Not the Cubs 6
Astros 3

submitted by Neil T

Not the Cubs 6
Astros 3

While I was watching last night’s game, it occurred to me that lately I’ve been doing stuff I haven’t done in years. I figured we needed a refresher course on stuff we’ve forgotten.

Standings: These days standings are kept up-to-the minute online with every win or loss. I know, because I check them three or four times a day. The Astros are in first place in the AL West, which means you can actually look at standings and not despair.
Tonight’s first out on Melky Cabrera was a beautiful diving catch in the gap by Marisnick. That’s this season. McCullers gave up a single to Abreu, then struck out LaRoche and Ramirez.

The bottom of the first was an Altuve up-the-center single, followed by Altuve taking second on a Tucker fly-out to center. Altuve was out at home to end the inning on a Gattis single.

Power Rankings: These are meaningless rankings of teams by perceived baseball virtues, and the Astros virtues are never valued as much as they should be. Pre-2005 there used to be that one power ranking posted weekly by ESPN.com, and I always felt dirty looking at it. Now everybody, from U.S. News & World Report to Cosmopolitan, seems to have a MLB power ranking, and they’re still all meaningless. And I still feel dirty checking them. Especially the one in Cosmopolitan.

McCullers struggled in the second, but the White Sox left the bases loaded.

Chris Carter led off the second with a broken bat single, and then Valbuena hit into a double play. Villar grounded out.

Defending the Catcher. Castro is having a spectacular season, but he’s a catcher. He will not be the offensive player that some random nitwit, me for instance, thinks he should be. It’s time to dust off the reasons a catcher isn’t just judged by his offense.

You know the best thing about an incredibly dumb 2-out error by the catcher? It will always induce a comment by HH. I think Conger’s one-run passed ball and throwing error would have brought HH back from the dead.

Bottom of the 4th, Astros tie it with a Gattis and Carter singles.

ESPN.Com: The best thing about losing was that I never bothered to look at ESPN.com. I was a better person, I think.

Top of the 5th, McCullers gave up a single and two walks, and was pulled for Thatcher. McCullers kept the game close, and struck out 7 in 4.1 innings, but he struggled most of the game, and left with two walks and two HBP. I feel no overwhelming sense of well-being when Thatcher approaches the mound, and last night didn’t change that. After a sac fly and a walk, Thatcher was pulled for Harris. Harris walked Shuck, loading the bases for what I recall was the third time. Flowers flied out to right.

Bottom of the 5th, Villar with a lead-off double, and advances on a Conger grounder to 2nd. Then Marisnick struck out and Springer flied out to center. 2-1 White Sox.

Team Statistics: The last couple of seasons the only statistics I’ve checked from time to time were Kris Karter’s strikeout totals and Jose Altuve’s batting average. Now I’ve discovered Team Statistics. They are apparently fascinating, because I’ve spent hours studying them. Did you know that the Astros are throwing the fewest four-seam fastballs in the majors?

The 6th was the weirdest damn inning ever. Ever. Altuve, who went 2 for 4 with a walk and seems to be hitting again, led off with a single. Tucker doubled moving Altuve to third. Gattis was then called out for interference. I can’t remember the last time I saw an interference call. Carter, who went 2 for 4, hit a sac fly plating Altuve, and Tucker advanced to 3rd on a Cabrera throwing error. Valbuena reached first on an Abreu throwing error that was challenged but upheld, and Tucker scored. How come this shit didn’t happen in 2005? End of the inning, Astros up 3-2.

Clarks: I saw a Clark today. It think it’s been years. It was too bad, too, because I was thinking about how we should be kinder and gentler to Clarks, and then this one Clarked it.

Is there anything in a game better than watching Neshak pitch? Three up, three down.

Rodon was run after the first out. Still three up, three down.

Avg overrated. Wasn’t this what Bill James said all along? Astros are last in average, 12th in OPS. Combine that with good pitching and good defense and you’ve got a team leading its division.

White Sox tied it in the top of the 9th with a Beckham pinch hit home run off Qualls.

Extra innings can be exciting, interesting things. But not last night. Kris came in from Austin and I turned off the tv after the 9th because, well, that’s what you’re supposed to do. The Stros lost in 11. For some reason the Box gives the loss to Fields, but it looks from the play by play that Sipp took the loss. Sipp has been money, but something seems wrong. I think that’s three losses in 7 games.

Detroit 1Q84
Astros some less

submitted by NeilT

I’m really excited about the long weekend. I plan to fish tomorrow if it doesn’t rain, and the long weekend at the start of the summer just feels luxurious like it’s never felt before. Maybe it’s because the Astros have played so well. Tonight I sat on the porch and drank the season’s first gin and tonic—I’d had the bottle of tonic water unopened in the frig since last summer. I smoked a cigar and drank a couple of gins and tonics made with the dried out lime I found in the crisper and read my book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazake and his Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruke Murakami. I’ve read two other novels by Murakami, Kafka on the Shore and 1Q84, and I liked them both. His novels live in a mundane world measured against the strange.

The game was on in the house and I was listening to the TV feed through the speakers on the patio. Since I didn’t have Comcast I’m late to the party, and I hate to admit how poor my baseball sensibilities are, but I don’t mind Ashby at all. If I’m sitting on the porch and just listening without watching, I can follow the game pretty well. And I find him and Blum funny, and him and Brownie fine. It’s heresy, I know, but there you are. I even like the banter with Julia. I’ll gladly give up my recap space if you want somebody with better taste.

Anyway, I managed about 40 pages of the novel during the game. Like I said, Murakami writes a strange novel. This one is about a guy who doesn’t appear to be anything special, hence the “colorless”. He’s very short, not more than 5’5” I’d guess, and he has a wonderful life at a very young age. His best friend is a bat named Lightning, and he does everything with that bat. His last year of high school he wins the school batting championship, ending the season with a .341 average. But then he goes home over a college break and calls the bat, just to hang out, you know? And the bat won’t talk to him. He pushes. He calls the bat every day and the bat won’t answer his calls. Finally the bat returns his call.

“Jose Tsukuru,” the bat says, “I can’t see you again.” “But why?” says Jose. “You know why,” says Lightning.

Of course Tsukuru has no clue, and neither does the reader. Why does a bat who has been your closest companion suddenly shun you? Tsukuru assumes it’s his own failing, and the reader wonders, what has Jose Tsukuru done to deserve his fate? Tonight Jose Tsukuru went 0 for 4, and his average slipped below .300.

The novel jumps around in time, and Tsukuru in the present is in his late 30s and an engineer who works on the design of railroad stations. You wouldn’t think there was much call for a designer of railroad stations, but this is Japan, not Texas, and for Japanese engineers railroad station work is probably as common as highway interchanges for Texas engineers. Tsukuru meets a girl, Homaruna, who he likes. They go out. They sleep together.

McHugh made one bad pitch, but when you’ve got a team batting .228, you can’t really afford a lot of mistakes. In the top of the third, the Stros had gone up by 2 after Valbuena reached on a Kinsler error, allowing Castro to score. Then Springer doubled driving in Valbuena. McHugh’s mistake was to some dude named J.D. Martinez. Where did this guy come from? Martinez: 3-run homer.

So back to the novel, Homeruna tells Tsukuru that she will be friends, but she will not sleep with Tsukuru again until he tells her the name of his bat, Lightning, so that she can find where Lightning is.

Poor Tsukuru! He has fallen in love with Homeruna, and she has deserted him! Springer has a great night, 2 for 4, but no Homeruna. Gattis goes 0 for 3 with one walk, Tucker 0 for 3, Rasmus, 0 for 3 with a golden sombrero, Carter 0 for 3 with 2 Ks. It was ugly. Ugly. In the book, Homeruna is a very attractive woman, but when she’s not there, it’s ugly. And really, what can Tsukuru do when the woman he desires won’t sleep with him?

Castro, by the way, went 2 for 3. Nice night for Castro. Nice night for Springer.

I’m about a quarter through the novel. I’ll follow it to the end (unless, of course, I’m shunned for being ok with Ashby), but I gots to tell ya: after tonight it’s one hard read. I hope Jose Tsukuru finds out why Lightning is shunning him. I hope Homeruna sleeps with the Astros again. But you know what? After the last three years, it’s hard to have much faith. I still expect that at the end of the night it will be 6-2.