Thanks a lot, Jake

Posted on July 20, 2016 by MusicMan in Game Recaps

July 19, 2016

A’s 4, Astros 3 (10 innings)

W: Rzepczynski (1-0) L: Neshek (2-2)

Win Probability – boy, that escalated quickly

Well, things started out well. Valbuena got himself the rarely seen “bat flip on a single in the third inning” to take a 1-0 lead, driving in Altuve. Springer managed to homer to dead center. Correa brought in Altuve after a triple. Keuchel was cruising. Through 6, it was 3-0.

Damn, things fell apart faster than the GZ thread.

Manager Jake Marisnick left Keuchel in for over 110 pitches, which put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. He then decided to call on key offseason acquisition Jake Marisnick, who immediately allowed a double to make it 3-2. Some chump in CF cut off a liner to get the second out, allowing him to escape the inning without further damage.

In the 9th, the Astros turned to All-Star closer Jake Marisnick, who promptly allowed back-to-back doubles with one out, tying the game.

In the 10th, the Astros loaded the bases with 2 outs, but Other Jake Marisnick (at DH instead of CF last night) grounded out to end the inning – at least he didn’t hurt himself swinging.

In the bottom of the 10th, two out and a man on first, the Astros turned to their only lefty in the pen, Jake Marisnick. His season-long troubles continued as he issued a walk, then an infield grounder between Jake Marisnick and Jake Marisnick. Shortstop Jake Marisnick fielded it, double clutched, then threw wide of the plate, allowing the winning run.

Hopefully, Jake Marisnick will have been removed from the roster by the afternoon conclusion of this series so that the Astros can salvage their season.

Astros @ Athletics – Let’s Get Some Come-from-Ahead Wins This Time

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Waldo in Series Previews

SERIES PREVIEW

Astros @ Athletics

July 18-20, 2016

After taking the weekend series in Seattle, the Astros get six games against the AL West’s bottomfeeders before a 13-game stretch of games against teams .500-ish or better. First up are the A’s. Let’s get right to the matchups.

Monday, July 18 – 9:05pm CDT
Mike Fiers (6-3, 4.35) vs. Kendall Graveman (5-6, 4.37)

Fiers has had trouble consistently pitching deep into games, and his last first-half start was no exception. At just 3.1 innings against the Mariners it was his shortest start of the year. His only start against the A’s this year was a good one: seven innings of two-run ball in late April that would have netted him a W if not for an 8th/9th inning bullpen collapse.

Graveman closed his first half well, with a one-run outing in Milwaukee followed by his start in Houston where he threw eight scoreless innings and nearly gave the game away in the 9th. His other start against the Astros this year didn’t go as well, leaving the game in the 5th after giving up five runs on seven hits.

Tuesday, July 19 – 9:05pm CDT
Dallas Keuchel (6-9, 4.80) vs. TBD/Dillon Overton (1-1, 11.42)

There’s a lot to be encouraged about by Keuchel’s recent performance; he hasn’t taken a loss since June 12 and the team has won all five of his starts since then. His second-half tune-up against the A’s is coming on the heels of one of his best starts this year to end the first half, also against the A’s: seven innings, one run, four hits, and two walks.

Tuesday’s expected starter, Sean Manaea, was forced into five innings of emergency relief on Sunday after some freak circumstances. Rich Hill only lasted five pitches due to a blister and his replacement, Andrew Triggs, left after the 1st after getting hit with a batted ball. Both Manaea and Hill are stated as unavailable for this game and the A’s have not yet announced a starter at the time of this writing. I found some speculation that it might be Dillon Overton, a lefty with a 2.98 ERA at AAA this year and a double-digit ERA in two MLB starts. He’s on the wrong side of Tommy John surgery and only tops out in the upper 80s with his fastball, although his breaking pitches are effective.

Wednesday, July 20 – 2:35pm CDT
Doug Fister (9-6, 3.64) vs. Daniel Mengden (1-4, 5.54)

Fister only made it five innings against the Sea Hags last Friday but it was enough to get the win. He has already faced the A’s three times this year and has been outstanding against them, currently 2-1 with a 1.31 ERA.

Fun stat: Mengden’s ERA has doubled since June 27, and the Astros played a big part in that, tagging him for six runs in 4.2 innings in Houston’s wild 10-9 win earlier this month. His start last Friday was even worse, allowing six earnies in just 3.2 innings against the Blue Jays.

Astros Hit Send, CC Mariners. Yep, Astros.com thought that one up.

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Waldo in Game Recaps

July 15, 2016

Astros 7, Mariners 3

W – Fister (9-6)
L – Paxton (2-4)

Box Score

GameZone thread

I’d like to think that most of the bad puns we come up with around here are not nearly as bad as the title of this recap, which was originally the link to MLB’s official recap from the Astros.com front page. Some flunky in a cubicle somewhere at MLB Advanced Media was really reaching on this one. I mean, there are logistical concerns here. If the Mariners were CC’ed, who was the e-mail sent to? The AL West? The AL at large? If this pun were an airplane I wouldn’t get on it.

Springer led off the game with an opposite field bomb to give Doug Fister an early lead, and from there they pretty much just played pile-on. Sure, the Mariners got three runs off Fister in the 5th inning, but the Astros were already up 6-0 (thanks to a five-run top of the 5th) at that point. It also wasn’t a particularly good day for the guys behind the plate, with three runners (two of them Astros) scoring on wild pitches. One of them, a Paxton offering to Gomez in the 5th, caromed off Chris Iannetta and dribbed about 75 feet away at the dugout, allowing Correa to score from second without a throw. Correa had plated two runs on a double to left center that narrowly missed leaving the yard.

Fister worked five innings for the win, and Feliz, Giles, Gregerson, and Devenski all contributed scoreless innings in relief. Can’t ask for a much better start to the second half, especially with the Rangers getting blanked in Chitown.

Astros @ Mariners – Back in the Saddle

Posted on July 15, 2016 by Waldo in Series Previews

SERIES PREVIEW

Astros @ Mariners

July 15-17, 2016

Back from the break. Trying to force myself to write. It’s hard when I shot my wad with all my remotely funny ideas in the first couple months of the season, but I need to get back in the habit. Previews may be a little more utilitarian for the next little while, so adjust expectations accordingly.

Would you believe that, through 89 games, the Astros are only one game worse than the 2015 squad? Of course, at this point last year they weren’t several games behind the division leader but it nevertheless offers some perspective. As bleak as things looked a couple months ago, the team is positioned well for a run at either the wild card or a Rangers team that is ripe for some reversion to the mean.

Now, though, we turn our attention to the Mariners. After being as many as 10 games over .500 in late May, June and July weren’t kind to the M’s and they sit at just one game over .500 and three games behind the Astros. Houston already more or less single-handedly buried the Halos, so it would be particularly nice to pad a bigger lead in second place.

Friday, July 15 – 9:10pm CDT
Doug Fister (8-6, 3.55) vs. James Paxton (2-3, 3.91)

Fister looked like he was going to stumble into the All-Star break, turning in two of his worst starts of the year against the Royals and White Sox. He followed that up with the effective eight innings he pitched against the A’s to open the last series before the break. That didn’t stop him from taking a loss, but what can you do. Fister has been an excellent second-half pitcher in recent years; since 2013 his 2.92 ERA after the break is almost a full run lower than his first half numbers. He has thrown two quality starts against the Mariners this year with a 1-1 record in those games.

Paxton has had a few cups of coffee in the bigs and wasn’t on the Mariners 25-man the last time they played the Astros. After putting up a 3.97 ERA in the minors, he got his first MLB start of the year on June 1. While inconsistent, he has been fairly effective overall, including allowing two runs over eight innings against the Royals in his last start. The Astros have not seen him yet this year, but last year he took a no-decision for seven innings of two-run ball.

Saturday, July 16 – 3:10pm CDT
Lance McCullers (4-3, 3.79) vs. Hisashi Iwakuma (9-6, 4.25)

McCullers accounted for the other loss in the A’s series, lasting only four innings while giving up three runs. His July 4 start against the M’s was arguably his best start of the year so far: seven innings, five hits, one walk, and 10 K’s.

Here’s an interesting stat for you: Iwakuma has only three no-decisions on the year, and hasn’t had one since the game after the Astros handed him a loss in early May. He’s 8-2 since then despite his ERA hovering solidly in the low/mid 4’s. He’s not blowing hitters away but he’s also not getting lit up either; he’s basically good for about six innings and 3-4 runs.

Sunday, July 17 – 3:10pm CDT
Collin McHugh (5-6, 4.50) vs. TBD

McHugh has been doing some work since his 4th inning exit in Arlington in mid-June when he had a 5.20 ERA, and has only allowed more than two earned runs once since then. He’s 2-0 against the M’s already this year, although his slot in the rotation didn’t come around against them a couple weeks ago.

TBD took a tough-luck no decision in his last start before the break, but to his credit, he has a track record of being very unpredictable. Advantage Mariners.

Astros Scuttle Mariners

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Sphinx Drummond in Game Recaps

Astros outlast the Mariners to sweep the series

WP: Giles (1-3)

LP: Diaz (0-2)

Save: Gregerson (14)

Box Score

Game Zone

Facing Mariners starter and forgotten Astro Wade LeBlanc, the Astros scored three runs in the first, and one run in both the second and third innings. Carlos Gomez contributed a double and a triple, Carlos Correra added a double, and Evan Gattis swatted a homerun. Leading 5 to 0 going in to the fourth inning, it looked like the Astros were cruising. Then Mike Fiers started throwing meat and couldn’t make it out of the inning before surrendering 4 runs, making the score 5-4.

Chris Devenski took over for Fiers and stemmed the tide shutting down the Mariners over the next 2.2 innings. In the bottom of the 6th inning the Astros pounced on Nathan Karns, Gomez scored from third on a fielders choice by Gattis when Kyle Seager fielded the ball and subsequently threw to the visitors on-deck circle instead of the home plate. J.R Reed scored the second run of the inning on a single by George Springer. The Astros ended the 6th inning leading 7 to 4, once again things were looking comfortable for the Good Guys.

Enter Michael Feliz for the 7th inning, the good news–he struck out three, the bad news–he surrendered three runs and the lead after Seth Smith homered driving in Ketel Marte and Leonys Martin and tying the game at 7-7. Ken Giles took over in the 8th inning and made it out unscathed, he got Pulgasari to ground out to short, and then struck out both Adam Lind and Chris Iannetta.

Facing Edwin Diaz in the bottom of the 8th, Jason Castro led off with his second double of the night and was promptly replaced at second by pinch runner Jake Marisnick. After Springer K’d on a foul tip, Luis Valbuena gave the Astros a 2 run lead when he smashed a homer to the upper deck in RF to make the score 9-7 in favor of the Astros. It was close to a carbon copy of Valbuena’s previous night’s HR.

A.J. Reed decided Will Harris needed the night off and gave the ball in the 9th to former closer Luke Gregerson for a chance at his 14th save of the year. After getting Ketel to ground out, he walked the next two batters and the gave up a run scoring double to Robinson Cano. With the score now 9-8, Gregerson got Nelson Cruz out on strikes for the second out. Kyle Seager owns Gregerson, so Hinch ordered him walked to load the bases for Pulgasari. The big Korean was unable to do any damaged and Gregerson got him out on strikes to end the game and preserve the dramatic win.

With the win coupled with the Rangers loss the Astros are now 6.5 games back from first place in the AL West. Thursday the Astros welcome the Oakland A’s to town for a four game series. Doug Fister will start for the Astros and Rich Hill will be the A’s starter. The game will start at 7:10

A pretty good win

Posted on July 5, 2016 by MusicMan in Game Recaps

July 5, 2016

Astros 5, Mariners 2

W: Keuchel (6-9) L: Walker (4-7) S: ALL-STAR Harris (9)

Box score

Game Zone

I didn’t have to endure the Ashby Show tonight, because I was at Minute Maid Park. We went as a family, to celebrate our son’s 7th birthday. There was much to celebrate.

We walked hand in hand from the parking lot, into the stadium, up the stairs, and to our seats. This boy – who needed months and months of intensive physical therapy just to learn to walk – walked, skipped, and ran his way in without complaint.

We searched the stadium in the 3rd inning for a snow cone. (They’re on the concourse, most of the way up the first base line.) This boy – who was classified as “failure to thrive” because of his many digestive issues – got to seek out one of his favorite treats at the ballgame.

We celebrated the fireworks and scoreboard show with each of the Astros’ three home runs. This boy – who we were warned would likely have sensory problems his entire life – relished the noise and couldn’t wait to see the train go.

We talked about whether Dallas Keuchel was a good pitcher, whether Altuve or Correa could hit better, and when they would throw out the t-shirts. This boy – who we had wondered if he would ever be able to talk – couldn’t stop talking the entire game.

We came home, and I tucked him into bed.

This boy, who we were told might never make eye contact, might never be able to connect with people around him, might never have a normal life… this boy kissed me good night, looked at me, and told me he loved me.

Yeah, it was a pretty good win.

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