Tuesday Morning Hot Links

It got a little Sphincter-Clinchy at the end, but the Astros beat the Cubs. They're 36-19, 21-7 at home. All of the losses are stupid. Houston has won 21 of their last 31 games.

*Gonna lead off with a link to the newest Lima Time Episode. It's (officially) our 100th episode. That's weird to type out. Right around the 50:00 mark, I completely lose it.

*The Astros beat the Cubs. All-time, the Astros have a 379-333 record against the Cubs, a .532 Win%. People only like them because (1) WGN and (2) they lost for a long time in a row.

*Cole Hamels got shelled (4IP, 7H/6ER, 0K:4BB), which we can all stand back and appreciate. That's two straight starts in which Hamels didn't get a 13th out against the Astros, and you just hate to see it. You have to go back all the way to May 25, 2008 to find the last start that Hole Camels didn't record a strikeout. Who was the opponent? It was the Houston MF Astros. It's the 3rd time he didn't strike *anyone* out in a start in his career. Hinch, on Hamels:
We've done that before against Hamels where you look up and it's 70-plus pitches in three innings or into the mid-80s into the fourth inning. That means we're being disciplined.

Thanks for blocking the trade to Houston in 2015, you absolute bell-end. Hamels, in August 2015:
It was probably one of the tougher decisions because I know they're a great team and I know they're going to go out and win. I have the utmost respect for A.J. I played with him when I was very young. I've seen what they've done and I think they've done great things. I have a four-year contract still. So if it was a different situation where I had a year left or a year and a half I probably would have gone [to Houston]. But because it is more of a longer term I had to weigh those sorts of variables for those nine teams that I had on the list. I didn't want to budge from that. 

Get a new Magic 8-Ball, dick. Metroplex Trash. Derek Zoolander lookin ass boiiiiiiii.

*Astros pitchers struck out 17 Cubs. It's the most strikeouts they've recorded since May 11, when Astros pitchers struck out 18 batters from East Cisco. It's the 29th time in 55 games the Astros have struck out 10+ batters in a game.

*Gerrit Cole allowed a 1st Inning homer. That's the 12th he's allowed this season, but only the 3rd in which there was a runner on base when said homer was hit. Then he struck out 12 batters. Gerrit Cole, 12+ Strikeout games, by year:
2013: 1 (19 starts)
2014: 1 (22 starts)
2015: 0 (32 starts)
2016: 0 (21 starts)
2017: 0 (33 starts)
2018: 5 (32 starts)
2019: 2 (12 starts)

So that's two games with 12+ strikeouts in 127 starts with Pittsburgh (1.6%) and seven games with 12+ strikeouts with the Astros (15.9%). Brent Strom turned Gerrit Cole into a cheat code. Cole, on giving up Rizzo's 1st Inning homer:
I kept trying to make pitches. It was a mistake to Rizzo, just a poor pitch over the middle...I just brushed it off and kept going.

Ass-Clown Joe Maddon:
[Cole] has got great velocity and carry. If you could just not chase out of the zone on him - he really relies on that. That's a big part of what he does. The ball looks good and maintains its altitude and is hard to lay off. For the most part, a lot of the strikes he gets are out of the zone, and you've really got to force him into the zone to get him.

Dayn Perry notes that Cole's 39% K-rate (percentages of batters he has struck out) is higher than Pedro Martinez's 37.5% - the highest K-rate for a single season in history.

*Roberto Osuna allowed two home runs for the 2nd time in his career. The only other time it had happened was August 19, 2016. He had allowed two home runs in the 46 previous IPs for the Astros
combined. Addison Russell just might be the first hitter to get arrested for domestic abuse to homer off a reliever who also got arrested for domestic abuse.

A.J. Hinch is not concerned about Osuna's very recent struggles on the mound.

*The Cubs' Javy Baez got that Platinum Sombrero - 0x5, 5Ks. It's the 12th time the Astros have struck a player out five times in a game, the 8th time that a player got 5Ks in 5PAs, and the first since Dustin Fowler did it on July 9, 2018.

*The Astros won a game without Springer, Altuve, and Correa. End post.

*Look, I want to see Yordan Alvarez as much as you do. But if you can't be happy for the undrafted Jack Mayfield, then I want nothing to do with you. Mayfield - a fellow Sooner (grad school alum and current adjunct faculty alert) - grinded through 617 games in the minors since 2013. He had a .934 OPS with Round Rock this year, and then he goes out and smokes a double off the wall for his first MLB hit and then got an RBI in his next AB. Good for him. Good for us. And apparently, after Aledmys Diaz's earlier hamstring strain the Astros had him fly out to Boston but Diaz's injury wasn't as bad as they thought, so he got sent back to Triple-A. Hinch, on Jack Mayfield:
It's a long journey for these guys and his story is one to be told because it's improbable and he never thought he'd get the opportunity. We teased him a little bit last week with almost an opportunity, and I can only imagine the emotions that someone goes through.

Literally 1200 draft-eligible players got drafted in 2013, 40 by the Astros. Jack Mayfield was not one of them. He made it to the Majors before 36 of them - and Tony Kemp and Tyler White are the only ones drafted by the Astros in 2013 to make it to Houston. Shoutout to Jack Mayfield, you beautiful Sooner. Mayfield, on his first hit:
It was amazing. It went by so fast. It's hard to remember, but it was my third pitch, and I was fortunate to get enough barrel to hit it off the wall. It's a big sigh of relief to get the first knock and just kind of relax and enjoy the game a little more. It really helped me slow the game down.

Gerrit Cole:
He got the robe, he gave us a speech and told us what he saw out there. He got doused with some beer and Listerine and shower soap and ketchup and mustard and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Jack Mayfield, undrafted Boomer Sooner, gets the once-in-a-lifetime thrill of a double in his first MLB AB. He’s cheered by his wife and family, and the exit velocity of his smash off the wall is exceeded only by this adoration. pic.twitter.com/XKkIlzzD1N

— Dinn Mann (@mooseoutfront) May 27, 2019

*Jenny Dial Creech: Mayfield makes the most of his MLB debut.

*Alex Bregman was 2x5 - his 2nd multi-hit game since May 12. He has 34K:39BB this season.

*Derek Fisher was 2x5 with a triple and has a 1.000 OPS, haterz.

*Yuli Gurriel got three hits for the 24th time in his career, and the 4th time this season. The Astros are 22-2 when Gurriel has 3+ hits.

*Josh Reddick went 0x5 with 0K for the 18th time in his career, the 2nd time this season. It's the 4th time in his career that he got 5PAs and didn't reach base due to walk or error.

*No, Jose Altuve is not going to be in the lineup before Wednesday.

*An analysis of four million pitches thrown shows just how many mistakes umpires make.

*RIP Bill Buckner. He struck out 453 times and walked 450 times in over 10,000 plate appearances. His career - and life - should not be determined by one ground ball. Dan Shaughnessy says as much

*The Grace of Keanu Reeves.

*BBC's Joel Gunter: Secret Spectacles. Story is crazy.

*My dude Marcelo Bielsa has agreed to stay another year at Leeds United, and are now favored to win the league in 2019-2020.

*Dementia stopped a major artist from painting. That presented a lucrative opportunity for some.

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

Last Friday I had to turn all my textbooks and technology in. Saturday it was graduation, then Sunday I left for a work trip, returning last night. Today is my first official day of summer, so please pardon me for sleeping until 8am - something I haven't done in a loooooong time.

*The Astros took care of the Ramgers in Arlington last night, 5-2, enjoying a 3-run 4th inning and basically more dominance from Evan Gattis. The Astros are 39-25, 12-8 in their last 20 games,  and are 4-1 at Farmer's Branch this season. Houston is 19-10 against AL West opponents. It's the 37th time (in 64 games) that the Astros have allowed two or fewer runs.

*Gerrit Cole: 6IP, 3H/1ER, 8K:3BB. He has thrown a Quality Start in 11 of his 13 starts. Cole has 124 strikeouts in 87.2IP.

*Evan Gattis was 2x4 with 3RBI and hit his 10th home run of the season. Against Cole Hamels (34 ABs), Gattis is .354/.371/.735, with four home runs. Among active players, only David Wright has hit more home runs off Hamels, with five, if you want to consider David Wright an "active" player.

Gattis:
I know I've had some success against him. I don't know why. It's been different pitches and different stuff, but maybe some guys you just kind of see better.

The Astros hit their 18th and 19th home runs off of Hamels in his career - the most by an AL team. Gattis has hit nine home runs since in his last 23 games.

*Altuve's stolen base was his 9th of 2018. Since getting caught stealing on April 20, Altuve is 8x8 on stolen bases. In the 22 games since May 13, in which he finished an 0x13 in the home series against the Rangers, Altuve is hitting .400/.432/.556. Hinch, on Altuve:
It's incredible to watch him put up at-bat after at-bat...He's truly one of the best, most gifted hitters in baseball by how he goes about his at-bats, by how he puts every pitch in play. There's no pitch he can't hit, which can be a blessing and a curse, but most of the time, it's a blessing.

*Marisnick put up a Marisnick: 0x4, 2Ks. Brian McCann gets activated today, and I know Tim Federowicz is getting shipped back to Fresno but damn. Of 304 MLB players with at least 100 PAs, Marisnick ranks 303rd with a 46.7% K-rate (only Alex Avila's 47.1% is worse). His 22 wRC+ - which means that Marisnick's "bat" is 78% worse than League-Average - is 300th.

*Ken Giles allowed 2H/1ER. It's the 6th time in 23 appearances that he's allowed a run, the 7th time that he's allowed 2+ hits. Giles has appeared in 13 games that qualify as a non-save situation. Hitters are tagging him for a .365/.365/.596 slash line.

*Carlos Correa, held out of the lineup last night with a sore right side, says his injury is "nothing major." Hinch:
I'm happy with what I'm hearing so far, but until he swings a bat, we won't know more...I'll be conservative with him based on the recommendations. We're happy that the first diagnosis was that there's nothing serious, and we'll hopefully get him back soon.

*The Mariners beat Tampa Bay 5-4 to improve to 19-9 in 1-run games. 13 of their last 17 games have been decided by one run, and Seattle is 10-3. They're 17-6 since losing Robinson Cano.

*Forrest Whitley will make his 2018 debut tonight against Frisco.

*Danny Knobler says that Cole Hamels could be the Justin Verlander of the 2018 Trade Deadline and I laughed and laughed.

*Mr. Koo's Wild Ride.

*The Mets drafted Biff Tannen's son.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

It's an emotional day at Astros County headquarters. Many of you were around for the predecessor of Lima Time Time, the Morning Drive - a short podcast I recorded as I drove to work, but also sometimes recorded while I walked Angus around the block. This would have been 2012-13, I believe. He was my dog. My wife and I will have been married for 15 years this summer and Angus has been here for 14 of them. When I took off down the street running barefoot after the Astros won the World Series, Angus took off with me - no leash - and walked back to the house. But now he's sick, riddled with cancer, and generally miserable. So today we have to say goodbye to Angus. See you, buddy.

The Astros did Good Things and beat the Giants in an even year, 11-2. Gerrit Cole was meh (two runs? Only eight strikeouts? Trade him.) and Tony Kemp broke out with 5RBI.

*Via SportsCenter, Gerrit Cole became the sixth-fastest starting pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts on the season since 1900.

*Houston scored eleven runs, or the number of runs they scored in the three-game Indians series. I don't think the Giants will be able to compete in the AL West this year. It's the most runs they've scored since May 7, when they put 16 on Oakland, and the third time they've scored 11+ runs. It's their 10th 6+ walk game of the season.

*Giants manager Bruce Bochy:
Across the board, all of the pitchers, our command was off tonight. We paid for it. Just a good hitting ballclub. The leadoff hitter was getting on, little things like that caught up with us.

That's true. The Astros got the leadoff runner on in each of Innings 3-7, and four of those five would later score in the inning.

*Tony Kemp was 2x2 with 5RBI coming on:
4th: 2-run single
6th: RBI sac fly
7th: 2-run single

Kemp:
Tonight was a good night. You can't say enough about what Cole did on the mound, as well. Getting 100 is definitely a great feat, especially in the month of May, so I can't say enough about him either.

Tony Kemp when asked about his last 5-RBI game: "MLB The Show." pic.twitter.com/toCe4SYt37

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 23, 2018

*Correa and J.D. Davis were the only Astros in the lineup with no hits, but J.D. Davis also drew three walks and scored three times.

*The only blemish on Cole's start was a two-run home run by Brandon Crawford, who is Cole's brother-in-law - a fact that is beginning to approach McCoy/Shipley Levels of Repetition. Cole:
...He took a good pitch, put a good swing on it and got the home run. So obviously not thrilled about it, but I'm not terribly disappointed either.

Hinch:
We score double digits and don't hit a home run, I think we'll take that every night. It was a really good night of offense by a lot of different people in the lineup.

It was the most runs the Astros have scored without a home run since April 19, 2012 (also 11 runs, at Washington).

*Joe Smith needed two pitches to record two outs. In May Smith has thrown 4.2IP, 2H/1ER, 3K:1BB - a 1.93 ERA / 0.64 WHIP.

*Jose Altuve has 63 hits in 49 games (216 PAs). 15 of those hits are for extra-bases. Through 49 games in 2017 (207 PAs), Altuve had 56 hits, 21 of those were for extra-bases.

*This piece from Bryan Murphy in the McCovey Chronicles is Very Good:
When you do sit down to watch or listen to a Giants game later in the week, some things might've changed about them. They might all be dead. Literally murdered by the super-talented - nay, too talented - Houston Astros who won't realize their own strength.

*The Astros wore "We Play For Santa Fe" shirts during batting practice and donated the proceeds from the 50/50 raffle to the Santa Fe Strong Memorial Fund.

*Jake Kaplan on the plan for Forrest Whitley, as his 50-game suspension draws to a close - it's looking like mid-June due to a lat strain he suffered during his suspension.

*Sean Pendergast writes how releasing Jon Singleton is one wager Luhnow lost.

*Ohwhaddayaknow: The Astros are one of ten teams not on Hole Camels' no-trade list.

*Tyler Bauer: Not a fan of unfounded accusations.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

Word to you, mothers.

Fitting that Charlie F. Morton pitched the night before Mother's Day as his 14 strikeouts got all the female spectators pregnant. Morton: 7IP, 4H/1ER, 14K:0BB - a career-high in strikeouts.

Asked if he was even happy about his performance, Morton:
No. I try not to get too far ahead of myself and I try not to let outings dictate how I feel about myself because I think that's a way to get in trouble. If you let a bad outing get to you too much or you let a good outing get to you too much it's not a good thing. So I'll do what I normally do and prepare for the next start.

CFM is a stone-cold killer. No, I mean it. I was driving down Braeswood about 2:30 in the morning and saw him slitting a pimp's throat. There was joy in his eyes, then.

McCann:
He had everything working. He's pretty much had it all year, we're talking about a month and a half now. He threw the ball extremely well. He's picking up where he's left off. It's been a pleasure to catch and watch.

*Shin-Soo Choo:
I think I saw one hittable pitch, and I fouled it. He kept making good pitches. Their pitching is really good. They all can get strikeouts.

*Delino DeShields wasn't happy with the strike zone:
We can argue strikes and balls but it is what it is. They got a couple of calls on the outer corners and you start chasing a little bit because you don't want to get run up on something close to that spot.

*Astros pitchers recorded 16 strikeouts last night, the 22nd time they've rung up 10+ hitters in a game this season. The 2017 Astros did it 84 times.

*The Astros have three of the eight highest K/9 rates by pitchers:
2. Gerrit Cole (13.66)
7. Justin Verlander (11.61)
8. Charlie Morton (11.47)

*Astros pitchers vs. North Waxahachie this season: 82IP, 56H/24ER, 111K:18BB - a 2.63 ERA/0.90 WHIP.

*Astros hitters vs. North Waxahachie this season: .219/.303/.389, 77K:33BB. Rangers pitchers have hit five Astros in nine games.

*Last night was the 9th consecutive game for the Astros to strike out less than 10 times on offense. In the first 25 games the Astros had 12 10+ K games for a total of 228 strikeouts (9.12 per game). Over the last 16 games they've had two 10+ K games, and struck out 114 times (7.13 per game).

*Evan Gattis might be tired of reading about how terrible he is, as he was the only Astro to get a hit on Friday, and then went 2x3 with 2RBI and a STOLEN BASE last night. Hinch:
There's a lot of things you got to pay attention to in a game. You never know what you'll see on a nightly basis. I don't know when the next one you'll see is, but if you missed tonight, you better try to see it on the highlights.

*Such is the standard to which we are accustomed by Jose Altuve, but joined Marwin and Fisher as the only Astros to not get a hit. Altuve has been held hitless eight times this season, including the last two games. The last time he was 0-fer in consecutive games was September 3/4, 2017. Altuve hasn't had a three-game hitless streak since he went four straight without a hit May 21-25, 2016.

Altuve home, 2018: .247/.307/.346
Altuve road, 2018: .381/.430/.488

*Correa hit his 6th home run of the year, a two-run shot in the 8th. As Chandler Rome notes, it was his 72nd home run in his 400th career game. Only three shortstops had more home runs in their first 400 games: Ernie Banks (87), Nomar Garciaparra (86), and Alex Rodriguez (82).

*Yuli Gurriel was 1x3 and GIDPd twice. He had one GIDP coming into last night's game.

*Astros, w/runners in scoring position, 2018: .258/.336/.422
AL, w/runners in scoring position, 2018: .250/.329/.405
Astros, w/runners in scoring position, 2017: .294/.360/.481

*The Astros are 25-16 through 25.3% of the season, which puts them on a pace to win 98.8 games.

*Houston is looking to win their second consecutive series for the first time since going to Seattle and Chicago from April 16-22. You can make a decent case that the Mariners series was the only one the Astros have won against a decent team so far this season. That can change this week in Anaheim and against Cleveland.

*A.J. Hinch wrote Jose Altuve's name at the top of the lineup before George Springer got to the ballpark, but is hopeful Springer can avoid the DL:
I don't think it's a DL situation, but it's been half a day since he got hit. We're certainly hopeful that it's a contusion he has to deal with.

Cole Hamels leads the AL with seven HBPs so it's time to go grab him from his condo in Ardmore and shave him bald.

*Richard Justice examines what makes the Astros' rotation so great, Hinch pays attention to the chemistry and the competition:
There's a team within a team there, especially with the starting rotation. They want to one-up each other. They want to dominate like the guy before them did. They take a lot of responsibility for setting the tone for a team that expects to win. 

*Jon Heyman lists the Astros at 10:1 odds to sign Craig Kimbrel.

*Fresno (22-15) beat Salt Lake 7-4 last night. Kyle Tucker went 3x4 with his 3rd home run of the season, Tony Kemp set a franchise record with his 21st career triple, and James Hoyt got his first save of the season.

*Corpus (19-16) got a 7-run 1st inning and rode it out to a 9-3 win over Midland. Josh Rojas (2R), Carmen Benedetti (BB, 3RBI), and Nick Tanielu (RBI) had three hits each. Myles Straw was 2x5 with an RBI and his MiLB-leading 21st stolen base of the season.

*Buies Creek (22-14) beat Myrtle Beach 9-3. Ronnie Dawson and Abraham Toro each had two hits and a walk. Kit Scheetz threw the final 3.2IP, allowing 4H/0ER, 5K:0BB. In his last five games Scheetz has thrown 16.1IP, 8H/0ER, 24K:1BB.

*Quad Cities (19-15) allowed Lake County to score the final five runs of the game in a 5-3 loss. Colton Shaver was 2x4 with a home run. Patrick Sandoval threw 5IP, 1H/0ER, 6K:2BB.

*Evan Longoria: "The best decision might be to move" the Rays."

*Craig Edwards: When should you start paying attention to a no-hitter?

Saturday Morning Hot Links

The Astros cannot hit at Minute Maid Park, right now. This is a fact. The Astros got embarrassed by the hopeless shell of a man who used to be known as Cole Hamels and they 05'd Justin Verlander again.

*Hinch, on facing Hamels:
We chased a little bit in, but he did threaten us a little bit. Tonight was a little bit of a different game plan than he has had before and a little velocity spike. We just couldn't get anything going.

*The Rangers are 4-4 against Houston, and 12-20 against everybody else.

*Justin Verlander's last three games: 20IP, 9H/2ER, 29K:5BB, and the Astros have lost all three of those starts because they've scored two total runs.

*The Astros have given Verlander two or fewer runs of support in five of his nine starts. Verlander:
It's easy enough to get frustrated, and I think the one thing you try to do is stay positive. Do you want to win? Yeah. Do I want to win? Yeah. I feel like I help my team the most when I get a win. The most you can do is just go out there and keep your team in ballgames...Runs come and go.

*Roger Clemens made 29 starts for the 2005 Astros. They "scored" two runs five times, one run once, and were shutout in nine games. Clemens lost three straight 1-0 games from April 13-23, 2005.

*On the Astros' hitting woes at home, Hinch:
Everyone wants solutions or answers or takeaways from a small sample size. I'm not the least bit concerned about it. It is what it is. Maybe it's the teams we've played. Maybe it's when we've played at home, we haven't swung the bat the best.

Let's take these in order:
a) On the "small sample size:" The Astros get 81 home games in 2018 and have played 20 of them so far. A quarter of the home games is not exactly a small sample size.

b) The Astros have played 20 games against Baltimore, San Diego, Arlington, Anaheim, Oakland and New York. Their combined record is 109-123 (.470). Of course the Astros went 5-1 against the Orioles and Padres and 5-9 against Anaheim, Oakland, and New York. Anaheim and New York are legit, and the Astros went 2-5 against them. Houston was shutout in three of the seven games they played against the Angels and Yankees.

c) The Astros on the road, 2018: .289/.367/.464
The Astros at MMP, 2018: .219/.293/.342

*Last night was the first time the Astros got one-hit since August 20, 2015 against Tampa, also a 1-0 loss at home.

*The bastard Cole Hamels, who pitched with pinpoint control all night, hit George Springer in the elbow. X-rays were negative. Springer:
It doesn't feel too good. It didn't feel too good at the time. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow and go from there.

*Check out the shift the Astros put on Joey Gallo.

*Jake Kaplan: What the first 40 games have told us about the 2018 Astros.

*Despite the disaster of a season the Astros have endured so far, including Dallas Keuchel "struggling" with a 2-5 record and a 3.53 ERA, SI notes the Astros are currently still Vegas favorites to win the 2018 World Series.

*In something that apparently is supposed to qualify as "news," Evan Gattis won't be catching any time soon.

*Did you check Mrs. Hippie Queen's newest Spot the Differences?

*Our Boy Tyler Stafford has a great look at Carlos Correa's ability to hit inside pitches this year, compared to the last two seasons.

*A.J. Hinch says more stolen bases are coming, though seven of their next ten games are scheduled against lefty starting pitchers.

*The Houston Press' Jeff Balke has five reasons to continue to believe in the Astros.

*Tyler White, Tony Kemp, A.J. Reed, and Reymin Guduan will all receive their World Series rings before tonight's Fresno game against Salt Lake.

*Eno Sarris has a fascinating look at a new metric to gauge pitcher command: Command+

*Lance Berkman would like to be considered for the head coaching position at Rice, and I don't really know how Rice says no.

*Because Rob Manfred can't leave well enough alone, he says MLB is looking at the idea of limiting how many relievers you can use in a game.

*Andrew McCutchen's return to Pittsburgh should give you chills:

Andrew McCutchen's return to Pittsburgh: pic.twitter.com/UuSOrjXXA3

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) May 11, 2018

*So you think your family's messed up, huh?

*RIP Scott Hutchison, lead singer of Frightened Rabbit.

Saturday Morning Hot Links

George Springer has led off a game against Hole Camels twice this season and the result has been the same: two solo leadoff homerzzzzz. It was the 20th lead-off home run of Springer's career, just 33 behind Craig Biggio. Gerrit Cole was Stupid Good again. Astros beat Southwest Little Rock, 3-2.

*The Astros are 8-1 in their last nine games against Arlington and 16-8 since the beginning of the 2017 season.

*Gerrit Cole: 7IP, 3H/2ER, 14K:1BB. The 14 strikeouts are a career-high. Hinch:
That was an incredible performance obviously. A shame that he didn't get the win in that game based on how he pitched.

Cole:
I'm happy that we've been winning a lot of ballgames. Even with the off-day, the bullpen was stretched in Minnesota a little bit, so it was good to give a couple of guys a rest and get some length. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold the lead, but I'll learn from it. 

Springer:
Dude's been lights-out. He's really kept us in the game every start. He's been everything that we've heard, seen, hoped for, and I'm glad he's on our side. 

An Astro pitcher hasn't struck out 14 batters in a game since August 14, 2010, when Bud Norris struck out 14 Pirates in a 3-2 win. Norris' line that day: 7IP, 5H/2ER, 14K:1BB.

*Cole joins Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers to strike out 11+ batters in their first three starts with a new organization. His 36 strikeouts break Randy Johnson's record of 34 strikeouts through three starts with a new team (in Johnson's case, the Astros.)

*Chris Devenski worked around runners on 1st and 2nd with one out and a 3-2 lead to get his first save of the season.

*All three of Springer's 2018 home runs have come off of Cole Hamels. Hamels:
If he's planning on hitting his only home runs off me, I'm only going to face him a certain amount of games.

*Yuli Gurriel singled in his first AB of the season.
*Marwin was 2x3 with a walk and the game-winning RBI. Fisher went first to home once outfielder Drew Robinson bobbled the ball, plating the Astros' 3rd run.
*Brian McCann was 2x3.

*Jake Marisnick was 0x4 with 2Ks.

Marisnick now has 16 strikeouts in his first 36 plate appearances of the season. Springer also has 16 strikeouts (tied with Marisnick for the team lead) but in 65 plate appearances. In his last nine games (six starts) Marisnick has four hits - all singles - for a .148/.148/.148 with 13 Ks in 27 PAs. And a .286 BABIP.

*J.D. Davis will be playing 3B, 1B, LF, and RF for Fresno.

*Did you see Mrs. Hippie Queen's newest Spot the Differences game?

*The Astros rejoiced over the return of Yuli Gurriel. Altuve:
He brings joy to the clubhouse. Everybody likes him, and I'm happy to have him back and healthy. Yuli is not an easy out. He's a great hitter and a great teammate, and the whole team is happy to have Yuli back.

*In The Athletic: Check Our Boy Tyler Stafford breaking down why Gerrit Cole has been so effective for the Astros so far.

*Here's another piece in The Athletic from Cincinnati's Mo Egger, on the Reds, rebuilding, and the erosion of trust between fans and the organization.

*Former Astros Great/Current Rangers catcher Juan Centeno will receive his World Series ring this weekend. Hopefully they put a make a big presentation to Cole Hamels with a Dilly Dog Ring at the same time. Also, congrats to the Rangers on your ring.

*From Hunter Atkins: The Agony of Daryl Morey.

*The gahdang Royals couldn't hold a 4-2 lead in the 7th on the Angels.

*Two wild things to note about this linked tweet:
1. Former Astros Great J.B. Shuck got called up to Miami and went 4x4 with a triple and two runs scored.
2. He and Former Astros Great Mark Melancon are brothers-in-law.

*Freakin' Ronny Torreyes - the Former Astros Great who hit .298/.345/.376 for the 2014 Oklahoma City Somethings (the Triple-A affiliate of the now-Defending World Champion organization) - is now seen as "vital" to the ALCS Silver Medalist Yankees.

*Shakeia Taylor writes about the White Sox hat and Hip-Hop Culture in FanGraphs (and it's excellent).

*I wish you could have heard Clay Travis on the radio in Nashville from 2009-2013. He was great. Super-nuanced points, especially dealing with the intersection of sports and law. Then he went all SEC-Bro on everyone and has become insufferable about his God-given raght (phonetic spelling: intended) to boobz and footbaw vahlence. So I absolutely detest that he and I see eye to eye on this:

Hockey guy and soccer guy are sports fan twins. Complain all the time about people not talking or liking their sport and the minute you do they immediately say you don’t know enough about their sport to talk about it.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 13, 2018

*John Prine's first new-material album in 13 years dropped yesterday.

*How a working class couple amassed a priceless art collection.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*Richard Justice thinks the Astros should try to sign Adrian Gonzalez. Or Matt Adams. Or Lucas Duda. Or Curtis Granderson. Or anyone who is apparently old and left-handed. If those are the only two requirements, might I suggest that Luhnow call my agent (my wife).

*Jose Altuve is one of nine finalists for the Dallas Morning-News' Texan of the Year.

*Never forget.

2017 Ninja Award, Best Performance of a Curveball in a Leading Role. Lance McCullers (24 straight Curveballs to send the Astros to the WS). 🏆😷 pic.twitter.com/5kwMPi2pUQ

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) December 17, 2017

*Looking for something for that special Astros fan in your life? Might I recommend Astros Strong, published by the Chronicle. It's a wonderful ride back through the season that ended with, wait for it, yes, a World Series championship. Filled with articles, recaps, and interviews from the 2017 season, I really enjoyed reading it. And it's a good way to remember just how crazy Game 2 was. Maybe I've read it a couple of times. Okay, sure, it's in the bathroom right now. Get it in print or on Kindle.

*Check out this podcast with Corpus' Myles Straw.

*Cole Hamels donated his 32,000 square-foot mansion plus 100 acres of land to a camp for kids with special needs. You don't have to like him, though.

*The Gun Hunters of Hurricane Harvey.

*Deliverance from 27,000 feet.

*Can baseball turn a 27-year old into the perfect manager?

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

I mean. The Rangers got to throw Hamels in an elimination game, which is exactly why they made that trade. It's exactly why Hamels rejected the trade to Houston, to be honest. The Astros did not get to play an elimination game last night. Oh, right. 14-3. Astros improve to 97-60. Boston and Cleveland both lost, so the Astros are at least guaranteed home-field in the ALDS.

*The 97th win of the season ties them with the 1999 team for 2nd-most wins in franchise history. Their 862 runs scored is 3rd-most in franchise history, 12 behind the 1998 team and a ridiculous 76 runs behind the 2000 Astros.

*The 49th road win of the season tied the franchise record for road wins in a season.

*Dallas Keuchel:
We're still trying to lock up home field advantage for the ALCS, too. That would be real nice. 

*So here's the playoff picture with five games remaining:
Cleveland: 98-59
Houston: 97-60
-
Boston: 91-66
New York: 88-69 (-3)

Remember the Astros have to win two more games than Cleveland in order to get home-field in the ALCS. If Cleveland wins three of their last five, the Astros have to win all five. If Cleveland wins four, the Astros can only tie, and Cleveland gets the tie-breaker.

It's hard to make up three games in five days, but with the Astros rolling and within striking distance of Cleveland and going into a four-game series against Boston, it's possible that the Yankees could overtake the Red Sox for the division lead, which would push Boston to the Wild Card game against the Twins.

The Indians get two more games against the Twins before closing out the season with three home games against the White Sox, against whom the Indians are 11-5.

*Bregman:
I don't think we can really focus on [the Indians at all]. I think we need to focus on showing up every day, competing like we've done all year long. We're going to have the task at hand and right now we shift our focus to Nick Martinez and try and get a win.

*Astros runs vs. individual teams, franchise history:
1. Cincinnati - 113 (2004)
2. Oakland - 107 (2017)
3. Arlington - 106 (2017)
4. Seattle - 105 (2015)
5. Pittsburgh - 104 (2000)

*Dallas Keuchel threw 6IP, 5H/2R (1ER), 8K:1BB. 63 of his 102 pitches were for strikes. Keuchel:
I've been feeling better and better. I feel like to the point of I'm back in midseason form. That's good to feel, good for myself.

Four of the five starts Keuchel has made since the Verlander trade, and seven of his last ten, have been Quality Starts. Keuchel, since allowing 8ER vs White Sox on August 8: 58IP, 45H/19ER, 49K:21BB, 2.95 ERA/1.14 WHIP.

*It turns out that the Astros' lineup retaliated against the Rangers by hitting almost every single one of their pitches. The 14 runs last night were the most ever scored by the Astros in a game against the Rangers.

*The Astros recorded 18 hits for the 7th time this season (2nd time against the Rangers in 2017). Alex Bregman, who went 3x5 with 2RBI:
We're having fun playing the game right now. I think that was one of the more fun games we played al year. Everybody was loose, having a good time, and the runs were piling up. We're feeling good at the right time of the year, and I'm excited to be a part of this team.

*Carlos Correa was 3x5 with two doubles and 3RBI.

*Cameron Maybin, who had two hits in ten games since September 8, was 2x4 with a walk, three runs scored, a triple, home run, and 3RBI. They were his first extra-base hits since September 6.

*Here's Sean Pendergast on the Astros getting ready for October.

*Man, I don't want to see Uncle Carlos cry, but he and the Astros Foundation are helping Puerto Rico.

*Jeff Sullivan: What if the Twins win the World Series?

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

*Well well well. How the turns have tabled! Mike Fiers was hot garbage yet again - more on him soon AND later today - but the Astros turned yet another 5-run deficit into a W. After Jonathan Lucroy hit the Rangers' 4th home run of the game in the 4th inning, the Rangers had a 92.3% Win Expectancy.  Altuve's 2-run homer still gave the Rangers the a WE of 79.3%. But Marwin's grand slam in the 8th shifted the probability 71.2% in the Astros favor. Luke Gregerson had to make it interesting, but Will Harris shut the door to preserve the Astros' come-from-behind win.

*Beltran, who went 3x5:
As a team we believe in ourselves and we know we're a good-hitting ball club. At one point people are going to get hot and we're going to be able to do just what we did. 

*That was Marwin's first career grand slam, and the second 2HR game of his career. Furthermore, he hit a homer from both sides of the plate last night. Marwin, on the grand slam:
It was an unbelievable moment to be able to come back in the game like that. We have been doing that the whole year, and hopefully we can keep doing that and we're going to be in a good spot for playoffs.

SHHHHH you don't talk about playoffs in May, Marwin, come on you know better than that.

*Mike Fiers is now allowing 4.26 HR/9 innings. Among pitchers in 2017 who have thrown at least 20IP, that's the worst in baseball by almost a full home run. Among qualified pitchers in 2016, the league-worst HR/9 was James Shields, at 1.98 HR/9. In fact, from 1962-2016, the qualifying pitcher with the highest HR/9 was the Patron Saint of Lima Time Time, Jose Lima, who gave up 2.20 HR/9 for the 2000 Astros.

Also, 46.2% of the fly balls he is giving up end up leaving the yard. For as long as they've been keeping track of HR/FB, Jaime Garcia allowed an all-time worst 20.2% HR/FB rate in 2016. That is obviously unsustainable, but maybe because the Astros can't afford to see if it's unsustainable. I know they have the best record in baseball, but Fiers is a train wreck right now. What options do they have? Well, the best starting pitcher in Fresno - Brady Rodgers - had Tommy John surgery yesterday. Within the confines of the 40-Man roster, the Astros could flip Peacock and Fiers, but who knows if Peacock's success is owed to him embracing his new role as a Devenski-style long man? For now I think the Astros just strap Fiers in a seat, pry his eyelids open Clockwork Orange-style, and make him watch film of his mechanics. Fix your crap, Fiers.

*Collin McHugh may start playing catch this weekend, putting his return approximately around the time the Astros won't need him anymore.

*This was the 3rd time the Astros have come back from a five-run deficit this season, and because symmetry is just gorgeous, it's also the third time the Rangers have blown a five-run lead.

*The Astros have scored 68 runs off of relief pitching in 27 games. The 2013 Astros didn't score 68 runs all season this is a fact.

*Shoutout to James Hoyt for striking out five in 2IP.

*Regarding Rodgers and his Tommy John surgery, Luhnow:
...We felt like he could really make a difference up here this year. It's not going to happen. 

In response, the Astros purchased the contract of LHP Casey Coleman and sent him to Fresno. Coleman will be 30 in July and appeared in parts of four seasons with the Cubs and Royals. He has a career 5.72 ERA/1.69 WHIP.

*Cole Hamels was scratched from his scheduled start last night due to tightness in his oblique during warm-ups.

*Carlos Gomez is still salty about the dust-up between McCullers and Napoli:
You want to hit him, hit [him], why do you want to be a tough guy? 

[Pause to remember that McCullers, in fact, did not hit Napoli, but threw a ball behind his shoulder blades. This resulted in a catastrophic lack of injury to Mike Napoli, God preserve his soul.]

Gomez, on McHugh:
He is standing up in the dugout when he is on the DL and yelling. If he has something to say, say it to me. He is not man enough to stand in front of me and say it.

*Evan Grant says an Astros/Rangers rivalry is good for baseball.

*David Paulino threw 2IP in an extended spring training game yesterday.

*Adam Jones went to town on the Red Sox organization.

*If you're looking for a starting pitcher that won't cost half of your Top 20 prospects, Buster Olney says Trevor Cahill could be available.

*Grant Brisbee on the fan reading the newspaper about the Giants winning the 2014 World Series from his front row seat at Dodger Stadium.

PreStros Report - Games of May 2:

Fresno (11-15) fell to Sacramento 5-4 last night with Brian Holmes allowing 6H/5ER, 2K:4BB in 3.1IP and pushing his ERA to 7.89. Kevin Comer, Tyson Perez, and Dayan Diaz threw 5.2IP, 2H/0ER, 6K:1BB in relief. Tyler White went 3x4, Derek Fisher was 2x5 with a double and an outfield assist; Andrew Aplin was 2x2 with 2BB and 2RBI. Reid Brignac hit his 3rd homer of the year.

Corpus (15-10) lost the opener of a series at Midland, 6-1. Rogelio Armenteros wiggled in and out of trouble, allowing 7H/2ER, 3K:2BB in 3.2IP. Eric Peterson allowed 4H/3ER in 1.1IP. Josh James allowed 4H/1ER, 3K:2BB in 3IP. Bryan Muniz was 2x4 with an RBI. Jon Singleton was 1x3 with a double and a walk.

Buies Creek (18-8) allowed the tying runs to score in the bottom of the 9th but a Kyle Tucker homer in the top of the 12th gave BCA a 4-3 win over Carolina. Matt Bower threw 5IP, 5H/1ER, 3K:2BB; Carlos Sierra threw three hitless innings. Ryan Deemes got the BS/W with 4H/2ER, 3K:2BB in 3.1IP.  Kyle Tucker was 1x4 with the aforementioned homer, walk, and 2RBI. Osvaldo Duarte and Arturo Michelena had a triple and a walk. Jason Martin was 1x4 with 2BB.

Quad Cities (13-10) scored the last six runs of the game for a 9-5 win over Fort Wayne. Enoli Paredes went 5IP, 3H/2ER, 8K:3BB; Ryan Hartman allowed 2H/3ER, 4K:3BB but got the win. Jake Rogers was (wink) a triple shy of the cycle with 3RBI; Randy Cesar was 2x3 with a double, two walks, and 2RBI; Rodrigo Ayarza was 1x2 with a homer and 2RBI. Stephen Wrenn was 2x5 with an RBI.

Thursday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros got smoked by the Cardinals for their 4th loss in a row. Since going 18-8 in June the Astros are 19-22. They're 7-15 since sweeping the Angels towards the end of July. In the five games since the Astros' bats came alive against Minnesota, the Astros are 1-4, getting outscored 32-16.

*Through five innings yesterday Carlos Martinez had not allowed a hit and had only thrown 52 pitches. Guess they really wanted to get to Baltimore.

*Hinch:
The rollercoaster ride that we've been on is no fun when we're in this portion of it. This game will test your character. It will test your resolve. It will test your ability to come back from adversity, and this is yet another test for us. 

*Now 10 games back of the Ramgers, FanGraphs gives the Astros a 1.4% chance of winning the AL West and a 9.1% chance of making the postseason.
FiveThirtyEight gives the Astros a 2% chance of winning the division and an 11% chance of making the postseason.

*Bob Nightengale: The Astros are on the verge of taking a step back. In an interview with Nightengale, Luhnow admitted that Hole Camels' rejection of the trade in 2015 changed everything for the Astros. Combined with the Astros not being able to close a deal on Jonathan Lucroy, the Astros have been outmaneuvered by the Rangers at the last two trade deadlines. Luhnow:
So we've had two deals not accepted by the player, that has directly impacted us the last two trade deadlines. That's why I sure wish teams wouldn't give out no-trade clauses. 

Neshek:
It's hard to go from a veteran leader like Feldman to kids who have never been up here and find ways to get the team cohesive. We went from two rookies to nine rookies in a couple of weeks. It makes it tough.

*Wall Street Journal: The Ramgers may be history's most illogical team: they're 43-24 against teams at or better than .500, and 15-19 against teams under .500 - the biggest win% discrepancy since 1900.

*Tony Sipp did Tony Sipp things, allowing a three-run homer to Brandon Moss. The year after Sipp threw 54.1IP, 41H/12ER, 62K:15BB (1.99 ERA/1.03 WHIP), he's sitting on a 5.51 ERA/1.65 WHIP, already having allowed more hits (43) in 32.2IP than he did in all of last season. His K/9 rate is down almost by almost two strikeouts per nine innings. Overall he's allowing a .316/.369/.632 line while lefties are hitting .299/.368/.537...which isn't great considering he's the only LHP option in the bullpen. Things is bad. We'll look into this more deeply later today.

*The Astros look to try to right the ship in the Wild Card race. Hinch:
It's a brutal schedule, which obviously I'll admit is less than idea for our group, but we knew it was coming. We could see it on the schedule at the beginning of the season, and when you get to August, sometimes you have to wear it, and we certainly have to wear it.

*Angel Verdejo wrote about how the Astros' rookies are growing up in the midst of a "pennant race," if a "race" means "to see how quickly you can hit the wall with your car." Hinch:
This is a different team than what everybody expected to be in August. It doesn't mean that it has to be a crutch or it has to be an excuse, but we need to get these guys up and running pretty quickly.

*I wrote about Jose Altuve's 1000 hits.

*Baseball Messi: Altuve plays soccer in the off-season to keep in shape.

*Dayn Perry: Four ways Altuve is a baseball miracle.

*The Astros promoted Kyle Tucker from Quad Cities to Lancaster. Tucker was hitting .276/.348/.402 as a 19-year old in the Midwest League, with 75K:40BB and 31 stolen bases in 40 attempts.

*The Astros released 22-year old Corpus outfielder Danry Vasquez after his arrest for domestic assault.

*The Astros and the city of Fayetteville, North Carolina have progressed on their plans to build a minor-league stadium. According to the agreement with the city, the stadium will be completed in time for the 2019 season and will come with a 30-year lease.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

*The American League hasn't lost an All-Star Game since the Astros moved over.

*I wrote on the State of the Astros.

*Ned Yost called on Trill Harris to get the AL out of an 8th inning, bases-loaded jam, and now Game 1 will be in Houston. Harris:
You just want to do your job. And now the game counts for so much, with home-field advantage, that there's a little bit extra on the line, which makes it that much more fun.

*Richard Justice: Will Harris is a lesson in perseverance.

*Jose Altuve went 0x3 and doesn't have a hit in seven plate appearances across four All-Star Games. Trade him.

*Harris said that the 2016 Astros are like the 2015 Rangers and the 2016 Rangers are like the 2015 Astros. Hole Camels:
I don't think our schedule benefited us much. It's a good refresher for us, and I think it's going to re-energize us and get us back on our purpose and our track of what we've been setting up to accomplish.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article89015357.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article89015357.html#storylink=cpy

*Hamels needed eight stitches after falling outside his hotel room at 5am...because of course.

*Jim Bowden caused a storm when he tweeted that a SOURCE indicates the Astros will call up Alex Bregman as early as this weekend.

*A new generation of shortstops is taking over the game.

*The AL Batting Champion will now win the Rod Carew Award.

*Commissioner Rob Manfred says the increase in home runs in 2016 is not related to PEDs or juiced balls.

*The oral history of Bryce Harper's record-setting JuCo season.

*A Jonathan Lucroy foul ball destroyed Chronicle beat writer Jake Kaplan's laptop:

RIP @jakemkaplan’s laptop. Jon Lucroy killed it. pic.twitter.com/eSm3vEKX6L

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 13, 2016

Notes & Numbers: G15 - Astros at Rangers

This would be a better rivalry if the Astros could, you know, win in Dallas.

The Rangers now lead the all-time series with the Astros 81-49, and are 39-19 since the Astros moved to the American League, including that awful 2013 season series where the Astros went 2-17. Furthermore, the Astros are 6-14 at Arlington since the beginning of 2014.

Woody from Toy Story Cole Hamels will get the start tonight for the Rangers. In his only start against Houston for the Rangers he got the no decision, throwing 7IP, 7H/3ER, 4K:1BB back in September, a game which, predictably, the Astros lost. This will be his fourth start of the season. In his three starts, he's thrown 18.1IP, 15H/6ER, 16K:8BB, 3 HR allowed. The Rangers haven't lost a game in which Hamels has started since August 7, 2015. They are 13-2 in games he has started as a Ranger.

In 77 career plate appearances, current Astros are hitting .260/.286/.452, with 14K:1BB.

Jose Altuve: 4x8, HR
Evan Gattis: 4x13, 2HR
Carlos Gomez: 4x18
Colby Rasmus: 3x10, HR

Doug Fister will take the ball tonight. His first two starts? Not so good. 10.2IP, 14H/9ER, 8K:2BB. Lefties are killing him. Consider the righties: 27 PA, .240/.296/.320 line. Lefties? 19 PAs, .421/.421/.895. And he's having a hard time closing out innings. To wit:

0 Out: .624 OPS-allowed
1 Out: .971 OPS-allowed
2 Out: 1.125 OPS-allowed.

And opposing hitters are 6x12 with three doubles with runners in scoring position.

But the Astros will totally win.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

*Jim Crane is going to stick to the plan of making steady increases in payroll (or "frugality" as it is referenced in the link).

*This is our fifth year in camp, and when I took over we had the worst team in baseball and the worst minor league system. We had a plan and we've stuck with the plan. I'd like to tell you we're smarter than everybody else, but we haven't won anything yet.
-Jim Crane.

*The goal is real simple. The goal is to win. To win the whole thing.
-Jeff Luhnow

*Add Roger Clemens to the seating chart on the Astros' bandwagon. Keuchel likes it when Big Rog (as I call him) comes by.

*Luis Valbuena's foot hurt so bad last year the Astros asked him to go on the DL. He said no.

*Jeff Luhnow just lets Hinch do his thing.

*The Fresno Grizzlies will be playing as the Tacos ten times in 2016.

*The baseball program at Chase High School (Forest City, NC) got robbed. Tyler White got all their stuff replaced.

*Jose Altuve: voice actor.

*LOL o' the day: Colbert Hamels has filed a lawsuit against a Philadelphia promoter for stiffing him on $70,000 VIP tickets to the Victoria's Secret show.

*Yu Darvish is scheduled to rejoin the Rangers in mid- to late-May.

*How Seattle got reliever Tony Zych for $1.

*The agent for 16-year old Cuban phenom Lazarito Armenteros will not represent him anymore thanks to death threats.

*ICYMI: The Batguy posted his projections for the 2016 Astros.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

SWEAR WORDS AND PHYSICAL VIOLENCE! The Astros lost to the Rangers in the opener of the four-game series by the score of 5-3. On this miserably idiotic road trip, the Astros are 2-5, getting outscored by the whopping margin of 33-32. The Astros are a half-game up on the Rangers with 18 to play. FanGraphs still gives the Astros a 64.4% chance of winning the division, and an 85.9% chance of making the postseason.

*Normally-solid Will Harris has now allowed two game-winning homers in the last three days. 

Harris: It sucks. Nobody wants to lose a game, especially in a playoff race.

*A.J. Hinch - who made some questionable decisions (because you only question the decisions that clearly didn't work out) - says the team "isn't spooked."

*Carlos Gomez will miss the Rangers series.

*Jed Lowrie came out of the game because Cole Hamels hit him (and then he fouled the next pitch off of where he had just been hit). Hamels actually hit two batters last night, getting Valbuena up around the shoulder. Hitting Astros batters with pitches is becoming a thing: the Astros have been HBP'd seven times...on this road trip alone. 

Saying that the Astros should retaliate only makes one sound like a mouth-breather, because What If Someone Really Gets Hurt. But do some yelling, for crying out loud. Drop a deuce on the field. Piss on first base. Do something.

*FanGraphs' Jeff Sullivan: How the Rangers have gained on the Astros.

*Grant Brisbee: You're watching the start of a Rangers/Astros rivalry your grandkids will care about. 

Friday Morning Hot Links

The Rangers lost to the Mariners yesterday, giving the Astros a 2.5-game lead as they head into Anaheim tonight for a three-game series with the Angels. FanGraphs gives the Astros an 80.1% chance of winning the division and a 93.8% chance of making the postseason.

*The Astros are celebrating homers with gummy bears. Let's send a case of these gummy bears to the Rangers as a gesture of goodwill.

*"We're not as young as people want us to be" - A.J. Hinch.

*A.J. Hinch is shaking off the Bad Road Team label.

*It doesn't matter what we've done so far. We've got to continue to play well and continue to win games. If we don't put all three aspects together on the road like we usually do at home, we're not going to be playing for much longer.
-Dallas Keuchel

*The Rangers have moved Hamels' next start back to Monday so that two of his remaining starts can be against the Astros.

Thursday Morning Hot Links

Well well, Astros County is back off the 7-Day Disabled List (seriously, apologies - on behalf of all of us - for the lack of posting over the last couple of weeks). The Astros beat the A's (finally), the Mariners beat the Rangers, and the Angels beat the Dodgers last night. According to FanGraphs, the Astros have a 75.8% chance of winning the division, a 93.1% chance of making the postseason, and an 11.0% chance of winning the World Series. The Astros have a two-game lead on the Rangers with 22 games to play. The Rangers have 24 games to play.

Houston, Oakland, and Anaheim are off today, the Rangers and Mariners finish their series with 2:40pm Central game.

*With Marwin's homer last night he became the 11th Astro to hit 10+ home runs - tying an ML record set by the 2004 Detroit Tigers. The Astros have hit 192 home runs this season, tied with the Blue Jays for most in the Majors.

*Within that link we find that Scott Feldman returned to Houston last night, a week after leaving his start early with shoulder irritation. Tony Sipp and Jason Castro threw/caught a bullpen while workers at Minute Maid set up for the rescheduled Taylor Swift concert.

*With a massive four-game series starting in Arlington next Monday, the Rangers are considering tweaking their rotation to allow Hamels to start against the Astros, which would allow him to start in both of the remaining series against Houston.

*And while we're talking about Arlington, here comes Evan Grant oozing blue and red down his leg - the Print Hawk Harrelson - talking about how the not-brawl back in July reignited the Rangers.

*Max Stassi loved his return to Oakland, and was apparently snubbed by a few A's players.

*Here is a great article about how the Texas Baseball Ranch in Montgomery has been reinventing pitching. Guest appearances in the article include Scott Kazmir and Brent Strom.

*Jeff Passan's All-Minor League Team includes A.J. Reed as the Player of the Year:
Scouts marvel at his ability to hit breaking pitches, something the Astros have long adored about Reed, and the prospect of adding him to a lineup with Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve and George Springer for the next half-decade rightfully frightens the rest of the American League. 

Honorable Mention honors go to Tyler White, Tony Kemp, J.D. Davis, Derek Fisher, Joe Musgrove, Jacob Nottingham (RIP), Brett Phillips (RIP), and Domingo Santana (RIP).

Monday Morning Hot Links

The Astros got their 4th walk-off win of the season courtesy of Jose Altuve, who drove in Jake Marisnick, who got a 9th inning triple. It was Marisnick's second hit since July 29, and his first extra-base hit since a 3rd-inning double on the same date. So the Astros, Mariners, and Rangers won while the A's lost big and the Angels lost on a walk-off in Kansas City. The Astros are now 3.5 up on the Angels, and 4.0 up on the Rangers. FanGraphs gives the Astros a 72.6% chance of winning the division, and an 86% chance of making the postseason. There are 44 games left in the season, with 13 of those games scheduled against the Angels and Rangers. They start a four-game series against Tampa Bay tonight.

*Colby Rasmus hit two homers, his first 2HR game since June 19, 2012. He hit both homers off of LHP Matt Boyd, having hit just two homers off lefties all season.

*Carlos Correa form-tackled Jose Altuve after the walk-off. Correa:
Everything we do is just having fun. We're like brothers, and when you're brothers, you play around a lot, and that's what we do all the time. It was definitely a fun win and we had a chance.

*Marwin Gonzalez has been one of the League's best hitters since the middle of June.

*A.J. Hinch doesn't have a set rule for how often he uses relievers. Hinch, NSFW:
All outings are not created equal. All pitchers do not respond to outings the same. And also what's not noted in a box score is maybe how many days in a row you get a guy up, get him hot. We account for that. And there's a certain level of use even when he's not being used that we will use a day pitched.

*Preston Tucker's 9th inning homer on Saturday was the only home run of the season hit on a pitch thrown 99mph+.

*Ken Rosenthal says that the Cole Hamels trade could shape the AL West for "years to come," and that the Phillies preferred the Astros' package because they were including Brett Phillips and Josh Hader, and may have been willing to guarantee Hamels' option four years down the road.

*Over the weekend, George Springer was cleared to resume baseball activities, but it doesn't mean he'll be in the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay.
There's a bunch of stuff I have to do first and a bunch of tests I have to pass. We'll obviously take it one slow day at a time.

Non-Astros Read of the Day: 
From the New York Times, "A Most Dangerous Game" - Welcome to calcio storico, a centuries-old competition in Florence with very few rules and the sort of human wreckage generally associated with the gladiators.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

AL West Recap: Lance McCullers got BABIP'd to death and Mike Fiers got rocked but still managed to make a comeback on the strength of Correa's 2-run shot, Valbuena's solo shot, and a Jason Castro grand slam - only to fall 12-9 to the South Oklahoma Rangers. So the Astros and A's lost while the Angels, Rangers, and Mariners won. The Astros are 3.0 up with 55 games to play, but have lost 11 of their last 13 road games.

Astros/Rangers links

*After not giving up more than three earned runs in any of his ML starts this season, Lance McCullers gave up 6ER in 0.1IP Monday night, and was optioned to the minors following the game:
I just wish I had been able to compete a little better for the guys and not make so many guys eat so many innings and that kind of stuff. It's going to happen. Hopefully, it doesn't happen again. Hopefully, I got it off my back. I'm just looking forward to my next start.

*Dan Straily will start tonight for the Astros - a game at which The Wife and I will be in attendance.

*Lance McCullers understands his being optioned - what with him already having thrown a career high in IP. A.J. Hinch said the move was designed to give McCullers a break.

*Cole Hamels spoke about why he rejected the proposed Astros trade - which had apparently been worked out "a couple of days" before he actually was traded to the Rangers:
It just kind of came to that sort of fruition where (the Astros) just weren't on the (approved) list. They asked me, and I said, 'No I'd like to stick with the list...' I've seen what (the Astros) have done and I think they've done great things. I have a four-year contract still...so if it was a different situation where I had a year left or a year and a half I probably would have gone. But because it is more of a longer term I had to weigh those sorts of variables for those nine teams that I had on the list. I didn't want to budge from that.

Having never been in his situation - he and I have probably never shared any kind of experience...ever - I won't say that this rationale is absolute nonsense.

*The Dallas Morning News' Rick Gosselin says the Rangers and Astros' "rivalry" has everything except meaningful games.

*Hacksaw Jeff Banister swore at A.J. Hinch and told him not to grab his players in that little to-do in which Rougned Odor took his sweet time getting back in the box. But they're both all good.

Rando Links

*Carlos Gomez on Club Astros: "I love here. Those guys make me feel sexy"

*George Springer, despite being on the DL, is the center of the Astros' clubhouse.

*Scott Kazmir is your AL Pitcher of the Month for July.

*The Astros are 2nd in SI's Power Rankings

*Jon Singleton took his 72 hours to report to Fresno: "It's definitely frustrating and disappointing, but you still have to go on to continue to be successful. It is a business. You sometimes have to remind yourself of that. You still have to go out and put the work in."

Not-Astros Link of the Day

*From Priceonomics: "The Greatest Double Agent In History"

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/mlb/fresno-grizzlies/article29921698.html#storylink=cpy

Thursday Trade Deadline Running Post

2:33pm: Padres talks are progressing with multiple teams, with Tyson Ross as a key piece

1:21pm: Wonder Boy Chris Cotillo "hears" that the Blue Jays are interested in adding Andrew Cashner

1:20pm: The Yankees are poised to strike, which sounds really threatening.

1:02pm: (Twiddles thumbs)

With Hamels and Price off the board, that leaves the San Diego pitchers as the most-linked pitchers to the Astros. The Astros stuck to their guns on Kazmir as the lone rental...

Lunchtime: The bobblehead this weekend looks like a cross between Lloyd Christmas and George Bush

Celebrate #BiggioHOF this weekend with 3 great Biggio-themed giveaways! http://t.co/P1wKiWuzjj pic.twitter.com/AFvwnFDCQ7

— Houston Astros (@astros) July 30, 2015

11:20am: Price to Toronto is "imminent"

11:27am: This is getting redundant. Toronto and Detroit are getting close.

11:26am: Toronto may be willing to send Daniel Norris to Detroit.

11:13am: San Fran is now sad as it looks to everyone like Price is going to Toronto

11:07am: Jon Paul Morosi says the Astros would have a better chance at landing Price if they are willing to move McCullers or Velasquez.

10:57am: Rosenthal says Blue Jays may be close, talks "won't go on much longer" for Price

10:50am: Toronto "appears to be a strong favorite" for David Price

10:44am: Blue Jays are making a major push for David Price

9:54am: Jon Morosi apparently said on MLB Network that the Astros are talking about Ross or Cashner "plus" Kimbrel. Kimbrel is under team control through 2017 with a team option for 2018. Ross is under team control through 2017, Cashner through 2016.

9:31am: The Tigers are confident they can get a big haul for David Price.

8:45am: The Dodgers may acquire Alex Wood simply to enhance their proposal for Price.

8:36am: Bob Nightengale says that the Dodgers, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Astros plan to bid seriously on Price.

8:33am: Gammons reports that Crane has approved any deal to add payroll, Crane and Luhnow have talked on Price, but the Padres are more likely, and Mark Appel is available.

8:00am: Some League executives think Price is headed to the Dodgers.

7:57am: Ken Rosenthal explains what happened with Wilmer Flores last night, and a larger point about reporting the Trade Deadline.

7:53am: Because life isn't fair, the Cardinals will get $1 billion thanks to rights from a new network deal, and a minority stake.

7:17am: Houston is talking to Detroit about David Price

7:16am: Hamels told the Phillies he would not accept a trade to the Astros. His wife apparently has relatives in the burning hellscape that is the Metroplex.

1:10am: One GM thinks today is Padres GM AJ Preller Day.