Astros 1, Chi Sox 3
W: Sale, L: McMullers, S: Robertson

GameZone
MLB recap

Well, the anticipated start for Mr. Carlos Correa was nice. He got an RBI single and made some spectacular plays in the field. Unfortunately, he was the only Astro on the night to get an RBI.

Hinch had little choice but to start Marwin and Villar in this game, luckily neither at SS. I like Marwin, I have no problem with him. Villar on the other hand, I would not be upset if he was traded. I’m sure he is a nice guy and dances well, but at this point I am not sure what value he’s adding.

Honestly, this team had been playing the way I was expecting at the start of the season. I have loved the run they’ve made so far this season, but I think the league is starting to catch up with them. I would love for them to prove me wrong, but they are going to have to get some hits – and not just homeruns.

I do believe they are more than a pitcher away from the playoffs.

But hey, Mr. Correa is here and so far, I like him a lot.

Invaders 6
Patriots 2, but the Patriots win

submitted by Neil T.

“No! No! I say it again, No! Jean Jacques!” Senator Ted Cruz, the Canadian, screamed at his chief of staff. “This is not right! Jade Helm was a ruse! But our Blue Jays have signaled that the Canadian troops are to proceed to the Walmart in Midland! Merde! Merde!”

***
Standing outside Rogers Centre, deep in the heart of enemy territory in Toronto, handsomely rugged Texas Ranger Captain Berk Lanceman lowered the brim of his Stetson and smiled. It had taken him three days to reach Toronto, flying first to Seattle, crossing to Vancouver as a fuzz pedal delivery boy, crossing by train to Banff dressed as an elderly train aficionado, then hitching a ride on a poutain truck bound for Toronto. No one knew he was here, and no one would know. He adjusted the collar of his ranch duster so that his ruggedly handsome features couldn’t be seen.

It had come to him days before: the incredibly talented Toronto Blue Jays were losing, and there was theoretically no better line-up in baseball. With the work of the Austin high tech community, and a sophomore computer science major from the University of Houston, he had cracked the code that the Blue Jays had used to transmit messages to the American agents of Canadian aggression.

And then he had enlisted the aid of those great patriots, the Houston Astros.

He clicked the heels of his Lucheses three times and wished for home.

***
Always sure of himself, the Canadian pirouetted in despair. How could Roberto Hernandez do this? Lay up pitches for five runs in the bottom of the third? Our Blue Jays were supposed to score nothing! And Hernandez forced two home runs!

Then the bottom of the sixth! The brilliant Altuve gets both an assist and an error when Carter clearly lets the runner knock the ball from his glove! Mon dieux!

And finally, the Astros get a run in the ninth from the Communist Castro’s home run after the Astros offense had combined for only three runs, making Sanchez look brilliant! Nothing else mattered in this game, Jade Helm 15 was launched! Villar and Springer singled, then Villar scored on a throwing error! But it was too little too late, and the damage was done!

***
Below the Oklahoma border, off highway 287, an American patriot, a member of the Texas Brigade, posted the following on the Texas Brigade secret network:

“Saw two strange looking Helicopters flying west in tandem near Kirkland on 287..had the tail rotors high and had some what looked like cameras or ??? hanging under them…military gray in color…”

Astros rookie starter picks up second win and first complete game

WP: McCullers (2 – 0)
LP: Gonzalez (5 – 4)

submitted by Sphinx Drummond

BOX

Gamezone

Backed-up by three solo home runs Lance McCullers was all the Astros needed on the mound Wednesday night. The rookie right-hander allowed only four hits and no walks, struck out 11 batters, and went the distance for his first complete game and second major league victory. After surrendering a single with two outs in the ninth, manager A. J. Hinch made a mound visit to check on the status of his young pitcher, to see if he had enough left in the tank to finish the game. Lance assured him he did. And he was right.

All the Astros runs were supplied by solo home runs, two by Chris Carter ( 9 & 10 ), who has climbed above the Mendoza line, and one by George Springer ( 8 ). In the process of smacking two dingers Carter increased his RBI total to 29 putting him ahead of Altuve for second most on the team. Gattis leads with the team with 36 RBI.

Baltimore starter Miguel Gonzalez struck out eight and allowed just four hits, in 6 2/3 innings as the Orioles dropped their fifth straight.

The Astros are off to the best start in franchise history with an American League-best 34-20 record. With Jose Altuve’s average slipping, all the Astros regular hitters are now batting in the .200s except Valbuena who is still hitting below .200. The bullpen got another valuable night off.

Thursday’s game is a businessman’s special with a 2:10 pm CST Baltimore sends Wei-YinChen (1-4, 3.21 ERA) to face off against Dallas Keuchel (7-1, 1.76 ERA) and if Keuchel is up to task, maybe the bully gets another day off.

Attendance – 20305
Game Time – 2:14
Temperature – 84

Orioles 2, Astros 5
W: Harris, L: Branch, S: Gregerson

MLB recap
GameZone

So, for many summer is here. The showers of May seem to be evaporating as quickly as it fell and kids are at night baseball games. The views they were showing of the Houston night were gorgeous and made me wish someone had given me a ticket to the game. But anyway, I was tired and would not have really wanted to go because I stayed up late the night before watching UH and Rice in their 20 inning game.

This was a good game to watch. The Astros won. Those are always good games to watch. Plus, Hinch made great pitching changes. Oberholtzer did a good job going 5.1 innings and giving up only 2 runs. He was okay when he got the hook unlike Jimenez who seemed a bit upset. The way Brownie and Ashy were talking I thought he might go all Taveras on the phone, but he didn’t.

Anyway, Harris, Neshek and Gregerson came in for 3.2 innings of hitless baseball. Damm, it is really nice have a relief pitcher with a 0.35 ERA. Hell, yeah, it’s real nice.

The Astros had their big inning in the 7th when 8 guys came to the plate and scored 4 runs. Not a bad day at the office. Valbuena went 2 for 3 with a walk. One of those hits happened to land in the RF seats. Not a bad day for him but his average is .196 after all that production. Hopefully he rains some hits in the new month.

Summer school started for me on Monday. I’m taking Intermediate Macroeconomics and Intermediation Microeconomics. I do enjoy the topics but let me tell you about a classmate. He’s so freaking irritating. He does not the instructor finish a sentence before he spouts something as though he is an official on the topic. If you know so much about macroeconomics then why are you in this class??? Ugh. I also know I’m not the only one to find him tiresome, there are a couple others who made eyerolls, sighs, and under-the-breath comments. I don’t have a problem if someone has a question, but he seems to be trying to challenge the professor. Do that on your own time not mine.