With Roy back on the mound for the first time in two weeks, the Astros are close to being at full strength, but injuries to Roy, Berkman, LaHawk couldn't have come at a worse time, as we're winding up the three weeks that we all looked at as being among the most important of the season, and the Astros were 5-11 in their last 16 games.
Since Berkman left the lineup on July 24, the Astros saw their CoolStandings playoff chances drop from a season high 20.4% to what is currently a 1.4% chance, lowest since the Astros were 19-28 on May 30.
Coop:
“All you can do is try to stay close and have one of those streaks like we really need. We need to win five, six, seven in a row. We haven't had one of those all year.“
That's true. The Astros have put together two separate 4-game winning streaks, but that's been it.
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Despite acting as an injury replacement for Michael Bourn, and going 6x13 with four extra-base hits and six RBI, Michaels is back on the bench:
“We've got our guys back in there. and our outfield has been a big part of our success this year. Those guys are playing great, which means limited time for us. It's a non-rewarding job. The numbers are not going to be there. You can have a good at-bat and maybe ground out. On paper, it's 0-for-1, but maybe you had the guy throw seven, eight, nine pitches. Maybe the guy after you saw something and ends up getting a base hit.”
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
