Giants 8, Astros 1
W: Heston, L: McHugh

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So, the Astros lost again. They are 7 games over .500 and 4 games in first. You may think I should still be hopeful, but I kind of am not. I did notice this current streak of playing shitty baseball and only winning 2 out of the last 8 games is almost the complete opposite of the 10 game win streak they had earlier this year. So many people were wanting to trade for more pitching and let’s call Correa up, etc. Well, I think this season is somewhere in between the 10 game win streak and the 2 wins in 8 games column. This team has potential to be amazing and it also have the potential to stink up a bathroom.

What brought on this kind of thinking you probably are not wondering. Well, this morning as I’m walking into the office, I pass one guy that says bring up Correa and I just smile and keep going. Correa is not going to turn this team into the 10 game win streak type of team alone. Yes, he may help, but one player a team does not make. I believe this team will have offensive woes as long as they continue to lead the league in strike outs (1st in AL, 2nd in MLB). If you put the ball in play then you at least have a chance it will drop for a hit or the fielder throws it away. But standing there taking pitches or swings and misses does not help.

I guess I’m tired of their bad baseball of late. I believe I know what this team really is and I rather hope what I believe is wrong (in a good way for the team). I just want them to play good solid baseball. I want half the strike outs and error free play. Is that really too much to ask?

Astros 3 Halos 2
WP: Neshek (3-0)
LP: Street (2-1)
S: Gregerson (7)

contributed by Mr. Happy

In what was for me the most satisfying win of the young season, the Astros erupted for three runs in the top of the ninth frame against Huston Street, a top-shelf closer, in Anaheim to hang an L on Mr. Street. The Good Guys were held scoreless for eight innings by starter Hector Santiago and two relievers. Clinging to a 2-0 lead, the Halos turned the game over to Huston Street for the top of the ninth.

Colby Rasmus greeted Mr. Street with a line drive single to RF. Chris Carter woke up in time to line a single to LF, moving Rasmus to 2B. After a typical flyout by Castro the Astro, Jake Marisnick lined an RBI single to LF, which scored Rasmus and moved Robbie Grossman, who had been inserted as a pinch-runner for Carter, to 2B. Preston Tucker picked a very opportune time to collect his first big league hit, scoring Grossman and moving Marisnick to 3B, with Tucker taking 2B on the throw. After walking Jonathan Villar to load the sacks, this brought the Piranha to the plate with ducks on the pond. Facing a 1-2 count, Altuve was given another snake, but made contact and grounded it to 2B, scoring Marisnick with the lead run. At this point, the Halos put the hook on Mr. Street, but it was too late. Luke Gregerson got up and down in order in the ninth to save the game.

It was a meager output for the high-octane offense, consisting of six hits. No Astro had a multi-hit game. Yet it was enough. This is a very important win for a few reasons. For starters, it’s on the road and is against a division rival. Secondly, it breaks a short losing streak. Third, it is a come-from-behind win. I don’t think that the club could have come back in recent years. This team believes that it can win every game and is never out of it. That’s exactly the attitude that you want.

Once again, the good pitching returned to the scene, led by Collin McHugh’s 7.1 innings of five hit two run ball, followed up by what is quickly becoming a lockdown bully.

This brought home a win by Waldo, who took in the game and who observed in the GZ that the front-running Halos fans headed for the exits after Altuve’s RBI groundout. Speaking of the Game Zone, come see us. However, if you do, bring it strong or STFU.

Astros lose 11 to 3 and start the wrong kind of streak after getting swept by Rangers

WP: Colby Lewis (2-2)
LP: Samuel Deduno (0-1)

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Contributed by Sphinx Drummond

The Astros came home after a historically successful road trip only to shit in their own beds. Win 10 in a row, great young team. Lose three in a row, same old shitty Astros. Okay, maybe not. The road warriors are 10-2 on the road though, and just 8-8 at home. And the Astros are still 18 -10 overall, and in first place by 5 games. They still have the second best record in MLB.

Samuel Deduno pitched a scoreless first inning and then all hell broke loose. After surrendering 4 runs in the 2nd inning, he became the sacrificial lamb destined to eat innings at whatever the cost in order to save the arms in the bullpen. Four point two innings into the game and Deduno had been pummeled, giving up 11hits, 3 walks, and 13 runs. Maybe he’s not the answer for who is the fifth starter. Relief pitchers Joe Thatcher, Will Harris, and Tony Sipp closed out the game, each pitching fairly well.

The batters weren’t much help. Jose Altuve and Jake Marisnick were hit-less and saw their still stellar averages drop to .339 and .342. Evan Gattis got two hits and has seen his average climb above the Mendoza Line to .205. George Springer sat this one out and Chris Carter hit another meaningless homerun that didn’t help anything but his homerun total, which now stands at four.

The Rangers offense is benefiting from a healthy Prince Felder and is getting outstanding contributions from journeymen Kyle Blanks and Carlos Peguero. Blanks has been blistering the ball to the tune of a .357 average and Peguero hit 2 homeruns last night and had three for the series. Thanks to the Astros (and Seattle) the Rangers are no longer in last place in the division, and now stand 6.5 games behind the leading Astros.

Thursday the Astros fly to Anaheim and face the Angels in a four game series. Collin McHugh will take his perfect 4-0 record and go against Hector Santiago and his 2 wins and 2 losses. Game time is 9:05pm CST. It’s right on time to put the ugly three game losing streak in to a shit filled bed, set it on fire, and start a brand new winning one.

Attendance – 22230
Game Time – 2:32

Rangers 2, Astros 1
W: Detwiler, L: Qualls, S: Feliz

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Box

I know the Astros’ win streak had to end at some point but damn did they have to have it end against the Rangers? I just hate their front-running fans. They are as bad as Cubs fans. And why did Roots Sports not remove the microphone from around the fans yelling Let’s Go Rangers? I cannot think of anything more irritating to hear on the broadcast, besides Ashby.

Seems like Keuchel is going to be the bad luck pitcher this season, he does his best to not give up any runs (or only 1) and his team cannot score any for him. Keuchel had 6 consecutive strike outs, which is odd since he is usually getting outs on the ground. I do not understand why the Astros do not want to score runs for Keuchel. I guess they believe he will win regardless, I guess they forget they are responsible for half of the score. The Rangers have scored 3 of the 4 runs Keuchel has given up this season. WTF???

Gattis has seemed to get some hits of late; his batting average is a season high .200. The middle of the line-up needs to start doing something and it wouldn’t hurt if they rest of the team

The Rangers had four doubles in this game and only the last one scored and that is the one that lost the game.

I’m done for the Spring semester. Anyone want to grab a burger before summer school starts?

Astros 4
MarONRs 3

submitted by Neil T

It’s easy to write about a bad team. There are so many ways to approach it: Anger, despair, resignation, incredulity, amusement . . . But this team is playing well, and they’re beating the Scurvy Scum Lickers, so what’s to feel but elation? Disbelief?

This is, after all, the greatest rivalry in baseball. It’s the Montagues and the Capulets, the Beatles and Rolling Stones, Colgate and Crest, the Republican Party. It’s the Astros and the Mariners.

The stadium was packed tonight. Everywhere you looked it was orange and blue or teal and silver. I swear I saw Woden, official Norse god of the Astros, brandishing his spear of orange lightening against the teal blue trident of Neptune. And it all rested on the strong right arm of the journeyman Deduno (2.70), starting against Elias (3.86).

We all know that the Astros moved to the American League so that they could face their hated rivals, the Mariners, more often. Last season I shared the storied World Series history of the Astros/Mariners, from 1903 through 1923, and before I move on to the 30s and 40s, I thought it would be worth sharing another of the greatest moments in the magnificent rivalry of these two great rivals.

Tonight, of course, tonight’s game was just one more page in a long, long book.

Bottom of the first, Altuve leads off with a walk. Gattis then homers with two outs. Marisnick homers in the bottom of the 2nd. In the top of the 3rd, Cano dirves in Austin Jackson. Deduno was replaced by Fields in the 5th. Chapman pitched two left-handers after the first out of the 6th. Neshek replaced Chapman after the first out of the 7th. Qualls pitched the 8th, and Springer hit a home run in the bottom of the 8th. Gregerson came in to close things out, and after 2 home runs allowed did. Troubling, but he did.

Villar was sparkling at short, and Springer nailed a throw from right to home. No effect, but it was a thing of beauty. Altuve had his 9th multihit game in a row. The record is 15, set in 1890. You start hitting the record book with 10.

In 1926, Little Johnny, hospitalized in New York, asked his dad for an autographed ball. The father telegraphed Babe Ruth, and after the telegraph there was a baseball signed by each of the teams in that year’s Series, the Yankees and the Cardinals. Ruth famously promised to hit the child a home run, and he delivered.

The two balls with signatures were delivered to the hospitalized child direct from St. Louis. “But dad,” said little Johnny, “I wanted the Astros/Mariners . . . “