Tuesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros beat the piss out of the Rangers while Jose Leclerc tried to kill Jose Altuve. Astros win 11-2 and win this boot-shaped trophy that's all silver and whatnot. I guess it means something. A win tonight against West Tyler officially eliminates the Rangers from the postseason. Shoutout to Jon Daniels for making sure the season ticket holders got to see it in person.

Good thing the Rangers did not swap home series with Houston. Hate to lose this crowd; pic.twitter.com/FBfuyjXiGT

— Gerry Fraley (@gfraley) September 26, 2017

*Keuchel:
They've done very well against us the last couple years. If we're able to eliminate them from postseason play, that would be awesome.

*The Astros are 96-60 and are now tied for 3rd all-time in single-season wins with the 1986 team. They'll need to win out to match 1998, but 98 wins puts them in 2nd place.

*Houston went 10-28 against Wichita Falls between 2015 and 2016. They're 10-7 against them in 2017.

*The Indians were off yesterday, so the Astros are two games back with six games to play. With Cleveland holding the tie-breaker, the Astros need to finish three games better than Cleveland, who opens a home series against Minnesota tonight. Houston, who is five up on Boston, can clinch home field in the ALDS with a win tonight and a Red Sox loss.

*The Astros scored eight runs in the 4th inning in which only one of the runs was earned thanks to some Benny Hill-inspired fielding by the Rangers. That 4th inning went as such:
Single, Single, Sac Fly (1-2), walk, line out, HBP, error (2-2), walk (3-2), error (4-2), single (6-2), double (8-2), foul out.

Seven runs scored with two outs.

*Collin McHugh needed 112 pitches to throw 5IP, 7H/2ER, 6K:3BB. 69 of those pitches were for strikes.

*The Astros bullpen of Hoyt, Sipp, Clippard, and Feliz threw 4IP, 1H/0ER, 8K:1BB. Michael Feliz struck out the side in the 9th in his first game since September 9.

*So it seems that The Outlaw Jose Leclerc retaliated to a non-issue between Collin McHugh and Carlos Gomez, in which Gomez took issue to a pitch up and in, changed bats, fouled a ball off up over the plate (which sort of negates the "we're going to hit you" position) and then marched like a brave soldier towards McHugh. McHugh:
I asked him what the issue was and he said, 'Yeah, I got a problem with you.' And everybody else was out there by that point in time. The game goes on. I don't want to spend any more mental effort thinking about Carlos Gomez. It is what it is.

Gomez saw it differently and, WAIT FOR IT, there is a Snitch in the Astros clubhouse:
It's always going to be I am the troublemaker. I'm always going to get blamed. The truth is I got told by one of the people who work for them that he was going to hit me. So, last time I faced him he hit me right away. No one said anything about that, but I react to something, I'm the troublemaker. How am I supposed to react?

How indeed. Fact is Carlos Gomez is going to play Victim and ask the cashier why he's the troublemaker when the local HEB runs out of his favorite hummus.

*Gomez went on to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about McHugh, whom Gomez said ran away "like a little cat" when the benches cleared in May after Mike Napoli's life was threatened by a pitch 20 feet behind his back.
I'm a man and am responsible to my stuff. I don't think I did anything wrong. When I'm wrong, I apologize. He tell(s) one of his people that he was going to hit me. You tell me to my face. I go after you personally, you run away. What kind of man are you? I have nothing against this team, I have something against him.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article175385556.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article175385556.html#storylink=cpy

*Altuve was 1x3 with a walk before getting plunked by Jose Leclerc (SAY HIS NAME AND REMEMBER IT), giving him 199 hits on the season. Altuve:
When I got hit, I thought it was something really, really bad, but thank God it was just a hard hit and I feel good. 

Here's the video of the Leclerc pitch:

95 MPH up near the face??? #Astros pic.twitter.com/dgoD9wiKQR

— Pivoting 2 Video (@MrJoshua) September 26, 2017

X-rays were negative. Hinch said that Altuve might not play "the next couple of games, anyway" so it may be that Altuve gets tonight off as it is. I want that 4th consecutive 200-hit season, though, sooner than later.

*Marwin Gonzalez was 4x5 with 3RBI including his 23rd home run of the season. It was Marwin's 3rd career 4-hit game, his first 4-hit game since August 11, 2016 and his 41st multi-hit game of the season.

*Carlos Correa was 0x5 and is hitting .222/.282/.306 in September as he works to regain his form after missing significant time during the season. His .588 September OPS is the worst of his young career.

*A.J. Hinch is trying not to overthink the regular season-ending series against Boston. Hinch:
Exposing guys to different matches and things like that is a little tricky, but you can overthink that, too. You really just need to play the games and compete and let whatever happens happen, and not get too caught up in that stuff. 

*The upcoming rotation through the end of the season:
Tonight: Keuchel
Wednesday: Verlander
Thursday (at Boston): Peacock
Friday: Morton
Saturday: McCullers or McHugh
Sunday: McHugh or McCullers or Keuchel

*Here are five questions Hinch has to answer this week.

*Brian T. Smith writes about Hinch's impending Lance McCullers decision

*Rolling Stone (?!) offers up a piece on how the Astros are helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

*Check out photos from Puerto Rico and re-evaluate what's making you Mad, Online.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

Obligatory "None of this really matters, but..." beginning. Continued prayers to everyone of you who is affected - and we're all affected in some way. Many have been hit worse than others and this is just the beginning of what will be a very long recovery. 

*The Astros will play the Rangers tonight at 6:10pm Central. It will be televised and broadcast on the radio. This game - and likely the next six games - will be played at beautiful Tropicana Dome in St. Petersburg, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. This is not exactly what the Astros wanted.

*Here's what we think we know so far...
-The Rangers offered to host this series in Arlington, but with Houston as the road team and the Rangers giving the revenue from the games to the Astros. A home series in Arlington against the Rangers.
-The Astros were cool with that, as long as the Rangers let the Astros host the scheduled three game series from September 25-27. Switching the series, essentially. The Rangers were not cool with that, because that series comes at the end of a nine-game road trip for them, turning it into a 12-game road trip at the near-end of the season.
-The Astros weren't cool with just giving the Rangers three extra home games against them.

*Reid Ryan:
We started looking at whatever options were out there - St. Louis, Tampa. The Rangers offered to host us this week, but not switch series with us. In essence, have all six of our remaining games (against the Rangers) at the ballpark in Arlington. We really looked at what is in the best interest of the integrity of the schedule...which has everybody playing the same amount of home and road games that determines who makes the playoffs.

*Jon Daniels went on a Dallas radio station and said that sacrificing that late September home series wouldn't be fair to Rangers season ticket holders.

*More Daniels:

There would have been a number of challenges. And I say 'challenges' while cringing because the challenges pale compared to what people are going through down there.

*Evan Grant sums up the Rangers' situation (previous link):
[Astros fans] are going to think the Rangers aren't a compassionate or charitable organization. Scheduling and the championship season, however, should not be confused with compassion. And this is simply about scheduling and the championship season. Swapping series would have made the Rangers' long odds to reach the playoffs even longer. Aside from that late extended road trip, it would have meant sacrificing any chances they still had at the playoffs to make Houston's road easier. No team is going to do that.

While I have disagreed with Grant many times, he's right. The situation is that the Astros are facing an 18-game road trip regardless of where they play this series. The Rangers were going to be on the road for this series no matter what. So whether it's in Tampa or Houston, they don't care where they play. No one in Tampa is going to show up for this series (unless there's some sort of outpouring of grief and charity from the residents of Tampa). Jon Daniels' job is to do what's best for the Rangers - not to accommodate the Astros. Jon Daniels did his job, and absolutely nothing more.

*Sports Illustrated:
While the logic makes plenty of business sense for the Rangers, it still feels like a tone-deaf response to a desperate situation. The Rangers understandably don't want to add to three final games to a nine-game trip with their players' health and energy flagging., but citing business reasons in the face of the nation's most devastating natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina feels cynical.

*Laughably, Jon Daniels says that refusing to swap series with the Astros had nothing to do with trying to gain a competitive advantage:
We were prepared to make the event all about hurricane relief and helping our neighbors. It had nothing to do with looking for a competitive advantage. That's an inaccurate portrayal.

The Star-Telegram's Stefan Stevenson (link above) goes on to say that the season ticket holders and fans had already planned on this series being on the road, and didn't want to put them in a position where they're trying to change plans on 24 hours notice. Thank God someone thought of them. Daniels:
We didn't feel it was right to give our fans 24 hours notice that their tickets in late September were now good this week. We were willing to play this series anywhere the Astros and MLB wanted, including here in Arlington.

So instead of the Astros and Rangers, who had both been in Dallas, playing in Dallas, yesterday they each flew to Tampa Bay to start this series.

*Saying "You should have more to worry about than where the Astros play these games" is the height of condescension. It's Dry Privilege, and it misses the point entirely. By the power of Grayskull, you have the right to punch them in the head. You want baseball to be a distraction, but don't want the Astros/fans to find a frustrating (the mildest possible term that could be used) situation somewhat frustrating.

*Jim Crane, the ownership group, and the Astros Foundation are giving $4 million to relief efforts.

Friday Morning Hot Links

Hear's youre kneed two no lynx (sorry, that won't happen again):

*Chad Qualls is helping Josh Fields with his mechanics while Luhnow notes that the bullpen would be better if the starters weren't throwing 100 pitches in five innings, and the starters would be better if the offense wasn't hitting .210.

*Bo Porter and Nolan Ryan went to see Tyler Kolek last night (but Silsbee's Brayden Griffin threw a complete game, allowed two hits and struck out ten).

*Jon Daniels, on the Round Rock-back-to-Astros affiliation:
You'd have to ask, 'What's in it for the Rangers?' I'm sure the Astros would like to get back in there, but why would we leave? The Austin area is a fast-growing market, and we've worked hard to establish a strong foothold there...We've made a lot of gains down there, and you can definitely attribute some of those (gains) to the affiliation with the Express. Of course, it helps that the Rangers have been a consistent winner.

Ohhhh. F that. RedHawks president Michael Byrnes:
I believe (the Rangers) intention is to stay there through 2018.