Sunday Morning Hot Links

It's the last day of the regular season, and then the fun starts on Friday. The Astros and Verlander dominated the second half of the game to win their 106th game of the season, and go into one more Gerrit Cole start looking for 107 wins on the year.

Scoreboard Watching:
Los Angeles beat San Francisco, he Rays lost to Toronto, Oakland beat Seattle. This clears up a couple of things:

-Houston has Home Field Advantage throughout the playoffs.
-Oakland will host the AL Wild Card game against Tampa, and Houston will host the winner of Friday for ALDS G1.

*Hinch:
When 3,000 was getting close, he found ways to get a lot of strikeouts. When 300 got close for the season, he beared down even more. Big night for him. Great night for our team.

*G161 had a lot of potential for stupid. Verlander needed six strikeouts to get to 3000 for his career and 12 to get 300 for the season. Verlander struck out Kole Calhoun to get the 3000th strikeout of his career, but Robinson Chirinos dropped the ball and Calhoun reached first, and Andrelton Simmons hit a home run in the next AB to give Anaheim a 3-0 lead. Later in the 6th Inning, Verlander struck out Kole Calhoun for his 300th strikeout of the season. Thank you, Kole Calhoun. I hate you, Kole Calhoun. Verlander:
Three thousand was something I wanted to accomplish this season. I honestly wrote off 300. I thought it was going to be a lot to ask for since these guys don't strike out much. I got 3,000 and then to look up after five innings and have 11 strikeouts. Talking to AJ, I knew we were only going to go six innings. I had more emotion for 300 than 3,000 because I didn't expect to get there in this game. Very thankful to get both accomplishments. It hasn't set in yet.

The Angels had struck out 12+ times in a game 13 times going into last night. The Astros did it to them three times prior. So Verlander finishes the 2019 regular season with exactly 300 strikeouts, breaking his previous career-high set in 2018 of 290.

Verlander's K:BB ratio, Detroit: 3.10
Verlander's K:BB ratio, Houston: 7.14

More Hinch:
He figured a few things out with his grip and a little bit with his mechanics. He was doing a lot of different things to try to get his best stuff toward home plate. And then adapting to their gameplan a little bit. I think he had to pitch to a couple different areas of the strike zone just based on their aggressiveness early.

*It was Verlander's 28th start of 3ER or less. He did not allow more than 4ER in a start in 2019. It's his 6th 12+ strikeout game of the season, and his 13th double-digit strikeout game of the season. Verlander has 21 wins, the most since he posted 24 wins in his 2011 Cy Young/MVP season.

Verlander, 2011: 251IP, 2.40 ERA / 0.92 WHIP, 250K:57BB, 6.2 hits/9, 9.0 K/9, 2.0 BB/9
Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:53BB, 5.5 hits/9, 12.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9

*Verlander is the second pitcher in MLB history to get his 300th strikeout of the season and 3000th strikeout of his career in the same game. Randy Johnson got his on September 10, 2000 at Florida.

Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:42BB
Johnson, 2000: 248.2IP, 2.64 ERA / 1.12 WHIP, 347K:76BB

*Verlander ends the 2019 regular season with a 0.803 WHIP, 2nd-best since 1962 among qualified pitchers.

Pedro, 1999: 217IP, 1.74 ERA / 0.74 WHIP, 284K:32BB, .166 average-against, 11.8 K/9
Verlander, 2019: 223IP, 2.58 ERA / 0.80 WHIP, 300K:42BB, .171 average-against, 12.1 K/9
Maddux, 1995: 209.2IP, 1.63 ERA / 0.81 WHIP, 181K:23BB, .194 average-against, 7.8 K/9.

*Verlander's number of pitches, last three starts: 87, 92, 80.

*Verlander's 1st Strikeout victim: Travis Hafner
Verlander's 1000th Strikeout victim: A.J. Pierzynski
Verlander's 2000th Strikeout victim: Manny Machado
Verlander's 3000th Strikeout victim: Kole Calhoun

*Angels pitcher Jose Suarez shut the Astros down, which makes sense when you consider:

Suarez: July 30-September 27: 39IP, 56H/40ER, 23K:16BB, 9.23 ERA / 1.85 WHIP.
Suarez, last night: 5IP, 3H/2ER, 6K:1BB.

*Josh Reddick hit a massive three-run home run, his 14th of the season. Reddick, on who he wants to face in the ALDS:
There's not really a team (of the A's or Rays) I'd prefer to face, so to speak. We're going to be closely watching next week to see what happens. I think we'd all agree we have a really good chance of beating both of them. So we're ready with whoever wants to bring it on.

Please keep in mind that, while the Astros did lose six of their last eight to Oakland, here was the losing pitcher: Verlander, Josh James, Wade Miley, Rogelio Armenteros, Cy Sneed, Chris Devenski.

*Jose Altuve was 3x5 with 3RBI. Altuve's average is now at .298 with 148 hits in 497 ABs.

If Altuve goes:
0x4: .295
1x4: .297
2x4: .2994
3x4: .301
2x5: .2988
3x5: .3007

Astros are the first team in baseball history to win 100-plus games in a season and then improve on their win totals in each of the next two seasons.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) September 28, 2019

*Daily Correa Update:

-Correa feels good!
I should be good to go for the playoffs. I woke up today feeling really good. Today is a great day. A positive day. It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward.

*

You play to win the game. pic.twitter.com/1VGDF3QVwA

— Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1) September 28, 2019

*McTaggart has your postseason FAQ.

*Richard Justice ranks the Astros as the #1 postseason lineup.

*What to watch for today:
-Can Altuve get back to .300?
-Yordan needs 3HR to get to 30
-Gerrit Cole's 20th win
-Will Brad Ausmus cry?
-The Cardinals are 90-71, the Brewers are 89-72.

*An offhand thought: You ever think it's weird that we never hear from bench coach Joe Espada or Don Kelly or Gary Pettis? I can't tell you right at this moment who the Astros' hitting coach is. Strom is a legend, and gets a few words in print every few months. I don't know how much other teams' media asks questions of the coaching staff, but it's weird that none of them actually exist post-game, right?

*Crazy story in The Athletic about how the Phillies tried to change their pitching culture and got it exactly wrong, and it involves Chris Young - who was once an advance scout with the Astros. Today I think I learned that Chris Young was once an advance scout for the Astros.

*Missed this from a couple of weeks ago about Danny Duffy and his battle with anxiety and panic.

*Outside: She was nearly murdered thru-hiking, but that didn't stop her. It would 100% stop me.

*A Musical Selection:

Monday Morning Hot Links

Welp, we did it everyone. We finally made it through another 9 inning baseball game on ESPN. And it's Labor Day! Make sure to labor hard! I know I will continue to labor hard on these Hot Links and finish up this awesome side project for this blog, so I'll be pulling my weight! But anyways, let's get back to business and run some numbers:

0: Number of Astros losses in September, so the #OnPace numbers are looking pretty stupendous.

2.5: The amount of games the Astros are up in the division.

101: The Josh James fastball in miles per hour that we haven't yet talked about on this website.

A huge number: The number of Astros double-plays this season.

30: Number of days Bregman has gotten on base consecutively.

1: Moneyball 2 joke too many on the broadcast last night.

1: Moneyball 2 joke on the broadcast last night.

4: The amount of feet low Alex Bregman can go.
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@AstrosFuture has your Minor League Players of August.

Is Tyler White the 2019 DH?

Kate Upton and Justin Verlander were hangin' out with some very good boys.

Speaking of good boys...

If you still don't have your World Series ring yet, circle the date: September 17th.

I think it's time to take Round Rock back.

Art Howe has been inducted in the Wyoming Athletic Hall of Fame.

Astros-Twins pitching matchups are right here.

This is a good time to bump this Josh James story ($).

Look at this notebook Mallex Smith owns.

We're gonna be hanging out with some Doctor Octopus lookin' people soon.

Look at these ugly buildings.

On This Day in Baseball History

In 1962, the New York Mets expansion team was shut out for the 30th time that season.

In 2002, Joaquin Benoit recorded the longest save in MLB history, recording a 7 inning save.

In 2007, Pedro Martinez struck out his 3000th batter.

Also in 2007, Ichiro collected his 200th hit of the season by hitting a home run off of Roger Clemens.

In 2010, Gaby Sanchez dished out the most epic clothesline in MLB history.

Jon Heyman apparently thinks the Astros will sign anybody who played in 2004

From Heyman's column today:

Pedro Martinez is continuing to be patient, and is hopeful that reputation plus team desperation will be the winning formula to get the contract he seeks, which is $5 million and up. According to a friend of Martinez's, he's "in no hurry" and more than willing to wait well into the season, if that's what it takes. So far, he is said to be receiving "bottom feeding" offers, which probably means about $1 million. The Dodgers, Indians, Pirates, Astros and Mets are seen as possibilities now.

No way. Absolutely not. Jose Capellan has proved more in the last two years than Pedro has. While Reputation + Desperation sometimes = $5 million, there's no way the Astros pull this trigger.

If this happens, we can never take Ed Wade for his word again

Alyson Footer ran her own rebuttal to Baseball Prospectus' news last night that the Astros were on the verge of signing Pedro:

The subject of that announcement continues to remain a mystery, but the Astros have confirmed two things: It has nothing to do with the pending signing of Pudge Rodriguez, and it most definitely has nothing to do with Martinez.

And this, from Easy Eddie's mouth:
"We have had zero conversations with Pedro. I have absolutely no idea where that is coming from."

As I thought with Pudge, I can't see the Astros signing Pedro. I know you can't have too much starting pitching, but Ortiz and Capellan have effectively pushed Backe out the door. Roy is SP1, Wandy SP2, Hampton SP3, Moehler SP4, and Ortiz/Capellan SP5. It would have been unfathomable to say this five years ago, but I'm not so sure Pedro could get it done. The Red Sox once again looked like geniuses by letting him go to the Mets, and "injury-plagued" is a polite way to put Pedro's medical history.

He's not going to eat as many innings as Moehler will, and I think Moehler might actually be more effective.

Perhaps a hint to tomorrow

Thanks for the heads-up to The Unofficial Official for this tidbit, backed up by Tom Perrotto:

"The Astros are on the verge of signing a potential Hall of Famer as a free agent for the second team in a week as baseball sources indicated Tuesday night that they are close to an agreement with right-hander Pedro Martinez."

No words.

UPDATE: JJO's blog post from this evening...

There's a report that Pedro Martinez is close to signing with the Astros. That's not true. "We've absolutely had no discussions on this front," Ed Wade just told me. "We've had zero discussions." Some of you are wondering if Drayton McLane will fire somebody. In my conversation with McLane this evening, I asked him some of the things you've asked. Here's a quick rundown.

Are you selling the team? "No," he said.
Are you firing anybody? "No," he said.
Are you hiring anybody or signing anybody? "No," he said.

But this is an announcement in which McLane felt pretty confident that it will stay quiet before it is made. If it leaks, McLane says he will be very angry, so it's clear the Astros brass knows they don't want this to get out in the public before the press conference.

UPDATED UPDATE:
From Ken Gurnick, who regularly covers the Dodgers for MLB.com:

"Manny Ramirez said he called Martinez on Sunday morning after hearing media reports that Martinez might be coming to the Dodgers.

"He said he has two options," said Ramirez. "I don't know what he's going to do. He has to do what's best for him."

Gurnick is reporting that Pedro's asking price is (or "was") a Smoltzian contract: $5.5 million guaranteed with at least that much in incentives.

I'll tell you this much, there's no way the Astros are going to pay that much for Pedro. If his price comes down, maybe. Who the heck am I to say?