The plan comes together

Posted on June 29, 2016 by MusicMan in Game Recaps

June 28, 2016

Astros 7, Angels 1

W: Feldman (5-3) L: Lincecum (1-2)

“I love it when a plan comes together.”

The leader of the A-Team would say that at some point during every episode, and you knew then that the A-Team was ready to kick ass and take names.

The Astros have their A-Team ready. The plan is coming together.

Oh, you lost a starting pitcher for a night due to a blister? No problem, Scott Feldman is ready to come in and throw five innings. Would have been shutout innings, too, if it weren’t for ~~those meddling kids~~ Valbuena’s bobble of a routine grounder.

Want to score runs? George Springer and Jose Altuve are drawing walks, and Carlos Correa is hitting homers. Boom, 3-0 lead.

Want to keep your lead? Michael Feliz and Pat Neshek can slam the door for you – and they’re not even in your top 3 bullpen options.

Oh, and the top 6 guys in the order were all finally hitting over .250. Doesn’t seem like much, but then again, it doesn’t seem like too long ago that 7 guys in the lineup were around .200.

Tuesday’s win guaranteed a winning record for the first half of the season. April was a long time ago. Let’s go sweep these guys.

Hooraya for Correa!

Posted on June 22, 2016 by MusicMan in Game Recaps

June 21, 2016

Astros 3, Angels 2

W: Gregerson (1-1) L: Street (2-1)

Game Zone

Box score

Win probability

Let’s start with a nod to Colin McHugh, whose night looked like a disaster when he allowed the first three men to reach on an infield single, HBP, and a laser single by Trout. But he buckled down and struck out the next two, followed by a tapper to the mound, and limited the damage to a single run.

The Angels would get a solo homer by Cron in the 4th, and that would e it.

Meanwhile, Carlos Correa started getting some results for all his hard hit balls. First, a solo shot in the 5th cut the lead in half. The Astros’ leadoff hitters would reach base in the 6th, 7th, and 8th with no runs to show for it.

Come the 9th, Springer walked and stole second, followed by a walk of Marwin. An infield single by ALTUVE! loaded the pond for Correa, who rose to the occasion. Carlos drilled a 3-2 sinker into center field to plate 2 runs and bring the club back to .500.

This was Correa’s 4th walk-off hit of his career; for comparison, Derek Jeter had 7 in his entire career.

A Wednesday matinee will see the team finally try to climb above .500.

Astros 1, Ashby 0

Posted on June 15, 2016 by MusicMan in Game Recaps

June 14, 2016

Astros 5, Cardinals 2

W: Fister (7-3) L: Garcia (4-6) S: Harris (4)

Game Zone

Box score

Win Probability

There were many factors in the Astros’ 5-2 victory over the hated Cardinals on Tuesday night – not the least of which were:

Carlos Gomez donning eyeglasses, which may or may not be prescription wear, and proceeding to go 2-4 with 3 runs scored;
Colby Rasmus avenging himself upon the Cardinals on behalf of his family, launching a Colby Jack and singling and scoring another run;
Your powers of math and deduction showing that the Astros scored all their runs on the evening from the 6th and 7th spots in the order – which is not bad for a team that has only 25 runs from the 6th spot all year;
and Doug Fister continuing his witchcraft, throwing 7 1/3 innings of 2-run ball with only 2 solo home runs scarring his profile. (Let us ignore the fact that his ERA is 1.5 runs lower than his expected ERA based on his strikeouts, walks, HR, etc. Let us instead focus on the 2 runs that he drove in to make it 5-2 instead of 3-2, which reminded us all of what we’re missing in the NL.)

No, the real reason the Astros were victorious on this muggy summer evening was that Alan Ashby was suffering from laryngitis, necessitating Robert Ford’s move to TV play by play – where he could then demonstrate his absolute superiority to Ash in every facet of the job.

Let us hope for continued laryngitis this evening.

No sweep for you!

Posted on June 2, 2016 by MusicMan in Game Recaps

June 2, 2016

Diamondbacks 3, Astros 0

W: Greinke (7-3) L: Keuchel (3-7) S: Ziegler (10)

Game Zone

Box score

Win probability

Sorry, Dallas. You made one mistake, and that was the ballgame.

Keuchel looked like the MMP Keuchel of old, cruising through 6 scoreless innings. But then a leadoff single in the 7th, followed by a hanger that was crushed to CF for a double, gave the Snakes all they would need in this game.

The men in blue ensured the rest, as neither HPU Ron Kulpa nor the replay crew could make out the distinct sight and sound of a ball hitting a bat, and instead awarded a HBP to Jake Lamb on an Oscar-worthy acting job. Things fell apart after that – the Astros put on the wheel play, and Owings spanked a single exactly to Correa’s vacated spot.

The crew would further much things up, calling Michael Bourn safe on a blatantly obvious CS in the 8th.

Otherwise, the Astros never threatened at all. The only wasted opportunity came in the 6th, with Kemp inexplicably remaining at first rather than attempting a steal with Altuve at the plate and two out. Naturally, an Altuve single to RF and a Correa ground out followed, thus stranding men at first and third instead of plating the game’s first run.

Any way you want it, that’s the way you need it.

Posted on June 1, 2016 by MusicMan in Game Recaps

May 31, 2016

Astros 8, Diamondbacks 5

W: McCullers (2-1) L: Corbin (2-5) S: Gregerson (13)

Game Zone

Box score

Win probability

Sometimes, you go take a win from your opponents. For example:

Your 8th hitter (hitting .188) and your pitcher both come up with 2-out hits to set up a 3-run home run from your hottest hitter to take a 3-2 lead.
You string together 4 singles and a couple of walks to add on 4 runs for a 7-2 lead.
You hit solo home runs (Luis Valbuena woke up!)

Sometimes, you do things to give a game to your opponents. Such as:

Getting your dumb ass hit by a ground ball, George Springer. Leadoff double: erased. Video evidence.
Walking 4 batters in your 5 innings, Lance McCullers.

And sometimes, your opponents do things to hand you the game – like lining a shot off the wall over a leaping Springer with runners on first and second, but not scoring a run because the lead runner misread the play. Thanks, snakes.

However you look at it, the Astros held a comfortable lead for most of the game. Feldman gave up a pair in the 9th after an Altuve error to make things slightly uncomfortable, but Gregerson absolutely slammed the door – a welcome sight after several recent outings.

The Astros come home within 5 games of .500, and there may be light in that tunnel that’s not an oncoming train.