April 26, 2016
Mariners 11, Astros 1
W: Karns (2-1) L: Keuchel (2-3)
There was a Major League Baseball game in Seattle last night.
It involved only one professional baseball team.
fin
Swept Away
April 21, 2016
Rangers 7, Astros 4
W: Griffin (2-0) L: Keuchel (2-2) S: Tolleson (6)
HR: Rasmus 2, Desmond, Beltre
I never meant to cause you any sorrow
I never meant to cause you any pain
This is not how this season was supposed to go.
When your defending Cy Young winner faces a #5 starter, you’re not supposed to be out of the game in the second inning.
When your team is hitting .238/.310/.443, that shouldn’t plummet to .174/.229/.348 when runners are in scoring position.
For two batters, it went how it was supposed to go: Altuve gets on, Springer doubles him home.
For two batters in the bottom of the first, it went how it was supposed to go: then Keuchel gave up two soft singles and a home run. Boom, 3-1 bad guys.
Honey, I know, I know
I know times are changing
It’s time we all reach out
For something new, that means you too
The rest of the game was a predictable pattern of getting scattered single runs and giving up more, never once threatening to take a lead.
We know something has to give… but a lot of things need to change. What will be Luhnow’s first move?
You say you want a leader
But you can’t seem to make up your mind
Which player will step up to get things on the right track? Who is the leader of this team?
I’ll worry about that tomorrow. For now, I’ll choose to concentrate on a genius gone too soon.
I think you better close it
And let me guide you to the purple rain
No good comes from going to Arlington
April 19, 2016
Rangers 7, Astros 5
W: Holland (2-0) L: Feldman (0-2) S: Tolleson (4)
HR: Altuve (5), Springer (4), Fielder (2), Moreland (2)
The Astros produced a night of mostly frustration, which is all too common when visiting whatever the hell it is they call the baseball stadium in Arlington. The result was a 7-5 loss, pushing the Astros to 5-9 and visibly fraying nerves in the GZ.
Feldman put his team in a 3-0 hole in the first via a complete inability to put hitters away. After a one-out error, Fielder punished an 0-2 curveball for a 400’+ shot down the RF line to make it 2-0. Three straight 2-strike singles followed, it was 3-0, and it was clear it would be a long night.
Do be sure to give the veteran Feldman credit for battling – he had very little in his arsenal, but managed to hold the Rangers to a lone run for his remaining 4 innings, and while 5 IP, 4 R is hardly what you want from your starter, it’s not an automatic loss, either.
Meanwhile, a lack of situational hitting ONCE AGAIN doomed the Astros. It’s not just the 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position, but the inability to move runners over. For example – 2nd inning: 3 straight doubles to start the inning make it 3-2, Holland is on the ropes, and Castro comes to the plate. Does he move the runner over? AW HELL NO. Harmless bouncer, 1-3, Marwin stays at second, threat effectively over. Repeat ad nauseum.
Fields came on in relief in the 6th, gave up 2 quick runs before Devenski had to bail him out, and that was effectively the ballgame.
Royals 6, Astros 2: SSDD
April 14, 2016
Royals 6, Astros 2
W: Kennedy (2-0) L: Fister (1-1) S: Davis (4)
HR: Moustakas (3), Altuve (3)
Win Probability (or lack thereof)
Blinded by the lights
This team dropped a deuce
When Springer dropped the ball in right
Blinded by the lights…
It was one thing to rationalize the 2-4 start. The Yankees are going to be salty at home, and dropping 2 in Milwaukee is hardly ideal, but nothing to get worked up over.
And in a vacuum, dropping 3 of 4 to the defending champs is not a big deal either. But the way the team has LOOKED, on the other hand…
Foster gave up a solo shot in the first, and that wouldn’t be worrisome, except for the fact that this supposedly stout lineup was getting no-hit by IAN FREAKING KENNEDY for five innings.
The wheels came off in the sixth.
A pop-up single and two fly outs gave no sign that anything was wrong. Then Springer lost the third out in the lights, and Fister proceeded to show all the mental composure of Mitch Meluskey on a cocaine binge. Double, double, double, single, 6-0 Royals, good night Astros.
An Altuve opposite-field shot broke the ice for the good guys, and the 9th inning started off with a Gattis PH single and an Altuve double. Hey, signs of life! Unfortunately, Springer then struck out swinging at a 3-2 pitch that he couldn’t have reached with Bigfoot’s dick, Correa was held to an infield single, and Rasmus hit a routine DP ball off Davis for the loss.
3-7. Handsome Brad Ausmus coming to town. Get the torches and pitchforks ready, and choose your first target.
Just the way they planned it
April 12, 2016
Royals 3, Astros 2
W: Medlen (1-0) L: Fiers (0-1) S: Davis (3)
HR: Cain (2)
Unfortunately, “they” in the headline refers to the Royals.
KC took a 3-0 lead in the first when Fiers had trouble settling in: sharp single, sharp single, laser beam home run… boom. Roasted.
The bottom of the first held promise for the remainder of the game: Altuve and Springer, showing the way by putting men on first and second with nobody out. Just the way we plan it. The plan went awry, with Carlos somehow grounding into a double play, causing a small crisis of faith for this author. But a Rasmus double and a GreatWhite single made the game 3-2.
Yeah, look at the top of the article. It ended there.
Yes, there were chances… 9 LOB plus guys lost on the base paths (like Correa’s unfortunate DP when KC’s 2b dropped a liner) but nothing converted.
In the end, you can look at this one of two ways. HH saw the glass half empty:
Another game you have to win. When you look back in October, 2 game out, this one will hurt.
And yes, it’s tough to lose by 1 when you face a closer that can’t find the plate with the map.
Or, you can just say: The defending champs took a one run lead and turned it over to their shutdown bullpen, just the way they did all through the playoffs. Sometimes you just lose those games.
Let’s get back on the plus side Wednesday as… Scott Feldman faces Yordany Ventura. Oof.
Too high? What do you mean, too high?
Who gives a shit? It’s gone!
Game 3: April 7, 2016
Yankees 8, Astros 5
W: Shreve (1-0) L: Harris (0-1) S: Miller (1)
HR: White (1), Tucker (1), and pretty much every Yankee
OK, let’s get this out of the way up front. Winning pitchers and losing pitchers are such bullshit. Take it away, HH:
Harris is the only one who hasn’t pitched like shit, and now he’s on the hook for the loss.
If you click on that “win probability” link, the stats show what was obvious to our eyes – Harris did a much better job than any other Astro pitcher, and he gets hung with the loss. Life is short, and brutal, and unfair.
This all got off to a nice start as youngsters White and Tucker went back-to-back (although I incorrectly described White’s shot as opposite field, because for some reason, I keep trying to make him a lefty) in the 2nd inning for a 3-0 lead. Fiers immediately gave 1 run back in the bottom, limiting that damage only because Astro-killer Starlin Castro did an interpretive dance instead of sliding into second base to end the inning.
Fires did nothing to fool the Yankees, and even as White delivered a two-run single for a 5-2 lead in the 4th, his slop-throwing inspired no confidence. Per Mark in the 5th:
Astros will be losing the lead this inning. Fiers has nothing.
Three posts later:
ARod hammers an 0-2 hanging fastball into CF to plate Ellsbury to tie it up
Yeah, it was that kind of day.
In a 5-5 game in the 7th, Harris got a leadoff grounder, followed by a Gardner single. That was enough to make him the loser, because Ken Wagner Giles followed him, and proceeded to allow a 3-run “Tex Message” to close out the scoring.
5 runs, 6 runs, 5 runs… and 1 win.
Get your shit together, pitchers.