Saturday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros played a team formerly in the Major Leagues in Baltimore last night, and beat them 3-2. Houston is 76-40. Oakland won because Oakland doesn't lose, so the Astros' lead remains at 10.0 games. The Angels, Rangers, and Mariners all lost. There are 46 regular season games remaining. Fifteen of those games come against teams currently over .500.

If you imagine a world in which the Astros aren't 9-2 against Oakland, and Oakland isn't 2-9 against Houston, the standings are:

Houston: 67-38
Oakland: 64-41

That world does not exist.

*The Astros improved to 14-10 against the AL East this season.

*Wade Miley did a job last night, against a team that is highly reminiscent of the 2011 Astros in that they're 3-4 years away from anything resembling relevance. God bless Mike Elias and Sig Mejdal for willingly deciding to do That again. Miley: 5.2IP, 5H/1ER, 4K:2BB.

The Astros are 17-7 when Wade Miley starts. Number of starts with the following earned runs:

4: 2
3: 6
2: 8
1: 5
0: 3

Yep. In 24 starts, Wade Miley has allowed 4ER just twice.

Miley's 5.2IP, 5H/1ER performance put his ERA at 2.99. The Astros have three starting pitchers with an ERA under 3.00. And Zack Greinke.

Miley:
I was pretty wild out there early. I don't think it was until the fifth inning where I finally started commanding it where I wanted it to, but I was able to make pitches.

Hinch:
It was probably his worst command that he's had in recent memory, and yet he still pitched very well and got to the sixth inning.

Butt how? pic.twitter.com/IYOsrlq6JF

— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2019

*Joe Smith allowed a solo home run, his first earned run of the season.

*Dylan Bundy had a nice start for Baltimore, allowing 6H/2ER, 6K:1BB in 6IP.

*Bundy vs. 2019 Astros:  12IP, 9H/4ER, 12K:2BB, 3.00 ERA / 0.92 WHIP
Bundy vs Everyone Else: 102.1IP, 106H/60ER, 106K:37BB, 5.26 ERA / 1.39 WHIP.

*MLB.com says the Astros left 16 men on base. That would be the most LOBsters since the last game before the All-Star Break, when the Astros left 16 on base against Anaheim. Houston was 2x13 w/RISP against the now-38-77 Orioles.

*It was the first time since July 23 that Orioles pitchers did not give up a home run.

*Jose Altuve got his 30th multi-hit game of the season.

Multi-hit games, pre-injury: 10 (in 39 games)
Multi-hit games, post injury: 20 (in 41 games)

*Robinson Chirinos snapped a three-game hitless streak (0x11, 6K:0BB).

*A.J. Hinch says that Josh Reddick - is in no danger of losing playing time. Hinch:
I always go to pitch selection or I'll go to a little bit of how hard he swings and how hard he chases hits. He's not using the opposite field as much. There's little things that he could do that he hasn't done for the last month or so. He's not in any danger of losing playing time. I'm comfortable with him as a real threat and I expect him to finish the season really well.

Tyler White's OPS, with Houston: .650
Josh Reddick's OPS, w/Houston: .710

On May 25 Reddick was hitting .333/.386/.455 for an .840 OPS.
Since (232 PAs), Reddick is "hitting" .223/.255/.353, a .609 OPS.

*Mike Petriello writes about the chances of the Astros becoming the 2nd team ever to lead the League in Hitting K% and Pitching K%. 36 teams in MLB history have been in the Top 3 of both categories. The 2017 Astros and the 2018 Astros are two of those 36 teams.

*Brent Strom was released from the hospital, participated in team meetings, but won't join the Astros in Baltimore or Chicago.

*Ryan Pressly was activated from the IL, and Garrett Stubbs was optioned back to Triple-A. Need to get me a Stubbs "Stubbs" Players Weekend jersey ASAP.

*Chandler Rome: Yuli Gurriel's hot streak was sparked by his older brother. Rome:
In Miami this offseason, Yuniesky approached Yuli with an unorthodox idea involving weighted balls. Yuniesky thought flipping them in the batting cage would improve his brothers' strength and hard-contact contact. Yuli had never tried the tactic but, ultimately, decided to give it a shot.

*Our own Brian Arbour reminds us to enjoy this run the Astros are on.

*Here's your first Gerrit Cole-to-Anaheim hot rumor of the next eight months.

*Here's Hunter Atkins doing the Good Work: J.R. Towles was at Yuli's 8RBI game. Atkins:
A 35-year old married father of two working construction and living an hour north of Houston, Towles gets to say he is a former major-leaguer. Because of Gurriel, he was a swing away from being a former record-holder.

This is a really, really great story which is poignant and sad. God bless J.R. Towles.

*MLB's home run surge has pitchers scrambling and confused.

*Standings Craziness:

In the AL Central: Minnesota and Cleveland are tied for the lead. The Twins are 14-13 since the All-Star Break. Cleveland is 20-8.
In the NL: Five teams (Milwaukee, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York, and Arizona) are all within 1.5 games of second Wild Card spot.

*A day in the life of Nolan Arenado.

*Everyone knows the strike actually killed the Montreal Expos. The Astros were having a really good season, too, but Jeff Bagwell was hitting .368/.451/.750 when Andy F. Benes broke Bagwell's hand with a pitch so who knows how that would have impacted the postseason, if it had happened. Actually, it's time to rethink the Padres on our collective Most-Hated Teams list. Benes breaks Bagwell's hand. 1998 happens. Screw the Padres. Oh but the Yankees want to remind you they were really good, too. Expect a banner to go up as a result of this sluttery.

*Ken Davidoff writes that, in the wake of the Brett Gardner ejection, it's time for the umpires to show more accountability. All we needed to get calls for the escape from Umpire tyranny was for something silly to happen to a Yankee.

*Yankees GM Brian Cashman was mistaken for a car thief and the cops pulled up on him with guns drawn in Connecticut. Brian, there's only one GM who can credibly be charged with theft and that GM is Jeffrey F. Luhnow.

This concludes the Two Minutes Yankees Hate. Back to work.

*A death and life in the Bronx's opioid crisis. I broke my elbow in college. I was really overweight and decided - after watching Jackass - that the skateboard should be my primary mode of transportation. I bought a skateboard at 3pm and had broken my elbow by 3:15. My doctor gave me Vicodin. A lot of it. And he gave me more when I asked for more. I was lucky enough to escape being hopelessly addicted to it, but I got to see just how easy it is to get hooked.

*Outside: We've reached Peak Wellness. Most of it is nonsense.

*A Jordan bookseller's 24-hour 'Emergency Room for the Mind.'

*A Musical Selection:

You could put me in a room with a 12-string guitar for 100 years and I would not be able to come up with this, my favorite moment of the entire MTV Unplugged series:

Trust the Process

On June 28th, the Rangers won 5-0 over the Rays for their 6th game in a row, and cut the division lead at that moment to 4 games.

And as part of the aftermath of East Mineral Wells victory, I got into a twitter spat with longtime Houston journalist Moisekapenda Bower of Forbes.com.

I find this analysis silly. The chances the Astros lose the division are about 1%.

— Breathin' Orange Fire (@OrangeFire_) June 29, 2019

I have a personal vow not to "yell" at sports journalists on Twitter (I do a lot of yelling at political journalists on Twitter for their indifference to the President's racism--sports should be an escape and the consequences of a bad game or riduculous hot take are never as large as in politics), so this was not a particularly proud moment for me.

But even in my annoyed state, I still try to rely on objective and analytic methods to make baseball commentary. So I looked up the Astros and Rangers win projections on Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, Five Thirty Eight, and Baseball Prospectus.  Here is what I found:

Average projected wins for the Astros this season: 98
Average projected wins for the Rangers this season: 83

If a tweet just mentions the division lead but does not provide a reason why these projections are off-base by 13 games, ignore it. pic.twitter.com/ZSannNeHqj

— Breathin' Orange Fire (@OrangeFire_) June 29, 2019

If we can, let's not focus on the snarky conclusion to my tweet, but on the the data I looked up back at the end of June. It indicated that the Astros would remain one of the best teams in baseball and that the Rangers would fade back to a .500 team. Despite the narrowed division lead, objects in the mirror were not getting closer.

Good news for us Astros fans. My trust in the numbers turned out to be a useful strategy.

June 28 turned out to the be the highwater mark of the season for North Waxahachie. They lost the next day, and their final game in June before going 8-16 in the month of July.  And while you hate to see it, you should have expected to see it. Because now the Rangers are 2 games over .500 and seem to be destined to win 83 games...as projected.

As for the Astros, the June 28th game against Seattle was frustrating. Pinch runner Myles Straw missed 3rd base in the 7th inning, dooming the Astros to remain scoreless. But a Josh Reddick homer in the 8th tied it, and a Yuli Gurriel home run in the 10th gave the Astros the win.

And the frustration of the first seven innings of the June 28th game only compounded the frustration of the rough stretch the Astros had been going though that month. The team had won only 9 of their previous 23 games. That included the 7-game losing streak which took up all but one game of a road trip to Cincinnati and New York. And the Astros had been blow out in their 2 previous games against the lowly Pirates by a combined score of 24-2.  Not great, Bob.

But June 28th marked a turning point. The walkoff victory allayed the anxieties of Astros fans relayed in the Bower tweet above. Another game winning RBI in the 10th inning off the bat of Yuli Gurriel the next night gave the Astros back-to-back wins, and propelled the team to a 5 game winning streak.

In fact, since that June 28th "low point," the Astros have gone 24-8, and have lost consecutive games on only one occasion (the first two games after the All-Star break in Anaheim).  With the team headed to play bottom dwellers Baltimore and Chicago over the next six games, there is every reason to think the wins will keep coming.

The Astros are now 10 games up on the As in the AL West (and 16.5 games up on Southwest Bohham). Their chances of winning the division are 100% according to Fangraphs.

What is the lesson here?  Trust the process.

We cheer for a good team with lots of really good baseball players. They are winning lots of baseball games.  But like all good teams, sometimes they go through rough stretches.  We should all calm down when these happen during the regular season.  It's likely the Astros will go through another rough patch between now and the end of the season, but it will likely have little impact on the AL West race or keep the team from winning 100 games...again.

Baseball is a long game, and the advantages that one team has over another may not manifest itself in one game or even a short series. But over the long haul, the best team usually wins.  The .500 team usually returns to .500.  And the bad teams get chopped up by the good ones.

We saw too often how much the bad team gets chopped up by the good teams when our boys lost 100 games three seasons in a row.  That should only make us enjoy the fact that upon the burned down ash heap, Jeff Luhnow has build a glittering palace filled with 3 straight 100 win seasons (and more to come, we can reasonably hope).  Enjoy the good times, even on the days when they are not as good as we would like.

Friday Morning Hot Links

No Astros action last night, and we did the Playoff Odds earlier this week, so we'll skip it for a while. The Astros are on pace for 106 wins. Reminder that Houston is 75-40 with a 10-game lead and 47 regular season games left.

If Houston goes 23-24, they'll finish 98-64. Here's what would have to happen for the Astros to lose the division:

Oakland: 34-14
Arlington: 41-7
Anaheim: 43-3
Seattle: Could win out and lose the division by four games.

Do your own math accordingly to project what other teams would have to do if the Astros went XX-XX. The Astros are officially at 100% to win the division.

Only one AL West team was in action last night: Anaheim lost to Boston 3-0.

*Big News of the Day was that the Astros are extending the nets. And if you're upset, then the decision was made by the organization with the sole intent of pissing you empathy-less idiots off.

Here’s how far down the line the new netting will go pic.twitter.com/qeiN7tEl2V

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 8, 2019

Never mind that the move could be 20% about fan safety and 80% protection from legal liability for failing to protect fans from Yordan Alvarez Rockets. I'm still for it. The fact that it's safer for thousands of more fans is great. By the way, the girl who got drilled in the Cubs game is still on anti-seizure medication but is improving. If you don't want the net, you probably don't care.

Notables approving of the Astros: Lance McCullers. The Astros:
Fan experience is always a top priority for the Astros. The Astros have followed Major League Baseball's guidelines regarding netting while providing fans with a choice as to whether they sit in areas with or without protective netting. These changes will improve the fan's experience and increase the number of seats behind protective netting. Fans will continue to have the option to sit in areas without netting.

By "improving the fan's experience" they mean "making sure you don't leave the game in an ambulance."

*Jake Kaplan says ($) Aaron Sanchez's work with Brent Strom is just beginning.

*MLB.com says that Wade Miley is quietly having a very good season. I don't how about "quietly" ...

*Check Chandler Rome's mailbag for the chances of re-signing Gerrit Cole, who gets let go when Peacock returns, Myles Straw's postseason roster spot, Forrest Whitley, and a potential matchup issue with the Dodgers.

*The only contender with an easier schedule than the Astros down the stretch is the Twins. Matt Kelly:
The Astros have dominated the A's, winning nine of their first 11 head-to-head matchups. Take at least three of these four games at the Coliseum (Aug 15-18), and Houston can really begin mapping out their stars' rest days before October.

*It's such a slow Astros news day that here's a story about Lance McCullers and puppies.

*Former Astros Great Tony Sipp cleared waivers and is now a free agent.

*Jon Tayler on how Charlie Morton went from Charlie Morton to Charlie F. Morton.

*Check out SABR's bio of Jose Cruz, who turned 72 yesterday. Happy birthday, Cheo!

*Dallas Keuchel, last night at Miami: 3.2IP, 10H/8ER, 4K:1BB, 3HR. He has a 4.83 ERA for Atlanta this season.

*Winners of six straight (including the series opener with Houston), the Cardinals are 2-6 since the Astros left town. You hate to see it.

*Dan Clark did a survey to find why actual fans are coming to fewer and fewer games.

*FanGraphs: What remains of Clayton Kershaw.

*White Sox wives got into it.

*The hard, historic roads that lead to .400.

*A Musical Selection:

Thursday Morning Hot Links

The Astros destroyed the Colorado Rockies. Just destroyed them. Those idiots had to leave a perfectly nice temperate summer to come to Houston in the bowels of summer and proceed to get the piss beaten out of them. The Astros are 75-40. Good day for the Astros, standings-wise, I guess, if it matters anymore. Oakland lost and West Longview lost both ends of a double-header to Cleveland. The Astros' lead over Oakland is now 10 games, and it's 16.5 games over Lower McKinney. Reminder that I get Whataburger for free from a Ramger fan if the Astros finish 25 games better than North Waxahachie.

The Astros have now won...
Six in a row
Nine of their last ten
16 of their last 19 since the Angels thought they could flex. Brad Ausmus is on a steady diet of In-N-Out trying to undo what he did.

Houston is now 625-624 since the beginning of 2012 - when Crane took ownership and Luhnow took over as GM.

As a franchise, the Astros are 4569-4651

*Houston went 4-0 against the Rockies this season.
2-0 at Colorado: Houston outscored them 13-10.
2-0 at MMP: Houston outscored them 25-9. At home aka at Not Coors Field

*Since 2013 Houston is 13-3 against the Rockies.

Record after 115 games:
2019: 75-40
2018: 73-42
2017: 71-44
1999: 69-46
1998: 69-46
1986: 65-50

The Front Office has built the Best Team in Astros History three years in a row.

*Where do we even start with this game? I know:

Hitting

*Let's start with the offense as a whole. They scored 25 runs in two games. That's the most they've scored since they put 26 on the Ramgers on May 11/12. It's the 19th time this season they've scored 10+ runs. They're 18-1 in those games (cursed April 21 game against Aren'tlington).

*The Astros yesterday got 14 runs on 12 hits and nine walks. They're the fifth team in baseball to accumulate those totals in a single game in MLB this season. It's the 7th time in franchise history they've done that. The last time an Astros team did it was August 26, 2003 against the Dodgers. 14 years after that the Astros beat the Dodgers in the World Series.

*I literally don't understand this stat I'm about to share. Astros hitters have now drawn nine walks in a game four times this season. They're 1-3 thanks to that Colorado beatdown.

*1-6 in the lineup: 11x22, 4K:7BB, 14RBI
  7-9 in the lineup: 1x13, 5K:2BB, 0RBI

*Yuli Gurriel had himself a franchise day, going 2x4 with a double, home run, and 8RBI. The RBI total ties J.R. Towles' franchise record for a single game (September 20, 2007). I don't know how else to explain that what Yuli is doing aka has done in the last two months is nothing short of astounding, especially in his Age 35 season.

Comparing Gurriel's day to Towles' day.

Gurriel:
1st Inning: 3-run home run
3rd Inning: RBI sac fly
4th Inning: 3-run double
6th Inning: RBI fielder's choice
7th Inning: Pop out

Towles:
2nd Inning: 2RBI double to left
4th Inning: 2RBI single to left
6th Inning: RBI ground-rule double to right
8th Inning: RBI walk
9th Inning: 2-run home run

Yuli, beginning of season-June 8 (254 PAs): .252/.283/.382, 4HR, 26K:12BB
Yuli, since June 9: .357/.395/.741, 19HR, 22K:11BB

Why June 9? That's when Yuli's tear started. It's also when his countryman Yordan Alvarez was called up.

Gurriel currently has an .872 OPS in his Age 35 season. Other notable Age 35 season OPS's:

Berkman: .959 (2011 - with St. Louis - and wow I did not expect that)
Bagwell: .897 (2003)
Biggio: .838 (2001)

Gurriel: Career-high / 2019
Hits: 158 / 126
Extra-Base Hits: 64 / 52
Home Runs: 18 / 23
RBI: 85 / 80
Walks: 23 / 23

Gurriel:
It's really incredible with this team, and I feel a big responsibility to drive runners in when they are on base. To be in that spot, I'm always focused and concentrating to get those runners in.

Hinch:
You get that feel every time he comes up that something positive is going to happen. He's locked in on pitch recognition and staying in on the at-bat. His production has been through the roof the last six weeks.

Springer, on Gurriel:
Gurriel is one of the purest hitters I've ever seen, I've ever played with. He can get to balls and hit them hard that you wouldn't expect anybody to get to. He finds a way. He's such a talented hitter, man. He knows what he wants to do. He knows what he wants to hit. And when he gets it, he doesn't miss.

Gurriel and Bagwell are the only Astros with multiple 7+ RBI games.

ESPN's David Schoenfield: No one is as hot as Gurriel and Nelson Cruz.

*Yordan Alvarez was 3x4 with a walk. He has a six-game hitting streak with four multi-extra-base hit games. 11x23, three doubles / two home runs, 7RBI, 2K:3BB. 

*Alex Bregman was 2x4 with a walk and 3RBI. It's his first 3RBI game since June 14. 

Bregman hit a league-leading 51 doubles, and 31 home runs, in 705 PAs in 2018. That's a double for every 13.82 PAs. In 2019, he has 20 doubles in 495 PAs, one for every 24.75 PAs.

That said, Bregs' HR/PA rate:
2018: 22.74 PAs per home run
2019: 18.33 PAs per home run

*Martin Maldonado had two of those walks. It's his third 2BB game of the season and his first since May 14.

Maldonado with the Royals (238 PAs): .227/.291/.366, 55K:17BB
Maldonado with the Cubs (13 PAs): .000/.154/.000, 5K:2BB
Maldonado with the Astros (18 PAs): .217/.291/.357, 7K:4BB

*The win was impressive enough that Garrett Stubbs played Left Field.

Everyone stop what you're doing and watch this video of Altuve attempting to tie his daughter's hair pic.twitter.com/9sGwZ9DbCP

— Zack Greinke Stan Account 🇵🇷 (@sportynory) August 8, 2019

Pitching

*Gerrit Cole, man. Struck out 10 batters and didn't walk anyone. Might as well do this again, Cole's starts with 10+ strikeouts and 0 walks:

2013: 0
2014: 1
2015: 0
2016: 0
2017: 1
2018: 4
2019: 5

Weird. Something happened to Cole's career between 2017 and 2018 but I can't quite put my finger on it.

From Sarah Langs, most starts by Astros pitchers with 10K:0BB, franchise history:

Justin Verlander: 9
Gerrit Cole: 9

I'll go one further and list every Astros pitcher with at least five starts with 10+ strikeouts and no walks:

Justin Verlander: 9
Gerrit Cole: 9
Shane Reynolds: 7
Mike Scott: 6
Roy Oswalt: 5

That's it.

Gerrit Cole's 10-decision win streak is the longest active streak in the Majors. Cole:
The wins are always representative of kind of a team approach. I've given my team a really good chance to win every time we've gone out, and the offense has given me a good opportunity to collect Ws every time I've gone out.

*Hunter Atkins: The Astros are as good as it gets right now.

*Ryan Pressly is expected to rejoin the team and could be activated against Baltimore.

*When Peacock comes back, he's expected to rejoin the bullpen.

*Round Rock had a crazy one, beating El Paso 20-12. Alex De Goti hit for the cycle, including 2HR. Kyle Tucker was 3x4 with 2HR and a walk. Nick Tanielu was 3x6 with two doubles and 4RBI. Jose Urquidy threw 4.2IP, 14H/11ER, 4K:1BB. Brad Peacock threw 16 pitches in a clean 7th inning.

*Former Astros Great David Paulino was DFA'd by the Blue Jays.

*Baltimore player Chris Davis and Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde got into a little scuffle in the dugout. Probably not what you want between your manager and the guy you still inexplicably owe $70+ million to. Since signing a 7yr/$161m deal after the 2015 season, Davis: .200/.294/.386, -1.2 fWAR. That's insane.

Also, the 38-76 Orioles just got swept by the Yankees, then get three with the Astros, then have a seven-game road trip to New York and Boston. Poor bastards.

*A Musical Selection:



Frank Turner will be on tour this fall in Dallas on November 1 and Houston on November 2.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

It was Greinke Day and the Astros...well, they reminded us not to get too cocky about this season. And then they reminded us that it's probably okay. Astros took the lead, gave the lead back, and then put their foot on the throats of the Rockies. Houston is 74-40, 42-15 at Minute Maid Park. Still with a 9-game lead because Oakland is doing their annual We Don't Lose After The All-Star Break thing.

*The clubhouse was excited for Greinke's debut. Yordan:
We've all been excited and waiting for him to come on board. Like we say in Latin America, he's a horse. He's a caballo. To have him here, we've been really excited.

Greinke, on how the Astros have treated him:
Sometimes it's a little awkward, but I feel pretty good here. The guys make it real easy. It doesn't feel awkward at all like some other times when I've been on new teams.

*Anyway, Greinke needed ten pitches to get through the 1st Inning, then got bogged down a little bit towards the end. Altuve had an error, Bregman probably should have had an error which was changed to a hit, so the final line on Greinke was: 6IP, 7H/5ER, 2K:2BB.

It's the third time this season Greinke has recorded two or fewer strikeouts, the last time was June 19 against...Colorado. It's the 4th time this season that Greinke has allowed 5+ earned runs. But because, of the Astros, it's the first time Greinke's team has won.

Greinke threw a first-pitch strike to 12 of the 26 batters he faced. Other than some fleeting command, what was Greinke's biggest issue with pitching for the Astros?
(The wait between innings) is kind of boring. And just trying to stay loose, staying focused when not having anything to do.

Hunter Atkins takes a look at the numbers behind Greinke's devastating "slow curve" and how Raimel Tapia tattooed it for a three-run home run. Rockies manager Bud Black:
We finally got one. We'd been swinging at it with not a lot of success....With Greinke, you gotta be ready all the time. He's a strike-thrower. We can't afford to sit there and take pitches, and think that you're gonna get a good one to hit. He's on the attack all the time. We caught a break.

Hinch:
I thought he pitched his way in and out of traffic quite a bit. He just couldn't quite get out of the last inning with the one breaking ball that cost him a three-run homer. Not having been around him, I was impressed with how he goes about his business, how he prepares, how he worked his way through his outing. He was very calm and very interactive during the game.

Greinke used his changeup way more last night than he had all season.

Brian T. Smith, writing like a damb blogger: Greinke must be better than his first off-night.

*Chris Devenski allowed a home run - the second one he has allowed since June 26.

*Hector Rondon heard you talking crap and threw perfect inning in which only six of his 13 pitches were strikes.

*Collin McHugh didn't allow a hit but walked two batters. He has five walks in his last 2IP.

*Hinch, on the offense:
We never really give a team an inning to breathe. When we're right, and we've been right a lot lately, we put a lot of pressure on you from the very beginning. I thought our baserunning was very good tonight, but our at-bats have been really good and synced up together.

*Houston hit four home runs for the 13th time this season. They're 10-3 in those games.

*Yuli Gurriel had two home runs in a game for the 3rd time in his career. The last time he hit two in a game was on July 2, against Colorado. The starter on July 2 and last night? German Marquez. He also stole a base, making Yuli the first Astro with two homers and a stolen base in the same game since Justin Maxwell did it on August 4, 2012.

*Yordan hit his 14th home run of the season. His MLB career began on June 9. No other Astros player in franchise history has more home runs in their first 50 games.

My goodness Yordan... Absolutely demolished a baseball pic.twitter.com/K8KOI1zakb

— Daren Willman (@darenw) August 7, 2019

Let's revisit this whole AL Rookie of the Year thing, here's the top-four listed by fWAR:

Brandon Lowe (Tampa): 2.5 fWAR. 307 PAs, .276/.339/.523, 16 HR.
Dan Vogelbach (Seattle): 2.2 fWAR. 414 PAs, .228/.357/.497, 26 HR.
Mike Tauchman (NY): 2.0 fWAR. 194 PAs, .299/.371/.563, 10 HR.
Yordan Alvarez (HOU): 2.0 fWAR. 177 PAs, .338/.418/.701, 14 HR.

*Josh Reddick hit a triple in the 3rd inning. It's his first extra-base hit since July 27, his third extra-base hit since July 7. Reddick has not hit a home run since June 28.

*Carlos Correa was 2x4 with 3RBI. He has 12 RBI in his last nine games, and has a 6-game hit streak.

*McTaggart has a new inbox (fixed link). Among the items discussed: what the postseason pitching staff will look like, rest days for the upcoming 17-games-in-17-days stretch, September Call-Ups, Brad Peacock / Aaron Sanchez, etc. It's a good inbox.

*SI's Jon Tayler asks, in the wake of Aaron Sanchez's stellar six innings on Saturday: What do the Astros know about pitching that no one else does? Tayler:
Toronto couldn't figure out that Sanchez should throw his worst pitch less and maybe try something else. Then again, the Jays aren't alone in that regard. The Astros have pulled similar tricks with Gerrit Cole (languishing on the Pirates) and Ryan Pressly (underappreciated on the Twins). In both cases, each player camee to Houston, which had already identified a plan for improvement involving tweaks, sequencing, pitch selection, and other factors, and rapidly implemented them. The result: Cole is one of the majors' top starters; Pressly is one of the league's best setup men.

*Injury Updates:
-Ryan Pressly threw a rehab outing in Corpus last night, needing eleven pitches (nine for strikes) with two strikeouts and no baserunners allowed.
-Brad Peacock will pitch today for Round Rock
-Josh James will continue his rehab in West Palm Beach.
-Brent Strom is still in the hospital, but two Astros coaches went to visit him and he was studying the NL West. The rest of the league is doomed.

*Players Weekend is coming up on August 23-25, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing. Here are all the nicknames. I especially appreciate Garrett Stubbs and Zack Greinke's nicknames. This is what they actually should have been.

*Will Leitch says Alex Bregman is the best 25-year old player in MLB, and Altuve at 29, and Brantley at 32, and Verlander at 36.

*Good Dude Michael Coffin - voice of the Corpus Christi Hooks - was on the radio call in Houston last night and tonight.

*Mariners infielder and 2008 1-1 pick Tim Beckham was suspended 80 games after testing positive for stanozolol. He was hitting .237/.293/.461. Steroids don't necessarily do what you think they do. I did not know that Beckham and Former Astros Great Telvin Nash (3rd Round - 2009) were high school teammates.

*Former Astros Great J.D. Davis has put up the best numbers by a Met in the storied history of CitiField.

I am currently fascinated by the Mets. They're 4th in the NL East with a 58-56 record, having won 12 of their last 13 games, and 13 of their last 15. I made fun of them when they traded for Marcus Stroman, but now they have a rotation of DeGrom, Syndergaard, Stroman, and Wheeler. Pete Alonso is a machine. What NL team would want to face them in the postseason, should they make it? As of this morning, they're 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot and have a 37.3% chance of making the playoffs.

*Buster Olney went out of his way to note that the Dodgers are 45-15 at home and have outscored their opponents 326-195.

The Astros are 42-15 at home and have outscored their opponents 307-219. And they don't play in a candy-ass division.

*Why is everyone talking about 30-50 feral hogs?

*The "All or Nothing" series on Amazon Prime is phenomenal.

*The Sixth Sense came out 20 years ago yesterday. While other movies have impacted me on a basic level of fear (looking at you, The Strangers; there was also an Irish horror movie whose title I can't remember with a well-known actor whose name also cannot remember - I know this is very helpful) that made me actually howl in fear), The Sixth Sense scared the piss out of me. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing Mischa Barton vomit under the bed for weeks. It was a lot of fun to have M. Night Shyamalan make actually decent movies. Mental Floss has 15 Twisted Facts About The Sixth Sense.

*A Musical Selection from one of the best live shows I've ever seen: White Rabbits at Exit/In (I think it was Exit/In) in Nashville with about 30 other people for $10:

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros were off, nothing really happened, yesterday sucked. Good news is we get to do this again on Thursday, just in time to watch The Crazytrain on Kirby play a pre-season game.

Let's do this, huh?

*Playoff Odds:

Site	Proj. Rec.	% to win ALW	% to win AL	% to win WS
B-Ref	103-59	99.1%	32.1%	16.8%
FanGraphs	105-57	99.9%	41.0%	27.5%
538	105-57	99.0%	-	24.0%
BPro	104-58	99.5%	-	22.8%

Related, here's the playoff schedule. The ALDS will start on October 4 or October 5. Whichever time slot is more convenient for the Yankees, the Astros would get the other one.

pic.twitter.com/pTSuyjISAb

— MattressMack (@MattressMack) August 5, 2019

*This catalog of Zack Greinke stories is absolutely worth the price of a subscription to The Athletic. They run specials all the time, what the heck. And more from The Athletic: Eno Sarris breaks down the trade deadline winners by projection systems. And Jake Kaplan on the incredible rise of Yordan Alvarez.

This catalog of Zack Greinke stories from @ZHBuchanan is hilarious, touching and amazing. So, so good. https://t.co/aPBKx5m38x pic.twitter.com/KpIixXPFnC

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) August 5, 2019

*Get the No-Hit Squad shirt from Breaking T (and when you use this link, I get a cut).

*Jenny Dial Creech: Greinke's first start comes with anticipation, expectations.

*Justin Verlander (and Mike Trout) are having remarkable seasons, in case you didn't know.

*Chandler Rome: Josh Reddick is sinking, while Chris Devenski is looking more like his former self.

*FanGraphs: The Astros may have salvaged another pitcher's career.

*Cubs GM Jed Hoyer basically said the Cubs traded Maldonado to the Astros because of "player happiness."

*Former Astros Great Tony Sipp rejected an outright assignment to the minors and the Nationals have requested release waivers, meaning he's headed to the open market. If they already brought back Machete, and could use another reliever since Reymin Guduan is apparently an idiot, might they try to get the whole damn band back together?

*Framber threw 6IP, 5H/2ER, 8K:1BB in a 6-3 Round Rock win over Sacramento. Nick Tanielu was 2x3 with a home run and a walk. Kyle Tucker was 1x3 with an RBI.

*Corpus managed only two runs but it was enough to shut out Frisco. Bryan Abreu (5IP) and Cristian Javier (4IP) threw 9IP, 3H/0ER, 13K:5BB - and four of those walks were Abreu's.

Cristian Javier's last ten appearances: 42.1IP, 16H/11ER, 69K:24BB, 2.34 ERA / 0.94 WHIP.

*Fayetteville pitchers walked nine batters but limited the damage in a 13-4 whoopin of Myrtle Beach. Scott Manea was 4x5 with two doubles, a home run, and 3RBI. Corey Julks was 3x4 with four runs scored and 2RBI.

*Quad Cities have scored two runs in the first three games of the series against Kane County, losing last night 3-0. 1-7 in the lineup went 0x22 with 8K.

*Joe Perez (2nd Round - 2017) hit a walkoff home run against Jenrry Mejia - yes, that Jenrry Mejia - as Tri-City beat Lowell. 2017 10th Round pick Kyle Serrano is back after basically two years of injuries, and he's happy the Astros stuck with him (this article is from, like, a month ago, but it's still applicable).

*I have some issues with Jeff Pearlman, but his podcast with Houston Chronicle reporter Keri Blakinger is absolutely fantastic.

*MLB team officials from the Dodgers, Braves, and Padres are under investigation from the Justice Department for their ties to Cuban smugglers.

*Pedro Martinez says some members of the 2009 Phillies had got dang Swine Flu during the World Series.

*Over 4,000 British boy/girl scouts went to the Orioles game on Sunday and it was freaking delightful. Former Astros Great Jonathan Villar switch-hit for the cycle last night.

*Evan P. Grant, with a quote from a fan who was a racist tirade at Globe Life Park about what transpired on Saturday, hours after the racist mass shooting in El Paso:
He made it perfectly clear during the second inning that he is not a fan of Hispanics. And he just so happened to have a Hispanic family [us] sitting in front of him and another one sitting directly behind him. During the second inning the little boy behind him who looked to be about [her son's] age kicked the back of his chair. And for the next three innings I had to hear him complain about all the illegal immigrants that were surrounding him at the game. That he should kick little Speedy Gonzalez all the way back to Mexico for kicking his seat. That Trump needs to hurry and build the wall and send all these illegals back so they won't be kicking his seat.

This isn't a joke about Dallas. Racists who get triggered by a kid at a baseball game are the joke.

*A Musical Selection:

Monday Morning Hot Links

The Astros completed the sweep of the Mariners with a measly 3-1 win. Trash offense. Houston is 73-40. They have won four in a row, seven of their last eight, and 14 of their last 17 games since the Angels tried to flex on the Astros (this is going to be a Thing). The Astros are good. Oakland and Arlington won, because the Cardinals and Tigers are trash, respectively.

This week! The Astros have a two-game home stand against Colorado, then start a ten-game road trip at Baltimore (3), Chicago (3), and Oakland (4)

*After 113 games:
2019: 73-40
2018: 71-42
2017: 71-42

And the Astros are off today and then start Greinke every five days. Good luck.

*Hinch:
Everything from the attention to detail to the game planning to the execution and then to the bullpen coming in and getting huge outs, it's a really good stretch for us. One of the things that we pride ourselves on is preparation, and I think this series and leading up to this series it's been excellent.

*Let's start with Justin Verlander: 6IP, 3H/1ER, 10K:2BB.

It's his 7th 10+ K game of the season, and his fourth in a row. That's insane. It's the 2nd 4-game double-digit strikeout streak of his career, the first being from September 10-29, 2018.

Verlander's last four starts:
25IP, 15H/3ER, 46K:5BB. 1.08 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 9.2 K:BB ratio.

Shoutout to JV, who became the 7th pitcher in MLB history to strike out 200+ batters in nine consecutive seasons.

Verlander's 2.68 ERA is the best in the American League. Verlander:
Each guy, when you create a competitive atmosphere like we have here, not that you want to one-up the guy before you, but you want to go out there and compete against some of the best in the world, and we've got a lot of the best in the world right here in the starting rotation...It's pretty incredible. You just kind of stay in your own lane and try to keep doing what's making you great, and at the same time you appreciate everything that's going on around you.

Astros starters are 14-1 in their last 17 games. That's crazy.

*Joe Smith, 2019: 7.2IP, 6H/0ER, 3K:0BB.

*Will Harris has appeared in 48 games this season. He has allowed a run in nine of them. He has a 1.69 ERA.

*Astros pitchers vs Seattle, this weekend:
27IP, 7H/3ER, 33K:14BB.

*Bregman, who does not want an off-day today, marveled at the pitching staff:
They're incredible. They pound the zone, work fast and give us a chance to win every time out. It's a lot of fun to play defense behind them.

*The Astros won a game in which they got five hits. They're 5-12 in those games. Two of those wins are against Seattle.

*The Astros won a game in which they didn't hit a home run. They're 6-19 in those games. Three of those wins are against Seattle.

*Seattle has a right fielder apparently named "Dylan Moore." He said this:
It's tough. They're obviously a good ballclub, but we can do better than that. Everybody in here is going to tell you that we didn't play offensively to our standards that we hold ourselves to.

Bro you hit 9th on a team that is 34-65 in their last 99 games and you have a .692 OPS. The Astros have won more games since June 1 than you have all year. FOH.

*Josh Reddick was 0x2 with a sac fly and got his first RBI since July 18. He's been hot garbage lately.

Reddick vs LHP: .342/.383/.487
Reddick vs RHP: .256/.298/.374

Reddick since the All-Star Break: .206/.253/.235. He has two extra-base hits since the break.

*Brent Strom will miss some time after undergoing gastrointestinal surgery on Saturday night.

*McTaggart's notebook has some interesting bits of tid:

-Hinch, on Martin Maldonado:
He just looks like he's at home. He's a true catcher. He cares so much about what his pitcher is doing on the mound. I have great respect for that. Chirinos is the same way. I demand that of our catchers because that's where we're going to impact the game the most. We love hitting homers and getting base hits. I say every day we want him to catch a winner and get a base hit. That's a good day for our catcher.

-Ryan Pressly and Brad Peacock looked rusty, but healthy, in their bullpen session and rehab appearance, respectively.

*Forrest Whitley: 4IP, 2H/1ER, 5K:2BB and threw 43 of his 69 pitches for strikes in a Corpus win.

*Reymin Guduan was suspended for the rest of the season due to a "disciplinary issue." So it's not PEDs or domestic violence - those get announced as such. Weird. Luhnow:
He broke our team rules and is being disciplined because of it.

*The Detroit Free-Press' Anthony Fenech has a story about the 2017 Trade Deadline and hoo boy. Fenech:
In what looms as the biggest mistake of their rebuilding process, [the Tigers] rebuffed an offer for (Michael) Fulmer involving two young players who are now among the best in baseball. According to multiple persons with knowledge of the talks, the Cubs offered shortstop Javier Baez as part of a three-player package and the Astros offered third baseman Alex Bregman for Fulmer and lefty reliever Justin Wilson.

Sometimes you look smart because everyone around you is dumb.

*Bristol City 1 - Leeds United 3. Manager Marcelo Bielsa:
We managed both halves very well in the first 30 minutes, but at the same time, in the last 15 minutes we conceded too much possession.

Love too wish you could have put your foot more on the neck of your opponent.

*The Diet That Could Cure Depression.

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Hahahahahahahaha. The Astros threw a combined no-hitter against the Mariners in Aaron Sanchez's Astros debut and got seven extra-base hits for a 9-0 demolition of Seattle. Houston is 72-40. The lead on Oakland is still 8.5 games. There are 50 regular season games left.

Record, after 112 games:
2019: 72-40
2018: 71-41
2017: 71-41

The 2017 Astros went 11-17 in August. I don't think that'll happen to this team.At this point the Astros will need to 32-18 to reach 104 wins and set a franchise record. That's a .640 winning percentage down the stretch. Given that their win% right now is .642, it's doable.

Houston is 15-7 since the All-Star Break.

Game Notes

*You have to go back all the way to July 12 to find the last time the Mariners were no-hit.

*It's the first time since August 21, 2015 that the Astros have thrown a no-hitter, when Former Astros Great Mike F. Fiers did it against the Dodgers. It's the 12th time in franchise history that they've recorded a no-hitter. They're 11-1 in games in which they do not allow a hit. On April 23, 1964 the Reds beat the Astros 1-0 because starting pitcher Ken Johnson and Nellie Fox committed two infield errors in the top of the 9th and Pete Rose scored the winning run.

*MLB.com has the facts & figures from the no-no.

*Aaron Sanchez was brilliant: 6IP, 0H/0ER, 6K:2BB. Sanchez's previous career-long with 0H allowed? 2IP, on August 30, 2014. Last night was his first win in 17 consecutive starts.

ESPN:
Sanchez threw his curve on 30.4% of his pitches, the highest curveball percentage of his career with a minimum of two batters faced according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Scott Servais:
He certainly wasn't dominating anybody coming into the game, so we expected to do a lot more against him and just weren't able to get it done.

Hinch:
I don't carry the burden of the early-season losses for him because he wasn't with us. I am proud of him for containing his energy and containing his excitement...I feel so good for him because he was able to channel that inner energy that he has and deliver a huge start. He really did step onto this team and provide a great first impression.

Sanchez's last three starts: 16.2IP, 11H/5ER, 22K:2BB. 2.70 ERA /  0.78 WHIP. Sanchez:
It's hard to come to a team and feel like you can contribute right away when they're already so good. So for tonight to end the way it did, these guys coming in behind me and doing their part, too...I'm so happy.

Sanchez is the 2nd pitcher in MLB history to be part of a combined no-hitter in his first start with a new team.

Devenski:
When I saw Vogelbach hit it in the air and Redd catch it and everyone came running at me, it was pretty cool...I kind of looked up when I was walking in from the bullpen and saw a 0 up there. I had to step off the mound and take a step back and gather myself. Going out there and being able to finish this, with these groups of guys, is something that's going to live on forever. I'm happy to be a part of it.

*Seattle's Mallex Smith:
It's kind of embarrassing. But it's baseball. It's sports, you know. Sometimes the dice roll your way, sometimes not.

Seattle started the season 13-2. They're 34-64 since.

*Hinch, on the Astros' seeming ability to turn pitchers around:
We don't have magic dust. There's a lot of people in the organization that go to work to try to find the one thing that can unlock people's potential.

Aha! But there's this from Hinch, as well:
I want to credit Aaron Sanchez more than I credit the magic dust we sometimes sprinkle on these guys. 

There is absolutely a jar of Magic Dust.

Gerrit Cole wasn't terribly thrilled with some fans who were leaving in the 9th Inning:
I just don't think everybody was aware of what was going on. I certainly wouldn't leave. But if you want to leave, you can leave. I'm not telling you to stay or leave, I just hope that you know that it was a no-hitter.

*Will Harris: 1IP, 0H/0ER, 0K:1BB.
Joe Biagini: 1IP, 0H/0ER, 1K:1BB
Chris Devenski: 1IP, 0H/0ER, 1K:0BB

Chandler Rome: How the bullpen locked down the no-hitter.

*2-6 in the lineup (Altuve-Brantley-Bregman-Yordan-Correa): 11x25 / 8 RBI with four doubles, a triple, and a home run.

*Michael Brantley was 3x5 with two doubles and 4RBI. He's hitting .320/.379/.516 with a career-high in OPS. It's his 11th 3+ hit game of the season.

*Astros hitters have recorded at least three hits in a game 70 times this season:
Brantley: 11
Gurriel: 10
Altuve: 9
Springer: 8
Bregman: 7
Reddick: 6
Correa: 5
Yordan: 4
Marisnick: 3
White: 3
Chirinos: 1
Kemp: 1
Mayfield: 1
Straw: 1

*Jose Altuve was 2x5 with his 18th home run of the year. On June 20 his OPS was .769. It's now .907. Over those 35 games he's hitting .373/.417/.633. He has a 1.212 OPS since the All-Star Break.

*Bregman, Yordan, and Correa each had two hits.

If you're a GM and the Astros call asking to trade for one your players, and you don't know why they want said player, you should immediately hang up the phone and figure out what you're not seeing.

— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) August 3, 2019

Other Astros News

*The Astros had a successful inaugural Hall of Fame class last night. Shoutout to Mike Acosta. J.R. Richard:
I cannot explain the feeling that's going through me right now. I'm just appreciative to be here with such a bunch of great guys. To have played with those guys has been a true pleasure and honor. And I'm so happy for the franchise and how it's grown.

*The pairing of Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke is extremely rare in MLB history, writes Andrew Simon. Simon:
It's not just that the Astros have two likely future Hall of Famers. It's that they have them at a time when both pitchers are both so highly accomplished already (60+ WAR, Cy Young Awards), and still highly effective.

*There are three pitchers in MLB with 140+ IP thrown and a WHIP under 1.00: Verlander, Cole, Greinke.

*This recent story in The Athletic breaks down just how Aaron Sanchez had a 6.07 ERA.

*July AL Player of the Month: Yuli Gurriel
July AL Pitcher of the Month: Gerrit Cole. The last pitcher to win back-to-back Pitcher of the Month awards was Blake Snell, who later won the AL Cy Young.
July AL Rookie of the Month: Yordan Alvarez

It's the first time since June 2006 (Minnesota) that one team has swept all three awards in the same month.

*Brian T. Smith: Join the Astros, be a part of history.

*Zack Greinke is a really interesting guy with a well-documented history of social anxiety. Brian T. Smith writes that, with the Astros, Greinke can just be himself. Luhnow:
He's not a guy that seeks the limelight, and that actually works well for us here in Houston and slotting in with Verlander and Cole. He's not going to have to be the guy that's in front of the camera the whole time. But he's a competitor. The one thing I've heard about him is he's really intelligent...The GM of the Diamondbacks told me that he loves to study the draft, he loves to absorb the draft, he knows all the draft players. So I'm looking forward to having him as a special assistant.

The Astros have so many Personalities on the team: Bregman, Reddick, Correa (and Daniella, of course), Springer, Yuli. Verlander and Cole. Yordan is a serene lake at dawn. Greinke doesn't have to provide a soundbite. It's perfect. I have a fairly decent case of social anxiety, or maybe anxiety/depression in general. It manifests itself in different ways. I drink a decent amount, but I'm working on that. Hot Links, and Astros County in general, has helped. Running helps more. I didn't really feel this anxiety during the live show but I would much rather, 99% of the time, to just stay home. Maybe it's teaching/coaching that forces me to be social and caring and accommodating, and there's something to taking on the weight of 120+ students and all of their emotions and the weight of their general existence. I tell my students that if they just can't deal with the cafeteria then my room is open (provided the door stays open and I tell our hall security guard that I have a student in there - can't be too careful) for them to just sit and eat lunch. We can talk if they want, or I can get some work done while they remove themselves from a situation if they don't. I'm exhausted when I get home.

So to the Houston reporters - and I know at least a couple of you read this blog - just leave Greinke alone. He'll talk when he wants to talk. If you're reading this, do not think that Greinke is "such a weirdo." Laugh at the legitimately funny stories surrounding Greinke, but do not just chalk him up to being a head case. Because in reality, who isn't?

And if you want more insight into who Greinke actually is, I'd suggest a couple of Joe Posnanski pieces. This one, too.

*Round Rock beat Sacramento 10-9. Kyle Tucker was 2x5 with a double and his 28th home run of the year. Abraham Toro was 2x3. Alex De Goti was 2x4 with a home run and 3RBI. Brad Peacock "threw" 1.1IP, 3H/5ER, 2K:2BB in a rehab start.

*Corpus won 5-1. Colton Shaver hit a three-run home run and JJ Matijevic added another long ball.  Forrest Whitley gets the start for Corpus today.

*Cal Stevenson made his Astros org debut last night, hitting 6th for Fayetteville. He went 0x3 with an RBI and a stolen base in a 4-3 Fayetteville loss. Shawn Dubin (13th Round - 2018) threw 4.2IP, 2H/2R (0ER), 11K:1BB.

Dubin's last two starts: 9.2IP, 5H/2ER, 20K:3BB.

*Quad Cities lost to Kane County 2-1 in 10 innings. Jose Alberto Rivera and Jonathan Bermudez combined to throw 8IP, 7H/1ER, 8K:4BB. The game-winning run for Kane County was unearned.

Other Stuff

*FanGraphs' David Laurilia has really great background on Former Astros Great Corbin Martin's development all the way to Arizona.

*Patrick Sandoval is getting called up to Anaheim. Sandoval, drafted by the Astros in the 11th Round of the 2015 Draft, was traded to Anaheim in 2018 for Martin Maldonado.

*The Yankees' Edwin Encarnacion, who had hit nine home runs as a Yankee, has a right wrist fracture. The Yankees' IL takes ten minutes just to read.

*Here's an academic paper that looks at pitcher mechanics and how fatigue leads to injuries, which leads to poor pitching mechanics, which leads to...

*Back from heartbreak after missing promotion to the Premier League, my beloved Leeds United kicks off the 2019/2020 season this morning against Bristol City. They're anywhere from 3:2 to 7:4 on winning promotion this year.

*A Musical Selection:



Periodic reminder that the Hot Links Playlist is on Spotify and is now over 10 hours long.