The Astros have a 2.5 game lead on the Rangers in the AL West through 39.5% of the season.
*The must-read of the morning on yesterday's 13-0 beating of the Mariners comes not from any Astros-related site, it comes from Mariners blog Lookout Landing, and not because of schadenfreude, but because this is an excellent recap of one game in the grand scheme of things.
*Lance McCullers threw five no-hit innings despite not having his best stuff, says Lance McCullers:
I had to battle from the first pitch on, and I knew that. I knew I didn't have the same stuff I usually have, but thankfully I had good defense and (Conger) helped me battle through.
*Jose Altuve, whose hamstring was a sacrifice to Tal's Hill in order to break the 7-game losing streak, has begun light running.
*The return of Jed Lowrie will serve as one of the Astros' "key July acquisitions," though he likely won't be playing shortstop when he returns. A.J. Hinch:
Personally, he's played a lot of different positions...so I won't deal with that until he's (doing baseball activities).
*The Houston Press' John Royal says the CSN Houston lawsuit is "nonsense"
*Brad Peacock is back in Houston for re-evaluation after aggravating something during his rehab start in Corpus
*Lucas Harrell was released by his Korean League team
*Not Hank's wife wrote a post for Father's Day
*Reminder: We're updating signings and numbers from the 2015 draft as we find them
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
