Where do you even start with this? Do you start with the Astros losing every single home game in a seven-game series after winning every road game in the same seven-game series...for the second time in five years. I make a motion that the Astros bulldoze Minute Maid Park and build a new stadium in Idontfknknow Sugar Land? Katy? Port Lavaca so it feels like a road game?
*It's the 6th time the Astros have allowed at least 11 runs in a postseason game. It's the 6th time in postseason history a team has allowed at least 11 runs in a Game 7, the 3rd time out of those that the home team did it, the 2023 Astros joining the 1912 Red Sox, and 1934 Tigers.
*There will be time to get into the Ins & Outs of Game 7. We'll do that another day. Maybe. But let's just sit back and look at how in the actual hell:
The Astros went 1-5 (with five straight losses) at home this postseason, getting outscored 37-17 while going 5-0 on the road, outscoring opponents 35-15.
The Astros went 40-47 at Minute Maid Park in 2023, including playoffs.
The Astros started the 2nd Half of the season 8-4 at Minute Maid Park, and then went 7-21 at home, including playoffs.
How the Astros went 4x31 with runners in scoring position in four home games in the ALCS.
How Framber Valdez threw 7.2IP in the 2023 ALCS, allowing 12H/7ER, and how just maybe two fewer ER in Game 2 win that game.
How Kyle Tucker went 6x40 with 10 strikeouts this postseason.
How Jeremy Pena still hasn't hit a home run since July 5.
*Here are the impending Astros free agents, with their 2023 salary in parentheses:
The Homestros struck again. After almost literally destroying the Rangers' will earlier in the week, the Astros reminded the fans to not get too excited. I'd like them to figure it out. Houston is 80-62 in 2023 - 35-35 at home. More on that in a minute. The Mariners and Rangers also lost. Toronto won.
I know how good they are and I know how I've done against them in the past and I knew what I needed to do today. Definitely happy with how I pitched today.
Houston at home, All-Star Break to August 13: 7-4
August 14-since, Houston, at Minue Maid Park: 2-9.
Houston has lost six straight games at home. Last 11 games at home:
Yainer Diaz: .395/.409/.698
Alex Bregman: .333/.429/.500
Mauricio Dubon: .321/.345/.536
Yordan Alvarez: .296/.474/.296
Jeremy Pena: .282/.333/.410
Jose Altuve: .237/.275/.263
Chas McCormick: .222/.243/.389
Jose Abreu: .167/.250/.444
Martin Maldonado: .160/.160/.320
Kyle Tucker: .156/.194/.281
Yordan, Altuve, and Tucker have combined for three extra-base hits in their last 11 home games.
*Houston Astros, Away, 2023: .268/.339/.462, 118 home runs.
Houston Astros, Home, 2023: .251/.325/.407, 78 home runs.
*Astros home runs at Balch Springs, September 4-6, 2023: 16
Astros home runs at Minute Maid, August 1-present: 16
*Chandler Rome: What's up with the home record? The batter's eye may be to blame.
*Kyle Tucker was 0x4. Since his 3HR game on July 21, Tucker: .253/.359/.474. He has one home run in his last 73 PAs, last night was his 10th straight game without a home run, and six straight without an extra-base hit.
So that's 12 starts of 15 outs or fewer (and each of his last five starts) and 15 starts of 16 outs or more. Maldonado:
I think he threw a couple good innings. I feel like maybe he was rushing a little bit with men on base, trying to be quicker to the plate. I feel like that's when he lost kind of the strike zone. A couple unlucky hits that they got, especially in the second inning.
Expected Batting Average, base hits, Padres, 2nd Inning:
Obviously, it's really frustrating. I thought I made some good pitches there...To Grisham, I thought I made a pretty good pitch. It was probably two inches away from falling in Pena's glove. I think all that kind of stuff compounded and they were able to put four runs up.
Getting kind of tired of the HomeStros. Houston drops another one-run game to the Yankees to fall a game behind Seattle, who won last night. The Rangers lost, so there's something there, I guess. Houston is 77-60.
*Houston is now 35-33 at Minute Maid Park, getting outscored 311-309.
They're 10-11 at Minute Maid Park since the All-Star Break, with a 2-4 record in one-run games at home in that span. I cannot explain this.
*Record in One-Run Games, recent years:
2017: 19-13
2018: 24-24
2019: 24-19
2021: 21-19
2022: 28-16
2023: 17-18
*The Astros did not have a single solitary AB with a runner in scoring position all night. I'm not about to go find out the last time that happened.
*Houston GIDPd three times in a game for the 5th time this season.
*Michael Brantley was 2x4 with a home run - his first since June 17, 2022.
*The Astros fouled off 41 of Severino's 104 pitches. Severino:
I haven't seen something like this in my whole career. They made me work really hard.
*Hunter Brown: 4IP, 5H/5R (3ER), 5K:4BB. He has failed to record 13 outs in three of his last four starts.
My Dude UltimateGringo made a really good point in the Group Chat last night: Hunter Brown is a facsimile of his childhood idol Justin Verlander. His delivery is virtually the same as Verlander's. So it's almost rotation construction malpractice to throw them back-to-back because the opponent is getting another look at Verlander, but Brown (and it's not his fault) just isn't as good as Verlander.
I put us in a tough spot, and it wasn't my best performance. I felt like they spit on some good pitches, and the uncompetitive ones, I didn't have a chance to get a swing.
*Astros starters threw back-to-back Sub-40 Game Score starts for the first time since August 23-24.
*Houston's bullpen: 5IP, 3H/0ER, 8K:2BB. Only Neris and Stanek threw clean innings.
*Yainer Diaz is the 204th player in MLB history, and the 14th catcher in MLB history, to hit 20 Home Runs in their rookie season. He's the 7th Astro rookie to hit 20+ Home Runs in a season. Astros Rookie HR Leaderboard:
Yainer Diaz got his 10th start of the season on May 6. Since May 14 (the date of his first home run of 2023), Diaz (75 games, 63 starts) is hitting .293/.315/.570. His .570 SLG is 10th among all batters with 250 ABs since May 14.
The Athletic: Can Diaz finally crack the Astros' everyday lineup?
*Kyle Tucker has not gone three straight games without a hit since June 19-21.
*Let's take a second and wonder why in the af was Mauricio Dubon leading off the game.
Dubon, leading off (71 games, 61 starts): 293 PAs, .248/.270/.351, 46K:7BB, .282 BABIP, 62 sOPS+.
I got nothing.
*Dusty said he pinch-hit Jon Singleton for Jon Singleton because their projections showed that there was a 27.5% chance he would get a hit, over the 22% chance that Chas would get a hit. Do with that whatever you will. I'd like to know what the projections show about hitting Abreu and his .295 OBP 5th. Or Dubon in the leadoff spot.
*Oh man another Russian tycoon critical of Putin fell out of a window. They should start getting rooms with really high balconies.
My daughter and I have really gotten into travel videos on YouTube, but the hosts (Trek Trendy and Jeb Brooks, to name just a couple) are smarmy. I want someone to subsidize this for me - paying for me to travel and make videos about it. I won't show my ass. I'll make you a ton of money. Hit me up.
Times for the 2021 regular season schedule were announced and we get to see George Springer lead off another season with a bomb, this time against the Yankees! Haha that's gonna be rad to see our very own George Spr...wait. Toronto!?
There are only eight games with a first pitch after 8pm Central prior to the All-Star Break (15 from the All-Star Break to the end of the regular season).
*Chandler Rome: Six big questions facing the Astros before Spring Training.
*Jake Kaplan: The Astros have a good front five in their rotation, but what about the depth?
It's worth mentioning the sheer number of pitchers you need to get through a 162-game season. I'm throwing out the 2020 season, much in the same way that I'm throwing out all of the 2020 year, so I went back - I actually did this - and figured out how many different pitchers started at least one game for each MLB team in 2019. The results were interesting.
In the 2019 season, which was coming off a very normal 2018 season (something we're not about to do), the 30 MLB teams combined to need 388 starting pitchers, for an average of 12.93 per team. BUT! The National League needed way fewer pitchers:
Total NL SPs: 165
Avg SPs per team: 11
The National League team with the highest number of pitchers to start at least one game was San Francisco, who needed 16 SPs to get through the season. Four NL teams needed nine or fewer SPs: the Mets, Cubs, Reds, and Cardinals. However:
Total AL SPs: 223
Avg SPs per team: 14.87
The 2019 Toronto Blue Jays led MLB with 21 different pitchers to start at least one game, which feels insane to me. While the NL had four teams with nine or fewer starters over the course of the whole season, the teams with the fewest number of SPs over the course of the season were the Royals and Twins, with ten each. The reasons for this are worth exploring. Due to the DH, AL SPs can go longer in games which may lead to more injuries or recovery stints on the IL. NL SPs get pulled for a pinch-hitter earlier in games, so their pitch counts are lower than AL SPs per start (probably, I may look into this further. But also, I may not.) There are probably reasons I haven't considered yet.
That said: yeah, the Astros' starting rotation looks like it's good. But they might need as many as ten more starters. They needed 14 different SPs in 2019, and a fun game would be to try to name all 14 starting pitchers in the 2019 season. You can find the answers in the comments. Oh wait, I wisely disabled those a while back.
*Former Astros Great Jake Marisnick got a deal with the Cubs for $1.5m guaranteed, possibly $5.5m.
*I'm in the process of reading Nicole Perlroth's book about the ongoing worldwide infosec war (not great for the Ol' Anxiety!) and it has already sent me down a rabbit hole. The Atlantic: Who are the Shadow Brokers?
*Carlos Correa has personally reached out to James Click to indicate that he wants to stay in Houston beyond 2021. Click is "obviously" very interested. As am I. And damn if it didn't take Correa's response to the worst scandal in franchise history to bring me on board.
*The Hall of Fame will announce the Class of 2021 on Tuesday. Among David Schoenfield's look at 40 current MLB players on a HOF trajectory, we see Current Astros Greats Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke as Locks, Gerrit Cole and Jose Altuve as On The Right Path, and Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa as Have Some Work To Do, with Yordan Alvarez as The Next Generation. I swear the thought of the 2019 Astros, with seven Hall of Famers and no World Series, makes me want to throw a kitten in a river.
*A bunch of Redditors (a site which I previously thought was just for planning murders and whatnot) made GameStop's stock price soar in an effort to screw over hedge fund managers trying to short it.
1. The Astros are hosting the Pirates, and Jason Castro is up to bat, hitting .193. The Astros are up 3-2 in the 6th. Some other names we recognize that can narrow down that window: Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee, Jeff Keppinger, Chris Wallace, J.A. Happ.
2. Jason Castro only played with the Astros in the NL in 2010 and 2012. Hunter Pence only played with Jason Castro in the NL in 2010. JA Happ only pitched for the Astros in the NL with Jason Castro and Hunter Pence in 2010. The only possible explanation is that this game is from 2010.
3. JA Happ (and Jonathan Villar and Anthony Gose) was acquired from the Phillies for Roy Oswalt on July 29, 2010. Anthony Gose was immediately flipped to Toronto for Brett Wallace, who is hitting 6th in this game.
4. Brett Wallace made his MLB debut on July 31, 2010. The only games he played against the Pirates at Minute Maid Park in 2010 were from August 13-15.
5. On August 13 Brett Wallace batted 7th. On August 14 he came into the game in the 8th and didn't record a Plate Appearance. On August 15 Wallace batted 6th. JA Happ started that game and threw 6IP, 3H/2ER, 5K:4BB.
7. We see from the picture that Jason Castro is hitting .193, he singled in the 2nd and struck out in the 4th. The Astros have put two on the board in the bottom of the 6th. If we go back to the box score for that August 13, 2010 game, we find that Castro singled to CF in the 2nd off of Jeff Karstens, but Karstens struck Castro out to end the 4th inning.
8. We know that the Astros were up 3-2 when Castro comes to bat. The Astros started the 6th Inning down 2-1. Hunter Pence hit a ground-rule double to lead off the inning. Carlos Lee flied out to deep RF for the 1st out, sending Pence to third. Jeff Keppinger hit a sac fly to score Pence. Brett Wallace got hit by a pitch (the only time the Pirates hit Brett Wallace at home). Chris Johnson singled through the left side to move Wallace to 2nd. Jason Castro singled through the right side to score Brett Wallace and Chris Johnson to give the Astros a 3-2 lead.
9. This photo was taken immediately after Castro's AB, in the bottom of the 6th Inning on August 15, 2010. Houston would go on to win 8-1 to "improve" to 51-65.
10. Send me a picture of a scoreboard and I will absolutely do this again.
Yes, The Last Dance was cool, and necessary in these Trying Times. But I'm super-pumped about the Lance Armstrong documentary, which starts this Sunday evening on ESPN. Also, and this is very unrelated: If you say the name "Pete Wentz" to me, I automatically assume it's Kyle from Party Down.
*The Astros' 1988 Draft was the best in franchise history, according to MLB.com. The 1988 Draft gave the Astros Kenny Lofton, Luis Gonzalez, and the soon-to-be fired Scott Servais.
I know what you're thinking, because I was thinking it, too: What about 2012?
It's true that Carlos Correa has posted 24.5 bWAR since his debut. It's also true that eight of the Astros' first nine picks in 2012 have also made the Majors, even if for a handful of games. But those non-Correa picks have combined for 6.3 bWAR - and that includes Lance McCullers' 6.2 bWAR.
*Former Astros Great Doug Brocail was on Buster Olney's podcast, which was likely recorded from the bottom of a Vermont well.
*Greg Rajan: The two former Astros' minor-leaguers who went on to win four Stanley Cups.
*Richard Justice: Trei Cruz is looking to become a 3rd-generation Major Leaguer.
*SI's Emma Baccellieri talked to the two people who used to hand-make every team's MLB schedule to see how they would approach the 2020 season. If you haven't seen The Schedule Makers, you definitely should.
*RIP Bob Watson. In 14 seasons with the Astros, Watson hit .297/.364/.444, for an OPS+ of 130, and six seasons of over 3.0 fWAR. Watson is still 3rd on the Astros' franchise record list with a career .297 average (only Moises and Altuve have a higher BA with the Astros), 9th in OBP, 19th in SLG.
Former #Astros 3B Enos Cabell,now special ass’t to GM,on how the late Bob Watson impacted Baseball &African-Americans n the game:”He’s prob n the top5 all time b/c of him being a player,coach,GM,working for MLB-(w/ guys like)Hank Aaron,Roberto Clemente,Joe Morgan,Jackie Robinson” pic.twitter.com/28gwuTj548
In 1982 Watson was traded by the Yankees to Atlanta for Scott Patterson, aka Luke from Gilmore Girls. A little over four years ago I wrote about Watson scoring MLB's One Millionth Run. Watson also was the first player to hit for the cycle in both the NL and AL, and the first African-American GM to win the World Series.
Jake Kaplan: Enos Cabell, on Bob Watson. Cabell: He was always the stable one. Me, J.R (Richard), and a few other people, we'd want to jump up and own and Bull would say sit down. He hardly ever cussed. You know me, I'll say it. But Bull would not say it. He would just grab you and tell to sit down. What are you going to do? You're going to sit down. Dusty, on Bob Watson.
*Obviously Myles Straw is the fastest player on the Astros. Having seen both, Straw makes J.B. Shuck look like Carlos Lee.
*It's ALCS Game 1 Day! The Astros are 2-0 in Game 1 of the ALCS in franchise history. Any narrative you read about this series that tries to put this series in context of the seven games they played in 2019 is a stupid narrative. The South Yonkers Yankees were super-banged up in April, the Astros were super-banged up in June. It doesn't matter. But if the Astros can win Game 1 with Verlander and Cole coming up, it puts them in the absolute driver's seat.
*After they played their last game against each other (before G1, not including the postseason) on June 23:
Houston: 58-23
New York: 54-31
*It's Masahiro Tanaka going for the Yankees tonight. Some numbers:
-In seven career appearances against the Astros, Tanaka is 0-2 with a 6.62 ERA / 1.42 WHIP, allowed a .283/.333/.566 slash line, with 25K:9BB and eleven home runs allowed. The .899 OPS he's allowed to the Astros is the highest of any team he has faced.
-Four of those appearances were at Minute Maid Park, where he's 0-1 with a 5.73 ERA / 1.27 WHIP, with 17K:6BB in 22IP.
-Most of the damage done to Tanaka's career line vs Houston came on May 14, 2017 when the Astros tagged him up for 7H/8ER, 4K:3BB in 1.2IP.
-At Minute Maid on April 8, he threw 6IP, 3H/1ER, 3K:2BB in a 4-3 New York loss. Must have been that dreaded Jankee bullpen what let him down. He faced Houston at Yankee Stadium again on June 22 and allowed 8H/2ER, 1K:1BB in 6IP. The Yankees won 7-5.
-Sarah Langs: There have been six instances of two 100-win teams meeting in the postseason prior to the World Series. The team with the better regular season record has won five of those series.
*Basic Game Info:
Game 1: Tanaka vs. Greinke, 7:08pm Central Saturday
Game 2: Paxton vs Verlander, 7:08pm Central Sunday
Game 3: Severino vs Cole, 3:08pm Central Tuesday
Game 4: 7:08pm Central Wednesday
Game 5: 7:08pm Central Thursday
Game 6: 3:08pm or 7:08pm Central Saturday
Game 7: 6:38pm Central Sunday
*Hinch, on the Yankees: This is a rivalry that's been created over the last few years, and everybody will think back to the 2017 epic seven-game series and expect this to top it. I hope it does. And I hope it's the same result.
*Jerome Solomon writes that these Astros are not the previous Astros incarnations: they deliver under pressure. Jim Crane:
It never gets old. There is a lot of championship chemistry here. And this team is experienced, and you'll see them play well under pressure, and that's what it takes to win...Clutch players deliver in pressure situations.
Put this in the Hot Links yesterday morning, but I thought it was worth digging a little deeper:
Postseason Career:
Craig Biggio: 2HR in 185 PAs. .234/.295/.323, 30K:13BB.
Jeff Bagwell: 2HR in 129 PAs. .226/.364/.321, 25K:19BB.
George Springer: 11HR in 169 PAs, .285/.361/.570, 42K:18BB
Jose Altuve: 11HR in 165 PAs, .278/.339/.536, 26K:14BB
*Brian T. Smith: Minute Maid in October truly is Home Sweet Home.
*Tom Verducci: Gerrit Cole is trying to become 2019's Madison Bumgarner and Bob Gibson.
I think given what our front-office and what Jim wants to do, and if they wanted to make that move and get over the fact of paying the luxury tax fee, then I think it's no problem for them.
And it's not! Jim Crane is worth $2.5 billion and do remember that there's a group of people that bought the Astros with him, he's the majority owner, but there are others in that group. Yes, the Astros would go over the luxury tax in 2020, but they get back under it in 2021. How? The Astros have $37.4m coming off the books after the 2020 season just in Gurriel, Brantley, and Reddick.
*Forrest Whitley is DEALING in...the Arizona Fall League. Last month I took a look at how Forrest Whitley's season unfolded and how he basically cost himself a shot with Houston in 2019. It'd be pretty nice of Whitley to have developed according to the Astros' timeline and not his own and be the Josh James of the 2019 postseason but here we are...tweeting about spin rate in Arizona.
*Remember Jacob Nix? He was the 5th Round pick in the 2014 Astros draft who thought he had worked out a sort-of tandem deal with the Astros and Brady Aiken, before Aiken's UCL proved to be very small. The Astros didn't sign Aiken OR Nix. It looked very bad. Anyway, Nix was arrested last week for trying to break into someone's house through the doggie-door, got kicked in the face, then got tased in the chest through the doggie-door. Nix was drafted by the Padres but missed most of 2019 thanks to a damaged right UCL. Weird.
*The Athletic's Evan Drellich: Rob Manfred is Doing The Data on how to fix something that doesn't need to be fixed.
Well nothing about Game 2 was ideal. After the Astros took Game 1, the wheels fell off after Gerrit Cole was a late scratch and it turned into a bullpen game. Astros split the day with the trash White Sox. They're 78-42 with a 10.5-game lead on Oakland and 42 regular season games left.
*I'm not about to recap two games, what with having to shower and be out the door in less than an hour. So let's just get to the news.
*We'll start with the Big One: Gerrit Cole's late scratch. Hinch: Right before the game, as he was warming up, [bullpen coach] Josh Miller called down and told the dugout [Cole's] hammy wasn't feeling very good, and he didn't feel like he could continue. Devenski was on his way out to the 'pen. He's usually the first reliever out there anyway, so we raced him to get ready.
The Astros are hopeful that it's a minimal issue. Cole got treatment during the game. More Hinch: We'll get him tested even further and see where this takes us. He doesn't think it's that serious. I'm glad he told us, and we hope that it's mild. It was literally a couple of minutes before the game. Houston can afford to give Cole some rest. Houston has 42 regular season games left, Oakland has 43. Let's just say the Astros go 21-21 down the stretch (which should absolutely not happen). Here's what has to happen in order for the other AL West teams to win the division outright: Oakland: 33-10
Arlington: 41-1
Anaheim: 41-0, but would tie the Astros at 99 wins.
Seattle: 42-0, but would still be seven games behind the Astros.
Joe Biagini threw 3IP, the most he's thrown in an outing since August 19, 2018. Biagini was optioned to Round Rock following the game in order to bring up more fresh arms. Roberto Osuna was the only pitcher who didn't pitch in either game. Hinch: A doubleheader will do that to you in general, and then you lose your starter five minutes before the game. Biagini picked us up, Devo started and got a couple of innings in. We didn't play particularly well in the second game, but we used a lot of pitching.
Chandler Rome writes that Rogelio Armenteros could be on his way, but Cy Sneed is the freshest viable arm at Round Rock.
Only three pitchers have thrown a complete game against the Astros this season: Mike Leake, Lucas Giolito, and Ivan Nova. Giolito and Nova are obviously on the White Sox, and obviously they need to be erased from the league.
*Shoutout to this British Astros fan, who flew to Chicago to see his first Astros game in person, and caught Jose Altuve's home run ball:
*White Sox catcher Beef Wellington Castillo - who couldn't catch a ball to save his literal wretched life - absolutely trucked Robinson Chirinos. I'm sure that MLB will take this very seriously and issue Castillo a two-game suspension while Brad Ausmus calls down the thunder.
*In Tags' Notebook, we learn a few things:
-Brad Peacock will need one or two more rehab outings at Round Rock before he can be activated.
-The aforementioned Armenteros or Framber Valdez, fresh off a 13K game, are candidates to start on Saturday.
*Josh James threw 20 pitches off the mound in West Palm Beach, and felt good.
The Astros beat the Rangers, again, 3-0. Verlander dealt and the Skros got production out of the bottom of the order. Houston is 24-15, 14-4 at home. They have a five-game lead through 39 games. No other AL West team is above .500.
*Houston shut out an opponent for the 4th time this season. They have limited opponents to 0-2 runs 18 times in 2019. In their last three games (3-0): 27IP, 8H/2ER, 37K:8BB.
*Big early news of the night was Altuve leaving the game in the bottom of the 1st inning after legging out an infield single. It is described as left hamstring discomfort. RIP Jose Altuve, you were a shining light. Hinch: He just said that he felt something in his left hamstring. He's been evaluated. It doesn't seem serious. We don't know the extent of the injury until we get to tomorrow. He was frustrated, but he made the right decision to alert us of some soreness.
*Justin Verlander threw 7IP, 1H/0ER, 8K:2BB. It's the 12th time in his career with 7+ IP and one or fewer hits allowed. He last did it on April 15, 2018 against...the Rangers. Verlander: In a tight ballgame like that, you're kind of on edge the whole time. One mistake could obviously lose you the ballgame. From the first inning through the seventh, it was a grind. The boys behind me did a great job.
*Rangers manager Chris Woodward, on Verlander: I thought we did a good job...he's just really good. I don't want to give him too much credit, but he's arguably the best pitcher in baseball. He's got a lot of weapons. He was up for the challenge. He's good, he's a competitor. He's got a ton of weapons he can use and he's not afraid to use them.
*With a strikeout of Rougned Odor in the 7th, Verlander passed Frank Tanana for 22nd on the MLB all-time strikeout list. He has 2,774 strikeouts. Cy Young is up next at 2,798.
*Houston held the Rangers' "hitters" to two hits. It's the second time in 2019 the Astros have held their opponent to two hits. Both opponents have been the Rangers.
Verlander, on Correa's play: You don't know how that changes the game. You don't know what happens after that. I know it's a big momentum shifter. A guy makes a play like that, and for me, against the other team, it's kind of deflating. It's just a huge momentum boost.
*Jake (Roger Maris)nick broke open the scoring with a home run. He's hitting .288/.333/.525 in 2019. Gurriel and Chirinos also homered, meaning the Astros got three runs on three home runs from their 7-8-9 spot. It's the 2nd time in franchise history the Astros got home runs from 7-8-9, the last being the King Felix Destruction game. Marisnick added a double, so four of the Astros' six hits came from the bottom third of the order.
*A few days ago I wrote up how Jose Altuve would be fine and noted that his launch angle and his IFFB% were way up over his career averages. Chandler Rome has "Access" though, and talked to A.J. Hinch about Altuve's season so far. So did McTaggart, and also had Hinch, on Springer: When he's walking and driving the ball to all fields, he's a star. He's dangerous from the first pitch, which we know, and it's why he's in the leadoff spot. It's fun to watch. As much as it can be a different guy every night that delivers a key hit or gets the big at-bat, or hits the big home run, our offense is generated from the top. When his energy's at a high level and his production is at a high level, our offense is really good.
*McTaggart noted that Springer's 13 home runs in the team's first 38 games tied Brady Anderson in 1996 and Mookie F. Betts in 2018 for the most homers from a leadoff hitter through 38 games.
*Round Rock beat Omaha 8-7 after Forrest Whitley allowed 5H/5ER, 5K:3BB (3HR). Kyle Tucker went 3x5 with a double, home run, and an outfield assist at home plate. Yordan Alvarez went 3x4 with 3RBI.
All Triple-A stats should be remembered with the same running theme: the balls are different. So what's benefiting Yordan Alvarez is also hurting Forrest Whitley. Whitley, 2019: 18.1IP, 23H/22ER, 24K:10BB. He has given up 7HR in 2019 after giving up 7HR total in 137.1IP from 2016-18.
*Paul LoDuca said on a podcast that Billy Wagner got strikes called from Joe West because Wagner let Joe F. West borrow his '57 Chevy. Billy belongs in the Hall of Fame. Joe West belongs in a nice home for the elderly in Connecticut.
*Something happened yesterday that I thought had happened years ago: James Loney retired.
*Former Astros Great Preston Tucker will sign with the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization.
The Astros won their 7th straight Home Opener with a 3-2 win over Oakland. McHugh threw 6IP, 3H/1ER, 4K:3BB while Altuve and Bregman had two hits each. Carlos Correa hit his 1st home run of 2019. Houston is 3-5 and have scored 3+ runs in three of their eight games. They're 2-1 in those games. Good news is the Astros went 3x10 w/RISP so now they're a hot 7x52.
*Correa: Right now I feel dangerous. Correa is 6x18 with three doubles and a home run this season, he has four straight games with an extra-base hits.
*Khris Davis - who is definitely not Big-Contract Failure Chris Davis - left the bases loaded in the top of the 3rd as Collin McHugh wriggled in an out of trouble. Hinch: It was huge. Any time Davis comes up to bat, I don't care what the matchup says or how he's swinging the bat, it's a dangerous, dangerous at-bat. For [McHugh] to come through with a big pitch and get the out, it's a huge shift.
Davis is now 1x19 in his lifetime against Collin McHugh. The only pitcher to hold him to one hit in more PAs is Felix Hernandez.
*After starting the season 1x15, Alex Bregman has a four-game hit streak and has six hits in his last twelve at-bats, with four walks.
*Michael Brantley was 0x4 with 2K:0BB. He had four 0x4, 2K games in all of 2018, and is hitless in his last 16 ABs.
*Robinson Chirinos threw out another baserunner, giving him two on the week after throwing out Odor on Monday. Chirinos credits an offseason adjustment in his throwing motion.
*Ramon Laureano went 4x4 with 2RBIs, and the Astros aren't real thrilled with letting Laureano get away. And by "get away" I mean "with trading Ramon Laureano." Luhnow: I don't think we quite had the defense rated as well as it [has] played in the big leagues. That was an underassessment on our part. Laureano has 12 outfield assists since he debuted on August 3, 2018. I know it's circumstantial and also situation-based but Josh Reddick has nine outfield assists in 133 outfield games since the beginning of 2018.
*If you went to the game last night, you already know this. If you're going today or to any of the remaining 80 games you should know that there's another ticket entrance on Hamilton Street (no relation to Huston Street) and they've added 30 metal detectors. That's good, right? Well, you also can't use multi-zipper backpacks (diaper bags and drawstring bags are still okay). If you're a new season ticket holder or a single-game ticket holder, you have to use the MLB Ballpark app in order to get in to Minute Maid Park. If you don't want to use that, you can still order tickets online and pick them up at Will Call, which sounds like a terrible thing to want to do. Reid Ryan: We are moving to mobile because that is where the game is going. It provides more benefits to the fans, and it's easier to use.
*Alex Bregman treated last night like it was Opening Day. Makes sense, since last week didn't actually happen.
*Lance McCullers wore a Keuchel jersey before the home opener as he begins a season-long tradition of wearing an Astros legend's jersey before every homestand.
*Jake Kaplan has a mailbag in which he addresses the slow offensive start (stay for the absolute shade JK throws), Ron Kulpa, roster construction, and possible minor-league call-ups.
Speaking of Ron Kulpa, A.J. Hinch did not disclose details of a 32-minute phone call with Joe Torre regarding Kulpa. Nobody will apparently receive any discipline, so Kulpa can continue being the king of a very small castle.
*Jerome Solomon: Championship expectations return to Minute Maid Park.
*The Astros Foundation is doing the Good Thing and sponsoring Little Leagues across the city, covering the costs of field maintenance, equipment, umpires, uniforms, and registration costs. Hopefully they can cultivate the next Ron Kulpa.
*SI's Jon Tayler assesses the "struggling contenders" for reasons to panic. Spoiler alert: Don't. The Score has the same advice. You know, if you don't like taking our advice here at Astros County dot com.
*Shoutout to Former Astros Great free agent SP Dan Straily, who chose the (gulp) Orioles over Arlington.
*There are two things in this story that are unbelievable to me, a Noted History Dork:
1) A Florida Sheriff's Department named their K9 "Rommel."
2) No one noticed that "Rommel" was after Nazi Germany's "Desert Fox" Erwin Rommel. (To be fair, Rommel had second thoughts about Nazi Germany's aims - in 1944! - and committed suicide after being implicated in a plot to kill Adult Hitler).
Jeff Luhnow said he spoke with Kyle Tucker when he was in Houston last week for FanFest.
"He's mentally, I think, learned a lot from last year. The kid is so talented and he's going to be an everyday major leaguer on a contending team, and it's going to be us."
Off-Day yesterday for everyone in baseball except the Brewers, and Walker Buehler. Astros/Red Sox at Minute Maid Park at 4:09pm Central today. I'm actually okay with the afternoon start time, as the Dodgers are playing a home game in Game 4. No Start Time Shenanigans from me today!
*Since the beginning of the 2017 postseason, the Astros are 10-1 at home in the playoffs, the lone loss coming in Game 4 of the World Series, with a +30 run differential.
*As we go back to the simulation sites, it's worth remembering that FiveThirtyEight's Game Prediction is 0-2: They thought the Red Sox would win G1 and the Astros would win G2. That said:
*It's not terribly surprising that Dallas Keuchel isn't a fan of Bullpenning. Keuchel: I think the 25-man roster, maybe a 30-man roster, throughout the course of 162 games is an ancient artifact now, where teams are more willing to just do whatever it takes, no matter the cost. But I don't like that.
In that link, we find Alex Cora talking about Alex Bregman going 0x3 with 6BB and an HBP. Cora: So far we keep throwing to the edges, and he's not swinging. He's taking his walks. But we'll stay with our game plan. We still are attacking him the way we feel. And I'm not saying, 'So far, so good,' but there's not too much damage done from that spot right now.
It will be up to the guys behind Bregman to drive him in and score some runs.
*Jose Altuve may start at DH in Game 3. Hinch, on Altuve and his knee: We're going to play three days in a row here. So I talked to him about that, and just for him to continue to give us what he's got. And he's fine. Obviously it didn't hurt his swing in the ninth inning [Sunday night]. He's able to be a productive player. But he's battling it a little bit.
A.J. Hinch was asked about Bregman's Instagram story showing the #Astros hitting homers of Nate Eovaldi (😐, I know). His response is great, wants players to be who they are...and he ends with a "Troll Away". pic.twitter.com/BjImPWj0gy
*The Athletic's Rustin Dodd: A.J. Hinch, once ahead of his time, is fueled by the lessons of the past. History, FTW.
*Here's a good Tyler Kepner article on Dallas "Kuechel," which is East Coast Headline Writer-speak for "Keuchel." (Kepner got his name right in the article. The headline guy? Come on, dude.)
*NY Times' Billy Witz has a good article on bullpen-changer Ryan Pressly. Luhnow: Knowing that A.J. doesn't have to go grab our fifth starter and hope he can get three or four innings of a close playoff game, yeah, that gives me a lot of comfort this year compared to last.
*Washington Post: The Astros take good pitchers and make them better.
*Jerome Solomon: Roberto Osuna is ready to do his part for the Astros.
*Speaking of Osuna, the Astros have made a long-term commitment to work with a dozen local and state agencies that advocate for victims of domestic violence.
It's the first day of school, and I've basically been up since about 4:15am because I'm stoked. That said, in the last week I've managed to drop my wife's full-ass Yeti Cup on my toe, breaking it, and then in an unrelated incident, I have a grade 2 strain of my left hamstring. A.J. Hinch described it as "hamstring discomfort" and I'm really nervous about that. Good luck to all you teachers (and students, I guess, though you should know we do absolutely everything we can to make sure you pass. You either have to not show up or be a complete jackass in order to fail.) Oh, and the Astros lost to the Mariners. Idiots.
*The Astros and A's currently have a 75-50 record, thanks to the Rangers completely soiling the bed after eating a gas station burrito on the way to the brick-oven ballpark in which they play. The Astros have scored 17 more runs than the A's, and have allowed 104 fewer runs. Yet here we are. FanGraphs still projects the Astros to win the AL West by four games but the fact that I even needed to look this morning fills me with rage.
*The Astros have lost five straight games to the Mariners, and they're 5-16 against AL West opponents since July 4. Hinch: They outhit us and put a lot of pressure on us from the very beginning of the game. We had one baserunner after the third inning. They did enough to win the game, obviously, with some big at-bats.
*Robinson Cano had three hits - all for extra-bases, including a three-run home run off of Collin McHugh that turned a 4-4 game into a 7-4 game. It was the first home run McHugh had allowed since July 25, and the first home run he had allowed with a runner(s) on base since September 8, 2017. It was poorly-timed.
The last four home runs that Seattle has hit off of Collin McHugh:
August 20, 2018: Robinson Cano September 26, 2016: Robinson Cano May 8, 2016: Robinson Cano April 27, 2016: Robinson Cano
McHugh: We just have to play consistent baseball through the end of the season, and I think we're pretty confident if we do that we're going to win this division. That's where our minds are at. That's where we're headed. We have some work to do.
Man, if that’s a blowpen, then what do you call the ... (starts counting) ... (keeps counting) ... (counts some more) ... 29 teams that came into today with worse bullpen ERAs? https://t.co/eCyolL47aJ
*Mitch G.D. Haniger was 2x4 with a walk. Against the Astros this season he's hitting .315/.339/.463 with five doubles, a home run, 16K:2BB.
*The Astros managed five hits last night. It's the 31st time this season they've recorded five or fewer hits, out of 125 games.
*4-9 in Houston's lineup combined to go 0x20 with 7K:2BB.
*Felix Hernandez recorded a Game Score of 50, his highest Game Score since putting up a 53 against [squints] Baltimore on June 25. Last night was the first game the Mariners had won with Felix on the mound since June 30. Felix struck out six of the 25 Astros he faced. He had struck out six of the previous 76 batters he had faced over three starts. So way to go, defending World Champs.
*Mariners relievers Adam Warren, Alex Colome, and Edwin Diaz needed 36 pitches to no-hit the Astros over the last three innings. Adam Warren started each of the three batters he faced with a ball and still only needed nine pitches to retire the side.
*Jose Altuve is set to return after having been out of the lineup since July 27. The Astros will finish up his first career DL stint with an 8-13 record. They've lost eight of their last ten, nine of their last 13 games. Since the 2-1 win over the Giants on August 7, Houston has lost 5.5 games in the standings to Oakland. Kyle Tucker was sent back to Fresno after a relaxing few days in Seattle with the Astros.
*Add "quad soreness" to the list of things ailing George Springer. Also, McCann and Devenski will head to Corpus to complete their rehab stints. McCann will be in Corpus' lineup on Wednesday. Today is a bullpen day as it's McCullers' turn in the rotation. Brad Peacock will start, and will be just the 6th person to start a game for the Astros this season. After tonight, Friday's game against Anaheim will be the last 9pm start of the regular season.
Well I've pretty much never seen that before. A little while after Ken Giles put a whole buncha runners on base in the top of the 9th, and Hector Rondon couldn't keep them out, Alex Bregman broke Jonathan Lucre's ankles, causing him to drop the ball, and made it to first after Lucroy bounced the throw off Bregman's helmet, allowing Kyle Tucker to cross the plate as the game-winning run. Simple, huh? Last night was the 3rd time this season Houston has allowed 4+ runs in the 9th inning.
The Astros are 62-32. It's their 6th walk-off win (though, because of Lucroy's "catching" it was charged as an error, so Bregman doesn't get credit for his 4th walk-off win of the season) of the year, tied for the most in the Majors. Houston is 4.0 games up on Seattle, the 2nd day of the season they've had a 4-game lead (Houston had a 4.5-game lead on June 24)
Hinch: What I saw was a mess at home plate. At first I thought Bregman thought it was foul. Then as he started to maneuver around, you see the ball kick out and [Lucroy] couldn't tag him under control. Then Bregman takes off.
Lucroy: In the moment, it's kind of fast. I definitely screwed that one up. The boys battled back. Great game. Piscotty had that huge homer. I let them down definitely back there behind the plate. That's on me.
Now don't get me wrong: I LOVE empty accountability. You drove a forklift into a grocery store? Purse your lips, nod your head for effect, and tap your chest. "That's on me, guys." NO KIDDING. WHO ELSE WOULD IT BE "ON?" Can we talk about the Astros tying the game because Lucroy dropped the tag?
More Lucroy: That's when we were playing dodgeball there for a couple of seconds. That was just a big mess, a big zoo behind the plate there. Hopefully I never have to see that again. That's the first time that's ever happened in my eight years. Hopefully it's the last time.
Dodgeball isn't very accurate, as Bregman would have been out when Lucroy plunked him in the head.
Called it. Said “@ABREG_1 is gonna tap it foul, its gonna spin back fair, catcher picks it up to tag Breg but hes gonna matrix it which then the ball is thrown at the ump, catchers gonna pick it up and rifle it to the back of Bregs head and the ball goes into RF. Tucker scores”
*Alex Bregman was 2x5 with a walk and two solo home runs. His 18th and now 19th home runs tie his career-high. It is July 11. Last night was the first 2HR game of Bregman's career. According to FOAC Baseball Savant, which is somehow free, Bregman's 24 barrels in 2018 eclipse his 2017 total.
*Kyle Tucker was 2x4 with a double, stolen base, and three runs scored.
*Springer was 2x6 with 2RBI.
*Justin Verlander threw 6IP, 3H/0ER, 6K:0BB. Against Oakland he's now 11-6 with a 2.55 ERA / 1.10 WHIP. His last loss to the A's came on August 27, 2013. The Astros are now 12-8 when Verlander starts. Imagine losing eight games when a guy with a 2.05 ERA is on the mound. And Houston was damn near 11-9, thanks to Ken Giles.
*Ken Giles has made 34 appearances this season. He has allowed multiple runs in just three of them. In fact, nine of the 17 earned runs Giles has allowed have come in those three games. That said, he's having a really hard time getting Them Stats when handed a cushy lead. He needed eight pitches to allow three singles (24 of the 36 hits Giles has allowed have been singles), get pulled to watch Hector Rondon allow all three of Giles' batters - and one of his own - to score. Giles has allowed multiple hits in ten of his 34 appearances. But only thirteen of his 34 appearances have been clean outings.
Hinch: I did hear about it. He was pretty mad in the dugout. I don't know, man. That stuff happens in the heat of battle. I'll have to look at it. He can let me know if it was directed at me. I didn't hear anything. You can certainly understand I'll address it. If it turns out it was at me, we'll talk about it.
So I mean, "F***, man" is channeling disappointment. The "You" between the "F***" and "Man" ... I'm going to go ahead and say that Giles was directing it at Hinch, for some unknown reason. Hinch isn't the one who didn't get a single person out, unless we're talking about Hinch yanking Giles amirite?
*One day there is going to be a chilling movie made, generating all sorts of Industry chatter, wowing audiences at Cannes and Sundance, about a professional athlete who sees the ghost of a former player everywhere he turns. The Athlete sees the ghost's name written on the lineup card but simply can't believe it because said ghost died earlier that year. The Athlete has a complete mental breakdown as The Ghost makes ridiculous catches that no one can believe yet predictably can't make contact with the ball as he is using a Ghost Bat. "It's a psychological mind-bender" some random website will write. "I didn't sleep for days," wrote someone on Twitter, and it inexplicably makes it onto the trailer. Yes, folks, somehow Jake Marisnick is back, getting recalled for a few days while Gerrit Cole goes on bereavement leave. Hinch: He can help us win. It's important to have his defense. He got caught in a roster crunch for a lot of reasons. He's a big league player and can help us.
Marisnick said he somehow felt "blindsided" by his demotion to Fresno last week. Marisnick: I get the reasoning. We talked about it and it made sense. It's never what you want to do, but it's part of the business. The more you take it as an opportunity (rather) than a setback, the better it is.
Also, Carlos Correa will try to swing a bat today.
*Marwin is day-to-day after taking Oakland CF DexterRicky Dustin Fowler's cleat to the hand. Tyler White replaced Marwin before he could take an AB and went 0x5 with 3K.
*Bloomberg: The investment portfolio approach that made the Astros World Series champions.
