I just finished reading Astrosball: The New Way to Win It All by Ben Reiter. What a fantastic and fun read. It's especially exciting for those that lived and breathed the Astros from 2011-2017.
There are so many good insights and stories and quotes like, "But Jeff Luhnow's not paid to win popularity contests. He's paid to fucking deliver. and he's doing that." It's hard to figure out where to start. I guess we could start with the book is an insider view of the Astros from 2011 to the spring of 2018. They talk about the process of building a championship team. They own up to the mistakes made and how they need to go about improvements.
It talks about making statistically sound decisions that don't work; and statistically unsound decisions that do work. Every major news catching event from 2011 on is covered. The drafting of Carlos Correa over five others. Drafting but not signing Brady Aiken. The Ground Control breach. Trading for Justin Verlander. All covered with insider information. I'm quite pleased with how behind the scenes we get to go on this book.
Ben Reiter is an amazing writer and kept me engaged through out the book. At one point I was planning to read for 30 minutes. Three hours later I forced myself to go to bed right before the Justin Verlander trade really heated up. The detail, research, and effort put into this book is clearly on the page. If you loved Moneyball, you will love this book. Go pick this book up! You will not be disappointed.
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We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
Showing posts with label Ben Reiter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Reiter. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Thursday Morning Hot Links
We did it. We survived the first stretch of 9pm starts. Three down, just 20 more to go - next 9pm start is May 7-9 at Oakland. Bats back? Bats back. 7-1 win over Seattle. The Astros are 12-7, 1-1 when the Rockets play a playoff game. The Rockets are 2-0 in playoff games when the Astros also play.
*Turning point in the game was Derek Fisher's over-the-fence grab of Jean Segura's flyball to left in the bottom of the 5th, when the game was 1-1. Hinch:
It was a big momentum play with the way the game was going. Everybody exhales and then we come back and score a lot of runs. So it obviously was a turning point.
*The Astros' six-run 7th inning is a new season-high for an inning - they had scored five runs in an inning twice this season. Eleven Astros came to the plate. FACT: Eleven Astros didn't come to the plate in the entire game combined against Bartolo Colon.
*Houston got five extra-base hits - all doubles - for the first time since April 2. They had four extra-base hits in their three previous games combined.
Hinch:
We're a good offense, don't forget that. It was coming and there's more to come. As the game went on our at-bats got better and better, which is encouraging. I don't think we can allow a rough patch to get in the way of the reality that we're a really good hitting club.
*Mariners SP Mike Leake:
I left a few balls up. And with a lineup like that, you don't get many chances.
*Jose Altuve grounded into two double plays, his first GIDPs of the season. The last time he GIDPd twice was April 7, 2017 against the Royals, and it's just the 9th time he's done it in his career.
*Marwin was 2x4 with two runs scored, yet has not had an extra-base hit since April 9.
*The Astros struck out ten more times, giving them 10 double-digit strikeout games in 19.
*Derek Fisher was 0x4 with 3K. Fisher and Marisnick are a combined 10x77 with 41K:2BB in 80 plate appearances.
*Gerrit Cole was lights out, throwing 7IP, 5H/1R (0ER), 5K:2BB. Only five strikeouts? Garbage. ESPN Stats says Cole is the 6th pitcher in MLB history to strike out at least 40 batters in his first four starts with a new team.
*Joe Smith and Collin McHugh retired the 8th and 9th inning in order.
*Last night was the 11th time in 19 games the Astros have allowed two or fewer runs.
*In The Athletic, Jake Kaplan breaks down where the worry spots are for the Astros' offense.
*Collin McHugh brought some grasshoppers down to the clubhouse last night.
*Check this slideshow from the Chronicle with 15 album covers reimagined with Astros players.
*The Dallas Keuchel Smoke Stack 60 claimed its first victim.
*Ben Reiter - the Sports Illustrated Guy who wrote the 2017 World Series Champs article back in 2014 - has a book coming out in July called Astroball: The New Way to Win it All.
*There's a debate over whether or not Allie LaForce - reliever Joe Smith's wife - should have asked LeBron for his thoughts on the passing of Pop's wife.
*Mike Scioscia thinks Ohtani's next start will come in Houston next week.
*Hardball Times: The physics of Bryce Harper's broken-bat blast.
*How Hiram Bithorn Stadium was salvaged in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
*From Eno Sarris in The Athletic: How Adam Ottavino designed a new pitch.
*Derrick Goold has a great piece about John Brebbia and minor-league pay.
*Turning point in the game was Derek Fisher's over-the-fence grab of Jean Segura's flyball to left in the bottom of the 5th, when the game was 1-1. Hinch:
It was a big momentum play with the way the game was going. Everybody exhales and then we come back and score a lot of runs. So it obviously was a turning point.
— Calhoun (@linkcalhoun) April 19, 2018
*The Astros' six-run 7th inning is a new season-high for an inning - they had scored five runs in an inning twice this season. Eleven Astros came to the plate. FACT: Eleven Astros didn't come to the plate in the entire game combined against Bartolo Colon.
*Houston got five extra-base hits - all doubles - for the first time since April 2. They had four extra-base hits in their three previous games combined.
Hinch:
We're a good offense, don't forget that. It was coming and there's more to come. As the game went on our at-bats got better and better, which is encouraging. I don't think we can allow a rough patch to get in the way of the reality that we're a really good hitting club.
*Mariners SP Mike Leake:
I left a few balls up. And with a lineup like that, you don't get many chances.
*Jose Altuve grounded into two double plays, his first GIDPs of the season. The last time he GIDPd twice was April 7, 2017 against the Royals, and it's just the 9th time he's done it in his career.
*Marwin was 2x4 with two runs scored, yet has not had an extra-base hit since April 9.
*The Astros struck out ten more times, giving them 10 double-digit strikeout games in 19.
*Derek Fisher was 0x4 with 3K. Fisher and Marisnick are a combined 10x77 with 41K:2BB in 80 plate appearances.
*Gerrit Cole was lights out, throwing 7IP, 5H/1R (0ER), 5K:2BB. Only five strikeouts? Garbage. ESPN Stats says Cole is the 6th pitcher in MLB history to strike out at least 40 batters in his first four starts with a new team.
*Joe Smith and Collin McHugh retired the 8th and 9th inning in order.
*Last night was the 11th time in 19 games the Astros have allowed two or fewer runs.
Got 'em pic.twitter.com/A2fexKj0f1— SI MLB (@si_mlb) April 19, 2018
*In The Athletic, Jake Kaplan breaks down where the worry spots are for the Astros' offense.
*Collin McHugh brought some grasshoppers down to the clubhouse last night.
*Check this slideshow from the Chronicle with 15 album covers reimagined with Astros players.
*The Dallas Keuchel Smoke Stack 60 claimed its first victim.
*Ben Reiter - the Sports Illustrated Guy who wrote the 2017 World Series Champs article back in 2014 - has a book coming out in July called Astroball: The New Way to Win it All.
*There's a debate over whether or not Allie LaForce - reliever Joe Smith's wife - should have asked LeBron for his thoughts on the passing of Pop's wife.
*Mike Scioscia thinks Ohtani's next start will come in Houston next week.
*Hardball Times: The physics of Bryce Harper's broken-bat blast.
*How Hiram Bithorn Stadium was salvaged in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
*From Eno Sarris in The Athletic: How Adam Ottavino designed a new pitch.
*Derrick Goold has a great piece about John Brebbia and minor-league pay.
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