Wednesday Morning Hot Links

I last posted on Astros County Dot Com on November 13. This may be the longest I've gone without posting on this blog and, to be honest, it's been quite nice. I needed a break from...everything. I haven't posted in a while because there's...been nothing to post about. It's extremely quiet across AstroWorld. Which, I guess, makes sense when you're trying to navigate a global pandemic. 

That said, Ken Rosenthal dropped some notes on Tuesday morning (which he updated later in the morning). I know not everyone subscribes to The Athletic, but it's a pay site, and I respect that. The gist is:

-The Astros are open to the idea of acquiring DJ LeMahieu which, might I remind you, means "DJ The Mahieu" in French...but that would hinge on whether or not the Astros can trade [blinks into the camera for an uncomfortably long time] Carlos Correa. The Astros are apparently listening to offers because, after so long with the Rays, Click may not be aware that extending superstar franchise cornerstones is even an option. Rosenthal said the Astros are not actively shopping Correa but, "like most teams" are at least listening to whatever is happening. Also, don't expect the Astros to try to sign anyone who rejected a Qualifying Offer (Bauer, Realmuto, though LeMahieu fits this profile as well, sooooo).

I can understand listening to any offer. If the Astros tell the Angels, "We will give you our entire Triple-A roster for Mike Trout," I would expect the Angels to listen to that offer. That said, if the Astros trade Carlos Correa this off-season, less than a year after he had the balls to tell Cody Bellinger to shut the fk up on national tv, months removed from jerking a knot in Framber Valdez's chain in the middle of a playoff game, I will be forced to exhale very hard and go for a walk. I can't say that anything the Astros do will make me not watch them - I've had a blog about the Astros since 2008 - there's no debasement I would be unable to withstand. 

*Charlie F. Morton signed a 1yr/$15m deal with the Braves, dashing the hopes and dreams of Astros fans across the world. I think we need to sort of realize that most members of the 2017 Astros team who have had - however theoretical - a chance to return to the Astros, haven't. Altuve and Bregman signed their extensions prior to the Fiers article dropping. That's not to say they wouldn't have, but it's worth noting that maybe getting heckled mercilessly online may have an adverse effect on your mental state when playing a game. 

That's pretty much it as far as the Astros go. That said, you may or may not know that I have started a new podcast: The Michael Bourn Identity. If you subscribe to Lima Time Time on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, it should be in your feed. If you don't listen to podcasts, but still want to check out the episodes:

Ep. 1 w/Roosh Williams.

Ep. 2 w/Steph Stradley.

Ep. 3 w/AstrosFansUK.

Ep. 4 will drop Wednesday so you have something to listen to if you're executing your ill-advised travel plans for Thanksgiving and I'm recording at least two more episodes this week. I really like just talking to my online friends, but over Zoom.

A quick note on Lima Time Time. As far as I know, it's still an active podcast that is simply on hiatus.

*Randy Arozarena got Milkshake Duck'd as he has been detained in the Yucatan on allegations of domestic violence. 

*Other things (often my personal favorite part of the Hot Links):

-I've been enjoying "Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes" by Maria Konnikova, and her book "Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win" is on deck.

-On Sunday the Fantastic Leeds United tied Arsenal 0-0 despite hitting the post/crossbar three times in the last 15 minutes of the game, and out-shooting Arsenal 25-9, and out-squandering chances Infinity-0. I hate Arsenal. I hate every other team in the Premier League, though, so it's nothing personal. Leeds are 14th in the Premier League, though it feels unlucky so far. Meanwhile, Leeds signed a partnership with Jay-Z's Roc Nation agency, and I love Jay-Z, so shove it. Leeds plays Everton on Saturday morning at 11:30am Central.

-Sergino Dest became the first American to score for Barcelona.

-On Sunday, the 57th anniversary of JFK's death, I wrote on my History Nerd Blog about Judge Sarah T. Hughes, the only woman to ever swear in a president. There's also a recent post about The Compromise of 1877, if that sort of thing catches your fancy.

-Business Insider: A Sommelier rated 11 low-cost wines.

-A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links: A Decompression

And in the end the Astros lost their last game of the season, something that has happened in 58 of their 59 seasons. Despite out-hitting Tampa 59-44, Houston lost a seven-game series getting outscored by a total of three runs. The Rays simply took advantage of more mistakes than the Astros. That said, coming back from an 0-3 deficit to force a Game 7 for a 3rd Pennant in four years, in a "season" in which you got six innings from Justin Verlander, nine PAs from Yordan Alvarez, 4.1IP from Roberto Osuna, is extremely impressive. I'm mad as hell, but I appreciate what this team did since the end of July. Super-appreciative of the ride they gave us, but I'm going to need some space from this team.

Dusty Baker:

The legacy of this group is that these guys are ballpayers. These guys are men; they have been through a whole bunch other than on the ballfield. Now these guys can forget the problems they had that it out there and come together as a group and be forever friends.

More Dusty:

This is painful when you're one game away from going to the World Series. I'm proud of these guys, because nobody expected us to even be in the position or even to be here....One thing's for sure: We'll be back in this position again next year.

*MLB: Anatomy of the Astros' comeback, and near-miss.

*Houston, as a team, was 11x46 with runners in scoring position. The 2020 ALCS, w/RISP:

Springer: 1x5

Altuve: 2x4

Brantley: 2x5

Bregman: 0x9

Correa: 3x6

Gurriel: 0x4

Tucker: 1x5

Reddick: 0x1

Maldonado: 0x2

Diaz: 2x4

Garneau: 0x1

Chandler Rome:

Saturday's loss lived as a microcosm of Houston's 73-game run, one riddled with ineffectiveness, injury and invective from the outside following the sign-stealing scandal. The lineup disappeared, as it so often did during a 29-31 regular season. A clutch hit never came.

*Carlos Correa drove in the only two runs of Game 7. He hit .362/.455/.766 in the 2020 Postseason, with 17 RBI. Correa:

We didn't fold. We kept battling. We got to the playoffs and no one gave us a chance in Minnesota. We won three games against Oakland. They beat us in the regular season and we came up huge and won that series. Down, 0-3, everybody was talking about the Astros getting swept and this and that. We came back and forced Game 7. It wasn't the finale we wanted, but I'm just proud of this team, man. It's been unbelievable.

*I have no idea, and will never understand, why the Astros continued to challenge Randy Arozarena. Arozarena hit a 2-run home run.

Arozarena: .321/.367/.786 in the ALCS

Ji-Man Choi: .385/.529/.615 in the ALCS

Nobody else in that lineup had an average over .278. Six of the Rays' Game 7 lineup had an ALCS average under .167. Sixteen of the 25 runs the Rays scored - yes, they only scored 25 runs in seven games - came on home runs. Kevin Cash:

We are lucky to have Charlie Morton. For a group that doesn't have a wealth of experience in these roles, Charlie does. He has been there, done that. It lined up really, really well for us.

*Charlie Morton in Game 7s, career: 14.2IP, 6H/1ER, 15K:3BB. Beginning with the 2017 ALCS Game 7, Morton has recorded seven straight Wins in the postseason. 

*Lance McCullers: 3.2IP, 4H/3ER, 7K:1BB, 2HR. McCullers:

It sucks, man. It really does. But congrats to the Rays. They're a damn good team. They've been the best team in the AL all season. They went through the Yankees and they went through us. You have to tip your cap to them, as well. It sucks because it just feels like we were right there.

More McCullers:

We got down 3-0 and we fought and we showed the kind of team and kind of grit that makes up this team. We weren't on a revenge tour. That's not what this was. This was a bunch of guys that came together, wanted to play damn good baseball and win a World Series. And we fell short of our goal.

*Bregman, 2020 Postseason: .220/.316/.300. After recording three straight two-hit games from ALDS Game 3-ALCS Game 1, Bregman went .083/.154/.083 in 26 PAs. And we still don't know why Bregman was pulled late in Game 7.

Bregman, 2020 until the hamstring injury: .272/.374/.500, 13 extra-base hits, 15K:14BB.

Bregman, 2020 after the hamstring injury: .187 (I'm bad at calculating OBP and SLG)

Bregman:

I'm extremely proud of this team for fighting every single day, battling every pitch and going out there and playing hard and playing for one another. But like I said before, our goal is always to win the last game of the season, so it's time to work extremely hard in the offseason and get better.

*Gurriel, 2020 Postseason: .114/.245/.114.

*Jayson Stark: The Weird and the Wild of ALCS Game 7.

*Brian T. Smith: The Astros' revival hit a wall.

*Of course now the focus of the front office turns to free agency. Is this the end of the Astros era? George Springer, Michael Brantley, and Josh Reddick are all free agents once the World Series ends. Correa, on Springer:

Some guys that we love very much and we've been playing with forever, and hopefully they come back, but if they don't, we're going to miss them for sure. We've got George Springer. He's been my teammate since I got to the big leagues and been a great leader and role model.

Springer:

I haven't really thought about that yet. Our season just ended. I'm more focused on kind of what's happening now, what happened tonight, and I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

*Jerome Solomon: There is plenty for the Astros to look forward to.

*Jake Kaplan: All the looming off-season questions for the Astros.

*Now, I guess we just wait. Read for pleasure. Go to bed early. Drink some herbal tea. Hot Links will continue throughout the off-season with or without Astros news. Thank you for reading along.

*Reading in an age of catastrophe.

*The United States of Dolly Parton.

*The Atlantic: The mad, mad world of niche sports among Ivy League-obsessed parents.

*Wired: His writing radicalized young hackers, now he wants to redeem them.

*A season-ending Musical Selection: