Twins Tumble Astros Down

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Ron Brand in Featured, Game Recaps

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

LP: Brett Oberholtzer (4-8)
WP: Kyle Gibson (11-9)
SV: Glen Perkins (30)

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.

It’s the Defense’s Fault

Posted on August 12, 2014 by BudGirl in Featured, Game Recaps

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.

Twins @ Astros Series Preview!

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Ebby Calvin in Series Previews

Invaders From The North

Minnestoa Twins (52-64) @ Houston Astros (49-69)

Just when you think the Astros may be starting to put things together and understand what it takes to win at this level, they drop a stinker like Sunday’s loss to the Rangers. The game started well but then took a dramatic turn, and the Astros showcased all of the things that they can do so poorly. Hopefully that’s just a one-game brain fart and they’ll realize that they aren’t good enough to try to put things on cruise control. Their current .415 winning percentage puts them on pace for 67 wins to avoid their fourth straight 100-loss season, which would be nice. I can’t remember who had 67 in the RFTL; I think I had 65, which is definitely still in range.

Monday, August 11, 7:10 CDT

Tommy Milone (6-3, 3.55) vs Brad Peacock (3-8, 5.44)

Milone came over to the Twins on July 31 in the Sam Fuld trade, but he hasn’t pitched since July 4, so this will be his first outing as a Twinkie. In his last three starts prior to coming over he was 1-0 with a 3.50 ERA and 12 Ks. Milone has seen quite a few of the current Astros, and he owns them: 10 hits in 56 ABs, with only three walks, for a .179/.220/.250 line. Yikes.

You may want to seek out alternative entertainment Monday night: in his last three starts, Peacock is 0-3 with a 16.00 ERA and 7 Ks. I have no idea how he struck out 7 people. He has only faced three current Twins, and those three only have a combined 2 hits in 7 ABs against him, but those two hits are a double and a home run. I expect this game to resemble a pinball machine in action, at least when the Twins are at bat.

Tuesday, August 12, 7:10 CDT

Yohan Pino (1-4, 4.59) vs Collin McHugh (4-9, 3.18)

Pino is in his rookie year, and he is 0-1 with 4.50 ERA and 13 Ks in his last three starts. He has never faced any of the Astros, and he’s a right-hander, and we all know what that means.

McHugh is this year’s poster child for poor support. In his last three outings, in particular, he is 0-1 with a 2.75 ERA and 22 Ks in 19.2 innings. He is the unfortunate soul whose should-have-been 5-1 win was cruelly squandered by the bullpen last Thursday, but that’s just the latest insult in a season-long string of them. I have high hopes for this game; if the Astros are going to win a game in this series, I expect that this will be the one. But it will probably require a complete game effort from McHugh.

Wednesday, August 13, 1:10 CDT

Kyle Gibson (10-9, 4.13) vs Brett Oberholtzer (4-7, 4.05)

Gibson is 2-1 with a 3.79 ERA and 16 Ks in his last three starts. Current Astros are 6-27 against him, with two doubles and no other extra-base hits. Robbie Baseball seems to see him best: he’s 2-2. A possible harbinger of good things to come: only three of the 21 outs were Ks, so the Astros at least put the ball in play against him. Maybe some of those balls will start to drop.

Oberholtzer had a rough start to the year, but he apparently figured something out during his June trip to OKC. Since coming back up he’s had 7 starts, he’s pitched into the 7th inning in all of them, he has a 3.28 ERA, and the Astros are 5-2 in those starts (and his record is 2-1). His last three starts are even better: 2-0 with a 3.05 ERA, and the Astros have won all three games. If he can keep this up he’ll be a useful piece for the future.

Injuries

Twins

Joe Mauer has been rehabbing a right oblique strain and may be back for this series. Ricky Nolasco is on a rehab assignment for a right elbow strain and may be back next week. And Mike Pelfrey is out with June elbow surgery; they say that he might be back in September, but that’s hard to believe.

Astros

Did you know that Matt Albers and Jesse Crain are injured? I know, that blew my mind, too. But Albers apparently threw off a mound last week, and Crain threw off flat ground over the weekend. I suppose it’s possible that Albers may make an appearance before the year is over, but I wouldn’t count on Crain.

Fowler’s intercostal strain is healed enough that he is on a rehab stint in OKC and may be back soon. Presley (strained right oblique) is nearly ready to begin a rehab assignment. Springer took BP yesterday and may be able to ease his way back into the lineup as DH this week. Guzman (back spasms) could be back in a week, but there’s no real hurry, big fella, so take your time; we might be able to find you some ABs in November.

Zeid’s season is over after undergoing surgery on August 6 for bilateral sesamoiditis, which is actually a foot problem but sounds like something that might have afflicted George Brett or Kaz Matsui.

Miscellaneous

Apparently the Twins are a big enough draw by themselves that there’s no need to juice the crowd with giveaways, so the only promotions will be Coca-Cola Value Days on Monday and Wednesday.

Dallas Beats Dallas

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Ron Brand in Featured, Game Recaps

Rangers 6, Astros 2

W: Martinez, N (2-8)
L: Keuchel (10-8)

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.

***

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.

P. Rick Pac

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Ron Brand in Featured, Game Recaps

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.

stRangers @ Astros Series Preview

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Ebby Calvin in Series Previews

submitted by Mr. Happy

Lookie here!

Aug. 8 7:10 CDT-Miles Mikolas (R 1-4 7.29) v. Brett Oberholtzer (L 4-7 4.17)

Aug. 9 6:10 CDT-Yu Darvish (R 10-6 2.82) v. Scott Feldman (R 5-8 4.13)

Aug. 10 1:10 CDT-Nick Martinez (1-8 5.31) v. Dallas Keuchel (L 10-7 2.89)

Wellsir, can we all agree that this season hasn’t gone the way that the Texas stRangers thought it would go? Can we also agree that the one who is smiling like a shit-eating Cheshire cat about the stRangers season is the Old Man? I too couldn’t be happier about taking joy in the stRangers’ travails, even if one of my prized fantasy players, who’s out for the season, is Jurickson Profar.

Profar is one of 13, count ‘em, 13, players on the DL, including newly acquired Prince Fielder. Ten of those players are on the 60-day DL. The bottom line: the stRangers are exactly that-a hodge-podge of AAA/AAAA journeymen who won’t be there next season. I predict that Ron Washington won’t be back either, not that he could have done a thing to change the situation.

In any event, fuck, no, double fuck, the stRangers and their front-running so-called fans. DFW makes me puke.

Aug. 8 7:10 CDT-Miles Mikolas (R 1-4 7.29) v. Brett Oberholtzer (L 4-7 4.17)

The Astros have enjoyed hitting against Mikolas, enjoying a robust .524 BA (11-21) and a 1.429 OPS. Every single Astro who has stood in against Mikolas has at least one hit. Every single one. Jon Singleton is 2-3 with a home run, and Matt Dominguez is 2-2 against Mikolas. The stRangers are hitting .239 (11-46) against our portsider. Leading the stRangers futility train are no less luminaries than Elvis Andrus (0-7 with four Ks) and Alex Rios (0-6 with three Ks). On the other hand, Oberholtzer has to pitch carefully to the ever dangerous Adrian Beltre, who’s 3-4 with a two-bagger and an RBI.

If Mikolas pitches the way that he’s been pitching, we should score some runs in this game. The question will be how Oberholtzer pitches, because he’s 3-3 4.56 at home. His ERA is almost a run better on the road (3.74).

Aug. 9 6:10 CDT-Yu Darvish (R 10-6 2.82) v. Scott Feldman (R 5-8 4.13)

Red alert: the Good Guys have seen lots of Darvish, and they are hitting a paltry .178 (23-129) with five home runs against the tall right-hander. The Piranha is a cool 3-20 against Darvish. Not to be outdone, Jason “Not Another Passed Ball” Castro is 2-15 and Chris Carter is an awful 1-14 with eight Ks against Darvish. The lone potential bright spots are Robbie Grossman and Marc Krauss, who are each 3-11 against Darvish. Also of note is Matt Dominguez, who’s 4-17 with three taters against Darvish.

Scott Feldman has pitched like the 3/4 that his ability would indicate that he is. The problem is that he’s our 1 and is facing a true 1 tonight. Feldman’s former club has seen him a lot, hitting .244 (40-164 with five long balls). The tall right-hander has to pitch carefully to Alex Rios, who’s 12-41 with four doubles and three dongs against him. Elvis Andrus and the recently acquired off of the waiver wire Mike Carp are each 4-12 against Feldman. On the other hand, Shin-Soo Choo is a putrid 1-17 with five Ks against Feldman.

I see very little chance of coming out of this one with a W. But hope springs eternal.

Aug. 10 1:10 CDT-Nick Martinez (1-8 5.31) v. Dallas Keuchel (L 10-7 2.89)

The Astros haven’t seen much of Mr. Martinez, but what they’ve seen, they’ve liked facing the rookie, to the tune of .357 (5-14). Matty D is a perfect 2-2 against the 24-year old Martinez.

Meanwhile, the stRangers are hitting .232 (32-138) against the 26-year old portsider. Alex Rios is 5-15 with two doubles against Keuchel. Elvis Andrus is 4-22 against Keuchel, who’s 3-4 2.60 at home this season.

If the Arkansan pitches his typical this season game, the Astros should prevail.

Promotions

Aug. 8-The first 10,000 lucky fans will get a Cowboy Boot Mug from Xfinity!!! Woo hoo!!! Just what I needed-not.

Aug. 9-The first 10,000 will receive a Cowboy Hat from Xfinity.

Aug. 10-The cheap bastards ain’t givin’ away nothing! Damnit.

Injury Updates

stRangers-Only Joe Shit the Rag Man isn’t on the DL. The injuries range from excess nudity (Prince “I’m really svelte” Fielder) to excessive pud pulling (everyone else).

Good Guys-Some of the same old guys (Jose Cisnero, Matt Albers and Jesse Crain) as well as some newer names, including Dexter Fowler, who may be going out on a rehab assignment on August 8, Josh Zeid, who’s out for the season with foot surgery for a condition that I’d never heard of before, Jesus Guzman, who’s ailing with back spasms, George Springer, who apparently tweaked a quad down at Quad Cities on rehab and scheduled to be reevaluated on August 8 and Alex Presley, who has a strained right oblique, but who might be going out on rehab assignment on August 8 too.

Prediction

Astros take two out of three. Come see us in the GameZone.

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