Sunday, August 20, 2017

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Wearing one of the greatest uniforms in Astros history, Collin McHugh and the Astros whooped the Philadelphia Kansas City Oakland Athletics 3-0. The Astros are 76-47. The Angels won, while the Red Sox lost. So the Astros' lead is 13 games on the Angels and 5.5 games on the Red Sox. There are 39 games remaining.

1998 Watch
2017: 76-47
1998: 76-47

*It's the Astros' 7th shutout of the season and their 24th game of holding the opponent to 0 or 1 run. The Astros have won four of their last five games, five of their last seven.

*The Astros are 12-2 against Oakland in 2017 and have won 19 of their last 21 against the A's. In 2013, Oakland went 15-4 against Houston on their way to a division title. A's manager Bob Melvin:
How quickly it can flip. A few years ago we were doing to them what they're doing to us now. It doesn't feel too terribly good on the other side. 

Collin McHugh: 6IP, 6H/0ER, 3K:1BB. Congrats on your first win of the season, Collin McHugh. He threw a dumb one against the White Sox, but his last two starts are: 11.2IP, 12H/2ER, 9K:2BB. McHugh:
As the game went on, I got a little bit more efficient with my pitches, with my fastball.

*Top-3 in the lineup (Springer-Bregman-Altuve) went 6x10 with 0K:2BB while 4-9 in the lineup went 2x18, 4K:1BB.

*The Astros got 6 GIDPs, which is ridiculous and if we were A's fans we'd be livid right now. The 6 GIDPs are the most for Astros pitchers since May 17, 2003, when the Astros got 6 GIDPs against the Phillies but still lost 9-4.

*Will Harris feels good and will likely go on a rehab assignment on Tuesday

*Baseball Prospectus has determined that Alex Bregman is, in fact, a star.

*Sportsnet's Shi Davidi has a great profile of Teoscar Hernandez, who was super-excited to get traded to Toronto.

*Jordan Jankowski is on outright waivers. If he clears, he'll stay with the organization. Jordan Jankowski's wife is named Jordan.

*The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo writes that the Astros "haven't shut the door" on acquiring Justin Verlander but would have to take on most of his contract ($7m remaining this year, $56m over the next two seasons) and "give up a few prospects."

*Astros' minor-league playoff check:
Fresno: 70-57, 1.0 back of Reno (whom they are currently playing)
Corpus: 57-67, 7.0 back
Buies Creek: 70-55, 5.5 up in the 2nd half
Quad Cities: 72-51, 6.0 up in the 2nd half
Tri-City: 28-27, 2.0 back
Greeneville: 29-26, 4.5 back

*In the ongoing effort to always be a bigger part of the story than is necessary, umpires wore white wristbands to raise awareness of verbal abuse by players and managers.

*From Jeff Pearlman: The story behind sportswriting's filthiest [mess]-up.

*Someone from Indiana University's compliance office is about to file for unemployment.

*Click this link to read the book I started yesterday afternoon, and find very enjoyable.

*The New Zealand Bastard Chris Wood didn't play yesterday because he wants to play for a terrible Premier League side instead of the Glorious Leeds United, and Leeds United won yesterday, anyway. Marching On Together...