Thursday Morning Hot Links

We can all complain as much as we want about the wacky extra-inning rules (God knows I did) but the Astros' offense was hot garbage last night. The Dodgers beat the Astros 4-2 in 13 innings last night. Houston is 3-3.

The Astros were 3x19 w/RISP and left 15 on base. That's unfathomably bad.

Kyle Tucker was 1x6 with 4K. The last Astro to strike out four times in a game was Kyle Tucker, on September 26, 2019.

Tucker-Altuve-Bregman combined to go 1x16.

Myles Straw was 1x5 with two stolen bases.

Cristian Javier looked really good: 5.2IP, 2H/1ER, 8K:1BB. Javier:
I felt good. I felt good and I was really focused on locating my pitches so I really didn't have time to think about nerves or anything like that. 

The bullpen threw 7.1IP, 3H/3R (1ER), 5K:2BB. Blake Taylor racked up 2.1IP, 1H/0ER, 3K:0BB.

Dusty Baker:
We had a number of opportunities. We just couldn't push the run across.

More Dusty:
You can't hit if you don't swing. Sometimes I think we can be a little more aggressive early in the count, especially with runners in scoring position, because they're going to try to get ahead of you and then mess with you.

Michael Brantley, who was 2x4 with a walk.
It's an adjustment period for everybody. George Springer, he's one of the best players in this game. He's gonna be just fine.

10% of the "season" is now over, presuming they actually play a full season. After 10% of the season:
Springer: .048/.200/.190
Altuve: .174/.321/.348
Bregman: .174/.321/.348 (not a typo)
Reddick: .182/.250/.364

*Houston made a trade with Baltimore, bringing in pitcher Hector Velazquez for a PTBNL in the first trade of James Click's tenure. Velazquez had spent the previous three seasons with the Red Sox. The first two went okay!

2017: 2.92 ERA / 4.20 xFIP
2018: 3.18 ERA / 4.63 xFIP
2019: 5.43 ERA / 5.46 xFIP

So luck sort of caught up with him in 2019, but he has MLB experience and is alive, so he is useful to the Astros' bullpen at present.

*PAB Joe Kelly was suspended for eight games for his errant throws near Bregman and Correa, and Dave Roberts was suspended for one game. Kelly appealed his suspension, Roberts served his one game last night. Dusty Baker was fined an undisclosed amount because the players broke COVID protocols by coming on to the field.

McCullers discusses Joe Kelly incident pic.twitter.com/cM2YnmNFmn

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) July 29, 2020

*ESPN's Dan Mullen: Inside the bench-clearing 6th Inning.

Ross Stripling on Joe Kelly’s performance last night: “The face that he made is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on a baseball field.”

Stripling said the #Dodgers will have t-shirts made with Kelly’s face on them.

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) July 29, 2020

*Leaking bag of fecal matter Bill Plaschke: Joe Kelly earned his spot in Dodgers' lore.

*George Springer had the night off and Kyle Tucker replaced him at the top of the lineup. Kind of like a preview for 2021. Springer is "hitting" .050/.174/.200 with 5K:2BB in 23 PAs. In 2019 Springer struck out in 20.3% of his PAs, this year it's 21.7%. His one hit was a home run so officially Springer's BABIP is .000. That's...unsustainable. Dusty, on Springer:
George is struggling right now. I've been where he's been. It seems like there's eight infielders and about six or seven outfielders. It looks like there's a hole on the field and every time you get to the plate it's 0-2. Anybody that's played this game has been there before. This is more of a clear-your-head day and stop counting.

The Astros are off today, so Springer will have a couple of days to get right.

*Myles Straw had been dealing with a sore hamstring, which is why he only made his 2020 debut last night.

*Chandler Rome: Chris Devenski and Ryan Pressly aren't ready yet, but will travel to California.

*Check out Jake Kaplan's new mailbag, in which he discusses fallout from Verlander, Urquidy, Whitley, the outfield, the trade deadline, and Josh James.

*Former Astros Great Jake Marisnick was placed on the IL.

*The MLBPA is asking MLB to consider shortening double-headers.

seems important pic.twitter.com/M0UON7cUdr

— MLB Insider Chomper (@ec773) July 30, 2020

*Rob Manfred now has the ability to punish players for electronic sign-stealing, with video rooms basically on lockdown.

*Make that 16 members of the Miami Marlins who have tested positive.

*I saw That Thing You Do for the first time yesterday. The craziest thing to me is that they got Adam Schlesinger (RIP) and told him, "We need you to write the perfect pop song that people will hear multiple times in a 100-minute movie and not get infuriated." And he did.

*RIP, Malik B.

A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Houston native and Dodgers Game 2 pitcher Ross Stripling has been haunted by the World Series.
Ross Stripling was like most Dodgers fans on that dreary first night of November. Moments after his team's Game 7 World Series loss, the Dodgers pitcher couldn't get home fast enough. He had to catch a flight to get there, so he rushed from the stadium, confirmed his reservation, and the next morning was sitting in an economy window seat preparing to leave a nightmare. Only, for him...there would be no escape. Stripling lives in Houston, and shortly before takeoff he realized he would be flying home in a plane full of rowdy Astros fans. 

"I was like, 'Oh, hell.'"

*MLB Pipeline released their Top 100 Prospects list and there are three Astros on it:
9. Forrest Whitley
17. Kyle Tucker
76. J.B. Bukauskas

Houston got 201 prospect points, 11th in MLB. Here's the rest of the AL West:
Oakland: 14th
Anaheim: 16th
Arlington: 19th
Seattle: 27th

The Cubs, Royals, and Mets failed to land a single prospect on the list.

So the Prospect Ranking Matrix looks like this:
Forrest Whitley: #9 (MLB), #10 (BA),
Kyle Tucker #17 (MLB), #15 (BA),
J.B. Bukauskas: #76 (MLB), #76 (BA)
Yordan Alvarez: #62 (BA), (NR by MLB)

BP has yet to release their 2018 list.

*Alex Bregman was named the Headliner of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. Bregs, on his off-season:
I've changed my diet, eating habits, flexibility and mobility. I'm not satisfied, especially with my power. Altuve's 5'5" (or) 5'6", and he can hit to center field. I'm working on getting a lot stronger. I want to improve on every phase of the game. I want to be one of the best players in the game.

*ESPN's David Schoenfield torches Scott Boras' claim about rampant tanking in baseball and has suggestions for how to "fix" baseball. His suggestion about reworking the draft order is really interesting.

*Kenley Jansen says MLB players should consider going on strike in opposition to perceived collusion/slights/penny-pinching by owners:
That is something we might have to address, so you don't have a lot of Miami Marlins doing this. Maybe it's an adjustment for us, as the player's union. Maybe we have to go on strike, to be honest with you.

*The Braves changed their mascot from Chief Wahoo to...something...(?).

*This Mets fan got 500K retweets and will get to take her prom pictures at Citi Field.

*Vice: The bizarre homicide case involving a billionaire couple from Toronto took another turn.

*LA Times: Suge Knight's murder trial is weird.

*On the "strength" of this NY Times article about fake social media followers, @AstrosCounty is 85% real, baby.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Masked Marvel wrote up the recap of the Astros' 2nd win of the season.

*He also wrote a comparison piece about Tyler White and the 1945 Giants' Mike Schemer.

*A.J. Hinch, on Rasmus and his two homers:
There's a look to him where he's controlling exactly what he's looking for, and when he gets it, he does a ton of damage.

Rasmus:
Yeah, mean. Baseball's good. Today's good.

*Carlos Correa says what everyone pretty much agrees on: That new slide rule needs tweaking.

*In David Laurilia's Sunday News & Notes column, he talks to Josh Fields about how he has evolved as a pitcher.

*Vince Velasquez's opening impression with the Phillies: 6IP, 3H/0ER, 9K:3BB in 40-degree weather with a stiff breeze. He had to touch his butt a little bit.

*Altuve, Correa, and Springer make up Joel Sherman's 2nd-best trio of position players in baseball.

*The Astros turned to Bizarre Foods guy Andrew Zimmern for help with their menu.

*The family of Ross Stripling - the Dodgers pitcher who is coming off Tommy John and was pulled after 100 no-hit pitches - respects manager Dave Roberts' decision.

*What on earth happened to the Roggits?

*Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos has a broken arm. Shin-Soo Choo may have a not-minor calf injury.

*Before you go, from our mans Robert Flores:

#Astros
Tyler White right now pic.twitter.com/BZridppBFc

— Robert Flores (@RoFlo) April 10, 2016