Sunday Morning Hot Links

It's the last day of the regular season, and then the fun starts on Friday. The Astros and Verlander dominated the second half of the game to win their 106th game of the season, and go into one more Gerrit Cole start looking for 107 wins on the year.

Scoreboard Watching:
Los Angeles beat San Francisco, he Rays lost to Toronto, Oakland beat Seattle. This clears up a couple of things:

-Houston has Home Field Advantage throughout the playoffs.
-Oakland will host the AL Wild Card game against Tampa, and Houston will host the winner of Friday for ALDS G1.

*Hinch:
When 3,000 was getting close, he found ways to get a lot of strikeouts. When 300 got close for the season, he beared down even more. Big night for him. Great night for our team.

*G161 had a lot of potential for stupid. Verlander needed six strikeouts to get to 3000 for his career and 12 to get 300 for the season. Verlander struck out Kole Calhoun to get the 3000th strikeout of his career, but Robinson Chirinos dropped the ball and Calhoun reached first, and Andrelton Simmons hit a home run in the next AB to give Anaheim a 3-0 lead. Later in the 6th Inning, Verlander struck out Kole Calhoun for his 300th strikeout of the season. Thank you, Kole Calhoun. I hate you, Kole Calhoun. Verlander:
Three thousand was something I wanted to accomplish this season. I honestly wrote off 300. I thought it was going to be a lot to ask for since these guys don't strike out much. I got 3,000 and then to look up after five innings and have 11 strikeouts. Talking to AJ, I knew we were only going to go six innings. I had more emotion for 300 than 3,000 because I didn't expect to get there in this game. Very thankful to get both accomplishments. It hasn't set in yet.

The Angels had struck out 12+ times in a game 13 times going into last night. The Astros did it to them three times prior. So Verlander finishes the 2019 regular season with exactly 300 strikeouts, breaking his previous career-high set in 2018 of 290.

Verlander's K:BB ratio, Detroit: 3.10
Verlander's K:BB ratio, Houston: 7.14

More Hinch:
He figured a few things out with his grip and a little bit with his mechanics. He was doing a lot of different things to try to get his best stuff toward home plate. And then adapting to their gameplan a little bit. I think he had to pitch to a couple different areas of the strike zone just based on their aggressiveness early.

*It was Verlander's 28th start of 3ER or less. He did not allow more than 4ER in a start in 2019. It's his 6th 12+ strikeout game of the season, and his 13th double-digit strikeout game of the season. Verlander has 21 wins, the most since he posted 24 wins in his 2011 Cy Young/MVP season.

Verlander, 2011: 251IP, 2.40 ERA / 0.92 WHIP, 250K:57BB, 6.2 hits/9, 9.0 K/9, 2.0 BB/9
Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:53BB, 5.5 hits/9, 12.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9

*Verlander is the second pitcher in MLB history to get his 300th strikeout of the season and 3000th strikeout of his career in the same game. Randy Johnson got his on September 10, 2000 at Florida.

Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:42BB
Johnson, 2000: 248.2IP, 2.64 ERA / 1.12 WHIP, 347K:76BB

*Verlander ends the 2019 regular season with a 0.803 WHIP, 2nd-best since 1962 among qualified pitchers.

Pedro, 1999: 217IP, 1.74 ERA / 0.74 WHIP, 284K:32BB, .166 average-against, 11.8 K/9
Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:42BB, .171 average-against, 12.1 K/9
Maddux, 1995: 209.2IP, 1.63 ERA / 0.81 WHIP, 181K:23BB, .194 average-against, 7.8 K/9.

*Verlander's number of pitches, last three starts: 87, 92, 80.

*Verlander's 1st Strikeout victim: Travis Hafner
Verlander's 1000th Strikeout victim: A.J. Pierzynski
Verlander's 2000th Strikeout victim: Manny Machado
Verlander's 3000th Strikeout victim: Kole Calhoun

*Angels pitcher Jose Suarez shut the Astros down, which makes sense when you consider:

Suarez: July 30-September 27: 39IP, 56H/40ER, 23K:16BB, 9.23 ERA / 1.85 WHIP.
Suarez, last night: 5IP, 3H/2ER, 6K:1BB.

*Josh Reddick hit a massive three-run home run, his 14th of the season. Reddick, on who he wants to face in the ALDS:
There's not really a team (of the A's or Rays) I'd prefer to face, so to speak. We're going to be closely watching next week to see what happens. I think we'd all agree we have a really good chance of beating both of them. So we're ready with whoever wants to bring it on.

Please keep in mind that, while the Astros did lose six of their last eight to Oakland, here was the losing pitcher: Verlander, Josh James, Wade Miley, Rogelio Armenteros, Cy Sneed, Chris Devenski.

*Jose Altuve was 3x5 with 3RBI. Altuve's average is now at .298 with 148 hits in 497 ABs.

If Altuve goes:
0x4: .295
1x4: .297
2x4: .2994
3x4: .301
2x5: .2988
3x5: .3007

Astros are the first team in baseball history to win 100-plus games in a season and then improve on their win totals in each of the next two seasons.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 28, 2019

*Daily Correa Update:

-Correa feels good!
I should be good to go for the playoffs. I woke up today feeling really good. Today is a great day. A positive day. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.

*

You play to win the game. pic.twitter.com/1VGDF3QVwA

— Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1) September 28, 2019

*McTaggart has your postseason FAQ.

*Richard Justice ranks the Astros as the #1 postseason lineup.

*What to watch for today:
-Can Altuve get back to .300?
-Yordan needs 3HR to get to 30
-Gerrit Cole's 20th win
-Will Brad Ausmus cry?
-The Cardinals are 90-71, the Brewers are 89-72.

*An offhand thought: You ever think it's weird that we never hear from bench coach Joe Espada or Don Kelly or Gary Pettis? I can't tell you right at this moment who the Astros' hitting coach is. Strom is a legend, and gets a few words in print every few months. I don't know how much other teams' media asks questions of the coaching staff, but it's weird that none of them actually exist post-game, right?

*Crazy story in The Athletic about how the Phillies tried to change their pitching culture and got it exactly wrong, and it involves Chris Young - who was once an advance scout with the Astros. Today I think I learned that Chris Young was once an advance scout for the Astros.

*Missed this from a couple of weeks ago about Danny Duffy and his battle with anxiety and panic.

*Outside: She was nearly murdered thru-hiking, but that didn't stop her. It would 100% stop me.

*A Musical Selection:

Saturday Morning Hot Links

The Astros did things (I see you, Will Harris) and beat the Angels 4-0 while the playoff picture is starting to shape up. Houston is 105-55 and clinched home field advantage through the AL side of the playoffs. There are about 36 hours remaining in the regular season.

It seals that the Astros will play the winner of Wednesday night's Wild Card game, which is now officially between Oakland and Tampa, both of whom are 96-64. Tampa is at Toronto (2:07pm) while Oakland is at Seattle (8:10pm).

Home-Field Advantage Throughout:
Houston: 105-55
Los Angeles: 104-56

On July 4, the Dodgers were 60-29 while the Astros were 55-32. Since July 4:
Houston: 50-23
Los Angeles: 44-27

Reminder that Houston holds the tiebreaker over Los Angeles. A win tonight - or a Dodgers loss - would clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Bregman:
It's going to be fun at home throughout at least the AL so far. We have got a few more wins to take care of, and if we do, then we'll be at Minute Maid Park for most of our games. I was really happy with how we played today.

Houston's record vs. AL West teams is 54-20

Seattle: 18-1
Anaheim: 12-5
Arlington: 13-6
Oakland: 11-8

Los Angeles' record vs. NL West teams is 49-25:

Colorado: 15-4
San Diego: 13-6
San Francisco: 10-7
Arizona: 11-8

That's why the Astros have the tie-breaker. Have you thanked a Mariner yet?

*The Astros are 3-1 on this road trip with three shutouts.

*Pitching staff was excellent. It's the 19th time this season the Astros have held their opponent to three or fewer hits. They're 17-2 in those games. It's the 14th time they've held their opponent to zero runs. They're 14-0 in those games. They should do that more tbh. It's the 12th time this season that their opponent did not get an extra-base hit.

-Jose Urquidy made a case for the postseason with 6IP, 3H/0ER, 2K:1BB. He threw 79 pitches before being removed.

Urquidy's four September appearances: 18IP, 10H/3ER, 16K:3BB, .182 BABIP.

Chandler Rome:
One day after Miley managed just 12 outs and lowered his September earned-run average to 16.68, Urquidy threw six scoreless innings against the same Angels team. He yielded three singles. Two did not leave the infield. His arsenal was efficient and effective, two traits absent during Miley's steady decline.

-Ryan Pressly struck out two in 12 pitches.

-Will Harris threw an immaculate inning: Nine pitches, three strikeouts. Alex Bregman, on Harris:
Will never smiles - ever - on the field. He's always in a bad mood. That was the first time I've ever seen him smile on a baseball field, which was badass.

Harris, who struck out Kaleb Cowart, Matt Thaiss, and Michael Hermosillo:
I knew I had a pretty good idea where the ball was going. When I struck out the first guy, I felt like I was going to strike out the side. It was kind of weird.

Harris is the first Astros pitcher to throw an Immaculate Inning since Brandon Backe did it on April 15, 2004.

-Josh James closed the 9th with three up/three down.

*The Astros only managed four hits for the 12th time this season (2-10 now), but thankfully two of them left the yard - Alex Bregman hit his 41st home run of the year while Michael Brantley used his 22nd home run, a 3-run shot, to seal the game. The home runs gave the Astros a homer in 23 straight games, extending a franchise record.

Hinch, on Brantley, whose homer was his first extra-base hit since September 9:
He's scuffled a little bit and he wants to contribute. It's more than this swing or more than a homer. He just wants to contribute and do his part. That's a big swing.

Brantley, September: 83 PAs, .173/.241/.293, 10K:6BB.

*Jack Mayfield had two of the Astros' four hits.

*Jeff Luhnow is now "hopeful" that Correa is available for the ALDS. Luhnow:
Clearly, we need him in our lineup to be the best team we can be. We're going to use this next week to hopefully heal and get ready. I can't predict the outcome. We're hopeful, based on everything he's gone through and what our doctors and trainers are saying, that there's a pretty good chance he'll be in the lineup next Friday.

Taking out some extraneous words, that last sentence reads: "We're hopeful...that there's a pretty good chance he'll be in the lineup [in six days]." That's not as comforting.

Chandler Rome notes that Hinch didn't seem overly concerned about Correa's availability for the ALDS.

*Yahoo's Tim Brown: The one record-breaking stat that shows the Astros' fearlessness, and dominance, this season.

*MLB Network: How the Astros got to the postseason (in a 3-minute video).

*Tri-City manager Ozney Guillen will not return to the organization in 2020.

*Check the Lima Time Time Patreon.

*James Paxton left his start with the Yankees after one inning because of his butt muscle.

*Check out Aldine's Jayden Payne's story of heroism during Imelda.

*Nine false rumors with real-life consequences.

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

There is a big ol pile of human feces on a mattress in Minute Maid Park after Wade Miley's bowels was loose on the mound in a game that could have resulted in a third straight division title. Instead, the champagne goes back on ice for another day. Maybe tomorrow. Astros lose 8-4, snapping a 6-game win streak. Houston is 101-54. There are seven games remaining.

*Houston is now 10-4 against Anaheim. They're now a paltry 31-6 at home against AL West teams.

*Scoreboard Watching: the Yankees beat the Blue Jays, the Dodgers lost to Colorado.

Houston (101-54): -
New York (101-55): -0.5
Los Angeles (99-56): -2.0

*Wade Miley: 1IP, 4H/4ER, 0K:1BB. He faced nine batters.

Miley's September: 50 batters faced, 22 outs. 7.1IP, 23H/18ER, 4K:5BB.

It's worth wondering if Miley has cost himself a spot on the postseason roster. He would normally get one more start, likely at Anaheim next weekend in the closing series. But when you're scuffling as bad as he is - and let's be clear: Miley has not made it into the 2nd Inning in three of his last four starts (and those starts coming against the Mariners, A's, and now Angels) - it is a concern. For me, Saturday night it looked like he gave up that leadoff homer to .731 OPS-having ass David Fletcher - who had not hit a home run since June 15 - and thought, "Here we go again," and here we, in fact, did go again. Miley is basically Jose Urquidy's opener. Mentally he's beaten right now.

Miley:
I'm not doing my part, I'm not getting the job done, and I'm not giving us a chance. It's tough to swallow, but at the same time, I've been through this, and I've got to keep working and try to get through it.

Side note: No, Wade Miley has not "been through this." He has made 243 starts in his career. Eleven of them have been shorter than 2IP, six of them shorter than 1IP, but never three out of four starts.

Hinch:
We're going to figure it out and he's going to be really effective for us. But given the time, it's a difficult time to assess because he's got one start left before we've got to make some decisions, but we'd obviously like to get him in a better frame of mind.

Miley, on the urgency of his last start of the regular season:
Pretty high, I would say. I got to gain some trust back. I got to go out and prove I can get outs in the Big Leagues and prove I can give this team a chance to win. 

Chandler Rome: The Astros have a full-fledged 4th Starter problem. Miley threw 27 pitches last night. The Angels swung and missed on exactly zero of them. Martin Maldonado:
Me and Chirinos were talking at the end of the game and we just have to try to find out how we can get him back to what you saw earlier in the year. I think tomorrow we're going to watch a lot of video to see, as catchers, what we have to do to get him back.

*Bryan Abreu struck out the side in the 5th before getting touched up in the 6th. Last week Chandler Rome talked up Abreu's chances of making the postseason roster.

*Hector Rondon gave up a back-breaking 2-run home run to Kolk Kalkouk. It was the 10th home run Rondon has allowed (which feels low by about 50) and the second appearance in a row in which Rondon has given up a homer.

*Yordan hit his 27th home run of the season. He was called up on June 9 - the 67th game of the season.

*Kyle Tucker was 2x4 with two doubles.

Kyle Tucker, 2018: 72 PAs, three extra-base hits. .141/.246/.203.
Kyle Tucker, 2019: 50 PAs, seven extra-base hits. .313/.340/.542.

*Carlos Correa came out of the game after the 6th Inning, and everyone went crazy with their "Massage!" tweets or Daniela pics. But A.J. Hinch told us last Saturday this is what he was going to do these last games of the season. Hinch, literally last Saturday:
It will be borderline like a Spring Training schedule with in-season responsibilities. He may play six innings and come out, even if it's not a blowout.

*Don't be an idiot.

Fan interference. Stay in your seats. Just a thought. #astros pic.twitter.com/L8XhtVvvrb

— Karen Warren (@karenwarrenHC) September 22, 2019

*Down 6-4 with Stubbs on first and two out in the 7th, Garrett Stubbs got thrown out at third base on an Altuve infield single that Stubbs thought went into the outfield. "Inexcusable," he said.

*Join our Patreon.

*Forrest Whitley threw 4.2IP last night, allowing a hit and striking out six.

*B.J. Surhoff was fired by Mike Elias and the Orioles, and is extremely upset with how Elias "treats people," which sounds like a familiar complaint.

*Saturday marked the final Cubs home game to be aired on WGN. The 7th Inning Stretch was pretty cool.

*Check The Hardball Times' Alexandra Simon with a retro review of 1996's "The Fan" with Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes.

*Chaos at the Black Keys' LA show!

*A Musical Selection: One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands.

Saturday Morning Hot Links

The Astros enjoyed a 5-run 1st inning and rode it out to a 6-4 win over the Fightin' Ausmuses. Houston is 101-53, and 59-20 at home. One win today or tomorrow gives the Astros 60 wins at Minute Maid Park in 2019. That's why home field is important. Houston has won six in a row, is 13-4 in September, and 44-20 since the All-Star Break.

*Scoreboard watching:

The Astros could have clinched the division last night with a Flower Mound win over Oakland, but they couldn't even get that right.The next Astros win or Oakland loss clinches the Astros' 3rd straight division title. Altuve:
We can feel it. We're excited. We are all anxious about things right now which is normal because we want to make it happen.

Hinch:
I can't compliment our team enough on the mindset we had. I know a lot of people think certain parts of the season were foregone conclusions and the talent on this team is supposed to produce these wins, but it's not easy. We don't read our own press clippings. We don't really care where people rank us or where people think we are. We show up to win.

The Blue Jays beat the Yankees, the Dodgers beat the Rockies.

Houston (101-53): -
New York (100-55): -1.5
Los Angeles (99-55): -2.0

It's essentially a 2.5-game lead over the Yankees for home-field advantage seeing as how the Astros have the tie-breaker.

*Zack Greinke: 5IP, 7H/4ER, 4K:0BB, one solo home run allowed.

Grienke's top of the 4th: Pujols single, Calhoun single, Simmons double, Walsh single, Smith single, Thaiss GIDP, Hermosillo strikeout. Four runs scored on 16 pitches. It's Greinke's third start as an Astro with at least 4ER. Hinch:
Greinke was not that sharp. He got nickeled and dimed a little bit with some seeing-eye singles. They pieced together some good at-bats, one after another. I haven't seen him give up like four or five or six hits in a row. The execution, doesn't mean it was bad. Just means they put up some pretty good swings. Getting out of it was most impressive because it was a big part of the game where I was going to have to go get him.

Greinke hasn't walked a batter in four starts (23IP), the longest walk-less streak of his career. His 2019 WHIP is 1.008. Provided Gerrit Cole doesn't shoot from 0.908 to 1.00, Jayson Stark notes that the Astros could be the first MLB team since the 1884 St. Louis Maroons with three SPs with a sub-1.00 WHIP.

*The bullpen of James, Pressly (in his triumphant return from knee surgery), Harris, and Osuna: 4IP, 1H/0ER, 7K:1BB. Hinch, on Pressly:
It's huge. To make the All-Star team as a reliever, it's really hard. You're up against a lot of things that usually don't work out for high-end relievers, and he made the All-Star team for a reason. Huge weapon for us. He's going to pitch incredibly important innings for us down the stretch and also into October.

On Peacock, who threw a healthy bullpen Thursday:
He is as happy and as comfortable as he's been in a long time. A lot of these guys will tell you that. I actually see it in his body language and in his demeanor and in his stuff. All of our information is that he's doing quite well.

*Yuli Gurriel was scratched with a stomach illness. Probably bowels was loose.

*Jose Altuve hit his 30th home run of 2019, giving the Astros four players with 30+ home runs. With four more home runs, Yordan could be the 5th. Jose Altuve is the first Astros 2B to hit 30 homers. Altuve:
I always wanted to hit 30 homers. I always said it before. A lot of people didn't think I could play in the big leagues. They kept telling me: 'No, no,' and then all of a sudden I hit 30 homers, so that's pretty good.

*In his 2nd game back, Carlos Correa hit two home runs for the 9th time in his career. Correa is hitting .277/.355/.568 in 2019. Correa:
I feel great. It felt great to get the rhythm, timing and today was a positive day. Obviously it gives you a lot of confidence. I spent like three hours in the mirror yesterday fixing my mechanics. It paid off.

*Josh Reddick on August 20: .260/.302/.377.
Josh Reddick since August 20: .347/.400/.556.

*Aledmys Diaz was 3x4. It's his 2nd 3-hit game of the season, and Diaz has an .818 OPS in 2019.

The @astros are up to something really special this season; they could get away with winning the Rookie of the year, the Cy Young and the MVP award . I don’t think any other team has accomplished this!

— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) September 21, 2019

*Mike Lupica: How the Astros became the model for MLB success.

*The Athletic's Mark Simon notes how Bregman's offensive totals are lower than they should be because he's been the victim of some great defense.

*Joe Posnanski: No team has ever had a pitching pair like Verlander and Cole. Posnanski:
No team has ever had identical twins quite like Cole and Verlander at the top of their rotation. The fascinating question will be: What will this mean come playoff time? On the one hand, the Astros basically go into the postseason with not one but two Tom Seavers and that seems like a pretty good recipe for winning a World Series.

*For the first time, Pat & I are going to make a serious attempt to monetize, and you can help support both Astros County & Lima Time Time with our Patreon! So I'm going to take a minute to talk about the levels, and what you get:

-Kyle Tucker ($5/month): Access to every episode of Lima Time Time 24 hours in advance of it being on iTunes.

-Yordan Alvarez ($10/month): The above, plus a weekly bonus show, plus a postgame show after every playoff game. Plus Hot Links from me on days that Flick takes them here (Monday-Wednesday).

-Alex Bregman ($20/month): All of the above, plus free tickets to Lima Time Time Live Shows!

-Justin Verlander ($75/mongh): All of the above, and we will record a Live Lima Time podcast at your house. For real.

*The Red Sox were eliminated last night and you just hate to see it. Also: Boston paid Rusney Castillo so much money that he can't play for the Red Sox.

*A's reliever Lou Trivino has oblique and ribs soreness after he fell in the shower.

*How to help victims of Tropical Storm Imelda.

*Soccer at the edge of the world.

*A Musical Selection:

Monday Morning Hot Links

The Astros beat the piss out of the Royals, and the 2019 Astros should absolutely beat the piss out of the 2019 Royals. Houston won 12-3 and improved to 98-53. There are 11 regular season games left. The Astros would need to go 6-5 down the stretch in order to set the franchise record for wins in a season. And they're about to get Carlos Correa, Ryan Pressly, and Brad Peacock back. The Astros are off today. Houston is 10-4 in September and 41-20 since the All-Star Break.

*The Blue Jays beat the Yankees, the Dodgers beat the Mets.

So...

Houston (98-53): -
New York (98-53) -
Los Angeles (97-54): -1

Houston has Texas, Anaheim, at Seattle, at Anaheim to end the season. New York has Anaheim, Toronto, at Tampa, at Arlington. Los Angeles has Tampa, Colorado, at San Diego at San Francisco. There are 13 days left in the regular season.

Playoff Odds!

Site	Proj. Rec.	% to win ALW	% to win AL	% to win WS
B-Ref	105-57	99.9%	30.9%	14.5%
FanGraphs	106-56	100.0%	44.7%	32.3%
538	105-57	>99%	-	26.0%
BPro	105-57	100.0%	-	24.9%

*To the Astros sweep of the Royals: Wade Miley pitched well! 6IP, 7H/2ER, 4K:2BB. Miley's 6IP are the most since August 2. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 19 of his 31 starts. Reddick - more on him in a minute - said that Sunday's game helped Miley more than anybody:
The biggest boost forward was for Wade. He's been the same guy. After his first (bad) start, he came in and was the same guy. The second start got to him a little bit more. He lost his confidence, I think. He was kind of quiet.

Miley established his inner-half fastball. Miley:
Once I got out of the first inning, a big weight came off my shoulders. So just go in and attack and I was able to go six.

*Josh Reddick enjoyed the first 5-hit day of his career. He had five hits in his previous 24 PAs. It's his 32nd multi-hit game of the season. It's only the 5th time in his career he's gotten on base five times in a game, the first since September 8, 2017. Reddick has hit three home runs in September, and his 3RBI equaled his September total coming into Sunday. Reddick:
[The dugout is] telling me to go out and get the fifth one and, as soon as I hit it and it got through the infield, I could hear my dugout as I was running down the baseline. A great feeling all around. These days don't come around without a few lucky hits in there. 

*Will Leitch says that Josh Reddick's 2019 season has been better than it looks.

*Kyle Tucker hit his 2nd home run of the season, Gurriel hit his 28th.

*The Astros have seven games left against the Angels. They'll be without Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, maybe John Lackey and probably Tim Salmon against Houston. Does that open the door for a Bregman MVP? I don't think so, but it's fun to think about, I guess.

*Springer and Altuve had Sunday off, in advance of an off-day today, and another on Thursday, as Hinch remains committed to the regular rest leading into October. Hinch:
These guys are going to get rest days. I've tried to warn everybody and tried to explain it over and over that [Sunday's lineup] is a team that we think we can win with.

*Aaron Sanchez had surgery last week but, as of yesterday, Luhnow had not received an update on the surgery or his prognosis. Aaron Sanchez is literally dead to Jeff Luhnow.

*Brittany Ghiroli has a great story in The Athletic on Aaron Barrett.

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros took care of the Angels, yet again, this time with two swings of the bat. Houston won 5-2. They're 84-47, 48-16 at home. Here are the "relevant" standings, with 31 regular season games left:

AL West

Houston: -
Oakland: -8.5

AL Overall

Houston: -
New York: -
(Houston holds the tie-breaker over NY due to the 4-3 season series win)

MLB Overall

Los Angeles: -
Houston: -2

The Astros have won six of their last seven games.

*Alex Bregman hit his career-high 32nd home run of the season. Bregman, on adjustments he's made:
I've been chasing a little higher rate lately because I think I was trying to chase hits, I guess, instead of chase good pitches to hit. I kind of made that adjustment today and started swinging at pitches I could hit.

Hall of Famer Mike Trout, on Bregman:
I'm definitely a fan. He comes out ready to play every day. He hits the ball out of the ballpark, drives in runs. He's a good player, he can play anywhere, any field. He's fun to watch, hopefully not against us. But he's been getting us lately.

*Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to 17 games with his 19th home run of the season. He is one shy of his career-high of 20, set in 2014.

*Chirinos-Toro-Reddick combined to go 0x12, with 2K:0BB.

*Wade Miley was back to being Wade F. Miley after holding Anaheim (whose lineup is legitimately Not Terrible) to 5H/1ER, 4K:1BB in 5IP.

*The Bullpen threw 4IP, 2H/1ER, 4K:6BB. Yeah I don't like the six walks, but the one run is alright.

*Mike Trout was 1x5 with an RBI, and flew out to center with the bases loaded in the 5th. Hinch:
It's very uncomfortable when Mike Trout comes up to bat. It's really hard when he comes up to bat with a chance to tie the game or just in general. He's a dangerous guy. I'm never comfortable, even though we've had a good last couple days against him.

Trout, 2019 vs errbody: .293/.435/.649.
Trout, 2019 vs Astros: .194/.257/.516.

*Yordan hit a BP Home Run (it deserves to be capitalized) that broke the big-ass jumbotron in center field. Yordan:
Definitely was not thinking about that, but from the time I've been here, the players have been asking me, 'When are you going to hit one off the scoreboard?' I was just trying to hit the ball hard, man, and it got up into the scoreboard.

It was estimated at 455 feet. There's no way that was only 455 feet.

He went 1x4 with a double. It was Yordan's 58th game with the Astros. He has a hit in 42 of them, and an extra-base hit in 29 of those.

*Ryan Pressly is "determined" to make it back from knee surgery before the playoffs. Pressly:
It's always frustrating when you miss time...Spring Training or offseason, or even now. Stuff like this happens. It's a baseball injury and you just have to figure out a way to get back as fast as you can.

*The Astros have a series with Tampa Bay coming up next Tuesday. It'll be the first time all season that Houston will roll out a series rotation of Verlander-Cole-Greinke.

*Framber is getting two more auditions: today, and Aug 31. Related: The Astros probably aren't going to include someone on the Call-Up List for September who hasn't played in Houston before. Yes, that means Kyle Tucker is probably on his way up...in a week or so.

*The Detroit Free-Press' Chris Thomas has a "here's what happened" between Verlander and Anthony Fenech that led to the post-game blow-up. Ultimately, according to Fenech, this whole things started when Verlander didn't like that Fenech reported on Verlander's interest in astronomy and eclipse-viewing. For real. It goes into greater depth on how the Verlander/Fenech relationship soured, and is worth your time. And while it serves Fenech and the Detroit paper well to make Verlander look like a foot-stompin child, Thomas (the Free-Press' Sports Editor) admits that in one instance Fenech crossed an ethical journalistic line with Verlander.

*Kyle Tucker stole his 30th base of the season in Game 1 of the Round Rock double-header with New Orleans (both of which Round Rock won), making Tucker the 5th member of the 30-30 club in 116 years of the Pacific Coast League. Aledmys Diaz was 0x4 with 2K.

*There's just over a week left in the minor-league regular season. Here's the playoff hunt for the affiliates:

Round Rock (79-52): Up 2.0 games on San Antonio.
Corpus (64-66): They're 31-30 in the 2nd Half, 3.0 games behind Amarillo for the 2nd Half division title.
Fayetteville (64-65): They're 33-27 in the 2nd Half, 1.5 games behind Down East for the 2nd Half division title.
Quad Cities (77-50): The River Bandits won the 1st Half division title, so they're in.
Tri-City (26-39): Already eliminated from playoff contention.

*An Act of Hope: The fairy-tale rise of the Real Kashmir football (soccer) team.

*I (not "I") became a cyborg to manage my chronic pain.

*It's Elvis Costello's 65th birthday. One of my favorite musicians, Joe Pernice, wrote about Elvis Costello a while back, and it's worth another read.

*A Musical Selection: