Growing Pains

GAME 74; Rays 5, Astros 0

GAME 75: Astros 3, Rays 1

GAME 76: Rays 8, Astros 0

GAME 77: Rays 5, Astros 2

Well, it was fun while it lasted. But the recent hot streak of wins has wound down, with 3 consecutive series losses. Most painfully, 2 of the 3 came against the team that has taken over the Astros' position as the Worst Team in the AL. That's right, we lost to the biggest losers in the league. And even worse (could it BE worse?), the formerly free swinging Astros hitters were outscored 19 to 5. That hurts.

The one win in this series, on Friday night, featured 8 shutout innings by Cosart, on 6 hits and 1 walk. Keuchel threw a complete game, but for his second consecutive loss, on Sunday. McHugh had a less than stellar start Friday nigh, with a dreadful inning in relief from Clemens. And Saturday's 8-0 pounding came at the expense of rookie Jake Buchanan, who was up for his debut filling in for Peacock. His line for the game -- 4 1/3 innings, 5 runs on 8 hits, 3 walks, and no strikeouts -- leaves him some room for improvement in his next try. But he didn't het much help from the rest of the team -- the Astros got only one hit in the game, and of course it was Altuve's.

Altuve's batting was one of the few bright spots in this series. Over the 4 games he went 7 for 15 with a pair of stolen bases. He now leads the league in batting average (.336), hits (105), and stolen bases (26). And for all that, he's only in fourth place among second basemen in the All Star voting. That's what happens when you play for the team that's been in the cellar for years. No respect. If he were playing in NY, our diminutive infielder would be an iconic hero. They'd call him the reincarnation of Peewee Reese. They'd nickname him Mighty Mouse. They'd sell millions of his jerseys. Well, I put the league batting title for Altuve on my wish list of 2014 Astros goals. Wouldn't that be something?!

So at the moment we are back to eking out a game per series, if that. That doesn't help much with either our Dust Eaters count or our comparisons to the 2005 Astros, who are about to make an Astro-nomical leap from league goat to winning the pennant. We always knew we'd be left eating that team's dust. But it's still fun to compare.

DUST EATERS COUNT: 3

The Astros record is now 33-44 (.429). There is only ONE team worse than the Astros in the AL -- the same Rays (.397) that just beat us in two series. There are only 2 teams worse than the Astros in the NL, and one tied with us: Cubs (.419), Dbacks (.405), and Padres (.429).

2005-2014 ASTROS COMPS

2005 Game 77 W/L record: 36-41 (.468) (tied for 5th worst in the NL); 13 games behind in NL Central

2014 Game 77 W/L record: 33-44 (.429) (2nd worst in the AL); 14 1/2 games behind in AL West

Disappointed in Steamy DC

GAME 72: Nationals 6, Astros 5
GAME 73: Nationals 6, Astros 5  

After weeks of looking forward to seeing the Astros in person in DC, all it took was a little heat to spoil the fun. A little heat, as in, heat index in the triple digits. I prudently decided to avoid being baked in the stands, and moved the game to my living room. A nice bottle of wine, a kosher meal that did not include hotdogs, and air conditioning made the games quite enjoyable.

Well, except for the outcome...

The Astros historically have a hard time with the Nationals. This year, with the Astros still in last place in their division and the Nats in first place in theirs, conditions weren't ideal for winning. Still, Houston's been playing well (the best record in the AL over the past few weeks) and the Nats were coming off a losing streak. So you never know.

Tuesday night's game was a huge disappointment. For one thing, before the game, I was thinking that by my not going in person, this would be the night that Dallas Keuchel would throw that no hitter that's on my list of goals for the 2014 Astros. As it turned out, Keuchel gave up a weak hit to the very first Nat he faced, so the pressure was off. It was mostly downhill from there. By the time that the Astros tried to make a serious rally in the 8th inning, Keuchel was long gone. He had an uncharacteristically weak start, giving up 4 ERs on 6 hits and 4 walks, striking out 4. He hit his 100 pitches before 5 innings were done, and that was it for the night. Downs put a couple of runners on in the sixth, both of which scored when Farnsworth inherited them. Williams, Sipp, and Zeid combined for nearly perfect work for the remainder of the game. And no, Sipp did not play in the outfield, even though this was an NL game.

The Astros came into the eighth inning down 6-1, after some disappointing failures to capitalize on scoring opportunities. They loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning on consecutive singles by Altuve, Springer, and Singleton, and then only managed to eke out a single run on MattyD's infield single. Come on - this was supposed to be one of those Big Innings! In the top of the eights, Castro singled, and MattyD doubled to put runners on the corners, no outs. Villar got an RBI single. But then Carter and Presley struck out to mute the rally. Back to the top of the lineup. Fowler got an RBI single to make it 6-3. Then Altuve doubled, scoring two, to make it 6-5. Sadly, Springer lined out to end the fun. The Astros failed to score in the ninth, losing the first game of the series. All in all, a very disappointing loss, despite having our ace on the mound, and 14 hits (2 each for Fowler, Springer, Dominguez, Villar, and FOUR -- 2 singles, 2 doubles -- for Altuve).

Wednesday night's game was a slightly shuffled version of the same thing. Astros starter gave up early runs, Astros have a big inning, Astros lose by 1 with a runner on base in the ninth. In this game, the Astros went as far as taking a 2 run lead with a 4-run fourth inning, but only managed to score one more run (on a wild pitch). Meanwhile, the Nats chipped away at the bullpen until they went ahead in the seventh.

Another common feature of the two DC games: In both games, Farnsworth came in with 2 runners on base and allowed them to score for the 5th and 6th runs. He gave up the 5th and 6th runs in the first game of the Rays series too... Hmmm. See a pattern? You know, I know the guy has had a good pitching career, but I'm just not warming up to him. His ERA is a mediocre 4.13, and that doesn't count the runs scored by inherited runners, which were tagged to the previous pitcher. It just seems like if Farnsworth's on the mound, runners score. If the young guys do this, they swap them back down to Oklahoma City. Are veterans somehow exempt?

Anyway, more disappointment in DC. And with 3 consecutive losses, we're losing ground in the Dust Eaters count.

DUST EATERS COUNT: 4! 

The Astros record is now 32-41 (.438). The Red Sox, who won their last 3, have pulled ahead of us, as have the Phillies and Mets. There are just 4 teams worse than the Astros, including the Rays (.384), Cubs (.429), Padres (.408), and Diamondbacks (.405).

2005-2014 ASTROS COMPS

2005 Game 73 W/L record: 33-40 (.452) (4th worst in the NL); 13 games behind in NL Central
2014 Game 73 W/L record: 32-41 (.438) (2nd worst in the AL); 12 1/2 games behind in AL West

JINXED! DOUBLE JINXED!!!

GAME 69: Rays 6, Astros 1
GAME 70: Astros 7, Rays 3
GAME 71: Rays 4, Astros 3

All it took for me to jinx the Astros into losing their first series in almost a month was that post about not being able to lose, no matter how hard they tried to. So of course, they then lose this weekend's series against the Rays -- their replacement for the Worst Team in Baseball. That's irony for you. We were supposed to sweep this one. Three consecutive no hitters. That's what happens when you assume that the Worst Team in Baseball can't win any games. People thought that about the Astros, too, and we surprised them. And then the Rays surprised us. Bummer.

The bad news this weekend was the absence of Altuve in the starting lineup. They've been benching him until his hand gets better after his painful HBP last week. At the same time, Springer has gone back into a strikeout frenzy. In today's Fathers Day game -- like last month's Mothers Day game -- he struck out 4 times. Over this series, he struck out in 9 of his 11 at bats. I don't think that these bad things are entirely unrelated. There's something about having Altuve right before Springer that is beneficial to his hitting. Perhaps it's just having Altuve so often on first base, ready to steal second, that makes the opposing pitchers more likely to throw fastballs to Springer. I'm convinced that they are a dynamic duo when placed together in the lineup -- Mutt and Jeff. Mighty Mouse and Superman.

It's funny how fast fans can get used to winning. Players, too, I guess. Not too long ago, I would have been satisfied with this series, with the Astros getting their single win to beat last year's record. Now I'm comparing our record to our 2005 record, setting a bar that's totally unrealistic for this group of kids. Probably...

You can go to the Astros website and read the details of what happened in each game this weekend. I'll just point out a couple of interesting tidbits. In today's loss, Porter tried the Sipp-in-the-Outfield trick again. (Click here for a description of when he did it in Arizona.) But it backfired! Last time, in a NL stadium, moving Sipp from the mound to the outfield and then back to the mound didn't have any particular negative side effects. But this time, in Houston's AL stadium, the Astros ended up losing their DH position when they put a pitcher in a non-mound position. (Note to Porter: Read the fine print.) I don't actually understand why Porter does all this switcheroo stuff with Sipp -- the guy pitches really well to both left- and right-handed batters. Why not just leave him in?

Another interesting tidbit: You don't always get what you want. So when the Astros were down 4-3 today, with two outs and one on in the bottom of the ninth, and then Singleton came to the plate to pinch-hit -- and you just KNEW in your heart he was going to get that walk off homer... Well, he didn't, and there's a lesson there. Some games have dream endings, but some games just don't. This one had the dream start (2 homers in the first inning), and the bummer ending.

Here's a good thing from the past few games. MattyD is batting well - he went 5 for 11, with a few RBIs in the series. Here's a not-so-good thing from this weekend: Two of the three starting pitchers had mediocre starts, lasting only 4 and 5 innings, and putting the outcome on the backs of the bullpen. The bullpen's improved, except maybe for Farnsworth. (When the younger guys don't perform well, they just send them back to Triple A; they aren't going to do that with Farnsworth.) Well, happy to have a day off tomorrow. Let them all rest up for this week's bake-off (temps in the 90s) in DC.

Next up: The Nats. The good news: The Astros are coming up here to the DC area to play a pair of games against the Nats on Tuesday and Wednesday. The bad news: We're getting a heatwave and it will be close to 100 degrees (with a chance of thundershowers) for the games this week. I love the Astros, but I really, really hate the heat. I think I originally became an Astros fan because the Astrodome was air conditioned. But I'm still planning to go to both games anyway.

DUST EATERS COUNT: 7! The Astros record is now 32-39 (.451). There are still SEVEN teams worse than the Astros, including the 2013 Champion Red Sox (.449), Rays (.386), Phillies (.433), Freakin' Mets (.449), Cubs (.418), Padres (.420), and Diamondbacks (.417).

NEW BLOG FEATURE: 2005-2014 Astros Comps

Horrible, terrible, awful, dreadful season start. And then they got warm, and then they got hot, and then hotter, and HOTTER, and then they won the pennant. That was the 2005 Astros.

For those who haven't already heard this 1000 times: I had an epiphany in 2005 at Spring Training. In what can only be described as a miraculous vision, while watching Bagwell and Biggio tossing the ball back and forth before the game in Osceola County Stadium, I saw the Astros playing in the World Series. Yep, play the Twilight Zone theme here. I don't tend to have visions of this sort, so it was pretty convincing to me. I was sure that the Astros were going to win the NL Pennant. Then they started the season with that 15-30 record, and the Chronicle published a tombstone with "RIP Astros Season" on it on June 1. And I was still sure that the Astros were going to win the pennant. I was so sure that I started writing up a season game diary at Spring Training, and kept it up through the whole season. You remember that season -- it was the one when the Astros did win the NL Pennant and went on to the World Series, just like I saw in my vision. (We don't need to talk about what happened in the Series; I only had a vision about playing in the World Series, not winning it.)

This was all before free blogs, and my 2005 season diary lives in 2 thick binders, complete with printouts of my own write-ups of every game, best/worst things of the game, photos, daily box stores and daily standings.

Okay, I'm not going on record to say that the Astros are going to win the 2014 AL Pennant. That was a team that featured great big league star pitchers (Clemens! Pettitte! Oswalt!) and terrific batters. Conservatively speaking, we should be looking for a winning Astros record in 2015, making the playoffs in 2016, and the AL Pennant in 2017. By then all those Worst-Team-First-Draft-Picks will be big league players and the Astros will have more than one courtesy slot in the All Star lineup.

But we did lead off 2014 with a horrible, terrible, awful, dreadful season start. And then right around Mothers Day, they got warm, and then they got hot... So just for grins, I'm adding another occasional feature to the Astros Fan in Exile blog: A comparison to the 2005 Astros at the same point in the season. Here goes...

2005-2014 ASTROS COMPS

2005 Game 70 W/L record: 30-39 (.443) (4th worst in the NL); 13 1/2 games behind in NL Central
2014 Game 70 W/L record: 32-38 (.457) (3rd worst in the AL); 10 games behind in AL West

And just a stroll through memory lane:

2005 Game 70 lineup: Taveras (CF), Biggio (2B), Berkman (1B), Ensberg (3B), Lane (RF), Everett (SS), Burke (LF), Ausmus (C), Clemens (P)
2005 Game 70 pitching: Clemens (W, 6-3), Franco, Springer

2014 Game 70 lineup: Fowler (CF), Springer (RF), Singleton (1B), Castro (C), Dominguez (3B), Carter (DH), Presley (LF), Gonzales (2B), Villar (SS)
2014 Game 70 pitching: Cosart (W, 6-5), Sipp, Fields, Zeid

A 4-Game Mega-Series in 2 Cities (Part 2: Houston)

GAME 67: Astros 5, Diamondbacks 1
GAME 68: Astros 5, Diamondbacks 4 (10 innings)

What can I say? When you're hot, you're hot. When you're winning, you aren't losing, no matter how hard you try. 

And the Astros tried their damnedest last night. They loaded the bases in the first inning with no outs, and only scored one run. They loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs and didn't score at all. They loaded the bases in the ninth inning with one out -- and didn't score. MattyD hit into rally-killing double plays in the 7th and 9th innings, was out on runner interference, and struck out 3 times - truly the head goat of this apparent fiasco. Altuve made a fielding error (only his second of the year!) that led to a Dback run, and was later hit on the hand by a pitch and left the game injured.  Corporan committed a catcher interference error.  With a precarious one-run lead in the ninth, Qualls gave up a first-pitch home run to blow the save.

And despite all this, they won. I'm not sure that the young dugout dancers ever really considered losing. So by the bottom of the tenth inning, when Carter hit his walk-off homer, the happy dancing moved to the field to celebrate another win.

There were obviously some good things that happened in this game too; the Astros managed to score 5 runs despite going 0-for-6 with RISP. Fowler and Altuve both had multi-hit games, continuing a pattern of leadoff base runners that's been critical to recent success. Corporan joined them in the multi-hit club, hitting 3 for 4 with a 2-run homer and a pair of singles. Singleton hit his third home run, as well as an RBI sac fly. Springer only had one hit, but made two  highlight reel-worthy diving catches in right field. The one in the eighth inning was so obviously going to be a hit that Goldschmidt took off from second base. That left Springer plenty of time to get up and toss the ball to Villar at second to complete an inning-ending double play. Is this guy Superman?

And then there was Chris Carter's leadoff game-winning homer in the bottom of the tenth.

While not lights-out, Feldman had a better game than his last two. He pitched into the seventh inning, giving up 3 runs (2 ER) on 4 hits, walked none, and struck out 6. That's significantly better than his last outing, when he didn't finish the second inning, and the previous one when he gave up 9 ERs! The bullpen did a good job: Downs and Fields combined for 1 2/3 scoreless innings.  Qualls (after 17 2/3 scoreless innings and 7 consecutive save conversions) gave up a first-pitch homer to tie it up, before shutting down the Dbacks for the rest of the ninth. Sipp pitched a 1-2-3-4 tenth inning. Yep, he made 4 outs, a K and 3 ground ball outs. But the third out didn't count because of catcher interference. And this was against the top of the Dback lineup. Are we sure that Sipp is a lefty-specialist, not a closer?

All in all, some groaning, cheering, nail-biting, and ultimately happy dancing fun, as the Astros break .450 on their way up up up.

With all that drama Thursday night, Wednesday's 5-1 win seems practically ho-hum. Just another Dallas Keuchel All Star-quality start, his sixth in the past seven starts. Bo Porter remarked afterwards, "If he's not an All-Star, who is?" I'm not so sure about his chances. Houston's young players are still not really on the radar of All Star voters or even most other team players and managers. If we only end up with a single player in the ASG, like previous years, it will most likely to be Altuve, who's leading the AL in runs and stolen bases. But Keuchel doesn't seem too worried about that. He kind of reminds me of Oswalt - just goes out there and does his thing, and does it really well. This time it was 8 innings, giving up one run on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 5. Just 101 pitches, and with a 4 run lead, he could have probably stayed in for another CG. But Porter brought in Qualls to throw a 1-2-3 ninth in the non-save situation.

The offensive star of the game was obviously Carter, who hit a pair of solo homers. The kid's batting average is still under .200 (well, it's .199), but he's been showing some serious muscle with 3 homers in the past 2 games, now leading the team with 13 long balls. That's including the grand slam he hit last weekend! It's amazing to see an Astros team that actually has real power hitting. Don't you love these strong, energetic, and happy-to-be-here kids!?!

The Astros will be playing 3 this weekend against the Rays, the new Worst Team in Baseball, since the Astros decided they didn't want to compete for those honors anymore. I don't want to say anything else and jinx it.

DUST EATERS COUNT: 7! The Astros record is now 31-37 (.456). There are now SEVEN teams worse than the Astros, including the 2013 Champion Red Sox (.455)! The others are the Rays (.373), Phillies (.438), Freakin' Mets (.439), Cubs (.406), Padres (.424), and Diamondbacks (.420).

Eat My Dust!

And the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed be you 

more than all the cattle and more than all the beasts of the field; you shall walk on your belly, 

and you shall eat dust all the days of your life." 

(Genesis 3:14)

Assuming that the Astros' star is ascending (and I don't just mean Springer!), I'm adding a new blog feature: The Dust Eaters count. As in "Eat My Dust!" That's the number of teams that are worse than the Astros. We may have been the worst team in the Major Leagues for years, but the times, they are a'changin'... So let's watch the Dust Eaters count rise, and see how high it can go this season. Because we all know, it's going to be 29 in the not-so-distant future.

DUST EATERS COUNT: 5! The Astros record is now 29-37 (.439). There are now FIVE teams worse than the Astros. Teams with worse records include the Rays (.364), Phillies (.419), Cubs (.419), Padres (.438), and Diamondbacks (.433). Still waiting for my season goal: To pass the Red Sox (.453).

A 4-Game Mega-Series in 2 Cities (Part 1: Arizona)

GAME 65: Astros 4, Diamondbacks 3  
GAME 66: Diamondbacks 4, Astros 1  

Talk about a split series. This week's games are kind of like a single four-game series, but split between two cities. Who schedules this stuff? But the juxtaposition of a pair of two-game series against the same two teams is good for one thing: It provides a mini-clinic in the difference between AL and NL style games. Remember when our pitchers used to bat? From their swings -- and even bunt attempts -- they don't seem to remember how!

But I'm actually not sure if I would really blame the unusual pitching-switching machinations in Game 1 on playing in a NL venue. In 50 years of NL play, I don't think that I've ever seen a relief pitcher throw to one batter, then be moved to a fielding position, before being brought back to the mound to pitch to another batter. But that's what Porter did to Sipp in the eighth inning of this game. It was the righty-lefty matchups that drove the moves, of course. Sipp came to the mound to pitch the seventh inning, replacing Cosart who was sitting on a 4-3 lead. He threw an uneventful inning, and then stayed in for the first batter of the eighth, lefty Parra. Strikeout! When Porter came out to the plate to make the pitching switch to Williams for right-handed slugger Paul Goldschmidt, he was carrying a fielder's glove. The glove was for Sipp, who was moved to right field for one batter. (Despite the wrong assumptions by the Astros' broadcasters, this was not Sipps' first experience in the outfield; Porter knew he had played center field in college.) But Sipp did not actually have to use his fielding skills; Williams walked his only batter on 5 pitches. Then Sipp was back on the mound to throw to lefty Montera. Strikeout! That was it for Sipp. Porter went to Farnsworth, a RHP, to pitch to lefty Prado. Strikeout! Click here to check out the video of this crazy inning. My dad would have hated this -- he can't stand all that righty-lefty pitching-switching. However, it all worked out to preserve the Astro's one-run lead another inning; then Qualls threw the ninth for the save.

The disappointing aspect of the Arizona half of this mega-series was the absence of George Springer, due to soreness in his right knee. I'm not saying that the recent Astros' success is all his doing, but there's a certain momentum that comes with having him in the lineup after Altuve. That momentum was really missing in Game 2. Brad Peacock pitched a very nice game, with only a first inning solo homer on his line over 6 innings. But the Astros barely eked out a single run, on MattyD's sixth inning RBI single, to tie it up. That left Peacock with a no-decision, and loser's rights went to Josh Fields, who gave up a pair of runs in the seventh. But it was truly a team event, with relief pitchers, fielders, and batters conspiring for the loss. Villar and Fowler both had fielding errors, contributing to Fields' run count. Farnsworth gave the DBacks a gratuitous insurance run in the ninth. Altuve was 0 for 4, stranding loaded bases to end the second inning. But as I often say, there's always something to like in a game. The brightest spot in this loss was Jon Singleton's line -- batting third, he went 3 for 4, with a double and two singles, scoring the Astros' only run. No big boomers in this game, but he seems to be settling in at the plate.

Now home to Houston for the second half of this Mega-Series against the Snakes...

Slammin'....!

GAME 62: Astros 5, Twins 4
GAME 63: Twins 8, Astros 0
GAME 64: Astros 14, Twins 5

Another series win!!! 

I was puzzled when I went to my neighbors' house on Saturday afternoon to check their newspaper for the Friday night game outcome -- although the game was only in Minnesota (not the West Coast), it was shown as a Late Game with no results. Extra innings? Nope --  the start was delayed almost an hour and a half due to rain. No matter, it took the Twins longer than that to get their first run off Astros pitching. Keuchel threw another beauty, although it took more pitches than some of his recent games. He pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up 6 hits and two walks, for his seventh season win, a new personal record. Tony Sipp, relieving in the seventh, gave up runs for only the second time this  season -- 3 ERs on 3 hits. Following this season's fun new pattern, the Astros scored their runs on homers: Solo shots by Gonzales and Dominguez, in the third and fourth innings respectively, and a single-homer combo from our dynamic duo, Altuve and Springer in the sixth. The additional run came on Altuve's single, scoring Fowler, who had hit a triple to lead off the sixth inning.

The game I missed on Saturday was notable more for the Astros pitching than for the lack of hitting. Feldman has been pitching less and less like an ace recently, that role belonging now to Keuchel, with McHugh close behind (who would thunk it coming into the season!?). Feldman had a 1-2-3 first inning, but in the second, he hit a batter, walked 2, gave up a single, and thanks to a pair of fielding errors, allowed 3 runs, all unearned. After he had thrown 43 pitches in the inning,  Porter pulled him with 2 outs, saying that he wasn't going to allow Feldman to throw 50 pitches in one inning and risk his next start. Paul Clemens came in to relieve him, getting the third out, and then pitching a 1-2-3 third inning, before melting down in the fourth: Four walks, a single, and a double, allowing 3 more runs. This is the second game in a row in which Clemens pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and then totally lost his control in the next inning - not a good pattern for a long reliever. It didn't really matter in this game's outcome, since the Astros didn't score a single run. But it mattered for Clemens, who was optioned to Oklahoma City the next day.

You've gotta love a team that knows how to fight back! Just a day after the Twins humiliated the Astros with that 8-0 shutout, the kids came back slammin'... Literally! First career grand slams for Carter and Singleton, solo homers for Fowler and Springer, helping to rack up a season-high 14 runs.

With 2 of the 3 games in the weekend series against Minnesota on the Sabbath, when I close up my iPad, I got lucky that the Astros blowout game was  Sunday afternoon. Virtually ever member of the team had something to contribute. The Astros had a modest 5-3 lead, when Carter came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh inning. BANG! Make that 9-3! Singleton's slam came with two outs in the ninth inning. Cool under pressure! (Well, as much pressure as a big lead in the last inning can generate.) It was his second big hit of the day; he also hit a massive double to lead off the 7th. Singleton was batting cleanup in this game (which I predicted in my last blog post), and that big bat potential was the reason why. Fowler, who has been very hot since being moved into the leadoff role, went 2 for 5 with a solo homer and single. Altuve went 1 for 3 with a single, a walk and a HBP, giving him the opportunity to steal another pair of bases (leads the league at 23). Springer hit a solo homer. Grossman went 2 for 3 and scored 3 runs. Villar, whose recent drought was turning into a legendary oh-fer, went 3 for 5. Corporan only got 1 hit, but it was the one that scored the Astros first run in the second inning. Dominguez was the only batter not to get a hit, but he walked and scored. Like I said, something for everyone...

Well, nearly everyone. Houston's pitchers had a mixed day. McHugh got off to a very nice start, but soon started having control problems. Although he had a 5-1 lead when he left the game, his 4 1/3 innings did not qualify him for the win. Fields allowed both of McHugh's walked runners to score in the 5th, before pitching a scoreless 6th. Our new veteran reliever, Farnsworth, allowed a pair of singles and a pair of walks in the 7th -- not a good outing for him. Then Darin Downs threw the remaining 2 2/3 innings without giving up a run, to end on a happy note.

The next couple of weeks will be interesting ones: The Astros are playing 4 games against the Diamondbacks, and 7 games against the Rays -- both teams that have worse records than ours! If there's any time in our schedule that begs for a winning streak, it's now! The only other games that the Astros will be playing in the next 2 weeks are against the Nats, here in Washington, and I will definitely be there to cheer!

The Future is Looking Very Bright

GAME 59: Astros 7, Angels 2
GAME 60: Angels 4, Astros 0
GAME 61: Astros 8, Angels 5

Another series win!!!

I went into this season thinking that this is a good time to get to know the new faces, batting stances, and stats for the future Astros team that will be a contender -- starting maybe 3 years from now. Over the past couple of months, I've kicked up my expectations: Maybe 2 years from now this will be a winning team? But in the past few weeks, the Astros are starting to look like a team that can win games now. No, I'm not calling for a 2005-style upset, where Houston went from 15-30 on to win the pennant. That year, despite the June 1 "RIP Astros Season" tombstone from the Chronicle, I was undeterred from my faith that the Astros would play in the World Series. (It's all documented in two 3-ring binders that I started at Spring Training and kept up through the sad ending to the World Series.) But that was an Astros team of veteran great players (Bagwell! Biggio!) and seasoned star pitchers (Clemens! Pettitte! Oswalt!), whose day had simply come.  This year, we've got a bunch of kids, with energy and speed and high hopes for their day coming. Even so, I'm starting to believe that their day is coming much sooner that I had thought back in March.

Our pitching rotation might be (mostly) youngsters, but we have enough starters to keep the Astros winning games. More than enough - they had to send Oberholtzer back down last week, not because he wasn't producing, but because they didn't need 6 starters. The bullpen's settling in. And the hitting has improved significantly from the first month of the season. When we went to see the Astros in Baltimore on Mothers' Day, Altuve was the only Houston player on the field batting over .250. Now Altuve's batting well over .300, and the Over .250 Club includes Fowler, Springer, Gonzales, and Dominguez (on a good day). There are still too many players batting under .200 (Carter, Villar, Grossman, Corporan, and --for the moment -- Singleton), but the team batting as a whole is more productive.

The way we can tell is this: The Astros haven't lost a series since they dropped 2 of 3 games in Anaheim May 19-21. They've tied, won, and even swept the Mariners, Royals, Orioles, and Angels since then.  You know what else? The Astros are no longer the worst team in baseball! Their .426 record beats the Rays (.377) in the AL, and 3 teams -- the Phillies, Cubs, and Diamondbacks -- in the NL. That's what happens when you win 12 of the last 20 games. If they keep this up, the Astros aren't getting the first pick in the 2015 draft!

The Astros unprecedented third consecutive first draft pick took place last evening, before the end of the Shavuot holiday, so I missed seeing it live. As soon as the holiday ended, I rushed to Astros.com on my iPad to find out who they selected in what hopefully will be our last first draft pick for a very long time. The Astros went with Brady Aiken, a 17-year old So Cal high school lefty flame-thrower, who looks like he came out of Central Casting to star in a sentimental baseball movie. Really, doesn't this kid look like he ought to be playing a baseball star, not a baseball game? If he develops the way the Astros are dreaming about, this guy is going to be a super fan favorite! Looks don't matter as much as stats... but still... Okay, more seriously, is this a kid we are going to see on the mound when he's 20 years old, with 4 solid pitches, and a flaming fast ball? He's so young, who knows how he'll develop, but he's got the overall look of a big league pitcher, and he hasn't been worn out by overuse in college baseball. Is he going to be our ace by the time he's legally able to buy a drink? I guess he'll have to duke that out with Mark Appel! WOW!

Following the first pick on Day 1, the Astros selected a couple of potential power bats, Derek Fisher and A.J. Reed, both college players. It was great to see one of my favorite players from the pennant winning Astros, Adam Everett, announcing the Astros picks.

Okay, just a couple of words about the Angels series. We won! (I really ought to leave it at those two, considering that I only got to watch the first inning of game 1 and the last few innings of game 3, due to the religious holiday.) But I have to at least mention that this was the first big league series for brand new Astro, Jonathan Singleton. He was signed to a unusually long and large contract for a newbie, and brought up this week from OKC. Clearly the Astros see him as a long-term impact player. He had a good impact in his first game: His first ML hit was an 8th inning home run in Tuesday night's 7-2 win. He had an oh-fer night on Wednesday -- as did most of his teammates, as the Astros were shut out. He got one hit and scored a run in last night's win. So welcome to the Big Leagues, Jon Singleton. And stay off the weed. 

Recapping the starting pitching for this series: McHugh got the win in game 1, after pitching 5 shutout innings (97 pitches), giving up only 2 hits and 2 walks. Although he ended up with the loss, Cosart did not have a bad start in game 2 - he threw into the 7th inning, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits. But NO (zero! zilch!) run support! Peacock didn't have his best stuff in game 3, throwing his 5 innings, giving up 3 runs of 6 hits, one walk, one K. But he got the win with plenty of run support - half of it after he left the game. The big 8th inning surge started with 4 walks, followed by a pair of 2-out 2-RBI hits from our Dynamic Duo, Altuve and Springer. That 8-3 lead should have led to an easy win, but Paul Clemens loaded the bases with no outs in the 9th inning. Kudos to the calm veteran, Chad Qualls, who got the save, after only allowing one of the runners to score. (And to be fair, kudos to Clemens too. He took down Pujols, Hamilton, and Kendrick for a 1-2-3 eighth inning. And the first two guys who got on base in the ninth did so on shaky fielding. He didn't pitch as bad as "bases loaded, no outs" sounds.)

One more notable item: Porter has jiggled the batting order a bit, putting Fowler back as lead-off, followed by Altuve and Springer. I like the change - Fowler's hitting has increased batting at the top of the order (and hopefully his steals will too), and it still keeps Altuve and Springer batting one after the other. Altuve gets on base, Springer knocks him in. That seems to be a good pattern, as Springer has quickly taken the team lead in RBIs. Singleton's batting 5th, for now at least. If he starts knocking out the homers he was brought up to hit, I'd expect to see him in cleanup.

Now that the 2 day religious holiday is over, I still don't get to watch ball games.  WAH! The Sabbath starts at sundown tonight, and tomorrow's a day game. I won't get to watch our new hot ball team in a live game till Sunday. Well, let's just say, we all need to have our priorities in life.

Seeya online on Sunday!

Just a Split, Not a Sweep

GAME 55: Astros 3, Orioles 1
GAME 56: Astros 2, Orioles 1
GAME 57: Orioles 4, Astros 1
GAME 58: Orioles 9, Astros 4

After winning 7 in a row, it was a downer to lose the second pair of games in the Orioles series at MMP. Can you hear what a change in world-view that is? Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was just looking to win one game in each series, hoping for about .333 on the season - an improvement over last year. Now it's disappointing to split a 4-game series, instead of sweeping. Well, I didn't expect that the kids were going to win every game for the rest of the season. But things are sure looking up!

The excellent offense of recent games slowed down considerably on the return to Minute Maid Park. That's a bit ironic, given how many of the Astros' runs this year have come courtesy of homers, and MMP is a very home run friendly ballpark. Happily the Astros starting rotation, except for our ace, are still pitching some nice games. On Thursday, Brad Peacock threw like he knew his future was on the line - 6 innings, giving up only 1 run, striking out 8. Unfortunately, he left the game before the Astros took the lead. They had just enough offense, with a 2-run Springer Dinger in the 7th making the difference between W and L. Friday night it was Oberholzer dealing, also looking to secure his place in the rotation. He pitched 7 innings, giving up only 1 run on 4 hits. His teammates barely helped out, but happily Villar -- after going oh-fer-a-coupla-dozen -- came through with a RBI double to allow the Astros to eke out the win. Saturday afternoon, Keuchel broke his string of 3 virtually complete games, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. Not terrible, but not good enough without run support. Altuve and Springer uncharacteristically went 0 for 8 together, and set the tone for a loss. Let's not even talk about Sunday's mess. Feldman was banged up for a bundle of runs, and though the Astros scored more runs than in the previous game, it wasn't anywhere near good enough. So settle for the series split and move on.

In the rotation battle, Peacock won, and Oberholzer was sent back down to Triple A. But bigger news out of OKC: Singleton's coming!!! He's joining the big league team NOW. Just in time for me to go offline for a few days for religious observance (Shavuot). WAH! Can't wait to see what happens next! And can't wait to hear who we pick in the draft Thursday night. Will check as soon as the holiday ends.

Chag sameach! (That's Hebrew for Happy Holiday!)