The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat

GAME 20: Astros 7, Mariners 2
GAME 21: Astros 5, Mariners 2
GAME 22: Mariners 5, Astros 3

The Astros hadn't won a series since the opening week games against the Yankees. After being on the wrong side of back-to-back sweeps, the team wasn't looking too good. And then, they found the key to winning: Play the Mariners.

Up until the very last pitch of this afternoon's game, I thought I'd be writing about an Astros sweep today. Going into the ninth inning with a 3-2 lead, playing against a team that was in a worse losing streak than the Astros, it seemed like a day for optimism. But that very last pitch was the one that Seattle's Kyle Seager knocked over the outfield wall with two runners on base, giving the Mariners a walk off win. Bummer. It is hard to feel too sad about the series, when the Astros won the other two games, breaking their own long losing streak. But a win today would have lifted the Astros out of the AL cellar, at least for one day.

The good news: Cosart, whose last start only went 1/3 of an inning into the game, pitched very nicely today, allowing just a two run homer in 6 2/3 innings. Qualls was not the goat for the blown save this time - he pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning. The BS honors went to Josh Fields, who allowed a pair of singles to open the ninth, before the 3 run homer ended the fun. Clearly the Astros haven't yet quite figured out the right approach to closers. On the rare occasion that they go into the ninth with a lead, allowing multiple hits before even a single out just doesn't inspire confidence. Surpassing last year's 29 blown saves is not a goal to aspire to.

The best pitching performance of this series was by a very unlikely candidate: Collin McHugh was called up Monday from the Triple A team to replace our injured ace. Tuesday night he found himself on the mound. Although his small sample of previous major league pitching was pretty unimpressive (0-8 record, with an ERA close to 9), he pitched like an ace last night: 6 2/3 scoreless innings, 3 hits - all singles, 12 strikeouts, and no walks.  With  Feldman on the 15 day DL, that performance certainly earns McHugh another start or two in the big leagues! The Astros offense again came largely from homers - one each by Castro, Carter and Dominguez. I watched this game on my iPad after Passover ended last night, while repacking all of the Passover dishes.

Due to the holiday, I missed the fun and games on Monday night, when the Astros broke their losing streak with a big 7-2 win. However, my dad didn't want me to be unaware of the excitement, and texted me game updates off and on throughout the game. I don't actually use my phone on the Sabbath and holidays, but text messages cause the phone to ding and the message pops up on the screen. So I saw a few of the game messages during the game. Dallas Keuchel had a good start, allowing 2 runs in 6 innings, and the Qualls/Albers/Fields bullpen team threw 3 scoreless. More homers in that game (Dominguez and Krauss).

The homers are fun, and welcome after several years without much power hitting, but in nearly every other offensive category the Astros are in the cellar. They have the fewest runs in the AL (64, compared to the league-leading White Sox's 115), the worst overall BA (just .200) and OBP (.270) in the majors, and almost the worst AL strikeout record. It's fun to see the homers and the stolen bases and athletic fielding plays - the kind of baseball you see with an energetic young team. Since my expectations for this rebuilding season are so low, I'll take the fun, and hope that the rest (batting and pitching) improve over time. Meanwhile, at .318 our win record is just about where it was in 2013.

Next stop: Home! Series against the Athletics and Nationals at MMP.