Houston Astros Regular Season Thread

Perfect game through 8 for Yu. God this is terrible. Please not two years in a row.

Don't worry Big T, there is a God and he was looking down on Houston last night. Marwin Gonzalez slapped a 2-out base hit in the bottom of the ninth to spoil the perfect game for Yu Darvish. Darvish was outstanding last night and he kept his foot on the Astros throat all game. He even started the ninth like the perfecto was never in doubt retiring Jason Castro and Carlos Corporan on only three pitches. Gonzalez said he came to the plate just thinking he didn't want to be the last out. The first pitch Darvish threw to Gonzalez was a fastball on the outer part of the plate that Gonzalez stroked right back up the middle into center field. As Big T alluded to, the Astros were one out away from suffering a perfect game being tossed at them for the second time in two years. Last year you guys may remember the perfect game the San Francisco Giants Matt Cain threw. It may have been the lowest point of a very low season for Houston. Thank goodness Houston avoided this latest slap in the face last night.

Darvish's performance last night overshadowed a really nice outing by Houston's starter Lucas Harrell. Harrell pretty much cruised through his six innings of work except for the third inning when he got into a full blown one out bases loaded jam. Harrell did a great job of escaping allowing only one run on a Lance Berkman single. The rest of the pitching staff after Harrell didn't fare nearly as well. Only Josh Fields did not surrender a run facing only one batter and retiring him with a strike out. Xavier Cedeno gave up one run in 1/3 of an inning, Rhiner Cruz gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, Wesley Wright gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning of work followed by Fields and Astros closer Jose Veras pitched the ninth giving up 2 more runs on two hits and a walk with three K's. Feast or famine with Veras in his inning of work leaving the final score Rangers 7 and the Astros 0.

 

Up next an afternoon game at Minute Maid Park with the Astros Phillip Humber taking the hill against Alexi Ogando and the Rangers at 2:10 pm. Humber will be looking to lead the Astros to a series win against the Rangers.

Perfect game through 8 for Yu. God this is terrible. Please not two years in a row.

 

I don't blame you but Darvish is no slouch.

I'll dare to say that Darvish last night was more dominant than Cain was against the Stros last year. That was one hell of a pitching performance. Now Stros show them whos boss and win the series today!

Another shut out loss for the Stros today. Not looking good guys.

I'll be captain obvious here...our biggest problem is the most critical aspect of baseball IMO...making friggin contact...43 Ks through 3 games...7 from Carter...Darvish hung several pitches last night that he fouled off instead of making him pay for it...gotta put the bat on the ball better...starting pitching has been fantastic...maybe we should give up the DH and see if they can make contact...can't be much worse...

Okay, I think we need to back up a little. I'm disappointed that Houston didn't win this series but maybe we wanted more than Houston can give at this point. Or, maybe the pitchers are ahead of the hitters right now. The guys on the radio broadcast last night said, generally speaking, pitchers who aren't familiar with hitters and vice versa, advantage pitchers. We have 9 players who were in an MLB lineup for the first time on opening day. Give the guys a month. Let's see where they are on May 1st before we judge. To make judgements after 3 games may be a bit premature IMO. I'm still optimistic but after all I said the Stros would win 70 games a week or so ago. That's a winning percentage of .432. Even I, being my most optimistic, don't believe they will go .500. If they do yippee! I just don't think they will. All I saw in spring training was an improved team, not necessarily a playoff team--yet.

Alex White is done for 2013. He will be going to have Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow. White was an off season acquisition and the Astros (and their fans) were hoping for White to have some success here in Houston. Unfortunately, he lost the battle for a spot in the starting rotation to Eric Bedard and Brad Peacock but he was going to work long relief out of the bull pen.

 

Less than two days after getting Travis Blackley from the Oakland A's Blackley will go on the DL retroactive to Friday due to a stained shoulder. The Astros have called up Dallas Kuechel, who enjoyed some success with Houston in 2012, from AAA OKC.

 

The home town team lost it's third game in a row last night but at least they didn't get shutout. Brad Peacock was having a nice game vs his old team, the A's, when the fit hit the shan in the 5th inning. Peacock struggled but only allowed one run to score but he was pulled for Xavier Cedeno who gave up 6 earned runs while allowing just one hit and three walks. Jose Altuve drove in the Astros 1st run in 23 innings in the sixth but Houston could only manage 3 runs for the game which won't win when you allow 8. Houston did set a record, dubious as it is, of striking out more times than any team in history (53) to begin the season.

 

The 'Stros are playing the A's again tonight and the score right now is 0-0 in the 3rd with Houston coming up to bat. The most notable thing in tonight's game so far is that that little ol 2nd baseman Jose Altuve is tonight's DH! He's hitting lead off and Marwin Gonzalez is playing second hitting 9th. That's a new one for the books!

The Astros broke their hitting slumps in a big way against Seattle in game two of their 3 game series. In a 22 hit, 5 home run onslaught they pounded the Mariners into submission. After being shutout in what seems like every game since their opening night win over the Rangers the Astros exploded for a whopping 16 runs. Yeah they gave up 9 to the Mariners but scoring 6 runs, 2 in the 8th and 4 in the 9th made it look closer but the final outcome was never in doubt after a 6 run 1st featuring Jose Altuve getting two hits in the inning with an RBI and a run scored. Altuve garnered a career high 4 RBIs on the night and Chris Carter ended his hitting woes by belting two of the 5 homers the Astros hit. J D Martinez, Marwin Gonzalez and Jose Altuve rounded out the other home runs on the night. I wish we had ComCast Sports locally, I would have liked to at least DVRed that game. Eric Bedard had his first start of the season and first appearance since opening night. He went 4 innings giving up only one hit and no runs. Paul Clemens, recently called up pitched the next 4 and he was touched up a little giving up 5 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks and he gave up 3 dingers. All that and he got the win. This seems to be following the minor league policy of piggybacking the starting pitchers. It gave Bedard work and allowed Clemens to get some big league experience. Hector Ambriz pitched the ninth giving up 4 runs but only one earned. It seems Houston's defense took the ninth inning off. Now the Astros can win their first series of 2013 with a win tonight in the finale in Seattle. Go 'Stros!

They are leading tonight 5-1 and hitting the ball very well again.

Astros win 8-3! They continued their power display with three bombs last night including another from Carter. BTW I just want to point out that Matt Dominguez is a BEAST defensively at third base.

STOP THE PRESSES! ASTROS WIN 2 IN A ROW! ASTROS WIN 1ST SERIES OF 2013! That's worth noting because after opening night they didn't look like they would win again, or even score a run, until they broke out against Seattle on Tuesday night. Now they have won two in a row and, according to the manager in "Major League", win 3 in row and you've got a winning streak. They are facing the Angels tonight for 3 games so getting to 3 in a row may not be so easy but it seems the Astros hitters, except Brett Wallace, have found their stroke. It looks like Chris Carter has busted out of his slump with back-to-back games where he knocked the cover off the ball. I had insomnia last night so I listened to the game from about the middle of the 6th. A lot of credit needs to be given to the pitchers, for the most part, who have kept the Astros close during their 6 game losing streak. If the hitters are really finding themselves we may have a fun little spring on our hands.

Who would have thought that the Angels would be dragging up the rear in the AL West. I know! How do you win just 2 of your first ten games with Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton in the lineup? Houston needs to keep the pressure on and Lucas Harrell needs some run support. Going for 4 in row---Go Astros!

Win 1, lose 6, win 3, lose 2. Crap, looks like it's going to be one of those seasons. So far Phillip Humber and Lucas Harrell are tied for hard luck starters of the season so far. The past two games really nice efforts went for nothing. At least Houston isn't getting shut out.

 

BTW I'm sorry I jinxed the 'Stros, people. I just had to dream about a series sweep after Norris lead them to the first game victory over LAA and say it (or post it) out loud. Sorry about that, it won't happen again! lol

Porter demanded patience at the plate after the series with Oakland and Texas, so much so that he benched JD for swinging first pitch and poping up. It appears to have worked. Team is getting much better pitches to hit and guys like Carter and even JD appear to have benefited the most.

 

The Wallace experiment should be over...Bring up Robbie Grossman and see what he can do at the plate. Move Carter to DH, which is where he will end up eventually anyway. He is a taylor made DH. Grossman in OF, Gold Glover Pena at 1B and Carter at DH is much better defensively and cant be any worse than Carter in OF, Wallace at 1B and Pena at DH. Singleton will be at 1B next season or later this season and Wallace can't hold Dominguezes jock over at 3B defesnively, so why is Wallace still here. Time to find out what a few of these 24-25 year old prospects at the AAA level (Grossman, Elmore, Laird, Parades, Krauss) can do at the MLB level before the real youth movement (Springer, Singelton, Santana, Deshields, Cosart, Torpeano, Correa, Fontana, etc.) takes over starting next season and into 2015.

They played very well this weekend and pushed the Angles to their limit in the last two games. They are not going to win a lot this year but they will be competitive like they were in his series.

For all you who quickly tired of Brett Wallace's struggles at the plate fear not. Wallace has been sent down to AAA OKC. Coming out of spring training Wallace looked like a player primed for a breakout year but so far in the regular season Wallace has gone 1-24 with 17 K's. The Astros have brought up Brandon Laird who was tearing up the minors to the tune of a .353 BA after hitting .328 in spring training. Also, relief pitcher Xavier Cedeno was send down as well. He has been struggling having an 11+ ERA.

Stros win 3-2! Lets start a winning streak and get this series.

Humber bombed, Kuechel down (to AAA) and Bedard loses a heartbreaker. What a freaking weekend and it could have been salvaged by one stinkin hit from either Chris Carter or Jason Castro with the tying and winning runs in scoring position both men went down. Carter by K and Castro hit a hard grounder to third in the bottom of the 9th down 5-4. Damn. That's okay, we'll start getting those hits eventually. We just need to stop being the team that breaks other teams out of their losing streaks. Damn. I do find it funny that before Chris Carter got his chance to be a hero the Indians intentionally walked Jose Altuve, the smallest guy on the team (with the best batting average!)!

The Astros are in a pickle and now they can't even beat the team who was the Astros only series win of the season, Seattle. Losing a 7-1 game that probably wasn't even that close Houston has fallen to 5-14 on the season with 2 more games vs Seattle and road games vs the Red Sox and Yankees. Ouch! The starting pitching began the season pretty darn good but they didn't get any run support but now the starters top to bottom are giving up runs like it's a fire sale at Walmart. I certainly didn't expect Houston to compete for a division crown but, going by spring training, I thought they'd be more competative than they've been. Poor Bo Porter, it seems like it's going to be a loooooonnnnng season. If this keeps up cable and satelite customers will pay ComCast Sports NOT to air Astros games!

In Houston's defense to the 7-1 loss to the Mariners, King Felix might be the best pitcher in baseball on the worst team! Not like they blew one to a bum...They did get the W last night!

True dat, badndn! And today the Astros won the series with a 10-3 win that wasn't even that close. Lucas Harrell got his second win of the season to even his record to 2-2 and Chris Carter blasted a 440 ft homer in the 2nd inning to begin the scoring for the Astros and the game. 3-run homers by Ronny Cedeno in the fourth and another 3-run shot by Brandon Laird in the 6th. Harrell was awesome pitching 7 very strong innings and Rhiner Cruz pitched a scoreless 8th. With a 10-1 Bo Porter sent Paul Clemens to the hill in the 9th and he struggled a bit. He gave up 3 hits, including a solo home run by 1st baseman Justin Smoak, and 2 earned runs. Too bad Houston can't play Seattle more often. The Astros have now won their second series of the season, both against the Mariners. Now it's on to a seven game series on the east coast vs the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Phillip Humber sucked again. Boston score 7 and that's how many runs Humber gave up including 4 in the first. Can't keep giving other teams a huge lead right out of the box. That sucks.

That's two games in a row he has been off. I think we might see a move coming pretty soon with Humbe beeing either released or designated for assignment. Get ready we might get to see Cosart pretty soon! But to give the guy his fair due, he was very good in his first several starts and was given absolutly no run support.

Well Eric Bedard, being the team player he is, joined his fellow starting pitchers by giving up 5 earned runs tonight to start the game. He did it a little differently though giving up 1 run in the first three innings before giving up 3 more in the fourth when he took a walk to the showers with he couldn't retire a batter. The Astros are in the bottom of the 8th looking at a 6-3 deficit. Light hitting Red Sox catcher David Ross has 4-4 night going with 2 home runs with no walks or K's. Both dingers were solo shots but for a guy hitting .241 that ain't a bad night. Rhiner Cruz is stinking up the 8th giving up 3 singles in a row putting him in a based loaded no out jam. I'm going to bed.