Something Fishy in Houston

GAME 103: Marlins 2, Astros 0
GAME 104: Marlins 7, Astros 3
GAME 105: Marlins 4, Astros 2

The Astros' homecoming against Florida was not quite welcoming -- they were swept in the three game weekend series. I may have to dig a bit to find my something-to-like about a sweep at home, but I'll try.

The two most notable Astros players in the series were game 1 starter Dallas Keuchel and our irrepressible infielder Jose Altuve. Keuchel had a terrific game -- he threw 7 innings, giving up 2 runs (0 ER) scored due to a fielding error. Sadly, Houston batters couldn't manage to eke out a couple of runs in support, so he ended up getting tagged with the loss. Still, it's great that he resumed the form that made him such a standout pitcher earlier this season. Unfortunately, both Cosart and McHugh were hit up for early-inning runs in their starts, and did not have such positive game stats or much offensive support -- a good recipe for a big fat "L."

On the offensive side, Altuve just kept doing what he does best -- hitting. Over the three games he went 7 for 13, including a leadoff homer in game 3. This barrage of hits has Altuve leading the Major Leagues in batting average (.344) and hits (148), while leading the AL in stolen bases (42) and second in the AL for doubles (30). How cool is this?

The Astros are still missing some of their key position players, due to injury. Most notably, our center field depth is significantly depleted, with Fowler, Springer, and Presley all on the DL. Springer and Presley might be back this week, but Fowler's not expected on the field until sometime in August. In the meantime, rookie Hernandez is getting a lot of playing time. He's acquitting himself well at the plate, and is learning to play  MMP's dreadful centerfield the hard way -- by experience. Unfortunately for him, that included Friday night's failed catch that resulted in the Marlins' only 2 (unearned) runs. Says a lot for Dallas Keuchel that he went up to Hernandez after the game -- not to blame him, but to check on how he was doing after that blunder cost the game.

Unfortunately for the Astros' W-L record, the next series is against the best team in the league -- a hometown rematch with Oakland. It's going to be a long week. Hell, it's a long season!

DUST EATERS COUNT: BACK DOWN TO 1! 

The Astros record is now 42-63 (.400). There's one team in either league that's worse -- the Rangers (.390). And they are pretty damn close. The Astros are due to get the second pick in next year's draft, because of not signing Aiken. If they come in last place again this year, do they get the first TWO picks?

Grandparent Camp

GAME 97: White Sox 3, Astros 2
GAME 98: White Sox 4, Astros 3
GAME 99: Astros 11, White Sox 7

GAME 100: Astros 3, Athletics 2
GAME 101: Athletics 9, Astros 7
GAME 102: Athletics 13, Astros 1

I barely had time to catch any baseball games this past week, as my husband and I were in New Jersey running Grandparent Camp -- spending long summer days doing activities of interest to 3-year old boys while their parents were busy with work and school.

We had a great time taking short hikes, going to the zoo, making picnics, riding trains, watching construction sites, reading books, going out for ice cream, and spraying shaving cream at each other. (Not to mention chasing crazed wet escapees from the shower.)

It's not that we were too busy babysitting to watch ball games. The kids go to bed by about 7. The grandparents stay up later, but after a day of playing with active twin boys, we were pretty zonked too! I did manage to catch an inning here and there, but this wasn't a week for baseball-watching immersion. (Especially those super late night games out on the West Coast!)

But I did manage to catch an inning here and there. Unfortunately, the day game on the day after I returned home from NY -- which I was looking forward to watching without interruption -- was arguably the worst game that the Astros have played all season. Wrong side of a 13-1 blowout against the division leading Athletics. Another poor start for Feldman (6 ER in less than 6 innings). At least it wasn't a shutout; Carter hit a solo homer for the Astros' single run.  And at least Altuve got his 2 hits.

On the good news side of the Astros' series losses to the White Sox and Athletics... yesterday's game was the only really lopsided loss. The two losses in Chicago were close games, and then the Astros scored double-digit runs in the game they won. They then won a close game for the Oakland opener. They had a big 5-run inning in the middle game against the Athletics, although their total of 7 runs was not enough to catch up. When you go into the 8th inning down 9-2, it's a pretty big hole to dig your way out of. That mess belonged to Brad Peacock, who gave up 7 runs in his 3 2/3 innings. (At least he got out of the first inning, unlike his previous start.) And then yesterday's crash and burn... Bottom line: We won one game in each series, right on schedule.

In other Astros news, mostly not good... Springer has joined Fowler on the DL, cutting into his opportunities to smack a few more homers in his rookie year. Maybe when he comes back he will be able to shake loose of his propensity for strikeouts. That 4 K game that we saw in Baltimore on Mothers' Day was, alas, part of an ongoing pattern -- his strikeout rate is around 40%! Fowler's traveling with the team, but isn't working out yet. Don't look for him in the lineup any time soon. With Fowler, Springer, and Presley all on the DL, there's a bit of a hole in center field. It's been nicely filled with an unexpectedly happy newbie story -- Kike (I wish he'd spell his nickname differently!) Hernandez is doing just fine at the plate and in the field.

More bad news: The Astros not only failed to sign Brady Aiken, their #1 draft pick; they managed to piss off the family, the agent, and the players' union. As far as I can tell, they did not actually do anything illegal by lowering their offer dollars in response to an issue discovered in the physical exam. But they gave the team a bit of a black eye. Worse, when the Aiken deal fell through, a couple of other signings fell through as well, for financial reasons. It's not 2007, but it's not too good either.

Our twin grandsons (and their parents) are coming to visit us in Maryland for a few days next month, and I'm already thinking about our plans. Definitely another shaving cream battle out in the back yard. And maybe I'll go buy one of those fat bat and ball sets to get them started on their baseball training!

DUST EATERS COUNT: 3! 

The Astros record is now 42-60 (.412). Not too much dust trailing that record; most of the dust is right in our face! There's one AL team that's worse -- the Rangers (.392). And over in the NL there are 2 bigger losers -- the Cubs (.410) and the Rockies (.406).

Baseball and Poker Highlights...

GAME 94: Red Sox 8, Astros 3
GAME 95: Astros 3, Red Sox 2
GAME 96: Red Sox 11, Astros 0

After the fun of the sweep in Dallas, the Astros came back home to Houston just in time to go into a bit of a slump against last years' World Series champs, the Red Sox. Let's just say that the good news is that the Astros got their one win to keep them ahead of last year's record. In today's close of the first "half" of the season, the Astros looked just like the team of kids that they actually are. The starting pitcher lasted 1/3 of an inning. The defense committed 3 errors. The batters only managed three hits, all singles, while striking out 12 times. Everyone in the starting line up struck out at least once except (ironically, last year's strikeout king) Carter. All around miserable game. But while some fans are booing and calling for Porter's ouster, I say, just take it in stride. This is who we are this season - sometimes high energy winners, sometimes can't-do-anything-right losers. Growing pains...

So let's talk about a couple of pretty cool things instead of series losses. First of all, one can't go too far wrong talking about Altuve, who's going to the All Star game with 130 hits and 41 stolen bases. That, sports fans, is a Major League record for the hits/SB combination going into the All Star Break. Altuve is also carrying .335 batting average (just barely edged out of leading the league by Adrian Beltre after today's 0 for 4 game), which positions him well for one of the four season goals I set back in May - winning the AL Batting Title. Hey, this could really happen! I just hope that Altuve's lack of stature  (and I don't mean that physically) with baseball fans outside of Houston doesn't result in his getting slighted in the All Star Game. Who doesn't remember Hunter Pence in 2009?

In other cool sports news, my to-be son-in-law, Aaron Kaiser (Tweeting as ManchildDC) is playing in Day 6 of the World Series of Poker Hold'em Main Event. Out of 6683 players who entered the tournament last week, as of this writing Aaron is still in the remaining 4 dozen. I'm not personally a big fan of poker or of gambling in general, but I'm a huge fan of Aaron! Very exciting for him!!! Will update this post later...

UPDATE: Aaron came in 36th place!!! 

The Bad, the Ugly, and the Good

GAME 78: Braves 3, Astros 2
GAME 79: Braves 4, Astros 0

GAME 80: Astros 6, Braves 1

GAME 81: Astros 4, Tigers 3
GAME 82: Tigers 4, Astros 3
GAME 83: Astros 6, Tigers 4

GAME 84: Mariners 10, Astros 4
GAME 85: Mariners 13, Astros 2

GAME 86: Mariners 5, Astros 2

GAME 87: Angels 5, Astros 2

GAME 88: Angels 7, Astros 6

GAME 89: Angels 11, Astros 5

GAME 90: Angels 6, Astros 1

GAME 91: Astros 12, Rangers 7
GAME 92: Astros 8, Rangers 3

GAME 93: Astros 8, Rangers 4

I went out of town and just look what happened: The Astros went on a serious losing binge, including being swept in two consecutive series. One of these series was the much anticipated matchup with my parents' team, the Mariners, while I was visiting in Seattle. The Astros were clobbered. But tomorrow is another day, and there's always another game (until October), and then of course, there's always next year. So let's just not talk about it...

I came home from my latest West Coast trip just in time to watch the Astros complete a sweep over the Rangers. Happily, that series resulted in pushing the Rangers one tenth of a percentage point below the Astros in the standings, so we're no longer the worst team in the Major Leagues -- just barely!

The most notable aspect of the Rangers series was the run production - the Astros scored 28 runs in 3 days, including 7 more home runs. At 100 homers so far this season, the Astros are third in the league for long balls. That's a fun change for a team that hasn't been noted for power hitting in a while. (But alas, we're in the cellar for Team BA - just .239 - and are leading the league in strikeouts.) Altuve went 5 for 13 with 3 steals, breaking the Astros' record for most hits before the All Star Game.

With all this offensive support, the Astros managed to win all three games quite decisively. The starting pitching, while not lights-out, managed to hold their own, and all three starters inked the wins. Cosart got his ninth season win, pitching 5 innings, giving up 6 runs (5 ER) on 9 hits. Peacock had a very nice start, earning his third win with 2 runs in 5 2/3 innings. Keuchel gave up 4 runs in the first 2 innings and then settled in for 4 2/3 scoreless innings, for his ninth win. One notable plus in the starting pitching was the dearth of walks - only 3 BB in the series. With somewhat short outings for the starters, the bullpen got quite a bit of action, and the relievers accounted very nicely for themselves. They gave up only 2 runs in 9 2/3 innings.

Meanwhile, in other Astros news...

The Astros have been experimenting with some of the minor league prospects, with mixed results.  One game in Seattle featured the ML debuts of both Domingo Santana and Enrique Hernandez (with the unfortunate nickname "Kike," although it's pronounced "Kee-Kay"). The much anticipated Santana went on to go 0 for 13 with 11 strikeouts, many of them painfully ugly. That got him a ticket back to OKC, with Robby Grossman called back up to replace him. Meanwhile, after 9 games, Hernandez is still in the bigs, batting .345 with a homer, a triple, and a pair of doubles. 

Altuve was voted into the AL All Star Team by the players. It was kind of a "Duh!" choice, since he's leading the league in BA, total hits, and steals. That's only good enough for 4th place among fan voters, given the Astros' poor national visibility, but hopefully the ASG manager will have the sense to let him come in sometime during the game. Dallas Keuchel is still in the last round of voting for the final ASG position, but I don't hold out much hope that he'll get in.

In the bad news department, Fowler has been on the on the DL for the past 2 weeks, with a right intercostal strain. The good news is that Springer has been playing CF quite athletically. Take a look at this catch for a sample!

One more piece of not-so-good news: The Astros are still negotiating with Brady Aiken, their first draft pick from this year. The holdup seems to be a health issue - some problem with his elbow ligament. It would be a huge shame if they couldn't sign him, but a bigger shame if he never makes it to the big leagues because of a health problem.

DUST EATERS COUNT: 1! 

The Astros record is now 39-54 (.419). There is just 1 team worse than the Astros -- the Rangers (.418). There is also one NL team that is tied for our sad placement - the DBacks (.419). Unless we can get a boost off of that sweep in Dallas, we might start thinking about our next first pick in the draft...

2005-2014 ASTROS COMPS

I think it's about time to drop this feature, since the 2005 team is well on its way in its phenomenal ascent from the cellar to the pennant, while the 2014 team is pretty much treading water. But, as they say, "There's always next year..." 

2005 Game 93 W/L record: 47-46 (.505) (tied for 7th best in the NL); 13 1/2 games behind in NL Central

2014 Game 93 W/L record: 39-54 (.419) (2nd worst in the AL); 19 games behind in AL West