Astros are kind of a mess right now.

W: Hamels (3-0)  L: Fister (1-2)  S: Tolleson (5)

HR: White (5), Odor (2)

Box Score

Game Zone

Doug Fister got the loss but he wasn’t to blame. The Astros had two hit batters in the first–didn’t score. They had three straight singles to start the second-didn’t score, and a lead off hit in the third–produced zip.

“Stinky” hit a two run dinger in the bottom of the second inning to provide all the runs the Rangers needed. After squandering several prime opportunities, Tyler White’s home run in the fifth was all the scoring the Astros could mount.

The Rangers have won something like 30 or 40 games in a row at home against the Astros. Maybe Thursday, when Dallas Keuchel (2-1, 2.18 ERA) takes the hill the Astros can stop the brutality and turn things around with a much needed victory. A.J. Griffin (1-0, 3.27 ERA) is starting for the Rangers.

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)

Box score

Game Zone

Win Probability

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.

April 17, 2015

Astros 5, Tigers 4

W – Fiers (1-1)
L – Sanchez (2-1)
S – Gregerson (4)

Box Score

GameZone thread

Houston heads into Monday’s off day on a high note, topping the Tigers 5-4 on Sunday afternoon and notching their first series win of the year.

The top of the batting order is showing serious signs of returning to form following some early struggles.  Altuve belted an opposite field homer to lead off the game, tying him with Tyler White for the team lead in home runs.  George Springer then singled, advanced to second on a Colby Rasmus walk, moved to third on an Evan Gattis fly ball to right field, and scored on a wild pitch by Anibal Sanchez.  In the 3rd Springer crushed the first pitch he saw onto the concourse behind the Conoco pump in left-center, staking a 3-0 lead for the team.  The lead grew to 5-0 in the 4th when the Astros got some more traffic on the bases against Sanchez, culminating with Altuve lining a two-run single to left.

Mike Fiers didn’t have too much trouble early in the game, allowing three baserunners and throwing only 50 pitches through the first four innings.  However, a common theme with Astros starters not named Dallas Keuchel lately has been difficulty in the middle innings, and Fiers was not immune to it.  The Tigers tagged Figers for three home runs, one of which was a two-run shot, in the 5th and 6th innings.  AJ Hinch gave Fiers the hook with two outs in the 6th, and Tony Sipp, Pat Neshek, Ken Giles, and Luke Gregerson combined for 3.1 innings of shutout ball to close out the game.  The bullpen has bowed up big time in recent days, allowing just one run in their last 12.1 innings since Giles took the loss in last Wednesday’s game against the Royals.

The team gets Monday off before heading to Arlington for a three-game set against the first-place Rangers.

April 16, 2016

Tigers 5, Astros 3

W – Verlander (1-1)
L – McHugh (1-2)
S – Rodriguez (3)

Box Score

GameZone thread

On Friday night the Astros scored early and the bats largely went to sleep, but the team still held on for the win.  They scored early again on Saturday and the bats went to sleep again, but this time the pitching didn’t hold up.  Collin McHugh started out well but faltered in the middle innings, and the Astros lost 5-3.

George Springer started the scoring with a two-run bullet off the left field foul pole to get out to a 2-0 lead.  Three batters later, Tyler White deposited a solo shot into the back rows of the Crawford Boxes to make it 3-0.  The bats sprinkled a few hits here and there in the remaining innings, but a couple of inning-ending double plays kept any Astros scoring threats at bay.

On the other side of the ball, the Tigers racked up 15 friggin’ hits on Astros pitching, ten of which came with McHugh on the mound.  They scored their first run in the 2nd when Victor Martinez scored from 2nd on a double to left-center by Nick Castellanos.  The ball apparently got stuck behind the padding on the fence and Castellanos tried to stretch it into a triple, but a strong throw by Colby Rasmus and an excellent relay from Carlos Correa nailed him at third.

The Tigers added cut the score to 3-2 in the 5th when a throw from third got past White at first base, allowing Jose Iglesias to score from second.  Jarrod Saltalkmodsakocjkfjdf drove a two-run homer to right in the 6th, giving the Tigers a 4-3 lead.  McHugh left the game after the next at-bat.  Pat Neshek closed out the 6th and Ken Giles and Will Harris each threw a scoreless inning in relief.  Giles’s scoreless outing drops his ERA into single digits.  Josh Fields allowed another run in the top of the 9th.

Despite giving up 15 hits, Astros pitching also struck out 12 Tigers.  Weird game.

April 15, 2016

Astros 1, Tigers 0

W – Keuchel (2-1)
L – Pelfrey (0-2)
S – Gregerson (3)

Box Score

GameZone thread

With their recent luck and poor play, the Astros probably would have lost tonight’s game – or at least gone to extras – with anything less than a stellar pitching performance from Dallas Keuchel.  Fortunately, that’s exactly what they got: eight scoreless innings from the ace and no legitimate offensive threat from the Tigers for pretty much the entire night.  Houston notched a run early and held on by their fingernails to win 1-0.

It didn’t have to be that way though.  The Astros had Mike Pelfrey on the ropes for the first three innings but weren’t able to make the game uninteresting.  With two on and one out in the first, Colby Rasmus drove in George Springer from second, then Tyler White walked to load the bases.  These runners would subsequently be stranded as Evan Gattis struck out and Carlos Gomez ended the inning on a grounder to third.  The Astros loaded the bases again in the 2nd – this time with no one out – and were again unable to push anyone across, this time thanks to a Springer foul-tip K and a Carlos Correa GIDP.  The Astros would add two more inning-ending double-plays in the 3rd and 5th innings and stranded Jason Castro at third in the 4th.  The bats went silent after that.

Keuchel was dealing all night, scattering five hits and a walk over eight innings and at one point retiring 11 Tigers in a row from the 3rd inning into the 7th.  He also worked efficiently, sitting at around 60 pitches going into the 6th inning.  He had to work harder after Miguel Cabrera worked a ten-pitch at-bat to close out the 6th, finally punching him out on a beautiful low slider.  Gregerson only threw five pitches in the 9th to nail down the save.

Tonight’s sign of the baseball apocalypse: Jason Castro went 2×3 and swiped a base, giving him a higher batting average (.185) and more stolen bases (1) than Carlos Gomez (.184, 0).  Awesome.

April 14, 2016

Royals 6, Astros 2

W: Kennedy (2-0) L: Fister (1-1) S: Davis (4)

HR: Moustakas (3), Altuve (3)

Box score

Game Zone

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.