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2018 Houston Astros Season Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
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TexArcher
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Bregs is going Crawford Boxes right here.

ERhine
ERhine

Prior to the footage being edited by Bender:

wesleywest
wesleywest

Two Diamond Club tickets available for the Sunday night game.  Free.  Need to pick them up from me in 77027. Rules: Poster must be a big contributor to this thread/last years shag thread.  No gue

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1 hour ago, UDontKnow said:

I thought it was not fair that JV's ERA went up today after he only allowed 1 run. So cruel.

Evidently pinstripe fans were unimpressed with the effort too.  Dickheads.

So glad he basically told them to GFY with the tip of the cap.  Such douche nozzles...

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Gut Wagon

Gut Wagon 8065

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6 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

 


Sometimes when I’m sad, I look at the AL ERA leaders (really any pitching category) then I’m happy again

3ac6ee13edbd00c6ff9c1feb6927b2ad.jpg

 

More tough opponents coming up, obviously...but another time through the rotation and I’m having three guys under 2.0 again. And maybe one of them under 1.0. JV was right at that before the HR. Of course, it takes just a bad hop here or sun in the eyes there to give up an earned run that wasn’t even the pitcher’s fault. 

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8 hours ago, Gourmand said:

Thank you forever, Astros. The 2017 WS title will never be forgotten or taken for granted. A magical season, and a little salve for tonight.

Yes, that and Astros play with an entirely different attitude and charisma...

 

Not even close beyond geography.

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Mez2

Mez2 4023

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23 minutes ago, slorch said:

Yes, that and Astros play with an entirely different attitude and charisma...

 

Not even close beyond geography.

The HR Altuve hits in game 5 to tie up the game, again, pretty much lets you know all you need to about them as a team. MVP steps up when he absolutely needed to. 

Sports are hard, winning is harder that's why I'll never forget any detail about last year and our run for our city. 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9431

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News and notes from the Athletic/Kaplan. Lots of good stuff here:

 

For years, being a sinkerballer was Charlie Morton’s identity as a pitcher. His two-seam fastball was unquestionably his best offering, and between 2011 and 2016 he threw it almost six times out of every 10 pitches.

 

But as his incredible late-career transformation with the Astros has continued, Morton has become much less reliant on his once-signature pitch. In fact, he’s on pace to throw more four-seam fastballs (31.2 percent, per Brooks Baseball) than two-seam fastballs (25.7 percent) this season, something he hasn’t done since 2010.

 

“You deviate to what’s effective,” said Morton, who will start Tuesday against the Yankees opposite CC Sabathia in a 2017 ALCS Game 7 rematch. His sinker lacks the depth it once had, he added. Since joining the data-driven Astros last year, Morton has come to realize his four-seam, which he has run up to 98 mph, is in most situations the superior option to his two-seam.

 

At least this version of it.

 

“I still go back to the way my ball has moved over the course of my career. There’s a large sample size of sinkers from 2011, ’12, ’13, ’14 and into ’15 where I had a pretty effective sinker,” Morton said. “And now it’s a pitch that I think I can still throw it to righties if I locate it pretty well. … But I don’t think it’s a pitch that really plays as well in the zone.”

 

As he alluded to, Morton throws most of his sinkers to right-handed hitters, usually targeting them down and in or down and away. The 34-year-old right-hander hardly ever throws them to lefties anymore, but when he does they are typically high and inside. Decreasing his sinker usage and throwing more curveballs keyed his dramatic turnaround against lefties last season, a trend that has continued this year.

 

The Astros will look to Morton on Tuesday to help them even their season series against the Yankees at 3 ahead of the Dallas Keuchel-Luis Severino matchup in Wednesday’s series finale. Morton will enter the start ranked second in the AL in ERA (2.04), behind only teammate Justin Verlander (1.11).

 

Just don’t call him a sinkerballer.

 

What’s next for Fisher?

 

That the Astros sent Derek Fisher to Class AAA Fresno (Calif.) for his rehab assignment as opposed to the much closer Class AA Corpus Christi (Texas) doesn’t bode well for the outfielder maintaining his spot on the 25-man active roster once he’s activated.

 

Fisher, who was sidelined by a gastrointestinal issue that caused him to lose weight, became eligible to be activated from the 10-day disabled list on Tuesday. It’s unclear how long the Astros anticipate Fisher’s rehab assignment to last — he played his first game Monday — but the at-bats he was garnering in the majors have been seized by Tony Kemp.

 

Regardless of Kemp’s success, Fisher could probably benefit from fine-tuning his swing with everyday reps in the top third of Fresno’s lineup for longer than just his rehab assignment. The 24-year-old batted only .176/.222/.419 in 81 plate appearances before his DL stint. The Astros have used up only one of his option years, so they have the ability to shuttle him to and from Class AAA at will in two more seasons.

 

Kemp has entrenched himself at the bottom of the Astros’ lineup, where he has sparked the offense with his contact-oriented approach. He’s batted .333/.400/.500 in 36 plate appearances. Though he was off for Monday’s matchup with righthander Domingo Germán, he will be back in the lineup Tuesday against the left-handed Sabathia, manager A.J. Hinch said.

 

Verlander on processing information

 

Verlander, remarkably off to the best start of his career in his age-35 season, commented after the Astros’ 5-1 win on Monday that he’s “processing information at a much higher level” than he has in his career.

 

“Not like analytic information,” the former MVP and Cy Young Award winner clarified. “Just processing information while I’m on the mound. Just kind of seeing the bigger picture, going with my gut, seeing the game, seeing everything and executing pitches at an extremely high level. It’s not the best stuff I’ve ever had in my career, but it’s the best pitching for an extended period that I’ve ever had in my career.”

 

Verlander’s 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball at Yankee Stadium signified his 10th consecutive quality start, which matches the second-longest streak of his 14-year career. In his two starts against the Yankees this season, he allowed only one earned run in 14 2/3 innings. The earliest he could next see them again is October.

 

Where have Giles’ strikeouts gone?

 

Ken Giles’ 17-pitch battle with Jose Ramirez that resulted in a game-altering double for the Indians on Sunday illustrated the issue with the Astros’ closer this season: he’s not striking out enough batters.

 

Though he has yet to walk a batter, Giles has 14 strikeouts in 17 innings, which equates to only 7.4 strikeouts per nine, almost five strikeouts fewer than his career average (12.1) and 4.5 fewer than last season (11.9). He came into his scoreless appearance Monday with a career-low swinging strike rate of 13 percent, according to FanGraphs, which corresponded with a career-worst 10.1 hits per nine innings.

 

It all boils down to Giles’ slider, which hasn’t been as effective this season. By swing-and-miss percentage, his 22.97 (coming into Monday) isn’t too far off from last season’s 23.47, according to Brooks Baseball. But he’s also throwing the pitch way less than ever before: roughly 35 percent entering Monday, down from 46 percent in 2017 and 47 in 2016.

 

Giles struck out one (Gleyber Torres) in his outing Monday, and it came on an elevated fastball after he got the Yankees second baseman to chase on consecutive sliders. Giles threw eight sliders Monday as opposed to only six fastballs, but his usage — and the effectiveness of his out pitch — will continue to be worth monitoring.

 

The reason Davis hasn’t played much

 

When the Astros summoned J.D. Davis from Class AAA on May 20, it appeared they would attempt to capitalize on his hot bat. But eight games later, Davis has made only two starts.

 

Unfortunately for Davis, the timing of his promotion coincided with the resurgence of Evan Gattis, who these days is limited to the designated hitter spot. Because Davis isn’t a natural outfielder and is blocked at both first and third base, DH was his best avenue to playing time.

 

Davis played first base Monday — a game in which he opened the scoring with a three-run blast off Germán — only because Yuli Gurriel manned third base while Alex Bregman got a rare day off. Davis should play more in the coming games because the Astros are in line to face a string of lefties, including Sabathia on Tuesday and Drew Pomeranz, Chris Sale and David Price of Boston in the next series. But exactly how he plays is uncertain.

 

“He’s been waiting,” Hinch said. “He was hot when he came up and we haven’t had a chance to get him in there as much as we want to. He’ll get a few more at-bats here moving forward.”

 

Davis should be with the Astros a while longer because Josh Reddick will require more time to recover from the infection in his left leg. Reddick, who’s been on the DL since May 23, continues to get treatment in Houston and has yet to resume baseball activities.

 

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29189

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with mccann out, is there any chance gattis does any catching?  i know he's not much defensively, but he was so much better at the plate when he caught in the past.

i have faith in stassi though.  the pitchers seem to like throwing to him, and obviously mccann will be there the whole time working with him.

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9431

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Interesting read 

 

 

Yeah lots of good tidbits.

 

Surprised by the stat that Giles hasn’t walked anyone this year, but very interesting about his slider...

I had hoped maybe his postseason issues were because of the ball, but clearly that’s not the case.

A fastball without a ton of movement and an ineffective slider is no bueno.

 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9431

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with mccann out, is there any chance gattis does any catching?  i know he's not much defensively, but he was so much better at the plate when he caught in the past.
i have faith in stassi though.  the pitchers seem to like throwing to him, and obviously mccann will be there the whole time working with him.

I could see it... just to get Davis’ bat in the lineup if nothing else
If you read between the lines on Hinch’s quotes in the article above, he may be alluding to exactly that.

Although with the way Gattis has swung the bat the last ~10 days, seems he’s finally figuring it out so I don’t know you mess with that.
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If there’s one problem that is great to have in baseball, it is not having enough ABs for bats that are heating up.

 

It’s gonna take a lot of runs to erase the memory of all of those zero and one run games early on.   

 

I’m willing to give them the chance...

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Air_Matt

Air_Matt 19

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Please keep Kemp and Stassi in the line up.

Kemp gets on base for the top of the line up and can score easily.

We've never had anything great out of our catchers offensively, I just hate seeing all the passed balls (scored wild pitches) McCann give up. 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9431

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Yeah.
It’s clear Hinch is doing a rolling off day for the big names during this 13 day stretch without a day off and I’d rather have Bregs at SS instead of Marwin
Gotta get creative to get all of the hot-ish bats in the lineup when they all play the same primary positions.

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Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8397

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14 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I’m happy with Jake riding the bench. 

He needs to be in AAA as soon as fisher or Reddick are ready. He’s not even close as a hitter right now.  Go down and try and get it right. Because if he can even get to a .650 OPS then he’s an asset in the playoffs. 

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