Sunday Morning Hot Links

I'm running out of ways to start this regular post. The Astros had the briefest of leads and then gave it back. Yordan is a Big Strong Man. Ryan Pressly had a rare terrible outing. Houston committed three errors (two on the same play on what looked like a fairly routine fly ball). All the games the Astros won while everyone was hurt are starting to fade into memory. Houston is 48-30, 21-19 away from Minute Maid Park. They were 21-13 on the road this time last week.

*Houston had a 5-4 lead for half an inning. They have now held a lead to begin an inning in three of their previous 63 innings. There is no explanation. Four of the seven losses have been 1- or 2-run losses. Houston has been outscored 43-19 in these seven games. Hinch:
It's tough when you lose a lead given the week we've had. We're all human, we're all pretty frustrated.

More Hinch:
You feel a little snakebitten when everything has to be perfect for us to piece it together. There are some frustrations that are building just because losing, it sucks. We're not putting things together for an entire game to get a win. You get the lead, there's a lot of momentum. You give the lead right back, it's a little deflating.

Reddick, on being snake-bitten:
Black Mamba-style, yeah. It feels like it's spreading fast and we have to find the antidote.

*This game did not come down to one play but I, for one, am shocked SHOCKED that the Replay Guy in NYC screwed up this Altuve hit.

*Houston had eleven hits and were 1x9 w/RIMFSP. That's two hits in their last 22 ABs with a runner in scoring position. They left 11 on base. They're 7x53 w/RISP during this losing streak.

*Eight of their 11 hits came from the top four in the lineup. The rest of the lineup was a combined 3x19. Houston lost a game in which they struck out three times for the second time the season. The last time was April 22 against the Twins, which they lost 9-5.

*Houston did not ground into a double play this game, for the second time in their last three.

*The Astros vs Adam Ottavino and Zach/k Britton: 11 batters, 0H/0ER, 2K:5BB.

*Yordan Alvarez gave the Astros their half-inning lead with a 3-run homer in the 7th.   Reddick (who hit a 2-run home run), on Yordan's homer:
The dugout was really awake for the first time this whole road trip.

The @Astros’ Yordan Alvarez is the fourth player in the modern era (since 1900) to hit six (or more) home runs through his first 11 games in the majors, joining Trevor Story (7), Carlos Delgado (6), and Dino Restelli (6).

— Elias Sports Bureau (@EliasSports) June 23, 2019

Alvarez is a bad man 💪🏽

— Carlos Correa (@TeamCJCorrea) June 23, 2019

*Hinch flipped the lineup, with Altuve leading off and Bregman batting 2nd:
It's the same hitters hitting in a different order. Sometimes you just have to change for the sake of change to give the lineup a different look. Jose is obviously very confident, and he got a couple hits. Alex in the two-hole has been very good. It's really no more complicated than that. Sometimes you shake it up, even if it's a small shake-up.

*Alex Bregman had two hits for the 16th time this season, and for the first time since June 6.

*Michael Brantley went 3x4 with a walk. It's his 3rd 3-hit game in his last six games.

*Yuli Gurriel, hitting in the #5 spot, was 0x5, dropping him to .258/.293/.389 on the season. He was 0x2 w/RISP. It's the first time he had gone 0x5 since August 17, 2018.

*Tyler White was 0x4 with a walk. He's now hitting .228/.344/.340 but has gotten on base at least once in 12 of his last 13 starts. White is also now 5x34 with runners in scoring position, after flying out to right with the bases loaded in the top of the 9th. He has 17 strikeouts in 43 PAs w/RISP in 2019.

*Wade Miley: 5IP, 2H/4ER, 7K:4BB. It's his 2nd straight start with 4BB. He had made 14 straight starts to open the season with three or fewer walks allowed coming into this L7.

*Austin F. Romine hit the home run in the 7th off of Pressly to tie the game at 5-5. It was his 2nd home run of the year. Romine's SLG on the season is now .307.

*Ryan Pressly: 1IP, 3H/3R (2ER), 2K:0BB, 1HR. It's the first time he has allowed 2+ ER since June 21, 2018, when he was still with Minnesota. Pressly had allowed three runs in 33.1IP in 2019 coming into last night's game. Houston is now 3-1 when Ryan Pressly gives up a run in 2019. Pressly:
When things aren't going your way, they're not going to go your way. Things kind of snowballed on us.

*The Astros are off tomorrow before starting a home series against Pittsburgh on Tuesday in which George Springer is expected to return to the lineup. Springer was 1x3 with three walks in Corpus' 6-4 win in 11 innings (on an Osvaldo Duarte walk-off homer) last night.

Collin McHugh faced three batters in a clean 6th, striking out one. He's nearing the end of his rehab assignment and could be activated Tuesday, while the Astros are approaching Joe Smith's rehab assignment like it's just now Spring Traning. Brandon Bailey threw the final 5IP of the game, allowing 1H/0ER, 5K:0BB. Brandon Bailey (acquired from Oakland in the Ramon Laureano trade) last four outings: 17.2IP, 8H/0ER, 21K:2BB.

*Round Rock's Josh Rojas hit a 1st inning homer off of a rehabbing Craig Kimbrel in Iowa last night. Kimbrel opened the game due to rain, which came, banging the game after five innings.

*Don't miss this Calcaterra/NBCSports article - as I did - from a few days ago featuring an interview with our very own Astros Fans UK and the growing baseball movement in the UK. Good on you, George. He's my 2nd-favorite George in Astrosdom. For all of us who struggle to stay awake past the 3rd/4th inning during West Coast games, George will get three hours of sleep most weeknights so he can watch the Astros.

*Michael Brantley could should play in the 2019 All-Star Game. The 2019 All-Star Game (I'll watch the Home Run Derby on mute, but I do not watch the All-Star Game) is in Cleveland. Michael Brantley admits that playing in it, in Cleveland, would be special.

*Miami's Wilkin Castillo got his first Major League hit in 3,654 days.

A scene in Houston's West End Park in 1914 when the New York Yankees came to play a game against the Houston Buffaloes. pic.twitter.com/4Da3pRyK1a

— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) June 22, 2019

*Freddy Adu: I'm not ready to give it up

*A Musical Selection:

Thursday Morning Hot Links

Note: I woke up three hours late this morning. These are abbreviated. I'm still mad. 

I don't even know where to start. The Astros "lost" last night 8-6 in Game 4 after Jose Altuve's game-tying home run in the first was erroneously ruled as fan interference by someone who gets paid to do their job, and also by replay officials who are also presumably paid to get calls right. They did not. Astros pitchers failed in big spots and now the Astros need three straight wins in order to win their second consecutive pennant and World Series.

*The Red Sox are now 86.5% favorites to win the series, via FanGraphs.
FiveThirtyEight says the Red Sox win 88% of the simulations, though Houston wins 60% of the Game 5 simulations.

*Altuve, on the call:
I've got zero control, so it's hard for me to say something when it doesn't matter what I said. They're not going to change it. I normally don't get mad about umpires' calls. That one I was a little upset. I looked at the replay, and it's tough. That's the only thing I can say. It's really hard.

*Reddick:
I'm pissed off, we're all pissed off. That's the best way to describe it. Frustration, and beyond that, to being pissed off because it would have made a big difference. We talked about it during the course of the whole game.

Professional dick Joe West:
Here's the whole play. [Altuve] hit the ball to right field [Ed. Note: Correct.] [Betts] jumped up to try to make a catch [Ed. Note: Correct.] The fan interfered with him over the playing field. [Ed. Note: Incorrect.] That's why I called spectator interference. The replay official said I was right. [Ed. Note: Incorrect.] That's all. He said I have nothing that can change it. 

Joe West is a moron and those idiots in Chelsea aren't any better.

The liar Mookie Betts:
I'm 100% positive I was going to be able to catch that one. But as I jumped and went over, reached my hand up, I felt like somebody was kind of pushing my glove out of the way or something.

And that, right there, is the reason it should have been a home run. Betts was over the wall. Rule 6.01(e) clearly says:
No interference shall be allowed when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk. However, should a spectator reach out on the playing field side of such fence, railing or rope, and plainly prevent the fielder from catching the ball, then the batsman should be called out for the spectator's interference.

Joe West’s entire postgame interview with a pool reporter pic.twitter.com/Z1kf5cqvJq

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) October 18, 2018

What the hell else do you want? The fan was not over the fence, not on the playing field. Betts went over the fence into the stands. Whichever Houston-area Golden Corral bathroom Joe West is currently destroying, he needs to be shouted out of there.

*FanGraphs' Jeff Sullivan says the fan interference call was more Good than Bad. I disagree with FanGraphs' Jeff Sullivan.

*So many things were inches away. Christian Vazquez's double that hit George Springer's glove was followed by Jackie Bradley Jr.'s two-run go-ahead home run. Correa flipping the ball to Marwin to start the double-play rather than missing the bag by about 2" and only getting one out. Lance McCullers walking in a run. Tony Kemp getting thrown out at second in the 8th. All of the breaks that the 2017 Astros caught on the way to a World Series title are suddenly going the other way.

*Carlos Correa:
Two tremendous teams going at it. It was well-played baseball. They came up with the win. I had some flashbacks of Game 5 of the World Series last year. That's the type of game it was. Nobody gave up. We didn't win, but it was a great game.

*The Athletic: An oral history of Game 4.

*The bullpen, ALCS: 6.89 ERA. 15.2IP, 17H/12ER. Unacceptable.

*Tony Kemp's home run was the softest-hit home run of the postseason. And it didn't go as far as Altuve's.

*The Ringer: Is the Verlander trade the best deadline deal in baseball history?

*The Red Sox had a coach kicked out of the ALDS and the Dodgers and Rockies lobbed accusations about cheating at each other, too.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros got into Detroit about 5am yesterday, played twelve hours later, won 15 hours later. Houston is 90-54, and have a 3.0-game lead on Oakland, who was off.

*The Astros have won eight of their last nine, and 16 of their last 21.

*It's the 8th 90-win season in franchise history. They would need to go 13-5 to break the all-time wins mark, set in 1998. This is also somehow the first time in franchise history the Astros have 90+ wins in consecutive seasons *since 1998-1999.*

FanGraphs is projecting a 102-60 record, as is FiveThirtyEight. Baseball Prospectus has 101 wins.

*Houston won 3-2 despite collecting just five hits. They're now 9-25 in games with five or fewer hits.

*All three runs the Astros scored were unearned.

*Tyler White was 2x3 with a walk. He has a hit in eight of his last nine games.

*7-8-9 (Gattis-Maldonado-Marisnick) combined to go 0x11 with 4K:1BB.

*Justin Verlander threw 7IP, 6H/2ER, 10K:1BB - his 10th start with double-digit strikeouts. It's the first time since April 25-May 1 that Verlander recorded 21 outs in consecutive starts.

*Verlander, on his first start in Detroit since getting traded:
Our hotel is right near my old house, so I got to spend some time in the neighborhood today. I was trying to keep my routine as much as possible. It was almost normal until the tribute video, but that really got to me. I had a lot of great memories in my 13 years here, and that brought it all back. I wanted to get to the dugout before it started, but once it started playing, I had to watch.

.@JustinVerlander tries to keep his eyes from sweating as he gets love from the @tigers faithful. pic.twitter.com/jhFGpe1Vzq

— Cut4 (@Cut4) September 10, 2018

Hinch:
I'm proud of our guys, because there was a lot going on today, and we didn't play our best game, but we still found a way to pull out a win.

*Verlander and Gerrit Cole are the first pair of Astros pitchers with 250+ strikeouts in a season. They're the first teammates with 250+ strikeouts since Former Astros Greats Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling did it in Arizona in 2002. They're the first right-handed teammates with 250+ strikeouts since 1900. That's insane.

*MLB Replay officials are still sacks of crap. But A.J. Hinch says there will be a thorough review of the process (which I'm sure they'll get wrong). Hinch:
I still think they got it wrong, and I think it's unfortunate because the dynamic of the game changes a little bit. It might not have changed the outcome. There's still plenty of game left. To get an out/safe call wrong is one thing; to get one that takes the run off the board is a killer. They've assured me they're going to look at the process, how it all went down, why it took so long, and ultimately why the decision was made. I need clear and convincing evidence to be able to trust the system.

Read the article on that, and on how Josh Big Flames James could crack the postseason roster.

*Jose Altuve had a knee scare, but is apparently good to go.

*Framber Valdez gets the start, at 5:40pm Central. I have determined that anyone he strikes out got "Frambushed."

*The Astros, Red Sox, and Yankees have some questions about how exactly Josh Donaldson was able to get traded.

*FanGraphs' Jeff Sullivan: Oakland's bullpen has been a statistical miracle.

*Scott Servais, Darryl Kile, and the 25th anniversary of Kile's no-hitter.

*Brian Mazone spent nine years in the minors waiting for his chance. The day it came, it rained.

Monday Morning Hot Links

Getcher hawt linx heah:

*Evan Drellich writes that the Astros' window of opportunity is "by no means a given."

Luhnow:
Our young players are going to continue to come through the system, and we have some assets. We've got some benefits, some advantages that other clubs maybe don't have. We've got one of the top farm systems in baseball still while having a young team at the major league level that's already competing. That's the ideal situation. Now, we want to maintain that for a long time to come.

But with injuries and player regression, automatically thinking the Astros will compete next year like they did this year is taking too much for granted.

*Bench coach Trey Hillman is apparently a leading candidate to manage the Yokohama BayStars in Japan in 2016. He says he hasn't been contacted, but wouldn't outright say no. The Astros picked up Hillman's option for 2016 and would have to grant him permission to interview.

*Anthony Castrovince writes a recap for Sports On Earth on the ousted playoff teams and their outlook for 2016.
Tomorrow is guaranteed to none of us, much less a baseball team. But the Astros always had the feel of a team ahead of schedule, thereby making anything that transpired in this 2015 postseason gravy.

*Luis Valbuena's tag of Terrance Gore in Game 4 is the set-piece for What's Wrong With Instant Replay. Hinch:
In some ways, it feels like you're getting a speeding ticket for going 60 in a 55. But by the letter of the law, that's how it's played, and until they change the rule, we're obviously going to play that way.

*Nick Cafardo's Sunday notes column includes:
-Chris Davis could be a fit for the Astros (I doubt it)
-"The Astros will search for a veteran presence in their lineup this offseason"
-According to "one major league source," the Astros could dangle Chris Carter as trade bait.