Houston Astros 2014 Season Thread

Here it is baseball has begun and so far the best highlight catch in baseball is made by a ballgirl! This young lady probably saved somebody's bacon with a killer bang-bang catch of a foul ball heading into the stands down the right field line.

 

http://wapc.mlb.com/cutfour/2014/03/30/70474306/video-padres-ballgirl-amazing-catch-opening-night

Edited August 21, 2014 by eagle eye

What a fantastic opening day it has been! Looking forward to the Astros opener tomorrow, but very much enjoying the games today.

My bud Boomer is pissed today because the pitcher that jilted the Rangers, Cliff Lee, was on the mound yesterday against the Rangers. Why is Boomer mad? Because Lee gave up 8 runs and WON the friggin' game. It was Cliff Lee's first game in The Ball Park since he pitched in the 2010 World Series for the Rangers. The Phillies topped Texas 14-10. Interesting note; the 14 runs was the most opening day runs scored since 1900 when the Phillies beat the Boston Beaneaters 19-17. That's 114 years. Go Rangers!

 

Another ex Ranger, Nelson Cruz made his debut as a Baltimore Oriole and that homer helped beat the Red Sox 2-1. Cruz was about the only offense Texas had last year. It's incredible to me that they let Cruz go.

 

Fortunately, there aren't any recent Astros doing anything that make you think, "damn, I wish Houston wouldn't have let him go!".

Houston steps up and beats the Yankees 6-2 in a game that wasn't really that close. Scott Feldman pitched a heckuva game going 6-2/3 giving up zero runs on 2 hits with 2 walks and 3 K's. Relievers Kevin Chapman and Chad Qualls struggled a little bit and the two runs New York scored was off them. Matt Albers came in to close the game and he retired the Yankees on 2 fly outs and a ground out around a double hit by 3B Kelly Johnson. The Astros pounded out 9 hits, 8 of which were against starter CC Sabathia. The Astros got home runs from Jesus Guzman in the first with one on and a solo shot to lead off the 2nd inning by LJ Hoes. The top half of the Astros batting order did most of the damage with CF Dexter Fowler going 2-4 with a run scored, 2B Jose Altuve going 2-4 with two RBI's and run scored, Jason Castro 1-4 with an RBI and run scored and Jesus Guzman went 1-4 but the one was that 2 run bomb I mentioned earlier. (I admit he did well despite my feeling of having Carlos Corporan DH but what the heck, all's well that ends well, right?)

It was a great night beginning with Nolan Ryan tossing out the first pitch to Craig Biggio and it was fun to Nolan chuck the ball out of Biggio's reach into the crowd gathered behind home plate. The night was enhanced by the ovation the crowd gave to Derek Jeter when he was introduced in the pregame player introductions. There could have been a bummer situation that was dodged when Scott Feldman hit Jeter in the hand area in Jeter's first at bat. It did no damage and Jeter stayed in and finished the game. I'm glad Jeter wasn't seriously injured and I'll bet Feldman is too. The Astros strategy was to pitch to Jeter's weak spot--the inside half of the plate and Feldman's pitch sort of tailed inside and caught Jeter in the fleshy part of the pinky side of his hand. Jeter finished the night 1-3 with a run scored so you have to happy for the guy.

 

Here's the video of Ryan's first pitch to Biggio. There are also links on the video/article to highlights of the Astros opening day.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/hou/nolan-ryan-craig-biggio-first-pitch-a-proud-opening-day-moment-for-houston?ymd=20140401&content_id=70647968&vkey=news_hou

 

 

Fun way to start the season. Just pointing out that Guzman missed a second HR in his second AB by about six feet. He played well tonight.

How about them 2-0 first place Stros! Ok, ok it had to be said ;) but Cosart had a very good outing tonight. I still think his wildness will catch up to him at some point and his numbers could get very ugly, but for now he deserves his props. Dexter Fowler with another big night 2-4 with a Hr and a triple. And Matt Dominguez caped it off late with a solo opo field blast for his first hit of the year. Great start to the beginning of the season, but lets remember to not get to excited. I don't know about y'all, but I am enjoying the Astros beating up on the Yanks!

Interesting thing I noticed in the box score...we had 4 hits last night...2 Triples and 2 HRs...that's it. It's only been 2 games but I've been impressed with Dexter Fowler thus far...honestly didn't expect him to come in and hit at sea level like he has...maybe he's got a little extra motivation after the Rockies GM questioned his passion and toughness...whatever it is I hope he keeps it up

Houston has been tenacious so far. In interviews the veteran guys have come in and added some stability to the roster. The Astros are loose and having fun and that's a good thing. An interesting fact is that with the Astros at 2-0 it's the first time since 2003 they began the season this way. Four free agent signings have already paid dividends. Starting pitcher Scott Feldman has a win and is being credited as being a good influence in the clubhouse. Relief pitcher Matt Albers has contributed to both victories with more than solid work. CF Dexter Fowler you know about. Oh yeah, there's also Jesus Guzman who homered in the opening game. The offense has been okay but the opposing pitchers they faced are pretty good too. Now, everyone is saying CC Sabathia is on the decline and his fastball velocity is down. Okay, I'll give you that but, Hiroki Karoda looked pretty good except for Dexter Fowler who homered and tripled in his first two at-bats.

 

We've known for a while who the 1,2 and 3 starters were in the Astros rotation but the 4th and 5th guys are still a mystery. Look on the Astros web site and the previews for the next two games after tonight the starter is listed for the Angels but the Astros starters are TBD. In all likelihood the other two guys will be Lucas Harrell and Dallas Kuechel. You would have thought Jerome Williams would be an option but he pitched an inning last night so it seems like, to begin the season, Williams will come in out of the bullpen. It's my thinking that Houston won't want to start lefties back-to-back so I look for Harrell to pitch Friday and Kuechel Saturday.

 

The JD Martinez era in Houston is over. Late in spring training Martinez was released and on the final roster Houston kept a guy named Alex Presley. I never heard of the guy until this spring so I looked him up and it turns out he's a veteran player who Houston signed this spring. He was drafted in 2008 in the 8th round by Pittsburgh. Presley was traded to Minnesota last August for Justin Morneau and Houston claimed him off waivers on March 27. Presley started and played the whole game going 0-3 at the plate. I sort of think he's a place holder for George Springer because if Springer does well at OKC he'll make the trip to Houston sometime this summer.

 

Check out the Astros minor league rosters. Base on potential we have a lot to look forward to in the near future.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140402&content_id=70720756&notebook_id=70731066&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

 

Chris Carter had a mission this spring---cut down on the extremely high strike out rate he posted in 2013. This spring he did do a much better job of showing he was learning his lessons on plate discipline. He needed to because last season he struck out 212 times which led the majors and he was the 4th player all time to top 200 K's in a season. He also set a record for right handed hitters in the American League. Nowhere to go but up right? Well, compared to last spring he cut his K mark by 5 striking out 16 times vs 21 last year and he had better AB's. So far, DH'ing in the first two games Carter is 1-7 with 3 K's and no walks. I know it's early but to have 7 AB's and 3 K's is a 43% K rate and maybe Carter CAN go down farther. You know he's trying but you see his face after another K you know he's frustrated and he's pressing. With some added pop in the Astros lineup the pressure on Carter to produce should be lower but the self pressure is almost worse than the external kind. Hopefully, he can string together some good AB's and hits to boost his confidence a little bit. Right now I think he has a confidence problem but it's not terminal. He can overcome this and the Astros will need his pop as the season progresses. He just needs to make consistant contact. If he's putting the ball in play those hits will find holes. I'd rather see him hit the .143 that he's hitting now making contact because a ground out or a fly out is much better for Carter that stacking up strikeouts again.

Houston won their opening series against the Yankees. They beat a diminished CC Sabathia, they beat Hiroki Karoke breaking a 4-0 record he had built against Houston and by doing so Houston doubled their run production of the first four games by scoring 2 runs in the win Wednesday night (that's how dominatant Karoda has been against Houston). Last night the Astros had NY starter Ivan Nova on the ropes the whole time, 5-2/3 innings, he pitched. Nova gave up 6 hits, 5 walks and hit two batters (Jason Castro twice) but the Yankees delivered a pitchers best friend, the double play, 4 times in the first 5 innings that killed the early threats by Houston. Three of those DP's ended an inning. The Astros had a total of 13 base runners and managed just 2 runs. Starter Brett Oberholtzer deserved better than what he ended up with even though in his 5-2/3 he gave up 3 runs. The offense did him no favors. The most damaging hit in the game was not on any batted ball. Jason Castro came up in the 1st inning and Nova hit him in the lead foot and he did it again in the 3rd. The second time appeared to have really hurt Castro who limped down to first base. He managed to gut it out and play on but when Houston came out for the sixth inning Castro was replaced by Carlos Corporan. After the game Castro was seen in a walking boot. Not good news at all. The dumbest play came in the seventh with Brad Peacock on the mound. Ichiro doubled to lead off but Peacock retired the next two hitters and he probably thought he had the final out of the inning when 3B Yangervis Solarte popped up in front of the pitcher's mound. Easy-peasy right? NOT. It looked as if Peacock was going to take it himself when he backed off in favor of Corporan. It looked like for all the world Corporan had called off Peacock but afterward he just sort of gave up and the ball dropped harmlessly to the field. Seeing as there were two outs Ichiro took off on contact and he hustled all the way and scored an insurance run making the score 4-2 at the time. The biggest injustice of the night was giving Solarte a hit instead of ruling an error on Corporan. Solarte had a big night going 3-3 with 2 RBI's and a run. The first hit of Solarte's night in the first inning was his first big league hit. Good times. The run charged to Peacock should have been unearned but it wasn't but he did do a nice job on the mound. Pitching was the problem last night. It was all on the offense. I'm not giving Nova any credit considering his line score so blame for what should have been about a 7 or 8 to 3 victory and a series sweep became a 4-2 loss. Dexter Fowler continued his hot beginning to 2014 by going 2-4 with a run, an RBI and a K.

Today it's being reported Castro had x-rays taken of his foot and no breaks were seen. He is listed as day-to-day but he plans on being in the lineup tonight against the Angels. He's got a sore foot but he says he's not concerned about and he's determined to play. Good new for him, the Astros and the fans.

Just goes to show you, if a player says he's playing after an injury you'd do well to take that with a grain of salt. Jason Castro, despite his assertion that he would play last night, didn't due to swelling in his right foot from being hit in that foot in the series finale against the Yankees Thursday night.

The only way to contain red hot Dexter Fowler is to make him sick. That's what happened to Fowler before yesterday's game. He was taken to the hospital with a stomach ailment of some kind. Bo Porter said he didn't know what caused the situation, it could have been something he ate. Regardless of the reason Fowler was not in the lineup Friday and Alex Presley took his place.

Oh yeah, the Astros got bombed by the Angels 11-1. Lucas Harrell was terrible and Jerome Williams was worse as the Angels scored at will off both pitchers. This was the second night in a row that the offense didn't do anything to help their cause. They left the bases loaded at least twice without scoring a run and Marc Krauss was thrown out at home on a nice play by CF Mike Trout after a Jesus Guzman single. Krauss was on second base after a walk and an advance to 2nd on a wild pitch. So, after a nice start to the season Houston and with two of their best offensive weapons force to sit out the game Houston's offense was nowhere to be seen and with Harrell and Williams spoon feeding the Angels the sweetest pitches a hitter could ask for that was all she wrote for the Astros.

 

Just goes to show you, if a player says he's playing after an injury you'd do well to take that with a grain of salt. Jason Castro, despite his assertion that he would play last night, didn't due to swelling in his right foot from being hit in that foot in the series finale against the Yankees Thursday night.

The only way to contain red hot Dexter Fowler is to make him sick. That's what happened to Fowler before yesterday's game. He was taken to the hospital with a stomach ailment of some kind. Bo Porter said he didn't know what caused the situation, it could have been something he ate. Regardless of the reason Fowler was not in the lineup Friday and Alex Presley took his place.

Oh yeah, the Astros got bombed by the Angels 11-1. Lucas Harrell was terrible and Jerome Williams was worse as the Angels scored at will off both pitchers. This was the second night in a row that the offense didn't do anything to help their cause. They left the bases loaded at least twice without scoring a run and Marc Krauss was thrown out at home on a nice play by CF Mike Trout after a Jesus Guzman single. Krauss was on second base after a walk and an advance to 2nd on a wild pitch. So, after a nice start to the season Houston and with two of their best offensive weapons force to sit out the game Houston's offense was nowhere to be seen and with Harrell and Williams spoon feeding the Angels the sweetest pitches a hitter could ask for that was all she wrote for the Astros.

 

Harrell is done. Astros need to move on.

I was there at the Juice Box last night. It started out great with the retirement ceremonies of Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt but it went downhill soon afterward. The Astros did take the early lead with a run in the first but there weren't many highlights for Houston to follow. The Astros shut down the Angels in the top of the first and after two quick outs to begin the bottom of the inning Jose Altuve singled and while Jesus Guzman was at bat he stole second. Then Guzman scalded a line drive that caromed off 3B John McDonald's glove into left field. The play was ruled an error by McDonald but I thought Guzman should have gotten a hit because it was just hit so hard it made it a bang-bang play. Either way Altuve scored to give the Astros an early lead. But that was it. Yes, they had a runner or two in scoring position but they just couldn't get a hit when it mattered most. It's at this point that I start griping about the lack of run production by the Astros offense. In the last 3 games they have scored a total of 4 runs. That ain't gonna cut it Houston. It hasn't helped that their All-Star catcher Jason Castro and best hitter so far in 2014 Dexter Fowler both missed the last two games to an injury and an illness respectively but, I make no excuses. The Astros have been anemic offensively the last 3 games and honestly that's being kind.

The Angels started 23 year old Tyler Skaggs last night and he has split time the past two seasons between the Angels AAA club and the big club but last night he looked like a Cy Young candidate. He went 8 innings giving up one unearned run with 5 K's and a walk. He could have finished the game because he only threw 95 pitches but it's early in the season and I'm sure the Angels figured bringing in closer Joe Smith was the best move. You can't argue with it because Smith retired the Astros in order in the ninth ending the game on yet another strike out of Chris Carter. To say Carter is struggling right now is a huge understatement. He's played all 5 games so far and he's 2-16 with 3 walks and whopping 8 strike outs. Big T, you talk about a player who needs a fork stuck in him! Carter had 3 K's and a groundout to go 0-4 last night.

Houston's starter Dallas Kuechel battled all 5 innings he pitched. He had trouble throwing strikes and he went deep into counts because of that. It didn't help that the official scorer must have been working for the Angels last night. Besides the rob-job he gave on what should have been an RBI single for Jesus Guzman in the first to score Jose Altuve he gave Albert Pujols a hit on a line drive that was laughably misplayed by RF LJ Hoes in the third inning. It was clearly an error on Hoes who rumbled and stumbled in front of Pujols line drive and he was in position to make the catch but he seemed to duck out of the way at the last minute like he lost the ball in the lights. Hoes fell to the ground and CF Robbie Grossman fielded the ball. Pujols was given a double on the play which is total BS. If Hoes makes the catch Pujols is out and the inning is over. This seemed to rattle Kuechel who then walked David Freese and Josh Hamilton got an infield single on a ground ball in the hole between short and third. Keuchel settled down and retired Howie Kendrick to get out of the jam. The end came when Kuechel gave up 3 runs in the 5th with the main damage done by a 2-run homer by Hamilton.

The Astros finish the series with the Angels this afternoon and hopefully Dexter Fowler and Jason Castro will be back in the lineup because Houston has sure missed them.

I'm taking complete credit for the turnaround. What turnaround? Why, the one run rut the Astros have been in for the past two games before Sunday's 7-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels. I gripe about lack of runs scored and what happens? Five of the Astros' seven hits were home runs -- two-run shots by Jason Castro in the first inning and Jonathan Villar in the seventh, and solo blasts by Matt Dominguez in the second, Jesus Guzman in the fourth and Alex Presley in the fifth. It was their first five-homer game since Aug. 26, 2013 against the White Sox in Chicago. And it's all because of me. Okay, maybe we can give the Astros some credit. After all we certainly don't pull any punches when they don't perform so I suppose the pendulum has to swing the other way when it's deserved. What needs to be noted here is that Scott Feldman, in his second start of the season pitched his ass off. He went 7 complete innings giving up just one run on 3 hits, 2 walks and a strike out. Anthony Bass came in for Feldman in the 8th and he got through that inning in easy enough fashion but he got punked in the 9th. He gave up two runs on 5 hits recording his only out on a line shot to SS Jonathan Villar by David Freese. Chad Qualls came in and finished off the Angels but not before he gave up a hit to Angels SS Eric Aybar which scored one of the base runners left by Bass. Aybar has been a pain in the rear for the Astros this weekend and I'm sure that Houston was worried about him facing Feldman because he had a .429 career BA against Feldman. This is a new year and Aybar only managed a walk and a groundout in two at bats against Feldman.

 

It was good to see Jason Castro back in the lineup. He had missed the previous 2 games nursing a sore and swollen foot suffered in the Yankees finale on Thursday.

Dexter Fowler is out of the hospital and resting at home as of yesterday. Bo Porter wasn't sure if Fowler would be available for the Astros first road trip beginning Tuesday in Toronto.

Jared Cosart will try to even the series against the Angels this afternoon with a 1:10 pm start. The Angels took games 1 and 2 of the series while Houston came back and won yesterday.

The Astros finished up the first week of the new season playing .500 ball. They took 2 against the Yankees and lost two to the Angels. The starting rotation sort of breaks down according to where they are. #1 and #2 (Feldman and Cosart) looked strong and won. #3 (Bret Oberholtzer) did okay but needed some run support. #4 (Lucas Harrell) looked bad and #5 (Dallas Kuechel) struggled and could've used some defensive and offensive support. Beginning the 2nd trip through the rotation #1 looked good again. This should give us hope that the starting pitching staff, while too early to fully judge, is decent with some help in the minors on the way. The one worry I have is Lucas Harrell. He lost his mojo last season and while he struggled some this spring you didn't see the dumpster fire that was his start against the Angels coming. If Harrell can't turn things around he could be the first tweek made in the rotation sooner rather than later.

 

 

So there has been some chatter recently that Carlos Rodon may not be the sure fire 1.1 pick that has been the case since last year. Scouts are saying he isn't missing enough bats and his fastball velocity isn't in the mid to upper 90s as some had expected...instead he's still sitting in the 92-94 range...his Ks/9 has went from 12.5 in 2013 to 9.8 in 2014 One thing is for sure is that his defense has been plain awful...he has given up 30 runs so far yet only 15 have been earned...that's how you get a 2-5 record with a 2.44 ERA...one start in fact he didn't make it out of the 5th inning due to giving up 8 runs...and everyone of them was unearned. This draft class is loaded with arms so Luhnow might have a tough decision to make in June unless things change (still 1/2 season to go) as no one has really stepped up to force Rodon outta that spot. One pitcher that I've heard as a dark horse is Aaron Nola from LSU...went and looked to see how he has fared so far this season and like the numbers I saw...6-1 with a 0.47 ERA in 57 IP and a 71K/11BB ratio...scouting reports say he doesn't have overpowering stuff but he has great command and throws strikes which the Astros have shown they like

A few guys not on MLB's top prospects list that I'll be keeping an eye on this year

 

AAA

DH - Japhet Amador (can he hit enough to make it to the bigs?)

OF - Austin Wates (injury ended his season last year but the guy can hit. Not much power but decent speed. Has hit above .300 at every level of the minor leagues)

 

AA

RHP - Jordan Jankowski (has pitched great for a 34th round pick)

RHP - Brady Rodgers (not sure what it is about this guy but I've always felt like he could develop into a solid big league arm)

C - MP Cokinos (can he continue to hit?)

C - Tyler Heineman (high avg with little power in 2012 in Tri-City, power went up but average went down in 2013 at hitters heaven Lancaster)

SS - Jiovanni Mier (dang I was mad when they drafted him...and it looks for good reason...if he doesn't do something soon he'll be playing for another team)

OF - Andrew Aplin (good speed and a good eye at the plate (83BB vs 63 Ks in 2013))

OF - Preston Tucker (plain and simple, the guy just knows how to hit)

 

A+

Kyle Westwood (will be overshadowed by Appel, McCullers, Velasquez, Smith, and Hader but might be as good as the latter 2...a name to remember)

2B - Anthony Kemp (can he get on base enough for Correa and Ruiz to drive him in?)

 

A

RHP - Andrew Walter (2011 UDFA who is getting his first shot a full season ball...has been solid so far with a 2.04 ERA over the past 3 seasons with almost 10Ks per 9)

 

The Astros snapped a 3 game losing streak last night with a win over the Blue Jays. They did it behind a strong performance by starter Dallas Kuechel who went 7 innings giving up one run on five hits, 2 walks and 6 K's. Going into the 9th Houston was enjoying a 6-1 lead that was cut by 3 runs scored by Toronto off Josh Fields who pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up the 3 runs with only 2 earned. Anthony Bass came in to finish off the Jays but the final run that was scored was charged to Fields because he left with a runner on base but Bass allowed the run to score because of a wild throw attempting to get Melky Cabrera on a play at first that allowed Adam Lind to score from second base. Lind reached second on a 2-RBI double that sent Fields to the showers. All 6 Astros runs came off home runs. Robbie Grossman opened the Astros scoring with a 2-run bomb to straight away center. In the 7th Jonathan Villar, batting right handed, smacked a 3-run shot to right center not far from where Grossman's homer went out. Jason Castro ended the scoring with a solo shot to right center. The Astros may not be playing small ball too well but they have flashed some power. Including last night's 3 homers it gives Houston 14 HR's in their 10 games played. Their 14 dingers rank Houston second in the AL.

The most interesting thing about last night's game and the inspiration for this post is what happened before the game even started. Astros radio broadcaster Steve Sparks, who is a former knuckleball throwing pitcher for several teams in his 10-year MLB career, threw batting practice for the Astros to help them prepare for Toronto pitcher R A Dickey who, as you might have guessed, is a knuckleballer. I guess Sparks deserves some credit for the Astros success last night as Dickey went 7 innings giving up 5 of the 6 Astros runs on 6 hits which included two HR's, 3 walks and 4 K's.

 

Houston begins a 3 game set with the Rangers up in Arlington. The Astros send Scott Feldman (2-0 w/ .066 ERA) up against Yu Darvish (1-0 w/ 0.00 ERA). This will be a real strong test for Feldman who has been rather dominant in his first two starts. This game may actually be on TV since we are able to get Rangers games on FoxSports unless the infernal MLB blackout rules apply.

Why the hell do we always have to face Yu Darvish?! I swear, every time we face the Rangers he is pitching against us.

The Astros lost a heartbreaker in Arlington but if you like pitchers duels you have a gem. The Rangers Yu Darvish maintained his dominance over the Astros going 8 innings giving up just one hit and one walk to go along with 9 K's. Darvish actually had a perfect game through 5 innings. Astros starter Scott Feldman was equally impressive though not as dominant as Darvish. Still, Feldman's line would have you believe he was. Feldman went seven complete innings giving up 0 runs on only 2 hits, 4 walks and 3 K's. Feldman got out of a jam in the 2nd with runners on 2nd and 3rd and only one out and he got out of a bases loaded jam with two outs after 2 hit batsmen and an intentional walk with a strike out of Josh Wilson in the seventh. What is even more remarkable about Feldman's performance is it came just two days after his father passed away. Feldman admitted that it was tough keeping his emotions in check but he was sure his father would have wanted him to pitch. He said that he was sure his father was watching him and he hoped he made him proud. Feldman has tied a record on one other pitcher has accomplished in Astros history. Feldman's 3 straight starts to begin the season going at least 6 2/3 innings giving up one run or less is matched only by Roger Clemens in 2004 with 3 starts and Clemens again in 2005 with 4 starts. If you look at who has pitched for Houston over the years it's a pretty impressive beginning to the season. Feldman's ERA going into last night's game was 0.66 and when he walked off the field after his seven innings of work his ERA had dropped to 0.44. I'm really glad Feldman got a no-decision, he deserved at least that much.

I agree with Big T, I've had enough of Yu Darvish against the Astros. This is Darvish's second start of the year and he's 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA so far. He's been almost that good in his career starts against the Astros. This from MLB.com Darvish came within one out of a perfect game against the Astros last April 2, a bid that was broken up by light-hitting Marwyn Gonzalez. Coming into Friday night had faced them a total of six times, allowing just 22 hits in 43 innings while striking out 63 (13.2 per nine), and holding their hitters to a a meager .149/.221/.284 line. In addition to striking out 14 in that near-miss, he set a career high with a 15-strikeout game against them on August 12; a sixth-inning walk to Jonathan Villar and an eighth-inning solo homer by Carlos Corporan were the only blemishes in that eight-inning outing.

Houston beat the Rangers last night! If they win today they will win a series from the Rangers for the first time since 2008. Go Astros!

Week 2 of the MLB season is in the books as Houston concludes its current road trip with another one run affair in Arlington against the Rangers. As in the first game of the series Houston came up on the short end of the stick again. And, like Friday night's game when Scott Feldman pitched a whale of a game only to get no run support Brett Oberholtzer found himself in the exact same situation. The only difference was it was Obie who gave up the one run. To be totally fair to the Houston offense, Texas flashed some leather robbing the good guys of at least 3 hits I can rememeber including a stop on a shot up the first base line by Jesus Guzman that Prince Fielder layed out for, stopped and he completed the out. It was rather amazing to see a guy his size make that play. Truth is Houston's offense is beyond stagnant. No less than 5 hitters in yesterday's lineup is hitting BELOW the Mendoza line. For those who don't know .200 is the Mendoza line. Dexter Fowler is mired in a 2-22 since coming back from a stomach virus that sent him to the hospital for a couple of days. Before that he was 6-12. These guys are terrible at the plate right now except for Jose Altuve who's hitting .286 to lead the club but he's left runners in scoring position too. Except for the 4 hit, 1 walk including a home run by Robbie Grossman that led to 5 runs in the 4th inning of Saturday's game the Astros bats have been limp as dishrags. Bo Porter even said as much yesterday after a 1-0 loss in which Houston only got 5 hits the whole game. Porter noted that the hitting coach is giving them good scouting reports. The hitters are not seeing anthing unexpected, the hitters just need to put better swings on the ball.

The starting pitching has been good with Scott Feldman leading the way. Jared Cosart has been solid as has Brett Oberholzer and Dallas Kuechel. It's been Lucas Harrell that has struggled. His line so far is 0-2 w/l, 7.1 innings pitched, 11.05 ERA, 14 hits, 6 walks, 5 K's and 10 runs allowed 9 earned. Pretty shabby. The only pitcher on the staff worse stat wise is reliever Kevin Chapman. He has struggled every time out with his 12.27 ERA in 5 appearances telling the story.

The Astros return home tomorrow night against the Kansas City Royals. The aforementioned Lucas Harrell (0-2) takes the mound with KC sending Yordano Ventura (0-0) up against him. Here's hoping Harrell can right the ship and we start seeing the 2012 Lucas.

One last thing. Wasn't it nice to be able to see the Stros play? All three games were on FoxSportsSouthwest. You had to listen to the Ranger broadcast but all in all it was nice to be able to see the boys play for a change.

I wouldn't be surprised (or opposed) to see Lucas Harrell being out of the rotation or even the organization if this start goes bad. Would like to see Peacock in there

I wouldn't be surprised (or opposed) to see Lucas Harrell being out of the rotation or even the organization if this start goes bad. Would like to see Peacock in there

 

I agree. IMO Harrell is done. They caught lightning in a bottle with him for one season, it is time to move on now.

David Delatte (sp?) of ESPN 97.5 who reads the sports center updates pointed something out yesterday during The Blitz during a rare sports discussion and that was something I hadn't really paid attention to. According to Delatte the Astros are not fundamentally sound. He singled out Jonathan Villar in particular but there are certainly others. Guys who make bonehead base running errors, guys who can't seem to hit a cutoff man and an array of mental errors. Is this a function of low baseball IQ by the players or is this a manager's issue? I have not heard any criticism of Bo Porter here or anywhere else but there are times Houston doesn't play smart baseball. I'd really be interested to hear opinions pro or con about Bo Porter. Is he the long term answer in Houston? Granted, managers come and go more in baseball than any other pro sport. There are also more mid season firings in baseball than any other sport. It's just the nature of the game I guess. That said, franchises who are successful find a guy and stick with him as long as the team is good and winning. Does Houston need a different guy filling out the lineup cards every day?

 

In the Astros High A Advanced Lancaster JetHawks lost a wild game yesterday to the High Desert (Adelanto, Cal) Mavericks by a score of 11-10. The game featured Astros #11 prospect Rio Ruiz who went 4-5 with a home run, 2 doubles and 5 RBI's. Ruiz is a 3rd base prospect who had a very nice night. Carlos Correa also had a good night going 2-6 he scored twice. Last but not least Mark Appel started the game and went 3 innings in the game although his outing was less successful. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits with no walks and 4 K's.

In other JetHawks news starting pitcher Vince Velasquez was named Cal League Player of the Week for the week of April 3-13. He went 1-0 in 3 appearances with 2 starts logging a 0.69 ERA. He pitched a total of 13 innings giving up only 3 hits and 3 walks to go with a whopping 16 K's. He is currently enjoying a 10 inning scoreless streak.

 

Big T, you're ready to give up on Harrell? I agree, I'm frustrated with the guy but knowing what he was able to do in 2012 shows the guy can get it done. This team's offense is so bad, and has been so bad, it accentuates the failures of the pitchers. There is no leeway at all. Harrell's sinkerball is taylor made for Minute Maid's short fences. It took Darryl Kile several years to harness his curve ball to a point where he was consistently effective. Harrell needs some confidence and he, like any pitcher, could use some run support once in a while. It makes a lot of difference to know your offense can pick you up or give a lead. The Astros have the luxury of being patient with Harrell right now. Maybe that patience will pay dividends.

The Lucas Harrell discussion is over for now because after surrendering 4 runs in 5 innings of work last night against Kansas City the Astros have designated him for assignment which means the Astros have 10 days to trade him, release him or send him to the minors. It's sort of a shame for Harrell because he didn't pitch bad he just missed his location on a few pitches and the Royals made him pay for it. He surrendered 7 hits and allowed 3 walks and Kansas City made the most of this by scoring 4 runs. All in all it could have been worse as he did pitch out of a couple of jams that left 4 base runners in scoring position with 6 left on base total. The Astros on the other hand only managed four hits on the night including a solo home run by Carlos Corporan in the 5th inning. The Astros offense is just awful but reports out of Houston are that Houston will call up their #3 ranked prospect George Springer today. Springer has torn up the minors to begin this season in OKC to the tune of a .353 BA with 3 home runs and 9 RBIs. He was removed early from last night's win over Colorado Springs after going 3-4 with a grand slam with a walk and 4 RBIs that helped OKC to a 11-9 win. Considering how bad the Astros are struggling they will need more than Springer but it's a start. It was almost a given that Houston would wait until June before any calling up would be done but the pitiful start to the Astros season has forced them to change their strategy. Robbie Grossman who has just stunk it up at the plate since the first day of the regular season is hitting a paltry .125, 6 hits in 48 ABs, and last night he was 0-4. Grossman was told after last night's game he was being sent down. Grossman was bright spot during the spring but as soon as April 1st hit he didn't. The Astros do need to turn it up because a team batting average just isn't going to cut it. The move of Harrell was inevitable considering last night's game was his longest out of his 3 starts but he still wasn't hitting his locations and a pitcher just can't be success if he can't hit his spots. Although, last night's game saw improvement and I like Harrell when he's on. He was the Astros best pitcher in 2012. He works fast and he's hell on batters if his sinker is working. He had lost his mojo in 2013 but there were signs he was getting it back but he will have to find that mojo in the minors or on another team.

It's official! It's Springer time! Now we get to see all of this rebuilding finaly start to pay off. First Cosart now Springer, pretty soon it will be Singlton and probably pretty soon Appel.