The Week That Was: June 9-15

This edition of The Week That Was is dedicated to Tony Gwynn, who passed away this morning at the age of 54. It's a terribly insignificant gesture, but man, I'm devastated.

At 32-39, the Astros currently have the 2nd-worst record in the American League (better than the Rays) and the 3rd-worst winning percentage, ahead of the Rays and Red Sox. At .451, Houston has a better winning percentage than the Red Sox, Mets, Phillies, Padres, Cubs, Diamondbacks, and Rays.

The Astros are 13-7 in their last 20 games, proud owners of the best record in baseball over that span; they're 18-12 over their last 30 games, tied with Oakland and St. Louis for 2nd-best (Toronto is 21-9) record over that span.

FanGraphs is now projecting a 73-89 record for the Astros by the end of the season (one game better than the Cubs, tied with the Mets and Phillies). Their playoff probability is up to 0.9%.

Comparison to 2013 Astros

Year	Record	RDiff.	GB
2014	32-39	-38	11.0
2013	26-45	-97	15.5

The Week! That! Was!

June 9: 4-3 win at Arizona
June 10: 1-4 loss at Arizona
June 11: 5-1 win vs. Arizona
June 12: 5-4 win vs. Arizona
June 13: 1-6 loss vs. Tampa Bay
June 14: 7-3 win vs. Tampa Bay
June 15: 3-4 loss vs. Tampa Bay

So that's a 4-3 week for the Astros who lose two games in which they only score one run. They were 3-2 at Minute Maid Park to raise their home record to 17-20, seven wins short of their 2013 home total.

With the series loss to the Rays, the Astros' series not-losing streak ends at six (if we count the four games against Arizona as just one series). That six series streak is the best since August 30-September 19, 2010.

Drake night saw 33,457 paying fans come to Minute Maid on Thursday, June 12, which is the 3rd time this season the Astros have enjoyed 30,000+ fans (Opening Day, of course, and the Civil Rights game on May 30).

Sunday's loss to the Rays was the first time since June 1 that the Astros scored 3+ runs and lost. They have only lost eight games in which they scored 4+ runs.

The Week In Hitting A Ball:
253 PAs, .242/.308/.392, 18 XBH, 61K:20BB
FanGraphs WAR Leader: Jose Altuve, 1.6 WAR

(Min. 10 PAs)

Singleton	.273/.370/.591	10K:4BB
Altuve	.385/.429/.538	0K:0BB
Fowler	.333/.355/.533	8K:1BB
Dominguez	.296/.310/.444	6K:1BB
Gonzalez	.250/.400/.333	2K:3BB
Carter	.190/.190/.619	5K:0BB
Presley	.308/.400/.308	2K:2BB
Springer	.176/.286/.176	9K:2BB
Castro	.188/.350/.312	3K:3BB
Villar	.167/.167/.167	9K:0BB
Grossman	.067/.263/.067	9K:0BB

*Jason Castro drew two walks on Saturday for the third time this season, and three walks total in his last three games. He had drawn five walks in his previous 30 games from May 2-June 10.
*Robbie Grossman. Dadgum. He was 1x19 this week with 5K:4BB, grounding into more double plays (two) than he had hits (one). Grossman is currently the active "leader" on the team with -0.6 WAR.
*With two hits on Sunday, Dexter Fowler has multi-hit games in eight of his fourteen games in June.
*In three games against the Rays, George Springer was 1x11 with 9K:0BB. His OPS dropped 41 points.
*Chris Carter's K% in 2013 was 36.2%. Through 62 games played, that K% is 30.8%. If you remember, Carter had a few days off in late May - he didn't play three games from May 25-27. Since then, he's hitting .196/.293/.608 - that's three singles and seven home runs.
*Jonathan Villar got a hit in back-to-back games on June 14/15 for the first time since May 16/18. He has one extra-base hit in his last 109 plate appearances.

The Week in Throwing A Ball: 63IP, 56H/22ER, 49K:19BB, 3.14 ERA/1.19 WHIP
FanGraphs WAR Leader: Dallas Keuchel at 2.3 WAR.

Starters

Cosart	13IP	14H/6ER, 10K:3BB
Peacock	10IP	6H/3ER, 7K:7BB
Keuchel	8IP	4H/1ER, 5K:1BB
Feldman	6.1IP	4H/2ER, 6K:0BB
McHugh	5IP	4H/3ER, 6K:3BB

Starter Line: 42.1IP, 32H/15ER, 34K:14BB. 3.19 ERA/1.09 WHIP

Bullpen

Sipp	4.1IP	2H/0ER, 6K:1BB
Zeid	3.1IP	1H/0ER, 2K:1BB
Downs	3.1IP	3H/0ER, 2K:1BB
Qualls	3IP	3H/1ER, 1K:0BB
Farnsworth	2.2IP	6H/3ER, 3K:0BB
Fields	2IP	3H/1ER, 0K:1BB
Williams	2IP	5H/2ER, 1K:1BB

Bullpen line: 20.2IP, 23H/7ER, 15K:5BB; 3.05 ERA/1.35 WHIP

*The pitching staff did not allow any inherited runners to score this week, stranding all seven inherited runners. 
*Astros' pitching staff ERA is now 4.10. Outside of the first three games of each season, you have to go all the way back to June 6, 2012 to find a time this late in the season where the team ERA was as low.
*Dallas Keuchel extends his Quality Start streak to seven games. Since allowing 4ER vs. Seattle on May 3, Keuchel has thrown 54.1IP, 37H/8ER, 42K:7BB. Opponents are hitting .195/.226/.258.
*On June 14 Jarred Cosart got 21 outs for the first time since May 5. The Astros are 7-7 when he starts, 5-3 in his last eight starts. He walked 35 batters in 60IP in 2013 and 34 batters in 80IP this season so far.
*While Brad Peacock only gave up six hits in his two starts last week, he allowed seven walks. But since joining the rotation on April 20, Peacock has thrown 56.1IP, 51H/25ER, 49K:30BB.
*Collin McHugh has allowed 6ER in his last 9.1IP (two starts) after allowing 6ER in his previous 24.1IP combined.
*Scott Feldman posted a 61 Game Score on June 12 - his first 60+ GS since May 9.
*Jerome Williams has allowed at least one earned run in six of his last seven appearances. The one in which he didn't was when he was brought in to face one batter, and walked him. He has allowed at least one baserunner in 18 of his 21 appearances.
*Chad Qualls' shutout streak ended on June 12 - a span of 19 appearances. He still hasn't walked a batter since April 29.
*Darin Downs has allowed hits in four straight appearances, but still hasn't allowed a run in nine straight appearances. This season he has inherited ten runners, and allowed just one to score.

The Week That Was: June 2-8

It's been three weeks since we last did a Week That Was (Memorial Day one week, Traveling last week), so let's start this back up...

Standings-wise, the Astros have the 5th-worst record in baseball, better than the Diamondbacks (whom the Astros play four times this week), Cubs, Phillies, and Rays. As far as overall wins go, the Astros have as many wins as the Padres, Mets, and Red Sox.

Streaking:
Over their last 30 games, the Astros are 18-12, tying them with the Angels and Indians for the 4th-best record in baseball. In that span they are nine games better than the Rays, eight games better than the Phillies, five games better than the Tigers, four games better than the Rangers.
Over their last 20 games, the Astros are 12-8, tying them with the A's, Pirates, and Cubs for the 4th-best record in baseball.

FanGraphs now gives the Astros a projected end-of-season record of 72-90, still the worst overall record in baseball, but tied with the Phillies and one game behind the Mets and Cubs. The Astros' playoff chances remain firmly at 0.4%.

Comparison to the 2013 Astros (through 64 games):

Year	Record	RDiff.	GB
2014	28-36	-39	11.5
2013	22-42	-98	16.0

The Week That Was!

June 2: Off.
June 3: 7-2 win vs. Anaheim
June 4: 0-4 loss vs. Anaheim
June 5: 8-5 win vs. Anaheim
June 6: 5-4 win @ Minnesota
June 7: 0-8 loss @ Minnesota
June 8: 14-5 win @ Minnesota

So the Astros go 4-2 last week with the only losses coming in shutouts, and it gives the Astros a perfectly symmetrical 14-18 record both at home and on the road. This is notable in that the Astros only won 24 games at home and 27 games on the road in 2013. They outscored their opponents 34-28.

The Astros are now 4-6 against the Angels on the season, and 14-19 against the AL West. Given that the Astros had a .329 Win% against the AL West in 2013, a .424 Win% thus far is mighty nice.


Houston has also won or split their last five series. To find the last time the Astros accomplished such a feat, you have to go back to August 30-September 19, 2010 when the Astros won or split six series against the Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Dodgers, Brewers, and Reds.

Of course the most notable win of the week was Sunday's 14-5 win at Minnesota in which both Chris Carter and Jon Singleton hit grand slams. Those 14 runs were the most runs for the Astros since a 16-9 win at Seattle on April 9, 2013. ALSO the last time two Astros hit grand slams in a game was July 30, 1969 when Jimmy Wynn and Denis Menke both did it in the same inning.

The Week In Hitting A Ball: 231 PAs, 255/.357/.434, 16 XBH, 51K:26BB
FanGraphs WAR Leader: Jose Altuve at 1.8 WAR

(Min. 10 PAs)

Fowler	.524/.630/.857	2K:6BB
Carter	.200/.429/.600	7K:4BB
Grossman	.385/.500/.462	1K:3BB
Springer	.190/.357/.476	10K:4BB
Singleton	.200/.231/.480	10K:1BB
Altuve	.280/.321/.360	3K:1BB
Gonzalez	.154/.154/.385	5K:1BB
Dominguez	.200/.259/.320	7K:2BB
Castro	.188/.188/.188	3K:0BB

Hitter of the Week: Come on. Dexter Fowler went off this week. For the season he's hitting .277/.393/.395 with 50K:40BB. Five of his six games this week saw him get two hits, and in two of those games he added two walks. And that's how you raise your OBP 27 points in six games.

*George Springer has a four-game hitting streak, after going hitless in the opening two games of the Angels series. On May 2, after the 15th game of his career his OPS bottomed out at .467. Since then, Springer is hitting .287/.389/.639.
*Chris Carter drew four walks in the June 5 win against Anaheim, accounting for 22.2% of his walks on the season. He had drawn four walks in his previous 76 PAs combined.
*Matt Dominguez's three hits on June 6 were a season-high - he had 3+ hits seven times last season.
*In his last ten games, Jason Castro is hitting .237/.293/.289 with a .290 BABIP.
*Jose Altuve leads the league in games played (64), Plate Appearances (292), At-Bats (270), Hits (85), and Stolen Bases (23). Altuve is riding a seven-game hit streak, and has hits in 52 of his 64 games. He's been on base in 56 of those 64 games.

The Week in Throwing A Ball: 53IP, 50H/24ER, 51K:24BB, 4.08 ERA/1.40 WHIP
FanGraphs WAR Leader: Dallas Keuchel at 2.2 WAR.

McHugh	9.1IP	5H/3ER, 10K:7BB
Cosart	6.2IP	8H/3ER, 8K:1BB
Keuchel	6IP	5H/0ER, 6K:2BB
Peacock	5IP	6H/3ER, 1K:1BB
Feldman	1.2IP	1H/0ER*, 2K:2BB

*All three of Feldman's runs were unearned.

Starter line: 28.2IP, 25H/9ER, 27K:13BB; 2.83 ERA/1.33 WHIP.

Bullpen

Williams	5IP	6H/3ER, 4K:2BB
Fields	4.2IP	5H/1ER, 9K:0BB
Downs	4.1IP	2H/0ER, 3K:0BB
Qualls	3IP	1H/0ER, 1K:0BB
Clemens	3IP	4H/5ER, 2K:6BB
Farnsworth	2.1IP	2H/2ER, 2K:3BB
Sipp	2IP	5H/4ER, 3K:0BB

Bullpen line: 24.1IP, 25H/15ER, 24K:11BB; 5.55 ERA/1.48 WHIP

Pitcher of the Week: Josh Fields. Nine of his fourteen outs came via the strikeout, and he's really turned things around since his demotion.

*Dallas Keuchel has run his Quality Start streak to six games, and has Quality Starts in 10 of his 12 games. The Astros are 8-4 when he starts, and his 2.2 WAR is ranked 9th in the Majors behind Felix, Kluber, Darvish, Tanaka, Wainwright, Lackey, Strasburg, and Lester.
*Since getting lit up at Oakland for 7ER in 0.1IP, Jarred Cosart has a 2.96 ERA/1.36 WHIP.
*Brad Peacock has walked just one of the last 47 batters he faced.
*In his last two starts (7IP), opponents are hitting .387/.462/.613 on a .385 BABIP against Scott Feldman.
*Collin McHugh walked a career-high five batters in Sunday's win over Minnesota. The last time he walked five batters in a start was June 29, 2011 for Double-A Binghamton.
*Since blowing G18 at Oakland with 4H/3ER, 1K:1BB in the bottom of the 9th, Chad Qualls has allowed 7H/0ER, 16K:1BB in 15.2IP (17 appearances). He has faced 59 straight batters without allowing an unintentional walk.
*Jerome Williams has allowed at least one earned run in each of his last five appearances, six of his last seven, and twelve of his 19 games.
*Since getting recalled from OKC, Josh Fields as thrown 13.1IP, allowing 7H/1ER, 22K:2BB, and opponents are hitting .149/.184/.213.
*Darin Downs has a six-game scoreless appearance streak and hasn't allowed a run in 13 of his 15 appearances.

The Week That Was: May 12-18

Well now. That was way more fun, no? The Astros are now four games up on the 2013 Astros after 44 games.

May 12: 0-4 loss vs. Arlington
May 13: 8-0 win vs. Arlington
May 14: 5-4 win vs. Arlington
May 16: 2-7 loss vs. Chicago White Sox
May 17: 6-5 win vs. Chicago White Sox
May 18: 8-2 win vs. Chicago White Sox

So the Astros have won four of their last five and, starting with Keuchel's CGSHO vs. Detroit, have won six of their last ten games. The week also included two one-run wins to improve their one-run record to 5-9. FanGraphs is now projecting a 67-95 record by the end of the season, three games behind the Cubs, five behind the Twins.

The Astros outscored their opponents 29-22 on the week to close the gap on their run differential to -53, which is actually better than the Diamondbacks, who have a -60 run differential.

Despite dropping the series opener against the Rangers, the Astros responded with an 8-0 thrashing the next game. That 8-run margin was a season-high for the Astros, and the largest margin of victory since a 13-2 win at Seattle on September 10, 2013. It was the largest win over the Rangers since a 7-0 win on June 30, 2011, and the Astros beat the Rangers by 8+ runs for the first time since a 12-3 win in Arlington on June 20, 2003.

The Astros hit three homers in Sunday's win over Chicago, the fifth time that's happened this season. When the Astros hit 2+ home runs, they're 12-3 - and two of those losses were thanks to a shaky bullpen against Seattle on May 3 and 4. Matt Dominguez hit 835 feet of homers on Sunday (427' and 408') for his first 2+ HR game since May 2013.

The Astros have drawn 5+ walks in ten games this season - three of those were this week, and they have four 5+ BB games since May 11. This - and the power surge - has contributed to the Astros raising their OPS by 30 points to .695 in the last week. The last time the Astros' team OPS was .695? After Game 4, an 11-1 loss to Anaheim.

In the May 14 win vs. Arlington, Scott Feldman posted a 33 Game Score. That's the lowest Game Score in an Astros win since Dallas Keuchel's 32 in a 9-7 win against Anaheim on September 13, 2013. The Astros have had 57 games in which the starting pitcher posted a 39 Game Score or lower since the beginning of 2013, and they're 7-50 in those starts, with two of those wins coming this week - Feldman and Cosart on May 17 (39).

Team Leaders, WAR:
Position Player: Jose Altuve, 0.8 WAR (FanGraphs); Matt Dominguez, 1.0 WAR (B-Ref)
Pitcher: Dallas Keuchel, 1.2 WAR (FanGraphs), Keuchel, 2.0 WAR (B-Ref)

The Week in Hitting A Ball: .303/.383/.495, 21XBH, 61K:26BB, 2 GIDPs.

(Min. 10 PAs)

Fowler	.450/.621/.750	5K:9BB
Hoes	.400/.455/.900	2K:1BB
Springer	.318/.464/.545	9K:6BB
Carter	.348/.375/.609	6K:1BB
Dominguez	.292/.346/.542	6K:2BB
Guzman	.333/.467/.417	4K:3BB
Altuve	.367/.367/.500	2K:0BB
Castro	.235/.316/.471	6K:2BB
Krauss	.222/.300/.222	5K:1BB
Villar	.235/.278/.235	8K:1BB
Presley	.200/.200/.200	2K:0BB

Hitter of the Week: Dexter Fowler
 
*Via JJO, we find that Dexter Fowler has at least one walk in eight consecutive games - the longest streak of any Astros hitter since Morgan Ensberg walked in nine straight games in August 2006. 
*Carlos Corporan has seven hits on the season. Four of them have been homers.
*Jason Castro has been on base at least once in 27 of his 35 games.
*Jose Altuve's 15 SB lead the American League, and he has an 83.3% success rate. During his ten-game hit streak, he's hitting .391/.417/.522.
*Matt Dominguez has had multi-hit games in six of his last nine games.
*In May, Dexter Fowler is hitting .322/.467/.441 with 11K:15BB. He has a 16-game on-base streak, and has reached base in 26 straight games.
*When batting in the 2-hole, George Springer is hitting .259/.412/.444 with 11K:7BB.
*Chris Carter has a five-game streak of striking out 0-1 times, his longest of the season.

The Week in Throwing A Ball: 54IP, 53H/19ER, 57K:21BB, 3.17 ERA/1.37 WHIP.

Starters

Peacock	12.2IP	13H/6ER, 16K:6BB
Keuchel	9IP	7H/0ER, 7K:0BB
McHugh	5.1IP	3H/4ER, 7K:4BB
Feldman	5IP	10H/4ER, 3K:1BB
Cosart	5IP	7H/3ER, 2K:4BB

Starter line: 37IP, 40H/17ER, 35K:15BB; 4.14 ERA/1.49 WHIP.

Bullpen

Clemens	4IP	5H/0ER, 4K:2BB
Downs	2.2IP	1H/0ER, 3K:0BB
Sipp	2.2IP	0H/0ER, 4K:0BB
Fields	2.1IP	1H/0ER, 5K:0BB
Zeid	2IP	3H/0ER, 2K:2BB
Qualls	1.2IP	0H/0ER, 2K:0BB
Williams	1IP	1H/0ER, 2K:0BB
Farnsworth	0.2IP	2H/2ER, 0K:2BB

Bullpen line: 17IP, 10H/2ER, 22K:4BB; 1.06 ERA/0.82 WHIP

Pitcher of the Week: Dallas Keuchel


*For the week, Astros pitchers inherited ten runners and only one scored.
*Dallas Keuchel has thrown a Quality Start in five of his eight starts, and has a Game Score of at least 48 in seven straight starts. His last two starts: 16.2IP, 13H/2ER, 14K:0BB.
*In two starts since coming off the DL, Scott Feldman has allowed more ER (6) than he did in his first four starts of the season (5). He has faced 48 batters in his last two starts, and only walked one (10 walks to 153 batters this season).
*Tony Sipp has faced 20 batters as an Astro and retired all of them, 11 by strikeout.
*Chad Qualls has run his scoreless streak to 10 games (8.2IP), and has thrown 71% of his pitches for strikes.
*Since rejoining the team, Josh Fields has struck out five of the eight batters he has faced.

The Week That Was: May 5-11

That was a frustrating week, no? The Astros go 2-5 on the week and are now 12-26 - still two games better than the 2013 Astros. Let's get to the results...

May 5: 0-2 loss at Detroit

May 6: 4-11 loss at Detroit
May 7: 2-3 loss at Detroit
May 8: 6-2 win at Detroit

May 9: 3-4 loss at Baltimore

May 10: 4-5 loss at Baltimore
May 11: 5-2 win at Baltimore

FanGraphs has reduced the Astros' playoff probability to 0.0% (Shocking, I know) but are still projecting the Astros to go 64-98 on the season. Seeing as how the Astros are winning at a .316 clip 38 games into the season, FanGraphs thinks they'll win out at a .423 clip

So the Astros get outscored 24-29 to increase their run differential to -60 for the season - 29th in MLB (Arizona's run differential is -63). Of course the narrow margin has to do with more one-run losses. The Astros are 3-9 in one-run games - that's the most one-run losses in the AL, tied with the Mets and Pirates for 2nd in MLB, and only trailing the Reds, who are 6-11 in one-run games.

Perhaps the most frustrating loss of the week was May 10, when the Orioles scored runs in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th innings after Collin McHugh had allowed just two runs in 6.1IP. Josh Zeid, Anthony Bass, and Paul Clemens all decided that winning was too much fun, and gave up runs - with Clemens taking the loss in the 10th, the fourth walk-off loss for the Astros this season.

But hey, those two wins were fun. George Springer got his first two homers of the season. His first career homer traveled 407 feet, and had the third-highest speed off the bat at 111.2mph. Matt Dominguez has the two fastest homers on the team. Speaking of Dominguez, he hit the longest Astros homer of the season in the May 8 win at Detroit - at 443 feet. The Astros have hit at least one home run in four straight games. When they hit a home run, they're 11-11. When they hit 2+ homers in a game, they're 9-3.

On May 8, the Astros only struck out three times which was the fewest Ks in a game since April 13 (one of those 1-0 losses to the Rangers). On the pitching side, Astros pitchers struck out eight Orioles in Sunday's game - highest in a game since striking out 11 Mariners on May 2.

The Week in Hitting: .235/.297/.376, 54K:20BB. Ten GIDPs, 8x11 in Stolen Base Attempts. 41 LOBsters.

(Min. 10 PAs)

Krauss	.333/.529/.750	3K:5BB
Hoes	.500/.500/.500	0K:1BB
Springer	.286/.310/.571	13K:1BB
Dominguez	.321/.321/.500	3K:0BB
Altuve	.286/.333/.393	2K:2BB
Fowler	.250/.400/.292	3K:6BB
Corporan	.100/.182/.400	1K:1BB
Carter	.136/.208/.273	6K:1BB
Castro	.182/.182/.318	10K:0BB
Presley	.125/.176/.188	2K:1BB
Villar	.136/.136/.136	7K:0BB
Guzman	.100/.182/.100	2K:1BB

Hitter of the Week: I mean, Marc Krauss was lights out this week, but Springer did hit his first two homers. Toss-up.

The Week in Pitching: 59.1IP, 65H/28ER, 42K:13BB. 4.25 ERA/1.31 WHIP.

Starters

Cosart	13IP	12H/2ER, 6K:5BB
Keuchel	7.2IP	6H/2ER, 7K:0BB
Peacock	6.2IP	4H/3ER, 4K:4BB
McHugh	6.1IP	7H/2ER, 4K:2BB
Feldman	6IP	5H/2ER, 6K:0BB
Oberholtzer	6IP	9H/4ER, 4K:1BB

Bullpen

Qualls	3IP	2H/0ER, 1K:0BB
Sipp	2.1IP	0H/0ER, 5K:0BB
Bass	2.1IP	5H/2ER, 0K:1BB
Williams	2IP	3H/2ER, 1K:0BB
Zeid	1.2IP	1H/1ER, 2K:1BB
Cisnero	1IP	3H/2ER, 0K:0BB
Fields	0.2IP	6H/5ER, 2K:0BB
Downs	0.1IP	0H/0ER, 0K:0BB
Clemens	0.1IP	2H/1ER, 0K:0BB

Pitcher of the Week: Jarred Cosart, come on down.

Notable:

*Last week Astros starters threw 45.2IP, and allowed 43H/15ER, 31K:12BB. The Bullpen, however, threw 13.1IP, and gave up 22H/13ER, 11K:2BB.
*Tony Sipp has thrown 4IP for the Astros and has not allowed a baserunner. He has also struck out seven of the 12 batters he has faced. Baseball-Reference says Sipp's FIP is actually -0.41.
*Chad Qualls has now thrown eight consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run.
*Since getting shelled against Oakland, Jarred Cosart has thrown four consecutive Quality Starts - 25.2IP, 21H/6ER, 16K:10BB.
*Dallas Keuchel has thrown a Quality Start in five of his seven games (Astros are 4-3 when Keuchel starts). His May 8 start against Detroit was his first walk-less start since July 13, 2013 - a span of 19 starts.
*Three of Marc Krauss' four hits this week were for extra-bases.
*Dexter Fowler has back-to-back 2BB games for the first time since May 27-28, 2013.

The Week That Was: April 28-May 4

The Astros didn't exactly take advantage of a couple of off-days during the week, going 1-4, and sitting with a record of 10-21 (two games better than their 2013 pace, though.)

April 28: Off.
April 29: 3-4 loss vs. Washington
April 30: 0-7 loss vs. Washington
May 1: Off
May 2: 5-4 win vs. Seattle
May 3: 8-9 loss vs. Seattle
May 4: 7-8 loss vs. Seattle

You can chalk two more losses up to the bullpen. The Astros were up 3-2 in the 8th on April 29, and up 2-1 in the 7th on May 3 before Seattle piled on eight runs. With eight runs on Saturday and seven runs on Sunday, the Astros are now 9-3 when scoring 5+ runs, and this weekend marked the first instance of the Astros scoring 6+ runs and losing this season. Saturday's game was the most runs in a loss since losing 15-10 vs. Boston on August 6, 2013.

Anyhow, the Astros were outscored 23-32 this week. But yeah. Three of the four losses this week were one-run losses, and in one-run games the Astros are now 3-6. Interestingly enough, the Astros only played eight one-run games in all of 2013, so...progress?

We try to stay away from "would have beens" in this post, but winning either of the last two games would have set a season-high for largest comeback. As it is, the Astros have not yet been able to overcome a 3+ run deficit, and just for giggles, the Astros haven't overcome a deficit of 6+ runs in a game since 2008.

The eight runs allowed in the 7th inning on Saturday are a season-high for most runs allowed in an inning, breaking Oakland's record with their seven runs in the first inning of the First Battle of Jed Lowrie. The Astros had three such innings of allowing 8+ runs in 2013.

Now on to something depressing: Check out the following table. This shows the Astros' winning percentage when having the lead or a tie at the beginning of the following innings, compared to the rest of the AL (Astros' W-L has been removed) in that same situation.

Inning	Astros%	AmLg%
6th	.555	.725
7th	.563	.748
8th	.600	.779
9th	.625	.844

The Astros have lost six games when leading or tied to begin the 9th inning, the rest of the American League has combined to lose 33 games in the same situation.. We're still early enough in the season to where a few of those games go the Astros way, and things look differently. 14-17 looks a lot better than 10-21.

Hitting (min. 10 PAs)

Villar	.353/.450/.824	6K:3BB
Dominguez	.294/.455/.471	0K:2BB
Presley	.250/.294/.500	1K:1BB
Guzman	.333/.333/.417	3K:0BB
Carter	.188/.188/.562	4K:0BB
Altuve	.273/.346/.364	2K:3BB
Krauss	.300/.417/.300	3K:2BB
Castro	.222/.364/.278	8K:3BB
Fowler	.227/.261/.227	6K:0BB
Springer	.222/.222/.222	9K:0BB

Hitter of the Week: Jonathan Villar, who was 6x17 with a triple, two homers, three walks, and two stolen bases.

Notable:
*Jose Altuve, who still leads the AL with eleven stolen bases (in 12 attempts, when he led the AL in Been Caught Stealings), has drawn twelve walks this season in 142 plate appearances, or one per 11.83 PAs. This is pretty impressive, considering he drew 32 walks in 672 PAs in 2013 (1BB:21 PAs) and had a career 19.9 PA:BB ratio.
*It has been 24 Plate Appearances since George Springer's last extra-base hit.
*Twelve of Chris Carter's 16 hits this season (yeah, he has 16 hits all season) have been for extra-bases.
*Carter also did not strike out in Saturday or Sunday's game - a span of eight plate appearances. In his 28 games this season, this marks the 4th and 5th games of the season where he has not struck out, and it's the longest span without a strikeout since he went 10 PAs from June 21-23, 2013.

Starters

Peacock	6IP	6H/2ER, 6K:3BB
Cosart	6IP	5H/2ER, 6K:2BB
Keuchel	6IP	4H/4ER, 3K:3BB
Oberholtzer	4.2IP	11H/6ER, 5K:2BB
McHugh	4IP	8H/5ER, 4K:1BB

Bullpen

Williams	5IP	3H/2ER, 3K:2BB
Clemens	3.1IP	2H/1ER, 1K:1BB
Bass	3IP	1H/1ER, 1K:0BB
Cisnero	2.1IP	4H/3ER, 3K:2BB
Fields	2IP	1H/1ER, 1K:3BB
Sipp	1.2IP	0H/0ER, 2K:0BB
Qualls	1.2IP	2H/0ER, 3K:1BB
Downs	1IP	1H/0ER, 1K:0BB
Valdes	0.1IP	3H/2ER, 0K:0BB

Notable
*Since blowing open that April 19 game against Oakland, Chad Qualls has made five appearances without allowing a run.
*After allowing 21H/8ER in his first four starts (23.2IP), Brett Oberholtzer has allowed 19H/12ER in his last two starts (8.1IP).
*Since the Disaster Start on April 18 (3H/7ER, 0K:4BB in 0.1IP), Jarred Cosart has allowed 9H/4ER, 10K:5BB in 12.2IP.
*Dallas Keuchel extended a streak of getting 18+ outs to five games. The one time he didn't go at least 6IP was April 5 against the Angels. The Astros are 3-3 in Keuchel's starts.

Pitcher of the Week: Uh. Peacock, I guess.

The Week That Was: April 21-27

Well, well. The Astros find themselves 9-17 after a week in which they actually went 4-3. Let's revisit...The Week That Was!

April 21: 7-2 win at Seattle
April 22: 5-2 win at Seattle
April 23: 3-5 loss at Seattle
April 24: 1-10 loss vs. Oakland
April 25: 5-12 loss vs. Oakland,
April 26: 7-6 win vs. Oakland
April 27: 5-1 win vs. Oakland

The Astros didn't lose a series this week, taking the series at Seattle and tying the series with Oakland. You have to go back to the week of September 9, 2013 to find a week where the Astros won four games (yes, that's an arbitrary endpoint, but this is a week-by-week post, so I'll allow it). In fact, the Astros won four games in a week only four times last year.

Anyhow, the Astros were outscored by opponents 33-38 thanks to the two Oakland beatdowns at the beginning of the series. But progress is being made, because with taking two out of three from Seattle the Astros are 11-11 against the Mariners (8-4 at Safeco Field) since the beginning of 2013, and now the Astros are 6-17 against Oakland. Unbelievably, the Astros were 1-10 against Oakland at Minute Maid Park before winning those final two games. So the Astros are at least .500 against two AL teams: The White Sox (4-3) and the Mariners.

Cumulatively, through the first four weeks of the season, the team is hitting .210/.282/.364 with a combined -0.9 WAR - the only team to have a negative WAR on offense in the Majors. Obviously, this is 30th out of 30 MLB teams. Pitching-wise, the Astros have a 4.82 ERA (27th) and a 1.44 WHIP (25th) with a 1.0 WAR.

The Astros did get their first two-game winning streak since the first two games of the season against New York, so that was fun. But they managed to get themselves out of sweeping Seattle when Josh Fields gave up Kyle Seager's 2nd homer of the day. Still, since the move to the American League, the Astros are 11-11 against Seattle.


To the April 24th loss to Oakland. The Astros got one run on ten hits. One run. On Ten hits. That happened once last year, in a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee. And it happened once in 2012, in a 3-1 loss to Arizona.

The highlight of the week was going to be Collin McHugh's Astros debut, when he turnt up in a 6.2IP, 3H/0ER, 12K:0BB performance. It's the first debut since Randy Johnson against Pittsburgh that an Astro has struck out twelve and walked zero batters. But then McHugh followed that with a dominant performance against Oakland on Sunday. Oakland was held to two hits by McHugh, their lowest hit total since June 27, 2012.

McHugh's 80 Game Score on Sunday was the highest Astros' Game Score since...April 22, when McHugh posted an 80 Game Score. Since 2011, a Houston SP has managed an 80+ Game Score seven times: Twice by McHugh, once by Oberholtzer and Bedard in 2013, once by Norris and Lyles in 2012, and once by Norris in 2011. 2010 is the last season to have an Astros pitcher throw two 80+ Game Scores in the same season: Wandy Rodriguez and Roy Oswalt both did it.

Let's get to the week in performances:

Hitting (min. 10 PAs)

Carter	.300/.417/.800	7K:4BB
Villar	.333/.333/.619	7K:0BB
Altuve	.323/.364/.516	0K:2BB
Dominguez	.292/.370/.583	4K:3BB
Fowler	.308/.419/.462	5K:5BB
Castro	.261/.308/.435	5K:5BB
Presley	.450/.450/.550	2K:0BB
Guzman	.167/.231/.167	4K:1BB
Krauss	.133/.235/.333	4K:2BB
Springer	.080/.233/.120	8K:4BB

Hitter of the Week: cHRis carter.

Pitching (min. 2 IP)

McHugh	15.1IP	5H/1ER, 19K:3BB
Keuchel	12.1IP	12H/5ER, 14K:3BB
Cosart	6.2IP	4H/2ER, 4K:3BB
Peacock	5IP	5H/3ER, 3K:6BB
Williams	4IP	5H/3ER, 2K:1BB
Oberholtzer	3.2IP	8H/6ER, 4K:2BB
Bass	3IP	5H/3ER, 1K:2BB
Clemens	2.2IP	4H/3ER, 2K:1BB
Valdes	2.2IP	1H/2ER, 3K:1BB
Qualls	2.1IP	2H/0ER, 4K:0BB
Fields	2.1IP	7H/8ER, 5K:0BB

Pitcher of the Week: Do you seriously have to ask?

Best of the Week

Here are the best reads of the week on Astros County:

*On Bo and Beanings
*On Retribution and the Astros
*George Springer sucks, amirite?
*Astros throw at Lowrie, again
*We should maybe pay attention to Gonzalo Sanudo
*The one where Ken Hoffman spouts nonsense

The Week That Was: April 14-20

*Simulate to end of season*

Through 19 games, the Astros are 5-14 with 173K:56BB. After 19 games in 2013, the Astros were 5-14 with 185K:48BB. So that's a 3.09 K:BB ratio in 2014, better than last year's 3.85 K:BB ratio. I guess.

The week that was!


April 14: First off-day of the season
April 15: 4-2 loss vs. Kansas City
April 16: 6-4 loss vs. Kansas City *SPRINGER DAY* (11 innings)
April 17: 5-1 loss vs. Kansas City *DO YOU THINK YOU'RE INVISIBLE*
April 18: 11-3 loss at Oakland
April 19: 4-3 loss at Oakland
April 20: 4-1 loss at Oakland

Oh yes. That's a 7-game losing streak, my friends. You have to go all the way back to September 2013 to find a losing streak that long! The Astros "offense" scored 14 runs in the six games this week, giving them a 2.3 run/game average, and "hit" .199/.271/.306. The Astros also struck out 61 times and drew 19 walks. The 37 strikeouts in the Kansas City series are the most in a three-game series since the 2013 Opening Series when the Astros struck out 43 times in three games against Texas.

In 53.1IP last week, Astros pitchers allowed 63H/32ER with 30K:25BB and nine home runs. We saw implosions from recently-departed Lucas Harrell, Jarred Cosart, and Chad Qualls. In the six starts, we had three games with a Game Score over 50, and three under. Dallas Keuchel's 56 on Wednesday was the weekly high.

Cosart's Friday night start was unreal. He allowed 3H/7ER, 0K:4BB, 2HR while recording just one out. He only allowed 13ER in 60IP last season. His Game Score was 13 - the lowest Game Score in a Cosart start since September 4, 2011, when he allowed 10H/9ER in 4IP for Corpus, for a Game Score of 9. Friday's game was the first time since his professional debut (July 31, 2009) that he didn't make it out of the first inning. And it was the second time in his career that Cosart didn't record a strikeout.

"Hitting" Performances:

Jose Altuve: 8x30, .267/.312/.300 - 4 stolen bases
Jonathan Villar: 4x17, .235/.350/.471 - 3K:3BB
George Springer: 6x22, .273/.304/.318 - 7K:1BB
Jason Castro: 5x19, .263/.391/.474 - 8K:3BB
Dexter Fowler: 4x28, .143/.226/.179 - 6K:3BB
Matt Dominguez: 5x23, .217/.217/.217
L.J. Hoes: 2x19, .105/.150/.158
Chris Carter: 1x19, .053/.240/.105 - 9K:4BB

Carter is now 7x57 for the year with 26K:9BB in 68 PAs for a .123/.250/.211 slash line. Five of his hits are doubles, though. So...moving on.

Pitching Performances:

Brett Oberholtzer: 12.2IP, 13H/2ER, 10K:2BB
Dallas Keuchel: 6IP, 6H/2ER, 5K:1BB
Scott Feldman: 6IP, 5H/4ER, 2K:1BB
Brad Peacock: 5.2IP, 7H/4ER, 5K:3BB
Jarred Cosart: 0.1IP, 3H/7ER, 0K:4BB


Anthony Bass: 4.1IP, 0H/0ER, 1K:1BB
Josh Fields: 3.1IP, 0H/0ER, 3K:1BB
Matt Albers: 3.2IP, 4H/0ER, 1K:2BB
Jerome Williams: 6IP, 9H/3ER, 3K:1BB
Paul Clemens: 7.1IP, 7H/3ER, 2K:2BB
Raul Valdez: 0.2IP, 1H/1ER, 1K:2BB
Chad Qualls: 0.1IP, 4H/3ER, 1K:1BB

Hitter of the Week: Despite the LOBsters yesterday, let's go with Jason Castro.
Pitcher of the Week: Brett Oberholtzer

The Week That Was: April 7-13

It's easy to overreact to individual games on a daily basis - I do it all the time. You probably do, too. But we can take whole weeks and examine some trends, so let's do that for the week of April 7-13 - the second full week of the season.

April 7: 9-1 loss at home to Anaheim
April 8: 5-2 loss at Toronto
April 9: 7-3 loss at Toronto
April 10: 6-4 win at Toronto
April 11: 1-0 loss at Arlington (12 innings)
April 12: 6-5 win at Arlington (10 innings)
April 13: 1-0 loss at Arlington

So that's a 2-5 week in which the Astros were outscored 32-18, but included two 1-0 losses. The Astros still haven't won a series in Arlington since June 30-July 2, 2005, but in 91 previous Astros/Rangers games before this weekend there had only been one 1-0 game, on June 27, 2004.

The Astros were 3-2 in 1-0 games in 2012, but haven't lost two 1-0 games to the same team in a season since the Cubs got them twice in 2006. The Astros hadn't lost two 1-0 games in the same series since the Dodgers beat the Astros 1-0 on September 10, 1966 and again in the second game of a double-header on September 11, 1966.

Now, on to the WEEK. IN. PERFORMANCES.:

Batting Overall: 252 Plate Apperances, .180/.246/.316, 60K:19BB

Robbie Grossman: .182/.308/.500, 6K:4BB
Jose Altuve: .276/.290/.379, 3K:1BB
Matt Dominguez: .250/.269/.333, 5K:1BB
Jason Castro: .174/.269/.391, 7K:2BB

Chris Carter: .167/.259/.292, 10K:3BB
Jonathan Villar: .083/.154/.208, 9K:2BB
Dexter Fowler: .091/.167/.091, 7K:2BB
Alex Presley: .095/.095/.238, 5K:0BB
---


Pitching Overall: 63.2IP, 53H/30ER, 55K:34BB, 4.24 ERA/1.37 WHIP

Brett Oberholtzer: 12.1IP, 8H/4ER, 10K:3BB
Jarred Cosart: 13IP, 9H/8ER, 12K:6BB

Scott Feldman: 7IP, 2H/0ER, 3K:4BB
Dallas Keuchel: 7IP, 5H/1ER, 6K:2BB
Lucas Harrell: 4.1IP, 7H/4ER, 2K:3BB

Brad Peacock: 5.2IP, 8H/5ER, 6K:5BB
Kevin Chapman: 2.2IP, 4H/3ER, 6K:3BB
---

Hitter of the Week: Uh. No.

Pitcher of the Week: Scott Feldman.