Twins win rubber game but hey, the Astros outscore Twins 13 to 11 for three game series.

contributed by Sphinx Drummond

Brett Oberholtzer pitched another good game and picked up anther loss. One mistake to the great Joe Mauer leading off the sixth inning was all it took to send hard luck Brett to Loserville. It was the only run Oberholtzer surrendered in his 7 innings of 6 hit, 4 strikeout, 0 walk pitching.

Former first round pick Kyle Gibson had a line similar to Olberhotzer’s as far as hits and strikeouts go, except he lasted 7.2 innings, also walked 2, and got the victory.

Josh Fields didn’t pitch well, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk in his third of an inning of pitching. Jose Altuve got another hit, he leads the AL and is one point behind MLB leader Troy Tulowitzski–who is set to undergo season ending surgery.

Dexter Fowler returned after missing 40 games with a right intercostal strain and was slotted into the clean-up position in the batting order. I think intercostal is a fancy medical term for rib-cage muscles. It seemed a bit odd to bat him fourth him in his first game back, but the Astros don’t do things that would be considered conventional.

Chris Carter didn’t hit a homer but his total of 28 is third in the league and just 3 HRs behind the co-leaders Abreu and Cruz. His totals come with 30 fewer ABs than Abreu and 80 fewer than Cruz. If he keeps hitting them at the current pace he’s on, he just might end up leading the league in home runs. Wow, that would be something.

The Astros head east Thursday to face Boston, Head East? Wasn’t that the band that sang that song about the guy who wanted someone to shave his wife before he went down for the last time? Anyway, there’s never been any reason not to bring that up. Scott Feldman takes the bump for the Astros and Allen Webster climbs the hill against the Astros in a game that starts at 6:10 pm CST.

I wonder if Albers will ever make it back, or if Crane will play at all this year?

Game Time: 2:45.
Umpires: HP–James Hoye. 1B–Adrian Johnson. 2B–Bob Davidson. 3B–Bill Welke.
Weather: INDOORS
Wind: 0 mph, .
Attendance: 16,480.

Twins 4, Astros 2
.Astros Recap

There’s nothing more satisfying than waking up on Tuesday to read the recap after a great Astros win on Monday! What? Oh–Neil T

So, I must admit, I fell asleep watching this game. Seriously, how long does it take to play nine innings? Last night it took 3 hours and 20 minutes. One of my favorite games EVER was the Brewers v. Astros. Sheets v. Oswalt. That game lasted 2 hours and 14 minutes. And it was some of the absolutely best baseball I’ve ever seen.

Apparently, Domingo Santana panicked with a single by Mauer to LF. Please note, that video is of the Twins broadcast so it is biased, yet accurate. And yes, you do hear someone yelling, “throw it.”

Hopefully the defensive woes end today and never come back again.

Rangers 6, Astros 2

Submitted by Reuben

The Astros started out with a 2-0 lead in this game, and Dallas Keuchel hadn’t allowed a hit through the 1st 3 innings. After that things didn’t go so well. The heat map below – designed by CSN Houston’s infographic guru, The Predator – really tells the whole story:

As you can see, the Astros scored single runs in the 1st and 3rd innings, but had little-to-no run-scoring events after that. The Rangers, on the other hand, concentrated their run-scoring in the middle innings – creating very clear “hot zones” of run-scoring activity. This could be very instructive the next time the Astros face them. They should probably avoid pitching to them during the 3rd, 4th, and maybe even for a few innings after that.

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Futility Watch: The Astros remain in 28th place overall in baseball. The Rocks have lost 8 of their last 10 to fall into a tie for last place with the Rangers. The Cubs and D’backs, meanwhile, are a full 2 games ahead of the Astros in 26/27th place. The Astros still need to win 3 more games to surpass their shameful total from 2013.

Houston Team 4
Dallas Team 3

contributed by NeilT

Howdy! Man, this week has been busy, what with patrolling the Red River to stop iceback French-speakin’ children crossing over from Canada, and starting my own Super PAC. Anita reminded me that to be presidential, I need to ask for donations every time I appear somewhere, so please give me money. I had a tough time coming up with a PAC name, but finally came up with Rick PAC. Anita says I forgot the “P”, for Perry and President I guess, but I thought that Rick P. PAC was a bit long. She said that I should switch it around a bit but PAC Rick P doesn’t sound right.

Anyway, the Texas team was playing the Houston team so it’s my turn to do the recap. I’ve got to tell you that I’m not real excited about the Texas team these days. I guess you know that the current president and his administration are content to simply throw money at a problem and hope the problem will resolve itself, but my response has been crystal clear: Texas will not expand Medicaid under Obamacare. It’s nothing but socialism on American soil.

But I got this letter from Jon Daniels of the Texas team. Seems like the team is eat up with medical expenses, and they’re asking that we reconsider Medicaid expansion. He said they had six pitchers on the DL and seven position players. He said if the state could just provide some Medicaid expansion, then maybe the Rangers could buy some free agents for next season, and wouldn’t that be fair? Ain’t that what government’s for?

Well I tell you, back when I was a Democrat and an Al Gore supporter I surely might have felt that was right, but I don’t change my positions, and Texas is not expanding Medicaid. If the Texas team needs indigent health care, it needs to go to the emergency room like everybody else.

But I also understand that the Texas team hasn’t been playing so good, and that makes me think I need to find another team. I felt pretty good last night during the first 7 innings. The Texas team started out the first with two runs off of Oberholtzer, with Shin-Bob Soo Choo scoring on an Arencibia homer. After the first, Oberholtzer settled in, but Mikolas allowed no runs until Carter’s HR in the 5th. Altuve left the game in the top of the 6th with a neck strain, and is day to day.

Tolleson gave up 2 hits and no runs on 2 Ks for the 6th, and Mendez went three up, three down with 2 Ks for the 7th. It was looking like a one run win for the Texas team until Cotts came in for the 8th. Robbie Baseball homered driving in Singleton, and Marisnick scored on a Petit double. That put the Houston team up by two.

The Houston team non-closer, Qualls, came in to close out the 9th, and made things exciting. Rosales led off with a double to left, and then with one out Carp drove in Rosales on a single. Rougned Odor followed with a single, putting the winning run on base. Pat Robertson grounded into a double play to end the inning, which was a disappointment. I usually like just about everything Pat Robertson does.

Big first inning by Phills dooms Astros

contributed by Sphinx Drummond

Jose Altuve led off the game with a single, used a bit of thievery to advance to second, moved to third on Chris Carter’s single, and scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Jon Singleton. The Astros had a one run lead after a half inning, then Brad Peacock took the mound and promptly surrendered 5 runs in the bottom half of the inning.

After giving up 5 runs on four hits, three walks (one intentional), and one wild pitch, Peacock settled in for the next couple of innings and kept the Phillies from scoring again until the 4th inning when Chase Utley took a half swing and knocked a three run homer. The Astros did manage to scratch out one run in the top of the fourth, so the inning ended with the score 8 to 2 in favor of the Phillies.

Peacock was left in for the fifth inning and was able to get out of it unscathed, the damaged had already been done. Darin Downs came in to pitch in the sixth but by then I had started watching HBO’s True Crime. I’ve heard it is an excellent program and am a fan of both lead actors. The first episode sucked me in. I didn’t watch the rest of the game, sorry.

Thursday the Astros face the Phillies again in a 6:05 pm CST start time. Colin McHugh (4-9) takes the hill against Roberto Hernandez (6-8) as the Astros try to avoid a series sweep.

Game Time: 2:45
Weather: 80 degrees, Mildly Cloudy
Wind: 6 mph, Left to Right
Attendance: 26,691

Astros 6, Blue Jays 1

Submitted by Reuben

After spending most of May through July scuffling and/or on the disabled list, Scott Feldman, owner of (by far) the biggest contract among current Astros, had become something of a forgotten man. The wildy unexpected successes of Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh, and the occasional brilliance of Jarred Cosart completely overshadowed the great beginning to Feldman’s Astro career, and his presumably-vital influence on the young pitchers as the lone veteran presence in the rotation.

These last two starts have been a nice reminder of what Feldman can be when he’s on his game: a very good pitcher, one who pounds the strike zone despite an ordinary fastball, and maybe gives up some hits, but ultimately, does a great job of eating innings and giving his team a good chance to win. Feldman went the distance Sunday afternoon, allowing 8 hits and just 1 run, becoming the only Astro besides Keuchel to notch a CG all year. He also induced 3 DPs, helping to keep the base traffic in check.

Chris Carter contributed the key hit in the game. With 2 outs in the 3rd, Robbie Grossman worked a 9-pitch walk to load the bases. After falling behind 0-2 (on consecutive sliders, surprise surprise), Carter laid off a slider in the dirt and two high fastballs before hooking a 3-2 slider into left field, scoring Marisnick and Altuve and giving the Astros a 2-1 lead, which they would build on with a 3-run 4th.

Jon Singleton continues to look vastly better at the plate. He was 2-for-4 with a hustle double, and also went from 1st to 3rd on an errant pickoff attempt. Marisnick and Matty D also had 2 hits, with Dominguez picking up 2 RBIs. Altuve had a hit and an intentional walk.

***

Futility Watch: The Rockies just got swept by the Tigers, and the Rangers have lost 3 in a row, but the Astros are still worse than 27 other teams, pending the results of the Cubs/Dodgers game. In the “we’re not as shitty as we used to be” category, the Astros need just 5 more wins to surpass last year’s total.

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Okay, so, I can’t find the clip of the actual scene that inspired this recap’s title, where the very-foreign assassin glances at the name tags and quickly chooses the identity “Sidney Feldman” to gain entry to John Cusack’s high school reunion, but feel free to enjoy this clip of the excellent fight scene that takes place afterwards. Still one of my favorite movies.