May 20, 2016

Rangers 2, Astros 1

W – Lewis (3-0)
L – McCullers (0-1)
S – Dyson (3)

Box Score

GameZone thread

This wasn’t the first time that Colby Lewis looked like a wizard against the Astros.  Blessed with an early lead, he held the Astros scoreless with only four hits in his seven innings of work.

The Rangers got their only two runs in the top of the third thanks to a two-run double by the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man.  This was the only black mark on what was otherwise a very good night for Lance McCullers, who lasted six innings and struck out seven.  McCullers also got called for a balk in the 2nd which was complete and total bullshit.  Michael Feliz also had an excellent night at the park, pitching three innings and striking out six in relief.  Tough to complain about any of the pitching effort.

The Astros tried to mount a comeback in the 9th and did plate a run; Altuve led off the inning with a double and scored on a Rasmus single.  Gattis struck out to end the game.

There were at least a couple of instances that just proved it wouldn’t be Houston’s night.  One came in the bottom of the 6th when Tony Kemp bunted to the right side.  Lewis more or less just scooped the ball toward first to get the out.  Another came in the bottom of the 7th when Correa smacked the piss out of a ball back up the middle.  It hit either Lewis’s right shoulder or his glove protecting his head and caromed high into the air in shallow center.  Odor ran out, camped under it briefly, and did his best Jim Edmonds impression by making a silly dive forward for it.  I guess it’s possible that he got fooled a little, but it’s easy to imagine him exaggerating it on purpose.

Oh, and fuck the Rangers.

May 19, 2016

White Sox 2, Astros 1

W: Sale (9-0) L: McHugh (4-4)

Game Zone

Box score

Win Probability

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sometimes, that’s all you can do.

Chris Sale is 9-0 with a 1.58 ERA, and is somehow not the most impressive pitcher in the majors this season.  But when a pitcher is 9-0 with a 1.58 ERA, you can say that your game plan is “attack fastballs early in the count”, but your real game plan is “pray he makes mistakes he doesn’t usually make.”

The real shame of the evening is that the Astros ended up wasting an excellent start by Collin McHugh, who went 7 innings allowing only 2 runs.  Granted – another run was saved by an incredible catch by George Springer:

http://m.mlb.com/video/v715646983/?game_pk=447478

Unfortunately, the White Sox were able to scratch out both runs with small ball, including steals of second base in both cases.  Can’t really blame Gattis for those; both were on curveballs in the dirt, where even the Squatting Molinas would have had little chance of throwing the runner out.  And Gattis was the only Astro to solve Sale, pulling a first pitch changeup outside the strike zone over the left field wall for the lone run of the inning.

Back down to 17-24, but at least they won a road series.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Astros win second in a row, still haven’t won three in a row this year.

WP: Doug Fister: (4-3)

LP: Matt Latos (5-1)

Save: Luke Gregerson (9)

Game Zone

Box Score

Like he does so often Jose Altuve led off the game with a hit, a single. Followed by a walk to George Springer and a single by Carlos Correa, and the Astros took an early 1-0 lead. The White Sox came back to tie the Astros in the bottom of the first but it wouldn’t last. After Luis Valbuena grounded out, Jason Castro hit a single and setup Tony Kemp’s first major league at bat, his first RBI and his first hit, a double that gave the Astros a 2-1 lead and the Astros never looked back.

Doug Fister scattered 9 hits over 6.1 innings, he walked 1 and stuck out 5, allowing the White Sox 3 runs. Finishing out the 7th Ken Giles was a little shaky, allowing his inherited runner to score. Will Harris was perfect in the 8th inning, striking out two of the three he faced. Luke Gregerson got back on track, closing out the 9th for his 9th save on the year.

Tony Kemp finished the game 2 for 3. Colin Moran wasn’t a fortunate in his MLB debut, batting 6th, he was 0-3 with 1 walk and1 strikeout. Jason Castro continues to slowly improve his offense, hitting a solo homer, his third, and scoring three runs. He is now hitting .223. Jose Altuve has his average up to .348 and is really looking like one of the leading MVP candidates.

Thursday night Colin McHugh (4-3) is tasked with facing off against the great Chris Sale (8-0). A sweep will be next to impossible. Chris Sale is perhaps the most dominate pitcher in the AL if not in all of MLB. He is basically unhittable. Game time is 7:10 pm CST.

Game Time: 2:57

Umpires: HP-Dan Bellino. 1B-Adam Hamari. 2B-Tom Hallion. 3B-Tony Randazzo.

Weather: 57 degrees. Clear.

Wind: 11 MPH Left to Right.

Attendance: 14,936

May 17, 2016

Astros 6, White Sox 5 (11)

W: Neshek (1-0) L: Albers (1-3) S: Sipp (1)

Box score

Game Zone

Win probability

The Astros made things much more difficult than they needed to be, claiming a 6-5 win in 11 innings that should have been over much sooner.

Fortunately, they were able to ride a strong performance from Tyler White, who went 3-4 with 2 home runs and a double, which later scored the lead run as Kemp made his 2016 debut by pinch running for White.

It was White’s first homer since April 20, and was a timely display of White pow…

Sorry, folks.

As I was saying, it was about time that White’s power stroke returned.  This game boosted his slugging percentage by 65 points… not too shabby for May.

Keuchel continued to shit the bed, leaving the bases loaded (via walks) in the seventh after allowing 3 runs.  Fortunately for him, Good Giles showed up and made 2 White Sox look absolutely foolish, striking them out easily to clean up the mess.  Keuchel’s last 6 games now look thus:

6 G, 35.2 IP, 7.32 ERA, 29 R, 50 H, 14 BB, 30 K, .336/.390/.544 allowed.

Gregerson also continued the bed-shitting, allowing a leadoff double before the 2013 Astros decided to show up to “field” the bunt.  Marwin forgot that he was the first baseman, leaving the bag unoccupied as the throw went to Altuve, a good 15 feet away.  After a sac fly tied the game, Adam Eaton came within inches of ending things.  Gregerson allowed another stinging single before retiring Abreu on a groundout to send it to extras.

In the 11th, El Oso Blanco celebrated his return by drilling a 2 run homer.  One would think that ample cushion in extra innings, but Sipp made things more treacherous by allowing a 2-out RBI double before striking out Avila to end the game.

So between White and El Oso Blanco…

Goddamnit.

Sorry, folks.  I can’t figure what in last night’s news would have gotten me all thrown off.

May 15, 2016

Red Sox 10, Astros 9

W – Hembree (2-0)
L – Feldman (2-3)
S – Kimbrel (10)

Box Score

GameZone thread

I’m going to put a lot less effort into this recap than the team put into today’s game.  Clearly losing 10-9 means you’re doing a few things right, but it also means you’re doing a lot of things wrong as well.  Feel free to go read the official recap if you wish, but here are the highlights and lowlights:

• Defense was sloppy: two Astro errors plus a costly missed fly ball in the outfield; five total errors for both teams
• Both starters sucked: Devenski gave up six runs in two innings; Sean O’Sullivan allowed as many in 4+ innings
• Valbuena and Correa both homered in the game; Valbuena drove in five of the team’s nine runs
• The Astros clawed and scraped their way to a 9-8 lead after six, but they gave two runs back in the 7th

Dropping three of four from a good Sox team in Boston is not entirely unexpected, but it burns when it could’ve been 3-1 the other way.

May 14, 2016

Red Sox 6, Astros 5 (11 innings)

W – Uehara (2-1)
L – Feliz (1-1)

Box Score

GameZone thread

We shouldn’t be surprised by any of this anymore.  After being nails on Friday night, Gregerson brought absolutely no command in Saturday’s save situation, allowing Boston to send the game to extras and ultimately win it.

Correa started the scoring in the first with a solo blast that cleared the Green Monster and left the damn building.  In the bottom of the inning the Sox loaded the bases knocked in a run with three straight hits and then loaded the bases with nobody out.  After a grounder to third that resulted in a force play at home, McHugh walked Travis Shaw to make it 2-1 Boston.  McHugh then induced an inning-ending double play.  All things considered, it could’ve been a lot worse.

In the 2nd Springer bested the Green Monster for the second time in as many games, this time with the bases juiced.  Clay Buchholz had walked a couple of hitters before getting to Springer, and when Springer worked the count to 3-1 Buchholz was clearly frustrated with the strike zone.  His next pitch landed 370+ feet away.

The Astro bats cooled afterward, and the Red Sox chipped away at the deficit, scoring a run in each of the 3rd and 4th innings.  Given his early struggles, though, McHugh pitched a tough six innings and was in line for the win, one that would have been well-deserved given the potency of the Boston lineup.  Neshek and Harris pitched scoreless 7th and 8th innings respectively.  The Astros threatened to add an insurance run a couple of times but never managed to.  Of particular suckage was in the 8th inning: with runners at the corners and one out, Castro missed the bunt signal for a squeeze play and Marwin was dead meat coming in from third.

Gregerson pitched the 9th and couldn’t have found the strike zone with Google Maps, throwing more balls than strikes.  Somehow he almost weaseled his way into a save anyway, getting a runner at first with two outs.  Then David Ortiz happened, tripling to deep left-center a couple feet past a diving Marisnick’s glove and tying the game.  Remarkably, Hanley Ramirez might have let the Astros off the hook by unsuccessfully trying to bunt his way on base and win the game.

In the bottom of the 11th, with Michael Feliz on the mound, Xander Bogaerts singled and reached second on a wild pitch to Ortiz.  Rather than walking Ortiz with first base open, Hinch elected to have Feliz continue pitching to Ortiz, who already had two RBI on the day.  This proved to be a mistake: Ortiz drove a double to center to win it.

Instead of being in the driver’s seat and having a legit shot to steal three out of four in Boston, the Astros now hope to split the series tomorrow.