Jump to content

2019 Houston Astros Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
in Baseball

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 41.6k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • tx 3 putt

    3624

  • UTexasFight

    2380

  • Scraps

    2293

  • WBT

    1999

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

SEC
SEC

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow she starts her treatment. She's been a wreck ever since the diagnosis. I mentioned a few pages back how a friend of the family manage

Rustic Horn
Rustic Horn
Mez2
Mez2

Newest Astro fan was born earlier today at 12:09 am Mez3, holla!

Posted Images

UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9523

Posted
Posted
And a million times this.  Don't stubbornly close our own window by letting him go because you don't want to pay the tax. 

They have a greater risk, IMO, of closing their window by giving a 6 year (or more) deal.
I truly believe Luhnow and Crane will continue to ride the horse that got them here (find good pitchers and turning them great) until it’s dead.
I just can’t believe they will buy at the absolute market peak for Cole. There is simply no way he can pitch better than he did this year and I don’t see the Astros FO getting in to a bidding war for something less than what he did this year.
The ONLY way we make a run at him is if he agrees to a shorter term deal betting on himself to go through FA again to get an even higher deal in a few years. But given point A above and labor uncertainty past 2021, he’d be foolish to do that

Rosenthal on what he thinks it’s going to take (and a comment expecting Boras to ask for $300M):

WASHINGTON, D.C. — I swear, I feel like I’m about to write this column on the official stationery of the Scott Boras Corporation.

Seriously, I’m not sure there has ever been a free-agent case for a starting pitcher quite like Gerrit Cole’s.

It’s hardly going out on a limb to predict that Cole will set the record for average annual value, surpassing Justin Verlander’s $33 million, and also for total value, beating David Price’s $217 million.

So, what are we talking about, eight years at $35 million per season? That’s $280 million. Nice round number, but knowing Boras, not round enough. I’m calling Dec. 7 as the over-under date for the first report saying Boras is seeking $300 million.

Sounds preposterous, just as these numbers always sound preposterous. But Cole, who will become a free agent at the appealing age of 29, is good enough to validate the conversation.

He showed it on Sunday night in Game 5 of the World Series, allowing one run in seven innings in a 7-1 victory over the Nationals, moving the Astros to within one win of their second Series title in three years.

He also had shown it in 25 consecutive starts between May 22 and his aberration in Game 1 of the Series, going five months without losing a decision and producing a 1.59 ERA in the process.

Game 1, in which Cole allowed eight hits, five runs and two homers, indicated possible slippage, raising concerns about the life on Cole’s fastball. It’s not that Cole had stopped throwing hard — please — but Astros pitching coach Brent Strom told SI.com’s Tom Verducci that the diminished life on his fastball represented the “fallout from pitching 250 innings” (actually 249 through Sunday night, including postseason).

Catcher Martín Maldonado had a different view, saying Cole’s bigger problem in Game 1 was that he didn’t have his secondary stuff.

So, what happened in Game 5?

Better stuff. Better location. Better execution.

Cole had a swing-and-miss rate of only 14.8 percent on his fastball, his seventh lowest since joining the Astros, according to Inside Edge. But facing a Nationals team that led the majors with a .310 batting average against the fastball after the All-Star break, he recorded eight of his nine strikeouts on breaking balls, producing a signature Series victory.

“It’s all come together for him at the perfect time for us and the perfect time for him,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s had these ingredients along the way. As he has synced things up, he’s just figured it out.

“The thing he doesn’t get enough credit for is that he’s a pitcher. Elite stuff? Yes. Power? He’s 100 in the seventh inning. Yes. The breaking ball, whether you’re into analytics and it’s the shape or whether you’re into just watching the game, old-school scouting would tell you they’re plus across the board.

“But he’s a pitcher, and he’s a thinking man’s pitcher. I listened to his game plan today and he was locked in on every single thing he was going to do. He didn’t veer from that too much. Which is not to say he didn’t make adjustments. But every pitcher in the big leagues should have a purpose for throwing every pitch. I’ve just watched it demonstrated outing after outing after outing, start after start after start.”

How does Cole beat you? Let us count the ways.

• His ability to get swings and misses with four different pitches — his fastball, curve, slider and changeup.

Maldonado noted that Cole’s 300th strikeout this season came on a changeup (Cole is now up to, ahem, 373 strikeouts for the season, including playoffs.)

“That’s the great thing about Gerrit Cole,” Maldonado said. “He can strike out anybody with any pitch.”

During the regular season, Cole had a 36.6 whiff percentage with his fastball. That rate dropped to slightly more than 25 percent in his first four postseason starts before sinking to 14.8 percent on Sunday night.

Not to worry — Cole got swings and misses on nine of his 20 breaking pitches in Game 5, a rate of 45 percent that was even higher than his rate of 37.7 percent during the regular season, according to STATS LLC.

“I thought this stuff was crisper, I thought we executed more pitches,” Cole said.

• His ability to make in-game adjustments.

Cole escaped a first-and-third, none-out jam in the second inning, preying on Ryan Zimmerman’s aggressiveness to strike him out with a curveball, then inducing Victor Robles to ground into a double play.

“I don’t know how many pitchers in baseball can get out of that unscathed,” Hinch said.

From that point, Cole did not allow his third and final hit until Juan Soto’s solo homer off a 99-mph fastball with one out in the seventh, but Strom maintained it was not the smoothest of outings.

“The fourth inning was real bad. He started yanking a lot of stuff. He was upset with his delivery,” Strom said.

“He kind of got back on line in the fifth inning. His big thing is his direction, staying behind the ball. His glove got active. A lot of different things happened.”

Cole retired nine straight hitters between a one-out walk to Anthony Rendon in the fourth and Soto’s homer in the seventh.

• His preparation.

I wrote about Cole’s extensive note-taking after his victory over the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. He was at it again on Sunday night, retreating to an area behind the dugout between innings to refer to his notes and “kind of take stock of things,” Strom said.

“The most impressive thing about him is the way he prepares coming into the game,” Maldonado said. “He knows which count I want to throw this, which count I want to throw that. This guy is going to swing early. This guy is going to swing late. Which guy he can throw it by, which guy he’s going to pitch backwards. There is stuff behind the scenes people don’t know. I think he has learned from one of the best, if not the best — JV.”

That would be Justin Verlander, whose Hall of Fame resumé includes only one blemish — his 0-5 record and 5.73 ERA in six World Series starts. Cole’s performance put Verlander in position to change that narrative, giving his teammate a chance to close out the Series at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night.

Maldonado acknowledged Cole had a “bad game” in Game 1 but said he had no doubt that Game 5 would be different, knowing Cole would be on regular rest, knowing he would not alter his routine.

“From the first pitch he threw warming up, (I thought), ‘This is good. This is the guy.'”

Oh, Cole is the guy, all right. The Angels are his most obvious fit, given his roots in Orange County and the team’s need for starting pitching under new manager Joe Maddon. But try to think of a high-revenue team that would not want Cole. All the usual suspects will enter the bidding, and maybe even some of the not-so-usual. No other free-agent pitcher in this class is of Coles’ caliber — Stephen Strasburg, if he opts out of his contract, is close, but he also is two years older.

Analysts love Cole. Scouts love Cole. Everyone loves Cole.

Not that Boras will hesitate, but he need not prepare his usual 50-page binder to market his prized right-hander. To anyone paying even remotely close attention, Cole’s brilliance has been evident for more than five months. He has everything a team would desire — an intellect as powerful as his arm, a competitive streak to match his work ethic.

Sorry, I can’t help myself. Someone find me some official Boras stationery.


  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WBT

WBT 20653

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, kevwun said:

The only pitcher who has a shot at living up to his 200+ million contract from that group around 2015 is Scherzer and he is having back problems half way in to it.

Scherzer is finishing up year 5 of 7 and has already outperformed the contract.  He's possibly the best free agent pitcher signing of all time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie 13521

Posted
Posted (edited)

I can see evidence that Crane will and will not go after Cole. (I'm not saying that he doesn't want Cole, every team does.)

The Astros have had a clear picture on how they move forward and signing max-like contracts isn't their norm. But they also traded for Greinke this year by leveraging the future which also wasn't the norm.

The trouble with signing Cole is that you cannot expect 2019 #s from him for 7-8 years. It's possible that he can match or come close to 2019 #s again but very unlikely. therefore you need to bring his projected performance back to earth when deciding on how much to offer. And then is it better to spread that money to 2-3 near-top level players instead.

In some ways, letting the Angels commit another >300m to 1 players is good for the Astros.

 

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
kevwun

kevwun 15855

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, WBT said:

Scherzer is finishing up year 5 of 7 and has already outperformed the contract.  He's possibly the best free agent pitcher signing of all time.

Yeah, I was off on the half way through part, but the point still stands.  For every Scherzer, there is a David Price, Felix Hernandez, Mike Hampton, etc.  Somehow talk him in to a 4 or 5 year deal and I am all for it.  It's the 7 or 8 year ones that can really hurt teams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cabowabo

cabowabo 4513

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Alright so what's a good SP on the winter market we could snag up? The offense is fine, would love to see us add another front line SP. 

Let's win one more game this year and then we can have that discussion.

Edited by cabowabo
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29194

Posted
Posted

every time a reliever gets a big out, or a batter clubs a homer, they show the dugout.  and every time they show the dugout, you see all of our hitters out to greet him, doing their little routines, and they show verlander and cole seemingly joined at the hip.  if everything falls right, we're 27 outs from a title.

most of these guys have already signed on to continue doing this for at least the next couple seasons.

if cole would rather set an off-the-field record for biggest contract while playing 7-8 years close to home for a middling angels team, then that's his decision.  for decades we've seen players in all sports leave good situations to go chase a title.  i don't think we'll have any issue finding guys who want to come win for deals that make sense for us.  especially pitchers.

with or without cole, we'll be fine.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Js1

Js1 85524

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, kevwun said:

They were rumored to be trying to trade for Wheeler, I wonder what kind of deal it would take to sign him?

That was the guy who jumped out to me immediately.  Give Strom an offseason with Wheeler and we have a legit starting 4 rotation with JV, LMJ, Wheeler and Greinke. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kevwun

kevwun 15855

Posted
Posted (edited)

And he might be ok with a 2-3 year deal in the hopes of a big payday after he has been Strom'd.  He seems like the best reclamation project out of the free agents.  There might be better candidates that they can get with a trade, but a free agent deal would be easier on the farm.

Edited by kevwun
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WBT

WBT 20653

Posted
Posted (edited)
38 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Yeah, I was off on the half way through part, but the point still stands.  For every Scherzer, there is a David Price, Felix Hernandez, Mike Hampton, etc.  Somehow talk him in to a 4 or 5 year deal and I am all for it.  It's the 7 or 8 year ones that can really hurt teams.

Agreed, Scherzer has been an outlier for sure.  I think we'll continue to try bring in high dollar starters by trade where the commitment is shorter.  Scherzer would actually be a perfect candidate if only the Nats were sellers.  And we'll keep developing our own of course.

Edited by WBT
Link to comment
Share on other sites
utxmike05

utxmike05 1828

Posted
Posted
I did something dumb last night after the game and went and bought a standing room ticket for Game 6.  I regret nothing.

 

I’m thinking about it. $650 now.

 

Some friends gave us early cash for wedding / go to game 6...getting hitched Nov 2. This would be a great celebration.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9523

Posted
Posted

I grabbed one for game 7 at the market bottom after losing game 2.

 

If this were the Dodgers (e.g. clearly the best NL team during the year), I’d feel pretty good about that ticket getting used.

As it is, I can’t help but wonder if the Cinderella ride is over for the Nats.

 

 

I mean, JV is due right?

 

Edit: grabbed ticket. Not boobs... although I may be doing the latter if we win a game 7.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ausjala

ausjala 101

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:


They have a greater risk, IMO, of closing their window by giving a 6 year (or more) deal.
I truly believe Luhnow and Crane will continue to ride the horse that got them here (find good pitchers and turning them great) until it’s dead.
I just can’t believe they will buy at the absolute market peak for Cole. There is simply no way he can pitch better than he did this year and I don’t see the Astros FO getting in to a bidding war for something less than what he did this year.
The ONLY way we make a run at him is if he agrees to a shorter term deal betting on himself to go through FA again to get an even higher deal in a few years. But given point A above and labor uncertainty past 2021, he’d be foolish to do that

Rosenthal on what he thinks it’s going to take (and a comment expecting Boras to ask for $300M):

 

  Reveal hidden contents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — I swear, I feel like I’m about to write this column on the official stationery of the Scott Boras Corporation.

Seriously, I’m not sure there has ever been a free-agent case for a starting pitcher quite like Gerrit Cole’s.

It’s hardly going out on a limb to predict that Cole will set the record for average annual value, surpassing Justin Verlander’s $33 million, and also for total value, beating David Price’s $217 million.

So, what are we talking about, eight years at $35 million per season? That’s $280 million. Nice round number, but knowing Boras, not round enough. I’m calling Dec. 7 as the over-under date for the first report saying Boras is seeking $300 million.

Sounds preposterous, just as these numbers always sound preposterous. But Cole, who will become a free agent at the appealing age of 29, is good enough to validate the conversation.

He showed it on Sunday night in Game 5 of the World Series, allowing one run in seven innings in a 7-1 victory over the Nationals, moving the Astros to within one win of their second Series title in three years.

He also had shown it in 25 consecutive starts between May 22 and his aberration in Game 1 of the Series, going five months without losing a decision and producing a 1.59 ERA in the process.

Game 1, in which Cole allowed eight hits, five runs and two homers, indicated possible slippage, raising concerns about the life on Cole’s fastball. It’s not that Cole had stopped throwing hard — please — but Astros pitching coach Brent Strom told SI.com’s Tom Verducci that the diminished life on his fastball represented the “fallout from pitching 250 innings” (actually 249 through Sunday night, including postseason).

Catcher Martín Maldonado had a different view, saying Cole’s bigger problem in Game 1 was that he didn’t have his secondary stuff.

So, what happened in Game 5?

Better stuff. Better location. Better execution.

Cole had a swing-and-miss rate of only 14.8 percent on his fastball, his seventh lowest since joining the Astros, according to Inside Edge. But facing a Nationals team that led the majors with a .310 batting average against the fastball after the All-Star break, he recorded eight of his nine strikeouts on breaking balls, producing a signature Series victory.

“It’s all come together for him at the perfect time for us and the perfect time for him,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s had these ingredients along the way. As he has synced things up, he’s just figured it out.

“The thing he doesn’t get enough credit for is that he’s a pitcher. Elite stuff? Yes. Power? He’s 100 in the seventh inning. Yes. The breaking ball, whether you’re into analytics and it’s the shape or whether you’re into just watching the game, old-school scouting would tell you they’re plus across the board.

“But he’s a pitcher, and he’s a thinking man’s pitcher. I listened to his game plan today and he was locked in on every single thing he was going to do. He didn’t veer from that too much. Which is not to say he didn’t make adjustments. But every pitcher in the big leagues should have a purpose for throwing every pitch. I’ve just watched it demonstrated outing after outing after outing, start after start after start.”

How does Cole beat you? Let us count the ways.

• His ability to get swings and misses with four different pitches — his fastball, curve, slider and changeup.

Maldonado noted that Cole’s 300th strikeout this season came on a changeup (Cole is now up to, ahem, 373 strikeouts for the season, including playoffs.)

“That’s the great thing about Gerrit Cole,” Maldonado said. “He can strike out anybody with any pitch.”

During the regular season, Cole had a 36.6 whiff percentage with his fastball. That rate dropped to slightly more than 25 percent in his first four postseason starts before sinking to 14.8 percent on Sunday night.

Not to worry — Cole got swings and misses on nine of his 20 breaking pitches in Game 5, a rate of 45 percent that was even higher than his rate of 37.7 percent during the regular season, according to STATS LLC.

“I thought this stuff was crisper, I thought we executed more pitches,” Cole said.

• His ability to make in-game adjustments.

Cole escaped a first-and-third, none-out jam in the second inning, preying on Ryan Zimmerman’s aggressiveness to strike him out with a curveball, then inducing Victor Robles to ground into a double play.

“I don’t know how many pitchers in baseball can get out of that unscathed,” Hinch said.

From that point, Cole did not allow his third and final hit until Juan Soto’s solo homer off a 99-mph fastball with one out in the seventh, but Strom maintained it was not the smoothest of outings.

“The fourth inning was real bad. He started yanking a lot of stuff. He was upset with his delivery,” Strom said.

“He kind of got back on line in the fifth inning. His big thing is his direction, staying behind the ball. His glove got active. A lot of different things happened.”

Cole retired nine straight hitters between a one-out walk to Anthony Rendon in the fourth and Soto’s homer in the seventh.

• His preparation.

I wrote about Cole’s extensive note-taking after his victory over the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. He was at it again on Sunday night, retreating to an area behind the dugout between innings to refer to his notes and “kind of take stock of things,” Strom said.

“The most impressive thing about him is the way he prepares coming into the game,” Maldonado said. “He knows which count I want to throw this, which count I want to throw that. This guy is going to swing early. This guy is going to swing late. Which guy he can throw it by, which guy he’s going to pitch backwards. There is stuff behind the scenes people don’t know. I think he has learned from one of the best, if not the best — JV.”

That would be Justin Verlander, whose Hall of Fame resumé includes only one blemish — his 0-5 record and 5.73 ERA in six World Series starts. Cole’s performance put Verlander in position to change that narrative, giving his teammate a chance to close out the Series at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night.

Maldonado acknowledged Cole had a “bad game” in Game 1 but said he had no doubt that Game 5 would be different, knowing Cole would be on regular rest, knowing he would not alter his routine.

“From the first pitch he threw warming up, (I thought), ‘This is good. This is the guy.'”

Oh, Cole is the guy, all right. The Angels are his most obvious fit, given his roots in Orange County and the team’s need for starting pitching under new manager Joe Maddon. But try to think of a high-revenue team that would not want Cole. All the usual suspects will enter the bidding, and maybe even some of the not-so-usual. No other free-agent pitcher in this class is of Coles’ caliber — Stephen Strasburg, if he opts out of his contract, is close, but he also is two years older.

Analysts love Cole. Scouts love Cole. Everyone loves Cole.

Not that Boras will hesitate, but he need not prepare his usual 50-page binder to market his prized right-hander. To anyone paying even remotely close attention, Cole’s brilliance has been evident for more than five months. He has everything a team would desire — an intellect as powerful as his arm, a competitive streak to match his work ethic.

Sorry, I can’t help myself. Someone find me some official Boras stationery.

 

I have heard from a source who has a source who knows someone that empties Crane's trash that he is willing to go 4 yrs, 40 mil per. Just the messenger, but was truly told just that. FWIW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9523

Posted
Posted

Don’t show this to the boys until they get one more win but damn, what a ride...

 

Stark: Astros one win away from something special

 

 

WASHINGTON — They’re not quite there, but they can see it. They can smell it. They can feel it.

 

Then again, they could see it, smell it, feel it back in February. Back in March. Back on Opening Day.

 

The Houston Astros are one win away now. Not just one win away from winning a World Series. One win away from doing something amazing. From doing something only the most special teams in history have ever done. We’ll tell you more about that momentarily.

 

After their 7-1 slicing and dicing of the Nationals on a Sunday evening that looked like so many of those October nights they’ve become famous for, the Astros now lead this World Series, 3 games to 2. They walked into D.C. this weekend, down 0-2 in this Series, and never trailed. Not for one pitch of any game. They won three straight games, by a combined score of 19-3, against a team that had lost two games in the last month before they showed up.

 

You know how hard that is to do — to lose the first two games of a World Series at home, and then roar into the city of the team that just beat you and win three in a row on the road without ever trailing? Here’s how hard: No team had ever done it before, in the history of the World Series. That’s how hard.

 

So now these Astros have two chances at home to close this out. They have Justin Verlander lined up to pitch the clincher Tuesday in Houston. And they have Gerrit Cole, just off seven dominant innings Sunday, talking openly about how he’ll be happy to stomp out of the bullpen in a Game 7 if they need him. So it’s all there within their grasp — a ride on the parade floats and a cool place in the history books. It’s just one win away.

 

“One win away,” said Alex Bregman, “and we’ll see a dream (come true) for everybody. So we’re excited.”

 

But this isn’t only about making history or carving out their place among the greatest teams of all time. This is also about the journey. Seven months ago, we watched the first step on that journey, watched the Astros beat the Rays, 5-1, on Opening Day. We bring that up because what they’re smelling now is what they were smelling then, all those months ago.

 

George Springer talked that day about what lingered after the 2018 Astros, the defending champs, lost their shot to repeat when the Red Sox beat them in last October’s ALCS. It was a reminder, Springer said, of just how hard it is to do what the Astros did in 2017 — namely, win the World Series. It also left a taste that the guys who showed up for work this spring wouldn’t rank up there with the taste of a good sirloin chimichanga.

 

So on Opening Day, Springer said this: “You know what you did before. And you know the feeling that comes with it. And you’re always chasing that feeling.”

 

Chasing That Feeling. That was the song they sang in March — Verse One. Well, they’re still singing it. See if you can hear a little of that same chorus in what Springer said Sunday night, after launching his seventh home run in 12 career World Series games.

 

“When we won in 2017, and then didn’t win last year, you remember how it feels,” Springer said. “You remember the goodness that comes (from winning). The fun. The honor. To celebrate with your teammates and your friends and all that stuff. Once you get a taste of that, you never want it to go away.”

 

Sure, these are the words that come out of the mouth of every team that’s ever won. Yeah, we get that. But for the special teams, it’s more than talk. This is one of those teams.

 

“I thought what was crazy,” said reliever Joe Smith, “is that when I signed here in the offseason before 2018, these guys were coming off a World Series. And we had so many young superstars over here, you didn’t know what the feel was going to be. Everybody’s always talking about the World Series hangover and stuff like that. But I remember walking in, Day 1 of spring training, and, like, OK, I know Alex talks. Breggy — he talks so much. But he was, like: ‘We’re winning another one!’

 

“And when you walk into a clubhouse after a team that’s just won the World Series and that’s the mentality of one of your leaders, I don’t care how young he is, that’s even more impressive. But these guys are just that way. … The same way we play in April is the same way we’re playing right now. Same focus. Same intensity. That’s why we led MLB in wins. And that’s why we are where we are.”

 

But have we truly recognized how rare it is that here they are, doing all this again? As far back as Opening Day, we tried to frame just how rare it is. But let’s recap, now that they’re one win away from actually working this magic.

 

TWO IN THREE YEARS: Granted, the Astros wouldn’t be the only team, even in this decade, to win two World Series in three years. Remember those 2010-12-14 kings of the even years, the Giants? Right. Thought so. But here’s the difference: The Giants didn’t even get back to the postseason in between those titles. So in the division-play era, now 51 seasons old, the Astros are the ninth team to win a World Series one year, then lose the next year in either the LCS or World Series. Want to guess how many of those teams came back the following season to win it all again? That would be none.

 

THE 100/100/100 CLUB: The Astros also are not the only team in this century to win at least 100 games three seasons in a row. The 2002-03-04 Yankees also did it. And it’s been done four other times in history. But here’s the difference: The 2017 Astros won 101 games. The 2018 Astros won 103. The 2019 Astros won 107. You know how many other teams have ever won 100 games one year, then more the year after that, then even more the season after that? Right you are. That would be none, says STATS LLC. They’re the first.

 

Get the picture? Wow. Yes, it would be easy to argue the Astros just have more talent, more aces, more bats, more arms, from the top of their roster to the bottom, than anyone else, and that’s why they win. There’s a lot of truth in that theory. But are you sure it’s that simple? Are you really sure it’s that simple?

 

To keep pushing, in a sport this grueling, is not as simple as these Astros have made it look. It’s a challenge just to survive the marathon physically. Last year’s Astros proved that. But it’s just as hard to push this hard mentally, to play with this much focus and this much energy every inning, every day, every week, every month, through a season this long. Let alone two seasons. Let alone three. Why don’t teams repeat anymore? That’s a gigantic part of it.

 

“You know, people always say it’s really hard to win back-to-back championships,” said pitcher Collin McHugh. “But I do think there is something to the adage that if you get beat, you want it more. So for us, getting beat last year was not the way we wanted it to end, not the way anyone in Houston wanted it to end, not the way we foresaw it happening. But to be able to reference that this year — all year, it was, ‘We don’t want to let that happen again.’ And it kind of gives you that extra layer of motivation.”

 

Again, this might sound like just, well, talk — the same old, same old stuff every team says. But this team has been pushing toward greatness for a long, long time now. So this seems like an excellent time to revisit — and update — some of the nuggets we dug up back on Opening Day to illustrate just what a monster they’ve been over a time frame that is pushing into historic territory:

 

• Since Opening Day 2017, these Astros are now an absurd 136 games over .500 (311-175). Who else is 136 games over .500 in that period? Nobody. Of course.

 

• But it isn’t just their record that makes the Astros the best team in baseball in that span. Their run differential, over those three years, is a crazy +739! You know how long it’s been since any team had a run differential that mammoth over any three-year period? Oh, only 75 years! The last team to do it, according to STATS, was the 1942-44 Cardinals (+761). And this +739 is a figure that ranks in the top 10 among all teams since 1900. The only teams to make that top 10 that weren’t among the Yankees behemoths of the 1930s are those 1942-44 Cardinals, the 1901-03 Pirates (plus-757) and these Astros. Holy moly.

 

• Let’s keep going, though, back even before 2017. This is a team that has spent exactly seven days below .500 since June 20, 2016. That’s one week (all in the first week and a half of this season) — out of 577 games! The Astros are 143 games over .500 in that span, with a +761 run differential — over more than 3 ½ seasons!

 

To sustain that level of greatness over that much time — but still be fueling up the spaceship to see how high it can fly — is a quality that should rank these Astros alongside the Tom Brady Patriots and the Stephen Curry Warriors. And that isn’t a comparison we just toss on out there so casually that we don’t expect you to say: “Wait. What? Who?”

 

You’re welcome to react any way you want. But that’s what we’re watching. The hunger in the room, for that level of dominance, is that easy to feel — whether it’s March 28 in St. Petersburg or Oct. 28 in shellshocked Nationals Park, where 43,000 people had just finished watching these Astros crush their World Series dreams three eye-popping days in a row.

 

“You’ve got to want it,” said Carlos Correa on Sunday, as he packed his travel bag for a euphoric flight back home to Houston. “And you’ve got to play like you want it. It’s not about saying it, because words don’t mean anything. You’ve got to show up to the field and play like you really want it. And I think you do that through the energy, through the passion, through the effort that you show, day in and day out. And I think in these last three games, we’ve shown that.”

 

But of course, they’re still one game away. So don’t start floating that ticker tape yet. Ten previous teams have lost Games 1 and 2 of a World Series, then ripped off three in a row in Games 3-4-5 — and three of those 10 have still lost that World Series, according to STATS:

 

SEASON TEAM OPP

1987 Cardinals Twins

1991 Braves Twins

2001 Yankees Diamondbacks

So it happens. And it can still happen here. Stephen Strasburg pitches for Washington in Game 6, and he has already beaten these Astros once in this World Series. Justin Verlander pitches Tuesday for Houston. And as spectacular a career as he’s had, his lifetime record in six World Series starts is (somehow) 0-5, with a 5.73 ERA. So this isn’t over. But mixed with the palpable recognition in that Houston locker room Sunday that the Nationals remain armed and dangerous, there was just as palpable a vibe of unwavering belief — a belief that has powered this engine for three historic years and is still powering away.

 

“We’re really good,” said Joe Smith. “And we know we’re really good. Now, we’ve just got to prove it — one more time.”

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gut Wagon

Gut Wagon 8087

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:

Don’t show this to the boys until they get one more win but damn, what a ride...

 

Stark: Astros one win away from something special

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

WASHINGTON — They’re not quite there, but they can see it. They can smell it. They can feel it.

 

Then again, they could see it, smell it, feel it back in February. Back in March. Back on Opening Day.

 

The Houston Astros are one win away now. Not just one win away from winning a World Series. One win away from doing something amazing. From doing something only the most special teams in history have ever done. We’ll tell you more about that momentarily.

 

After their 7-1 slicing and dicing of the Nationals on a Sunday evening that looked like so many of those October nights they’ve become famous for, the Astros now lead this World Series, 3 games to 2. They walked into D.C. this weekend, down 0-2 in this Series, and never trailed. Not for one pitch of any game. They won three straight games, by a combined score of 19-3, against a team that had lost two games in the last month before they showed up.

 

You know how hard that is to do — to lose the first two games of a World Series at home, and then roar into the city of the team that just beat you and win three in a row on the road without ever trailing? Here’s how hard: No team had ever done it before, in the history of the World Series. That’s how hard.

 

So now these Astros have two chances at home to close this out. They have Justin Verlander lined up to pitch the clincher Tuesday in Houston. And they have Gerrit Cole, just off seven dominant innings Sunday, talking openly about how he’ll be happy to stomp out of the bullpen in a Game 7 if they need him. So it’s all there within their grasp — a ride on the parade floats and a cool place in the history books. It’s just one win away.

 

“One win away,” said Alex Bregman, “and we’ll see a dream (come true) for everybody. So we’re excited.”

 

But this isn’t only about making history or carving out their place among the greatest teams of all time. This is also about the journey. Seven months ago, we watched the first step on that journey, watched the Astros beat the Rays, 5-1, on Opening Day. We bring that up because what they’re smelling now is what they were smelling then, all those months ago.

 

George Springer talked that day about what lingered after the 2018 Astros, the defending champs, lost their shot to repeat when the Red Sox beat them in last October’s ALCS. It was a reminder, Springer said, of just how hard it is to do what the Astros did in 2017 — namely, win the World Series. It also left a taste that the guys who showed up for work this spring wouldn’t rank up there with the taste of a good sirloin chimichanga.

 

So on Opening Day, Springer said this: “You know what you did before. And you know the feeling that comes with it. And you’re always chasing that feeling.”

 

Chasing That Feeling. That was the song they sang in March — Verse One. Well, they’re still singing it. See if you can hear a little of that same chorus in what Springer said Sunday night, after launching his seventh home run in 12 career World Series games.

 

“When we won in 2017, and then didn’t win last year, you remember how it feels,” Springer said. “You remember the goodness that comes (from winning). The fun. The honor. To celebrate with your teammates and your friends and all that stuff. Once you get a taste of that, you never want it to go away.”

 

Sure, these are the words that come out of the mouth of every team that’s ever won. Yeah, we get that. But for the special teams, it’s more than talk. This is one of those teams.

 

“I thought what was crazy,” said reliever Joe Smith, “is that when I signed here in the offseason before 2018, these guys were coming off a World Series. And we had so many young superstars over here, you didn’t know what the feel was going to be. Everybody’s always talking about the World Series hangover and stuff like that. But I remember walking in, Day 1 of spring training, and, like, OK, I know Alex talks. Breggy — he talks so much. But he was, like: ‘We’re winning another one!’

 

“And when you walk into a clubhouse after a team that’s just won the World Series and that’s the mentality of one of your leaders, I don’t care how young he is, that’s even more impressive. But these guys are just that way. … The same way we play in April is the same way we’re playing right now. Same focus. Same intensity. That’s why we led MLB in wins. And that’s why we are where we are.”

 

But have we truly recognized how rare it is that here they are, doing all this again? As far back as Opening Day, we tried to frame just how rare it is. But let’s recap, now that they’re one win away from actually working this magic.

 

TWO IN THREE YEARS: Granted, the Astros wouldn’t be the only team, even in this decade, to win two World Series in three years. Remember those 2010-12-14 kings of the even years, the Giants? Right. Thought so. But here’s the difference: The Giants didn’t even get back to the postseason in between those titles. So in the division-play era, now 51 seasons old, the Astros are the ninth team to win a World Series one year, then lose the next year in either the LCS or World Series. Want to guess how many of those teams came back the following season to win it all again? That would be none.

 

THE 100/100/100 CLUB: The Astros also are not the only team in this century to win at least 100 games three seasons in a row. The 2002-03-04 Yankees also did it. And it’s been done four other times in history. But here’s the difference: The 2017 Astros won 101 games. The 2018 Astros won 103. The 2019 Astros won 107. You know how many other teams have ever won 100 games one year, then more the year after that, then even more the season after that? Right you are. That would be none, says STATS LLC. They’re the first.

 

Get the picture? Wow. Yes, it would be easy to argue the Astros just have more talent, more aces, more bats, more arms, from the top of their roster to the bottom, than anyone else, and that’s why they win. There’s a lot of truth in that theory. But are you sure it’s that simple? Are you really sure it’s that simple?

 

To keep pushing, in a sport this grueling, is not as simple as these Astros have made it look. It’s a challenge just to survive the marathon physically. Last year’s Astros proved that. But it’s just as hard to push this hard mentally, to play with this much focus and this much energy every inning, every day, every week, every month, through a season this long. Let alone two seasons. Let alone three. Why don’t teams repeat anymore? That’s a gigantic part of it.

 

“You know, people always say it’s really hard to win back-to-back championships,” said pitcher Collin McHugh. “But I do think there is something to the adage that if you get beat, you want it more. So for us, getting beat last year was not the way we wanted it to end, not the way anyone in Houston wanted it to end, not the way we foresaw it happening. But to be able to reference that this year — all year, it was, ‘We don’t want to let that happen again.’ And it kind of gives you that extra layer of motivation.”

 

Again, this might sound like just, well, talk — the same old, same old stuff every team says. But this team has been pushing toward greatness for a long, long time now. So this seems like an excellent time to revisit — and update — some of the nuggets we dug up back on Opening Day to illustrate just what a monster they’ve been over a time frame that is pushing into historic territory:

 

• Since Opening Day 2017, these Astros are now an absurd 136 games over .500 (311-175). Who else is 136 games over .500 in that period? Nobody. Of course.

 

• But it isn’t just their record that makes the Astros the best team in baseball in that span. Their run differential, over those three years, is a crazy +739! You know how long it’s been since any team had a run differential that mammoth over any three-year period? Oh, only 75 years! The last team to do it, according to STATS, was the 1942-44 Cardinals (+761). And this +739 is a figure that ranks in the top 10 among all teams since 1900. The only teams to make that top 10 that weren’t among the Yankees behemoths of the 1930s are those 1942-44 Cardinals, the 1901-03 Pirates (plus-757) and these Astros. Holy moly.

 

• Let’s keep going, though, back even before 2017. This is a team that has spent exactly seven days below .500 since June 20, 2016. That’s one week (all in the first week and a half of this season) — out of 577 games! The Astros are 143 games over .500 in that span, with a +761 run differential — over more than 3 ½ seasons!

 

To sustain that level of greatness over that much time — but still be fueling up the spaceship to see how high it can fly — is a quality that should rank these Astros alongside the Tom Brady Patriots and the Stephen Curry Warriors. And that isn’t a comparison we just toss on out there so casually that we don’t expect you to say: “Wait. What? Who?”

 

You’re welcome to react any way you want. But that’s what we’re watching. The hunger in the room, for that level of dominance, is that easy to feel — whether it’s March 28 in St. Petersburg or Oct. 28 in shellshocked Nationals Park, where 43,000 people had just finished watching these Astros crush their World Series dreams three eye-popping days in a row.

 

“You’ve got to want it,” said Carlos Correa on Sunday, as he packed his travel bag for a euphoric flight back home to Houston. “And you’ve got to play like you want it. It’s not about saying it, because words don’t mean anything. You’ve got to show up to the field and play like you really want it. And I think you do that through the energy, through the passion, through the effort that you show, day in and day out. And I think in these last three games, we’ve shown that.”

 

But of course, they’re still one game away. So don’t start floating that ticker tape yet. Ten previous teams have lost Games 1 and 2 of a World Series, then ripped off three in a row in Games 3-4-5 — and three of those 10 have still lost that World Series, according to STATS:

 

SEASON TEAM OPP

1987 Cardinals Twins

1991 Braves Twins

2001 Yankees Diamondbacks

So it happens. And it can still happen here. Stephen Strasburg pitches for Washington in Game 6, and he has already beaten these Astros once in this World Series. Justin Verlander pitches Tuesday for Houston. And as spectacular a career as he’s had, his lifetime record in six World Series starts is (somehow) 0-5, with a 5.73 ERA. So this isn’t over. But mixed with the palpable recognition in that Houston locker room Sunday that the Nationals remain armed and dangerous, there was just as palpable a vibe of unwavering belief — a belief that has powered this engine for three historic years and is still powering away.

 

“We’re really good,” said Joe Smith. “And we know we’re really good. Now, we’ve just got to prove it — one more time.”

 

 

 

I feel sort of guilty for having read that all the way through. Nice piece, but it presumes a Houston title.

Yes, common sense says we'll soon be celebrating. But man, I know better than to get worked up over it until it happens.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
HouTex

HouTex 1889

Posted
Posted
I have heard from a source who has a source who knows someone that empties Crane's trash that he is willing to go 4 yrs, 40 mil per. Just the messenger, but was truly told just that. FWIW.

I heard Crane speak at a breakfast meeting recently and this sounds about right. He definitely will not go more than 5 years for anyone.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WBT

WBT 20653

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, housious said:

I'm a little disappointed actually. Watching playoff baseball is awesome and it's about to come to an end. At which point we'll have to wade through thousands of meaningless games to reach this point again. 

thousands?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29194

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Js1 said:

That was the guy who jumped out to me immediately.  Give Strom an offseason with Wheeler and we have a legit starting 4 rotation with JV, LMJ, Wheeler and Greinke. 

i think we're gonna look for a 1-year miley situation, and wait to see what's up with lmj, urquidy, whitley, etc.

then depending on how everything is going, trade for an arm next july.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jebus

Jebus 1327

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

i think we're gonna look for a 1-year miley situation, and wait to see what's up with lmj, urquidy, whitley, etc.

then depending on how everything is going, trade for an arm next july.

Who's left in the farm system to give up for an arm?  My impression as someone who doesn't follow the farm system super closely is that the string of recent multi-prospect deals have stripped away some of the bulk of the minor league system. Seems like Tucker is basically past the prospect stage, and if Whitley is not good enough to step into a role with the team by then, some of the shine will be off of him as a prospect as well, so who's left to use as bait to pick up an in-demand arm at that point? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pimphand

Pimphand 5852

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Gut Wagon said:

I feel sort of guilty for having read that all the way through. Nice piece, but it presumes a Houston title.

Yes, common sense says we'll soon be celebrating. But man, I know better than to get worked up over it until it happens.  

We have lost two straight at home needing to win 1 before ... Fuck you 1980 NLCS. Ironically enough the Expos (now Nationals) matched the exact same feat in the 1981 NLCS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...