Thursday, May 18, 2023

Thursday Morning Hot Links

Welp! The Astros scored six runs in the 8th/9th to beat the Cubs on a walk-off Kyle Tucker single 7-6 to complete a rather unlikely (for 2023, anyway) comeback. Houston is 24-19 overall and 11-11 at home. The Rangers lost so that's a 2-game deficit for the Astros in the standings. That's seven wins in the Astros' last eight games. 

*The Cubs' Win Expectancy was 98.5% when David Hensley struck out to end the 7th Inning. 287 batters in MLB have at least 80 PAs this season. David Hensley's .130/.221/.182 slash line ranks 287th. 

*It's the Astros' first walk-off win of the season. The Astros are now 1-11 when allowing 6+ runs in a game. Michael Schwab noted that the Astros were 0-17 when trailing at the beginning of the 9th Inning. Dusty:

That was the win of the year.

Dusty also gave a shoutout to all the fans who stayed.

*Alex Bregman have yourself a day! Bregman was a [wink] triple shy of the cycle, going 3x4 with a walk and an RBI. It's the 9th time in his career he's recorded a double, homer, and walk in the same game - the first since June 9, 2021. It's his first 3-hit game since August 23, 2022. Bregman now has seven hits in his last five games. 

*Kyle Tucker also got hisself three hits, one of them a double, one of them the walk-off two-run single. He now has hits in six of his last seven games. 

*Jeremy Pena was 2x5 with his third career triple, and first of 2023. It was the Astros' third triple of 2023. 

*The Astros are 3-0 when Jake Meyers homers. Last night's 9th inning shot was his first home run since April 30.

*Yordan Alvarez's On-Base Streak to Start The Season (OBStSTS, for short) ended last night as he went 0x5. It was the 9th time in his career that Yordan has recorded at least five plate appearances and not gotten a hit. The Astros record when Yordan doesn't get on base in a game with at least 5PA? Uhhhhh 6-3. 

[please note that I'm getting a little hamstrung by Baseball-Reference's site update, which is apparently happening RIGHT THIS MINUTE]

*Houston's bullpen: 5.1IP, 4H/0ER, 7K:5BB.
  Chicago's bullpen: 2.1IP, 9H/6ER, 4K:2BB.

*Hector Neris, since April 3: 15IP, 4H/1ER, 18K:7BB. 

*Bryan Abreu recorded his second Win of the season. He has allowed 0 Earned Runs in 18 of the 21 appearances he has made in 2023.

*Neris and Abreu were behind 1-0 in the count to eight of the ten batters they faced. 

*Chandler Rome: How this "Jose Altuve" fella could help the Astros, if they call him up straight from Corpus. Altuve could possibly be activated in time for tomorrow's game against Oakland.

*Michael Brantley says he's pain-free, though no one - not even God - knows when he might start resuming baseball activities. 

*David Coleman, formerly of The Crawfish Boxes, remembered some guys from 2004.

*ESPN: The Complex Task of Rebuilding Hinchcliffe.

*NY Times: Did 500-year old Viking city Jomsborg actually exist?

*Winning the Champions League would put 2022-23 Manchester City in Legend status.

*Brentford's Ivan Toney has been suspended from the Premier League for eight months for sports betting.

*A Musical Selection: