Sunday Morning Hot Links

Big Thanks to everyone who came out to Secret Group last night for the first ever Lima Time Time Live Show. It was a lot of fun and Patrick and I will definitely do it again, albeit with some Rules this time around. Look for it in the Fall (I go back to Work this week). Also, if you're going to the Spoon/Beck/Cage the Elephant show tonight in The Woodlands, give me a shout.

I of course did not see much of the game, but the Astros beat the piss out of the Best Fans In Base Ball 8-2 thanks to Carlos Correa's grand slam and Gerrit Cole's strong start. Houston is 67-39. There are 66 regular season games left.

*Let's start with Gerrit Cole. Cole threw 7IP, 4H/1ER, 7K:3BB. The one run he allowed was a solo home run to Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt has hit a home run in six consecutive games, with 13RBI. It's fine. No one cares. Woodlands-lookin' ass boiiiiiiiii.

*Cole has made 23 starts in 2019. 2019 starts with...
0ER: 3
1ER: 9
2ER: 5
3ER: 2
4ER: 2
5ER: 0
6ER: 1
7ER: 0
8ER: 1

Not bad, if that's your kind of thing.

*I guess we can nit-pick. Cole had not walked three batters in a game since June 19.

*The Astros walked six times for the 22nd time this season. Somehow they're only 13-9 when that happens.

*Carlos Correa was 2x5 with 5RBI and a Grand Slam, the 10th Granny for the Astros this season. It was Correa's first MLB Grand Slam. Correa:
Our lineup is pretty scary. We can do pretty special things. We can turn around games pretty quick in the matter of just one inning.

It's Correa's 2nd career 5RBI game, his first since July 9, 2017.

Correa also seems to have avoided yet another Stupid Injury when Professional Dumb Ass Yairo Munoz slid hard into 2nd to break up a double play and ended up spiking Correa in the elbow, which seems like a really hard thing to do, unless you're a Cardinal, then it's just what you do if you're the classiest team in baseball. Hinch:
It's an unnecessary slide. He didn't need to go all the way through the base and hit Carlos. The slide rule fails again. 

Correa:
It didn't look clean, but I don't think he was trying to take me out and trying to get me hurt.

Hinch, on what would happen to Munoz today:
Old school, he'd get hit [Hinch immediately thinks of Ausmus] I know we don't do that anymore. But it was an unfortunate play.

More effective than hitting Munoz today would be to continue to allow the Cardinals to slide into irrelevance.

*Robinson Chirinos was 2x3 with a walk, and has at least one hit in eight of his last nine games in which he has received an AB. He's hitting .345/.486/.448 in his last ten games.

*Yordan Alvarez has one hit in his last 10 ABs. This, too, is fine.

*Alex Bregman has been on base in four of his nine PAs this series against St. Louis.

*Ryan Pressly, who might get put on the IL:
Everybody's got to work through something. I'm in the training room getting treatment and I've got all the faith in my training staff to get me right.

*The Cheatin-Ass Cardinals honored their 2004 team prior to the game. Reminder that they lost. Alyson Footer has a pretty great oral history on MLB.com on the 2004 NLCS.

*Jeff Luhnow compared the 2004 Cardinals team to the 2019 Astros. And if that means "win 105 games, barely get by the LCS, and get swept in the World Series" like the Cardinals did, then count me the hell out of that.

Trade/Rumor Roundup

*The Braves, Dodgers, Brewers, Twins, Rays, and pretty much anyone else with a record over .500 right now is interested in just about everybody. The Trade Deadline is at 4pm Eastern on Wednesday.

*The Astros are "mounting a push" for Marcus Stroman, in part because the Mets' asking price for Syndergaard is too high.

*Oakland traded for Jake Diekman, and their bullpen JUST MIGHT be better than Houston's. 

*Kyle Tucker is Keith Law's "good prospect most likely to get traded this year."

*The Dodgers, in a valiant effort to lose a third straight World Series, are considering trading for Stroman.

*Trevor Bauer is "almost certainly" not going to be on Cleveland's roster in 2020.

*The Twins and Rangers have discussed Mike Minor.

*The Mets might try to package Zack Wheeler and Edwin Diaz.

*The Tour De France ends today, which means I'm done watching cycling for another 49 weeks. It also means that Summer is just about over, and it makes me sad. 

*SB Nation: How cyclists continue to cheat.

*The Last Days of John Allen Chau.

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

Kinda depressing knowing that this could be the last day of Astros baseball. Luckily for all of us, Justin Verlander takes the mound for Game 6, hoping to push the series to a Game 7 tomorrow night.

If the Astros-Yankees series goes to a Game 7, Ric Flair is scheduled to call "Play Ball!" in a video message before the game. I'm serious. pic.twitter.com/Dfw2uIhjTm

— Matt Young (@Chron_MattYoung) October 19, 2017

*Hinch is grateful for the Veteran Presence (presented by Camping World) that Beltran and McCann exhibited following the G5 loss.

*Sports Illustrated: How Carlos Beltran sparked traditional clubhouse chemistry in a data-driven organization.

*Check out what this fan went through and attended Game 1.

*Tonight is what Verlander was brought here for and, as the NYDN notes in the link, Justin Verlander hasn't lost an elimination game since 2006.

*Grant Brisbee: Why are the Astros hitting like a team full of Jon Lesters?

*Richard Justice: The 2017 Astros can find hope at the expense of the 2004 Astros.

*Let's see what this "Voodoo" thing is about. Absolem:
We mean that we're going to bind their hands and their sight and bind their skills as baseball players so we can give an advantage to our Astros home team. They'll throw bad pitches. They might drop their bat. They might hit the ball and it might not go anywhere.

*A.J. Hinch isn't going to name his G7 starter.

*Bob Klapisch, playing to his base: Hey Astros, Maybe It's Just the Yankees' Year

*Kyle Tucker became the first guinea pig in this minor-league Courtesy Runner experiment.

*Evan Drellich writes that Alex Cora will be the next manager of the Boston Red Sox.

Thursday Morning Hot Links

It is here. As I type, we're less than nine hours away from first pitch in ALDS G1. I've already called in sick for tomorrow (can't today) but - how's this for irony? - I'm actually sick. Playoff Fever, baby, catch it! I don't know about you, but I'm an absolutely bundle of nerves. Within seconds I go from dreaming about going to the parade in downtown Houston to thinking about how I'm going to write the postmortem after the Astros get swept by Boston. This is what we wanted, I guess. So let's make some jokes and do some reading.

*Flick Nickem has your ALDS Bingo Cards ready for you to download.

*Five key Statcast facts to note during the ALDS.

*ESPN's Jerry Crasnick has a great piece on how the Astros' lineup is built to roll through October, and how the organization's philosophy has changed over the last four years.

*Verlander is honored to start G1, and complimentary of the rest of the rotation:
I've been lucky to be part of some pretty great pitching staffs where anybody can go No. 1 the first game and you don't feel like you're team's any different than if the other guy goes No. 1...It's a great situation to be on because...the weight of the world doesn't fall on your shoulders to have to win that game. 

*Verlander said yesterday that there's a special buzz in the clubhouse.

*Josh Reddick is ready to go.

*Carlos Correa learned a few lessons from 2015 ALDS G4, and is ready for a deeper run. Hinch, on Correa:
He's so driven to be great, and most of the great ones are. I mean, it's how they're built and how they go about it. But I love how he takes it personal when people challenge him about playing shortstop, and I love how personal he takes it in being in the middle of the order and wanting to be the most productive hitter on the team.

*This is just great. ALDS G3 at Fenway will start at 1:38pm Central. My kingdom for a playoff night game. What a joke.

*The Dallas Morning News' Evan Grant and Gerry Fraley both picked Red Sox in five.

*Baseball saved Chris Devenski from gang life.

*The San Diego Union-Tribune is unsurprised by hometown boy Joe Musgrove's success.

*An oral history of Carlos Beltran's 2004 postseason.

Tuesday Morning Link Dump:

Here's what you need to know in Astrosdom for Tuesday morning:

*JetHawks manager Rodney Linares says Carlos Correa has been ready for Double-A for a couple of weeks, as Evan Drellich checks out Lancaster.

*The Astros traded Raul Valdes to the Blue Jays yesterday for a PTBNL, or straight cash homey.

*Miguel Tejada signed a minor-league deal with the Marlins. Because of his positive amphetamine test, he won't be eligible to play until June 10th.

*Luis Cruz dominated for Corpus last night.

*Ben Zobrist and Hunter Pence get drafted early in Keith Law's Insider-Only 2004 Re-Draft.

Does one game make a difference?

Saturday, August 14, 2004. Houston @ Montreal.

Carlos Hernandez makes his first start since 2002. Nick Johnson hits a grand slam in the 8th and the Expos win 8-3, sending the Astros to a 56-60 record. The Astros were tied for 3rd, 19.5 games behind the Cardinals and 7 games back of the Cubs. They had the 11th best record in the National League.

Then, the Sunday game. August 15. Orlando Palmeiro's pinch-hit single to score Jason Lane capped a three-run 9th inning for a come-from-behind 5-4 win. Then they only lost three more times in August and went 18-7 (three of those losses came in a four-game set at, of course, Pittsburgh) in September.

What happened? Can one game set off a streak, like that of the '04 Astros that rattled off a 36-10 record (2nd-best to close a season)? One come from behind victory against the Expos on a Sunday afternoon decides the season. Your thoughts?