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2022 Houston Astros Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29177

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10 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

we've seen it so many times over the past 6 years how role players come up big in the postseason.  notably for teams we're playing, in games and series where we lose.  never forget jackie bradley, jr, steve pearce, and nathan eovaldi dominating the 2018 playoffs.  we don't need to discuss the other guys, but they know who they are.

i feel like we win and lose as our superstars go.  when they crush it, we win, when they go cold, we don't.  mancini is exactly the type of guy who will have opportunities.  he'll need to come through a few times if we're gonna win this thing.  i haven't given up hope, but i'm considering it. 

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Txslnghrns
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Fuk Houston.

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This postseason has become more sentimental for me and my wife's family.  My father in law is the biggest Astros fan I know.  He watches every game without fail, even DVRing them if he can't watch liv

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9380

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4 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

Good question. Atlanta gets about as much rain as Houston. Would be helpful. Of course, before today it hadn't rained in the ATL in a month or so. 

Apparently it only rains in atlanta when the Braves are coming off a playoff loss in the game before and/or the Astros are in town and want to take BP

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76379

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Before Alvarez sent the Minute Maid Park crowd into a frenzy, rookies David Hensley and Jeremy Peña came through with clutch at-bats in the ninth inning.

"Those at-bats were not overlooked here in this clubhouse," Verlander said.

https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/jeremy-pena-david-hensley-clutch-at-bats-lead-to-game-1-win

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Pimphand

Pimphand 5597

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53 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

Good question. Atlanta gets about as much rain as Houston. Would be helpful. Of course, before today it hadn't rained in the ATL in a month or so. 

Yeah and it gets hot as fuck July & August too all signs should point to putting a roof on the joint....

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rvm96

rvm96 1643

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2 hours ago, Make em eat Taco Bell said:

Big Man is one of the hardest hitters baseball has ever seen. Looking at statcast, 118mph exit velocity is the upper limit for humans - guys like Judge, Trout and Stanton do that. One Pirate hit 122 this year on a lower level line drive.  Wish this was available in the old days, I'd bet that Bo Jackson would get 125mph. 

Stanton has hit in the 120+ range for multiple years

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tx 3 putt

tx 3 putt 76379

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2 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

we've seen it so many times over the past 6 years how role players come up big in the postseason.  notably for teams we're playing, in games and series where we lose.  never forget jackie bradley, jr, steve pearce, and nathan eovaldi dominating the 2018 playoffs.  we don't need to discuss the other guys, but they know who they are.

i feel like we win and lose as our superstars go.  when they crush it, we win, when they go cold, we don't.  mancini is exactly the type of guy who will have opportunities.  he'll need to come through a few times if we're gonna win this thing.  i haven't given up hope, but i'm considering it. 

 

i can see him going on a hitting streak 

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WBT

WBT 20422

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I hope they don't think all Americans are as bitchass as Chandler Rome

Spoiler

How the parents of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez got from Cuba to Minute Maid Park

Oct. 12, 2022Updated: Oct. 12, 2022 6:51 p.m.
   

Agustin Alvarez Salazar, left, and Mailyn Cadogan Reyes, the parents of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, saw Minute Maid Park for the first time on Aug. 23. 

Agustin Alvarez Salazar, left, and Mailyn Cadogan Reyes, the parents of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez, saw Minute Maid Park for the first time on Aug. 23. 

Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Section 122 at Minute Maid Park houses a slew of spouses, significant others and siblings familiar with the frenetic energy of a playoff atmosphere. Two among them Tuesday had never savored it, trapped beneath a bundle of red tape and restrictive measures. 

Cuba does not like to broadcast its defectors. Procuring a visa to leave the country is “almost impossible,” according to one immigration attorney. Both circumstances complicated Mailyn Cadogan Reyes and Agustin Alvarez Salazar’s attempts to watch their son, Yordan, play for the Astros alongside countrymen Yuli Gurriel and Aledmys Díaz.

“Yesterday, Yuli’s wife posted a message on Facebook saying they blocked the signal — even the Internet signal,” Houston-based attorney Carlos Rosas said Wednesday morning. “They don’t like to have people watch Cuban players that have left Cuba.

“For those families, the money that they make, their contracts are public knowledge. It gets very dangerous in terms of kidnapping. They know they have a son in the U.S. making hundreds of millions of dollars. That makes the family a target, too. That’s something that also worries the players.”

Cuban defectors like Alvarez must make a calculated, and crushing, decision. But departing the country to play Major League Baseball has the promise of generational wealth and acclaim — and the chance to provide a better life for the family members they must leave behind.

Rosas’ one objective is to reunite them. His two-year journey reached its apex Tuesday afternoon. From section 122, Agustin and Mailyn watched their son etch his name into history at Minute Maid Park. 

Alvarez’s three-run walkoff homer afforded the Astros a 1-0 American League Division Series lead over the Mariners and reinforced a perspective his parents could not grasp until arriving in Houston: Their son is a bona fide superstar.

“The first game that they went, his mom got so excited that they had to take her to the ER to check her blood pressure,” Rosas said. “They never thought of how big the stadium was. So many people were wearing Yordan’s jersey. It was a pretty emotional moment for them. And yesterday, it was pretty special. Yordan said, literally, it was the most special moment of his life.”

Rosas has been the Astros’ immigration counsel since 2017. He represents Alvarez, Gurriel, Díaz, Jose Altuve and José Urquidy. Rosas played an instrumental role in getting Gurriel’s family into the United States. Altuve’s family, also with Rosas' assistance, arrived in Houston from Venezuela. 

In the case of Alvarez and Altuve, Rosas said Astros owner Jim Crane personally requested him to initiate the process. The two men are playing under the largest contracts in Crane’s ownership tenure. 

“I talked to Yordan, within the last two years, at least once a week or twice a week,” Rosas said. “It was something that, of course, played a big role. That’s a smart move by the owner. If you want your players to play better, it’s better that they have their eyes on the ball and not thinking ‘Where’s my family? What’s going to happen to my family?’ (Alvarez) was constantly worried about the immigration process.

“Right now, immigration for Cubans is the hardest that it has been. There are a lot of people trying to get here illegally, so it is extremely difficult for a Cuban to get a visa. It’s basically the policy we’re living right now toward Cubans that makes it so special. It’s basically impossible for a Cuban national to get a visa right now.”

Rosas worked for more than two years to procure one for Mailyn, Agustin and Yordan’s brother, Yonder Alvarez Cadogan. Athletes like Yordan have a P-visa, which allows foreign nationals to enter the United States for athletic competition or performance before receiving a green card.

Spouses and children are covered by a players’ P-visa. Parents and siblings are not. Under normal circumstances, Rosas estimated, it could take eight or nine years for a Cuban national to procure a temporary visitor visa and enter the United States. Rosas finished the process in a shade over two years.

“It’s been one of the highlights of my career,” Rosas said.

The entire saga started in 2020, when Rosas secured the family a visa to enter the Dominican Republic. They stayed for a year and 10 months while Rosas and his team pleaded with various consuls to hear their story. The Mexican consulate finally agreed, granted the family a visa, and they moved to Mexico.

“And then we had to convince the U.S. that they are good people, that they are coming here to visit and don’t have any negative background in their files,” Rosas said. “They just want to visit and see Yordan playing.

“We needed to explain to the authorities. You needed to be able to talk to the right people in the government and try to make them understand that they have no prior negative immigration file. Then you had to tell them the story. Yordan left when he was 15 or 16 years old. His parents hadn’t been able to see him.”

Rosas kept Alvarez abreast throughout the endeavor. The two men spoke at least weekly during the two-year saga. The attorney sensed some palpable stress from Alvarez, who wanted to speed up a process Rosas had already expedited exponentially.

Alvarez’s parents and brother attended their first game, a 4-2 win over the Twins, on Aug. 23. In the 30 that followed, Alvarez slashed .343/.436/.638, freeing himself from a late-season funk that some attributed to hand pain and others to mechanical flaws in his batting stance.

Both could have contributed to the downturn. Alvarez acknowledged each as a factor but kept silent about the uncertainty enveloping his family.

“Yordan was anxious and worried. He wanted to have his parents here,” Rosas said. “It played a big role in his mindset. It’s something that was constantly on his mind, and now he can rest.”

Though technically in the country on a temporary visitor visa, Yordan’s parents and brother are essentially in the United States for good. They are living with Yordan and his wife, Monica, and their two children. 

At some point, Rosas said he intends to pursue permanent residency for Alvarez’s parents and brother. For now, the trio will be fixtures at Minute Maid Park throughout this playoff run, one that’s routine for most in section 122 but a revelatory roller coaster for two parents who — at long last — can watch their child play.

“I think it's one of the most special moments that I've had in my career, having them there, and even for just the city of Houston,” Yordan said  Tuesday through an interpreter. “They know that we're a team that never gives up. So just being able to get that hit right there was one of the most special moments of my career.”

 

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