every series this month in order to become relevant again. It would have been much easier to do that with Verlander on the mound rather than Arrighetti today.
There were a lot of line drives hit right at people last night. But it was not a very tidy game either. And my favorite rookie lost track of the baseball a couple of times too. That probably cost us a run early. Even Verlander let the worst ump on the planet get to him.
Let’s see what Spencer and Seth can do today. We still need to get the pen solidified asap. Dubin is another nice story, but he’s not a viable tenth inning guy. The Cleveland team used a guy in the tenth with an 0.59 ERA. The Astros need more depth.
And let’s see what our suddenly lost mainstays in the line up can do too. Regardless of what else we do right or wrong, we’re not going to win often enough when Bregman, Altuve and Yordan all disappear at the same time.
I still think the Astros can recover, but when one looks around, there are some pretty good baseball teams out there. We need mistake free games. And that’s still not happening.
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Thoughts
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I complained a lot when Hinch was manager about how sloppy the play was and the mental mistakes. It was mainly pitchers not fielding their position and runners with the dreaded TOOTBLAN. I think it was better under Dusty, but certain areas where you would think mental fortitude comes into play like 10th inning, Manfred rule situations were areas were we never succeeded. I’d love to see the team make a concerted effort to fix these mistakes.
Verlander getting no run support reminds me of Clemens in 2005 where we were shut out in 8 of his starts and despite an ERA of 1.87 he only managed 13 wins. Since we know Verlander is pursuing 300 and needs 42 more this could be a real point of frustration going forward.
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I absolutely HATE the Manfred man rule! Much more than I ever hated the DH rule when it was new.
I’m hoping it won’t be around much longer. I loved those 18 inning games. And I really don’t care if the rich, pampered ballplayers don’t like it.
If it means that much to them, maybe they could drive a truck for 11-12 hours/day with one day off in 6 months and see how they like that!
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Two important things to watch for from Spencer Arrighetti tonight will be 1. how many BBs he issues to the Guardians; and 2. how many pitches he has to throw per inning. So far, in 10.2 IP, Spencer has been a ‘Wild Thing’ – giving up 7 BBs and averaging throwing a whopping 24 pitches to notch 3 outs. That is the highest P/IP on the current staff [Hunter Brown is 2nd at 20.74 pitches per IP].
Of course, giving up 18 hits in 10.2 innings has not helped Spencer’s cause any either.
The good news is that he has 15 Ks in his 10.2 innings pitched, so he’s either proving that he’s capable of inducing swings and misses or patient hitters are just daring him to throw strikes.
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Ghost, I’m going to wait until about 7:27 Houston time to turn on the game tonight, as I don’t really want to put any additional undo pressure on Spencer Arrighetti. I will be hoping for a zero on the board when I tune in.
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“…hitters are just daring him to throw strikes.“
That is exactly what all these young pitchers need to be doing in the 1st inning of their starts. Throw strikes and attack the zone early. Get ahead in the count early.
Falling behind in the count to the top of the order against any baseball team is a recipe for disaster and that’s pretty much what they’ve been.
This results in baserunners from walks, HBP, and some very hard hit baseballs. A guy doesn’t need a degree in statistics to know that……
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Will try this in segments to make work.
Last nigh a bunch of hard hit lines drives got caught. Luck of the draw when things are going bad I suppose.
If the top of the order is the table setters, then the middle back is the gravy that garnishes the top. Setting aside this teams P woes, the lineup, with decent metrics in hitting league wise, has been atrocious when it comes to scoring with RISP.
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Altuve was 1-17 w/RISP last night until a run scoring single made it 2-18. Tuv swings at everything but can hit anything. He clearly seems to be pressing with RISP. Yordan is uncharacteristically chasing P he normally sis on. That won’t last. Bregman is a mess (he needs a wake up call back in the lineup). His walk rate is down, chasing too many outside P leading to inf groundouts, popups and that annoying uppercut swing.
Diaz is a fine wine that will age nicely with time and experience. I do not have any hope for Abreu. Perhaps the minors will help.
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Apparently, Chas needs to get healthy, stop swinging through so many P in the box and chasing sliders. Oh, and take your walks. Opposing P who challenge Pena in the zone get hit often time, but a steady diet of sliders/breaking P eats him alive when he’s not hitting. You get what you get with Big Jon, more of less, especially with RISP. Ditto with Carantini, perhaps a bit better than Jon. Meyers is a non factor offensively and so is the bench besides Dubon. It won’t say this way all season for the offense.
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Splits always seem out of whack on small sample.
Did you know that Jim Thome had a career batting average of .320 on Tuesdays? Weird. Never sit him on Tuesdays.
Jon Singleton has a career .259 avg against LH pitching, and a .153 against righties. Yet, we pinch hit for him last night because a lefty pitcher comes in.
I just don’t worry too much about splits. They can be odd, especially in short sample.
If you are lover of weirdness, Stan Musial had 3630 hits for his career. He had 1815 of those at home. Yes, that means he had exactly 1815 on the road.
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The 10-20 Astros are #22 in the ESPN power rankings this week, even though there are 5 teams with better records who are lower in the rankings than Houston is, including the 15-17 Athletics.
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Did anyone else notice that Loperfido appeared to be giving Angel Hernandez some lip after getting called out on strikes on a check swing, while the ball bounded away?
Probably not a good idea in game two for Lops to be on any umps case, but more importantly, he should have been hightailing it to first base. He had a chance to make it.
I’m guessing he’s feeling more pressure right now than maybe he ever has on a baseball field trying to help this club get going in the right direction.
I’m sure the guys in the dugout will quietly point this stuff out to him. I don’t want to see the kid get a bad rep early.
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Yes, I did see that, too. I like the kid and don’t blame him a bit for chirping. But you’re right. His head wasn’t in the game and it may have cost the team this time.
I think we’re going to be watching him play some good baseball over quite a few years. Barring tragic injury, of course.
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Oh waiter!? I’d like my Arrighetti hot, spicy, and wth NO meatballs this evening. With a large helping of RBIs on the side, please.
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Oh boy. Now everyone can see that Spencer Arrighetti doesn’t pitch well out of the set position. That’s good to know. Just a bit too late to know it now….. :-(
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Is it too early to start baiting the hooks with Bregman? He’s just dreadful. Maybe we could get some pitching help by trading him….?
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He’s pathetic. He thinks he’s worth 30MM but he ain’t worth 3. We’re 1 – 8 with RISP. I think the team has come down with a bad case of Lackahitting. Arraghetti pitches good enough to win but then there’s that dreaded disease.
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Confirmed. When there is nobody on base and he pitches out of the windup, the kid has good control and hits the bottom of the zone from side to side consistently.
Put a runner on and his control will go haywire out of the set position. Let’s watch and see….
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My goodness! This rally killing is painful to watch.
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Big Jon launches a moonshot. Thank you!
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Singleton goes yard. Is he our new everyday 1st baseman now?
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I’m all for him keeping the job if he pulls his weight, help us win games.
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Mr. Singleton is doing what Steven always said, which is hit better if he gets more consistent ABs and he puts us ahead 3-2.
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He’s playing a pretty decent first base, too. I have serious doubts that Heinz 057 could’ve made both those plays.
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Did someone light a fire underneath our guys? I’m feeling this vibe.
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Three ribeyes for Singleton. Delivering where Heinz .057 didn’t.
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Now the boys need to sweep the Mariners so they can go into this trip to NY & Detroit with some attitude.
With the exception of Bregman, this one was pretty well played. I have no idea what his problem is. I was hoping he was over that with the homer and all. Apparently not.
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Disappearing posts. They are back!
Quick: The Astros won a second series in a row.
Good start to a new month.
All the other stuff I tried to say does not matter as long as there are mostly W’s at the end of the day.
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Alex Bregman should go back and watch every one of his at bats from last August when he hit .318 with a .959 OPS. He should keep watching until he sees what he was doing correctly.
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Thanks Dan but don’t send flowers my way, send em to Jon. I am just reading the tea leaves behind a computer. Numbers can sing a pattern if you let them. You start seeing plate discipline like he has shown since getting back, you know he is seeing it better. Think about the way he laid off that 0-2 slider. It missed the zone by 1.5 inches. That is striking out a lot, maybe half, of all major leaguers, including our own beloved Pena and Diaz. When a guy is seeing things like that, then it just becomes a matter of comfort. Can you imagine the hitter you would have if you could put Yainer Diaz and his bat to ball skill with Singleton’s plate discipline? You would get Juan Soto.
What Singleton is showing us all isn’t that baseball should be about what you have done, it’s about how someone recognizes what you can do. Brown saw this dude, said he didn’t care if he has a career .173 average, that’s not the hitter I see now, and despite every fan, media personality and blogger telling him he was crazy, that he was a waste of a roster spot, he said watch this. Now, Jon Singleton is not going to win MVP’s he is not going to hit .278 this year and he is not a 25 HR, 100 RBI talent, but when you think 1B is heading for oblivion because of the 60M sunk cost and your owner will not even fork out 5M more for Brandon Belt, this guy shows up and for minimum wage he gives you an opportunity to collect the thoughts and buys you time to make a plan for the position.
Speaking of flowers – Dave gets awarded them twice this week from me now. He was right about Loperfido – outside of grainy, looks like it is aliens recorded at Area 51 minor league footage, I never saw this guy the way we are getting too now. He has a big league swing. Yes, he brought his strikeouts with him, but he has legit big league EV. And now, well, Dave has been telling us that Bregman was an old 28, then he had to start saying old 29, to he is an old 30. Baseball is about what you can do, not what you have done, that 2019 is not getting him 270M, but even after the inevitable recovery (yes, I still think at some point he gets at least back to .250), he might end up getting 120M. I can never imagine that I didn’t even get into 6 figures until I was in my 40s, and this guy is stressing himself out over is it 120,000,000 or 240,000,000, and I am thinking that is three zero’s more than I will ever see. But I have never had 1%er talent at anything, I guess I can’t understand that pressure.
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Great AB by your guy Diaz after he fell down 0-2 in the count last night. They were only insurance runs, but lacing the single to right to bring them in is what we need to see Bregman do instead of failing to get the bat head around and making easy outs.
Regarding Bregman, someone was talking about spring speed the other day and how our team is so old and slow. I searched and wasn’t surprised to see we have no one ranked highly this year. What did surprise me was that Altuve had our highest and was only 1 foot/sec faster than Bregman…who was dead even with Kyle Tucker.
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