Monday Morning Hot Links

I mean...So the thing is...What happened last night was...

Justin Verlander pitched a great game and the Astros' offense has yet to really figure it out. Hats off to 44-year old Bartolo Colon, who was perfect through seven innings despite only throwing fastballs topping out around 91mph. Good work, Astros hitters [eyes roll out of head]. Over the course of a 162-game season there are going to be some silly stretches. But to be able to play at home - in two primetime slots - against your rival who, shall we say, is not projected to be anywhere near as good as your projection and still get shut down? These were two dumb losses.

The Rangers are 3-4 against the Astros. They're 3-7 against everybody else. Check Jexas' recap of this three-game stupidity.

And yet the Astros are still 10-6. The rotation is still rolling along doing incredible things. It's just...not happening on offense, at least not clustering hits together that results in this unfortunate stat called Runs that is used to determine the winner of the game.

*Verlander threw 8IP, 1H/1ER, 11K:1BB. Verlander:
It's fun, but at the same time, you're hoping for some runs there. He was painting. It's like, what are you going to do? You're going to tip your cap. He did an excellent job tonight keeping our guys off balance and not giving anyone anything to hit.

-His 86 Game Score is the sixth game this season in which the Astros have gotten a 70+ out of their starting pitcher.
-It's the highest Game Score by an Astros pitcher since Verlander's 88 on September 12, 2017 against Anaheim.
-It's the first time the Astros have lost a game while getting an 80+ from a starting pitcher since September 29, 2013, when Erik Bedard posted an 80 in a 14-inning 5-1 loss to the Yankees.
-It's the highest Game Score by an Astros pitcher with a loss since Roger Clemens threw an 87 in a 1-0 loss to Pittsburgh on August 13, 2005.

Astros record since the beginning of the 2000 season, when getting a 80+ Game Score start: 59-7.

*MLB.com has some "cool" stats about last night's pitching duel.

*6-7-8-9 in the lineup last night: 0x15, with Gurriel's sac fly. Correa:
It's about time to turn on the hitting machines on this clubhouse. There's a lot of guys here that can do a lot of damage and we haven't been able to do that, but we've been there where we start slow and pick up the pace. For us, that time is now.

*Josh Reddick noted to Jake Kaplan in The Athletic ($) how quiet the Astros' dugout was:
It was actually pretty surprisingly quiet for our dugout, the way we're usually rowdy and going about it. Usually you hear a bunch of people saying, 'He's got a no-hitter going. He's got a perfect game going.' But we didn't hear that a whole lot.

*Robinson Chirinos accounted for all Rangers runs last night with a solo home run, and the two-run double in the 10th. He went 3x5 with 2HR/4RBI. He was 3x29 with two doubles and 18 strikeouts coming into this dumb series.

*The Astros are 12-19 since the beginning of the 2015 season at home against the Rangers.

*With a 101 wRC+, 15th in MLB, the Astros' offense has been perfectly average. Their .371 SLG ranks 20th in MLB, 10th in the American League.

*Games that were postponed yesterday: Blue Jays @ Indians, Yankees @ Tigers (both games), White Sox @ Twins, Angels @ Royals, Braves @ Cubs. Shohei Ohtani seems to be pitching every Sunday. With yesterday's postponement in Kansas City, he'll now pitch on Tuesday. If the Angels follow the once-a-week turn for Ohtani, it lines him up to pitch in Houston on April 24.

*Buster Olney writes about how the Astros/Angels rivalry could be one of the best in baseball.

*I spent way too much time on that Game Score thing, so now I have to get in the shower and hustle out the door without breakfast despite having been up since 4:45am.

Monday Morning Hot Links

And now that football season is over, it is time for baseball. Nothing happened yesterday.

I bet. https://t.co/S7jk83vHqa

— Lance McCullers Jr. (@LMcCullers43) February 5, 2018

*Richard Justice has the five reasons the Astros will (and won't) win the 2018 World Series.

*Bartolo Colon, Texas Ranger

*Coming off a 4-1 home defeat to Cardiff City, Leeds United fired their manager after 35 games in charge. Whomever takes over next will be the 10th manager since April 2013.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links + PreStros Report

*The Astros scored five runs in the 1st inning off Bartolo Colon, who is old (did you know?), on their way to an 8-3 win over the Braves in the first of a two-game series. Correa and Beltran went back-to-back - the first time all season the Astros have hit consecutive homers. Correa also kicked a ball that led to two unearned runs for Morton in the 5th. Morton threw 5.2IP, 5H/3R (1ER), 5K:4BB, walking in his lone earned run.

*Colon:
Just in the first inning, typical to the game plan, I was throwing a lot of fastballs, and they're real good hitters. They were prepared and jumped on them. 

*Before Beltran's blast, A.J. Hinch had homered off Colon more recently. The length of time between Beltran's first homer off Colon and his homer last night is the longest span between a hitter/pitcher HR in the Expansion Era (1961-).

*Colon gave up homers to players born in the 1970s (Beltran), 1980s (Reddick), and 1990s (Correa) last night. Speaking of Reddick, this was the tweet of the night:

Congrats to the @astros @RealJoshReddick on his 100th career homerun - WOOOOO! #Wooston pic.twitter.com/SjRmcfiRO2

— Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) May 10, 2017

*Kevin Chapman's hometown paper wrote up a profile of the former Astros/current Braves (Triple-A) reliever.

*Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto thinks the Mariners can still challenge for the division.

*David Paulino will be activated from the DL and will pitch for Fresno on Thursday.

*Teoscar Hernandez, who was destroyed in the collision with Altuve in his first game in the Majors this season, is healthy and back with Fresno. Jandel Gustave was diagnosed with a flexor strain and will be shut down for another two weeks before resuming a throwing program.

*Hardball Times: An American learns cricket

PreStros Report: Games of May 9

Fresno (13-20) took an early 2-0 lead and gave it right back in the bottom half of the 2nd inning, going on to lose 8-5 at Colorado Springs. Casey Coleman - acquired when the Astros released Edison Frias - allowed 4.2IP, 8H/6R (5ER), 7K:2BB. Aaron West allowed 1H/2ER, 0K:2BB in 0.2IP; Ashur Tolliver gave up the hit that allowed the runs to be charged to West, and Dayan Diaz threw 1.1 scoreless IP. Former Astro prospect Brett Phillips was 1x3 with a double, RBI, and two walks and is hitting .304/.390/.565 in 25 games for Colorado Springs. Tyler White and Max Stassi were each 2x5. Andrew Aplin was 1x4 with a walk and 2RBI. Derek Fisher and Preston Tucker provided the other RBIs.

Corpus (15-17) scored the tying run in the bottom of the 9th inning to send it to extras, but San Antonio (damn that city) scored two in the top of the 10th for a 6-4 win. Since starting the season 10-4, the Hooks are 5-13 and have lost eight straight games. Brock Dykxhoorn threw 5IP, 5H/2ER, 4K:1BB; Cy Sneed gave up 6H/4R (2ER), 5K:3BB. Jacob Dorris allowed a hit that charged two runs to Sneed. Corpus was 1x13 w/RISP. Jon Singleton (Solo HR) and Kristian Trompiz had two hits each. Bobby Boyd hit his 1st homer of the season.

Salem scored a pair of runs in each of the first two innings and comfortably won a 6-1 game over Buies Creek. Framber Valdez threw 5IP, 4H/4ER, 6K:3BB; Yoanys Quiala allowed 3H/2ER, but with 8K:0BB in 4IP. In 26.2IP this season, Quiala has 35 strikeouts to four walks. BCA got three hits: Myles Straw (BB, SB), Kyle Tucker (2B, BB), and Arturo Michelena (2B).

Hey, there's a win! Quad Cities (16-14) scattered runs across the game to beat Bowling Green 7-2. Dustin Hunt threw 4IP, 5H/2ER, 5K:1BB; Abdiel Santana allowed 2H/0ER, 1K:1BB in 1IP and Carson LaRue threw 4IP, 4H/0ER, 1K:1BB, lowering his ERA to 1.86. Ronnie Dawson (2B, RBI) and Chuckie Robinson (2 2B, RBI) each went 3x4; Rodrigo Ayarza (2 2B, RBI), Randy Cesar (2RBI) and Stephen Wrenn (2B) had two hits each.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Good morning. The Astros won in 11 innings last night over the White Sox, and Jexas has your recap.

*Jeff Blogwell wrote up Part 1 (of what is apparently 15 parts) retrospecting Jeff Luhnow's trade history.

*Ken Giles was solid last night, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the 7th. Hinch:
I can't put him in any [more of a ] high-leverage situation than bases loaded against their two- and three-hole hitters. I've never lost faith in him.

*But Gregerson? He was not solid, blowing his third game in his last four appearances after saving his first seven consecutive opportunities.

*The Chicago Tribune wanted to focus on Correa's alleged interference.

*Gattis' move to catcher gives Hinch options in the lineup, but limitations for in-game switches.

*If you're like me, you saw "Gomez to DL" and thought "Yeah right. That's awfully convenient." But it's legit, says the Astros. Hinch:
We talked to our doctors, we had him evaluated and then it's in the best interest of everybody to get him healthy and not play short. He wasn't going to play in this series based on the injury so we felt no need to keep him here as a bench player that wasn't available. 

No word on whether Dr. Fan Graphs gave the medical opinion to give Gomez a two-week break.

*One of the first times Tony Kemp saw Colin Moran show emotion was when he got called up. Kemp:
Colin's one of those guys who doesn't show many emotions, but I think this one got to him. He was just like, 'I'm trying to figure out flight info and I'm calling my dad.' It was really cool to see that kind of emotion come out of him.

*Maybe you're like me, and you're sick. And maybe you're like me and you fell asleep at 7:45 last night, and were - briefly - worried that you would miss Kemp and Moran. Don't worry, they will make their first career starts tonight against Chris Sale Mat Latos. Hinch, on Moran and Kemp:
They're both different; they're both going to play different roles here. We're looking to jump-start an offense for a little bit more consistency.

Yes, jump-starting an offense that went 1-3 while scoring 22 runs against the Red Sox *is* important.

*The Wall Street Journal got in on Altuve's greatness.

*Carlos Correa makes Houston home, even in the offseason.

*John Sickels wrote up a profile on Tony Kemp's prospect history.

*Vince Velasquez has put up Noah Syndergaard-like numbers (*jumps off cliff*). Velasquez's season line to date (eight starts): 48.1IP, 33H/13ER, 59K:15BB, .191 BAA, 2.42 ERA/0.99 WHIP.

*Hey the Twins signed Bob Grossman to a minor-league deal.

*The Barves made firing Fredi Gonzalez as awkward of a situation as they possibly could.

*Are high school pitchers too risky to draft?

*UPDATE: Must-read: Bartolo Colon's Secret Double Life

*RIP, Guy Clark.

Know Your Enemy: Bartolo Colon

This ought to take a while. The Astros try to not get swept by the A's twice in the first 15 games of the season, when they take the field at 2:35pm (Central) at Whatever The A's Now Call Their Field.

The A's are 5-0 against Houston in 2013, and are 10-1 against Houston all-time. The lone Houston pitcher to get a win over Oakland? Dave Borkowski (June 12, 2007).

Taking the mound for Oakland is...

*39-year old 5'11" 265lb RHP Bartolo Colon.
*Colon signed with the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent in 1993. For perspective, Astros' 2013 #1 overall pick Carlos Correa was born in 1994.
*In 1995, Colon became the only player to throw a no-hitter in Buffalo's Dunn Tire Park.
*This is interesting: On June 26, 1998 Colon and the Indians faced the Houston Astros in Cleveland. Colon went 8IP, 5H/2ER, 7K:1BB, but leading off the top of the 8th was Astros SS Ricky Gutierrez. Here is the pitch log of that AB:

Swinging Strike, Swinging Strike, Foul, Ball, Foul, Ball, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Ball, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Foul, Swinging Strike (K).

*Those 20 pitches are the most pitches thrown in a single AB.
*Colon ended up going 75-45 with a 3.92 ERA in six seasons for Cleveland, and in 2002 was traded by the Indians with Tim Drew to the Expos for Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore, and Lee Stevens. That was a bad trade.
*He was then traded in January 2003 to the White Sox for Rocky Biddle, Orlando Hernandez (El Duque), Jeff Liefer and cash.
*Free agent stints with the Angels, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees, and A's followed - but not before he missed the entire 2010 season due to ongoing shoulder and elbow issues. He received a stem cell transplant to repair tissues in his right shoulder. The surgeon said he used HGH in similar surgeries - but not with Colon. An MLB investigation revealed nothing untoward.
*On August 22, 2012 Colon was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for synthetic testosterone - his return from suspension was against the Astros in G6.

*In G6, Colon allowed 8H/3ER, 2K:0BB, but got the win as the A's defeated Houston 6-3 at Minute Maid Park. 58 of his 83 pitches were for strikes - 18 of them looking. He did allow a homer to Jason Castro.
*According to FanGraphs, Colon is throwing some version of a fastball 93.5% of the time so far in 2013 (up from 89.2mph in 2012), and it's sitting at 90.5mph. Occasionally (like, 3% of the time each) he throws an 82.5mph slider and an 83.4mph changeup.
*Carlos Pena has 37 of the 59 career PAs for the Astros against Colon. He's 10x33 with 15K:3BB, 3HR. Nobody else has more than three PAs - Jason Castro, J.D. Martinez and Justin Maxwell were 2x3 against him.

*Bud Norris will be making his fourth start of the season , and the Astros are 2-1 in his starts this season. His last time against Oakland (G5), he took the loss allowing five runs (2ER) on 2HR.
*Norris seems to be using his changeup more. In 2012, he threw his fastball 56.7% of the time, and his changeup 6.7% of the time. Through three starts, the fastball is now at 51.4% with the changeup coming in at 13.3%.