Proud to Lose to Brad Ausmus!

GAME 32: Tigers 2, Astros 0
GAME 33: Tigers 11, Astros 4

GAME 34: Tigers 3, Astros 2

GAME 35: Astros 6, Tigers 2

SPECIAL FEATURE: 
There's an Ausmus photo album with a never-before-seen VIDEO at the end of this post!

You won't hear me complaining about the Astros losing this series to the Tigers. Since the Astros aren't going anywhere interesting in October, I'm cheering for Detroit to win it all this year. With Brad Ausmus in his first year of managing a big league team, I don't mind losing a few games for a good cause. We always knew that Ausmus should be running a team - with all of his baseball smarts and experience, it was an obvious move. Just sorry that he's not managing the Astros' journey back to being a contender a couple of years from now! Meanwhile, let's hope that Ausmus is the AL Manager of the Year when the Tigers win the pennant!

Since the Tigers have the best record this season, and the Astros have the worst, this series wasn't anywhere as bad as it could have been. Only one game was a blowout loss, after Oberholzer, Cisneros, and Fields teamed up to give up 11 runs in Game 2. (Fields' 5 ERs in 2/3 inning got him a free trip to OKC.)  But Cosart and Oberholzer had very nice starts, and the Astros made the Tigers bring out their closer twice. They even came within 90 feet of tying it up in the ninth in Game 3.

And, oh, did I mention that they WON a game? Dallas Keuchel threw a beauty this afternoon, pitching into the 8th inning, giving up 2 runs, with 7 Ks and no walks. Three Astros homers in this game, including George Springer's first big league dinger. And Altuve hit a 2-out, 2-run double to give the Astros their first lead in about a week. Unfortunately, given that this was a 4-game series, the single win doesn't keep the Astros on track to improve on last year's dreadful loss record.

It's not a surprise that I have so many old pictures of Ausmus from Spring Training and the Astros' yearly jaunts up to DC to play the Nats. He was one of the best looking guys in baseball! So here's a little photo tribute to Brad Ausmus. ENJOY!

And, last but not least, a never before seen video of Brad Ausmus PITCHING - batting practice to his 2 daughters at Spring Training. (I told him I wasn't filming the kids.)